People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
with more than a quarter of a billion dollars: NYT
Glad someone thinks science is important.
Too bad science in the US is dependent on the whim of gazillionaires. Yay Bill and Melinda Gates.
That’s unbelievably sickening and disgusting that the NIH has spent such a pittance really towards aids funding/finding vaccine-or only been given that amount for research on aids.
Link
Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote — that Israel is always the victim. On Sunday morning, millions of U.S. citizens watched as the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, argued on the network television news show “Meet the Press” that the Israeli demolition of Lebanese infrastructure, targeting of civilians and total blockade of the small Arab nation was an act of self-defence.
[snip]
The so-called U.S. mainstream media has also largely avoided depicting the scenes of civilian carnage on the Lebanese side, with many referring to the onslaught as one that has targeted Hezbollah. In fact, the targets have so far included women and children, a lighthouse, a medical truck and a dairy factory.
[snip]
Palestine Media Watch, a group monitoring coverage of events in the Middle East, says it called CNN’s International Desk on Sunday to complain about the network’s lack of coverage of civilian suffering on the Lebanese side.
The pro-Arab organisation reported that the answer they got from CNN was “they did not have enough equipment and could not be everywhere at the same time”.
“I think it’s been strikingly one-sided in the coverage. The downplaying of the civilian casualties in Lebanon, I think, is fairly remarkable,” said Jim Naureckas of the New York media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).
“And the sort of acceptance that Israel is engaging in some kind of normal behaviour by responding to the one violent incident on the border by declaring war on an entire country is treated as a matter of course by U.S media commentators when it is really an amazing escalation.”
He said that with the U.S. media coverage so biased, the public and politicians would be very hard pressed not to take sides with Israel.
The media continues to push the government line unabated by little things like truth or fairness. In comparison, alternative news sources like Democracy Now! have been covering the tragedy of the civilian deaths and destruction in Lebanon and Israel on a daily basis.
It’s about TIME: YouTube War:
A good reporter always asks the follow-on.
Excellent story, thanks for the link. All this YouTube stuff has been off my radar since I have dial up and avoid video like the plague. Years from now those videos will be a very important part of the history of this dark time. That article made me want to go download and watch some of those soldier videos… damn dial up!
Unless you’re stuck waaaayy out in the boonies, DSL is now the same price as dial-up just about everywhere.
Oh, ahem… (sheepishly raising hand) … it’s boonies here. Actually, we’re no so far out, we just have really bad, old telephone wiring. Seems as if our telecom co. is due to change wires this year. (and I’m the Queen of France) It’s maddening… dsl up the nose not 5 miles from here. My only option right now is a satellite hookup that is incredibly expensive. Dialup sucks out loud.
I’m stuck with dial up also and it does suck..but better than having no computer at all that’s for sure. As to the boonies..I live by Bakersfield and DSL still costs 40 dollars more than dial up making a monthly rate 60 bucks at least instead of 20.
Several interesting medical items today, and a big item at the end.
Declining oil reserves and soaring prices could see desperate nations overturning a ban on oil drilling in the last untouched frontier – Antarctica.
Just below the headlines, bird flu is still simmering in Asia… But in better news, a vaccine for SARS has been developed.
This is how oceans form: The horn of Africa is splitting apart from the rest of the continent at an unprecedented rate, and geologists estimate that in a million years it will be separated from Africa by ocean. (Link has photos of giant cracks in the ground where the crust split apart by about 25 feet after an earthquake in September.)
Scientists warned on Wednesday that the world is on the brink of a major biodiversity crisis and called for the creation of an international body to advise governments on how to protect the planet’s ecosystems.
You’ve probably noticed that the poorer someone is, the older they look for their age. Yes, not having the luxury of time to exercise or eat right are part of it, as is the greater prevalence of bad health habits among the poor. But a new study has found that even after allowing for these things the stress of being poor itself also ages the cells of the body – by up to 7-9 years on average compared to the better-off.
Van Morrison sang about it, but it may become a lost relic of the past: Tupelo honey, whose unique flavor depends on the flowers of the white tupelo tree, is under threat due to a combination of ecological and economic factors.
