The Independent, in this article confirms what anyone who has reflected on it has known all the time:
"Innocent people across the world are now paying the price of the "Iraq effect", with the loss of hundreds of lives directly linked to the invasion and occupation by American and British forces.
An authoritative US study of terrorist attacks after the invasion in 2003 contradicts the repeated denials of George Bush and Tony Blair that the war is not to blame for an upsurge in fundamentalist violence worldwide. The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the "Iraq effect" on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The study compared the period between 11 September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq with the period since the invasion. The count - excluding the Arab-Israel conflict - shows the number of deaths due to terrorism rose from 729 to 5,420. As well as strikes in Europe, attacks have also increased in Chechnya and Kashmir since the invasion. The research was carried out by the Centre on Law and Security at the NYU Foundation for Mother Jones magazine.
Iraq was the catalyst for a ferocious fundamentalist backlash, according to the study, which says that the number of those killed by Islamists within Iraq rose from seven to 3,122. Afghanistan, invaded by US and British forces in direct response to the September 11 attacks, saw a rise from very few before 2003 to 802 since then. In the Chechen conflict, the toll rose from 234 to 497. In the Kashmir region, as well as India and Pakistan, the total rose from 182 to 489, and in Europe from none to 297."
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Lord Downer of Baghdad does it again - for the family!
The daughter of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is now working for him. He, like his fellow Ministers, just doesn't seem to get it. It's not the first time that a Downer family member has "cracked" something at or through Lord Downer of Baghdad.
As Crikey [only on subscription - well worth every cent!] records:
"The federal government runs a worthy initiative called Family Business Australia – and it seems even members of the government’s own top echelons are getting into the spirit of its aim to “improve the effectiveness of Australian families in business”. Leading the way is Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, whose daughter has just joined the Downer family business, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This continues the lineage which started when Alexander Snr became High Commissioner to Britain.
As Crikey reports today, Georgina Downer has been employed by Dad’s department as a graduate trainee. This career move follows another Downer family initiative almost two years ago when Ms Downer was awarded a Chevening Scholarship by the British government. At the time, Crikey was severely rebuked by the Minister for publishing that story and implying he had attempted to exert influence to secure his daughter’s scholarship (we then had hard evidence of the Minister’s role, even though we were – and still are – unable to publish it to protect our sources).
Alexander Downer will undoubtedly be positioned to say, again, that he did not personally influence his daughter’s appointment. And Crikey will again probably be accused by the Minister of invading his daughter’s privacy, something we regret having to do.
But when one of the government’s most senior ministers – a man who spends much of his time lecturing others on how to behave – allows one of his family to be employed by his own department, there’s a stench of many flavours in the air: nepotism, hubris, improper behaviour and the whiff of a long-serving government which seems to believe itself bulletproof from normal conventions."
As Crikey [only on subscription - well worth every cent!] records:
"The federal government runs a worthy initiative called Family Business Australia – and it seems even members of the government’s own top echelons are getting into the spirit of its aim to “improve the effectiveness of Australian families in business”. Leading the way is Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, whose daughter has just joined the Downer family business, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This continues the lineage which started when Alexander Snr became High Commissioner to Britain.
As Crikey reports today, Georgina Downer has been employed by Dad’s department as a graduate trainee. This career move follows another Downer family initiative almost two years ago when Ms Downer was awarded a Chevening Scholarship by the British government. At the time, Crikey was severely rebuked by the Minister for publishing that story and implying he had attempted to exert influence to secure his daughter’s scholarship (we then had hard evidence of the Minister’s role, even though we were – and still are – unable to publish it to protect our sources).
Alexander Downer will undoubtedly be positioned to say, again, that he did not personally influence his daughter’s appointment. And Crikey will again probably be accused by the Minister of invading his daughter’s privacy, something we regret having to do.
But when one of the government’s most senior ministers – a man who spends much of his time lecturing others on how to behave – allows one of his family to be employed by his own department, there’s a stench of many flavours in the air: nepotism, hubris, improper behaviour and the whiff of a long-serving government which seems to believe itself bulletproof from normal conventions."
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Israel Lobby ramps up things by a notch or three
To read how the Israel Lobby in the US operates is rather frightening. Lobbying is one thing. Influencing foreign policy is another - especially if underlying it is the old hoary cry of anti-semitism or anti-Zionism if someone doesn't go along with the Lobby's view of the way the world ought to be.
Franklin Lamb, Phd, former Assistant Counsel, House Judiciary Cmte.,
Washington,DC, writing in Counterpunch says:
"Come to think of it, wasn't it just a matter of time before the Bush administration would get around to declaring the Lebanese registered construction company, Jihad al-Bina, yet another "terrorist organization"? It finally did put Jihad al-Bina on the list this week.
Still smarting from Israel's defeat in the July war, the White House and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as well as their friends in the US Congress have been busy tightening the screws on Iran and the Lebanese Resistance. The Lebanese Resistance is led by Hezbollah which Iran, along with virtually the whole of the Middle East, admires for its military achievements in defending Lebanon against Israel, and perhaps equally, for its social, educational, health, housing and infrastructure achievements.
This latter fact alone is a big problem for AIPAC. With an annual budget of $55 million dollars, a paid membership of more than 125,000 and a full time paid staff of 122, with 12 satellite offices around the US, AIPAC is not happy these days. It is not enough for AIPAC that the recent Congressional elections, which increased the number of Zionist Jews in Congress from 26 to 31, is the largest pro-Israel contingent elected to Congress in American history. No, AIPAC is not satisfied.
Nor is AIPAC comforted by the fact that 7 of the 11 key subcommittees in Congress, on just the House side, dealing with the Middle East, Intelligence and Appropriations are now securely under Israel's control.
AIPAC wants more. Having failed in its recent 'hot' war in Lebanon, Israel has unleashed its agents in Congress to destroy Hezbollah with 'cold' war tactics including attacking its social institutions."
Franklin Lamb, Phd, former Assistant Counsel, House Judiciary Cmte.,
Washington,DC, writing in Counterpunch says:
"Come to think of it, wasn't it just a matter of time before the Bush administration would get around to declaring the Lebanese registered construction company, Jihad al-Bina, yet another "terrorist organization"? It finally did put Jihad al-Bina on the list this week.
Still smarting from Israel's defeat in the July war, the White House and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as well as their friends in the US Congress have been busy tightening the screws on Iran and the Lebanese Resistance. The Lebanese Resistance is led by Hezbollah which Iran, along with virtually the whole of the Middle East, admires for its military achievements in defending Lebanon against Israel, and perhaps equally, for its social, educational, health, housing and infrastructure achievements.
This latter fact alone is a big problem for AIPAC. With an annual budget of $55 million dollars, a paid membership of more than 125,000 and a full time paid staff of 122, with 12 satellite offices around the US, AIPAC is not happy these days. It is not enough for AIPAC that the recent Congressional elections, which increased the number of Zionist Jews in Congress from 26 to 31, is the largest pro-Israel contingent elected to Congress in American history. No, AIPAC is not satisfied.
Nor is AIPAC comforted by the fact that 7 of the 11 key subcommittees in Congress, on just the House side, dealing with the Middle East, Intelligence and Appropriations are now securely under Israel's control.
AIPAC wants more. Having failed in its recent 'hot' war in Lebanon, Israel has unleashed its agents in Congress to destroy Hezbollah with 'cold' war tactics including attacking its social institutions."
Dr. Zhivago: The Plot Thickens
Who would have thought it! The CIA "involved" in the publication of Boris Pasternak's book "Doctor Zhivago?"
The Washington Post reports:
"Into one of the most sordid episodes in Russian literary history, the Soviets' persecution of Boris Pasternak, author of "Doctor Zhivago," a Russian historian has injected a belated piece of intrigue: the CIA as covert financier of a Russian-language edition of the epic novel.
Ivan Tolstoy, who is also a broadcaster for Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, writes in a forthcoming book that the CIA secretly arranged for the publication of a limited Russian-language edition of "Doctor Zhivago" in 1958 to help Pasternak secure the Nobel Prize in Literature that year.
"Pasternak's novel became a tool that was used by the United States to teach the Soviet Union a lesson," Tolstoy said in a telephone interview from Prague, where he works as a Russian commentator for the U.S. government-funded radio stations. The novelist knew nothing of the CIA's action, according to Tolstoy and the writer's family."
The Washington Post reports:
"Into one of the most sordid episodes in Russian literary history, the Soviets' persecution of Boris Pasternak, author of "Doctor Zhivago," a Russian historian has injected a belated piece of intrigue: the CIA as covert financier of a Russian-language edition of the epic novel.
Ivan Tolstoy, who is also a broadcaster for Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, writes in a forthcoming book that the CIA secretly arranged for the publication of a limited Russian-language edition of "Doctor Zhivago" in 1958 to help Pasternak secure the Nobel Prize in Literature that year.
"Pasternak's novel became a tool that was used by the United States to teach the Soviet Union a lesson," Tolstoy said in a telephone interview from Prague, where he works as a Russian commentator for the U.S. government-funded radio stations. The novelist knew nothing of the CIA's action, according to Tolstoy and the writer's family."
Nothing's really changed for women since the 1950's
We hear and talk of change for the women of this world - like, things are different, women can, perhaps with difficulty, combine work and home, etc. etc. But is it true in reality?
No, according to Ruth Rosen writing in The Nation [reproduced on AlterNet]:
"A baby is born. A child develops a high fever. A spouse breaks a leg. A parent suffers a stroke. These are the events that throw a working woman's delicate balance between work and family into chaos.
Although we read endless stories and reports about the problems faced by working women, we possess inadequate language for what most people view as a private rather than a political problem. "That's life," we tell each other, instead of trying to forge common solutions to these dilemmas.
That's exactly what housewives used to say when they felt unhappy and unfulfilled in the 1950s: "That's life." Although magazines often referred to housewives' unexplained depressions, it took Betty Friedan's 1963 bestseller to turn "the problem that has no name" into a household phrase, "the feminine mystique" -- the belief that a woman should find identity and fulfillment exclusively through her family and home."
No, according to Ruth Rosen writing in The Nation [reproduced on AlterNet]:
"A baby is born. A child develops a high fever. A spouse breaks a leg. A parent suffers a stroke. These are the events that throw a working woman's delicate balance between work and family into chaos.
Although we read endless stories and reports about the problems faced by working women, we possess inadequate language for what most people view as a private rather than a political problem. "That's life," we tell each other, instead of trying to forge common solutions to these dilemmas.
That's exactly what housewives used to say when they felt unhappy and unfulfilled in the 1950s: "That's life." Although magazines often referred to housewives' unexplained depressions, it took Betty Friedan's 1963 bestseller to turn "the problem that has no name" into a household phrase, "the feminine mystique" -- the belief that a woman should find identity and fulfillment exclusively through her family and home."
The grim realities of and in Iraq
Media Lens in its email-bulletin, reports on these stark and grim facts and figures:
"It is an awesome fact that the war has so far forced one out of every eight Iraqis, more than 3.7 million people, to flee their homes, according to the United Nations (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/08/iraq.refugees/index.html). Of these, 2 million have left the country while another 1.7 million have been internally displaced. Some 40 per cent of the professional middle class has left the country since 2003. It was recently estimated that of the 34,000 doctors present in 2003, 12,000 have now emigrated and 2,000 have been murdered. (http://web.mit.edu/CIS/pdf/Human_Cost_of_War.pdf.)
Antonio Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal and head of the UNHCR, said earlier this month "we are facing a humanitarian disaster". (‘UN warns of Iraq refugee disaster,’ February 7, 2007; http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6339835.stm) Guterres is attempting to raise an extra $60m in emergency funds - the same sum the Pentagon spends every five hours on the occupation. The money is sorely needed. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, just 32 per cent of the Iraqi population has access to clean drinking water, 19 per cent has access to a functional sewage system. (IRIN, ‘Water shortage leads people to drink from rivers,’ February 18, 2007; http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70243)
Dr Abdul-Rahman Adil Ali of the Baghdad Health Directorate warned of the dire consequences:
"As the sewage system has collapsed, all residents are threatened with gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhoea and hepatitis. In some of Baghdad's poor neighbourhoods, people drink water which is mixed with sewage." (IRIN, ‘Iraq: Disease alert after sewage system collapses,’ http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=64375)
A February 9 Financial Times editorial commented: “what we should all be scandalised by is how little the two countries most responsible for the Iraq misadventure - the US and the UK - are doing to alleviate this crisis“. (‘Iraq’s refugee crisis is nearing catastrophe,’ The Financial Times; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/aa8d01c8-b7c3-11db-bfb3-0000779e2340.html)
The US has budgeted a mere $500,000 this year to aid Iraqi refugees, of whom it has accepted 466. According to the British Home Office, 160 Iraqis were accepted by Britain as refugees in 2005. The applications of another 2,685 were rejected. By contrast, Syria has taken more than 1,000,000 Iraqi refugees, Jordan more than 700,000, Egypt 20,000-80,000 and Lebanon more than 40,000. The Financial Times noted of Britain and America: “Iraqis fleeing Saddam Hussein were in the past well received”. But today’s refugees are a political embarrassment and are not welcome.
Silence also surrounds the plight of Iraq’s children who are dying in hospitals for lack of the most elementary equipment. Save the Children estimate that 59 in 1,000 newborn babies are dying in Iraq, one of the highest mortality rates in the world. Up to 260,000 children may have died since the 2003 invasion. (Colin Brown, ‘The battle to save Iraq's children,’ The Independen January 19 2007; http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165470.ece)
On January 19, nearly 100 eminent doctors, backed by a group of international lawyers, sent a letter to Tony Blair describing conditions in Iraqi hospitals as a breach of the Geneva conventions requiring Britain and the US, as occupying forces, to protect human life. The signatories include Iraqi doctors, British doctors who have worked in Iraqi hospitals, and leading UK consultants and GPs. The doctors describe desperate shortages causing "hundreds" of children to die in hospitals. Babies are being ventilated using a plastic tube in their noses and dying for lack of an oxygen mask, while other babies are dying because of the lack of a phial of vitamin K or sterile needles, items all costing just 95p. Hospitals are unable to stop fatal infections spreading from baby to baby for want of surgical gloves, which cost 3.5p a pair. The doctors commented in the letter:
"Sick or injured children who could otherwise be treated by simple means are left to die in hundreds because they do not have access to basic medicines or other resources. Children who have lost hands, feet and limbs are left without prostheses. Children with grave psychological distress are left untreated." (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165471.ece)
They added that the UK, as one of the occupying powers under UN resolution 1483, is obliged to comply with the Geneva and Hague conventions that require the UK and the US to "maintain order and to look after the medical needs of the population". But, the doctors noted: "This they failed to do and the knock-on effect of this failure is affecting Iraqi children's hospitals with increasing ferocity."
A delegation of these doctors asked to meet Hilary Benn, Britain’s Secretary of State for International Development. Stop The War reported the results:
“They [the doctors] have been told that Mr Benn cannot spare the time. He has refused their request for the UK to organise an immediate delivery of basic medical supplies for premature babies to just one of these hospitals, the Diwanyah Maternity Hospital located 80 kilometres south of Baghdad.” (Stop The War, press release, February 3, 2007)
This story was mentioned in the Independent on January 19. A Media Lens database search found one other mention in the same newspaper on January 20. There was then a two-sentence letter on the subject to the editor published in the Independent on January 23 - and that was that. There have been no mentions in any other national British newspapers of this attempt to draw attention to the suffering of Iraqi children who, to reiterate, are currently “left to die in hundreds”. Press coverage of the doctors’ letter totals 2,837 words.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair declaims of the Middle East:
“The poisonous ideology that erupted after 9/11 has its roots there, and is still nurtured and supported there. It has chosen Iraq as the battleground. Defeating it is essential. Essential for Iraq.” (‘Blair: Statement on Iraq and the Middle East,’ February 22, 2007; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00329.htm)
Iraqi mass death is a price worth paying, in other words, in the considered opinion of the man who defied global public opposition in bringing disaster to Iraq. The answer to Blair’s words was provided by an Iraqi rescuer, Abdul Jabbar, attempting to save victims from yet one more bomb attack. Jabbar was trying to help pull the wounded from collapsed buildings, the New York Times reported, but he found “mainly hands, skulls and other body parts“:
“I wish they would attack us with a nuclear bomb and kill us all, so we will rest and anybody who wants the oil — which is the core of the problem — can come and get it. We can not live this way anymore. We are dying slowly every day.” (Damien Cave and Richard A. Oppel Jr, ‘Iraqis Fault Pace of U.S. Plan in Attack,’ NY Times, February 5, 2007)
This is what is “essential” for Iraqis - to stay alive."
Antonio Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal and head of the UNHCR, said earlier this month "we are facing a humanitarian disaster". (‘UN warns of Iraq refugee disaster,’ February 7, 2007; http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6339835.stm) Guterres is attempting to raise an extra $60m in emergency funds - the same sum the Pentagon spends every five hours on the occupation. The money is sorely needed. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, just 32 per cent of the Iraqi population has access to clean drinking water, 19 per cent has access to a functional sewage system. (IRIN, ‘Water shortage leads people to drink from rivers,’ February 18, 2007; http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70243)
Dr Abdul-Rahman Adil Ali of the Baghdad Health Directorate warned of the dire consequences:
"As the sewage system has collapsed, all residents are threatened with gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhoea and hepatitis. In some of Baghdad's poor neighbourhoods, people drink water which is mixed with sewage." (IRIN, ‘Iraq: Disease alert after sewage system collapses,’ http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=64375)
A February 9 Financial Times editorial commented: “what we should all be scandalised by is how little the two countries most responsible for the Iraq misadventure - the US and the UK - are doing to alleviate this crisis“. (‘Iraq’s refugee crisis is nearing catastrophe,’ The Financial Times; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/aa8d01c8-b7c3-11db-bfb3-0000779e2340.html)
The US has budgeted a mere $500,000 this year to aid Iraqi refugees, of whom it has accepted 466. According to the British Home Office, 160 Iraqis were accepted by Britain as refugees in 2005. The applications of another 2,685 were rejected. By contrast, Syria has taken more than 1,000,000 Iraqi refugees, Jordan more than 700,000, Egypt 20,000-80,000 and Lebanon more than 40,000. The Financial Times noted of Britain and America: “Iraqis fleeing Saddam Hussein were in the past well received”. But today’s refugees are a political embarrassment and are not welcome.
Silence also surrounds the plight of Iraq’s children who are dying in hospitals for lack of the most elementary equipment. Save the Children estimate that 59 in 1,000 newborn babies are dying in Iraq, one of the highest mortality rates in the world. Up to 260,000 children may have died since the 2003 invasion. (Colin Brown, ‘The battle to save Iraq's children,’ The Independen January 19 2007; http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165470.ece)
On January 19, nearly 100 eminent doctors, backed by a group of international lawyers, sent a letter to Tony Blair describing conditions in Iraqi hospitals as a breach of the Geneva conventions requiring Britain and the US, as occupying forces, to protect human life. The signatories include Iraqi doctors, British doctors who have worked in Iraqi hospitals, and leading UK consultants and GPs. The doctors describe desperate shortages causing "hundreds" of children to die in hospitals. Babies are being ventilated using a plastic tube in their noses and dying for lack of an oxygen mask, while other babies are dying because of the lack of a phial of vitamin K or sterile needles, items all costing just 95p. Hospitals are unable to stop fatal infections spreading from baby to baby for want of surgical gloves, which cost 3.5p a pair. The doctors commented in the letter:
"Sick or injured children who could otherwise be treated by simple means are left to die in hundreds because they do not have access to basic medicines or other resources. Children who have lost hands, feet and limbs are left without prostheses. Children with grave psychological distress are left untreated." (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165471.ece)
They added that the UK, as one of the occupying powers under UN resolution 1483, is obliged to comply with the Geneva and Hague conventions that require the UK and the US to "maintain order and to look after the medical needs of the population". But, the doctors noted: "This they failed to do and the knock-on effect of this failure is affecting Iraqi children's hospitals with increasing ferocity."
A delegation of these doctors asked to meet Hilary Benn, Britain’s Secretary of State for International Development. Stop The War reported the results:
“They [the doctors] have been told that Mr Benn cannot spare the time. He has refused their request for the UK to organise an immediate delivery of basic medical supplies for premature babies to just one of these hospitals, the Diwanyah Maternity Hospital located 80 kilometres south of Baghdad.” (Stop The War, press release, February 3, 2007)
This story was mentioned in the Independent on January 19. A Media Lens database search found one other mention in the same newspaper on January 20. There was then a two-sentence letter on the subject to the editor published in the Independent on January 23 - and that was that. There have been no mentions in any other national British newspapers of this attempt to draw attention to the suffering of Iraqi children who, to reiterate, are currently “left to die in hundreds”. Press coverage of the doctors’ letter totals 2,837 words.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair declaims of the Middle East:
“The poisonous ideology that erupted after 9/11 has its roots there, and is still nurtured and supported there. It has chosen Iraq as the battleground. Defeating it is essential. Essential for Iraq.” (‘Blair: Statement on Iraq and the Middle East,’ February 22, 2007; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00329.htm)
Iraqi mass death is a price worth paying, in other words, in the considered opinion of the man who defied global public opposition in bringing disaster to Iraq. The answer to Blair’s words was provided by an Iraqi rescuer, Abdul Jabbar, attempting to save victims from yet one more bomb attack. Jabbar was trying to help pull the wounded from collapsed buildings, the New York Times reported, but he found “mainly hands, skulls and other body parts“:
“I wish they would attack us with a nuclear bomb and kill us all, so we will rest and anybody who wants the oil — which is the core of the problem — can come and get it. We can not live this way anymore. We are dying slowly every day.” (Damien Cave and Richard A. Oppel Jr, ‘Iraqis Fault Pace of U.S. Plan in Attack,’ NY Times, February 5, 2007)
This is what is “essential” for Iraqis - to stay alive."
Cluster Bombs: USA missing in action!
A cluster bomb is a container holding hundreds of smaller bomblets. It opens in mid-air and disperses the bomblets over a large area.
The smaller bombs do not always explode on impact, which means they can continue to kill innocent civilians years later.
A recent report by Handicap International claimed that 98 percent of casualties from cluster munitions are non-combatants.
CommonDreams [reporting on Agence France Presse] reports on how the US views the use of cluster bombs:
"The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We ... take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," McCormack said.
Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo on Friday pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said."
One can therefore assume that the Americans will not pursue the matter of Israel having used cluster bombs, supplied by the US, in the dying hours of last year's Lebanon War. There have been many reports of innocent civilians, mainly children, having been killed and maimed by the cluster bombs Israel dropped over Lebanon. Could there be anything more disgraceful or shameful?
The smaller bombs do not always explode on impact, which means they can continue to kill innocent civilians years later.
A recent report by Handicap International claimed that 98 percent of casualties from cluster munitions are non-combatants.
CommonDreams [reporting on Agence France Presse] reports on how the US views the use of cluster bombs:
"The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We ... take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," McCormack said.
Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo on Friday pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said."
One can therefore assume that the Americans will not pursue the matter of Israel having used cluster bombs, supplied by the US, in the dying hours of last year's Lebanon War. There have been many reports of innocent civilians, mainly children, having been killed and maimed by the cluster bombs Israel dropped over Lebanon. Could there be anything more disgraceful or shameful?
Monday, February 26, 2007
The newest way of faking it
There will be many who will simply shakes their heads - and ponder on what has become of the world.
First there were writers who plagiarised the work of others. That was bad enough. Then there authors who have contrived, and lied, in the narratives of their books. Now, the NY Times reports on how to fake that one has actually read the book one is talking about:
"It may well be that too many books are published, but by good fortune, not all must be read. In practice, primed by publishers, critics, teachers, authors and word-of-mouth, a form of natural selection limits essential reading to those classics and best sellers that become part of civilized intellectual and social discourse.
Of course, many people don’t get through these books, either, and too embarrassed to admit it, they worry constantly about being exposed as philistines.
Now Pierre Bayard, a Paris University literature professor, has come to their rescue with a survivor’s guide to life in the chattering classes. And it is evidently much in need. “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read?” has become a best seller here, with translation rights snapped up across Europe and under negotiation in Britain and the United States."
First there were writers who plagiarised the work of others. That was bad enough. Then there authors who have contrived, and lied, in the narratives of their books. Now, the NY Times reports on how to fake that one has actually read the book one is talking about:
"It may well be that too many books are published, but by good fortune, not all must be read. In practice, primed by publishers, critics, teachers, authors and word-of-mouth, a form of natural selection limits essential reading to those classics and best sellers that become part of civilized intellectual and social discourse.
Of course, many people don’t get through these books, either, and too embarrassed to admit it, they worry constantly about being exposed as philistines.
Now Pierre Bayard, a Paris University literature professor, has come to their rescue with a survivor’s guide to life in the chattering classes. And it is evidently much in need. “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read?” has become a best seller here, with translation rights snapped up across Europe and under negotiation in Britain and the United States."
How the IHT views Cheney's visit to Oz
Sydney-siders will have been glad to see the back of Cheney given the terrible inconvenience he and his entourage caused everyone. One would certainly not have seen the "visit" as being one to win the hearts and minds of the locals.
If the IHT is to be believed [remember the paper is read around the world] the visit wasn't a great success on any level:
"Vice President Dick Cheney received a less than effusive welcome during a three-day visit to Australia that ended Sunday, amid lingering tensions over China and the war in Iraq.
Australia remains one of Washington's strongest allies, but as the country heads into an election year, Prime Minister John Howard's interaction with Cheney appeared perfunctory and brief. The Australian leader waited 36 hours after the vice president's arrival before meeting him, and even then spared Cheney barely an hour of his time before giving a notably short joint news conference."
If the IHT is to be believed [remember the paper is read around the world] the visit wasn't a great success on any level:
"Vice President Dick Cheney received a less than effusive welcome during a three-day visit to Australia that ended Sunday, amid lingering tensions over China and the war in Iraq.
Australia remains one of Washington's strongest allies, but as the country heads into an election year, Prime Minister John Howard's interaction with Cheney appeared perfunctory and brief. The Australian leader waited 36 hours after the vice president's arrival before meeting him, and even then spared Cheney barely an hour of his time before giving a notably short joint news conference."
Another dimension to global warming
"The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before.
A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change.
The temperature change has been small, about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 150 years, but it has been enough to alter disease patterns across the globe.
In Sweden, fewer winter days below 10 degrees and more summer days above 50 degrees have encouraged the northward movement of ticks, which has coincided with an increase in cases of tick-borne encephalitis since the 1980s.
Researchers have found that poison ivy has grown more potent and lush because of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
In Africa, mosquitoes have been slowly inching up the slopes around Mt. Kenya, bringing malaria to high villages that had never been exposed before."
This article from the LA Times puts into sharp focus how global warming how global warming has effects many of us have probably never thought about. Bottom line it certainly requires urgent action for both ourselves and future generation around the globe.
A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change.
The temperature change has been small, about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 150 years, but it has been enough to alter disease patterns across the globe.
In Sweden, fewer winter days below 10 degrees and more summer days above 50 degrees have encouraged the northward movement of ticks, which has coincided with an increase in cases of tick-borne encephalitis since the 1980s.
Researchers have found that poison ivy has grown more potent and lush because of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
In Africa, mosquitoes have been slowly inching up the slopes around Mt. Kenya, bringing malaria to high villages that had never been exposed before."
This article from the LA Times puts into sharp focus how global warming how global warming has effects many of us have probably never thought about. Bottom line it certainly requires urgent action for both ourselves and future generation around the globe.
Iran increasingly in the firing line
VP Dick Cheney, in the course of a speech in Australia at the weekend - no questions by the way! - certainly more than hinted at taking on Iran. With the announcement of the Iranians having launched a space-rocket the sabre-rattling about Iran is going to increase.
Now veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, in the New Yorker, writes:
"In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both it public diplomacy and its covert operations, ha significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House hav called the new strategy, has brought the Unite States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda."
As if the prospect of war with Iran wasn't already high enough, the Daily Telegraph reports:
"Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon.
A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons.
"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."
Now veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, in the New Yorker, writes:
"In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both it public diplomacy and its covert operations, ha significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House hav called the new strategy, has brought the Unite States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda."
As if the prospect of war with Iran wasn't already high enough, the Daily Telegraph reports:
"Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon.
A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons.
"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."
Sunday, February 25, 2007
She's got a very valid point.....
This blogger isn't a fan of Miranda Devine - who writes op-ed pieces on a regular basis in the SMH and Sun-Herald.
However, in her piece in the Sun-Herald today, Devine has a a rather valid point when she reflects on the Government's decision for us all to have to change the sort of light-bulbs we use by 2010:
"According to the Australian Greenhouse Office, lighting accounts for just 5 per cent of household greenhouse-gas emissions, clothes washing and drying accounts for 2 per cent, cooking 3 per cent, fridge/freezer 9 per cent, home heating and cooling 11 per cent, electronic and other appliances 15 per cent, water heating 16 per cent and travel a whopping 34 per cent.
The AGO points out that each household could save more than two tonnes of greenhouse gas by buying a new efficient fridge, 1.5 tonnes by using gas to heat hot water. Using cold water to wash clothes saves almost half a tonne a year. But every litre of petrol saved cuts greenhouse-gas emissions by 2.8 kilograms.
So what kind of hypocrisy is there in a government that bans incandescent light bulbs while subsidising people who drive fuel-guzzling, greenhouse gas-emitting, giant four-wheel-drives?
With a 5 per cent import tariff on four-wheel-drives, most of which are imported, compared with a 10 per cent tariff on other cars, the Government is encouraging us to drive vehicles that are the worst greenhouse offenders of all. Work that out."
However, in her piece in the Sun-Herald today, Devine has a a rather valid point when she reflects on the Government's decision for us all to have to change the sort of light-bulbs we use by 2010:
"According to the Australian Greenhouse Office, lighting accounts for just 5 per cent of household greenhouse-gas emissions, clothes washing and drying accounts for 2 per cent, cooking 3 per cent, fridge/freezer 9 per cent, home heating and cooling 11 per cent, electronic and other appliances 15 per cent, water heating 16 per cent and travel a whopping 34 per cent.
The AGO points out that each household could save more than two tonnes of greenhouse gas by buying a new efficient fridge, 1.5 tonnes by using gas to heat hot water. Using cold water to wash clothes saves almost half a tonne a year. But every litre of petrol saved cuts greenhouse-gas emissions by 2.8 kilograms.
So what kind of hypocrisy is there in a government that bans incandescent light bulbs while subsidising people who drive fuel-guzzling, greenhouse gas-emitting, giant four-wheel-drives?
With a 5 per cent import tariff on four-wheel-drives, most of which are imported, compared with a 10 per cent tariff on other cars, the Government is encouraging us to drive vehicles that are the worst greenhouse offenders of all. Work that out."
US "justice" on trial
Leave aside the recent remarkable scene of the blubbering judge in the Anne Nicole Smith case, but a case now underway in Miami really puts to the test whether so-called American justice is up to the task:
"Something remarkable is going on in a Miami courtroom. The cruel methods US interrogators have used since September 11 to "break" prisoners are finally being put on trial.
This was not supposed to happen. The Bush Administration's plan was to put José Padilla on trial for allegedly being part of a network linked to international terrorists. But Padilla's lawyers are arguing that he is not fit to stand trial because he has been driven insane by the government."
Read this grim assessment by well-known author Noami Klein in The Nation of lawliness in the US. More to the point is whether the the judicial system, as so often in America, will be found wanting?
"Something remarkable is going on in a Miami courtroom. The cruel methods US interrogators have used since September 11 to "break" prisoners are finally being put on trial.
This was not supposed to happen. The Bush Administration's plan was to put José Padilla on trial for allegedly being part of a network linked to international terrorists. But Padilla's lawyers are arguing that he is not fit to stand trial because he has been driven insane by the government."
Read this grim assessment by well-known author Noami Klein in The Nation of lawliness in the US. More to the point is whether the the judicial system, as so often in America, will be found wanting?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Weekend break...
Mahler's Prodigal Son is taking off interstate for the weekend........
"Transmission" will resume tomorrow night. Meanwhile, enjoy the weekend.
"Transmission" will resume tomorrow night. Meanwhile, enjoy the weekend.
Fox News: Not even remotely fair or balanced!
It is nothing new that Fox News is biased and certainly can't be counted on to present any news fairly or balanced - even remotely.
This piece in The Huffinton Post - with a video clip - shows in graphic terms how Fox News has literally gone on the attack on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Osama.
Bear in mind that only one newspaper in the Murdoch press worldwide editorialised against the Iraq War. There is sufficient evidence that Rupert Murdoch - who really cares what he thinks? - gives the policy and political direction of his media outlets.
This piece in The Huffinton Post - with a video clip - shows in graphic terms how Fox News has literally gone on the attack on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Osama.
Bear in mind that only one newspaper in the Murdoch press worldwide editorialised against the Iraq War. There is sufficient evidence that Rupert Murdoch - who really cares what he thinks? - gives the policy and political direction of his media outlets.
A shameful record
It seems like the world, including the US, hasn't learnt - as this piece in Forward explains:
"The recent discovery that the family of Anne Frank had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain an American visa before being captured by the Nazis shines light on the failure of the United States to do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust. In reaction to the news, Rep. Steve Israel has reintroduced a bill to make the child martyr an honorary American citizen.
“The best way we can honor Anne Frank in death is to give her what her father sought for her in life,” said Israel, a New York Democrat, in a statement last week. “The news that Anne Frank’s family sought to flee to the United States makes it clearer than ever that we should bestow honorary citizenship upon Anne Frank.”
We respectfully disagree: The best way to honor Anne Frank’s memory — and to demonstrate that America has learned a lesson from its past mistakes — would be for the Bush administration to take comprehensive steps to address the needs of the mounting numbers of Iraqi refugees. It has been estimated that since the American invasion, 1.8 million people in Iraq have been driven from their homes and another 2 million have fled to neighboring states.
What has the administration done to address the crisis? From 2003 until last month, the United States admitted 466 Iraqi refugees (this is not a misprint — there are no zeros missing from the end of that figure). America currently spends about $8 billion a month on the war, but the administration reportedly entered 2007 planning to spend just $60 million this fiscal year to provide shelter and protection for displaced Iraqis, and $20 million to help resettle refugees here and in other countries."
“The best way we can honor Anne Frank in death is to give her what her father sought for her in life,” said Israel, a New York Democrat, in a statement last week. “The news that Anne Frank’s family sought to flee to the United States makes it clearer than ever that we should bestow honorary citizenship upon Anne Frank.”
We respectfully disagree: The best way to honor Anne Frank’s memory — and to demonstrate that America has learned a lesson from its past mistakes — would be for the Bush administration to take comprehensive steps to address the needs of the mounting numbers of Iraqi refugees. It has been estimated that since the American invasion, 1.8 million people in Iraq have been driven from their homes and another 2 million have fled to neighboring states.
What has the administration done to address the crisis? From 2003 until last month, the United States admitted 466 Iraqi refugees (this is not a misprint — there are no zeros missing from the end of that figure). America currently spends about $8 billion a month on the war, but the administration reportedly entered 2007 planning to spend just $60 million this fiscal year to provide shelter and protection for displaced Iraqis, and $20 million to help resettle refugees here and in other countries."
Consumers take on big business and the State
An interesting piece in The Independent explains how the general public in the UK - read for that consumers - has used the internet to literally revolt against big business and the State.
"For decades British customers tolerated poor service with a resigned attitude and never dared to complain. No more. From high street banks to football stadia, people are exhibiting a steadfast refusal to put up with high prices or shoddy standards.
Instead, in their millions and harnessing the power of the internet, they are switching supplier, staying away, signing petitions, engaging in local democracy. In short, they are fighting back."
Are we going to see the same happen in Australia? Hopefully - and soon! Read the full piece here.
What has allowed for this new approach by consumers has been the ability to harness the power of the internet, as The Independent also reports:
"It is what in theory ought to happen - but it is good to know that it is indeed happening. In theory the development of the internet is hugely democratic. It gives all of us the access to knowledge that a decade ago would have required a research department in a multinational. But it takes a while for people to figure out how to use the new technologies and for the services distributed through those technologies to be developed. Email, broadband, Google, eBay, Youtube, Skype and other ventures are changing the balance of power between the individual on the one hand and the state and big companies on the other."
"For decades British customers tolerated poor service with a resigned attitude and never dared to complain. No more. From high street banks to football stadia, people are exhibiting a steadfast refusal to put up with high prices or shoddy standards.
Instead, in their millions and harnessing the power of the internet, they are switching supplier, staying away, signing petitions, engaging in local democracy. In short, they are fighting back."
Are we going to see the same happen in Australia? Hopefully - and soon! Read the full piece here.
What has allowed for this new approach by consumers has been the ability to harness the power of the internet, as The Independent also reports:
"It is what in theory ought to happen - but it is good to know that it is indeed happening. In theory the development of the internet is hugely democratic. It gives all of us the access to knowledge that a decade ago would have required a research department in a multinational. But it takes a while for people to figure out how to use the new technologies and for the services distributed through those technologies to be developed. Email, broadband, Google, eBay, Youtube, Skype and other ventures are changing the balance of power between the individual on the one hand and the state and big companies on the other."
Friday, February 23, 2007
An unwelcome visitor
VP Dick Cheney is presently visiting Australia - with all the hype and inconvenience that is going to cause the people of Sydney. You know, all air-space above the city blocked off at the time of his flying into Sydney, a 30 vehicle cavalcade from the airport and green-light access wherever he travels in the city.
Do Australians want him here? Most, probably not. It is questionable whether the Government does either, even if Cheney is a "mate" of John Howard.
John Nichols, writing in The Nation, mocks Cheney's trip to Japan to thank them for their support in Iraq. In fact, Nichols analyses the number of countries who have supported the US as part of the Coalition of the Willing - now dubbed by one US TV network, post the UK's decision to partially withdraw from Iraq, the "Coalition of the Leaving".
As Nicols writes:
"Aside from Great Britain, which is dramatically downsizing its presence, only Australia -- where Prime Minister John Howard appears to be channeling Cheney -- and South Korea now have more than 1,000 troops stationed in Iraq. And South Korea, which will extract 1,100 of its troops this spring, may not be around for much longer; the country's parliament has called for total withdrawal by December 31.
According to the www.globalsecurity.org website, which tracks military involvement in Iraq, Kazakhstan, with 29 troops, remains committed to the mission, as does Macedonia, with 33 troops; Estonia, with 34 troops; Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 37 troops and another ten countries, with between 1OO and 865 troops each.
Here's a sobering fact to ponder: Add together all the troops from all the foreign countries that are still in Iraq as committed members of the "coalition of the willing" and you will get a figure that is substantially lower than the 21,5OO U.S." troops that are now surging into the country on President Bush's orders."
Do Australians want him here? Most, probably not. It is questionable whether the Government does either, even if Cheney is a "mate" of John Howard.
John Nichols, writing in The Nation, mocks Cheney's trip to Japan to thank them for their support in Iraq. In fact, Nichols analyses the number of countries who have supported the US as part of the Coalition of the Willing - now dubbed by one US TV network, post the UK's decision to partially withdraw from Iraq, the "Coalition of the Leaving".
As Nicols writes:
"Aside from Great Britain, which is dramatically downsizing its presence, only Australia -- where Prime Minister John Howard appears to be channeling Cheney -- and South Korea now have more than 1,000 troops stationed in Iraq. And South Korea, which will extract 1,100 of its troops this spring, may not be around for much longer; the country's parliament has called for total withdrawal by December 31.
According to the www.globalsecurity.org website, which tracks military involvement in Iraq, Kazakhstan, with 29 troops, remains committed to the mission, as does Macedonia, with 33 troops; Estonia, with 34 troops; Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 37 troops and another ten countries, with between 1OO and 865 troops each.
Here's a sobering fact to ponder: Add together all the troops from all the foreign countries that are still in Iraq as committed members of the "coalition of the willing" and you will get a figure that is substantially lower than the 21,5OO U.S." troops that are now surging into the country on President Bush's orders."
Now there is a war worth waging
The IHT reports on a war, of a different and positive kind, well worth waging - and whch should engage all people of goodwill around the globe....
"On the previous night, Mekonnen had slept under a mosquito net for the first time in his life, as part of a [Jimmy] Carter initiative to wipe out malaria and elephantiasis in this region. And Mekonnen now uses an outhouse as a result of a Carter Center initiative to build 350,000 outhouses in rural Ethiopia to defeat blindness from trachoma.
Carter has almost managed to wipe out one horrific ailment — Guinea worm — and is making great strides against others, including river blindness and elephantiasis. In this area, people are taking an annual dose of a medicine called Mectizan — donated by Merck, which deserves huge credit — that prevents itching and blindness.
Mectizan also gets rid of intestinal worms, leaving Ethiopian villagers stronger and more able to work or attend school. Among adults, the deworming revives sex drive, so some people have named their children Mectizan.
Carter's private campaign against the diseases of poverty, put together with pennies and duct tape, is a model of what the U.S. government could do. Imagine if the United States resolved that it would wipe out malaria and elephantiasis (both are spread by mosquitoes, so a combined campaign makes sense). What if we Americans celebrated science not by trying to go to Mars but by extinguishing malaria? What if we tried to burnish America's image abroad not only with press releases and propaganda broadcasts, but also with a bold campaign against disease?"
Carter has almost managed to wipe out one horrific ailment — Guinea worm — and is making great strides against others, including river blindness and elephantiasis. In this area, people are taking an annual dose of a medicine called Mectizan — donated by Merck, which deserves huge credit — that prevents itching and blindness.
Mectizan also gets rid of intestinal worms, leaving Ethiopian villagers stronger and more able to work or attend school. Among adults, the deworming revives sex drive, so some people have named their children Mectizan.
Carter's private campaign against the diseases of poverty, put together with pennies and duct tape, is a model of what the U.S. government could do. Imagine if the United States resolved that it would wipe out malaria and elephantiasis (both are spread by mosquitoes, so a combined campaign makes sense). What if we Americans celebrated science not by trying to go to Mars but by extinguishing malaria? What if we tried to burnish America's image abroad not only with press releases and propaganda broadcasts, but also with a bold campaign against disease?"
It doesn't look like real security
As any traveller to the US will testify the paperwork and all the security measures now in place in order to "protect" those Americans from terrorists are in some respects laughable. Fingers-prints and facial-photos, however many number of times, even within days, one enters the US. etc. etc.
Now this news in the IHT on pretty basic security measures makes the whole exercise seem more than a tad ludicrous:
"The federal takeover of the checking of passenger names against terrorist watch lists, a top priority for aviation officials since the 2001 terrorist attacks, is not expected to be complete until 2010, more than five years behind schedule, a top Department of Homeland Security official has acknowledged.
The delay in the timetable is the latest setback in a long-promised program intended to enhance aviation safety, while reducing the number of passengers mistakenly identified as possible terrorists."
Now this news in the IHT on pretty basic security measures makes the whole exercise seem more than a tad ludicrous:
"The federal takeover of the checking of passenger names against terrorist watch lists, a top priority for aviation officials since the 2001 terrorist attacks, is not expected to be complete until 2010, more than five years behind schedule, a top Department of Homeland Security official has acknowledged.
The delay in the timetable is the latest setback in a long-promised program intended to enhance aviation safety, while reducing the number of passengers mistakenly identified as possible terrorists."
There's no other word for it - it's a withdrawal
Watching the politicians, especially in Australia, try to re-invent the English language - or simply engage in spin or outright lying - is rather fascinating as they seek to call the partial withdrawal of British troops from Iraq anything but that.
Now we have Australian Defence Minister Nelson telling the world that "victory" may not be possible in Iraq.
Dr Rosemary Hollis from Chatham House in London says the British strategy is a withdrawal and one driven to a large extent by the advice of concerned military leaders in Iraq who have warned that British troops may be doing more harm than good in the country.
On Radio National's The World Today yesterday Dr. Hollis said:
"I do think that there is a tremendous problem for all the coalition forces, and for the Americans in particular, in that there will be many, many Iraqis who have worked with the whole enterprise and who have taken enormous risks and relied on the American word and the British word, for that matter, that they would stay until they had rectified many of the problems that began to emerge. And that sense of betrayal will haunt the allies as they leave Iraq.
But commanders on the ground, and eventually politicians, are indeed making decisions that by staying on the ground in order to avoid being accused of betrayal, they may simply be keeping their own forces in harm's way and not actually able to make a fundamental difference."
Read the full transcript or listen to the full interview here.
Now we have Australian Defence Minister Nelson telling the world that "victory" may not be possible in Iraq.
Dr Rosemary Hollis from Chatham House in London says the British strategy is a withdrawal and one driven to a large extent by the advice of concerned military leaders in Iraq who have warned that British troops may be doing more harm than good in the country.
On Radio National's The World Today yesterday Dr. Hollis said:
"I do think that there is a tremendous problem for all the coalition forces, and for the Americans in particular, in that there will be many, many Iraqis who have worked with the whole enterprise and who have taken enormous risks and relied on the American word and the British word, for that matter, that they would stay until they had rectified many of the problems that began to emerge. And that sense of betrayal will haunt the allies as they leave Iraq.
But commanders on the ground, and eventually politicians, are indeed making decisions that by staying on the ground in order to avoid being accused of betrayal, they may simply be keeping their own forces in harm's way and not actually able to make a fundamental difference."
Read the full transcript or listen to the full interview here.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Lebanon, righty, fears the worst
As rumblings of war in the Middle East continue to grow, Robert Fisk, writing in The Independent, reflects on how Lebanon will be the country first in line of any conflict:
"How easily the sparks from the American-Israeli fire fall across the Middle East. Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. It is not by chance that the UN forces in the south of the country now face growing suspicion among the Shia Muslims who live there. It is no coincidence that Israel thunders that the Hizbollah are now more powerful than they were before last year's July war. It is not an accident that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, says he has brought more missiles into Lebanon.
Why, the Lebanese ask, did President Bashar al-Assad of Syria visit President Ahmadinejad of Iran last weekend? To further seal their "brotherly" relations? Or to plan a new war with Israel in Lebanon?
The images of Iran's new missile launches during three days of military manoeuvres - apparently long-range rockets which could be fired at US warships in the Gulf - were splashed across the Beirut papers yesterday morning, along with Washington's latest threats of air strikes against Iran's military. Be certain that the Lebanese will be the first to suffer."
Meanwhile, in relation to that on-going cauldron of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the NY Times editorialises, under the heading "Charade in Jerusalem" on the recent talks between Condi, Olmert and Abbas, and concludes:
"With Palestinian frustrations rising — and demographers predicting an eventual Palestinian majority between the Mediterranean and the Jordan — just saying no is not a viable option for Israel. The responsibility of the United States, as Israel’s most vital ally, is to keep that uncomfortable reality firmly in Israel’s sight."
"How easily the sparks from the American-Israeli fire fall across the Middle East. Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. It is not by chance that the UN forces in the south of the country now face growing suspicion among the Shia Muslims who live there. It is no coincidence that Israel thunders that the Hizbollah are now more powerful than they were before last year's July war. It is not an accident that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, says he has brought more missiles into Lebanon.
Why, the Lebanese ask, did President Bashar al-Assad of Syria visit President Ahmadinejad of Iran last weekend? To further seal their "brotherly" relations? Or to plan a new war with Israel in Lebanon?
The images of Iran's new missile launches during three days of military manoeuvres - apparently long-range rockets which could be fired at US warships in the Gulf - were splashed across the Beirut papers yesterday morning, along with Washington's latest threats of air strikes against Iran's military. Be certain that the Lebanese will be the first to suffer."
Meanwhile, in relation to that on-going cauldron of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the NY Times editorialises, under the heading "Charade in Jerusalem" on the recent talks between Condi, Olmert and Abbas, and concludes:
"With Palestinian frustrations rising — and demographers predicting an eventual Palestinian majority between the Mediterranean and the Jordan — just saying no is not a viable option for Israel. The responsibility of the United States, as Israel’s most vital ally, is to keep that uncomfortable reality firmly in Israel’s sight."
Climate Change: A taste, literally, of things to come
The LA Times reports on what is a clear example of the effects of global warming and climate change:
"Global warming has a taste in this village. It is the taste of salt.
Only a few years ago, water from the local pond was fresh and sweet on Samit Biswas' tongue. It quenched his family's thirst and cleansed their bodies.
But drinking a cupful now leaves a briny flavor in his mouth. Tiny white crystals sprout on Biswas' skin after he bathes and in his clothes after his wife washes them.
The change, international scientists say, is the result of intensified flooding caused by shifting climate patterns. Warmer weather and rising oceans are sending seawater surging up Bangladesh's rivers in greater volume and frequency, experts say, overflowing and seeping into the soil and water supply of thousands of people.
Their lives are being squeezed by distant lands they have seen only on television — America, China and Russia at the top of the list — whose carbon emissions are pushing temperatures and sea levels upward. This month, a long-awaited report by the United Nations said global warming fueled by human activity could lift temperatures by 8 degrees and the ocean's surface by 23 inches by 2100.
Here in southwestern Bangladesh, the bleak future forecast by the report is already becoming reality, bringing misery along with it."
In all likelihood most people will take little notice of what is happening in Bangladesh - a country off most people's radar. Now, just imagine if the same thing were to be happening in a Western country. A different response around the world?
"Global warming has a taste in this village. It is the taste of salt.
Only a few years ago, water from the local pond was fresh and sweet on Samit Biswas' tongue. It quenched his family's thirst and cleansed their bodies.
But drinking a cupful now leaves a briny flavor in his mouth. Tiny white crystals sprout on Biswas' skin after he bathes and in his clothes after his wife washes them.
The change, international scientists say, is the result of intensified flooding caused by shifting climate patterns. Warmer weather and rising oceans are sending seawater surging up Bangladesh's rivers in greater volume and frequency, experts say, overflowing and seeping into the soil and water supply of thousands of people.
Their lives are being squeezed by distant lands they have seen only on television — America, China and Russia at the top of the list — whose carbon emissions are pushing temperatures and sea levels upward. This month, a long-awaited report by the United Nations said global warming fueled by human activity could lift temperatures by 8 degrees and the ocean's surface by 23 inches by 2100.
Here in southwestern Bangladesh, the bleak future forecast by the report is already becoming reality, bringing misery along with it."
In all likelihood most people will take little notice of what is happening in Bangladesh - a country off most people's radar. Now, just imagine if the same thing were to be happening in a Western country. A different response around the world?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Bush is losing the "war on terror" - for everyone
consortiumnews.com writes:
"Despite the sacrifices in lives, treasure and liberties, the painful reality is that the United States is losing the “war on terror” – in large part because too many people in the Middle East and across the globe view George W. Bush as a bully and a hypocrite.
Bush has become the ugly face of America, mouthing pretty words about freedom and democracy while threatening other nations and bludgeoning those who get in his way. Perhaps even worse, Bush has shown himself to be an incompetent commander, especially for a conflict as complicated and nuanced as this one.
Indeed, it is hard to envision how the United States can win the crucial battles for the hearts and minds of key populations if Bush remains President. Arguably, Bush has become a “clear and present danger” to the interests of the American people – yet he still has almost two years left in his term.
This predicament – the desperate need for new U.S. leadership and the difficult fact of being stuck with Bush – was underscored by the Feb. 19 lead article in the New York Times describing the revival of al-Qaeda as a worldwide terror network operating out of new bases in remote sections of Pakistan."
John Howard and his British and American buddies can talk as much as they want about the "war on terror" but it is plain that thanks to George Bush, Dick Cheney [arriving in Oz tomorrow to see his little "mate" John Howard] and the likes of Rumsie, that the "war" is actually being lost. It bodes ill for everyone!
"Despite the sacrifices in lives, treasure and liberties, the painful reality is that the United States is losing the “war on terror” – in large part because too many people in the Middle East and across the globe view George W. Bush as a bully and a hypocrite.
Bush has become the ugly face of America, mouthing pretty words about freedom and democracy while threatening other nations and bludgeoning those who get in his way. Perhaps even worse, Bush has shown himself to be an incompetent commander, especially for a conflict as complicated and nuanced as this one.
Indeed, it is hard to envision how the United States can win the crucial battles for the hearts and minds of key populations if Bush remains President. Arguably, Bush has become a “clear and present danger” to the interests of the American people – yet he still has almost two years left in his term.
This predicament – the desperate need for new U.S. leadership and the difficult fact of being stuck with Bush – was underscored by the Feb. 19 lead article in the New York Times describing the revival of al-Qaeda as a worldwide terror network operating out of new bases in remote sections of Pakistan."
John Howard and his British and American buddies can talk as much as they want about the "war on terror" but it is plain that thanks to George Bush, Dick Cheney [arriving in Oz tomorrow to see his little "mate" John Howard] and the likes of Rumsie, that the "war" is actually being lost. It bodes ill for everyone!
Now food is running out in Iraq....
On her way to Jersualem [see last posting] Condi dropped in in a flying-visit on Baghdad last weekend. She and the Iraqi PM proudly announced that the latest beefed up security measures had been successful in cutting down the suicide bombers especially in Baghdad.
As the last days have shown nothing could be further from the truth. The carnage has continued with suicide bombers killing and maiming many.
Meanwhile, life for Iraqis gets worse by the day:
"Look at us begging for food despite the fortunes we have," 60-year-old Um Muthanna from Baghdad told IPS. Standing at a vegetable market in central Baghdad where vegetable supplies are not what they used to be, Um Mahmood despaired for Iraq.
"A country with two great rivers should have been the biggest exporter in the world, but now we beg for food from those who participated in killing us." Iraq is rich in oil and agricultural resources.
Local and international aid flooded into Iraq in 2004, the year following the invasion, but much of the supply was blocked off after the kidnapping of many aid activists in the country.
The food the Iraqis did get was often not what they needed, or wanted."
Read Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatchs in full here.
As the last days have shown nothing could be further from the truth. The carnage has continued with suicide bombers killing and maiming many.
Meanwhile, life for Iraqis gets worse by the day:
"Look at us begging for food despite the fortunes we have," 60-year-old Um Muthanna from Baghdad told IPS. Standing at a vegetable market in central Baghdad where vegetable supplies are not what they used to be, Um Mahmood despaired for Iraq.
"A country with two great rivers should have been the biggest exporter in the world, but now we beg for food from those who participated in killing us." Iraq is rich in oil and agricultural resources.
Local and international aid flooded into Iraq in 2004, the year following the invasion, but much of the supply was blocked off after the kidnapping of many aid activists in the country.
The food the Iraqis did get was often not what they needed, or wanted."
Read Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatchs in full here.
Forget about a solution between Israelis and Palestinians anytime soon
The other day Condi met with PM Olmert of Israel and Palestinian President Abbas in Jerusalem in a so-called kick-start to peace negotiations. Informed views were that nothing would come of the talks.
The Independent has an interesting Q & A on the whole issue of the Middle East conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis.
As events turned out, the pundits were right. Nothing came of the talks. Yet another talkfest involving Condi on her 10th visit to the Middle East.
The Independent has an interesting Q & A on the whole issue of the Middle East conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis.
As events turned out, the pundits were right. Nothing came of the talks. Yet another talkfest involving Condi on her 10th visit to the Middle East.
Lord Downer of Baghdad wrong - again!
Last night on ABC's Lateline program on TV, Lord Downer of Baghdad was asked about David Hicks. According to Downer, Hicks would be entitled, on whatever legal advise he received, to appeal any conviction through the US judicial system.
Wrong! Just overnight the Appeals Court in the District of Columbia ruled in a 2-1 decision that detainees at Gitmo do not have access to the civil courts in America - upholding recently legislation passed by Congress. Read all about it from the Christian Science Monitor here.
Of course, as we all know, the rules and laws dealing with detainees at Gitmo do not apply to American citizens. Shameful on all levels - especially the Australian Government's approach to the whole Hicks affair.
Wrong! Just overnight the Appeals Court in the District of Columbia ruled in a 2-1 decision that detainees at Gitmo do not have access to the civil courts in America - upholding recently legislation passed by Congress. Read all about it from the Christian Science Monitor here.
Of course, as we all know, the rules and laws dealing with detainees at Gitmo do not apply to American citizens. Shameful on all levels - especially the Australian Government's approach to the whole Hicks affair.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Too close an ally?
Hugh White is a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute of International Policy in Sydney, and professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University.
In a piece in this week's Newsweek White seeks to put into context for the magazine's world-wide readership PM Howard's attack on Democractic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama.
"Howard's statement broke a golden rule of diplomacy—never comment on an upcoming election in a friendly country—and earned him a sardonic rebuke from Obama, who pointed out that for all of Howard's tough talk, Australia has sent a mere 1,400 troops to Iraq. This uncharacteristic misstep from such a grizzled political operator had a fairly simple explanation: Howard is expected to call an election of his own, probably later this year, and figured taking a swing at Obama would play well in his staunchly, even uniquely pro-American country. Only he figured wrong; the normally self-assured Howard is becoming rattled, and it shows."
In a piece in this week's Newsweek White seeks to put into context for the magazine's world-wide readership PM Howard's attack on Democractic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama.
"Howard's statement broke a golden rule of diplomacy—never comment on an upcoming election in a friendly country—and earned him a sardonic rebuke from Obama, who pointed out that for all of Howard's tough talk, