- We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free. - Epictetus (Roman Philosopher and former slave)
Blog
Friday, August 31, 2001
Margaret Sanger, "Comstockery in America," July 1915
"...The petition caused great agitation and aroused so much interest that a few years later the law was revised, removing the interference of religious prejudice, but the moral interference was left and Anthony Comstock then became the official guardian of American morality. "
"Since that power was entrusted to Comstock, it was most natural that he should "make good" and give some evidence of the need of his special service.
This he proves by sending out his minions of agents (Government spies) to tempt obscure booksellers to sell him a prohibited book. One case on record is of a father and son, running a book store in the lower East Side of New York City. The agents came again and again asking for a certain medical book. The father stated that he did not have it, and the agent then induced him to order one for him. The father, thinking there was a demand for the book, sent to the publisher and purchased a copy, which the Agent called for the following day, paid for it and turned around and arrested the bookseller. He was dragged off to court and was sentenced to one year in Blackwell's Island. The son was also fined, and as I have not the records here with me, I can not say if he was not also imprisoned. "
(OK, so an artical from 1915 isn't necessarily news but I think the scenario is pretty familiar and relevant.)
posted by Darin D on 8/31/2001 03:46:06 AM
Thursday, August 30, 2001
Drug War Facts
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
(H.L. Mencken)
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power
than by violent and sudden usurpation."
(James Madison, 1788)
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.")
(Albert Einstein, "My First Impression of the U.S.A.", 1921 )
posted by Death Angel on 8/30/2001 09:43:53 PM
Scientists Warn of Possible Atlantic Monster Wave
LONDON (Reuters) - The eruption of a volcano in the Canary Islands could trigger a ``mega-tsunami'' that would devastate Atlantic coastlines with waves as high as 330 feet, scientists said on Wednesday.
<..>
The tsunami would be capable of traveling huge distances at up to 500 miles an hour
posted by Darin D on 8/30/2001 06:08:36 AM
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
ABCNEWS.com : Should Marijuana Be Legalized?
And in 1976, the Netherlands decided to tolerate — meaning allow without legalizing — the sale and use of cannabis in some 1,200 licensed "coffee shops."
<..>
All drug use — not just marijuana — is decriminalized in Holland, but the growers who supply the drugs operate illegally and can face prosecution.
<..>
"Here, you don't have to go to jail if you're a marijuana smoker," says Lecesse. "The goal is to try to keep young people in particular away from the criminal drug environment that may get them involved with the harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin."
posted by Darin D on 8/29/2001 10:30:04 PM
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
The Village Voice: Features: Refuseniks by Alisa Solomon "Demonstrating on August 14, along with some 300 longtime Israeli peaceniks and Palestinians from the Arab side of the city, Shai and his cadre demand the return of the building to its rightful owners, the sharing of Jerusalem, the end of the occupation. And for Shai, there is another message: draft resistance. "
www.villagevoice.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/28/2001 12:17:30 PM
Monday, August 27, 2001
Reversal sought on drug ruling (8/24/2001)
In an extraordinary request, the U.S. attorneys from nine Western states, including California, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to immediately withdraw an Aug. 10 ruling that found Congress' 1984 sentencing scheme to punish major drug traffickers unconstitutional.
<..>
``The panel's decision will seriously hamper the government's ability to prosecute large-scale drug trafficking in this circuit,'' Bush administration lawyers wrote.
(in other words 'damn the constitution we need drug busts!)
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 12:55:25 PM
Drug laws in U.S. are called racist
UNITED NATIONS - Two hundred activists, civil rights leaders and celebrities urged the United Nations yesterday to challenge U.S. drug laws at next week's conference on racism, saying they discriminate against minorities.
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 12:48:20 PM
Reason magazine -- August-September 2001, The Roots of Racial Profiling by Gene Callahan and William Anderson
It is early in the morning, and the well-dressed young African-American man driving his Ford Explorer on I-75 sees the blue lights of the Georgia State Patrol car behind him. The officer pulls behind the sport utility vehicle and the young man’s heart begins to sink.
He is on his way to Atlanta for a job interview. The stop, ostensibly for speeding, should not take long, he reasons, as the highway patrol officer walks cautiously toward the Explorer. But instead of simply asking for a driver’s license and writing a speeding ticket, the trooper calls for backup. Another trooper soon arrives, his blue lights flashing as well.
The young man is told to leave his vehicle, as the troopers announce their intention to search it. "Hey, where did you get the money for something like this?" one trooper asks mockingly while he starts the process of going through every inch of the Explorer. Soon, an officer pulls off an inside door panel. More dismantling of the vehicle follows. They say they are looking for drugs, but in the end find nothing. After ticketing the driver for speeding, the two officers casually drive off. Sitting in his now-trashed SUV, the young man weeps in his anger and humiliation.
<...>
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 12:29:07 PM
The Seattle Times: A long-overdue debate on the 'war on drugs'
WASHINGTON — The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
<...>
Hutchinson will need all his skills in his new job, for the nation is clearly about to embark on a long-overdue debate on the so-called "war on drugs."
<...>
A Pew Research Center survey last February found that three out of four Americans believe "we are losing the drug war," and by a margin of 52 percent to 35 percent they said drug use "should be treated as a disease, not a crime."
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 11:38:52 AM
Security Software Spies on Workers (washingtonpost.com)
A Linthicum-based division of Raytheon Co., the defense and electronics giant, is selling software that lets administrators of big computer systems track and analyze the flow of information across their networks. The software also illustrates the tradeoff between computer security and employee privacy.
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 11:25:36 AM
FBI's 'Carnivore' Might Target Wireless Text (washingtonpost.com)
Federal law enforcement authorities may soon expand the use of a controversial FBI monitoring system to capture e-mail and other text messages sent through wireless telephone carriers, as well as messages from their Internet service providers
posted by Darin D on 8/27/2001 11:20:59 AM
Sunday, August 26, 2001
Guardian Unlimited Observer | Observer site Our brightest and best?
www.observer.co.uk
posted by Death Angel on 8/26/2001 08:04:48 PM
CogPrints: Browse by Subject: Animal Cognition
An archive of papers organized by subject.
CogPrints
posted by Amanda Polson on 8/26/2001 02:30:46 AM
Saturday, August 25, 2001
Engines of Creation - K. Eric Drexler : Table of Contents - The complete text of Drexler's book available online. - Enjoy
posted by Death Angel on 8/25/2001 02:19:34 PM
What is NanoTechnology? An introduction to nanotech.
www.nanozine.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/25/2001 02:13:00 PM
Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems "Nanoscale devices measure between 1 and 100 nanometers in scale, a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter. Unlike miniaturization to date, which has been top down -- that is, scaled down from larger to smaller -- nanoscale devices will be built up from the bottom, assembled one molecule at a time."
www.smalltimes.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/25/2001 02:06:09 PM
Japan Scientist Pins Big Hopes on Tiny Wonders "The tiny taurus, visible only through the lens of an electron microscope, represents a breakthrough in the field of nanotechnology, the manufacture of microscopic devices."
www.dailynews.yahoo.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/25/2001 01:59:31 PM
CNN.com - Source of oldest, rarest meteorite found - August 24, 2001 The Earth gains over 100 tons of mass every year , from a continuous rain of extraterrestrial material, including organic compounds, and just possibly - life.
posted by Death Angel on 8/25/2001 12:37:03 PM
Sunday, August 19, 2001
CorpWatch.org - DynCorp In Colombia: Outsourcing the Drug War DYNCORP Part 6:
"However, they were not part of the U.S. Armed Forces, but civilian employees of a private company called DynCorp, the new "privateer mercenaries" of a U.S. policy that now "outsources" its wars."
[...]
"Indeed, government contracts account for 98% of DynCorp's business. It contracts with more than 30 U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Defense, State Department, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Prisons, and the Office of National Drug Policy. About half of DynCorp's revenue comes from the Pentagon and many of its employees are retired military men."
[...]
"DynCorp is openly labeled "mercenary" by a hostile Colombian press, a charge they vigorously deny. A State Department official told CorpWatch that "mercenaries are used in war. This is counter-narcotics." But in Colombia, the line between the counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics has been blurred for many years."
www.igc.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:47:49 PM
Guardian Unlimited | Archive SearchDYNCORP Part 5: "DynCorp's five-year $200m contract with the state department requires it to fly crop-dusters over the Colombian jungle dropping pesticide on coca plantations. When crop-dusters come under fire, it is up to DynCorp helicopter pilots to provide support. In February a DynCorp chopper flew into the middle of a firefight with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) to rescue some Colombian policemen. DynCorp employees also ferry US-trained Colombian troops into battle"
[...]
