CNN.com - Caterpillar contest predicts mild winter - Nov 2, 2005

CNN.com - Caterpillar contest predicts mild winter - Nov 2, 2005: "HAGERSTOWN, Maryland (AP) -- If you believe the caterpillars, maybe people in the mid-Atlantic states won't need as much wool this winter."

Nature knows nature. 

News from PC Magazine: US High Court Won't Hear Wireless Radiation Appeal

~~~ Interesting bit of news here.

But will the courts & lawyers resolve this BEFORE
our cell phones kill us ??

Be smart , use a headset whenever possible. ~~ ` `TP

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Class-action lawsuits against wireless telephone companies over radiation emissions will be able to go forward, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by the companies."

News from PC Magazine: US High Court Won't Hear Wireless Radiation Appeal:
====================================================

Confused about the CIA leak case? Start here. Christian Science Monitor

~~Nice article here below , for those who have not followed Plame-gate from its start.

Looks like 'Libby' -- the Vice Presidential Chief of Staff-- will be indicted for lying during the investigation.

At least Bill Clinton only lied about haveing sex.

Libby may have lied to obstruct the truth on matters of national-- and even global --- security.

Why ? To protect a calculated lie the President G.W. Bush made during the 2003 State of the Union address. Read below for more.~~ ~ ` TP

--------------------------

The Christian Science Monitor, Fri Oct 28:

"Confused about the CIA leak case? Start here."

By Linda Feldmann, Staff writer of The Christian Science MonitorFri Oct 28, 4:00 AM ET

For almost two years, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has led an investigation to determine whether anyone acted illegally when the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame was made public. After hearing testimony from some of Washington's most powerful figures, a grand jury is expected to issue indictments as soon as Friday. The Monitor's White House correspondent, Linda Feldmann, answers key questions about the case.

Q. How did this affair begin?

At its heart lie questions about the Bush administration's case for war against Iraq. On Jan. 28, 2003, in his State of the Union address, President Bush included these 16 words: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

The implication was that Iraq was developing a nuclear-weapons program. But US intelligence officials had by then - and have since - expressed doubts about that claim. In July 2003, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador to two African countries and Iraq, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times disputing Mr. Bush's statement.

The CIA, he wrote, sent him to Niger in 2002 to determine if Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa. He concluded no. One week after Mr. Wilson's op-ed, syndicated columnist Robert Novak reported that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."

At issue is whether Mr. Novak's government sources blew her cover as a CIA agent, in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982..............
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20051028/ts_csm/aplame;_ylt=AuS0tA5sKD5c2CDnGXU16Wys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor

Explaining the Charges

Explaining the Charges: "Explaining the Charges

By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 28, 2005; 3:12 PM

Lying about a crime, the accusation against I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, has itself been a crime since the time of Hammurabi."

Another difference between tobacco and marijuana : EiTB24.com

~~~ Legalize it . Or at least de-criminal it . It is medicine that works~~~
-----------------

EiTB24.com: "But cannabinoids have been shown to dial down this inflammatory response,inoids -- both those found in marijuana and the versions found naturally in the body -- Melamede explained.

Another difference between tobacco and marijuana smoking, he said, has to do with cells that line the respiratory tract. While these cells have receptors that act as docks for nicotine, similar receptors for THC and other cannabinoids have not been found.

Nicotine, Melamede said, appears to keep these cells from committing 'suicide' when they are genetically damaged, by smoking, for instance. When such cells do not kill themselves off, they are free to progress into tumours. "

Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk

Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report.

The difference rests in the often opposing actions of the nicotine in tobacco and the active ingredient, THC, in marijuana, says Dr. Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

He reviewed the scientific evidence supporting this contention in a recent issue of Harm Reduction Journal.

Whereas nicotine has several effects that promote lung and other types of cancer, THC acts in ways that counter the cancer-causing chemicals in marijuana smoke, Melamede explained in an interview with Reuters Health.

'THC turns down the carcinogenic potential,' he said.

For example, lab research indicates that nicotine activates a body enzyme that converts certain chemicals in both tobacco and marijuana smoke into cancer-promoting form. In contrast, studies in mice suggest that THC blocks this enzyme activity.

