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I don't really understand why the American public looks down at the UN.

Most Americans don't like the idea of a huge corrupt overpowered beauracracy that seems to do nothing but hold month long conferences at 5 star hotels to discuss the idea of having a conference to set the guidelines for a meeting.

The UN is a cesspool of ineptitude and it, at the very least, needs an enema of biblical proportions.

Or maybe we find it curious as to why countries like Libya should be appointed to head the UN Human Rights commission? Or why the only UN employee that has been fired for the Oil for Food scandal was just rehired so he could receive his full retirement benefits! That poor corrupt bastard was going to have to get a new job but now he can retire and live comfortably with money paid by you and me.

Or how the wonderful former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, had a mysterious $160,000 deposit into one of his accounts. When asked where it came from, he stated his aunt had just given it to him as a gift. But before they could ask the aunt in question, she miraculously fell down an elevator shaft. I mean, for fucks sake, that's a scene straight out of a f'en movie.

They were against the use of force without convincing evidence. Turns out they were right.

About the WMDs? Perhaps, yes.

Over the years it has done a great job in many places.

Where and when? Korea? That war is still going on and you've got the worlds most insane dictator running half of it. Sending strongly worded letters don't count, nor does trying to pass resolutions condemning Israel. ...in a bid to limit Saddam's power, and save hundreds of thousands of innocent lives

Yes, they tried to, and failed. Saddam made billions during that time period in kickbacks and illegal oil deals. The only thing the sanctions hurt were the Iraqi people.

It's not perfect, of course, but it's always ready to take on the dirty jobs that no one else wants.

What would those be exactly? I think you're confusing the UN with NATO and/or the US.

Have you any evidence to provide that the Baath regime WASN'T behind it? I'd really like to see that, seriously.

No one can provide evidence either way, near as I can see.... except for the cashed checks that Hussein wrote to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.

Besides, Saudia Arabia did (does?) the same thing. And of course most of the 911 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, while none were from Iraq. And yet the only clear winner of the Iraq invasion that I see is oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, who are profiting from all the instability the markets see in the middle east. It's that oil money that fills the "swamps" Bush wants to drain, and the terrorists are laughing all the way to the bank.

We should be engaging the Saudis in serious negotiations for change. We should infiltrating terrorist cells. Turning it into a war, fought with conventional war tactics, is just digging the hole deeper... and killing tens of thousands in the process.

So, if I go to this library with a fake ID and they take my fingerprints how are they going to make sure that I am who I claim I am, if they're not crossreferencing any other fingerprint databases?

I would think that the news agency would want to be featured on Google to attract more visitors to its site! Apparently they are simply out for money when no damage has actually been done. Sure it's copyrighted material...

The words are copyrighted. The news isn't. AFP might want to recognize this if they'd like to continue to compete in the modern world.

Being the "oldest" news organization in the world can be a hindrance if you fail to recognize that you're no longer the only one in existence.

Getting yourself taken off Google does not seem a prudent business decision in such a competitive news market.

I applaud the fact that Japan is progressing in space. Mankind is best served by a Western nation, like Japan, advancing the state of human knowledge. Mankind is least served by a brutal nation, like China, advancing the state of human knowledge. The Chinese would surely use such knowledge to further their lecherous aims of intensifying the torture of Tibetan women and children.

I guess all the corporations I've worked for have been the exception. Or are you now making shit up?

Only if those 10,000 all used the same OC 48. And even then, like I've said, they'd be quickly shut down.

I've never said that zombies don't need to be shut down. They do, but it really has very little to do with spam.

They certainly don't have firewalls which disallow incoming connections, since they allow incoming connections by their very nature.

Exchange server? There are far more linux servers running apache than windows servers running exchange server.

Real authentication would be more like the way HTTPS works.

Few Linux servers on the Internet? You should present this theory to Netcraft.

"Efforts by the industries affected are under way to extend the levy to computer peripherals and, where not yet implemented, photocopying machines."
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030312-12091 2-6894r

I thought you would reply to my insult, as someone as stupid as you just can't keep away from a fight.

Anyway, i think it should be pointed out that Slashdot has already covered this story back when they originally started considering it about two years ago. The analysis linked to might still be relevant.

Newspapers actually pay for services like the AP or UPI or Reuters.