"Janice Schakowsky, a Democratic congresswoman from Illinois, has been amazed at the secrecy surrounding companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money. "We are hiring a secret army," she said. "We are engaging in a secret war, and the American people need to be told why." "
www.guardian.co.uk
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:37:00 PM
Top Military Contractors
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:31:58 PM
DYNCORP Part 4 : This is a list of fiscal year 1998 contactual awards by the Department of Defense , ranked in order of dollar volume. DynCorp sits at #22 for that year.
www.fas.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:29:36 PM
Testimony of Adam Isacson, Senior Associate, Center for International Policy, May 1, 2001 "So I was shocked and dismayed when I turned on the news a week and a half ago and saw what was done to innocent civilians in the area. I wish now that we had investigated this policy more, explored the risks more closely, and tried to increase transparency over the way it was being carried out."
[...]
"Right now, we cannot say with confidence how much the United States is spending on its interdiction program in the Andes. We don't know how many U.S. military personnel and contractors are working in the region. We do know, however, that the U.S. military presence goes well beyond what most Americans would imagine."
[...]
"In Colombia, three spray-plane pilots have died in crashes since 1997, and in February of this year, contractor personnel working for the Virginia company DynCorp found themselves in a firefight with FARC guerrillas while performing a search and rescue mission in Caquetá department."
[...]
"Second, we need to put some limits on our use of contractors. This trend appears to be going too far. Congresswoman Schakowsky has the right idea with her recently introduced bill to cut funding for contractors working with security forces in the Andean Ridge. I hope that the bill inspires a lot of debate and questioning about the contractors, because Congress needs to take a good, long look at this."
www.ciponline.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:22:58 PM
CorpWatch.org - DynCorp-State Department ContractDNYCORP Part 2 : This is the actual contract DynCorp has with the State Department... " A. GENERAL: Inherent risks attend the INL counter-narcotics aviation program. The program is carried out in remote regions where armed confrontations with drug traffickers and, in some instances, insurgents connected with drug traffickers, are often possible."
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:13:13 PM
DynCorp--A $1.8 billion information technology and outsourcing solutions firm DYNCORP Part 1 : Have a look at this company website, and try to get a feel for what they do...
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 06:04:16 PM
The World at War A map showing armed conflicts globally, along with updates and information on various hotzones of strife.
www.fas.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 05:28:05 PM
Guardian Unlimited Observer | International | 'Star Trek' shields to protect supertanks Essentially, electromagnets would be used to dissipate the energy of an anti-tank missile or shell, like the force shields that protect the fictional Starship Enterprise.
www.observer.co.uk
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 05:08:49 PM
D.C. Prepares for World Bank Protests ``It's an attempt to deprive the people of this city and this country of the right to protest and we will not accept it,'' said Richard Becker, an organizer with the International Action Center, who was among a handful of demonstrators who gathered outside the news conference. "
www.guardian.co.uk
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 04:55:10 PM
Declaration of Independence [List of Grievances] These were the reasons given to justify the rebellion of the american colonies from a tyrannical King. The birth cry of our nation, if you will. How many of these acts has the modern U.S. federal government itself been guilty of? You might be surprised...
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 12:23:08 AM
Hate Crime Laws: Making Thoughts a Crime "The law historically has gone against punishing people for their thoughts, and that is what hate-crimes laws do. That’s what makes it so delicate," says Kelly Anders, a policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. "You have to make sure when you’re drafting legislation that you’re not punishing people for their thoughts. And that’s a very difficult thing, because that’s what it is."
www.cwfa.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 12:17:35 AM
The obscenity of thought crime "Traffickers and consumers of child porn don’t deserve jail time — they deserve execution. But the law that puts “virtual” child porn on equal footing with the real deal is nothing less than the criminalization of thought."
www.msnbc.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 12:07:37 AM
COLUMN: Clubs aren't drug paraphernalia "The war seems to have reached a new low as federal government is forced to take on a new set of tactics which are not only ineffective in fighting drug use and associated crime, but even go so far as to endanger innocent party-goers.
