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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2005/05/01/wglob01.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/01/ ixworld.html


A separate team of climate scientists, which was regularly used by Science and the journal Nature to review papers on the progress of global warming, said it was dropped after attempting to publish its own research which raised doubts over the issue. ...
As with Dr Peiser's study, Science refused to publish his rebuttal. Prof Bray told The Telegraph: "They said it didn't fit with what they were intending to publish."

Prof Roy Spencer, at the University of Alabama, a leading authority on satellite measurements of global temperatures, told The Telegraph: "It's pretty clear that the editorial board of Science is more interested in promoting papers that are pro-global warming. It's the news value that is most important."

He said that after his own team produced research casting doubt on man-made global warming, they were no longer sent papers by Nature and Science for review - despite being acknowledged as world leaders in the field.


If they were regularly being consulted for reviewing publications submitted to the very same journal, that suggests that the journal editorial staff considered them reasonably competent -- that is, until they decided to disagree.

How about a Muslim themed game?

Like this?

I can well believe that Blunkett signed up. I can assure you it didn't make headline or even sub-headline news here. Perhaps it was smuggled out on a day that was good to "bury bad news"

Yes, and if you are going to cheat, you could already use Google anyway, just text a friend.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2005/04/ 15/calex15.gif

Ever heard of Iraq and Vietnam?

However well-intentioned and well-regulated (ha), I'd say an uprising of US gun owners against the federal government and US military would stand about a hobbit's chance in Mordor.

Tell the Iraqis it's impossible. YOU tell them This is probably a safe enough distance. Note that the primary weapons used in Iraq on American troops are small arms and DIY bombs. They don't seem to think opposing the USA is hopeless at all, despite the fact that the USA is using everything short of nukes. And if you're drawing examples from fiction, the hobbits won.

Plus, what fraction of the (non-wacko) gun-owning citizenry is actually outraged at our current slide toward fascism? My general impression is that most of them are either apathetic toward the current administration's shenanigans, or are actively cheering it.

That's a much better point.

Why this is... is a long story. I'll just say that being anti-gun is not an inherently Democratic position, as JFK was a life member of the NRA and Hubert Humphrey (aka Mr. Liberal) spoke eloquently about the right to bear arms.

There was a 13 year old girl in Scotland who submitted an entire essay in mobile phone SMS :

"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kds FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc."

UK trains have no problem going fast, it's avoiding other trains that's a problem.

A blog with a link to the Telegraph's website, which doesn't work... However, I found it here. It's a gossip column, quoting from an anonymous source. Beyond this, I can't find anything but the usual right-wing blog noise.

There is already a large sex-slave trade in some regions of the world. I remember reading some article a while back about how Germany had legalized prostitution in an effort to stamp out the black market sex trade b/c of all the kidnappings and slavery that it entailed.

And I have no linky, but I am fairly certain I have read some disturbing numbers about illegal immigrants (mostly Hispanic) to the U.S. being tricked into coming over here for "jobs", only to be enslaved as housekeepers and sex slaves.

So, yeah, I could definitely see how a shortage could ramp up the 'industry'.

At least, if you don't believe it was faked or something.

Side note: It alarms me how "natural" racism was back then. (Just read items 23 and 24 the bottom.)

The US military are working on a project that has sufficient weaponry to protect a child. Perhaps a joint project with them would produce a nannybot with sufficient fire power.

It's also the case that the majority of the British Public are in favour of the licence fee, except perhaps loudmouthed whingers like yourself.

You obviously don't read The Telegraph

The majority of the British Public are against the licence fee, except perhaps loudmouth BBC fanboys like yourself.

Yes, the people you were told were the 9/11 hijackers did have valid ID. But it's always difficult to know who they really were!

Unless you look at the Baluchistan connection.
All of those Saudi passports were issues from Kuwait during the months of Saddam's occupation of that state.

Of course, if this sounds like right-wing paranoia, check out a Telegraph piece on the connections. It's not like Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal, the two biggest terrorists in world history weren't living in Baghdad when we invaded (and were killed by Iraqi Baathist leadership as we invaded).

Forbidden in Germany and restricting the freedom of speech are child pornography, certain other types of pornography (like bestiality), right wing extremist "hate" sites, incitement to commit crimes, race discrimination, treasonable conduct as an agent for sabotage purposes, glorification of violence, or offence against the law for the protection of the youth. For example, the game Wolfenstein 3D - a predecessor to Doom - was censored in Germany because of Nazi imagery. So were certain punk music albums popular with German teens.

At least the German google isn't suppressing that story from above.

... at least the U.N. workers responsible for Internet administration wouldn't get as many opportunites to rape children as they would if they were working in the field.

>BBC make enough money to either a) scrap tv license or b) give us cheaper DVD's.

The latter might be an option, but the former certainly isn't. GBP2.5billion is quite a shortfall to make up (estimated at 95% of the BBC's income). (source) The Beeb NEEDS the licence fee - not only to keep us Brits in ad-free TV, but also to give the rest of the world some quality TV to watch as an alternative to their locally-prduced dross (e.g. The Power Of Nightmares, which was a HUGE hit on BitTorrent. But which would never have aired on mainstream US TV)

>Most people spend more on BBC DVD's than they do on licenses nowwadays (only takes one or two Christmas prezzies of the office to do that)

This is also inaccurate, it's more like 10. And yes, The Office was available for free, without ads, long before it was on DVD. Mon, 10pm, BBC2.

It is fast and not only that they handle burglary and home invasions properly over there in the UK. They take the common sense approach to banning guns and handing down stiff penalties for people who use self defense to fend off an intruder. This is the way it should be in the US. Even if this becomes common place it is still better just to take it and have one person hurt then possibly try to fight an attacker and hurt the attacker. People like Tony Martin belong in prison. It's the job of the state to provide protection, not you!

The Daily Telegraph had a front-page piece about this today. Slow news day, obviously! The idea that it could be trained to corner burglars seems a bit far-fetched (staircase, anyone?) but the idea of it chasing after intruders while phoning the police, taking photos and, presumably, shouting "EXTERMINATE!" is pretty cool...

Israel? North Korea comes to mind, but the Resolutions were blocked by china AFAIK

BZZZT. There are no other countries that have UN resolutions passed under the 7th chapter of the UN charter. If you had any clue about the UN, you would know that Chapter 7 resolutions are the only kind that allow member states that are not party to the resolution to enforce with military or economic action.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-03-02 -un-wmd_x.htm

I see your link, and raise you one:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/: Saddam Husayn so dominated the Iraqi Regime that its strategic intent was his alone. He wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when sanctions were lifted.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/200 3/david_kay_10022003.html: We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002. The discovery of these deliberate concealment efforts have come about both through the admissions of Iraqi scientists and officials concerning information they deliberately withheld and through physical evidence of equipment and activities that ISG has discovered that should have been declared to the UN.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/pu blications/General_Powell.htm
think YOU are making a fool of yourself by claiming "well known facts" without backing

Without backing, huh? The only thing you have provided is an op-ed that directly contradicts your own claim. You said "Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. And THAT is well known and documented" and then "backed" that up with piece called "Al Qaeda-Iraq Connection Tenuous at Best". Which are you arguing? That there was no connection, or that there was a tenuous connection?

Here are some more sources:
Iraq-al Qaeda link comes in focus
Terrorist behind September 11 strike was trained by Saddam
The Clinton View of Iraq-al Qaeda Ties
Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam
The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden
US State Department Indictment
Not so long ago, the ties between Iraq and al Qaeda were conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom was right
Saddam Hussein offered Bin Laden asylum
Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
UN envoy confirms terrorist meeting
Ansar al-Islam: Back in Iraq

Israel? North Korea comes to mind, but the Resolutions were blocked by china AFAIK

BZZZT. There are no other countries that have UN resolutions passed under the 7th chapter of the UN charter. If you had any clue about the UN, you would know that Chapter 7 resolutions are the only kind that allow member states that are not party to the resolution to enforce with military or economic action.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-03-02 -un-wmd_x.htm

I see your link, and raise you one:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/: Saddam Husayn so dominated the Iraqi Regime that its strategic intent was his alone. He wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when sanctions were lifted.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/200 3/david_kay_10022003.html: We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002. The discovery of these deliberate concealment efforts have come about both through the admissions of Iraqi scientists and officials concerning information they deliberately withheld and through physical evidence of equipment and activities that ISG has discovered that should have been declared to the UN.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/pu blications/General_Powell.htm
think YOU are making a fool of yourself by claiming "well known facts" without backing

Without backing, huh? The only thing you have provided is an op-ed that directly contradicts your own claim. You said "Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. And THAT is well known and documented" and then "backed" that up with piece called "Al Qaeda-Iraq Connection Tenuous at Best". Which are you arguing? That there was no connection, or that there was a tenuous connection?