Roland makes money by copy and pasting articles and then writing a few sentences about them. I have nothing against his blog. I do have something against him profiting from it.

As for Elders, you're right, I had forgotten that comment, and you're correct it was a stupid one, as was her masturbation comment for that matter. Not because she was wrong in thinking these things but because she was rhetorically insensitive in presenting those ideas to the public in that manner. I guess it bothered me less because I felt she made sound policy decisions (and I agreed with the substance of most of her comments).

A good summary of research into the plight of continental Europeans, combined with the spread of anti-semitism associated with their philosophy, can be found in this United Press International report. Some notable quotes:

The collapse of globalization and consequent rise of totalitarianism set the stage for the end of the great Judaeo-German hybrid civilization of Europe and its French counterpart. Those European Jews who were left alive at the end of the war overwhelmingly desired to leave, and they left to two destinations: Israel, and the Anglosphere.

With this emigration, on top of the previous great Jewish emigration to London and New York in the late 19th century, much of the energy, creativity and contributions of European Jews were given to the Anglosphere rather than the Continent. The cost to the Continent, and the benefits to the Anglosphere has never, to my knowledge, been calculated. The cost might never be calculable, but it is real.

Continental Europeans, helped by the Marshall Plan and American investment, rebuilt their countries with vigor after 1945. Led by the last generations to mature in the environment of the hybrid Jewish-European civilization, Europe seemed to pick up where it left off in 1933.

Gradually, however, Europe seemed to run out of creativity, in everything from arts, to academia, to demographic vigor, to the will to political reform. Endless rehashing of elsewhere-discredited Marxism replaced creative political thought. Overt fascism and national chauvinism were banned, but a new Euro-chauvinism took its place, loudly proclaiming the superiority of European ways over crude American ones -- a new chauvinism on a wider scale, based like the old national chauvinism primarily on resentment.

The widespread anti-Americanism in the world, of which Continental Europe is the ultimate source, has almost nothing to do with the character of President George W. Bush or the current administration, or other such cosmetic issues.

Definite must read if you want to understand why Sen. Kerry so desparately desires to be liked by the French and Germans (he is a classic continentalist, funded by true continentialists such as Soros - amusingly a self-loathing Jew who is bankrolling the next genocide of his people), why the continentialists are incapable of using reason to support any of their arguments, and why they readily accept the bribes and orders of anti-industrial society Islamic extremists.

I think the topic of this discussion is a side-effect. I think, the question this all starts with is: how can you stop American politicians from being legally bribed?

It's really obvious looking from the outside in that America is rotting, it's more difficult to see from the inside because the ones that are trying to control the government, and succeeding in my opinion, are the ones that feed you information through TV.

What about the state sponsored outsourcing? The US government is actively supporting outsourcing, examples here, here, and

Hm, I can't say I share your interpretation of that quote.

First of all, you need to look at the context. This speech is quite obviously an attempt to smooth over the tense international situation with recycled, fluffy rhethoric, with very little credibility to back it up. I'm not going to do a complete dissection of the speech, but just to pull out a couple of random examples:

"The American people respect the idealism that gave life to this organization. And we respect the men and women of the U.N., who stand for peace and human rights in every part of the world."

The US may find it convenient to use UN resolutions as a justification for their actions when it suits them. But when the General Assembly and Security Council votes against US interests, often overwhelmingly so (ie only the US, sometimes with Israeli support, opposed), the US vetoes the vote and dismisses the UN as irrelevant. The US doesn't seem to have anything but contempt for "the idealism that gave birth to [the UN]".

"Today, the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom."

The current US administration often uses freedom and democracy as a justification for their actions. However, history shows that the one and only criteria for how "good" a country is is how well they serve US interests - freedom and democracy is never part of the assessment, as the US relationship with Saudi Arabia clearly demonstrates (as well as the links i posted earlier).

So Bush's words are rather meaningless once you investigate the actions of the US, instead of simply listening to the rhethoric. Now, to the actual quote:

"For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach."

I must say that there is a huge difference between "tolerating oppression" and overthrowing a democratically-elected governmment and installing a brutal dictator (which arguably led to the Iranian revolution in 1979). And the stability Bush mentions surely must be stability for US interests rather than stability of the region (the illegal US support for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war most certainly was not in the name of stability).

