Putin promises Shell a smooth ride
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday Russia should provide a favorable investment climate for Royal Dutch/Shell as the oil giant confronts hurdles in its oil project in western Siberia.
Shell became one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia when it got the green light this year for a $10 billion project on the remote eastern island of Sakhalin, where it will build the world's largest liquefied natural gas plant by 2006.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Egyptian Government press: US behind Najaf bombing
While some members of the so-called transitional Governing Council, such as Ahmad Chalabi, blamed some of those who belong to the former Iraqi regime [for the Najaf bombing], the popular demonstrations seen in the Iraqi streets following this criminal act were all in agreement that the occupation forces were responsible for this incident, as part of their effort to provoke conflict among the Shiites and between the Shiites and the Sunnis.
This is a [policy] of 'divide and rule,' which occupation forces have used throughout history to rip apart the unity of peoples in countries under occupation.
While some members of the so-called transitional Governing Council, such as Ahmad Chalabi, blamed some of those who belong to the former Iraqi regime [for the Najaf bombing], the popular demonstrations seen in the Iraqi streets following this criminal act were all in agreement that the occupation forces were responsible for this incident, as part of their effort to provoke conflict among the Shiites and between the Shiites and the Sunnis.
This is a [policy] of 'divide and rule,' which occupation forces have used throughout history to rip apart the unity of peoples in countries under occupation.
WAR IS PEACE
Needed: an inquiry into a slaughter
By John Pilger
The warning of Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister Blair's Chief of Staff, not to 'claim that we have evidence that [Saddam] is a threat', points directly to Blair's lying. However, that was exceptional. What is emerging is a pattern of protecting Blair, who is being subtly spun as a restraining influence, a peacemaker, even a guardian of Dr Kelly. A criminal abuse of power is not on any charge sheet: it is not within Hutton's brief, yet the British people and the memory of the thousands of innocent lives cut short in Iraq deserve nothing less.
Credible research shows that up to 10,000 civilians were killed in the attack on Iraq , together with perhaps 30,000 Iraqi soldiers, many of them teenage conscripts. A slaughter. These people were killed by weapons designed to reduce human beings to charcoal or to shred them. The British Army littered urban areas with cluster bombs, while the Americans did the same and in greater quantity, adding uranium-coated munitions, whose radiation poison is ingested with the desert dust.
By John PilgerThe warning of Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister Blair's Chief of Staff, not to 'claim that we have evidence that [Saddam] is a threat', points directly to Blair's lying. However, that was exceptional. What is emerging is a pattern of protecting Blair, who is being subtly spun as a restraining influence, a peacemaker, even a guardian of Dr Kelly. A criminal abuse of power is not on any charge sheet: it is not within Hutton's brief, yet the British people and the memory of the thousands of innocent lives cut short in Iraq deserve nothing less.
Credible research shows that up to 10,000 civilians were killed in the attack on Iraq , together with perhaps 30,000 Iraqi soldiers, many of them teenage conscripts. A slaughter. These people were killed by weapons designed to reduce human beings to charcoal or to shred them. The British Army littered urban areas with cluster bombs, while the Americans did the same and in greater quantity, adding uranium-coated munitions, whose radiation poison is ingested with the desert dust.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Who controls the European Union and the United Nations?
Judging by the news coming from the United Nations and from the European Union, it is self-evident that these two world bodies are not independent at all or self sustaining or even self-governing, in spite of the propaganda that they are and, that they are growing more and more anti-USA and its ambition of word domination.
There are even some suggestions to change the name of the United Nations Organization, to be called in the near future the UNITED STATES ORGANIZATIONS!
Judging by the news coming from the United Nations and from the European Union, it is self-evident that these two world bodies are not independent at all or self sustaining or even self-governing, in spite of the propaganda that they are and, that they are growing more and more anti-USA and its ambition of word domination.
There are even some suggestions to change the name of the United Nations Organization, to be called in the near future the UNITED STATES ORGANIZATIONS!
BIG OIL
EPA won’t list carbon dioxide as air pollutant
Following its controversial Clean Air Act exemption for industry, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rejected a petition that carbon dioxide — a gas that many scientists fear is warming the Earth — be categorized and regulated as an air pollutant.
During the Clinton administration, the EPA said it had the necessary authority to regulate CO2 as a global warming pollutant. But the EPA on Thursday stated that "Congress has not granted EPA authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases for climate change purposes".
Following its controversial Clean Air Act exemption for industry, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rejected a petition that carbon dioxide — a gas that many scientists fear is warming the Earth — be categorized and regulated as an air pollutant.
During the Clinton administration, the EPA said it had the necessary authority to regulate CO2 as a global warming pollutant. But the EPA on Thursday stated that "Congress has not granted EPA authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases for climate change purposes".
EARTH CHANGES
Modern global warming more damaging than in the past
Some people will tell you that the planet has warmed in the past and that species always managed to adapt, so there's no cause for alarm. Unfortunately that's not the case,' said Johannes Foufopoulos, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Foufopoulos says new research illustrates major differences between global warming today and past natural climate fluctuations as they relate to species extinctions.
Some people will tell you that the planet has warmed in the past and that species always managed to adapt, so there's no cause for alarm. Unfortunately that's not the case,' said Johannes Foufopoulos, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Foufopoulos says new research illustrates major differences between global warming today and past natural climate fluctuations as they relate to species extinctions.
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Huya is probably a spherical planetoid much like Saturn's moon Mimas, above (NASA)
New planetoid named after rain god
A new 'planetoid' orbiting between Neptune and Pluto has been named 'Huya' after the mythical rain god of the Wayuu people of Venezuela, astronomers announced.
The minor planet was found in March 2000 by Venezuelan and U.S. astronomers using a powerful telescope located at the Centre for Astronomical Studies observatory in Merida, Venezuela.
The team was led by Professor Ignacio Ferrin, an astrophysicist at the University of the Andes in Colombia, and was provisionally dubbed 2000 EB173 when it was first discovered.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
CROP CIRCLES
Astronomical crop formation, the so-called 'asteroid' glyph at Tichborne, Hampshire, which appeared on June 20, 1995 depicts the Sept 6, 2003 planetary alignment ... and a mysterious object near Venus.
Are English crop circles being covertly suppressed?
There have been no new crop circles in England since August 10, 2003 -- unusual since the season generally lasts a week longer -- which begs the question 'why?'.
In the last few days, an article that recently appeared on the Swirled News web site has caused a real buzz on the Internet – especially it seems among the usual suspects predicting an apocalyptic event for Earth.
The design shows all the inner planets surrounded by a ring of ‘beads’, which appear to show significant positions of Mars over an eight-year period – in other words, the exact period between the appearance of the formation and the 2003 date predicted. Interesting to note that Mars is currently at its closest position to Earth for many years (peaking a week before the date shown in the formation) and is very bright in the sky at the moment.
Could it be that the anomalous object in the glyph represents the current position of Mars' erstwhile companion Phobos.
[Phobos (an alien base??) is persistently rumoured to have left Mars orbit. It hasn't appeared in any publicly-available Mars probe photos for some years now. Read about the mystery surrounding the 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura flyby of Mars on June 5, 2000.]
BIG BROTHER
MIT to uncork futuristic bar code
"Put tags on every man woman and child, and suddenly the world changes," boasts the web site of the Auto-ID Center, the research group at MIT leading the charge on a new ID project.
"No more wasted time and money on traditional surveillance. No more costly undercover operations. No more guessing which citizens are likely to vote for which particular presidential candidate, who they associate with, or how effective the brainwashing is going..."
A group of academics and business executives is planning to introduce next month a next-generation bar code system, which could someday replace with a microchip the series of black vertical lines found on most merchandise.
The electronic product code or EPC Network, which has been under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for nearly five years, will make its debut in Chicago on Sept. 15, at the EPC Symposium. At that event, MIT researchers, executives from some of the largest global companies, and U.S. government officials intend to discuss their plans for the EPC Network and invite others to join the conversation. The attendee list for the conference reads like a who’s who of the Fortune 500.
The EPC uses a 96-bit format -- large enough to generate a unique code for every grain of rice on the planet -- and under EPC, every individual item (not just each product type) on the shop shelf would have a one-of-a-kind identifier.
"Put tags on every man woman and child, and suddenly the world changes," boasts the web site of the Auto-ID Center, the research group at MIT leading the charge on a new ID project.
"No more wasted time and money on traditional surveillance. No more costly undercover operations. No more guessing which citizens are likely to vote for which particular presidential candidate, who they associate with, or how effective the brainwashing is going..."
A group of academics and business executives is planning to introduce next month a next-generation bar code system, which could someday replace with a microchip the series of black vertical lines found on most merchandise.
The electronic product code or EPC Network, which has been under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for nearly five years, will make its debut in Chicago on Sept. 15, at the EPC Symposium. At that event, MIT researchers, executives from some of the largest global companies, and U.S. government officials intend to discuss their plans for the EPC Network and invite others to join the conversation. The attendee list for the conference reads like a who’s who of the Fortune 500.
The EPC uses a 96-bit format -- large enough to generate a unique code for every grain of rice on the planet -- and under EPC, every individual item (not just each product type) on the shop shelf would have a one-of-a-kind identifier.
EARTH CHANGES
Not just warmer: it's the hottest for 2000 years
The earth is warmer now than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years, the most comprehensive study of climatic history has revealed.
Confirming the worst fears of environmental scientists, the newly published findings are a blow to sceptics who maintain that global warming is part of the natural climatic cycle rather than a consequence of human industrial activity.
Prof Philip Jones, a director of the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit and one of the authors of the research, said: 'You can't explain this rapid warming of the late 20th century in any other way. It's a response to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.'
The earth is warmer now than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years, the most comprehensive study of climatic history has revealed.
Confirming the worst fears of environmental scientists, the newly published findings are a blow to sceptics who maintain that global warming is part of the natural climatic cycle rather than a consequence of human industrial activity.
Prof Philip Jones, a director of the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit and one of the authors of the research, said: 'You can't explain this rapid warming of the late 20th century in any other way. It's a response to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.'
MONEY TALKS
Prime Sydney real estate rents for $70 a year
One of Australia's biggest insurance companies is renting an entire Sydney CBD block from taxpayers for just $70 a year.
The GIO deal is among thousands of cases of State Government property being leased at peppercorn rentals to private business, clubs and rich individuals.
The State Government's Department of Lands rents back the building - paying the insurance giant an undisclosed amount.
Meanwhile The Age reports that big business and some of Australia's wealthiest people are renting taxpayer-owned land for peppercorn payments that effectively subsidise their operations.The paper reported that total rents collected by the NSW Lands Department of $60 million a year contributed less than $2 per hectare to the public purse.
One of Australia's biggest insurance companies is renting an entire Sydney CBD block from taxpayers for just $70 a year.
The GIO deal is among thousands of cases of State Government property being leased at peppercorn rentals to private business, clubs and rich individuals.
The State Government's Department of Lands rents back the building - paying the insurance giant an undisclosed amount.
Meanwhile The Age reports that big business and some of Australia's wealthiest people are renting taxpayer-owned land for peppercorn payments that effectively subsidise their operations.The paper reported that total rents collected by the NSW Lands Department of $60 million a year contributed less than $2 per hectare to the public purse.
BIG BROTHER
Anger at plan to add fluoride to water supplies
Fluoride could be added to the drinking water of another 13 million Brits by next summer under plans by Ministers to supply major cities with the chemical.
Opponents have condemned the moves, accusing Ministers of mass medication by stealth and a 'nanny state' mentality. They also claim fluoride has been linked to adverse health affects including cancer, brittle bones and thyroid disease and can cause teeth to mottle.
[The fluoride chemical added to water is an unprocessed, industrial waste-product from the pollution scrubbers of the phosphate fertilizer industry.]
Fluoride could be added to the drinking water of another 13 million Brits by next summer under plans by Ministers to supply major cities with the chemical.
Opponents have condemned the moves, accusing Ministers of mass medication by stealth and a 'nanny state' mentality. They also claim fluoride has been linked to adverse health affects including cancer, brittle bones and thyroid disease and can cause teeth to mottle.
[The fluoride chemical added to water is an unprocessed, industrial waste-product from the pollution scrubbers of the phosphate fertilizer industry.]
TRUST IN GOD
School drops Muslim girl for wearing traditional scarf
A 17-year-old Muslim girl, about to begin her senior year at a Cleveland area Catholic school, has been dismissed because of a head scarf.
Amal Jamal was informed that she violated her Catholic school dress code by wearing a Muslim headscarf, or hajib, and thus was no longer welcome at Regina High School.
'I was in shock; I didn't understand,' the soft-spoken Amal told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. 'All along, they gave me a room to pray in. They asked me questions about Islam. They always accepted me for who I was. Now they have decided it is against school policy to wear my hajib.'
A 17-year-old Muslim girl, about to begin her senior year at a Cleveland area Catholic school, has been dismissed because of a head scarf.
Amal Jamal was informed that she violated her Catholic school dress code by wearing a Muslim headscarf, or hajib, and thus was no longer welcome at Regina High School.
'I was in shock; I didn't understand,' the soft-spoken Amal told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. 'All along, they gave me a room to pray in. They asked me questions about Islam. They always accepted me for who I was. Now they have decided it is against school policy to wear my hajib.'
TRUST IN GOD
Preaching white supremacy in South Africa
South African reverend Willie Smith founded the church of Lewende Hoop (Living Hope) five years ago and preaches that Afrikaners are God's chosen people.
He says he now has 30 congregations, and thousands of followers all over the country.
The majority of South Africans find the message of this church deeply offensive. But for a minority of Afrikaners it provides reassurance in a country that is changing so fast all around them.
'We know that we are God's people, he forbid us to mix with other nations, to marriage with other nations, to live on the same level as they are. We see this ANC government as punishment [for abandoning apartheid],' says Reverend Smith.
South African reverend Willie Smith founded the church of Lewende Hoop (Living Hope) five years ago and preaches that Afrikaners are God's chosen people.
He says he now has 30 congregations, and thousands of followers all over the country.
The majority of South Africans find the message of this church deeply offensive. But for a minority of Afrikaners it provides reassurance in a country that is changing so fast all around them.
'We know that we are God's people, he forbid us to mix with other nations, to marriage with other nations, to live on the same level as they are. We see this ANC government as punishment [for abandoning apartheid],' says Reverend Smith.
NEW WORLD ORDER
US attacked over green card soldiers
British MP George Galloway, one of the fiercest critics of the invasion of Iraq, has accused the US of using its 'green card' troops as cannon fodder.
Many of the troops on duty in Iraq do not count English as their first language and would prefer to take orders in their native tongue ... usually Spanish.
[Keep in mind the guy who sent in this 'cannon fodder' went AWOL from the National Guard when it was his turn to defend his country.]
CULTURAL HEGEMONY
Chaos, despair reign in Iraq; go unreported by mainstream
"Desperation" and "chaos" are words frequently used to describe the living conditions in which most of Iraq’s 25 million people struggle to survive after the Anglo-American invasion.
What is meant by "chaos," however, and what it means in human terms, and how it came to Iraq is apparently a non-story for the US's plutocratic media.
"Desperation" and "chaos" are words frequently used to describe the living conditions in which most of Iraq’s 25 million people struggle to survive after the Anglo-American invasion.
What is meant by "chaos," however, and what it means in human terms, and how it came to Iraq is apparently a non-story for the US's plutocratic media.
'ELVIS' HUSSEIN
Saddam-spotting a national pastime in Iraq
Sightings of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Washington's most-wanted man, have him dressed in an Arab robe, bearded and in sunglasses moving from hideout to hideout using three cars. Others, equally dubious, have him sitting on the floor of a humble Bedouin home eating a meagre meal with the family. He's even said to have visited a Mosul doctor.
'This guy's Elvis,' said Gen. David Patraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, in northern Iraq.
Claims of Saddam spottings, most of them absurd, flood a hot line the U.S. army has set up for tips on Saddam's whereabouts and weapons caches. The enthusiasm is no surprise, as someone eventually will earn the $25-million US bounty offered for his capture.
Sightings of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Washington's most-wanted man, have him dressed in an Arab robe, bearded and in sunglasses moving from hideout to hideout using three cars. Others, equally dubious, have him sitting on the floor of a humble Bedouin home eating a meagre meal with the family. He's even said to have visited a Mosul doctor.
'This guy's Elvis,' said Gen. David Patraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, in northern Iraq.
Claims of Saddam spottings, most of them absurd, flood a hot line the U.S. army has set up for tips on Saddam's whereabouts and weapons caches. The enthusiasm is no surprise, as someone eventually will earn the $25-million US bounty offered for his capture.
BIG BROTHER
Claim: RFID tags will stop terrorists
Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States' largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation's food supply safe from terrorists.
The companies are banding together and through an industry association are lobbying to have the Department of Homeland Security designate radio frequency identification, or RFID, as an antiterrorism technology.
In addition, they are asking members of Congress and other influential figures to portray RFID in a favorable light.
Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States' largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation's food supply safe from terrorists.
The companies are banding together and through an industry association are lobbying to have the Department of Homeland Security designate radio frequency identification, or RFID, as an antiterrorism technology.
In addition, they are asking members of Congress and other influential figures to portray RFID in a favorable light.
TRUST IN GOD
Is Bush getting apocalyptic advice?
Is the Bush administration turning to a televangelist doomsayer for political predictions? Apocalyptic preacher Jack Van Impe is claiming that he was contacted by Condoleezza Rice’s office and the White House Office of Public Liaison for an "outline" of his take on world events.
Van Impe is the author of such books as "Israel’s Final Holocaust" and "The Great Escape: Preparing for the Rapture, the Next Event on God’s Prophetic Clock". He has predicted that the end of the world will strike somewhere between 2003 and 2012 and one reviewer has called his TV preaching show with wife Rexella “a fantastically loopy apocalyptic take on the week’s news".
Is the Bush administration turning to a televangelist doomsayer for political predictions? Apocalyptic preacher Jack Van Impe is claiming that he was contacted by Condoleezza Rice’s office and the White House Office of Public Liaison for an "outline" of his take on world events.
Van Impe is the author of such books as "Israel’s Final Holocaust" and "The Great Escape: Preparing for the Rapture, the Next Event on God’s Prophetic Clock". He has predicted that the end of the world will strike somewhere between 2003 and 2012 and one reviewer has called his TV preaching show with wife Rexella “a fantastically loopy apocalyptic take on the week’s news".
BIG BROTHER
Matrix, the privatized version of Poindexter's TIA
Matrix, short for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, "enables investigators to find patterns and links among people and events faster than ever before, combining police records with commercially available collections of personal information about most American adults.
It would let authorities, for instance, instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup truck in a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event.
Matrix was developed by Hank Asher, the Seisint Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida, who donated it to the state. The database, according to the Post, has been in operation for more than a year and some 135 state police departments have signed up for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's service.
The Washington Post reported, "At least a dozen states -- including Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan -- said they want to add their records."
Asher has an interesting history, according to the Post: "In 1999, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI suspended information service contracts with an earlier Asher-run company because of concerns about his past, according to law enforcement sources.
The Chicago Tribune reported in 1987 that court documents in a federal drug case said defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who identified Asher as a pilot and onetime smuggler, offered him as an informant." James "Tim" Moore, former Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner, told the Post that the department was aware of Asher's background, but "we were also aware he had never been arrested or charged."
Seisint's coffers will be swelled by $1.6 million from the Florida legislature. In addition, the US Justice Department has kicked in $4 million to expand Matrix nationally and the Department of Homeland Security has pledged $8 million to the project of tracking citizens' every move.
Matrix, short for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, "enables investigators to find patterns and links among people and events faster than ever before, combining police records with commercially available collections of personal information about most American adults.
It would let authorities, for instance, instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup truck in a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event.
Matrix was developed by Hank Asher, the Seisint Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida, who donated it to the state. The database, according to the Post, has been in operation for more than a year and some 135 state police departments have signed up for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's service.
The Washington Post reported, "At least a dozen states -- including Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan -- said they want to add their records."
Asher has an interesting history, according to the Post: "In 1999, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI suspended information service contracts with an earlier Asher-run company because of concerns about his past, according to law enforcement sources.
The Chicago Tribune reported in 1987 that court documents in a federal drug case said defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who identified Asher as a pilot and onetime smuggler, offered him as an informant." James "Tim" Moore, former Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner, told the Post that the department was aware of Asher's background, but "we were also aware he had never been arrested or charged."
Seisint's coffers will be swelled by $1.6 million from the Florida legislature. In addition, the US Justice Department has kicked in $4 million to expand Matrix nationally and the Department of Homeland Security has pledged $8 million to the project of tracking citizens' every move.
Monday, September 01, 2003
BUSH JUNTA
Can the US save itself from fascism?
All the rights and ideals embodied in our constitution—the glue that has held us together as Americans—are being rapidly stripped away by a criminal gang that has finally succeeded in seizing power and is bent on holding on to it at all costs.
To our criminal rulers not only are our constitutional rights legal fictions, but they have stood the constitution on its head to grant themselves powers denied them by the framers. So much for their nonsensical palaver about being strict constructionists.
Whether the presidential election of 2000 was the first to be stolen we'll never know, but we do know it was the first stolen election to receive the blessing of the US Supreme Court. In any other country—those lesser nations all that must be brought under the heel of the American Empire, one way or another—what happened in 2000 would be called a bloodless coup d'état.
All the rights and ideals embodied in our constitution—the glue that has held us together as Americans—are being rapidly stripped away by a criminal gang that has finally succeeded in seizing power and is bent on holding on to it at all costs.
To our criminal rulers not only are our constitutional rights legal fictions, but they have stood the constitution on its head to grant themselves powers denied them by the framers. So much for their nonsensical palaver about being strict constructionists.
Whether the presidential election of 2000 was the first to be stolen we'll never know, but we do know it was the first stolen election to receive the blessing of the US Supreme Court. In any other country—those lesser nations all that must be brought under the heel of the American Empire, one way or another—what happened in 2000 would be called a bloodless coup d'état.
NEW WORLD ORDER
New Mexico town prepares for anti-terror training
The eerie silence in this once-bustling mining town won't last long. Soon, helicopters and planes will zoom overhead, and the buzz among locals will be of bio-weapons, agro-terrorism and suicide bombings.
Playas - population about 60 - is destined to be bought up by a New Mexico university and transformed into a sprawling classroom for lessons in anti-terrorism.
The eerie silence in this once-bustling mining town won't last long. Soon, helicopters and planes will zoom overhead, and the buzz among locals will be of bio-weapons, agro-terrorism and suicide bombings.
Playas - population about 60 - is destined to be bought up by a New Mexico university and transformed into a sprawling classroom for lessons in anti-terrorism.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Patriot Act: US Feds use fear create a police state
Opposition to the USA Patriot Act has reached such a high level that Attorney General John Ashcroft has had to launch a road show to defend it. In June he met with editors and media executives in Aspen, Colo., to solicit their assistance in "portraying accurately" the act, which places unprecedented restrictions on the rights and freedoms of people in this country — both citizens and noncitizens. The Justice Department has also asked that law enforcement officials write commentaries supporting the act.
Unfortunately, the arguments used by the Justice Department fail to convince. That is partly because many are deceptive, if not outright lies; and partly because the manipulation of fears and the lack of self-consistency are apparent in those arguments.
Opposition to the USA Patriot Act has reached such a high level that Attorney General John Ashcroft has had to launch a road show to defend it. In June he met with editors and media executives in Aspen, Colo., to solicit their assistance in "portraying accurately" the act, which places unprecedented restrictions on the rights and freedoms of people in this country — both citizens and noncitizens. The Justice Department has also asked that law enforcement officials write commentaries supporting the act.
Unfortunately, the arguments used by the Justice Department fail to convince. That is partly because many are deceptive, if not outright lies; and partly because the manipulation of fears and the lack of self-consistency are apparent in those arguments.
Saturday, August 30, 2003
LOST CIVILISATIONS
Stone circle found in Outer Hebrides is 50 years older than Stonehenge
An ancient stone circle built 50 years before Stonehenge has been uncovered on the site of its quarry after lying buried in peat on a Scottish island for thousands of years.
The structure, Na Dromannan, is 100 feet (30 metres) wide and overlooks the four other Standing Stones of Callanish, a pattern resembling a Celtic cross on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. Built in 3,000BC, it is considered second in importance to Stonehenge and archaeologists believe it will offer new insights into the social function of the stones.
[NB. Although archaeologists have traced the geological site of Stonehenge to a mountain in south Wales from which the stones came, no evidence of its quarry has been found.]
An ancient stone circle built 50 years before Stonehenge has been uncovered on the site of its quarry after lying buried in peat on a Scottish island for thousands of years.
The structure, Na Dromannan, is 100 feet (30 metres) wide and overlooks the four other Standing Stones of Callanish, a pattern resembling a Celtic cross on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. Built in 3,000BC, it is considered second in importance to Stonehenge and archaeologists believe it will offer new insights into the social function of the stones.
[NB. Although archaeologists have traced the geological site of Stonehenge to a mountain in south Wales from which the stones came, no evidence of its quarry has been found.]
Monday, August 25, 2003
BIG BROTHER
Brother John's Traveling Patriot Salvation Show
In an unprecedented, desperate, and politically motivated move, Brother John Ashcroft has taken to the road. Setting up his tent in strategic cities to bring his Traveling Patriot Salvation Show to lost Americans. With apologies to Neil Diamond, 'pack up the babies and grab the old ladies.' But take 'em someplace safe, like an old-time religion tent revival, not Brother John's catechism on the USA Patriot Act.
And because the Reverend can't be everywhere, he has anointed his federal prosecutors -- those highly paid suits on the government payroll--and ordained them to preach the Gospel of John in their home towns. If you can't catch the Big Show at the Big Top, check your paper for local listings and times.
Oh! You better watch out,
you better not cry,
you better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
John Ashcroft is coming to town!
He's making a list,
He's checking it twice,
gonna find out who's naughty or nice:
John Ashcroft is coming to town!
[more...]
In an unprecedented, desperate, and politically motivated move, Brother John Ashcroft has taken to the road. Setting up his tent in strategic cities to bring his Traveling Patriot Salvation Show to lost Americans. With apologies to Neil Diamond, 'pack up the babies and grab the old ladies.' But take 'em someplace safe, like an old-time religion tent revival, not Brother John's catechism on the USA Patriot Act.
And because the Reverend can't be everywhere, he has anointed his federal prosecutors -- those highly paid suits on the government payroll--and ordained them to preach the Gospel of John in their home towns. If you can't catch the Big Show at the Big Top, check your paper for local listings and times.
Oh! You better watch out,
you better not cry,
you better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
John Ashcroft is coming to town!
He's making a list,
He's checking it twice,
gonna find out who's naughty or nice:
John Ashcroft is coming to town!
[more...]
Sunday, August 24, 2003
WATCH THE SKIES
UK aviation fan spots mysterious object
Douglas Wragg has been watching the skies for more than 50 years and knows everything there is to know about aircraft and weather balloons.
But on a clear day in Petts Wood, he says he witnessed a cylinder-shaped flying object which was “nothing to do with aviation”.
Mr Wragg, 71, asked his wife, Pamela, to verify he was not hallucinating after tracking the object through his binoculars.
Describing it as like “two rolls of carpet covered in black plastic”, one on top of the other, he initially thought it was a kite but ruled that out when it climbed to about 20,000ft.
Douglas Wragg has been watching the skies for more than 50 years and knows everything there is to know about aircraft and weather balloons.
But on a clear day in Petts Wood, he says he witnessed a cylinder-shaped flying object which was “nothing to do with aviation”.
Mr Wragg, 71, asked his wife, Pamela, to verify he was not hallucinating after tracking the object through his binoculars.
Describing it as like “two rolls of carpet covered in black plastic”, one on top of the other, he initially thought it was a kite but ruled that out when it climbed to about 20,000ft.
BOMB SCHOOL
Police urge ABC to ditch bomb-stunt report
Police Minister John Watkins has called on the ABC to abandon plans to show a current affairs report exposing how easy it is to make a Bali-style car bomb.
He has written to ABC managing director Russell Balding, arguing that to broadcast the story would be irresponsible, dangerous and insensitive to the Bali victims.
The filmmakers' aim was to show how everyday household chemical and fertiliser items can be bought over the counter and combined to make a deadly anti-personnel weapon.
Police Minister John Watkins has called on the ABC to abandon plans to show a current affairs report exposing how easy it is to make a Bali-style car bomb.
