“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Thomas Jefferson
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
Link to WaPost article behind free subscription.
The military’s top uniformed lawyers, appearing at a Senate hearing yesterday, criticized key provisions of a proposed new U.S. plan for special military courts, affirming that they did not see eye to eye with the senior Bush administration political appointees who developed the plan and presented it to them last week.
The lawyers’ rare, open disagreement with civilian officials at the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the White House came during discussions of proposed new rules for the use of evidence derived from hearsay or coercion and the possible exclusion of defendants from the trials in some circumstances.
[snip]
The proposed legislation has not been formally released because of the administration’s inability to persuade the military lawyers to accept it, even after two meetings with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.
[snip]
The military lawyers ripped Bush/Gonzales’ idiotic plan to shreds. Tell it like it is, baby.
Link
A Times/Bloomberg poll found discontent with President Bush’s leadership on a variety of key fronts, including the war in Iraq, with 60% disapproval, and the economy, with 59% disapproval.
Other numbers:
* 58% opposed the veto on stem cell research
* 11% advantage for Democrats in local districts
* best at fighting terrorists? 34% Republicans, 30% Democrats
JAXA, the Japanese space agency, has set a goal of constructing a manned lunar base by 2030, a space agency official said Wednesday. JAXA hopes to launch a satellite into lunar orbit next year, followed by an unmanned spacecraft that will land on the Moon and a probe ship that will collect and return lunar samples. Under the plan, astronauts would be sent to the Moon by around 2020 so that they will start construction of the base to be completed by 2030. JAXA earlier had given 2025 as the target date for a lunar base.
A preview of the future — much hotter decades on a warming planet — has been delivered today by the continent-spanning heat wave, climate experts tell USA Today: “Heat wave projections all agree. They are going to intensify in length and frequency” in this century, says climate scientist Claudia Tebaldi of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Global warming is projected to raise average temperatures worldwide about 3 to 9 degrees in this century, according to a U.N. climate panel. Warmer temperatures load the dice in favor of extreme weather such as heat waves, says climate modeler Gavin Schmidt of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. “We can’t just say global warming caused this heat wave, but we can say that what we are seeing is very consistent with what you would expect to see in a warmer world,” says climate expert Heidi Cullen of The Weather Channel.
Still looking for that “smoking gun” on climate change? Here you go: A top federal research meteorologist said he “almost fell out of my chair” when he looked over U.S. night minimum temperature records over the past 96 years and saw the skyrocketing trend of hot summer nights. “This is unbelievable,” said National Climatic Data Center research meteorologist Richard Heim. “Something strange has happened in the last 10 to 15 years on the minimums.” But it is not surprising because climate models, used to forecast global warming, have been predicting this trend for more than 20 years, said Jerry Mahlman, a climate scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research and a top federal climate modeler. [In a climactic version of Lake Woebegone, far too many temperatures are above normal…] From 2001 to 2005, on average nearly 30 percent of the nation had “much above normal” average summertime minimum temperatures, according to the National Climatic Data in Asheville, N.C.
The invisible dark matter at the center of galaxies is not as dense as we would expect – and now we know why. It seems that the explosions of exhausted old stars are to blame for puffing out dark matter. These supernovae can also account for a mysterious shortfall in the universe’s quota of dwarf galaxies – because supernovae smoothed out the spike in dark matter density at the center, dwarf galaxies were less tightly bound together by their own gravity. Any encounters with bigger galaxies would therefore have easily torn many dwarfs apart, and this may explain their paucity.
If you want to eat less, use a smaller bowl and spoon – this is the finding of a study from an ice cream social for nutritionists (who should know better than to overeat), which was secretly a study on self-served portion sizes. The bigger the bowl, the more folks piled it on: the researchers blamed this on the human perceptual tendency to judge object sizes based on comparisons with neighboring items. Participants in the study, for example, served themselves 31 percent more ice cream when they were given a 34-ounce bowl instead of a 17-ounce bowl. Their servings increased by 14.5 percent when they were given a 3-ounce spoon instead of a 2-ounce utensil. When given both a large spoon and big bowl, they served themselves 56.8 percent more. Yet they were unaware of the greater ice cream quantities. [Could this be why your boss serves postage-stamp sized sandwiches on tiny plates at the company Christmas party – to save money?]
