Iraq threat was not 'imminent', says White House ... just 'grave', 'gathering', 'urgent', 'mortal', and 'immediate'
The US White House has denied it ever warned that Saddam Hussein posed an 'imminent' threat to the United States.
'I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent'. Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering' threat,' spokesman Scott McClellan said.
But if US President George W. Bush never called Saddam's Iraq an 'imminent threat' in so many words, he said it was 'urgent'.
Vice President Dick Cheney called it 'mortal' and it was 'immediate' to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
NEW WORLD ORDER
Your friendly neighbourhood 'bobby' on the beat, now relegated to the realm of nostalgia.
Warrior cops: the ominous growth of paramilitarism in american police departments
The 1980s and 1990s have seen marked changes in the number of state and local paramilitary units, in their mission and deployment, and in their tactical armament.
According to a recent academic survey, nearly 90 per cent of the police departments surveyed in cities with populations over 50,000 had paramilitary units, as did 70pc of the departments surveyed in communities with populations under 50,000.
The Pentagon has been equipping those units with M-16s, armored personnel carriers, and grenade launchers.
The police paramilitary units also conduct training exercises with active hard core Army Rangers and Navy SEALs.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Albanian child traffickers posing as charity in Montenegro
With her big blue eyes and cute smile, four-year-old Angela would tug at the heartstrings of any parent. But like her five-year-old brother Aco and their friend Jovanna, blonde Angela is up for sale to anyone with enough cash to buy her.
Incredibly, the head of a British-funded charity is at the centre of this despicable trade.
We were shown children for sale - from 300 lire for a dark-skinned three-year-old gipsy boy to L3,000 for a blonde girl of four. Nadazdin works closely with two gipsy mafia bosses, Vlasnim and Arton Shkreli, who "harvest" the best-looking ones. Some are feared to have been taken as child sex slaves.
With her big blue eyes and cute smile, four-year-old Angela would tug at the heartstrings of any parent. But like her five-year-old brother Aco and their friend Jovanna, blonde Angela is up for sale to anyone with enough cash to buy her.
Incredibly, the head of a British-funded charity is at the centre of this despicable trade.
We were shown children for sale - from 300 lire for a dark-skinned three-year-old gipsy boy to L3,000 for a blonde girl of four. Nadazdin works closely with two gipsy mafia bosses, Vlasnim and Arton Shkreli, who "harvest" the best-looking ones. Some are feared to have been taken as child sex slaves.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
CONSCIOUS UNIVERSE
Scientists to study near death experience mysteries
In March Dr Sam Parnia and Professor Peter Fenwick will begin a year-long study, looking at patients who have had cardiac arrests to find out if they have had any experiences or memories while their heart stopped beating.
In particular they are interested in those who report an out-of-body experience, when the "experiencer" looks down on their body and surroundings from a height.
At Hammersmith Hospital and 12 other hospitals across the UK, symbols will be placed in strategic places so that only those who have an OBE will be able to see them.
"If these claims are verified" says Dr Sam Parnia, "then this will have a huge implication for science because what it would indicate for us is that our current understanding of mind, body and brain isn't sufficient and that it is possible for the mind/consciousness to separate from the brain at the end of life."
In March Dr Sam Parnia and Professor Peter Fenwick will begin a year-long study, looking at patients who have had cardiac arrests to find out if they have had any experiences or memories while their heart stopped beating.
In particular they are interested in those who report an out-of-body experience, when the "experiencer" looks down on their body and surroundings from a height.
At Hammersmith Hospital and 12 other hospitals across the UK, symbols will be placed in strategic places so that only those who have an OBE will be able to see them.
"If these claims are verified" says Dr Sam Parnia, "then this will have a huge implication for science because what it would indicate for us is that our current understanding of mind, body and brain isn't sufficient and that it is possible for the mind/consciousness to separate from the brain at the end of life."
EARTH CHANGES
Global warming may start new ice age 'within decades'
Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime by global warming, new research suggests.
A study, which is being taken seriously by top government scientists, has uncovered a change "of remarkable amplitude" in the circulation of the waters of the North Atlantic. Similar events in pre-history are known to have caused sudden "flips" of the climate, bringing ice ages to northern Europe within a few decades.