He has written to ABC managing director Russell Balding, arguing that to broadcast the story would be irresponsible, dangerous and insensitive to the Bali victims.
The filmmakers' aim was to show how everyday household chemical and fertiliser items can be bought over the counter and combined to make a deadly anti-personnel weapon.
POLLIES AND POLLS
Blair declared coolest politician by UK under-30s
He may have committed style suicide in a pair of crotch-hugging Speedo swimming trunks on the Barbados coast, but Tony Blair, the man whom millions marched against this spring, was voted the world's coolest politician by Britain's under-30s yesterday.
More than 300 18- to 30-year-olds who were canvassed online this summer seem to be increasingly in awe of the establishment. They were particularly fond of all things British, prompting talk of a return to Cool Britannia, New Labour's push to rebrand Britain as hip in the 1990s.
He may have committed style suicide in a pair of crotch-hugging Speedo swimming trunks on the Barbados coast, but Tony Blair, the man whom millions marched against this spring, was voted the world's coolest politician by Britain's under-30s yesterday.
More than 300 18- to 30-year-olds who were canvassed online this summer seem to be increasingly in awe of the establishment. They were particularly fond of all things British, prompting talk of a return to Cool Britannia, New Labour's push to rebrand Britain as hip in the 1990s.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
LAW IS AN ASS
Blonde jokes to be made illegal in Bosnia
Blonde jokes are set to be made illegal in Bosnia under new laws that will enable women to sue people who make jokes about their hair colour. The gender equality law, due to come into effect within the next two months, will make it an offence to tell jokes about women based on their hair colour.
Savima Terzic, director of the International Group for Human Rights, told Bosnian daily newspaper Nezavisne Novine: “The new law on gender equality would enable blonde women to sue anyone who tells jokes that offend them, even if those jokes were just based on the colour of their hair.” Blonde jokes are said to be massively popular in Bosnia.
Blonde jokes are set to be made illegal in Bosnia under new laws that will enable women to sue people who make jokes about their hair colour. The gender equality law, due to come into effect within the next two months, will make it an offence to tell jokes about women based on their hair colour.
Savima Terzic, director of the International Group for Human Rights, told Bosnian daily newspaper Nezavisne Novine: “The new law on gender equality would enable blonde women to sue anyone who tells jokes that offend them, even if those jokes were just based on the colour of their hair.” Blonde jokes are said to be massively popular in Bosnia.
OFFAL WAFFLE
Whale-like mass found in Ireland
A huge mysterious mass about the size of a whale has been found by scientists lurking in the depths of one of the Ireland's deepest lakes, a National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman said on Monday.
The discovery was made in the 75-metre deep Muckross lake in Killarney, county Kerry, in the southwest of the country, during an acoustic survey of stocks of Arctic Char.
Arctic Char is a protected species that are a remnant fish from the ice age that became landlocked in the lake.
Ireland is the most southerly area in the world where they are found.
[Regular readers will remember a recent find in South America of a massive pile of blubbery flesh which had scientists scratching their heads, but which was eventually identified as the remains of a sperm whale ... or so goes the official line.]
A huge mysterious mass about the size of a whale has been found by scientists lurking in the depths of one of the Ireland's deepest lakes, a National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman said on Monday.
The discovery was made in the 75-metre deep Muckross lake in Killarney, county Kerry, in the southwest of the country, during an acoustic survey of stocks of Arctic Char.
Arctic Char is a protected species that are a remnant fish from the ice age that became landlocked in the lake.
Ireland is the most southerly area in the world where they are found.
[Regular readers will remember a recent find in South America of a massive pile of blubbery flesh which had scientists scratching their heads, but which was eventually identified as the remains of a sperm whale ... or so goes the official line.]
WISDOM OF HUMANITY
Forest felled, work to start on 'wisdom of nature' Aichi expo
Construction work on pavilions for the 2005 Aichi World Exposition in Japan will get into full swing soon.
The theme of the event is the "wisdom of nature". However a large tract of forest had to be felled to prepare the current main venue.
The association was forced to change the planned Expo site when it was reported in 1999 that a nest of endangered goshawks had been found there.
Construction work on pavilions for the 2005 Aichi World Exposition in Japan will get into full swing soon.
The theme of the event is the "wisdom of nature". However a large tract of forest had to be felled to prepare the current main venue.
The association was forced to change the planned Expo site when it was reported in 1999 that a nest of endangered goshawks had been found there.
BIG BROTHER
China prepares to issue smart card for citizen ID
Starting next year, Chinese citizens will face something new and breathtaking in scale: an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access.
The vagueness and vastness of the undertaking has prompted some criticism that the data collection could be used to quash dissent and to infringe on privacy.
Starting next year, Chinese citizens will face something new and breathtaking in scale: an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access.
The vagueness and vastness of the undertaking has prompted some criticism that the data collection could be used to quash dissent and to infringe on privacy.
NEW WORLD ORDER
New Lego: "World City" features surveillance truck and van
Toymaker Lego has a new series of toys called World City which includes a police 4WD and undercover van.
Etoys.com promotion reads "Use this fully-equipped Undercover Van and Police 4WD to stop crime in World City. The undercover officer monitors criminals using high-tech surveillance equipment in the Undercover Van".
The vans bear an uncanny resemblance to the Navy's InfraLynx vehicles which were used at the SuperBowl in variance of the Posse Comitatus Act (ie. US troops not to be deployed on home soil).
Toymaker Lego has a new series of toys called World City which includes a police 4WD and undercover van.
Etoys.com promotion reads "Use this fully-equipped Undercover Van and Police 4WD to stop crime in World City. The undercover officer monitors criminals using high-tech surveillance equipment in the Undercover Van".
The vans bear an uncanny resemblance to the Navy's InfraLynx vehicles which were used at the SuperBowl in variance of the Posse Comitatus Act (ie. US troops not to be deployed on home soil).
GENE GENIE
First game-playing DNA computer revealed
The first game-playing DNA computer has been revealed - an enzyme-powered tic-tac-toe machine that cannot be beaten.
The human player makes his or her moves by dropping DNA into 3 by 3 square of wells that make up the board. The device then uses a complex mixture of DNA enzymes to determine where it should place its nought or cross, and signals its move with a green glow.
The first game-playing DNA computer has been revealed - an enzyme-powered tic-tac-toe machine that cannot be beaten.
The human player makes his or her moves by dropping DNA into 3 by 3 square of wells that make up the board. The device then uses a complex mixture of DNA enzymes to determine where it should place its nought or cross, and signals its move with a green glow.
EARTH CHANGES
Global warming ... more like a snap freeze super ice storm
Most people see climate change as a gradual warming-up that will hurt some people and benefit others.
The people of Tuvalu and quite a lot of the Netherlands will be severely inconvenienced as rising sea levels cover their homes, but they will either move or learn to breathe underwater. So no rush, no panic, and don't take any measures that might hurt economic growth.
But anyone who has been paying attention to the evidence coming out of the Greenland ice cores for the past 20 years should know that the real threat is not gradual warming.
It is that the warming will trigger an abrupt and rapid cooling of the global climate, with catastrophic consequences for existing human populations.
The Greenland ice cores, a quarter-million-year record of annual snowfall that also tells us about average temperature, precipitation and even wind speed, contain an alarming message.
When the climate mode shifts, global temperatures crash in 10 years or less - and stay down for centuries or millennia. And the very worst news is that the sudden flip into cool-and-dry is caused by gradual global warming.
Most people see climate change as a gradual warming-up that will hurt some people and benefit others.
The people of Tuvalu and quite a lot of the Netherlands will be severely inconvenienced as rising sea levels cover their homes, but they will either move or learn to breathe underwater. So no rush, no panic, and don't take any measures that might hurt economic growth.
But anyone who has been paying attention to the evidence coming out of the Greenland ice cores for the past 20 years should know that the real threat is not gradual warming.
It is that the warming will trigger an abrupt and rapid cooling of the global climate, with catastrophic consequences for existing human populations.
The Greenland ice cores, a quarter-million-year record of annual snowfall that also tells us about average temperature, precipitation and even wind speed, contain an alarming message.
When the climate mode shifts, global temperatures crash in 10 years or less - and stay down for centuries or millennia. And the very worst news is that the sudden flip into cool-and-dry is caused by gradual global warming.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Ex-Guantanamo prisoners allege rights abuses by US military
Prisoners released from the military camps at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Bagram air base in Afghanistan have said in a series of interviews with Amnesty International that they were subjected to human rights abuses.
The accounts, which provide some of the most detailed information so far on alleged violations, include claims that people were forcibly injected, denied sleep and forced to stand or kneel for hours in painful positions. These charges are included in a new report from the human rights organization, which is reviewing 23 months of U.S. actions in the war on terror.
About 700 prisoners have been kept at Guantanamo Bay, most captured in Afghanistan after the war in 2001. About 60 men have since been released. Many had been transferred there through the base at Bagram, north of Kabul, which still holds an unknown number of prisoners. The United States has designated the prisoners "enemy combatants" and has refused them access to lawyers or relatives. Earlier this year, it scheduled six detainees to face military tribunals, but three of those prosecutions have been suspended pending the completion of negotiations with the defendants' governments in Britain and Australia.
Prisoners released from the military camps at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Bagram air base in Afghanistan have said in a series of interviews with Amnesty International that they were subjected to human rights abuses.
The accounts, which provide some of the most detailed information so far on alleged violations, include claims that people were forcibly injected, denied sleep and forced to stand or kneel for hours in painful positions. These charges are included in a new report from the human rights organization, which is reviewing 23 months of U.S. actions in the war on terror.
About 700 prisoners have been kept at Guantanamo Bay, most captured in Afghanistan after the war in 2001. About 60 men have since been released. Many had been transferred there through the base at Bagram, north of Kabul, which still holds an unknown number of prisoners. The United States has designated the prisoners "enemy combatants" and has refused them access to lawyers or relatives. Earlier this year, it scheduled six detainees to face military tribunals, but three of those prosecutions have been suspended pending the completion of negotiations with the defendants' governments in Britain and Australia.
NATURAL WONDERS
Ocean sponge may be best for fibre optics
Scientists say they have identified an ocean sponge living in the darkness of the deep sea that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light better than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication.
The natural glass fibers also are much more flexible than manufactured fiber optic cable that can crack if bent too far.
"You can actually tie a knot in these natural biological fibers and they will not break it's really quite amazing," said Joanna Aizenberg, who led the research at Bell Laboratories.
Scientists say they have identified an ocean sponge living in the darkness of the deep sea that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light better than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication.
The natural glass fibers also are much more flexible than manufactured fiber optic cable that can crack if bent too far.
"You can actually tie a knot in these natural biological fibers and they will not break it's really quite amazing," said Joanna Aizenberg, who led the research at Bell Laboratories.
TRUST IN GOD
George W's own personal Jesus
A coming edition of GQ magazine turns President Bush in to Jesus Christ -- in a full-page photo illustration.
The photo is set to run with an accompanied essay titled "George W's Personal Jesus," publishing sources told the Drudge Report.
"In the beginning, there was the call...," writer Guy Lawson opens in his essay on the president's religious convictions.
The photo marks a dramatic entrance for new GQ editor Jim Nelson.
A coming edition of GQ magazine turns President Bush in to Jesus Christ -- in a full-page photo illustration.
The photo is set to run with an accompanied essay titled "George W's Personal Jesus," publishing sources told the Drudge Report.
"In the beginning, there was the call...," writer Guy Lawson opens in his essay on the president's religious convictions.
The photo marks a dramatic entrance for new GQ editor Jim Nelson.
ARTIFICIAL BRAINS
Algebra points the way to a happy marriage
A mathematician says he can predict with almost total accuracy which newly wed couples will enjoy a happy marriage -- using two lines of algebra.
Professor James Murray says the two formulae he devised have a 94 percent success rate when it comes to forecasting whether a couple will stay together, the Daily Telegraph said.
The 10-year study of 700 couples conducted with the help of a psychologist, involved observing the couples during a 15 minute conversation when they were newly married, Murray said.
A mathematician says he can predict with almost total accuracy which newly wed couples will enjoy a happy marriage -- using two lines of algebra.
Professor James Murray says the two formulae he devised have a 94 percent success rate when it comes to forecasting whether a couple will stay together, the Daily Telegraph said.
The 10-year study of 700 couples conducted with the help of a psychologist, involved observing the couples during a 15 minute conversation when they were newly married, Murray said.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Beautiful couple's marriage is perfect -- except in bed
DEAR ABBY, I am a beautiful woman in my early 30s. My husband, 'Brad,' is a handsome man in his late 20s. We both dress stylishly, exercise regularly and eat healthy food. We turn heads when we walk into the room. We have been married for nearly five years and are devoted to each other. We prosper in all areas except in the bedroom.
DEAR ABBY, I am a beautiful woman in my early 30s. My husband, 'Brad,' is a handsome man in his late 20s. We both dress stylishly, exercise regularly and eat healthy food. We turn heads when we walk into the room. We have been married for nearly five years and are devoted to each other. We prosper in all areas except in the bedroom.
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Kelly the lightning conductor for power
Tony Blair returns home from a Barbados vacation of sun, sand and barbecued baracuda next Monday to face his own grilling before the steady and spin-free gaze of Lord Hutton. The UK Prime Minister knows it could make him. Or break him.
This is a story about a government scientist called Dr David Kelly. It is a story about the Government and the case for war against Iraq. It is a story about the media and accuracy. It is a story about sexing-up and spin and denials and half-truths and leaks. Most of all, it is a story about power. About how those who have it use it. And what those without it think about it.
Perhaps no one will ever know for sure why government scientist Dr David Kelly killed himself. He left no note, or none that has been published.
So Hutton has to gather as much evidence as possible and make a considered judgment. From what has been seen in the first four days of testimony, one thing is clear. Kelly became a lightning conductor for a lot of other issues, and a focus for a number of very powerful people.
Tony Blair returns home from a Barbados vacation of sun, sand and barbecued baracuda next Monday to face his own grilling before the steady and spin-free gaze of Lord Hutton. The UK Prime Minister knows it could make him. Or break him.
This is a story about a government scientist called Dr David Kelly. It is a story about the Government and the case for war against Iraq. It is a story about the media and accuracy. It is a story about sexing-up and spin and denials and half-truths and leaks. Most of all, it is a story about power. About how those who have it use it. And what those without it think about it.