It’s a truism that predators go after the old, weak, and sick. Now we can add the stupid to the list: Predators such as leopards and chimpanzees consistently target smaller-brained prey less capable of escape, research at the University of Liverpool has shown. They avoid more intelligent prey such as monkeys, which have exceptionally large brains and are more capable of escaping attacks.
Astronomers have discovered a binary star system in which a Jupiter-sized brown dwarf is orbiting an Earth-sized white dwarf. What’s unusual about the arrangement, however, is the brown dwarf once actually orbited inside its companion when the white dwarf grew into a red giant star.
I’m glad that the Japanese are going to the moon. I’ve been seeing recent articles that any US moon plans have to include “commerce”, whatever the hell THAT means.
I just saw a part of an interview on CNN with some guy who claims that we’re in for a few years of cooling down because the sun is going into a quiet phase for a while. I didn’t catch the whole thing, but I was unconvinced. The CNN interviewer, however, seemed to buy it hook, line and sinker. š
EL PASO, Texas — In a case that is shocking immigrant rights groups nationwide, prosecutors in Arizona have charged two volunteers who say they tried to save the lives of three sick migrants stranded in the desert with felony charges of transporting illegal immigrants.
If convicted, Daniel Strauss, of Manhattan, and Shanti Sellz, of Iowa City, Iowa, both 24, could face up to 15 years in federal prison and a half-million-dollar fine.
“It seems like common sense that providing humanitarian aid to someone who is in an extreme medical condition can’t be against the law,” said Strauss, who grew up on the Upper West Side and attended the elite Fieldston School High School in the Bronx. “The act of saving someone’s life shouldn’t be something that’s prosecuted. It’s crazy.“
U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Rob Daniels and a spokeswoman for Paul K. Charlton, the U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, declined to comment. But in court papers, the Border Patrol contended the work of the faith-based group No More Deaths was encouraging migrants to cross illegally into the United States. The agency also contended group leaders were warned volunteers could be arrested. The leaders dismissed the arguments as absurd.
Oh yeah, people come across the border in triple digit heat, in the desert, because someone MIGHT be there with water, a sandwich, and a first aid kit. This exposes the sheer brutality of xenophobia… lives of brown people are worthless to these bigots. Disgusting.
is currently set for October 3rd. The only silver lining to this whole mess is that a very successful PR campaign was launched by No More Deaths and the Border Action Network to counteract this horrible precedent. There are signs in business and yards all over southern Arizona (including my apt window), that look like this:
Also, Amnesty International has picked up on this case and is lending No More Deaths its support. Hopefully we will hear good news on the 3rd. If anyone wants more info, Vivian Pettyjohn over at ePluribus did a fantastic article in January outlining the case. Paz
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A Former POW Speaks Out: Kerry A Vietnam Brother
As a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, I read with great sadness a recent article authored by retired Air Force Col. George E. “Bud” Day, and released from the “Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation,” a group that was formerly known as the infamous “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.” They may have changed their name, but they have not changed their tradition of lies and distorted facts.
In the press release, Col. Day resumes the vicious partisan attacks his group honed against Sen. John Kerry in 2004, an attack which our fellow POW, Senator John McCain aptly described as “dishonest and dishonorable.”
Phillip Butlerretired Navy Commander
…
Day, Cordier, Galanti and Warner have claimed to speak for most veterans and POWs. But they only spoke for a small group of ultra right-wing ideologues. In his renewed attacks on Senator Kerry this week, Day recycles the same personal vitriol and falsehoods about Kerry’s “betrayal” of our fellow veterans that his organization trademarked in 2004.
The real truth is John Kerry is a Vietnam Veteran who fought heroically and was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service. But he is also courageous for coming home and telling Americans the truth about the Vietnam War. John Kerry has continued to honorably and selflessly serve his country to this day. And I am proud, as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as a former Navy Light Attack carrier pilot, as a retired Navy Commander, as a Vietnam veteran and former POW, to call Senator John Kerry a Vietnam brother whom I honor and respect.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Recently this vicious right wing group is apparently becoming a hydra beast; I’ve read that they’re also known as Veterans for Truth and they’re also going after John Murtha. They’re like a bunch of baffoons repeatedly poking a stick at a dead thing. The only good thing is that I don’t think their audience is what it once was. As soon as I get a few minutes this afternoon, I’ll find a link.