Ominously, the trends have accelerated since 1990, during which time the 10 hottest years on record have occurred.
Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime by global warming, new research suggests.
A study, which is being taken seriously by top government scientists, has uncovered a change "of remarkable amplitude" in the circulation of the waters of the North Atlantic. Similar events in pre-history are known to have caused sudden "flips" of the climate, bringing ice ages to northern Europe within a few decades.
Ominously, the trends have accelerated since 1990, during which time the 10 hottest years on record have occurred.
BIRD BRAINS
Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.
N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.
He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.
One N'kisi-ism was "flied" for "flew", and another "pretty smell medicine" to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
OUR ALIEN MASTERS
Cruelty to animals then, remorseless towards human suffering now
Psychiatric research tells us that a sign of a future serial killer is a child who delights in torturing and killing animals. Such individuals lack the emotions that make us human, but many learn to emulate those emotions in order to get by in society.
In May, 2000, the New York Times writer Nicholas D. Kristof quoted George W. Bush's childhood friend Terry Throckmorton: "'We were terrible to animals,' recalled Mr. Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out. 'Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,' Mr. Throckmorton said. 'Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.'
Psychiatric research tells us that a sign of a future serial killer is a child who delights in torturing and killing animals. Such individuals lack the emotions that make us human, but many learn to emulate those emotions in order to get by in society.
In May, 2000, the New York Times writer Nicholas D. Kristof quoted George W. Bush's childhood friend Terry Throckmorton: "'We were terrible to animals,' recalled Mr. Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out. 'Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,' Mr. Throckmorton said. 'Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.'
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US businesses learn to do the military two-step
The current US military invasion isn't overseas. It's in books aimed at business managers. Pick any branch of the armed services - even elite forces - and there's likely a book out now adapting its practices to the civilian workplace. The Elite Rangers book, by former Ranger Brace Barber, came out this month. Next month, Donald Wiley & Sons publishes Be*Know*Do: Leadership the Army Way, adapted from the Army's internal leadership manual. McGraw-Hill will reprint the Army manual itself.
Later this year, McGraw-Hill releases Becoming a Leader the Annapolis Way, by a retired Navy captain. Just after last Christmas came Business as War, by Ken Allard, former Dean of the National War College, and The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization, written by two ex-Marines and their professor from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Eric K. Clemons. And there's a battalion of others, including Leadership Lessons of the Navy SEALs, It's Your Ship: Management Techniques From the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, and Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way."
The current US military invasion isn't overseas. It's in books aimed at business managers. Pick any branch of the armed services - even elite forces - and there's likely a book out now adapting its practices to the civilian workplace. The Elite Rangers book, by former Ranger Brace Barber, came out this month. Next month, Donald Wiley & Sons publishes Be*Know*Do: Leadership the Army Way, adapted from the Army's internal leadership manual. McGraw-Hill will reprint the Army manual itself.
Later this year, McGraw-Hill releases Becoming a Leader the Annapolis Way, by a retired Navy captain. Just after last Christmas came Business as War, by Ken Allard, former Dean of the National War College, and The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization, written by two ex-Marines and their professor from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Eric K. Clemons. And there's a battalion of others, including Leadership Lessons of the Navy SEALs, It's Your Ship: Management Techniques From the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, and Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way."
Thursday, January 22, 2004
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Pilot's search for flight-simulator software spurs visit from state trooper
Julie Olearcek was looking for a computer game that her son could use to practice flying an aircraft, just like the ones flown by his mother and father, who is also an active-duty pilot. After searching the aisles without success for something that didn't involve fighting, Olearcek asked a sales clerk.
'He was alarmed by us asking how to fly airplanes and said that was against the law,' said Olearcek. 'I said I couldn't imagine that, but because (the clerk) was a little on edge ... I left.'
A few hours later, a State Trooper showed up at Olearcek's house incognito, shining a flashlight through a sliding door and tapping on the glass.
Julie Olearcek was looking for a computer game that her son could use to practice flying an aircraft, just like the ones flown by his mother and father, who is also an active-duty pilot. After searching the aisles without success for something that didn't involve fighting, Olearcek asked a sales clerk.
'He was alarmed by us asking how to fly airplanes and said that was against the law,' said Olearcek. 'I said I couldn't imagine that, but because (the clerk) was a little on edge ... I left.'
A few hours later, a State Trooper showed up at Olearcek's house incognito, shining a flashlight through a sliding door and tapping on the glass.
EARTH CHANGES
Left: Rarely seen: a "hole-punch" cloud seen over Alabama, US, in December last year. RIGHT: Another over Bribie Island, Australia.
'Hole in sky' amazes scientists
A giant hole that appeared in a uniform layer of cloud over Mobile, Alabama, in the US, has produced some intriguing photos.
Strictly speaking there is no scientific term for the apparition, and what exactly it is has been the subject of much meteorological speculation.
One hypothesis is that the hole is made by falling ice-crystals that could have come from the exhaust of a passing aircraft.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Computer voting is open to easy fraud, experts say
Diebold is a blue chip voting software company responsible for programming about 33,000 ballot casting machines acrossthe US. In the first large test of its software "by recognized computer security experts," reports the New York Times , "serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected" were discovered.
We found some stunning, stunning flaws,' said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States.
[Diebold has a strong presence in Australia, so expect to be using the voting machines here soon because as one comentator pointed out: Stuffing ballot boxes is old fashioned, to steal big - you gotta use computers!]
Department of Defence behind dodgy internet voting system
A new $22 million system to allow soldiers and other Americans overseas to vote via the Internet is inherently insecure and should be abandoned, according to members of a panel of computer security experts asked by the government to review the program. The system, Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, was developed with financing from the Department of Defense and will first be used in this year's primaries and general election.
A spokesman for the Department of Defense said the critique overstated the importance of the security risks in online voting. "The Department of Defense stands by the SERVE program," the spokesman, Glenn Flood, said. "We feel it's right on, at this point, and we're going to use it."
[“I have no question that somebody who's smart enough with a computer could probably rig it to mis-tabulate. Whether that has happened yet I don't know. It's going to be virtually undetectable if it's done correctly..." -- Randal H. Erben, Special Counsel on ballot integrity for President Reagan. More ...]
Diebold is a blue chip voting software company responsible for programming about 33,000 ballot casting machines acrossthe US. In the first large test of its software "by recognized computer security experts," reports the New York Times , "serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected" were discovered.
We found some stunning, stunning flaws,' said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States.
[Diebold has a strong presence in Australia, so expect to be using the voting machines here soon because as one comentator pointed out: Stuffing ballot boxes is old fashioned, to steal big - you gotta use computers!]
Department of Defence behind dodgy internet voting system
A new $22 million system to allow soldiers and other Americans overseas to vote via the Internet is inherently insecure and should be abandoned, according to members of a panel of computer security experts asked by the government to review the program. The system, Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, was developed with financing from the Department of Defense and will first be used in this year's primaries and general election.
A spokesman for the Department of Defense said the critique overstated the importance of the security risks in online voting. "The Department of Defense stands by the SERVE program," the spokesman, Glenn Flood, said. "We feel it's right on, at this point, and we're going to use it."
[“I have no question that somebody who's smart enough with a computer could probably rig it to mis-tabulate. Whether that has happened yet I don't know. It's going to be virtually undetectable if it's done correctly..." -- Randal H. Erben, Special Counsel on ballot integrity for President Reagan. More ...]
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
OUR ALIEN MASTERS
Bush by the numbers
On the heels of Bush's State of the Union address tonight, and before we hear the whitewashed version he will try to sell, let's look at the numbers which we know won't be mentioned...
232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004
501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far
0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945
0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed
0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq
On the heels of Bush's State of the Union address tonight, and before we hear the whitewashed version he will try to sell, let's look at the numbers which we know won't be mentioned...
232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004
501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far
0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945
0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed
0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
MYSTERIOUS DNA
Outcry greets claim of first human clone breakthrough
THE controversial scientist who claims to have transferred a cloned human embryo into the womb of a 35-year-old woman was condemned last night despite scepticism about the truth of his announcement.