Perhaps no one will ever know for sure why government scientist Dr David Kelly killed himself. He left no note, or none that has been published.
So Hutton has to gather as much evidence as possible and make a considered judgment. From what has been seen in the first four days of testimony, one thing is clear. Kelly became a lightning conductor for a lot of other issues, and a focus for a number of very powerful people.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
RED PLANET
Mars will not kill you, say astronomers
On Aug. 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than in nearly 60,000 years. This 'close approach,' as it's being billed, has some folks worried about potential dangers here on our planet.
Planetary doom prognostications pop up again and again because a handful of astrologers and self-anointed visionaries persist in disseminating garbage about how the positions of the planets can affect Earth by generating earthquakes, storms or other catastrophes. The Internet has made publishing of these false claims easy and more frequent.
"Only those who are foolish enough to think the motions of the planets have a bearing on their lives believe in this pseudo-science," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Night Sky columnist. He has been getting e-mail about this, too.
[The headline and opinions above are not necessarily those of the editor. In short the editor labours under the belief that there is a deep connection between us and the cosmos and that there is always the possibility that Mars will some day, some how effect your/my demise ... so be warned!]
On Aug. 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than in nearly 60,000 years. This 'close approach,' as it's being billed, has some folks worried about potential dangers here on our planet.
Planetary doom prognostications pop up again and again because a handful of astrologers and self-anointed visionaries persist in disseminating garbage about how the positions of the planets can affect Earth by generating earthquakes, storms or other catastrophes. The Internet has made publishing of these false claims easy and more frequent.
"Only those who are foolish enough to think the motions of the planets have a bearing on their lives believe in this pseudo-science," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Night Sky columnist. He has been getting e-mail about this, too.
[The headline and opinions above are not necessarily those of the editor. In short the editor labours under the belief that there is a deep connection between us and the cosmos and that there is always the possibility that Mars will some day, some how effect your/my demise ... so be warned!]
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Hiroshima bomber goes on show, without pesky "human' details
The Enola Gay - a B-29 Superfortress - unleashed an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," on the Japanese port city of Hiroshima, killing more than 140,000 people and leaving tens of thousands disfigured and suffering from lingering radiation illness.
Now, the refurbished aircraft is going on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
The current text for the Enola Gay exhibit does not include casualty figures from Hiroshima or show any photographs of the devastation the bomb caused.
Dik Daso, curator of the aeronautics division of the museum, told Reuters that death toll estimates varied widely and the exhibition space did not lend itself to a complicated display including details of the human cost.
The Enola Gay - a B-29 Superfortress - unleashed an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," on the Japanese port city of Hiroshima, killing more than 140,000 people and leaving tens of thousands disfigured and suffering from lingering radiation illness.
Now, the refurbished aircraft is going on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
The current text for the Enola Gay exhibit does not include casualty figures from Hiroshima or show any photographs of the devastation the bomb caused.
Dik Daso, curator of the aeronautics division of the museum, told Reuters that death toll estimates varied widely and the exhibition space did not lend itself to a complicated display including details of the human cost.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Snuff video found on military intranet
A scandal peaked when Defense Norway's military information technology management made the shock discovery of a 10-second black-and-white video clip of a Chechen soldier having his throat cut and his head partially removed from his body, while his screams are clearly audible.
Punitive measures are being considered after shocking examples of violence and hard pornography were discovered on internal computer network.
A scandal peaked when Defense Norway's military information technology management made the shock discovery of a 10-second black-and-white video clip of a Chechen soldier having his throat cut and his head partially removed from his body, while his screams are clearly audible.
Punitive measures are being considered after shocking examples of violence and hard pornography were discovered on internal computer network.
EARTH CHANGES
[With the rapid escallation in the number of earthquakes occurring around the world these days it is a full-time job just keeping track of them. But just as an illustration here are a few examples]
M4.7 quake jolts Tokyo, vicinity: An earthquake registering an estimated magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter scale hit the Kanto region, including Tokyo, on Monday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Quake rocks Tibet: A strong earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted southwest China's Tibet today (Aug 18).
Earthquake rattles area southeast of Nikolski: A moderate earthquake shook the area southeast of Nikolski on Sunday night.
The quake struck at 8:42 p.m. and had a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
Earthquake detected near Newark last week : A small earthquake occurred near Newark at 5:46 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, according to the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) at the University of Delaware.
M4.7 quake jolts Tokyo, vicinity: An earthquake registering an estimated magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter scale hit the Kanto region, including Tokyo, on Monday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Quake rocks Tibet: A strong earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted southwest China's Tibet today (Aug 18).
Earthquake rattles area southeast of Nikolski: A moderate earthquake shook the area southeast of Nikolski on Sunday night.
The quake struck at 8:42 p.m. and had a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
Earthquake detected near Newark last week : A small earthquake occurred near Newark at 5:46 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, according to the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) at the University of Delaware.
MORAL HIGH GROUND
15yo girl to receive 90 lashes for adultery
The decision of the Supreme Federal Court in the United Arab Emirates to reject an appeal presented by a 15-year-old girl sentenced to 90 lashes for committing adultery, arose wide disdain among ‘foreign residents’. The sad news, reported by the ‘Gulf News Daily’ paper, is however surrounded by mystery, given that neither the girl’s name nor nationality are known, though the paper refers that she is a foreigner and once her sentence is carried out she will be expelled. While in regard to the man, with whom she allegedly engaged in an “illicit relation”, the paper mentioned a sentence issued also against him, without however providing details.
The decision of the Supreme Federal Court in the United Arab Emirates to reject an appeal presented by a 15-year-old girl sentenced to 90 lashes for committing adultery, arose wide disdain among ‘foreign residents’. The sad news, reported by the ‘Gulf News Daily’ paper, is however surrounded by mystery, given that neither the girl’s name nor nationality are known, though the paper refers that she is a foreigner and once her sentence is carried out she will be expelled. While in regard to the man, with whom she allegedly engaged in an “illicit relation”, the paper mentioned a sentence issued also against him, without however providing details.
BIG BROTHER
Beware of VICTORY Act, US privacy group warns
A US consumer watchdog group is sounding an alarm over some pending legislation. The National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group recently read a draft copy of the VICTORY Act, which 'has some chilling implications for consumer privacy,' the group said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft plans to promote both the VICTORY Act and the USA PATRIOT Act on his ten-day, 20-stop tour of America, which begins on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
According to the NCC's Privacy Group, the VICTORY legislation is 'a grab-bag of enhanced police-state powers.'
[VICTORY stands for Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003. However it is just as much another insidious bit of Orwellian Newspeak. Just as his novel 1984 has been co-opted by the cultural arm of the global elite in the form of the global tv phenomenon Big Brother, now Victory suffers the same fate.
In the novel Newspeak expert Syme says, "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make Thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words in which to express it."]
[By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient.... Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.... [But] [w]ith the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end.... Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed. The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time. -- 1984 by George Orwell]
A US consumer watchdog group is sounding an alarm over some pending legislation. The National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group recently read a draft copy of the VICTORY Act, which 'has some chilling implications for consumer privacy,' the group said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft plans to promote both the VICTORY Act and the USA PATRIOT Act on his ten-day, 20-stop tour of America, which begins on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
According to the NCC's Privacy Group, the VICTORY legislation is 'a grab-bag of enhanced police-state powers.'
[VICTORY stands for Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003. However it is just as much another insidious bit of Orwellian Newspeak. Just as his novel 1984 has been co-opted by the cultural arm of the global elite in the form of the global tv phenomenon Big Brother, now Victory suffers the same fate.
In the novel Newspeak expert Syme says, "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make Thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words in which to express it."]
[By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient.... Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.... [But] [w]ith the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end.... Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed. The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time. -- 1984 by George Orwell]
CLASS PRIVILEGE
US elites celebrate patriarchy, racism and class privilege
The San Francisco Bohemian Club's summer encampment is the institutionalized embodiment of elite class privilege, a de facto celebration of race and gender exclusiveness, and a slap in the face to democratic process in the United States.
Members and guests from around the world recently completed two weeks of celebration, self entertainment and partying at their private 2,700 acre redwood retreat on the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. Described as the "Greatest Men's Party on Earth" -- women are prohibited from 90 per cent of the Grove and can only work in the main dining area, the skeet range, and the parking lots -- the members of the Club and international elites have been gathering in their redwoods for over 100 years. The collective corporate stock ownership by members and guests conservatively exceeds $100 billion.
[On June 4, 1994 a presentation at the Grove from a University of California Berkeley professor stressed that, elites are important and must set the values for society that are translated into "standards of authority," and that elites cannot allow the "unqualified masses" to carry out policy. The speech was given an enthusiastic standing ovation by the over 1000 men present.]
The San Francisco Bohemian Club's summer encampment is the institutionalized embodiment of elite class privilege, a de facto celebration of race and gender exclusiveness, and a slap in the face to democratic process in the United States.
Members and guests from around the world recently completed two weeks of celebration, self entertainment and partying at their private 2,700 acre redwood retreat on the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. Described as the "Greatest Men's Party on Earth" -- women are prohibited from 90 per cent of the Grove and can only work in the main dining area, the skeet range, and the parking lots -- the members of the Club and international elites have been gathering in their redwoods for over 100 years. The collective corporate stock ownership by members and guests conservatively exceeds $100 billion.
[On June 4, 1994 a presentation at the Grove from a University of California Berkeley professor stressed that, elites are important and must set the values for society that are translated into "standards of authority," and that elites cannot allow the "unqualified masses" to carry out policy. The speech was given an enthusiastic standing ovation by the over 1000 men present.]
ARTIFICIAL BRAINS
Microsoft worried 'son of blaster' could be nasty
[SHUTDOWN: A typical Microsoft Windows' response after being affected by the MSBlaster worm.]
Microsoft is worried "children" of the "blaster" worm that struck the internet last week could be far more malicious than the original.
[Ananova reported on Aug 20 that an internet "worm" has emerged which is designed to cure rather than crash computers. The worm - a type of virus - has already been dubbed the "Dirty Harry" of the internet.]
[SHUTDOWN: A typical Microsoft Windows' response after being affected by the MSBlaster worm.]
Microsoft is worried "children" of the "blaster" worm that struck the internet last week could be far more malicious than the original.
[Ananova reported on Aug 20 that an internet "worm" has emerged which is designed to cure rather than crash computers. The worm - a type of virus - has already been dubbed the "Dirty Harry" of the internet.]
EARTH CHANGES
All the disappearing Islands: real estate even scarcer
Despite the reef-building mechanisms of corals that keep atoll islands from succumbing to the waves, global warming could cause the sea to expand and rise faster than the corals could fortify themselves against it, and these fragile spits of sand might disappear beneath the waves that tossed them into being in the first place.
Faced with inundation, some people are beginning to envision the wholesale abandonment of their nations. Others are buying higher land wherever they can. A few are preparing lawsuits that will challenge the right of the developed world to emit the greenhouse gases threatening to cause the flooding of their homelands. But whatever their actions or inactions, the citizens of tropical island nations are likely destined to become the world's first global-warming refugees.
[Antarctic evidence to help global warming predictions : NZ scientists are leading a $27 million, 10-year research project at Antarctica to figure out how global warming will affect global sea levels in the next century.]
Despite the reef-building mechanisms of corals that keep atoll islands from succumbing to the waves, global warming could cause the sea to expand and rise faster than the corals could fortify themselves against it, and these fragile spits of sand might disappear beneath the waves that tossed them into being in the first place.
Faced with inundation, some people are beginning to envision the wholesale abandonment of their nations. Others are buying higher land wherever they can. A few are preparing lawsuits that will challenge the right of the developed world to emit the greenhouse gases threatening to cause the flooding of their homelands. But whatever their actions or inactions, the citizens of tropical island nations are likely destined to become the world's first global-warming refugees.
[Antarctic evidence to help global warming predictions : NZ scientists are leading a $27 million, 10-year research project at Antarctica to figure out how global warming will affect global sea levels in the next century.]
LIGHT RELIEF
The Great Blackout of 2003
[On the day that the lights went out in New York/Canada (etc.) there was a lot of pannicky talk of terrorists ... but there were also some of our stateside friends who took it well, illustrated here with some great posts to MetaFilter.com]
'I welcome our new Amish overlords.'
'Let's make some babies.'
'I just got a papercut but there was no evidence of terrorist activity.'
'We have power in Georgia. Also indoor plumbing, some of us.'
'DEFCON 1, Bears over the Pole. God bless you Richard Nixon, wherever you are.'
'Unconfirmed reports of a plauge of locusts heading from the south.'
'Somebody must have plugged in their Dancing Santa.'
[On the day that the lights went out in New York/Canada (etc.) there was a lot of pannicky talk of terrorists ... but there were also some of our stateside friends who took it well, illustrated here with some great posts to MetaFilter.com]
'I welcome our new Amish overlords.'
'Let's make some babies.'
'I just got a papercut but there was no evidence of terrorist activity.'
'We have power in Georgia. Also indoor plumbing, some of us.'
'DEFCON 1, Bears over the Pole. God bless you Richard Nixon, wherever you are.'
'Unconfirmed reports of a plauge of locusts heading from the south.'
'Somebody must have plugged in their Dancing Santa.'
BUSH BLAST
Idiot or Liar? Either Way, Bush Is Unfit for Office
"When a single individual combines ignorance, immorality, dry-drunk syndrome, a publicly proclaimed commitment to perpetual military domination of the entire world by his country, a publicly expressed belief that God personally instructs him to make war on specific countries and a wildly irrational born-again brand of Christianity that views the Battle of Armageddon and the consequent end of life on earth as desirable developments and, at the same time, has command authority over an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction more than sufficient to achieve the end of life on earth, it is difficult to argue that this individual is not the most dangerous person who has ever lived."
[Thus spake John V. Whitbeck in a special op-ed piece for Arab News.]
"When a single individual combines ignorance, immorality, dry-drunk syndrome, a publicly proclaimed commitment to perpetual military domination of the entire world by his country, a publicly expressed belief that God personally instructs him to make war on specific countries and a wildly irrational born-again brand of Christianity that views the Battle of Armageddon and the consequent end of life on earth as desirable developments and, at the same time, has command authority over an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction more than sufficient to achieve the end of life on earth, it is difficult to argue that this individual is not the most dangerous person who has ever lived."
[Thus spake John V. Whitbeck in a special op-ed piece for Arab News.]
FIRST CASUALTY
No 10 knew: Iraq no threat
One of the prime minister's closest advisers issued a private warning that it would be wrong for Tony Blair to claim Iraq's banned weapons programme showed Saddam Hussein presented an 'imminent threat' to the west or even his Arab neighbours.
In a message that goes to the heart of the government's case for war, the Downing Street chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, raised serious doubts about the nature of September's Downing Street dossier on Iraq's banned weapons.
[Hitherto unpublished official papers disclosed at the inquiry showed grave doubts at the highest level of government about its own case for supporting the invasion of Iraq. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, admitted a week before the publication of the Iraq weapons dossier that it did "nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat from Saddam", the inquiry was told yesterday.]
One of the prime minister's closest advisers issued a private warning that it would be wrong for Tony Blair to claim Iraq's banned weapons programme showed Saddam Hussein presented an 'imminent threat' to the west or even his Arab neighbours.
In a message that goes to the heart of the government's case for war, the Downing Street chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, raised serious doubts about the nature of September's Downing Street dossier on Iraq's banned weapons.
[Hitherto unpublished official papers disclosed at the inquiry showed grave doubts at the highest level of government about its own case for supporting the invasion of Iraq. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, admitted a week before the publication of the Iraq weapons dossier that it did "nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat from Saddam", the inquiry was told yesterday.]
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Another 'unembedded' journalist dead as U.S. troops shoot Reuters reporter
The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that U.S. forces near Baghdad shot and killed an individual later identified as a Reuters reporter in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.
Mazen Dana, 43, is the second Reuters cameraman to be killed since the US-led force invaded Iraq. His death brought to 17 the number of journalists or their assistants who have died in Iraq since the war began on March 20.
Dana, a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was earlier shot and killed while reporting outside the notorious Abu Gharib prison. Witnesses said he was shot by U.S. soldiers.
Abu Gharib prison, 25 kilometers outside central Baghdad, has become a focus of anger at the U.S.-led occupation, with accusations that many of the 500 inmates are being held in horrid conditions.
[The Guardian reported later that Journalists who were with Dana accused the soldiers of behaving in a "crazy" and negligent fashion. They claimed the Americans had spotted the Reuters crew outside the jail half an hour before Dana was killed and must have realised he was not a guerrilla carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Another Witnesses said Dana was dressed in civilian clothes. "We were all there, for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was accident. They are very tense. They are crazy," said Stephan Breitner of France 2 television.
Join the Committee to Protect Journalists in protesting this attack on the press.]
The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that U.S. forces near Baghdad shot and killed an individual later identified as a Reuters reporter in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.
Mazen Dana, 43, is the second Reuters cameraman to be killed since the US-led force invaded Iraq. His death brought to 17 the number of journalists or their assistants who have died in Iraq since the war began on March 20.
Dana, a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was earlier shot and killed while reporting outside the notorious Abu Gharib prison. Witnesses said he was shot by U.S. soldiers.
Abu Gharib prison, 25 kilometers outside central Baghdad, has become a focus of anger at the U.S.-led occupation, with accusations that many of the 500 inmates are being held in horrid conditions.
[The Guardian reported later that Journalists who were with Dana accused the soldiers of behaving in a "crazy" and negligent fashion. They claimed the Americans had spotted the Reuters crew outside the jail half an hour before Dana was killed and must have realised he was not a guerrilla carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Another Witnesses said Dana was dressed in civilian clothes. "We were all there, for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was accident. They are very tense. They are crazy," said Stephan Breitner of France 2 television.
Join the Committee to Protect Journalists in protesting this attack on the press.]
IRONY CENTRAL
Toyota tells employees not to drive their cars to work
Auto giant Toyota Motor Corp is urging the 28,000 employees at its headquarters in central Japan to make a mental gear switch and stop driving to work because they are causing a daily traffic jam.
'It may seem like a contradiction, but if you think about the problems we are causing to the community around us, it can't be helped,' said Toyota spokeswoman Monika Fujita.
'It's also quite meaningless to drive in a traffic jam,' she said.
Auto giant Toyota Motor Corp is urging the 28,000 employees at its headquarters in central Japan to make a mental gear switch and stop driving to work because they are causing a daily traffic jam.
'It may seem like a contradiction, but if you think about the problems we are causing to the community around us, it can't be helped,' said Toyota spokeswoman Monika Fujita.
'It's also quite meaningless to drive in a traffic jam,' she said.
POWER AND LIGHT
Uranium mine danger lasts for centuries
High levels of radioactivity found at abandoned uranium mines in the Pryor Mountains has prompted the Custer National Forest to close one area and the Bureau of Land Management to consider closures at other nearby sites.
"What we're showing is radiation background levels that far exceed natural levels," said Pat Pierson of the Beartooth Ranger District.
High levels of radioactivity found at abandoned uranium mines in the Pryor Mountains has prompted the Custer National Forest to close one area and the Bureau of Land Management to consider closures at other nearby sites.
"What we're showing is radiation background levels that far exceed natural levels," said Pat Pierson of the Beartooth Ranger District.
URBAN JUNGLE
Brave new world where windows can talk
The real offence in contemporary advertising is given by the medium rather than the message. Many share the views about advertising expressed by that highly respected media pundit, Mick Jagger, who sang in 1965 about a man coming on his radio, who was “ telling me more and more about some useless information supposed to fire my imagination”.
Now, the John Lewis Group is proud to announce new whispering windows in its storefronts. Based on US naval technology, messages and music can be transmitted through plate-glass windows to passers-by on the street.
We are moving ever closer to the nightmare envisaged by Ray Bradbury half a century ago in his classic novel Fahrenheit 451. In one memorable scene the hero, Montag, stumbles from a subway train, unable to form a thought against the incessant jingle for Denham’s Dentifrice pounding in his ears from the train’s radio system. His is a world enslaved by a media which cannot be turned off.
The real offence in contemporary advertising is given by the medium rather than the message. Many share the views about advertising expressed by that highly respected media pundit, Mick Jagger, who sang in 1965 about a man coming on his radio, who was “ telling me more and more about some useless information supposed to fire my imagination”.
Now, the John Lewis Group is proud to announce new whispering windows in its storefronts. Based on US naval technology, messages and music can be transmitted through plate-glass windows to passers-by on the street.
We are moving ever closer to the nightmare envisaged by Ray Bradbury half a century ago in his classic novel Fahrenheit 451. In one memorable scene the hero, Montag, stumbles from a subway train, unable to form a thought against the incessant jingle for Denham’s Dentifrice pounding in his ears from the train’s radio system. His is a world enslaved by a media which cannot be turned off.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Military leader condemns Iraq war game
General Sir Michael Rose, one of Britain's most respected and highest ranking soldiers, has condemned a computer game that features graphic video footage captured by US troops during the Iraq war.
The former head of UN peacekeeping in Bosnia and SAS commander said the inclusion of real-life footage in a 'gung-ho game' was morally questionable.
The game, Kuma War, is to be launched next year by an American company, Kuma Reality Games, and will enable players to recreate real missions, such as the raid that killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay.
Sir Michael said the idea of a game using footage shot by real soldiers in a conflict situation was 'bizarre' and threw up complicated moral questions.
General Sir Michael Rose, one of Britain's most respected and highest ranking soldiers, has condemned a computer game that features graphic video footage captured by US troops during the Iraq war.
The former head of UN peacekeeping in Bosnia and SAS commander said the inclusion of real-life footage in a 'gung-ho game' was morally questionable.
The game, Kuma War, is to be launched next year by an American company, Kuma Reality Games, and will enable players to recreate real missions, such as the raid that killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay.
Sir Michael said the idea of a game using footage shot by real soldiers in a conflict situation was 'bizarre' and threw up complicated moral questions.
TRUST IN GOD
Secret Vatican paper ordered abuse cover-up
A secret Vatican paper which threatened to excommunicate bishops around the world if they did not cover up cases of sexual abuse has been published in Britain and the United States.
Lawyers acting for alleged victims of abuse say the document proves the existence of a systematic campaign by the Vatican to hush up sexual abuse in order to protect Catholic priests.
The document focuses primarily on priests accused of propositioning congregants during confession, the rite in which the faithful tell priests of their sins. But it also instructs bishops to treat cases of the "worst crime", defined as obscene acts with young people of either sex or animals, "in the most secretive way".
"Everyone . . . is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office . . . under the penalty of excommunication," instructs the document, which was obtained from secret Vatican archives by Daniel Shea, a Texan lawyer.
The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said yesterday the 1962 confidential Vatican instruction should be "put in historical context".
A secret Vatican paper which threatened to excommunicate bishops around the world if they did not cover up cases of sexual abuse has been published in Britain and the United States.
Lawyers acting for alleged victims of abuse say the document proves the existence of a systematic campaign by the Vatican to hush up sexual abuse in order to protect Catholic priests.
The document focuses primarily on priests accused of propositioning congregants during confession, the rite in which the faithful tell priests of their sins. But it also instructs bishops to treat cases of the "worst crime", defined as obscene acts with young people of either sex or animals, "in the most secretive way".
"Everyone . . . is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office . . . under the penalty of excommunication," instructs the document, which was obtained from secret Vatican archives by Daniel Shea, a Texan lawyer.
The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said yesterday the 1962 confidential Vatican instruction should be "put in historical context".
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Westerners were the bombers: Saudis
Saudi Arabia has proof that seven Westerners released earlier this month were in fact guilty of a wave of bombings in the Kingdom but were pardoned in an effort to smooth relations with Britain, a Saudi official said yesterday. The statement contradicts reports in the British media about the newly freed prisoners.
Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, said Saudi Arabia reaffirmed that the men — five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian — had indeed carried out the bombings, which resulted in the death of one person and the wounding of several others.
“What happened is there was a series of explosions that were perpetrated by rival gangs who were involved in smuggling alcohol. We have the evidence, we have the proof and we stand by it,” Al-Jubeir told BBC radio.
[The Britons were not tortured while in captivity as friends and relatives have claimed, an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz told BBC radio.]
Saudi Arabia has proof that seven Westerners released earlier this month were in fact guilty of a wave of bombings in the Kingdom but were pardoned in an effort to smooth relations with Britain, a Saudi official said yesterday. The statement contradicts reports in the British media about the newly freed prisoners.
Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, said Saudi Arabia reaffirmed that the men — five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian — had indeed carried out the bombings, which resulted in the death of one person and the wounding of several others.
“What happened is there was a series of explosions that were perpetrated by rival gangs who were involved in smuggling alcohol. We have the evidence, we have the proof and we stand by it,” Al-Jubeir told BBC radio.
[The Britons were not tortured while in captivity as friends and relatives have claimed, an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz told BBC radio.]
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Palestinian security uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda agents
A senior Palestinian security official claimed Saturday his services had uncovered an Israeli plot to create a mock Al-Qaeda cell in the Gaza Strip, while an Israeli official dismissed the charge as 'absurd'.
Gaza head of preventive security Rashid Abu Shbak told journalists at a press conference that Israeli agents, posing as operatives of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group, recruited Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
'Over the past nine months, we've been investigating eight cases in which Israeli intelligence posing as Al-Qaeda operatives recruited Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,' said Abu Shbak, referring to a series of e-mails and phone call conversations.
[Is Al Quaida a creation of the West? Remember that in the 1980s the US backed Osama bin Laden and his colleagues to the tune of $3 billion to kill Soviets. In 1982 the US provided billions to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians and then in 2000-2001 the US gave Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in "aid".]
A senior Palestinian security official claimed Saturday his services had uncovered an Israeli plot to create a mock Al-Qaeda cell in the Gaza Strip, while an Israeli official dismissed the charge as 'absurd'.
Gaza head of preventive security Rashid Abu Shbak told journalists at a press conference that Israeli agents, posing as operatives of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group, recruited Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
'Over the past nine months, we've been investigating eight cases in which Israeli intelligence posing as Al-Qaeda operatives recruited Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,' said Abu Shbak, referring to a series of e-mails and phone call conversations.
[Is Al Quaida a creation of the West? Remember that in the 1980s the US backed Osama bin Laden and his colleagues to the tune of $3 billion to kill Soviets. In 1982 the US provided billions to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians and then in 2000-2001 the US gave Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in "aid".]
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US unveils new secret weapon: Saddam as a 'bombshell'
In a scheme likely to raise as many laughs among Iraq's hardline Islamic clerics as Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, troops of the 4th Infantry brigade in Tikrit are planning to put up pictures around the town of Saddam's face superimposed on the bodies of a busty Veronica Lake, a slinky Zsa Zsa Gabor, a grooving Elvis and British-born rocker Billy Idol.
The aim, apparently, is to so enrage Saddam's followers that they will draw themselves out. "
In a scheme likely to raise as many laughs among Iraq's hardline Islamic clerics as Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, troops of the 4th Infantry brigade in Tikrit are planning to put up pictures around the town of Saddam's face superimposed on the bodies of a busty Veronica Lake, a slinky Zsa Zsa Gabor, a grooving Elvis and British-born rocker Billy Idol.
The aim, apparently, is to so enrage Saddam's followers that they will draw themselves out. "
FIRST CASUALTY
Iraqi Commander 'saw USAF fly Saddam out of Baghdad'
Film will soon be made public of an Iraqi Army officer describing how he saw a US Air Force transport fly Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad. The explosive eyewitness testimony was shot by independent filmmaker Patrick Dillon, who recently returned from a risky one-man odyssey in Iraq.
In the film, the officer, who told Dillon that he commanded a special combat unit during the battle for Baghdad airport and whose identity is temporarily being withheld, explains in detail how he watched as the Iraqi dictator and members of his inner circle were evacuated from Iraq's capital by what he emphatically insists were United States Air Force cargo planes.
Dillon says his film lends major support to what many have believed for years: that Saddam was little more than an american tool, a stage-managed 'evildoer', just one in a long line of useful villains bought and paid for by the United States in order to better manipulate international politics and commerce.
Film will soon be made public of an Iraqi Army officer describing how he saw a US Air Force transport fly Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad. The explosive eyewitness testimony was shot by independent filmmaker Patrick Dillon, who recently returned from a risky one-man odyssey in Iraq.
In the film, the officer, who told Dillon that he commanded a special combat unit during the battle for Baghdad airport and whose identity is temporarily being withheld, explains in detail how he watched as the Iraqi dictator and members of his inner circle were evacuated from Iraq's capital by what he emphatically insists were United States Air Force cargo planes.
Dillon says his film lends major support to what many have believed for years: that Saddam was little more than an american tool, a stage-managed 'evildoer', just one in a long line of useful villains bought and paid for by the United States in order to better manipulate international politics and commerce.
DAMAGE CONTROL
Ashcroft begins campaign to shore up worrisome Patriot Act
US Attorney General John Ashcroft and his top aides are worried that a grassroots campaign to roll back the Patriot Act is gaining momentum. More than 140 local governments'including three states' have passed resolutions condemning the act as an infringement of civil liberties.
This week he will launch a cross-country barnstorming tour designed to shore up support for the USA Patriot Act'the controversial measure passed after 9/11 giving the Justice Department broad new powers to combat terrorism.
Ashcroft plans to swoop into 18 cities, give speeches, meet local officials and grant select press interviews touting department successes using the law. In a conference call and e-mails last week the country's 94 U.S. attorneys were instructed to help gin up support by convening "community meetings," writing op-ed articles in local newspapers and ensuring that uniformed cops are seated behind the A.G. during his visits.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft and his top aides are worried that a grassroots campaign to roll back the Patriot Act is gaining momentum. More than 140 local governments'including three states' have passed resolutions condemning the act as an infringement of civil liberties.
This week he will launch a cross-country barnstorming tour designed to shore up support for the USA Patriot Act'the controversial measure passed after 9/11 giving the Justice Department broad new powers to combat terrorism.
Ashcroft plans to swoop into 18 cities, give speeches, meet local officials and grant select press interviews touting department successes using the law. In a conference call and e-mails last week the country's 94 U.S. attorneys were instructed to help gin up support by convening "community meetings," writing op-ed articles in local newspapers and ensuring that uniformed cops are seated behind the A.G. during his visits.
Monday, August 18, 2003
EARTH CHANGES
Britain 'may face sudden Ice Age'
Britain may be basking in one of the hottest summers on record, but scientists now fear that the UK could face an abrupt switch to freezing winters and Icelandic summers.
Leading global warming experts suspect that climate change, instead of being a gradual and largely predictable process, could mean that Europe's weather patterns will worsen severely with very little warning. - independent.co.uk
Britain may be basking in one of the hottest summers on record, but scientists now fear that the UK could face an abrupt switch to freezing winters and Icelandic summers.
Leading global warming experts suspect that climate change, instead of being a gradual and largely predictable process, could mean that Europe's weather patterns will worsen severely with very little warning. - independent.co.uk
SKY IS FALLING
Meteorite smashes through ceiling
If you wait long enough, a piece of outer space itself will come right to you. As Colby Navarro worked innocently on the computer, a rock from space crashed through the roof, struck the printer, banged off the wall, and came to rest near the filing cabinet. This occurred around midnight on March 26 in Park Forest, Illinois, USA, near Chicago. The meteorite, measuring about 10 cm across, was one of several that fell near Chicago that day as part of a tremendous fireball. Pictured above is the resulting hole in the ceiling, while the inset image shows the wall dent and the meteorite itself. Although the vast majority of meteors is much smaller and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, the average homeowner should expect to repair direct meteor damage every hundred million years. "
If you wait long enough, a piece of outer space itself will come right to you. As Colby Navarro worked innocently on the computer, a rock from space crashed through the roof, struck the printer, banged off the wall, and came to rest near the filing cabinet. This occurred around midnight on March 26 in Park Forest, Illinois, USA, near Chicago. The meteorite, measuring about 10 cm across, was one of several that fell near Chicago that day as part of a tremendous fireball. Pictured above is the resulting hole in the ceiling, while the inset image shows the wall dent and the meteorite itself. Although the vast majority of meteors is much smaller and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, the average homeowner should expect to repair direct meteor damage every hundred million years. "
HEART OF DARKNESS
Amin terror joins history's infamy
I heard a curious noise outside the cell, as of an egg being broken.
They had just dragged away a man who'd lain on the floor. I did not know it then but other inmates of Idi Amin's military prison at Makindye told me later how the executioner used a sledgehammer.
"You were in the condemned cell," they explained. "They crack your skull."
It was just another barracks hut in Amin's Uganda, where three decades later his name, thankfully, belongs to history. His death on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, after almost a quarter century of exile, erases forever the possibility of any kind of comeback.
I heard a curious noise outside the cell, as of an egg being broken.
They had just dragged away a man who'd lain on the floor. I did not know it then but other inmates of Idi Amin's military prison at Makindye told me later how the executioner used a sledgehammer.
"You were in the condemned cell," they explained. "They crack your skull."
It was just another barracks hut in Amin's Uganda, where three decades later his name, thankfully, belongs to history. His death on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, after almost a quarter century of exile, erases forever the possibility of any kind of comeback.
DEAD SCIENTISTS
Iraqi weapons dossier sexed up, say senior experts
The Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons capability was hardened up in the days before its publication in a number of key respects that did not tally with the views of some of its most senior experts, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Scrutiny of documents released by the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly reveals that not only were key claims about the nature and extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction strengthened in the two weeks before the dossier's publication in September 2002 but that a crucial change was made to the title.
Right up until the publication of the final draft, and as late as 19 September, the document was entitled 'Iraq's programme for weapons of mass destruction'. But on 24 September, when the Government published the finished version, it left out the words 'programme for'. - independent.co.uk
The Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons capability was hardened up in the days before its publication in a number of key respects that did not tally with the views of some of its most senior experts, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Scrutiny of documents released by the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly reveals that not only were key claims about the nature and extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction strengthened in the two weeks before the dossier's publication in September 2002 but that a crucial change was made to the title.
Right up until the publication of the final draft, and as late as 19 September, the document was entitled 'Iraq's programme for weapons of mass destruction'. But on 24 September, when the Government published the finished version, it left out the words 'programme for'. - independent.co.uk
NEW WORLD ORDER
Afghan opium is UK's problem, says Rumsfeld
Talking to US servicemen and women at a town hall meeting in Washington on Thursday, US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld said the opium production in Afghanistan has gone up since the fall of the Taliban regime.
He said Britain has taken the lead in trying to curb the production of opium, which is used for making heroin, in Afghanistan because "they have had the greatest concern about it. The United States has offered to help the UK."
[NB. The UK Mirror ran an item contradicting this statement saying, Britain has abandoned plans to wipe out Afghanistan's poppy fields despite fears this year's opium harvest will be the biggest ever.]
Talking to US servicemen and women at a town hall meeting in Washington on Thursday, US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld said the opium production in Afghanistan has gone up since the fall of the Taliban regime.
He said Britain has taken the lead in trying to curb the production of opium, which is used for making heroin, in Afghanistan because "they have had the greatest concern about it. The United States has offered to help the UK."
[NB. The UK Mirror ran an item contradicting this statement saying, Britain has abandoned plans to wipe out Afghanistan's poppy fields despite fears this year's opium harvest will be the biggest ever.]
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Momentum growing against Patriot Act
The Sept. 11 attacks convinced Congress that the federal government needed enhanced legal and investigative powers to pursue terrorists.
Yet in the two years since passing the Patriot Act, lawmakers have grown uneasy over Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of the expanded surveillance and detention powers. Not only are they leery of his requests for even greater authority, they are moving to curtail some of the tools they granted in the law. [...]
Justice Department officials are predicting dire consequences if Congress takes back the post-Sept. 11 powers.
The Sept. 11 attacks convinced Congress that the federal government needed enhanced legal and investigative powers to pursue terrorists.
Yet in the two years since passing the Patriot Act, lawmakers have grown uneasy over Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of the expanded surveillance and detention powers. Not only are they leery of his requests for even greater authority, they are moving to curtail some of the tools they granted in the law. [...]
Justice Department officials are predicting dire consequences if Congress takes back the post-Sept. 11 powers.
NEW WORLD ORDER
The Chains of Seduction
"Consider for a moment the symbols by which Americans defined their dream and pictured social reality: the Statue of Liberty with its Christlike promise of succour and compassion to the poor and wretched of the earth; the Declaration of Independence with its noble proclamation of respect for the equal and inalienable rights of all men and women; the unending public litany of adulation for American freedom, American individualism and American democracy; a near religious commitment to the American form of free-enterprise economic system, with its supposed almost immaculate joining of private interest to public well-being."
[Australian social critic Alex Carey, author of the seminal book, Taking The Risk Out of Democracy.]
"Consider for a moment the symbols by which Americans defined their dream and pictured social reality: the Statue of Liberty with its Christlike promise of succour and compassion to the poor and wretched of the earth; the Declaration of Independence with its noble proclamation of respect for the equal and inalienable rights of all men and women; the unending public litany of adulation for American freedom, American individualism and American democracy; a near religious commitment to the American form of free-enterprise economic system, with its supposed almost immaculate joining of private interest to public well-being."
[Australian social critic Alex Carey, author of the seminal book, Taking The Risk Out of Democracy.]
SLEEPING POPULACE
US officials are lying about suicide attempts at Guantanamo prison
Usually, when something happens over and over again, the total number of times it's happened increases. But with suicide attempts at Guantanamo, the total just sits there at 30, then somehow decreases a little, and then bounces back where it was a year ago — even as we're told that most of the suicide attempts occurred this year.
Yesterday, Associated Press reported the latest suicide attempt:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.
According to earlier reports, however, there had already been 30 suicide attempts at Guantanamo — a year ago.
CBS News reported on August 15, 2002:
Doctors at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reportedly say that in the seven months that the U.S. has been keeping al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners there, about thirty have tried to kill themselves.
And in October of 2002, covering news of still more suicide attempts at Guantanamo, BBC News also reported:
Two months ago, doctors said there had been at least 30 suicide attempts at the Guantanamo detention centre.
In May of 2003, the Associated Press reported two more suicide attempts:
These brought the number of suicide attempts to 27, said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the Camp Delta prison.
And now, on Aug. 14, 2003 -- almost a year to the day after CBS News reported there had been "about thirty" suicide attempts -- Associated Press reports yet another suicide attempt, which brings the total number of suicide attempts at Guantanamo ... back to 30:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.
Most attempts occurred this year, which officials and critics alike have attributed to the effects of the indefinite detentions on prisoner morale. Some of the prisoners have been held for more than a year and a half without charges, access to lawyers or indications of whether or when they may be freed....
Usually, when something happens over and over again, the total number of times it's happened increases. But with suicide attempts at Guantanamo, the total just sits there at 30, then somehow decreases a little, and then bounces back where it was a year ago — even as we're told that most of the suicide attempts occurred this year.
Yesterday, Associated Press reported the latest suicide attempt:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.
According to earlier reports, however, there had already been 30 suicide attempts at Guantanamo — a year ago.
CBS News reported on August 15, 2002:
Doctors at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reportedly say that in the seven months that the U.S. has been keeping al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners there, about thirty have tried to kill themselves.
And in October of 2002, covering news of still more suicide attempts at Guantanamo, BBC News also reported:
Two months ago, doctors said there had been at least 30 suicide attempts at the Guantanamo detention centre.
In May of 2003, the Associated Press reported two more suicide attempts:
These brought the number of suicide attempts to 27, said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the Camp Delta prison.
And now, on Aug. 14, 2003 -- almost a year to the day after CBS News reported there had been "about thirty" suicide attempts -- Associated Press reports yet another suicide attempt, which brings the total number of suicide attempts at Guantanamo ... back to 30:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.
Most attempts occurred this year, which officials and critics alike have attributed to the effects of the indefinite detentions on prisoner morale. Some of the prisoners have been held for more than a year and a half without charges, access to lawyers or indications of whether or when they may be freed....
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Saudi coincidence with US blackout
The greatest U.S./Canada black-out effectively blocked the wire-transfers of Saudi funds deposited mainly in money center banks in New York. The transfers scheduled to begin the Thursday afternoon of August 14, 2003, was to start with $98 billion, part of upwards of $1 trillion of Saudi monies in U.S. banks.
Canadian website cloakanddagger.ca claimed this was effected on purpose as a consequence of the bitter divorce between the Bush family/Carlyle Group and their now disgruntled business partners, the Saudi Royal Family.
"To try to divert attention from the treason of Bush, the occupant and resident of the White House began falsely blaming 9-11 on so-called 'Arab terrorists' supposedly financed by the Saudi Royals.
The Arabs were NOT direct participants, just orchestrated patsies, to protect the crazies high up in the U.S. Military, and the same mindset in the American/British Aristocracy, for which the Bushies are scapegoats and stooges."
The greatest U.S./Canada black-out effectively blocked the wire-transfers of Saudi funds deposited mainly in money center banks in New York. The transfers scheduled to begin the Thursday afternoon of August 14, 2003, was to start with $98 billion, part of upwards of $1 trillion of Saudi monies in U.S. banks.
Canadian website cloakanddagger.ca claimed this was effected on purpose as a consequence of the bitter divorce between the Bush family/Carlyle Group and their now disgruntled business partners, the Saudi Royal Family.
"To try to divert attention from the treason of Bush, the occupant and resident of the White House began falsely blaming 9-11 on so-called 'Arab terrorists' supposedly financed by the Saudi Royals.
The Arabs were NOT direct participants, just orchestrated patsies, to protect the crazies high up in the U.S. Military, and the same mindset in the American/British Aristocracy, for which the Bushies are scapegoats and stooges."
Thursday, August 14, 2003
NEW WORLD ORDER
Pacific warning to 'ugly' Aussies
Pacific countries should abandon their own currencies in favour of the Aussie dollar, an influential Australian parliamentary committee says.
The recommendation, which comes among signs of a more aggressive Australian approach toward the Pacific, has sparked a warning that it risks being seen as the 'ugly American' of the region.
The Pacific did not need a country that behaved 'in an interventionist sort of way', Tupeni Baba, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Pacific Studies at Auckland University, said yesterday. 'I think it will backfire on Australia.'
National Party finance spokesman Don Brash, a former Reserve Bank governor, believed most New Zealanders would be unimpressed about adopting the Australian dollar. 'Most New Zealanders would say no thank you very much.'
Pacific countries should abandon their own currencies in favour of the Aussie dollar, an influential Australian parliamentary committee says.
The recommendation, which comes among signs of a more aggressive Australian approach toward the Pacific, has sparked a warning that it risks being seen as the 'ugly American' of the region.
The Pacific did not need a country that behaved 'in an interventionist sort of way', Tupeni Baba, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Pacific Studies at Auckland University, said yesterday. 'I think it will backfire on Australia.'
