Quote for the Day

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
-- Socrates

Lawrence O'Donnell takes on chickenhawks

"If you're afraid of being in the armed services ... you cannot advocate war."

When I Grow Up....

9-11 caused by ACLU and other "God-Haters"?

Nicotine Is Not Addictive

Fair Housing PSA: 'Hi, I'm calling about the apartment for rent on Park St.'

WhiteOut

Hitchens Gives the Finger

Noam Chomsky on 911 Conspiracy

Permanent Military Bases in Iraq

Tomgram: A Permanent Basis for Withdrawal?

A decent article on the under-reporting of our huge bases in Iraq. I stumbled upon it after reading that there was some movement in Congress this month to amend a spending bill with wording that would "[bar] the U.S. military from establishing permanent bases in Iraq" ( LINK ). The amendment was passed (by voice) in both the House and Senate, but with different wording in each body, so the bill went to a "Conference Committee" for reconciliation, where the wording was removed. The article tells how the press failed to properly report on the issue, so I Googled to see what I could see on things, and found Tom Engelhardt's article.

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The space elevator: going down? - Study shows that proposed carbon nanotube cables won't hold up.

news @ nature.com

"Is it possible to make a cable for a space elevator out of carbon nanotubes? Not anytime soon, if ever, says Nicola Pugno of the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. Pugno's calculations show that inevitable defects in the nanotubes mean that such a cable simply wouldn't be strong enough."

Junk food banned in school meals in England

BBC NEWS | UK | Education

"School dinners in England will be free from chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and 'low-quality' meat from the autumn, the government has announced."

Operation Northwoods: Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba, 3/13/62

Ratville Times:

"Top Secret memorandum describes U.S. plans to covertly engineer various pretexts that would justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba."

Reading the document brings to mind the accusations that some have made regarding a possible 9/11 cover-up. What also came to my mind, though, was why do these guys put this kind of stuff in writing? ... and why do they then allow it to become de-classified? *boggle*
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