Dr Panos Zavos said the woman was post-menopause and her husband incapable of producing sperm. An egg has been combined with the nucleus of a skin cell taken from her husband to create an apparently viable embryo, Zavos explained. While the embryo has been transferred into the womb of the would-be mother, it is not yet known whether it will result in a pregnancy, an outcome which has a likelihood of only 30%.
Dr Paul Rainsbury, consultant gynaecologist and medical director of the Regional Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Bupa Roding Hospital in Ilford, who shared a platform with Zavos at the press conference, supported the cloning programme.
“I think [cloning] has a use for men who have absolutely no sperm. For couples who refuse to accept donor sperm their choice is either to try this technology (human cloning) or remain childless. I think this embryo was implanted. I have no reason to believe it didn’t take place.”
THE controversial scientist who claims to have transferred a cloned human embryo into the womb of a 35-year-old woman was condemned last night despite scepticism about the truth of his announcement.
Dr Panos Zavos said the woman was post-menopause and her husband incapable of producing sperm. An egg has been combined with the nucleus of a skin cell taken from her husband to create an apparently viable embryo, Zavos explained. While the embryo has been transferred into the womb of the would-be mother, it is not yet known whether it will result in a pregnancy, an outcome which has a likelihood of only 30%.
Dr Paul Rainsbury, consultant gynaecologist and medical director of the Regional Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Bupa Roding Hospital in Ilford, who shared a platform with Zavos at the press conference, supported the cloning programme.
“I think [cloning] has a use for men who have absolutely no sperm. For couples who refuse to accept donor sperm their choice is either to try this technology (human cloning) or remain childless. I think this embryo was implanted. I have no reason to believe it didn’t take place.”
EMOTIONAL ISOLATION
Wallpaper designed to offer trouble-free company for lonely hearts.
Wallpaper friends for wallflowers and lonely guys
If you’ve got the money, and you’re looking for a flat mate who’s "always friendly, doesn’t smoke, watches ‘When Harry Met Sally’ for the 100th time with you, doesn’t leave his socks lying around, doesn’t argue and always remains fresh and attractive", you now know where to find one. And the trend is picking up.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
MYSTERIOUS DNA
Pig-human chimeras contain cell surprise
Pigs grown from fetuses into which human stem cells were injected have surprised scientists by having cells in which the DNA from the two species is mixed at the most intimate level.
It is the first time such fused cells have been seen in living creatures. The discovery could have serious implications for xenotransplantation - the use of animal tissue and organs in humans - and even the origin of diseases such as HIV.
The adult pigs that had received human stem cells as fetuses were found to have pig cells, human cells and the hybrid cells in their blood and organs.
'What we found was completely unexpected. We found that the human and pig cells had totally fused in the animals' bodies,' said Jeffrey Platt, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplantation Biology Program.
Pigs grown from fetuses into which human stem cells were injected have surprised scientists by having cells in which the DNA from the two species is mixed at the most intimate level.
It is the first time such fused cells have been seen in living creatures. The discovery could have serious implications for xenotransplantation - the use of animal tissue and organs in humans - and even the origin of diseases such as HIV.
The adult pigs that had received human stem cells as fetuses were found to have pig cells, human cells and the hybrid cells in their blood and organs.
'What we found was completely unexpected. We found that the human and pig cells had totally fused in the animals' bodies,' said Jeffrey Platt, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplantation Biology Program.
MIND CONTROL
'Jesus made me do it,' says Lindh's assassin
The man charged by Swedish prosecutors on Monday with the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said in his confession that voices in his head, including Jesus, told him to do it.
Prosecutors said Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, stabbed Lindh 10 times on her chest, stomach and arms as she was shopping at a Stockholm department store. The 46-year-old politician, who was touted as a future prime minister, died from her injuries the following day.
"It could have been anybody, but I heard the voices, I couldn't resist the voices," Mijailovic said.
Flashback: Killer caught on camera. More ...
The man charged by Swedish prosecutors on Monday with the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said in his confession that voices in his head, including Jesus, told him to do it.
Prosecutors said Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, stabbed Lindh 10 times on her chest, stomach and arms as she was shopping at a Stockholm department store. The 46-year-old politician, who was touted as a future prime minister, died from her injuries the following day.