The latest focus of several local police task forces and the feds is raves and dance clubs. While the crackdown on raves has been going on for over a decade, a revival of an old "crack house law" from 1986 has put club owners and party promoters in danger of going to jail for up to 20 years or having to pay $2 million in fines. "
Thought crimes, anyone? This is yet another example of the erosion of personal freedoms within the United States of America brought about by the extremist, militarized War On Drugs. Given another decade there will be precious little left of our Constitution...
http://new.excite.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/19/2001 12:01:09 AM
Saturday, August 18, 2001
Jamaica: US Issues Ganja Warning As the rest of the "free world" moves towards legalization of this harmless substance, the United States simply beats it's chest more loudly than ever in desperation.
posted by Death Angel on 8/18/2001 04:20:16 PM
Fossil Fuel Cuts Would Reduce Early Deaths, Illness, Study Says "Reducing air pollution in just four of the world's largest cities--New York; Mexico City; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile--could prevent 64,000 premature deaths and 37 million lost workdays over the next two decades, according to research that examines the health effects of the use of fossil fuels."
www.latimes.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/18/2001 12:54:58 AM
Friday, August 17, 2001
Dead whale washes ashore "This is really, really sad," said Alvarado, her eyes welling with ears. "But what's sadder is that so many people nearby are just playing or ignoring the whale.
"It seems that people are only concerned about going to Starbucks.''
Thanks to LWB for the url.
www.ocregister.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/17/2001 11:53:25 PM
Thursday, August 16, 2001
FAS Comments on US Rejection of the BWC Protocol "The Bush Administration, which is a minority government, is intent on using its brief opportunity to impose unilateral security decisions on the rest of the world, and to do so in as irreversible a manner as possible."
www.fas.org
posted by Death Angel on 8/16/2001 11:15:32 PM
TIME.com: World -- Why Saddam Likes Getting Bombed "More importantly, the latest raids are symptomatic of an Iraq policy that's going nowhere. The reason for the strike was that the Iraqis have been more aggressively targeting U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the "no-fly" zones declared by the Western powers at the end of the Gulf War."
www.time.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/16/2001 11:00:58 PM
Images of Bush belie power grab "It has little to do with the way in which the Bush Administration is behaving. In fact, this ostentatiously anti-Washington presidency may see the most far-reaching expansion of federal power since the heyday of the last Texan who loved his ranch: Lyndon B. Johnson."
www.msnbc.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/16/2001 10:42:16 PM
The Register - I want one. -
posted by Death Angel on 8/16/2001 09:58:51 PM
SEA Home Page
posted by Amanda Polson on 8/16/2001 03:16:29 PM
Wednesday, August 15, 2001
DOD Can't Find $1.1 TRILLION - Rumsfeld Inherits Financial Disaster "The Defense Department cannot account for $1.1 trillion that seems to have vanished within the tangled system of financial accounting put in place by private contractors."
www.rense.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/15/2001 08:44:38 PM
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Bush vs. Earth
'nuff said...
posted by Kali Durga on 8/14/2001 09:49:51 PM
Monday, August 13, 2001
Calif. Drug Users Get Treatment, Not Jail (washingtonpost.com)
'California, known for its strict three-strikes penalties and its prison construction spree, has made a U-turn in the war on drugs. The felons are now patients.'
'Despite widespread opposition by the state's political leadership, voters last year passed Proposition 36, and starting July 1, all people convicted of simple drug use or drug possession -- even for the hardest substances, such as heroin and cocaine -- were no longer sent to jail, but instead had to be released and offered drug treatment.'
According to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan, ' "The people have spoken. They wanted us to try something else." '
Is this really the United States...?!
posted by Kali Durga on 8/13/2001 09:38:16 PM
NJDHSS Addiction Services: Directory of Programs Available "Research and evaluation nationally has demonstrated that the "Drug Court" approach is effective in reducing drug abuse and drug-related crime. Through the critical integration of the key components of enforcement, treatment matching, prescribed sanctions, close supervision, and coerced abstinence, the Drug Court program innovatively represents a court service that provides incentive to stay in treatment and assures certainty of punishment for non-complying drug abusing offenders. "
(Thanks to DBirchall for the url.)
http://www.state.nj.us/health/as/directory/court.htm
posted by Death Angel on 8/13/2001 09:30:53 PM
The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Guide for the New Millennium
The skeptics dictionary - another tool to add to your baloney detection kit
posted by Darin D on 8/13/2001 03:59:02 PM
Sunday, August 12, 2001
Regulator - Secret GM Crop Sites Must Be Made Public - Monsanto Refuses
"Bids to keep the location of 87 genetically modified (GM) crop sites secret have been rejected and the sites could be published on a government website in four weeks time."
www.rense.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 09:08:14 PM
Mysterious Goo In Lake Superior Baffles Biologists The Not So Great Lakes.
www.rense.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 09:03:48 PM
Dental Fluorosis: Smile please - But Don't Say Cheese! Fluoride is a great thing...