Now, the US definitely isn't the only country with blood on it's hands, Europe's history is even more brutal, and Stalin's Soviet Union surely was no picnic either. However, in recent times US has had unprecedented power, and it is vital that the US uses it's power in accordance with and support of international law and humanitarian principles, rather than undermining them.

Well, I've rambled on far too long already. If you are interested in a critical analysis of US foreign policy I'd recommend reading Noam Chomsky - you may not agree with everything he says, but the facts he presents are quite illuminating.

At least when we talk to George W Bush, we know where he stands, and we know he'll do his level best to keep his promises.

I can't even tell what John Kerry is promising, it seems to change every other day.

Who's the flip-flopper?

Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations Source: UPI / interviews with former Israeli intelligence agents and CIA agents.
Cite: " Gerald Bull, an Ontario-born U.S. citizen and designer of the Iraqi supergun -- a massive artillery system capable of launching satellites into orbit, and of delivering nuclear chemical or biological payloads from Baghdad to Israel -- was killed in Belgium in March 1990. The killing is still unsolved, but former CIA officials said a Mossad hit team is the most likely suspect."

New evidence of Mossad involvement in Belgium murder case Source: Haaretz Daily (an Israeli newspaper) / the Belgian government
Cite: "The Belgian State Prosecutor is considering reopening a probe into the murder of Canadian scientist Dr. Gerald Bull in Brussels 12 years ago, amid new suspicions that the Mossad was responsible. Belgian police say they have new information that the Mossad was directly involved in killing Bull."

I think it's worth giving a damn about, especially if our troops are being put at risk in Iraq. I think it's something many of the troops would give a damn about.

You are missing the point. We are at war with terrorism, not just al Qaeda or Bin Laden. Saddam supported terrorists, including Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the PKK, Abu Nidal, Hamas, and Ansar al Islam.. Iraq has been on our State Department's list of states that sponser terrorism for almost 20 years. The Clinton administration alledged Iraq/al Qaeda ties several times, including in this 1998 indictment. Even if Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, they were very legitimate and important target in the War on Terrorism.

It's an interesting story, but I don't think it's too likely in the wake of the commisson's report. Got a (credible) link for me?

We haven't seen the commission's report yet. The interim report that created a stir of sensational headlines last week was not from the commission- it was from a runaway commission staff, and the report's broad conclusions about Iraq/Al Qaeda ties have since been denounced by both the Chair and Vice-Chair of the commission.

Oh- and the commission has just been made aware of the al Qaeda meeting in Malaysia that the parent mentioned.

Really? Then why can't we find any?

The fact that Saddam had proscribed weapons that he couldn't account for is not in dispute.

And why aren't we attacking other countries that possess WMD in violation of international law?

No other country is in violation of a dozen unanimous UN security council resolutions requiring them to disarm. Iraq was a very logical step in the war.

Published 3/24/2003 6:43 AM

RABAT, D.C., Morocco, March 24 (UPI) -- A Moroccan publication accused the government Monday of providing unusual assistance to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq by offering them 2,000 monkeys trained in detonating land mines.

The weekly al-Usbu' al-Siyassi reported that Morocco offered the U.S. forces a large number of monkeys, some from Morocco's Atlas Mountains and others imported, to use them for detonating land mines planted by the Iraqis.

The publication quoted a highly-informed source as saying, "that is not a scientific illusion but a well-known military tactic."

Copyright 2001-2004 United Press International

Technology may swoop down out of the sky to save us with some yet as uninvented and unimplemented device, even given that we have several candidates. But if we put in 100 times the amount of money into research today, we still would have a hard time of implementing those solutions in time. The market cannot help us because it will only become economical to do said research after the economy goes into its predetermined downslide, exactly when we don't have the funds available to do so. Oh, and the US has cut billions out of research precisely when we need it most. So, government won't do it and the market cannot.

Maybe wealthy individuals will step up to the plate and start to invest in the needed research. But mostly, they seem content to pull out of the stock market and purchase oil companies. And a good plan too. As oil costs mount, these companies stand to make billions and billions as oil's ever escalating cost give them a bottom line that anyone would drool over.

So, yeah, 1 seems most likely. Who knows, maybe the first billion deaths will cause us to stop and re-evaluate our lives and goals. But those anmial husbandry skills probably won't go to waste.

Thanks for the great post.

crulx

The salesman mentioned that Mr. Lewin actually died before the plane hit the building, as there is a recording of a stewardess phoning someone that "9B just slit the throat of 10B". Lewin was sitting in 10B, and someone with an Arabic name, one of the hijackers, was in 9B.

Actually, according to reports, he was shot. The FAA draft memo says as much. However, the FAA's final draft omits mention of gunfire.

Is 30 million years a big enough number for you?

Maybe a more acceptable statement would be CO2 is at record levels

Half a million years is enough for scientists to conclude that CO2 concentrations are at abnormal levels, both by the quantity and rate of increase.

It's true. When the earth was cooling and there was nothing but volcanoes everywhere 5 billion years ago, there could have been more CO2. And when there was an "extinction event" the concentrations could have been higher. But the fact remains, we are in uncharted territory when it comes to CO2 levels.

Saying that I was inaccurate is myopic in the extreme.

But while hawks -- especially in the Pentagon -- believe Krekar is a "smoking gun" linking Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, the CIA is skeptical about his alleged ties to Baghdad.

-- "Analysis: Iraq al Qaida link hard to prove"

Barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, the secretary of defense was telling his aides to start thinking about striking Iraq, even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

-- "General says White House pushed Saddam link without evidence"

While a Saddam Hussein/Osama bin Laden connection was one of the administration's early justifications for going to war, it has produced no evidence to demonstrate this link exists.

-- "Bush Uranium Lie is Tip of the Iceberg"

British intelligence sources also dismiss claims by Washington hawks that Mohamed Atta, believed to be the ringleader of the September 11 terrorists, met an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague on several occasions.

-- "UK Spies Reject Al-Qaida Link"

You have to remember the enviroment that produced this mess.

The former soviets had a very cavalier attitude towards radioactivity. Part of the problem was the extreme pressure they felt to keep up with western technology.

The soviets have radioactive waste everywhere. Not just Chernobyl, but across the continent.
It really is a severe problem. There are also over 40,000 barrels of waste in the Barents sea that need to be cleaned up before it kills the fisheries.

This doesn't mention all the nuclear accidents that they had that released radioactivity in the enviroment. Many of which were never published or covered up. The only reason we learned about Chernobyl is because fallout reached Sweden.

BTW, the Chernobyl sarcophagus is crumbling, and threatens to expose the radioactive core once again, unless western nations fund some fix. So that mess is not over yet.

"Radioactive Mess" would be Russia's middle name if it had one.

I think that refining the internal combustion engines exhaust system to filter out C02 is the solution. Electric cars?
No way. Just more problems - battery disposal for one.

Honda'sZLEV is going for -0- emmissions gas cars. So, if would figure that if we could find a way to filter out the C02 from the exhaust then we are on our way to solving the greenhouse emissions problem.

Also, we got ourselves into this mess by using non-renewable sources of hydrocarbons - millions of year old oil from the ground. If we used a renewable source (e.g., hemp-oil/whatever) then the C02 emissions would be balanced with the C02 'locking' that occurs when a plant uses C02 from the air to grow. Burn a gallon of oil plant a crop that uses C02 to grow -- LAW::Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It is conserved.

As we now know the ultimate solution will only occur within a balance of use and renewability. No idea introduced today is going to work for a very, very long time and by then it might be too late to do anything anyway -- Ocean Coveyor Belt

"Twenty-two states in the United States have introduced legislation. VT, HI, ND, MT, MN, IL, VA, NM, CA, AR, KY, MD, WV have passed legislation for support, research, or cultivation." -- Here

Oh, by the way the Whitehouse wants your oil. -SB

What has been lost, for the most part, is the fact that concealed in Bush's proposal is a catch-all kill line that basically targets all pure-science research by NASA. Anything that doesn't support this new directive is going to be "scrapped" or "scaled-back" -- which is hardly a surprise from the least science-literate president in recorded history. (See: UPI Article)

Furthermore, the idea of using the Moon as a base of operations to reach Mars is laughable at best. Easterbrook (normally only moderately eloquent) wrote a great piece doing back-of-the-envelope calculations regarding the various payloads and fuel requirements for travelling to Mars.

This is not a good thing. As an astronomer, I lament the 'scaling back' of non-Moon/Mars projects -- many people (evidently many here on /.) believe that everyone who works for or receives funding from NASA is an astronaut. Not true -- much space science research is in fact funded NASA scientists, although it seems that may be coming to a bit of a close.