"It could have been anybody, but I heard the voices, I couldn't resist the voices," Mijailovic said.
Flashback: Killer caught on camera. More ...
TIME MACHINES
Batteries, and aluminium collander for your head, not included
A man in Kansas will sell you a time machine and a heap of associated paraphernalia at very reasonable prices -- all you need is faith that this stuff works.
The box it all comes in may be the most useful part.
A man in Kansas will sell you a time machine and a heap of associated paraphernalia at very reasonable prices -- all you need is faith that this stuff works.
The box it all comes in may be the most useful part.
WATER WARS
The Middle East's deadly thirst
Israel has agreed an extraordinary arms-for-water deal with Turkey. Whether this goes ahead or not, water lies at the heart of Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbours and the Palestinians - and poses some of the toughest challenges for peace in the Middle East.
Turkey agreed an extraordinary plan to ship millions of tons of water in giant tankers to Israel in a deal linked to hi-tech weapons shipments to Ankara. A few years ago the plan was to pump fresh water between the two countries in an undersea pipe, but the project was deemed prohibitively expensive. The tankers will still cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and operate and yet provide less than 3 per cent of Israel's rapidly growing needs.
Israel has agreed an extraordinary arms-for-water deal with Turkey. Whether this goes ahead or not, water lies at the heart of Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbours and the Palestinians - and poses some of the toughest challenges for peace in the Middle East.
Turkey agreed an extraordinary plan to ship millions of tons of water in giant tankers to Israel in a deal linked to hi-tech weapons shipments to Ankara. A few years ago the plan was to pump fresh water between the two countries in an undersea pipe, but the project was deemed prohibitively expensive. The tankers will still cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and operate and yet provide less than 3 per cent of Israel's rapidly growing needs.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US military 'brutalised' journalists
The international news agency Reuters has made a formal complaint to the Pentagon following the 'wrongful' arrest and apparent 'brutalisation' of three of its staff this month by US troops in Iraq.
Although Reuters has not commented publicly, it is understood that the journalists were "brutalised and intimidated" by US soldiers, who put bags over their heads, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and whispered: "Let's have sex."
The US military has so far refused to apologise and has bluntly told Reuters to "drop" its complaint.
The international news agency Reuters has made a formal complaint to the Pentagon following the 'wrongful' arrest and apparent 'brutalisation' of three of its staff this month by US troops in Iraq.
Although Reuters has not commented publicly, it is understood that the journalists were "brutalised and intimidated" by US soldiers, who put bags over their heads, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and whispered: "Let's have sex."
The US military has so far refused to apologise and has bluntly told Reuters to "drop" its complaint.
OUR ALIEN MASTERS
The S factor explains Bush's popularity
What can explain US President George Bush's popularity? Are many people enamored of what he has accomplished in Iraq? Of how he has fortified our constitutional freedoms with the USA Patriot Act? Of how he has bolstered the US economy? Of how he has protected the environment? Perhaps they've been impressed with the president's personal integrity and the articulation of his grand vision for America?
t's the "Stupid factor," the S factor: Some people -- sometimes through no fault of their own -- are just not very bright.
You know these people; they're all around you (they're not you, else you would not be reading this article this far). They're the ones who keep the puerile shows on TV, who appear as regular recipients of the Darwin Awards, who raise our insurance rates by doing dumb things, who generally make life much more miserable for all of us than it ought to be. Sad to say, they comprise a substantial minority -- perhaps even a majority -- of the populace.
What can explain US President George Bush's popularity? Are many people enamored of what he has accomplished in Iraq? Of how he has fortified our constitutional freedoms with the USA Patriot Act? Of how he has bolstered the US economy? Of how he has protected the environment? Perhaps they've been impressed with the president's personal integrity and the articulation of his grand vision for America?
t's the "Stupid factor," the S factor: Some people -- sometimes through no fault of their own -- are just not very bright.
You know these people; they're all around you (they're not you, else you would not be reading this article this far). They're the ones who keep the puerile shows on TV, who appear as regular recipients of the Darwin Awards, who raise our insurance rates by doing dumb things, who generally make life much more miserable for all of us than it ought to be. Sad to say, they comprise a substantial minority -- perhaps even a majority -- of the populace.
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