Thursday, December 29, 2005

SPIEGEL Interview with Evolution Philosopher Daniel Dennett: "Darwinism Completely Refutes Intelligent Design" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

SPIEGEL Interview with Evolution Philosopher Daniel Dennett: "Darwinism Completely Refutes Intelligent Design" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Bush Defends Secret Spying in the U.S. - Yahoo! News

Bush Defends Secret Spying in the U.S. - Yahoo! News

Friday, December 09, 2005

Harold Pinter ? Nobel Lecture: "Blatant state terrorism"

Harold Pinter, too sick to travel to Stockholm to receive his Nobel prize, delivers his lecture - a condemnation of the Iraq war - by video. "What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days ? conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? ...

The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading ? as a last resort ? all other justifications having failed to justify themselves ? as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people.

We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'.

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?"

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

WOAI: San Antonio News - Dean: US Won't Win in Iraq

WOAI: San Antonio News - Dean: US Won't Win in Iraq

Sunday, December 04, 2005

War on climate change targets flatulent cows - Sunday Times - Times Online

Toby McDonald
BRITISH scientists are fighting climate change by reducing the harmful greenhouse gases produced by flatulent cows.

Researchers claim that by altering the diet of cows they can cut the animals? emissions of methane ? a contributor to global warming ? by up to 70%. Scientists and green groups concerned about climate change have traditionally focused their efforts on cars, lorries, power stations and factories that burn fossil fuels and produce millions of tons of carbon dioxide.

But a study by French scientists published this year warned that flatulent farm animals must shoulder some of the blame.

There are 1.4 billion cows worldwide, each producing 500 litres of methane a day and accounting for 14% of all emissions of the gas.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Independent Online Edition > Environment

: "Tens of thousands of people marched in 33 countries yesterday to express concern for the environment. But will their leaders respond? Geoffrey Lean and David Randall report"

Independent Online Edition > Environment

Tens of thousands of people marched in 33 countries yesterday to express concern for the environment. But will their leaders respond? Geoffrey Lean and David Randall report

Climate change: time for action

Today, protesters unite in 30 nations - this is what lies ahead if nothing is done: KILLER STORMS...RAMPANT DISEASE...RISING SEA LEVELS...DEVASTATED WILDLIFE...WATER SHORTAGES...AGRICULTURAL TURMOIL...THE 'X' FACTOR? Submitted on December 3, 2005 12:37 p.m. by Eric~LaManque. [UserTrolls]

Friday, December 02, 2005

North Carolina Illegally Certifies Diebold E-voting System

Board of Elections Ignores Rules to Escrow Code, Identify Programmers

Raleigh, North Carolina - The North Carolina Board of Elections certified Diebold Election Systems to sell electronic voting equipment in the state yesterday, despite Diebold's repeated admission that it could not comply with North Carolina's tough election law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) believes that this raises important questions about the Board of Elections' procedures as well as the integrity of Diebold's bid for certification.

In all, three companies were certified for e-voting in North Carolina: Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Election Systems & Software. However, Keith Long, an advisor to the Board of Elections who was formerly employed by both Diebold and Sequoia, has said that "none of them" could meet the statutory requirement to place their system code in escrow. Instead of rejecting all applications and issuing a new call for bids as required by law, the Board chose to approve all of the applicants.

"The Board of Elections has simply flouted the law," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "In August, the state passed tough new rules designed to ensure transparency in the election process, and the Board simply decided to take it upon itself to overrule the legislature. The Board's job is to protect voters, not corporations who want to obtain multi-million dollar contracts with the state."

Last month, Diebold obtained a broad temporary restraining order that allowed it to evade key transparency requirements without criminal or civil liability. The law requires escrow of the source code for all voting systems to be certified in the state and identification of programmers. Diebold claimed that it could not comply because of its reliance on third-party software.

Monday, responding to EFF's arguments, a judge dismissed Diebold's request for broad exemptions to the law and told Diebold that if it wanted to continue in its certification bid, it must follow the law or face liability. Diebold had told the court that it would likely withdraw from the bidding process if it was not granted liability protection. But instead, Diebold went forward with the certification bid.

Diebold's certification now means it is permitted to sell e-voting equipment in North Carolina. But Zimmerman says that any county that buys from Diebold is taking a risk.

"If Diebold's certification is revoked, counties using their equipment could be left holding a very expensive bag," Zimmerman said.

Despite Long's assertion, at least one Diebold competitor -- Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software -- has publicly stated that it is capable of meeting the escrow requirement for the code used it its system.

For more on the judge's decision Monday:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_11.php#004203

Truth Is Stranger Than Phiction - The drug industry's literary misadventure. By Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer

A marketing plan by PhRMA, the major lobbying group that represents drug manufacturers, to sow fear into Americans' hearts about imported drugs from Canada, has backfired. The idea was to insert the message into the plotlines of popular dramas. The plan worked well enough when it was made the plot of a recent television show (CSI-NY, I believe), but the plot failed when it was exported to the less compliant book industry. As this story relates, the plot of The Karasik Conspiracy "has an instructive new bad guy: A large pharmaceutical company, so far unnamed, has poisoned Canadian-sold drugs?and then tried to make it look like a bunch of terrorists were behind the plot." Needless to say, PhRMA is distancing itself from the novel. Submitted on December 1, 2005 8:43 p.m. by StephenDownes. NewsTrolls

Thursday, December 01, 2005

An ill-wind: Hurricane season smashes all records | the Daily Mail

Well now that it's over, it's official: this year's hurricane season smashed all records... "There were 26 tropical storms in 2005, smashing the old record of 21 storms, set in 1933... Thirteen tropical storms strengthened into hurricanes, with top sustained winds of at least 74mph (119kph). The old record was 12, set in 1969. But it was not just the frequency of storms this season which brought the most destruction. The 2005 season saw the most Category 5 hurricanes. Three deadly hurricanes - Katrina, Rita and Wilma - reached the top rank on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, with sustained winds over 155mph (294kph)."

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