National Party finance spokesman Don Brash, a former Reserve Bank governor, believed most New Zealanders would be unimpressed about adopting the Australian dollar. 'Most New Zealanders would say no thank you very much.'
RESIDUAL SPIRIT
Family video may show discarnate entity
Trevor Garvin was using the family video camcorder to film a panoramic sweep of the Belfast Lough shoreline when his wife Christina thought she glimpsed something odd out of the corner of her eye.
It was only when the family ran the video on the television back home that they saw what appeared to be a ghost walking past them along a pathway. The figure appears on the tape as a white outline, transparent at first, but with the benefit of slow-motion replays various features can be made out.
"When you slow it down, it's pretty impressive stuff," Christina said. "He turns his head towards us and you can see his elbows moving as he walks."
Warren Coates from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Research Association said "I would say it is a residual haunting, strange phenomena that are recordings in time. He is walking left to right (across the screen) and you can see its upper arms moving. It's not going to rock the paranormal world, but it will generate an awful lot of interest."
Trevor Garvin was using the family video camcorder to film a panoramic sweep of the Belfast Lough shoreline when his wife Christina thought she glimpsed something odd out of the corner of her eye.
It was only when the family ran the video on the television back home that they saw what appeared to be a ghost walking past them along a pathway. The figure appears on the tape as a white outline, transparent at first, but with the benefit of slow-motion replays various features can be made out.
"When you slow it down, it's pretty impressive stuff," Christina said. "He turns his head towards us and you can see his elbows moving as he walks."
Warren Coates from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Research Association said "I would say it is a residual haunting, strange phenomena that are recordings in time. He is walking left to right (across the screen) and you can see its upper arms moving. It's not going to rock the paranormal world, but it will generate an awful lot of interest."
CONJOINED TWINS
Egyptian mummy gives birth to two girls sharing one body
A 26-year old woman from a village in upper Egypt has given birth to a health baby girl with two heads, the Cairo daily Al-Akhbar reported on Friday.
The baby can move both heads, according to the newspaper, which also published a photo of the child. The baby was delivered by Caesarean section in a hospital in Assiut after an uncomplicated nine-month pregnancy. The baby was then brought to a specialist clinic in Cairo 'to carry out further tests and to establish how to manage this unusual case'.
[Note the use of the word baby, singular, in this report. Perhaps it is closer to the truth to consider this case as the birth of two babies sharing a body as in the case of the UK sisters Abigail and Brittany (photo). A photo accompanying the story shows this point by giving the names of the pair, Huda and Manal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Mahmoud.]
A 26-year old woman from a village in upper Egypt has given birth to a health baby girl with two heads, the Cairo daily Al-Akhbar reported on Friday.
The baby can move both heads, according to the newspaper, which also published a photo of the child. The baby was delivered by Caesarean section in a hospital in Assiut after an uncomplicated nine-month pregnancy. The baby was then brought to a specialist clinic in Cairo 'to carry out further tests and to establish how to manage this unusual case'.
[Note the use of the word baby, singular, in this report. Perhaps it is closer to the truth to consider this case as the birth of two babies sharing a body as in the case of the UK sisters Abigail and Brittany (photo). A photo accompanying the story shows this point by giving the names of the pair, Huda and Manal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Mahmoud.]
ZERO TIME
New theory of time rattles halls of science
A radical new theory of time and motion has some of the world's physicists doubting the claim while others laud the 27-year-old college dropout who came up with it, Peter Lynds.
In a paper published in the August issue of Foundations of Physics Letters, Lynds claims to see time and motion with unprecedented theoretical clarity.
Lynds refutes an assumption dating back 2500 years, that time can be thought of in physical, definable quantities. In essence, scientists have long assumed that motion can be considered in frozen moments, or instants, even as time flows on.
n the paper, "Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity", Lynds establishes that there is a necessary trade off of all precisely determined physical values at a time, for their continuity through time, and in doing so, appears to throw age old assumptions about determined instantaneous physical magnitude and time on their heads.
A number of other outstanding issues to do with time in physics are also addressed, including cosmology and an argument against the theory of imaginary time by British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. more...
[The Chief Editor of Foundations of Physics Letters (FPL) is Alwyn van der Merwe, a listed member of the Alpha Foundation Institute for Advanced Study. This may point to a conflict of interest. In a recent email to an associate the deputy director of AIAS, Lawrence Crowell, admitted that even if he knew AIAS's physics and math is a nonsense, being associated with AIAS helped him to get contracts from government labs.]
A radical new theory of time and motion has some of the world's physicists doubting the claim while others laud the 27-year-old college dropout who came up with it, Peter Lynds.
In a paper published in the August issue of Foundations of Physics Letters, Lynds claims to see time and motion with unprecedented theoretical clarity.
Lynds refutes an assumption dating back 2500 years, that time can be thought of in physical, definable quantities. In essence, scientists have long assumed that motion can be considered in frozen moments, or instants, even as time flows on.
n the paper, "Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity", Lynds establishes that there is a necessary trade off of all precisely determined physical values at a time, for their continuity through time, and in doing so, appears to throw age old assumptions about determined instantaneous physical magnitude and time on their heads.
A number of other outstanding issues to do with time in physics are also addressed, including cosmology and an argument against the theory of imaginary time by British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. more...
[The Chief Editor of Foundations of Physics Letters (FPL) is Alwyn van der Merwe, a listed member of the Alpha Foundation Institute for Advanced Study. This may point to a conflict of interest. In a recent email to an associate the deputy director of AIAS, Lawrence Crowell, admitted that even if he knew AIAS's physics and math is a nonsense, being associated with AIAS helped him to get contracts from government labs.]
AIRPORT CRAZINESS
Man dropped dacks for airport security
But by the time Martin Holness boarded an American Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Chicago, his choice of gray-and-black boxer shorts to was known to all and sundry.
Holness, 34, says an overzealous security guard ordered him to remove his pants and then fed them through an X-ray machine at a checkpoint as the humiliated passenger and scores of bystanders looked on.
The guard gives a different account saying Holness pulled down his own sweat pants and handed them to the incredulous guard after two quarters in one pocket set off the metal detector.
Dr. Louis Keith, a professor at Northwestern University Medical School who saw the episode, sides with the incensed passenger.
''An agent from TSA put his hands in the man's pockets, then I saw [the agent] take off his pants,'' Keith said. The doctor says he heard Holness ask the guard, ''What are you doing?'' but got no reply.
But by the time Martin Holness boarded an American Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Chicago, his choice of gray-and-black boxer shorts to was known to all and sundry.
Holness, 34, says an overzealous security guard ordered him to remove his pants and then fed them through an X-ray machine at a checkpoint as the humiliated passenger and scores of bystanders looked on.
The guard gives a different account saying Holness pulled down his own sweat pants and handed them to the incredulous guard after two quarters in one pocket set off the metal detector.
Dr. Louis Keith, a professor at Northwestern University Medical School who saw the episode, sides with the incensed passenger.
''An agent from TSA put his hands in the man's pockets, then I saw [the agent] take off his pants,'' Keith said. The doctor says he heard Holness ask the guard, ''What are you doing?'' but got no reply.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Australia's spy agency warns of biological, chemical attacks
A biological or chemical attack carried out by terrorists is "only a matter of time", said Dennis Richardson, the chief of Australia's security agency.
"Australia is a target because we are seen as part of the Zionist Christian conspiracy,'' Richardson said. ``The fact that we are in close alliance with the U.S. and the fact that we are clearly engaged in the war on terrorism does contribute to us being a target."
A biological or chemical attack carried out by terrorists is "only a matter of time", said Dennis Richardson, the chief of Australia's security agency.
"Australia is a target because we are seen as part of the Zionist Christian conspiracy,'' Richardson said. ``The fact that we are in close alliance with the U.S. and the fact that we are clearly engaged in the war on terrorism does contribute to us being a target."
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US tank crew cleared in attack on 'unembedded' journalists in Baghdad hotel
A US military investigation has concluded that the crew of a US tank acted properly when it fired on a Baghdad hotel filled with foreign journalists April 8, killing two television cameramen, the US Central Command said.
The tank fired at the Palestine Hotel after soldiers observed what they believed to be an enemy "hunter/killer team" directing Iraqi fire from a balcony on an upper floor of the hotel, the command said in a statement summarizing the findings.
The investigation "concludes that a tank from A Company, 4-64 Armor properly fired upon a suspected enemy hunter/killer team in a proportionate and justifiably measured response," the statement said.
Pentagon officials and military commanders on the ground in Baghdad knew the hotel was full of journalists, but failed to warn the tank's commander, the committee said.
A US military investigation has concluded that the crew of a US tank acted properly when it fired on a Baghdad hotel filled with foreign journalists April 8, killing two television cameramen, the US Central Command said.
The tank fired at the Palestine Hotel after soldiers observed what they believed to be an enemy "hunter/killer team" directing Iraqi fire from a balcony on an upper floor of the hotel, the command said in a statement summarizing the findings.
The investigation "concludes that a tank from A Company, 4-64 Armor properly fired upon a suspected enemy hunter/killer team in a proportionate and justifiably measured response," the statement said.
Pentagon officials and military commanders on the ground in Baghdad knew the hotel was full of journalists, but failed to warn the tank's commander, the committee said.
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Number of new moons goes sky high
Not too long ago, it was easy for an armchair astronomer to keep up to speed on the moons of the solar system. There was the Moon, of course, and the four Jovian satellites spotted by Galileo, those two around Mars, and some odd ones here and there - that weird fractured cue ball orbiting Uranus, for instance.
These days, though, it is tough to tell the moons without a scorecard. In the past six years, dozens of satellites have been discovered around the giant planets, more than doubling the total in the solar system. Jupiter is the current leader, with 61, followed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The tally for these four planets is 124 (the other five planets have only four among them), but that number is sure to change in the next year or two.
Regarding our own lunar companion, most astronomers subscribe to the so-called "cratering" theory to explain its creation: billions of years ago, a Mars-sized body slammed into Earth, projecting a mixture of rocky debris into space, some of which lumped together to form the moon. The remaining debris rained back down on Earth.
Not too long ago, it was easy for an armchair astronomer to keep up to speed on the moons of the solar system. There was the Moon, of course, and the four Jovian satellites spotted by Galileo, those two around Mars, and some odd ones here and there - that weird fractured cue ball orbiting Uranus, for instance.
These days, though, it is tough to tell the moons without a scorecard. In the past six years, dozens of satellites have been discovered around the giant planets, more than doubling the total in the solar system. Jupiter is the current leader, with 61, followed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The tally for these four planets is 124 (the other five planets have only four among them), but that number is sure to change in the next year or two.
Regarding our own lunar companion, most astronomers subscribe to the so-called "cratering" theory to explain its creation: billions of years ago, a Mars-sized body slammed into Earth, projecting a mixture of rocky debris into space, some of which lumped together to form the moon. The remaining debris rained back down on Earth.
SKY IS FALLING
Did meteorite slam Oakland?
Two employees of the Road Commission for Oakland County, US, found an impact crater outside the main garage near the employee parking lot. An object -- probably about the size of a fist or larger -- left a 30cm-by-45cm-by-8cm crater in the lot, which may not seem impressive until one learns that the crater is in 15cm of asphalt.
There is a good chance it was a meteorite, said David Batch, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
Two employees of the Road Commission for Oakland County, US, found an impact crater outside the main garage near the employee parking lot. An object -- probably about the size of a fist or larger -- left a 30cm-by-45cm-by-8cm crater in the lot, which may not seem impressive until one learns that the crater is in 15cm of asphalt.
There is a good chance it was a meteorite, said David Batch, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
CULTURE SHOCK
Fox network sues humorist over phrase 'fair and balanced'
Fox News Channel has sued liberal humorist Al Franken and the Penguin Group to stop them from using the phrase 'fair and balanced' in the title of his upcoming book. Fox News registered "Fair & Balanced" as a trademark in 1995, the suit says.
Fox News Channel has sued liberal humorist Al Franken and the Penguin Group to stop them from using the phrase 'fair and balanced' in the title of his upcoming book. Fox News registered "Fair & Balanced" as a trademark in 1995, the suit says.
LEADERS AND LIARS
Ten appalling lies we were told about Iraq
The mainstream press, after an astonishing two years of cowardice, is belatedly drawing attention to the unconscionable level of administrative deception. They seem surprised to find that when it comes to Iraq, the Bush administration isn't prone to the occasional lie of expediency but, in fact, almost never told the truth...
The mainstream press, after an astonishing two years of cowardice, is belatedly drawing attention to the unconscionable level of administrative deception. They seem surprised to find that when it comes to Iraq, the Bush administration isn't prone to the occasional lie of expediency but, in fact, almost never told the truth...
MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Cheney may avoid some embarrasing business
With a co-defendant's guilty plea, the focus of a federal weapons case shifts back to its key figure, David Hudak of Vancouver, accused of amassing thousands of warheads and training foreign troops in counterterrorist strategies in Roswell.
Hudak, president of Roswell-based High Energy Access Tools Inc., or HEAT, and co-defendant Michael Payne were arrested one year ago when the missiles were found. Payne pleaded guilty last month, acknowledging that he helped train soldiers from the United Arab Emirates in marksmanship and counterterrorism.
The prosecution had asked to have any mention of US Vice President Dick Cheney or Halliburton excluded from the case, contending Cheney joined Halliburton after the missile deal was finalized.
Hudak was indicted on charges of having about 2,400 shoulder-launched missile warheads, of illegally exporting military services and of using explosive materials while committing a felony. Hudak was also accused of several firearms violations.
With a co-defendant's guilty plea, the focus of a federal weapons case shifts back to its key figure, David Hudak of Vancouver, accused of amassing thousands of warheads and training foreign troops in counterterrorist strategies in Roswell.
Hudak, president of Roswell-based High Energy Access Tools Inc., or HEAT, and co-defendant Michael Payne were arrested one year ago when the missiles were found. Payne pleaded guilty last month, acknowledging that he helped train soldiers from the United Arab Emirates in marksmanship and counterterrorism.
The prosecution had asked to have any mention of US Vice President Dick Cheney or Halliburton excluded from the case, contending Cheney joined Halliburton after the missile deal was finalized.
