Counting Deaths in Iraq

Les Roberts: Iraq's death toll is far worse than our leaders admit

If [U.S. and Britain] have triggered an episode more deadly than the Rwandan genocide, and have actively worked to mask this fact, how will they credibly be able to criticise Sudan or Zimbabwe or the next government that kills thousands of its own people?

For longer than the US has been a nation, Britain has pushed us at our worst of moments to do the right thing. That time has come again with regard to Iraq. It is wrong to be the junior partner in an endeavour rigged to deny the next death induced, and to have spokespeople effectively respond to that death with disinterest and denial.

Irony, Thy Name is Nisshin Maru

The Nisshin Maru, Japanese whaling vessel, is dead in Antarctic waters after a fire that's killed one crewmember, and currently refusing assistance from...wait for it...the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza. (Full story at BBC here.)

What an interesting polarity here: on the one side, the law of the sea, which demands you render aid. On the other, the Japanese desire to not lose face.

There is also some concern from New Zealand that pride may goeth before a leak, here, and the Ross Sea is a sensitive area, ecologically speaking.

This is so cool: Tlingit Superhero!

Alaska comic superhero Comic book creators team up to give classic Tlingit tale a new twist.

70 Million, and he "chuckles"

Commentary: Theaters of the absurd, By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE.

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush's Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine's Soroush Shehabi. "I'm the grandson of one of the late Shah's ministers," said Soroush, "and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized."

"I know," President Bush answered.

"But does Vice President Cheney know?" asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.

Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

Let's be honest: Scientific community offered bribes to dispute global warming is real, affecting us, and something needs to be done about it right now.

Lord Rees of Ludlow, the president of the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific institute, said: "The IPCC is the world's leading authority on climate change and its latest report will provide a comprehensive picture of the latest scientific understanding on the issue. It is expected to stress, more convincingly than ever before, that our planet is already warming due to human actions, and that 'business as usual' would lead to unacceptable risks, underscoring the urgent need for concerted international action to reduce the worst impacts of climate change. However, yet again, there will be a vocal minority with their own agendas who will try to suggest otherwise."

Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: "The AEI is more than just a thinktank, it functions as the Bush administration's intellectual Cosa Nostra. They are White House surrogates in the last throes of their campaign of climate change denial. They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

IPCC Climate Report Coming Out

Landmark climate report: Clock is ticking

Nations back world environmental body

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Al Gore Nominated for Peace Prize

Al Gore Nominated for Peace Prize

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.

Now, *That's* a Presidential Speech

Washington’s Farewell Address Translated into Everyday Speech. And, the original. More on the farewell address at Wikipedia. Includes some useful-looking bibliographic sources.

Oh My God That Is The Coolest Thing Ever

The Beagle Project. Building and sailing a replica of The Beagle:

The replica Beagle will recreate the 1831-36 circumnavigation with international crews of aspiring young scientists aboard, following the same course and making similar landfalls to those made by HMS Beagle when Darwin was aboard. The crew will take part in modern sampling, observation and experiments in a range of disciplines: biology, geology, oceanography, physics and meteorology. Their work will be followed in labs and classrooms worldwide through an interactive website. They will also compare the climate and wildlife observations made by Darwin and the crew of the Beagle in the 1830s with conditions today.

Thank you for re-affirming my belief in humanity.

Homo sapiens. Thinking man. This is what we do.

Oh, he *is* a lawyer after all.

Then I agree with the California bar.

Yes, I know it flies in the face of all our cherished, slimy, greedy, etc., anti-lawyer stereotypes, but we are actually held to a *high* standard of professional responsibility.

Lara Logan "Battle for Haifa Street"

Crooks and Liars.com and Media Channel.org have both posted about this:


Helping Lara Logan

One would assume that Ms. Logan, as CBS chief foreign correspondent, has a fair amount of influence as to what stories she gets to cover, and that most of her important stories, once produced and delivered, will be broadcast. But when the story comes out of the mean streets of Baghdad, and doesn’t fit the officially-sanctioned narrative of Iraqis and US soldiers working arm in arm to help protect thankful Iraqi citizens, even chief foreign correspondents sometimes need to ask for help in getting it seen. Imagine our surprise recently when–over the digital transom–we received a copy of an email from a frustrated Lara Logan[.]

In it, Logan asks for help in getting attention to what she calls “a story that is largely being ignored even though this istakingplace everysingle [sic] day in Baghdad, two blocks from where our office is located.”

The segment in question–”Battle for Haifa Street”–is a piece of first-rate journalism but one that only appears on the CBS News website–and has never been broadcast. It is a gritty, realistic look at life on the very mean streets of Baghdad, and includes interviews with civilians who complain that the US military presence is only making their lives worse and the situation more deadly.

Crooks and Liars article is here: Helping Lara Logan

Two Workers Convicted for Rigging Ohio Election

TWO OHIO ELECTION OFFICIALS CONVICTED FOR RIGGING 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT!

Two election workers in the state's most populous county were convicted Wednesday of illegally rigging the 2004 presidential election recount so they could avoid a more thorough review of the votes.

We *must* get rid of this election software.

Richardson is in the Race

Democrat Richardson seeks office

Wow. This has got to be the most diverse race ever. And high time.

She's In The Race

Clinton launches 2008 White House bid

Clinton, who was re-elected to a second term last November, said she will spend the next two years "doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism."

In a defiant statement — and a nod to questions about her electability — Clinton said: "I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine. After nearly $70 million spent against my campaigns in New York and two landslide wins, I can say I know how Washington Republicans think, how they operate, and how to beat them."

Electronic "Voting"

Wrong Winner Chosen Twice by Same Voting Machine

Early voting by mail required voters to mark their choices on optical scan paper ballots then mail the ballots to the elections board where they were totaled using optical scan readers. Mail in early voting undervotes were at 2.6%. In person early voters came to central locations and voted on iVotronic touch screens like those used in the general election. Undervotes by that method ran 17.6%. There is no reason for a difference of 15 points other than the one provided by Coffey in the Jennings case: voting machine malfunction by the iVotronics. As a result, 14,000 Sarasota County voters lost their constitutional rights. The election should be voided and a new one held.