According to the United Press International, President Bush will propose changes to the U.S. space program that includes a manned return to the moon in 2013 with an ultimate aim of a landing on Mars. Further plans involve retiring the space shuttle fleet once the ISS is completed.

Fine. I'll spend all of 5 mintues with Google News since you're incapable of doing so yourself:

Reuters AlertNet
United Press International
The Chicago Maroon.
The Cornell Daily Sun
The Diamondback
The Massachusettes Daily Collegian

The last 4 are university newspapers who had people there.
"Oh, no! That must mean they're biased since they're filthy protesters!"

Face it. People like you have blinders on. If someone says something that disagrees with your worldview, you'll loudly trump about how they're a liar and biased. In that way, you're exactly like the Iraqi Information Minister, going on and on about how there are no infidels in Baghdad's airport and how they're being killed in streets even as coallition forces roll over the countryside. Think, research, and stop making kneejerk, assinine posts accusing someone else of lying when you can't be bothered to verify the information yourself.

The problem with "biocomputers" is that typical electronic equipment and biological macromolecules have very different properties. Proteins get their "shape" from very specific conditions, including *temperature*.

Good point. Many proteins (such as those in the human body) are very sensitive to temperature, pH, salinity, etc. Yet I suspect that many organisms have thermally robust proteins -- most bacteria, plants, and cold-blooded animals have proteins that must hold their shape over a wide range of temperatures. I agree with your point about electronic-biologic compatibility. The interface between a biocomputer and any electronics would need to respect the temperature range of the proteins involved. More advanced versions of this technology might leverage research of themophilic bacteria or even replace the polypeptide system with a polyimide system or a polysilane system (silicon based artifical life!) for higher temperature tolerance.

The reason tRNA have specificity for their *exact* amino acid specificity is because of incredibly precise interactions with the enzyme that links them, and the amino acids.

Yes, but we can design new tRNA binding sites to accomodate new amino acids. I know of at least one successful attempt to add an artificial amino acid to the proteosynthesis system in E coli. In theory we could have as many as 64 amino acids. Moreover, Japanese researchers are working on extending the genetic code to have DNA with 6 base pairs, providing the potential for 216 different "amino acids" with a 3-codon encoding scheme. Thus it is feasible to modify the tRNA system to bind other artificial amino acids and synthesize proteins that have these unusual components.

You never know when an already assembled subunit will turn around and bind something that it shouldn't, or when a temperature change will denature a binding site and ruin the whole process.

Binding site specificity is an issue. It will take some clever lock-and-key protein folds to create high specificity -- perhaps single-stranded DNA might provide a suitable high-specifificy binding site. Limitations on specificity and the intricacy of docking sites is why I suspect the technology will be limited to fairly simple electronic circuits. I agree that temperature will need to be controlled during synthesis, but operating temperatures might be at least as variable as those found in temperate climates.

Take a look at this very recent article. This article points out that American IT management is way over-priced compared to Indian management, and hence management will be the next thing to go off shore. As it says in the article, this is American IT self destructing.

See what you think of the UPI as it still exists.

Our electrical grid is one of the wonders of the modern world already

Oh, and since you seem to have a modicum of respect for Bush (at least comapred to some of the alternatives,)

President Bush (news - web sites), during a tour of a California national park, said part of the problem was "an antiquated system" to distribute electricity nationally.

"It's a wake-up call," Bush said. "The grid needs to be modernized, the delivery systems need to be modernized."

Unless you mean that the wonder is that it's still working at all, despite the lack of upgrades?

I can think of only a few reasons for that state of affairs, maliciousness on the part of the power companies, which seems very unlikely, accountants getting unlucky at the cost-benefit analysis game in an attempt to make more money (what i cynically refered to as them "not caring") or unluckyness at the same game, but due to a shortage of capital, in which case this might have something to do with it?

"On Thursday, Bush said that he has supported the idea of improving the transmission grid "all along." However, the Bush administration has past fought efforts to revamp the nation's electrical delivery systems that were not part of broader energy legislation.

Republican allies of the Bush administration, including House Majority Whip Tom Delay, R-Texas, derailed just such a proposal from Democrats in June 2001. The measure, proposed during California's energy crisis, would have provided $350 million in federal loans and loan guarantees for the industry to improve power transmission systems around the country."

We need to stand up against liability lawyers

There is a bill in the House and Senate right now that would do just that.

Patient and Physician Safety and Protection Act of 2003

"It would cap "non-economic damages" at $250,000 "

And here is the reason it will never get a vote on the floor: Analysis: Tort reform or defunding Dems?

"Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said in a televised speech on Tuesday that the brother of Columbia astronaut David Brown disclosed receiving an e-mail from orbit that conveyed the crew's "concern" about the left wing, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported in Wednesday's paper. According to the report, the senator said Doug Brown, who lives in Virginia, told him his brother's e-mail said the crew had taken a photo of the left wing.

Story

I find it very telling that an unprovoked attack on the USA that killed around 2,795 is a "tragedy" and a "slaughter" and justifies destroying all our rights and 2 foriegn countries. And yet, another unprovoked attack that kills at least 3,240 civilians is just a "few sandy buttholes."


The liberation of the Iraqi people killed by accident about as many civilians as Saddam would have deliberately killed in about four months on average in the normal course of running Iraq. You do the math. The war was a one time event. Saddam, and eventually his even more sadistic sons would go on, and on, and on with the killing. Thats done now.

And a few other things...

The attack on the World Trade Center wasn't a "tragedy" as many style it, it was an atrocity.

Afghanistan and Iraq haven't been destroyed, but the vile governments that ran them have been deposed. In both cases the war that removed those vile govenments killed remarkably few people from a historical perspective. What will become of their countries has yet to be seen, but it would take someone actively working at it to make it worse than it was. At least the people there have a chance now. A chance, but no guarantees.

It is always important for a free people to remain vigilent. In this case we must remain vigilent against terrorists and their sympathizers, both from abroad and within, and in regard to the laws we pass to deal with them. We must remain vigilent that the laws are of reasonable scope given the threat, that they do not remain in force longer than necessary.

If you think that the current US administration somehow poses a unique threat to our civil liberties, you are sadly mistaken. Congress and President Clinton put the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 into effect. (Reasonable or not?) Congress and President Bush put the Patriot Act into effect. (Reasonable or not?) The Patriot Act has been widely vilified on Slashdot, but at least it includes a sunset provision. I'm not aware of any sunsets for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and more than a few things that have caused howls of outrage here are possible because of this law.

Seems to me like Europe has a bit more to be worried about when it comes to sinking. I think its funny that people say, $x is why the US invaded Iraq, as though there is some one reason that is being kept a secret. Truth is, there were lots of reasons. Not all of them are good reasons, mind you, but the decision wasn't as cut and dry as people suggest (either for or against the war).

OT, and yes, this sounds suspciously like the old Stephen King troll, but there are reports that the guy committed suicide. Not that he's necessarily a good guy like his son says, because he apparently threatened to slash a Jordanian journo's hands off if he reported the truth.

Sorry, this has no business to be in a thread talking about MS, or (the lack of) Tablet PC's. Just thought I'd point this out before we continue to make al Sahaf jokes.

One of the prime reasons that we need the Patriot Act is that the Chinese are dire threat to the security of this country. Consider the shocking story, "Ex-FBI man, Chinese lover held in spy case", that just came across the newswire. An American of Chinese ancestry sold out her country, the USA. This Chinese gave vital information about our national security to Beijing.

well, better keep reading

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

Then why are you against taking out the man who kills more children than anyone else? Saddam Hussein kills more children before lunchtime in a single day than will be killed in this whole war. If your heart cries out for the murdered innocent children, you need to be for this war! Saddam has used bees and scorpions to sting naked children in front of their parents.

Your way of "peace" only allows the merciless persecution and impoverishment of Iraqis to continue. Why is the justification for this war so hard to understand? Saddam has killed over 100,000 people. This is a rescue mission. It is a war of compassion to end a holocaust.

You wanted to give diplomacy more time?

"You just arrived. You're late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious. I want to say hello to Bush, to shake his hand. We came out of the grave." - liberated Iraqi

Listen to the account of a reformed anti-war protester who went to Iraq:

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

Americans call him president. Iraqis call him savior.

"You just arrived. You're late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious. I want to say hello to Bush, to shake his hand. We came out of the grave."