Hudak was indicted on charges of having about 2,400 shoulder-launched missile warheads, of illegally exporting military services and of using explosive materials while committing a felony. Hudak was also accused of several firearms violations.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Russian Navy called to account for lost nuclear subs
There are four nuclear submarines of the USSR and Russia lying on the ocean bottom now.
Some time ago the Bellona environmental foundation appealed to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Ivanov in a letter and asked to publish information about accidents that occurred to Soviet navy submarines.
The letter said: 'According to the information that the foundation obtained from different public sources, breakdowns of nuclear powerplants occurred within the period of 1961 - 1985.
'It is known that as a result of the accidents some people suffered and radioactive emissions in the environment were registered. At the same time, the details of the accidents are still concealed from the community.'
There are four nuclear submarines of the USSR and Russia lying on the ocean bottom now.
Some time ago the Bellona environmental foundation appealed to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Ivanov in a letter and asked to publish information about accidents that occurred to Soviet navy submarines.
The letter said: 'According to the information that the foundation obtained from different public sources, breakdowns of nuclear powerplants occurred within the period of 1961 - 1985.
'It is known that as a result of the accidents some people suffered and radioactive emissions in the environment were registered. At the same time, the details of the accidents are still concealed from the community.'
INEQUITABLE LIFE
Life and death on the street
I think about these people who died without homes in LA. Then I think about how, on the opposite side of the country, in DC, the American president lives in a big white mansion. This middle aged president and his wife are wealthy and their college-going daughters will be wealthy. The president is the son of a president and a woman who were both born into wealth. These generations — grandparents, parents and children — have fed and will feed on the bodies of the men and women who die for them in their obscenely expensive foreign wars. They feed on the bodies of the men and women who work month after month, year after year to pay taxes so that the wealthy receiving massive tax cuts from the President will not have to pay taxes. They feed on the homeless, devouring money that could be used to house, feed and care for those sick in mind and body with nowhere else to go. They fed on John Doe who had only $1.22 when he died. They fed on Jane Doe, whose dying request was for some tomatoes.
And the life cycle of the maggots continues…
I think about these people who died without homes in LA. Then I think about how, on the opposite side of the country, in DC, the American president lives in a big white mansion. This middle aged president and his wife are wealthy and their college-going daughters will be wealthy. The president is the son of a president and a woman who were both born into wealth. These generations — grandparents, parents and children — have fed and will feed on the bodies of the men and women who die for them in their obscenely expensive foreign wars. They feed on the bodies of the men and women who work month after month, year after year to pay taxes so that the wealthy receiving massive tax cuts from the President will not have to pay taxes. They feed on the homeless, devouring money that could be used to house, feed and care for those sick in mind and body with nowhere else to go. They fed on John Doe who had only $1.22 when he died. They fed on Jane Doe, whose dying request was for some tomatoes.
And the life cycle of the maggots continues…
OUR NON-LOCAL UNIVERSE
Top scientists have their Eureka moment
Two researchers from the Australian National University, Ping Koy Lam and Warwick Brown, won awards, at the Australian Museum's Eureka Prizes in Sydney, for inspiring science for their work showing quantum teleportation is possible.
Two researchers from the Australian National University, Ping Koy Lam and Warwick Brown, won awards, at the Australian Museum's Eureka Prizes in Sydney, for inspiring science for their work showing quantum teleportation is possible.
CONSPIRACY
Bush administration promotes ideology over science
The Administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists.' So stand the charges leveled against the Administration by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D.-Calif.) and the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee's impressively titled special investigation division. Their 33 page report (found at Politicsand Science.org) represents a litany of charges against the Bush administration for unwarranted political interference with science. Yet the report, in its desperate attempt to score political points, is as guilty as its targets of confusing politics and science. Those who wish to see science defended need something better than this.
The Administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists.' So stand the charges leveled against the Administration by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D.-Calif.) and the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee's impressively titled special investigation division. Their 33 page report (found at Politicsand Science.org) represents a litany of charges against the Bush administration for unwarranted political interference with science. Yet the report, in its desperate attempt to score political points, is as guilty as its targets of confusing politics and science. Those who wish to see science defended need something better than this.
UNIVERSAL MIND
God's physics experiment
Physicist Stephen M. Barr has fired the latest broadside in the contentious debate over what science tells us about the existence of God. His book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith presents a case that developments in physics and related fields give support to the idea of a cosmic designer and indeed fit well with the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Barr, a professor of physics at the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute asserts that scientific advances of the past century comport better with the expectations of religious believers than with those of scientific materialists.
Physicist Stephen M. Barr has fired the latest broadside in the contentious debate over what science tells us about the existence of God. His book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith presents a case that developments in physics and related fields give support to the idea of a cosmic designer and indeed fit well with the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Barr, a professor of physics at the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute asserts that scientific advances of the past century comport better with the expectations of religious believers than with those of scientific materialists.
UNIVERSAL MIND
Consciousness behind creation of the universes we perceive
A new book titled Biocosm, by James N. Gardner, speculates about life's role in the cosmos.
Gardner's hypothesis is called the Selfish Biocosm. It states that intelligent life plays a key role in a cosmological cycle whereby the universe, over enormous timescales, creates new copies of itself. The laws of physics, in this view, strongly favor the emergence of life and intelligence -- and indeed are designed to do so. However, this design is not of supernatural origin.
Describing the ekpyrotic cycle between 'big bangs' Gardner says there may be a closed timelike curve -- a gravitational warping of space and time such that future events can influence the past. Thus, the universe may have been created by its own inhabitants.
A new book titled Biocosm, by James N. Gardner, speculates about life's role in the cosmos.
Gardner's hypothesis is called the Selfish Biocosm. It states that intelligent life plays a key role in a cosmological cycle whereby the universe, over enormous timescales, creates new copies of itself. The laws of physics, in this view, strongly favor the emergence of life and intelligence -- and indeed are designed to do so. However, this design is not of supernatural origin.
Describing the ekpyrotic cycle between 'big bangs' Gardner says there may be a closed timelike curve -- a gravitational warping of space and time such that future events can influence the past. Thus, the universe may have been created by its own inhabitants.
MAD SCIENCE
Scientists designing spacecraft to crash into comet
Engineers are getting ready to test equipment which will propel a spacecraft into Comet Tempel 130 million kilometres from earth.
The craft will be about 0.6m high and 1.3m wide with a large copper nose that will be able to smash into the comet, traveling at 22,000 mph, creating a crater.
Another spacecraft will record the image of the collision using two high-powered telescopes to see what kinds of chemicals are released from the comet after the impact.
Engineers are getting ready to test equipment which will propel a spacecraft into Comet Tempel 130 million kilometres from earth.
The craft will be about 0.6m high and 1.3m wide with a large copper nose that will be able to smash into the comet, traveling at 22,000 mph, creating a crater.
Another spacecraft will record the image of the collision using two high-powered telescopes to see what kinds of chemicals are released from the comet after the impact.
FORGIVENESS
Armless Iraqi boy bears no grudges for US bombing
A boy whose armless torso, horrific burns and haunted eyes symbolized civilian suffering in the Iraq war smiled for the cameras Monday and said he bore no grudges against U.S. forces for his injuries.
Ali Ismaeel Abbas, 13, victim of a U.S. bombing raid on Baghdad that killed his parents and other family members, spoke to reporters at Queen Mary's Hospital in London where he and another Iraqi boy are due to be fitted with artificial limbs.
The Kuwaiti government has said it will foot the bill for all medical care.
A boy whose armless torso, horrific burns and haunted eyes symbolized civilian suffering in the Iraq war smiled for the cameras Monday and said he bore no grudges against U.S. forces for his injuries.
Ali Ismaeel Abbas, 13, victim of a U.S. bombing raid on Baghdad that killed his parents and other family members, spoke to reporters at Queen Mary's Hospital in London where he and another Iraqi boy are due to be fitted with artificial limbs.
The Kuwaiti government has said it will foot the bill for all medical care.
BUSH KNEW
Air Force officer delivers blistering excoriation of Bush
A US Air Force officer in California recently accused President Bush of deliberately allowing the September 11 terror attacks to take place. The officer has been relieved of his command and faces further discipline.
"President Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama. His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed in the Oval Office by a conservative supreme court. The economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something on which to hang his presidency.... This guy is a joke. What is sleazy and contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain."
A US Air Force officer in California recently accused President Bush of deliberately allowing the September 11 terror attacks to take place. The officer has been relieved of his command and faces further discipline.
"President Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama. His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed in the Oval Office by a conservative supreme court. The economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something on which to hang his presidency.... This guy is a joke. What is sleazy and contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain."
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
SKY IS FALLING
Ulysses spacecraft sees galactic dust on the rise
Since early 1992 Ulysses has been monitoring the stream of stardust flowing through our Solar System. The stardust is embedded in the local galactic cloud through which the Sun is moving at a speed of 26 kilometres every second. As a result of this relative motion, a single dust grain takes twenty years to traverse the Solar System.
Observations by the DUST experiment on board Ulysses have shown that the stream of stardust is highly affected by the Suns magnetic field.
In the 1990s, this field, which is drawn out deep into space by the out-flowing solar wind, kept most of the stardust out. The most recent data, collected up to the end of 2002, shows that this magnetic shield has lost its protective power during the recent solar maximum.
Since early 1992 Ulysses has been monitoring the stream of stardust flowing through our Solar System. The stardust is embedded in the local galactic cloud through which the Sun is moving at a speed of 26 kilometres every second. As a result of this relative motion, a single dust grain takes twenty years to traverse the Solar System.
Observations by the DUST experiment on board Ulysses have shown that the stream of stardust is highly affected by the Suns magnetic field.
In the 1990s, this field, which is drawn out deep into space by the out-flowing solar wind, kept most of the stardust out. The most recent data, collected up to the end of 2002, shows that this magnetic shield has lost its protective power during the recent solar maximum.
ROUGH JUSTICE
Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner may plead guilty: report
Accused Australian Taliban fighter David Hicks may plead guilty to war crimes and terrorism in exchange for a firm release date, according to a US news report.
The Wall Street Journal is quoting unnamed sources as saying that US Government officials have negotiated a plea bargain, even before Mr Hicks is charged. A Pentagon spokesman has denied the report but did not rule out the possibility of a plea bargain.
Mr Hicks's Australian lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said, "It's extremely unfair on him if they've gone to him and said 'well look, you have a choice here, you can either face a military tribunal with a possibility of a death penalty or you can plead guilty to, say, 20 years'."
A Pentagon spokesman has denied the report but did not rule out the possibility of a plea bargain.
Accused Australian Taliban fighter David Hicks may plead guilty to war crimes and terrorism in exchange for a firm release date, according to a US news report.
The Wall Street Journal is quoting unnamed sources as saying that US Government officials have negotiated a plea bargain, even before Mr Hicks is charged. A Pentagon spokesman has denied the report but did not rule out the possibility of a plea bargain.
Mr Hicks's Australian lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said, "It's extremely unfair on him if they've gone to him and said 'well look, you have a choice here, you can either face a military tribunal with a possibility of a death penalty or you can plead guilty to, say, 20 years'."
A Pentagon spokesman has denied the report but did not rule out the possibility of a plea bargain.
BLOOD LUST
Prince William spears a dik-dik
Britain's royal family is once again the target of animal rights activists after Prince William reportedly speared an antelope to death during his Kenyan holiday.
The 21-year-old Prince, the second in line to the British throne, is said to have made the kill after throwing a two-metre wooden spear at a dik-dik, a breed of small antelope common in northeast Africa.
The score has reignited a long-standing controversy over the royals' apparent love affair with blood sports, and animal aficionados were quick to condemn the Prince's actions.
Britain's royal family is once again the target of animal rights activists after Prince William reportedly speared an antelope to death during his Kenyan holiday.
The 21-year-old Prince, the second in line to the British throne, is said to have made the kill after throwing a two-metre wooden spear at a dik-dik, a breed of small antelope common in northeast Africa.
The score has reignited a long-standing controversy over the royals' apparent love affair with blood sports, and animal aficionados were quick to condemn the Prince's actions.
KERATOPHAGY
Woman eats mother's hair
An Indian woman who likes eating her mother's hair is recovering in hospital after doctors removed a half kilogram bundle of it from her digestive system.
The Tribune of Chandigarh newspaper reports Sulochna was admitted to a hospital in the Punjab city of Ludhiana after she complained of acute abdominal pain.
The woman's family said Sulochna routinely ate her mother's hair, but refused to explain where she had got the hair from.
An Indian woman who likes eating her mother's hair is recovering in hospital after doctors removed a half kilogram bundle of it from her digestive system.
The Tribune of Chandigarh newspaper reports Sulochna was admitted to a hospital in the Punjab city of Ludhiana after she complained of acute abdominal pain.
The woman's family said Sulochna routinely ate her mother's hair, but refused to explain where she had got the hair from.
SEX BOMBS
Teen prostitution for thrills on the rise in US
"Everyone Thinks They Are Runaways with Drug Problems from the Inner City... It's Not True, This Could Be Your Kid," Says Detective. Child advocates are especially concerned that pimps are increasingly targeting girls at the local mall.
Child advocates are just as worried about, and puzzled by, girls who aren't forced into prostitution but instead appear to sell themselves for thrills, or money, or both. Richard Estes, a University of Pennsylvania researcher, says so-called designer sex is becoming more common in cities across the country.
"Everyone Thinks They Are Runaways with Drug Problems from the Inner City... It's Not True, This Could Be Your Kid," Says Detective. Child advocates are especially concerned that pimps are increasingly targeting girls at the local mall.
Child advocates are just as worried about, and puzzled by, girls who aren't forced into prostitution but instead appear to sell themselves for thrills, or money, or both. Richard Estes, a University of Pennsylvania researcher, says so-called designer sex is becoming more common in cities across the country.
HUMAN PROGRESS
Israeli rifle takes aim at US ally's M-16
[A weapon inspired by the need to optimize the murder of innocent civilians.]
Israel is replacing its world-famous Uzi sub-machinegun and U.S.-supplied M-16 assault rifle with a new flagship firearm.
The design of the Tavor is based largely on lessons learned during military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against a 34-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence.
[A weapon inspired by the need to optimize the murder of innocent civilians.]
Israel is replacing its world-famous Uzi sub-machinegun and U.S.-supplied M-16 assault rifle with a new flagship firearm.
The design of the Tavor is based largely on lessons learned during military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against a 34-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence.
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