Here are some more sources:
Iraq-al Qaeda link comes in focus
Terrorist behind September 11 strike was trained by Saddam
The Clinton View of Iraq-al Qaeda Ties
Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam
The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden
US State Department Indictment
Not so long ago, the ties between Iraq and al Qaeda were conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom was right
Saddam Hussein offered Bin Laden asylum
Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
UN envoy confirms terrorist meeting
Ansar al-Islam: Back in Iraq

Maybe the US's hipocracy is why North Korea stopped talking.

when the people you are talking/reasoning to continue to hurl insults in public at you ? do you tell them to come back when they have calmed down a bit (at least publicly) ?

the North Korean foreign ministry issued a statement saying that it had suspended participation in talks for "an indefinite period" after scrutinising George W Bush's inaugural and state of the union speeches.
Telegraph 10/02/2005

i wonder what bushie could of said that pissed them off ?

"Wouldn't it be more productive to study ways to combat spam?"

I agree, but the truth of the matter is, there is money being made in spam. Nevermind the fact that 99+% of the people being spammed hate it and hate the spammers. Now if I were an alumni of this University, they could kiss my shiney white backside before I would ever give them another dime.

Now the story does say "The aim is to develop new ways to fight these online nuisances." I read this and I see a whole new problem.... They write the spamming software and sell it, then write the anti-spamming software and sell it. This course will do nothing more than make problems worse.

When I see things like this course being offered, and things like this story, I no longer belive that what is right matters, it's all about the money or just being plain annoying to as many people as possible . I for one will not shed a tear if the University of Calgary burns to the ground for this as long as no one is hurt (no, I'm not saying it should be torched). What ever happened to doing things to help yourself and/or others?

Spammers remind me of the kid(s) in school who everyone ignored or avoided, only now they have found a way to make people pay attention to them, and they're getting even. I just wish I could burn my email addresses. :)

Go to Germany and try accessing content the Bundestag declares "indecent".

At least the government there will get you set up on a high-demand career path...

Maybe because Humans, Neanderthals, Australopithecines All Variations on One Species, and that apes and such are vastly different from humans??

Not everything they say on the Discovery Channel and on National Geographic is true about the origin of man.

Best Regards,

dan :)

Rowlett, a building surveyor, was caught almost two years later after taking the watch for repair at a jewellers near his home in Poole.

It was identified from its serial number as having been lost or stolen.

Computer models can't even accurately predict next week's weather, but you insist that a computer model can predict climate in a hundred years?

I bet you believe in astrology, too.

You don't need a computer model to correlate "global warming" with periods of solar activity.

Furthermore, the temperature data upon which global warming theory is founded was selectively culled to yield the desired result:

CORRECTIONS TO THE MANN et. al. (1998) PROXY DATA BASE AND NORTHERN HEMISPHERIC AVERAGE TEMPERATURE SERIES

You aren't looking very hard. There are plenty: here and here

The price is outrageous.

Remember the forged documents--not the ones from CBS; the ones supposedly from Nigeria saying that Iraq tried to acquire fissionable material?

The source of the forged documents was on the French Payroll.

"After being exposed in the international press, French intelligence can hardly be amused or happy with him," one western diplomat said. "Martino may have thought the safest thing was to hand himself over to the Italians." Investigators in Rome suspect that Mr Martino was first engaged by the French secret services five years ago, when he was asked to investigate rumours of illicit trafficking in uranium from Niger."

'Don't Mention the Navy' is the BBC's Line

Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors.

The BBC went out of its way not to report this. Only when one BBC reporter, Ben Brown, hitched a lift from one of the Abraham Lincoln's Sea Hawk helicopters to report from the Sumatran coast was there the faintest hint of the part that the Americans, aided by the Australian navy, were playing.