Another key difference, Melamede said, is in the immune system effects of tobacco and marijuana. Smoke sends irritants into the respiratory system that trigger an immune-regulated inflammatory response, which involves the generation of potential"

Advertising in the Age of the Empowered Voter - A View from Washington

~ I Got this by e-mail.
This event wil explore lobbying and activisim from a TechnPolitical view.

~~~ enjoy ~` TP ~~ `

=================

"Advertising in the Age of the Empowered Voter - A View from Washington"
When:Wednesday, September 21, 2005 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM

How do mobile, blogs, and podcasts change political and advocacy communications?

E-Voter Institute is hosting bipartisan events to delve into the ways in which these and other new technologies are changing the political landscape.

Join campaign strategists, online pioneers, researchers, journalists, and media experts for the first of three lively discussions about the role of Internet and wireless technology for politics and advocacy.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM

BBC NEWS | Technology | Vloggers get political in Norway

BBC NEWS | Technology | Vloggers get political in Norway: "A video-blogger from Bergen in Norway is turning his camcorder on politicians, ahead of Norwegian parliamentary elections on Monday."

Nice !!

BBC NEWS | Technology | UK digital rights group sets up

BBC NEWS | Technology | UK digital rights group sets up: "A UK-based organisation to preserve digital rights and freedoms has been set up thanks to pledges of money by those passionate about such rights."

Also Nice !!

Yahoo, Chinese police, and a jailed journalist | csmonitor.com

~` We in American tend to forget what a blessing a politically free internet is. ~tp

Yahoo, Chinese police, and a jailed journalist | csmonitor.com: "police, and a jailed journalist
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
HONG KONG – The role of the US Internet firm Yahoo in helping Chinese security officials to finger a journalist sentenced to 10 years for e-mailing 'state secrets' is filtering into mainland China. The revelation reinforces a conviction among many Chinese 'netizens' that there is no place security forces can't find them.

Yet if netizen reaction in China is resignation, the story of Yahoo's complicity in the arrest of Shi Tao, a journalist with the Contemporary Trade News in Hunan, brought a spontaneous uproar among Western human rights and business watchdogs."

High-tech goes into action in disaster zone - Science - MSNBC.com

High-tech goes into action in disaster zone - Science - MSNBC.com: "The problems with the response to Katrina's devastation show that the technologies related to disaster relief — ranging from communications to rapid-response transportation to search-and-rescue techniques — are sorely in need of an upgrade, said Lois Clark McCoy of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue.

'It does no good to shoot this group of sitting ducks and put in a new batch of sitting ducks,' McCoy said, referring to the political finger-pointing already well under way. 'The problem is not the people, the problem is the system. We have to redesign the system for catastrophic events.'"

By SIMON WINCHESTER :Before the Flood -

~~ In 1906 --- during a time when the

telegraph & telephone where young ,

and still more rare than common---

--- the emergency response to the

San Fancisco earthquake

is a model for

what could have been

in New Orleans 2005.

Mr. Bush there are no excuses.

Our modern system of digital instant communication ,

proved useless,

in the fumbling hands of your Administration.

The big mystery now is whether you Mr. Bush

even understand your failure.

If you do ,

just 'fess up.

It is the only way to re-gain any respect at home and abroad.

I can forgive my President's mistake.

But now I live with the horror of my

President under delusions

that nothing more could have been done.

~~ ~ TP

===============

"Before the Flood"
By SIMON WINCHESTER
Sept . 8, 2005


THE last time a great American city was destroyed by a violent caprice of nature, the response was shockingly different from what we have seen in New Orleans. In tone and tempo, residents, government institutions and the nation as a whole responded to the earthquake that brought San Francisco to its knees a century ago in a manner that was well-nigh impeccable, something from which the country was long able to derive a considerable measure of pride.

This was all the more remarkable for taking place at a time when civilized existence was a far more grueling business, an age bereft of cellphones and Black Hawks and conditioned air, with no Federal Emergency Management Agency to give us a false sense of security and no Weather Channel to tell us what to expect.

Nobody in the 'cool gray city of love,' as the poet George Sterling called it, had the faintest inkling that anything might go wrong on the early morning of April 18, 1906. Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore - who both happened to be in town - and 400,000 others slumbered on, with only a slight lightening of eggshell-blue in the skies over Oakland and the clank of the first cable cars suggesting the beginning of another ordinary day."

Yahoo defends itself over China accusations - Yahoo! News

Yahoo defends itself over China accusations - Yahoo! News: "Just like any other global company, Yahoo! must ensure that its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the country in which they are based,' Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters by the firm's Hong Kong arm.

Yahoo declined to confirm or deny that it furnished the Chinese government with the information."

InformationWeek > Microsoft Internet Explorer > FEMA Aid Site Blocks Access To Firefox, Macs, Linux Users > September 7, 2005

~~ F. E. M. A.
A Division of
the United States of Mircosoft, Inc.~
~
TP
---------------

"FEMA Aid Site Blocks Access To Firefox,
Macs, Linux Users"
Sept. 7, 2005

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News

"Users looking to file claims online for government help must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later with JavaScript enabled."

"That blocks everyone running Linux, Apple Macintosh computers, and Windows users running alternate browsers such as Firefox or Opera."

Internet satellite imagery under fire over security - Yahoo! News

Internet satellite imagery under fire over security - Yahoo! News: "South Korean government officials have said they will contact officials in Washington to express their security concerns about the Google Earth product.

Among the buildings that can be seen on Google Earth, with a high-resolution package, are the South Korean president's residence, military bases and the defense security command. The government restricts information about the location of these facilities and their construction."
TECHNOLOGY UNSTOPPABLE

Sri Lanka's military spokesman, Brigadier Daya Ratnayake, said it was a serious concern if anyone could get detailed images of sensitive installations and buildings. "But this is a new trend, we will first have to see whether, in this day and age, if this a considerable threat to national security."

"In this era of technology -- you have to live with the fact that almost everything is on the Internet -- from bomb-making instructions to assembling aircraft. So it's something the military has to learn to live with and adapt," Ratnayake said.

A security official in India said the issue of satellite imagery had been discussed at the highest level but the government had concluded that "technology cannot be stopped."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Liquid drop takes big nano step

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Liquid drop takes big nano step: "Professor Leigh concedes the work is early proof-of-principle but he is bolstered by the knowledge that nature uses molecular machines to do all of its jobs. He believes it can only be a matter of time before we are tapping into that know-how.

'Mankind, despite all of our technology in the 21st century, we use molecular machines to do nothing,'"

Missouri Sues Web Site Purporting to Raise Funds - New York Times

~~ Cyber-fruadsters sprout like

mushrooms after a hurricane.~` TP
------------

"Missouri Sues Web Site Purporting to Raise Funds"
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
September 7, 2005

"The Missouri attorney general, Jay Nixon, filed a lawsuit this afternoon against InternetDonations.org, the hub for a constellation of Web sites erected over the last several days purporting to collect donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina."

"Also named in the lawsuit, Mr. Nixon said, is the apparent operator of the donation sites, Frank Weltner, a St. Louis resident and radio talk show personality with ties to neo-Nazi organizations and the notorious Web site JewWatch.com."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Breaking down the Great Firewall

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Breaking down the Great Firewall

Breaking down the Great Firewall
By Kevin Anderson
BBC News

The complex system that the Chinese government uses to control the flow of information - known as the Great Firewall - has holes.

And these holes became more evident during the recent anti-Japan protests as a complex system of text messages, blogs, online instant messages, e-mail and bulletin board systems spread word about the marches.

The Chinese government and the Chinese people constantly play a cat and mouse game over the flow of information.

For every new restriction and technical door that the government slams shut, the Chinese people find a hack, a workaround or an entirely new way of communicating.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yahoo 'helped jail China writer'

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yahoo 'helped jail China writer': "Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for 'divulging state secrets'."

» Thanks to tech, Gilligan couldn't happen today | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com

» Thanks to tech, Gilligan couldn't happen today | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com: "Thanks to tech, Gilligan couldn't happen today
-Posted by Russell Shaw @ 2:12 pm

* General

Sad to hear that Bob Denver, who played Gilligan on 'Gilligan's Island,' passed away today at the age of 70.

The 1964-1967 series, as you probably know, involved passengers on the SS Minnow, a tour boat that hit a storm, got marooned on a deserted island, and spent years trying to escape or get rescued.

Yet could a protracted 3+ year castaway fate happen today? Probably not.

I don't recall if the Minnow's radio washed overboard, failed or even if one was on board. But I do know that today's 'Minnow' would have had:

* Hand-held GPS to pinpoint their position;
* Hand-held satellite phone to call for help;
* Satellite-delivered Internet access,such as through an Iridium sat phone;
* Maybe even Skype or other Internet telephony, reachable through a sat phone or a High Speed Satellite Internet Solution from InfoSat;
* Better radar, drawing on the efficiency of geosynchronous weather satellites not fully deployed at the time.

And do I even need to mention satellites that cover most of the earth's surface, and could surely zoom in on a deserted island along the presumed sailin"

"Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth" ; By DENNIS OVERBYE / NYT/

~~ ` This article below serves to remind us that

local societies , cites , and even nations –

can over the long term,

be very transient entities. ~

~TP
=========

"Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth"

September 6, 2005

By DENNIS OVERBYE

"'Cities rise and fall depending on what made them go in the first place,' said Peirce Lewis, an expert on the history of New Orleans and an emeritus professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University."

Changes in climate can make a friendly place less welcoming. Catastrophes like volcanoes or giant earthquakes can kill a city quickly.

Political or economic shifts can strand what was once a thriving metropolis in a slow death of irrelevance.

After the Mississippi River flood of 1993, the residents of Valmeyer, Ill., voted to move their entire town two miles east to higher ground.

What will happen to New Orleans now, in the wake of floods and death and violence, is hard to ............"

From :Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth - New York Times:
September 6, 2005

============

"The Council for Excellence in Government works to improve the performance of government at all levels; and government's place in the lives and esteem

http://www.excelgov.org/

--To promote e-government as a revolutionary tool for improving performance and better connecting people to government; and

--To improve the connection between citizens and government and encourage their participation in governance.

The Council is supported by members (called Principals)---

private sector and nonprofit leaders who have served in

government and are united by a strong, sustaining

commitment to Council objectives-

--and by project grants and

other funding from government agencies, corporations and

foundations. [ Zzzzzzzzz, worst sentance ever. ~` tp}

Former Presidents Carter, Ford, Bush and

Clinton are honorary chairs of the Council.
===============================

~~~ Sound like a bunch of young idealiastic kids to me . They'll learn. ~` ` ` ` t p

"Killed by Contempt "- By PAUL KRUGMAN

~~Katrina will seal Bush's fate in history as fluke
President. A simple minded President's son and Senator's grandson , who was in above his head from the moment the Supreme Court elected him `

In the wake of G.W. Bush's tenure , there is a failing war that 100% his baby, and now maybe as many as 10,000 dead Americans who died for no cause under his -- lack of action -- command. ~~
~
~ TP

===============

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: September 5, 2005

"Killed by Contempt "

"Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized."

"Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients."

"Several recent news analyses on FEMAs sorry state have attributed the agency's decline to its inclusion in the Department of Homeland Security, whose prime concern is terrorism, not natural disasters...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/opinion/05krugman.html?ex=1126065600&en=f89efac00ecce23e&ei=5070

After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game - New York Times

~~ it seems clear that much has gone wrong.

And all signs point to a FEMA gutted by the Bush Team.

FEMA --[ like NASA ]-- used to be a " always can-do" agency.

Katrina has made the Bush Administration FEMA look impotent ~`

~ ~ ` TP

"After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game"

By SCOTT SHANE

This article was reported by Scott Shane, Eric Lipton and Christopher Drew and written by Mr. Shane.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 -
"'We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water,' said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana. 'They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart.'

Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans expressed similar frustrations. 'We're still fighting over authority,' he told reporters on Saturday. 'A bunch of people are the boss. The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance.'"

www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html?hp&ex=1125979200&en=755e637e66f8b02f&ei=5094&partner=homepag

firstamendmentcenter.org: Rehnquist & First Amendment: end of an era analysis

~ ~ ` Justice Rehnquist is one of the more interesting ChiefJustices in American history. Both in character & intellect.