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

It's really telling that you direct that statement (I quoted at the very top) toward Americans and President Bush and not Iraqis and "President" Hussein. (Of course, most Iraqis do not actually call Saddam "President" ... well, okay, not willingly.)

The actions of shocking genitals, medical experimentation, crucifixions, and using bees and scorpions to sting naked children in front of their parents merely qualifies Saddam Hussein as "not an angel." Meanwhile, the actions of leading the charge to use force to STOP those atrocities does not, in your mind, outweigh whatever other comparatively petty objections you have against George W. Bush, in qualifying him as an "a*hole." The fact that President Bush is at the forefront of this mission of emancipation and war on terrorism makes him all the more praiseworthy. Don't think I'm a Bushie yes-man. I strenuously disagree with the president on some of his foreign policy, but this war is just and necessary for peace. The cost in human life of this war will be high, but the cost of not going to war has been and would continue to be much higher.

Don't mistake courage and decisiveness for arrogance. However, even if Bush were arrogant, that does nothing to diminish the reasons for the war: national and world security, prevent terrorism, Iraqi liberation, stop oppression.

President Bush is not defying the United Nations. You see, the United States is essentially the executive branch of the U.N. It is the only entity in the world truly capable of fulfilling this position. The U.N. has no armed forces, and therefore, no way to enforce its resolutions when countries want to defy its will. Even if there were a U.N. military, the U.N. would be too cowardly to use it. Using aggressive force goes against the tragically flawed, international elitist philosophy that diplomacy can solve every possible conflict in the world. As a result, the U.N. is useless. Its words have no impact because it will not back them up.

The U.S. is not defying the U.N.; it's doing the exact opposite. The U.S. is enabling the U.N. to fulfill its goals. Bush is trying to put a backbone in the U.N., but the U.N. is hell-bent on being irrelevant. The U.N. said that Iraq needed to be disarmed, and if disarmament could not be achieved through diplomacy, then "serious consequences" would be necessary. After seventeen resolutions against the Iraqi regime and twelve years of diplomacy, the situation is worse than when we first began. The U.S. is fulfilling the U.N.'s wishes by volunteering to disarm Iraq by force.

If any one is

It doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, because we are more right than they are ("Bush is Hitler," "No war for Texaco"). Because we alone have the ability to do whatever we want, combined with accurate knowledge and passion for goodness, we have the moral obligation to do what we know is right.

Bush and Blair are right. The protesters are wrong.

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." (superyooser: Expounded, "My experience in the real world forced me to abandon my fantasies about Bush's greedy, imperialist intentions and taught me that his administration's position is right and based on reality.") Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

The following UPI excerpt documents Iraqi views:

"A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

full story

Just read what some of your fellow protestors are saying about Iraq after spending some time there as human shields. The Iraqi people want Saddam gone as much as anyone.

Here is a link that elaborates on the prior link to Washington Post. Perhaps you would like to link to something to support an argument that "preventive" declarations of war are somehow a good thing for the country?

Ummm, MOAB, anyone?

The discovery raises some doubts about whether the fourth-largest and second-closest Jovian moon is capable of sustaining life, as scientists have speculated. (UPI article)

IANAX (I Am Not A Xenobiologist), but offhand I cannot really think why this should be so. So Jupiter's magnetic field knocks the sh*t out of the Europan ice crust and creates a vapour trail all along the Europan orbit, big deal.

Remember, Europa is one big Arctic Ocean, a frozen crust of water ice swimming on an ocean of unknown depth. I believe nobody ever intended to look for life on the ice-crusted, irradiated, cold surface of the planet, but rather on the ocean floor, where volcanic vents could sustain life just as they do on Earth. Down there, what little radiation gets through all that water may be even speeding up evolution with its mutagenic effect.

Indeed, the warmth generated by the irradiation of the surface may be great enough to create a heat gradient between the Jupiter side and the dark side of Europa, which in turn may help sustain life.

"They conclude that the gas cloud both generates and attracts charged radiation particles and thus helps to maintain Jupiter's magnetosphere - the region influenced by the planet's magnetic field."

As for the Google news link which doesn't work, try this

Google link didn't work for me. Here is a link to another article about the same topic.

Article

And if you like Nebraska a lot (I don't care one way or the other) here's an article about it in the Omaha newspaper.

Omaha

You can find some more information in the previous link and slashdot article for this topic. Same story, new link.