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 09:01:14 PM
Declassified Documents Point To US War Crimes In Iraq
The United States is knowingly violating Article 54 of the Geneva Convention which prohibits any country from undermining "objects indispensable to the survival of (another country's) civilian population," including drinking water installations and supplies, says Thomas Nagy, a business professor at George Washington University.
www.rense.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 08:57:40 PM
Why The Drug War Cannot Succeed
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 07:22:55 PM
Atomic Archive - Explore the History, Science, and Consequences of the Atomic Bomb A timeline of destruction.
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 03:09:18 PM
All about the clock
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." Oppenheimer on July 16th, 1945, 5:30 AM - quoting the Bhagavad-gita as the first atomic weapon was detonated.
posted by Death Angel on 8/12/2001 02:55:16 PM
Independent
'The US Air Force base that will be twinned with Fylingdales in north Yorkshire in George Bush's "Star Wars" plans is a potential radioactive hazard with sealed missile silos containing unidentified waste and an abandoned tip where rubbish was simply pushed into the pristine waters of the Arctic.'
...
'This week, The Independent revealed how 150 Inuit people were forcibly moved from their homes in 1953 to make way for the Thule surface-to-air missiles and how a legal challenge to reclaim their land will be heard by the Supreme Court in Denmark in autumn next year.'
posted by Kali Durga on 8/12/2001 07:10:25 AM
Governor Threatens to Bar U.S. Plutonium Shipments
'Charging that a large shipment of plutonium from nuclear weapons may be on its way to permanent storage in his state rather than to the temporary stay needed for processing, Gov. Jim Hodges has ordered the South Carolina Highway Patrol to draw up plans for blocking the state's borders to federal trucks bearing it.'
' "I'll stand squarely in front of the trucks, if that's what it takes to protect the health and safety of our people," he said. "In the meantime, we've got a range of options, including roadblocks. We are not going to be stuck with permanent storage of plutonium in our state." '
posted by Kali Durga on 8/12/2001 07:03:22 AM
Friday, August 10, 2001
New Scientist "America's spy satellites are not in the orbits the Pentagon says they are, according to a respected space analyst.
The errors will add to concerns over George W. Bush's plans to place weapons in space. If today's satellite orbits cannot be trusted, opponents reason, how will we verify the numbers of future space-based anti-missile lasers and anti-satellite weapons?"
www.newscientist.com
The Pentagon does not lie...
posted by Death Angel on 8/10/2001 07:12:03 PM
R&D Research & Development Unnatural Selection
"Suppose that we want to develop a race of homo superior, and to ensure this effort we don’t want future generations changing the basic plan. There are two avenues open to us. At one extreme we could initiate a pogrom program that would be tamperproof. Birth control is one facet of this, genocide another."
www.rdmag.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/10/2001 05:17:56 PM
Thursday, August 09, 2001
Uncle Sam: The war on (certain) drugs Here we have the biggest drug story of the day. Imagine the screaming headlines: "US government the world's leading drug peddler." It would surely sell papers. But the story passed virtually unreported, and with not a hint of the obvious conclusions.
www.zmag.org/chomsky
posted by Death Angel on 8/9/2001 04:43:08 PM
Media Examine Harris' Computers
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –– A Democratic leader on Wednesday accused Florida's top elections official of violating state law by allowing political work to be done in her office during last fall's presidential election.
...
An initial review of computer files in the office of Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who also served as co-chair of George W. Bush's Florida campaign, revealed documents endorsing Bush for president.
posted by Darin D on 8/9/2001 05:28:57 AM
Tampabay: 'They made me feel like a criminal'
BB busts the wrong man.
posted by Darin D on 8/9/2001 05:23:54 AM
U.S. cools toward land mine phase-out plan
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has backed away from a promise made by the Clinton White House that the United States will eventually comply with an international treaty banning land mines, because it believes U.S. forces may need to use the weapon, official correspondence indicates.
posted by Darin D on 8/9/2001 03:43:50 AM
One Dead In Italy - Eat the State! (July 25, 2001)
An Editorial about the anti-globalization movement
posted by Darin D on 8/9/2001 03:38:27 AM
Plan Columbia and the Andean Initiative - Eat the State! (July 25, 2001)
More on Plan Columbia from Eat the State
posted by Darin D on 8/9/2001 03:24:05 AM
Wednesday, August 08, 2001
Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Signature of life on Mars found in decades-old data
"Experiments done more than two decades ago on Martian soil collected by the Viking Landers 1 and 2 provided evidence that life might exist on the Red Planet, says Joseph Miller, Ph.D"
...
"Miller recently did a re-analysis of data collected by the landers, and found that something in the collected soil was apparently metabolizing nutrients "
...
posted by Darin D on 8/8/2001 06:06:26 PM
Cosmology Machine creates the universe
"The past, present and future of the universe is about to be revealed in unprecedented detail by Britain's biggest academic supercomputer called the Cosmology Machine, based at the University of Durham."
posted by Darin D on 8/8/2001 05:44:39 PM
Pravda.RU Bush’s IQ inferior to average man’s
"Among US presidents who have run the country over the last 50 years, George W. Bush appears to have the lowest Intelligence Quotient (IQ)." - No surprises here.
posted by Darin D on 8/8/2001 02:25:52 AM
Tuesday, August 07, 2001
The Animal Diversity Web One stop shopping. Highly recommended
posted by Death Angel on 8/7/2001 10:02:53 PM
Bush Defends Spending Month on Vacation
' "...I'm the kind of person that needs to get outdoors ... It keeps my mind whole, keeps my spirits up,'' Bush told reporters.'
Perhaps he should take that vacation and "get outdoors" in Alaska's Artic Nat'l Wildlife Refuge before his buddies begin drilling there...?
posted by Kali Durga on 8/7/2001 06:16:46 PM
CNN.com - Dr. Arthur Caplan: Ethics of human cloning - August 7, 2001
A more reasoable approach...
posted by Kali Durga on 8/7/2001 05:54:29 PM
CNN.com - Scientists blast human cloning plans - August 7, 2001
'Panos Zavos... and Italian researcher Severino Antinori...outlined plans to impregnate up to 200 women from infertile couples with cloned embryos in hopes that at least a few of the women will carry a child to term.'
...
'The most successful attempts at cloning have been with sheep, cattle and mice. Zavos said the very nature of science is experimentation, and failure would inevitably be part of the cloning process.
"You know, there's nothing out there that's 100 percent, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "And, you know, this world is loaded with imperfections." '
posted by Kali Durga on 8/7/2001 05:50:19 PM
Monday, August 06, 2001
RoboCup: Where Bots Kick Butt I'm sorry Dave, I can't kick for shit.
posted by Death Angel on 8/6/2001 10:47:32 PM
New Scientist "An accidental explosion in a German physics lab has led to the identification of a superpowerful explosive. The substance - an exotic form of silicon - releases seven times as much energy as TNT, and explodes a million times faster."
posted by Death Angel on 8/6/2001 07:08:45 PM
New Scientist Sake Sake GI?
posted by Death Angel on 8/6/2001 07:05:57 PM
Our Reefer Madness
"The Canadian government has just increased the number of its people who can use marijuana as medicine. As of this month, the terminally ill and those with chronic diseases from cancer to AIDS (news - web sites) to MS can turn their back yards into their medicine cabinets."
"Where does that leave us? U.S. citizens, who routinely cross the border for cheap prescription drugs, won't be allowed access to the Manitoba motherload. But if Canadians can't export their medical marijuana, it's time for us to import their policy."
posted by Kali Durga on 8/6/2001 06:25:21 PM
Team plans to clone up to 200 humans
"A team of reproductive specialists is expected to announce plans Tuesday to clone up to 200 human beings."
posted by Kali Durga on 8/6/2001 06:15:01 PM
Friday, August 03, 2001
CNN.com - Two U.S. carriers now in Persian Gulf - August 1, 2001
"The second U.S. aircraft carrier doubles, at least briefly, the available sea-based firepower at a time when the Pentagon is contemplating airstrikes against Iraq's air defenses."
...
"Iraq appears to be bracing for an attack. Over the past week it dispersed some missiles, radars and aircraft into a more defensive posture, according to Pentagon sources. " - Gee I wonder why?
...
"We reserve the right to strike targets at a time and a place in a manner of our choosing," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said Tuesday. " - I wonder how we were blessed with this right to destroy at will?
posted by Darin D on 8/3/2001 05:24:20 PM
Left Coast by Alexander Cockburn RAND Report Critiques Plan Columbia
"A good old-fashioned counterinsurgency war, designed to clear the way for American corporations to set up shop in Colombia, with cocaine as the scare tactic. Two recent Defense Department-commissioned reports outline in chilling terms the same strategy of ongoing military intervention under the cover of the drug war. Both urge the Bush administration to drop the pretext of counter-narcotics and get on with the business of wiping out the insurgents."
http://ww2.antiwar.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/3/2001 12:33:06 AM
Thursday, August 02, 2001
CNN.com - House OKs bill to drill in Arctic reserve - August 2, 2001
a "tremendous victory for America ... an important step toward meeting our long-term energy needs and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy." Forget about reducing that dependency through use of alternative energy sources...
posted by Kali Durga on 8/2/2001 08:18:27 PM
Pentagon Proposed Pretexts for Cuba Invasion in 1962 Operation Mongoose Exposed.
"These proposals - part of a secret anti-Castro program known as Operation Mongoose - included staging the assassinations of Cubans living in the United States, developing a fake “Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,” including “sink[ing] a boatload of Cuban refugees (real or simulated),” faking a Cuban airforce attack on a civilian jetliner, and concocting a “Remember the Maine” incident by blowing up a U.S. ship in Cuban waters and then blaming the incident on Cuban sabotage."
Declassified documents available through
http://www.gwu.edu/
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:52:10 PM
Shoot Down in Peru "Suspected" Drug Traffickers Are Subject To Aerial Execution?
"Our inability to define a reliable USG [U.S. government] policy,” the ambassador asserts, “leaves us unable to authoritatively resolve the current uncertainty about this aspect of DOD [Department of Defense] counternarcotics cooperation.”
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Declassified documents available through http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:48:59 PM
NSA outsourcing deal seen as key to IT modernization | Computerworld News & Features Story The $2 billion outsourcing contract that the National Security Agency (NSA) awarded yesterday to a vendor team led by Computer Sciences Corp. is expected to help revitalize the communications intelligence agency's Cold War-era IT infrastructure.
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The NSA operates the world's largest pool of supercomputers as part of its mission to intercept and analyze foreign electronic communications.
www.computerworld.com
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:34:50 PM
Do microbes rain down from space? Evidence for panspermia?
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:26:34 PM
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Illegal vaccine link to Gulf war syndrome
The common factor for the 275,000 British and US veterans who are ill appears to be a substance called squalene, allegedly used in injections to add to their potency. Such an action would have been illegal. Squalene is not licensed for use on either side of the Atlantic because of potential side effects.
www.guardian.co.uk
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:24:35 PM
Iraq Says It Can Beat Any US Military Attack Iraq denied on Saturday that its defenses had fired a missile at the U-2, saying U.S. officials wanted to create a pretext for a fresh military attack against Iraq.
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U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice declined on Sunday to speculate on when President George W. Bush might order an attack against Iraq.
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"But I can be certain of this and the world can be certain of this: Saddam Hussein is on the radar screen for the administration," she said on CNN's "Late Edition" program.
posted by Death Angel on 8/2/2001 06:23:00 PM
Study: World Population to Stop Growing
Study predicts global human population will peak at 9 billion by the year 2070 and then begin to decline.
posted by Darin D on 8/2/2001 01:33:48 AM
Wednesday, August 01, 2001
Freedom of Press?
"At the Justice Department's request, a federal judge jailed freelance writer Vanessa Leggett on July 20 on contempt of court charges after she refused to turn over notes, tape recordings and other material she collected while researching a book on the slaying of Doris Angleton in 1997."
...
"Leggett's jailing also has been criticized because it was done secretly. The hearing was closed to the public at the government's request. The transcript is sealed, and the judge's name was not released."
posted by Darin D on 8/1/2001 05:15:30 PM
Matching Faces With Mug Shots (washingtonpost.com)
Visionics Corp gets federal funding to develop facial identification system:
- "A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both and deserve neither" - Thomas Jefferson
posted by Darin D on 8/1/2001 12:12:52 PM
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