Rehnquist had the paradoxical effect of increasing the Federalist power of the Supreme Court by often overturning Congressional legislation....

.. while at the same time issuing other decsions that greatly decreased the Federal reach over states rights.

This article here is a nice overview of
Justice Rehnquist's legal legacy . ~~ TP

--------------

"Rehnquist & First Amendment: end of an era"

By Ronald K.L. Collins

First Amendment Center scholar
09.04.05
firstamendmentcenter.org: analysis:

"Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death ends a

judicial career that has left its mark on our

constitutional law of freedom of expression and

religious liberty.

The Rehnquist II Court (the Court as currently

constituted)has been sharing courtroom and chambers

since the fall term of 1994.

Since then, the Court has handed down 58 First

Amendment freedom-of-expression opinions in

matters involving religious speech, association rights,

Internet regulation, government-employee expression,

indecent speech, commercial expression,

telemarketing, prisoners’ speech, campaign-finance

laws, hate speech, and various kinds of zoning laws

affecting free speech, among others."

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=15526

===============================================

e.thePeople : Article : What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret?

~` Yes, Totalitarianism works well in War and emergencies.

["Mussolini made the trains run on time" is the classic pol-sci quote.]

We must remember that our freedoms come with a price.

Today that price is
a President who is grossly under
qualified to handle emergencies.

{ Anyway , I though that is why we had Cheney as Veep,
to handle the hard stuff !}

==============

"What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret?"
posted 09/04, by bocamp22 http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/41632/view

Last September, a Category 5 hurricane battered the small island of Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm. Although the hurricane destroyed 20,000 houses, no one died.

What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret? According to Dr. Nelson Valdes, a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico, and specialist in Latin America, 'the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. People know ahead of time where they are to go.'

'Cuba's leaders go on TV and take charge,' said Valdes. Contrast this with George W. Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The day after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Bush was playing golf. He waited three days to make a TV appearance and five days before visiting the disaster site. In a scathing editorial on Thursday, the New York Times said, 'nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.' "

e.thePeople : Article : What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret?: "

----------

Firms testing Web-based immigration check

Firms testing Web-based immigration check: "
But across the country, a small group of businesses is quietly testing a Department of Homeland Security program that can check immigration status with a few clicks on the Internet. The program will likely be at the heart of any federal immigration reform, even as critics say it needs improvement.

'It's not a question of 'can we fix this?' It's 'when and how?'' said Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank who specializes in immigration.

Many businesses, however, oppose making the program mandatory because it would stop them from hiring illegal workers and force them to pay higher wages, said Maria Echeveste, an immigration expert and political consultant who worked as a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House."

"Rehnquist's Death Puts Stevens in Charge" By ANNE GEARAN , Associated Press Writer

~~~ Justice Stevens is my favorite Justice.

He is 85 and now in charge.

Click HERE to see an earlier--- and now important--- article on a

recent spreech he gave.

~ ~ ~TP

"Rehnquist's Death Puts Stevens in Charge"

By ANNE GEARAN , Associated Press Writer

1010wins.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist leaves the court's oldest member, 85-year-old liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, temporarily in charge.

Stevens, although chosen for the court by a Republican president, has emerged as the court's most liberal member.

Stevens, although chosen for the court by a Republican president, has emerged as the court's most liberal member.

That is due more to the court's gradual shift rightward under the leadership of the conservative Rehnquist than to changes in Stevens' own philosophy.

Small, acerbic and dapper in a bow tie, Stevens has a quiet and genial manner on and off the bench.

He is less likely to badger lawyers who argue before the court than some of his colleagues, and often says little during oral arguments.

He speaks in public infrequently, and is not the constant presence at arts performances or charity functions frequented by some of his colleagues.

He lives part-time in Florida, and spends his off-hours playing competitive duplicate bridge and tennis.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

By MAUREEN DOWD: "United States of Shame"

~~~ The first

line of this piece is a Grand

Slam sentence ~` TP

=======================

September 3, 2005
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD

"Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government,
lethal stuff happens."

In Manhattan, Poor Make 2¢ for Each Dollar to the Rich - New York Times

In Manhattan, Poor Make 2¢ for Each Dollar to the Rich - New York Times