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Amazing unity between the outgoing UK Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Patey, and U.S. Generals Abizaid and Pace
Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain’s outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo. William Patey, who left the Iraqi capital last week, also predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines.
Iraq situation "messy" for five to 10 yearsMr Blair said the violence was designed to put extremists in charge rather than leaders committed to democracy.
“What should our response be? However difficult it is, stay the course, stand up for those people who want democracy, stand up for those people who are fighting sectarianism, stand up for a different vision of the Middle East based on democracy, liberty, the rule of law.”
The Foreign Office said it did not comment on leaked documents but added that Iraqi security forces were getting more capable every day.
The top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, has said Iraq could move toward civil war if the sectarian violence is not stopped.
“The sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it,” Gen Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Gen Abizaid's warning was backedup by Gen Peter Pace (left)
Gen Abizaid told the committee the top priority was to secure the Iraqi capital, where the struggle was at a “decisive” stage. “It is clear that the operational and tactical situation in Baghdad is such that it requires additional security forces, both US and Iraqi,” he said.
But Gen Abizaid also said he remained optimistic that the Iraqi government and iraqi forces, with US support, could prevent the slide into civil war.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
CNN just had it up: the Federal Appeals Court in Texas just came down with the decision. Bwa-ha-ha-ha
sweet. I love it.
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A federal judge in Texas threw the political retirement of former House majority leader Tom DeLay into doubt yesterday, ruling that the Texas Republican Party must keep the indicted former congressman on the ballot for reelection this November.
For Democrats eager to seize control of the House this fall, the ruling was a significant victory.
Republicans want to pick another nominee to face Democrat Nick Lampson in November. Democrats sued to keep DeLay on the ballot. Keeping him on the ballot gives them the opportunity to make the indicted former House majority leader their symbol for claims that the Republicans are corrupt.
Thursday’s ruling said that GOP state chairwoman Tina Benkiser acted unconstitutionally when she tried to remove DeLay as the party nominee because he lived in Virginia. Democrats had noted that DeLay’s wife, Christine, still lives in the DeLays’ house in Sugar Land, just outside Houston.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Weekly work avoidance review of really really important science news:
Japanese in Space: This story is confusing. It will take the Japanese until 2030 to have a manned Lunar Base? Clearly women are getting their long before that, as it says the lunar orbit will be followed by a “probe ship” . . .oh dear, this is just another sex story, isn’t it? (See last week).
Climate people: We have some clear new anti-gender stereotyping going on here. The females (I assume Claudia and Heidi are female) are respectively a scientist and an expert. The guys (Richard & Jerry) are both “climate modelers” – Jerry being a “top” modeler, must be some kind of Super Model. Hmm. Just what do “top climate modelers” wear? Do they stand behind strategically placed fake clouds while singing “We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave. . .”?
Explosions of exhausted old stars: We’ve got to do something about the smoke that these old Hollywood has-beens are putting out. Have we run out of TV shows where these folks can appear and earn a few bucks? Maybe we need a special Law & Order: High Fiber edition. Not sure what to do about the shortage of groupies (galaxies) for those tiny (child?) stars. Must be due to all those video games.
Predators go after the old, weak, sick, and stupid. Oh, right. This is really true. And my cat is a member of the Supreme Court. Just how do these folks in Liverpool explain Dick Cheney’s survival?
And now, for the Not New, and Not News: To eat less, use a smaller bowl and spoon. Yes, just issue everyone the itty-bitty dishes and spoons that are still being given as playthings to preschool children. Better yet, just paste pictures of ice cream on a paper plate and pretend to eat it. Yummy. I believe the operating idea here is called Portion Control. Stop eating your ice cream straight out of the gallon container! Who came up with this one? Do they really expect to get tenure with this kind of research?
My apologies given all the really important stuff.
Aack! Thank you, Kidspeak. Boy, it feels good to laugh.