Instead the BBC's coverage was dominated by the self-important vapourings of a stream of politicians, led by the UN's Kofi Annan; the EU's "three-minute silence"; the public's amazing response to fund-raising appeals; and a Unicef-inspired scare story about orphaned children being targeted by sex traffickers. The overall effect was to turn the whole drama into a heart-tugging soap opera.

The real story of the week should thus have been the startling contrast between the impotence of the international organisations, the UN and the EU, and the remarkable efficiency of the US and Australian military on the ground. Here and there, news organisations have tried to report this, such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine in Germany, and even the China News Agency, not to mention various weblogs, such as the wonderfully outspoken Diplomad, run undercover by members of the US State Department, and our own www.eureferendum.blogspot.com. But when even Communist China's news agency tells us more about what is really going on than the BBC, we see just how strange the world has become.

One real lesson of this disaster, as of others before, is that all the international aid in the world is worthless unless one has the hardware and organisational know-how to deliver it. That is what the US and Australia have been showing, as the UN and the EU are powerless to do. But because, to the BBC, it is a case of "UN and EU good, US and military bad", the story is suppressed. The BBC's performance has become a national scandal.

'Don't Mention the Navy' is the BBC's Line

Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors.

The BBC went out of its way not to report this. Only when one BBC reporter, Ben Brown, hitched a lift from one of the Abraham Lincoln's Sea Hawk helicopters to report from the Sumatran coast was there the faintest hint of the part that the Americans, aided by the Australian navy, were playing.

Instead the BBC's coverage was dominated by the self-important vapourings of a stream of politicians, led by the UN's Kofi Annan; the EU's "three-minute silence"; the public's amazing response to fund-raising appeals; and a Unicef-inspired scare story about orphaned children being targeted by sex traffickers. The overall effect was to turn the whole drama into a heart-tugging soap opera.

The real story of the week should thus have been the startling contrast between the impotence of the international organisations, the UN and the EU, and the remarkable efficiency of the US and Australian military on the ground. Here and there, news organisations have tried to report this, such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine in Germany, and even the China News Agency, not to mention various weblogs, such as the wonderfully outspoken Diplomad, run undercover by members of the US State Department, and our own www.eureferendum.blogspot.com. But when even Communist China's news agency tells us more about what is really going on than the BBC, we see just how strange the world has become.

One real lesson of this disaster, as of others before, is that all the international aid in the world is worthless unless one has the hardware and organisational know-how to deliver it. That is what the US and Australia have been showing, as the UN and the EU are powerless to do. But because, to the BBC, it is a case of "UN and EU good, US and military bad", the story is suppressed. The BBC's performance has become a national scandal.

the point was that the eu was giving $4 million. perhaps a non-opinion news source would have been a better choice, but i quoted the first news source i found instead of wasting time finding the one that seemed like it would offend the least amount of people. perhaps the link i provided now is no good because funds are quoted in pounds instead of us dollars?

fyi: it seems more like bush bashing than america bashing. most folks living in new jersey don't hate the us. but they don't like bush (nj has voted democratic for at least the last 2 elections).

That was at first. Spain, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, the Philippines and Thailand withdrew their troops in 2004. And other countries are very seriously considering it after seeing it is not the parade they thought it would be.

Afghanistan? still ocupied by US forces and frankly it hardly counts as a country. Of the list many are third world countries ("out of power") that felt the pressure of Bush administration and contributed a very small number of troops, just for the photos.

Few first world countries contributed significant numbers of troops, mainly UK but in those countries the polls usually were much against sending troops like in Spain (even Foxnews accepts this). Blair doesn't get support from it's own party.

You couldn't even convince Canada and Mexico, your two neighbors. That should tell you something.

I'm writing this mostly on memory but you would have read it anywhere in the last year provided you don't just read one-sided media like Fox, CNN or Rupert "$20 a barrel oil" Murdoch's media.
But you really don't want to hear other people opinions, or you would already done.
And I didn't even touched the motivation of the war, that started pissing countries in the first place.

While Mr. Yanukovich accused his pro-Western opponent of being an American stooge, he himself is quite blatantly a Russian stooge.

As for the impending bankruptcy of the US, you obviously don't understand how the trade deficit, the budget deficit, and the exchange rate work. Things won't be pretty, though it'll take longer than ten years for the situation to come to a head, but the US won't declare bankruptcy like Russia did in '98. Read this for a current analysis.

There isn't even agreement on whether earbuds decrease or increase your radiation exposure! It's possible that the wire could act like an antenna and channel the radiation to your head.

My guess is that a Bluetooth earbud could help, since it works through a low-power wireless link.

• The most important market, however, could be healthy people in their forties and fifties whose memory is deteriorating. "There are an awful lot of people who'd like a drug that could do something about that," he said.
  
  The drug, code-named HT-0712, helps to retain information in the short-term memory. It works by activating a gene called Creb, contained in every human cell. Once activated, it allows brain cells to make the connections vital for memory formation.
  
  In many people, these memory-forming processes slow with age, leading to forgetfulness. About 15 million Britons are thought to suffer from memory problems.
  
  This summer, 100 people in the United States with mild memory loss will receive the drug to test its safety and efficacy. Prof Tully hopes it will help patients to develop improved memories and will compensate for damage done by the early stages of dementia. If the study is successful, larger trials will be carried out with the aim of producing the drug commercially within five to seven years.

I haven't seen anybody arguing that global changes in climate aren't occuring. The arguments come about the actual cause of it, which have been found to correlate with several external factors, like the solar cycle.

Study by Swiss and German scientists shows Earth is getting warmer because Sun is burning brighter
"Global Warming Bomshell"
Global warming or lack thereof
The Real Cost of Global Warming

It's definitely not proven that we're causing anything. Many scientists argue that it's a natural cycle. I've never understood why so many people, including Slashdotters, are so quick to accept absolutely everything that comes out of environmentalists' mouths. But then they start bashing George W. Bush, and then I see why--the issue is now a political issue, not a rational one based on actual facts.

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This isn't just Harvard that's involved...

"yes the capital cost is very high, but the fuel is virtaully free"
The reason that Nuclear plants are so expensive to build is that the government often forced construction to be halted on nothing more than a letter complaining "something could happen", until a study could be done disproving the letter, just in time for the next letter to show up.

it is the most complicated steam engine on earth
Actually, they're not all that complicated in the newer designs. That's why, after I've shut down the coal plants, I'd be looking at updating/replacing the aging light water reactors.

All of those rare earth materials used in nuclear power compents are not common and cost money.
Sure, Uranium's expensive. But you don't need much of it. It's got something like 20,000 times the power density of coal. Even more if you take steps to 'burn' it better.

Wind generators in comparison are incredibly simple. Hydro is incredibly simple.
But they're also relatively low-density. You need a lot of wind generators to equal a full size nuke plant, and the construction cost adds up. And you don't get out of maintenance either. Those blades don't last forever.

but there has NEVER been a wind/hydro/tidal plant that has cost as much as a producing nuclear power plant

And are these plants generally measered in the thousands of megawatts? Can they operate just about 24/7/365? I've had trouble finding out what an averale wind turbine runs, installed.
The University of Chicago has determined that the cost per kilwatt of capacity for nuclear would run $1,200-$1,800. (Note: The "standard" 1000 megawatt plant would start at 1.2 billion). But in the end, once your economy of scale takes over, it would only cost 3.4 cents per kw/h. Versus 3.7 cents for non-backed up wind, or 5.4 cents with backup. Add 1.8 cents to go offshore.
Hydro: Well, we're pretty much getting all that we can already get.

Backup for wind power makes costs up to 3.5 times greater?
The economies of nuclear power
Only 20 suitable tidal sites? Only 10 hours of power a day?
You know, I didn't list geothermal due to the limited areas it can be done in...

Doing research finds that Coal/Nuclear has a cost of about 2.3 cents kw/h. Wind is 3.7 cents a kw/h. Wind has quite a ways to go. Solar at least provides power when people run AC the most.

Nuclear plants are run at just about 100% load, all the time.
For the other power sources, you'd need backup power. IE, you'd have to build two plants to provide the constant power 1 nuclear plant does.

The reason is that not everybody agrees. For instance, the ozone hole that has been growing and shrinking every few decades. As kids, we were all told the hole's expansion was caused by greenhouse gases. But it actually grows and shrinks, and the cycles correspond with solar cycles of the sun. That's just one of many reasons there is disagreement; here are some others:
Study by Swiss and German scientists shows Earth is getting warmer because Sun is burning brighter
"Global Warming Bomshell"
Global warming or lack thereof
The Real Cost of Global Warming

Not saying I agree with everything stated in those articles; I'm merely pointing out that there is another side to the issue. I'm sure there is an effect that our manmade chemicals are having, but the fact that there is a despute over the extent of its effect (despite what Michael seems to think with his "heads-in-the-sand dept." quip...) or its permanance means there are plenty of scientists who disagree that humans are the cause any more than natural climate cycles of the Earth are. Studies show the ozone is a lot more self-maintaining than you and I were raised to believe, and that most of the chemicals we hear about that are so damaging never even reach the altitudes necessary to do damage to the ozone.

To sum it up--there is disagreement because there is little proven evidence either way (think of it as similar to brain tumors and cell phones), and the studies that are out end up being contradicted by another. Simply looking at percentages of scientific papers published in the last decade doesn't necessarily prove much more than a general published consensus in the last decade in those specific science magazines.

Not just CD sales:

"The BPI also reported that vinyl sales, while still small, continued to rise, with a 60 per cent increase in three months."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2004/08/24/ntunes24.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/24 /ixhome.html

"Where to have the debate where it might be read by those who mater:" And you lead with Boris?!

Is there another MP who's taken a clearer anti-ID card stance, and is prepared to discuss their positon so openly?

An effect of O'Neill's proposal is the creation of space settlements which could house thousands of times the land area of the Earth from asteroidal materials alone. The creator of the space-settlement FAQ, Mike Combs, says in that FAQ to the question "Is space settlement a solution to the overpopulation problem?":

Probably not. No space transportation system we can imagine (although that might be a significant qualifier) could keep up with the number of babies being born.

Anti-Americanism in France is a reality. But it is also true that the French are embracing American habits. McDonald's is expanding faster in France than in any other country in Europe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/ar ts/2003/08/25/ftdis25.xml&sSheet=/arts/2003/08/25/ ixartleft.html

the whole combining radioactive material and dirt and heating it into glass thing? http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/n ews/2004/09/26/nnuke26.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/26 /ixhome.html

By conservative estimates, 250,000 children died from 1991 to 1996. But during those five years, Saddam refused offers to sell his oil and import humanitarian goods under UN supervision, gambling that images of starving babies would break the will of the international community.

By 1996 he was allowed to sell oil to clients of his choice provided that the income went into a UN account to be spent on food and medicine.

Saddam siphoned 10 cents off every barrel of oil leaving the country and a further 10 per cent "kickback" from every shipment of food or medicine to reach Iraq.

Tyrant's oil-for-food scam raised £11bn, along with a choice quote:

The scam - under which Saddam would bribe officials with vouchers entitling the bearer to a certain amount of oil on the open market - had brought in the equivalent of £11 billion for his regime, the US Congress has been told.

That has been taken as further proof that the UN sanctions regime was crumbling - and that Saddam had acquired the financial muscle needed to pursue his aim of acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

And here is another good source

They are incredibly far from missiles that can hit anywhere close to the US.

quite sure of that, are you?

they proved they are capable of lobbing missiles over japan in 1998, thus posing a threat to their neighbors. it's only a matter of time before they scale them up to reach the continental US.

We are technically at war with North Korea, and have been for 50 years now. The North Koreans are a major source of ballistic missile proliferation as they continue to develop and export a range of sophisticated missiles to nations such as Iran and Yemen. They have tested components for a missile capable of reaching the United States. They either have, or are close to having nuclear weapons. The North Koreas bought 12 decommissioned Soviet submarines and have used them to advance their technology and may deploy weapons on them.

North Korea regularly threatens to attack the United States.

To get a sense of the nature of the North Korean government you can just look at how they treat: orphans, the US deserver who just returned after 40 years, the Japanese they kidnapped to teach their spies, and last, but not least, the victims of their gulag.

The North Koreans could teach lessons to the Iraqi Information Minister. They deny having dug the tunnels into South Korea, some of which are big enough to drive vehicles. (A handy thing if you were of a mind to invade the South, no?) They no doubt also deny their regular attempts to infiltrate groups of agents into South Korea.

The North Korean Army had million soldiers in it in 1992. The North Koreans have been willing to starve the population, significant numbers to death, in order to sustain the army.

North Korea is a designated member of the "Axis of Evil."

They seem like a bunch you might want to protect yourself against.