Scientists say they have discovered an “on-off” switch for chronic pain in which current medications are ineffective or have serious side effects. This protein is located in the peripheral nerves of the body, while current pain relievers aim for the spinal nerves or the brain itself. This should open the door to new families of drugs, possibly bringing relief to those whose chronic pain is not affected by current medications.
Britain’s environment minister, David Miliband, today unveiled a radical plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by charging individuals for the amount of carbon they use. Everyone would be issued a set carbon allowance (reduced annually):
This item was included in Jimstaro’s current diary on Iraq, but it bears repeating here in case you missed it:
Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there – a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
Turkey is facing increasing domestic pressure to act after 15 soldiers, police and guards were killed fighting the guerrillas in southeastern Turkey in the past week.
“The government is really in a bind,” said Seyfi Tashan, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Bilkent University in Ankara. “On the one hand, they don’t want things to break down with the United States. On the other hand, the public is crying for action.”
Diplomats and experts cautioned the increasingly aggressive Turkish statements were likely aimed at calming public anger and pressing the U.S. and Iraq to act against the Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. But they also said Turkish politicians and military officers could act if nothing is done.
There are large Kurdish populations in both Turkey and Iran who have been clamoring for autonomy for years, and have been in open opposition to those governments. Iraqi Kurdistan has become a base for Kurdish attacks into Turkey and the mountains of Iran. Iran
even lobbed a few mortars into Kurdistan a months or so ago. This situation is increasingly unstable and could explode if it continues to be ignored.
This situation has been a simmering powder keg now for quite some time and I’ve been hoping that all sides could keep things from blowing wide open but it seems only a matter of time before this becomes another horrible disaster. And another fine mess bush helped unleash.
Just popping in here to say hi to you Choco, I have been thinking about you and wondering how you are doing in this heat you are having out there. I haven’t noticed your name on site lately so….
Big hugs to you and keep cool as much as is possible and let’s hope we do not get any power outages.
I’ve just been staying in the apartment(what’s new huh)and keeping my air conditioner working overtime.
I’m here everyday, just seems like the last few months I haven’t been able to do much posting. Don’t know why-maybe to many jumbled thoughts and by the time I think of something good to post days have gone by and that diary is done…More and more all this killing is just leaving me sort of speechless I think.
Anyway, think of you and Shirl and wish we could have met..maybe someday eh? Have you completely settled in to your new place or is that old news?
Glad you are surviving, I am settled into new place well now, loving it, have air conditioner and that makes me happy, but now I think I have caught something or maybe just from the heat and cold changes.
I was just watching the news of the whole mess in Lebanon, etc. and just broke out crying about all the people now displaced, the children, the deaths and the senselessness of all of this…what the hell are some people in this world thinking. Enough of this warring, enough of this killing, I can’t take anymore of this bullcrap. Now the economy of Lebanon is pretty much ruined and will have to start over again.
I am starting to think we have to throw out most of the current world leaders and their minions and just start over with that too.
Best to you Chocolate and I do hope we meet someday, but we meet in spirit all the time as in moments like this.
In Connecticut, Lamont Grabs Lead Over Lieberman
I just don’t buy that lieberman will win in a three way election, specially since Connecticut is a dem state.
Speaking of alternative news, Link TV, which is available on DIRECTV ch. 375 and DISH Network ch. 9410, offers Mosaic. It is a Peabody award winning show featuring news from different Middle Eastern news outlets. The link I provided goes to an archive page where you can listen/watch. Mosaic is excellent and is very addictive. Link tv also carries DemocracyNow! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales weekdays at 11 am.
WTF!! What’s Voinovitch up to?
Why I’ll Vote for Bolton
Bad, bad, bad. Do we really risk seeing Bolton actually being confirmed?
As a republican senator from Ohio, this probably has a lot less to do with Bolton and a lot more to do with the political calculus of avoiding alienating his base.
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See my comment “Devastating Analysis” in the excellent diary by Larry Johnson.
LATEST NEWS:
Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert has agreed to open a European proposed humanitarian aid corridor from Beirut to Cyprus by temporarily ending the port blokkade.
Haaretz — Israel to allow direct flow of humanitarian aid into Lebanon.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY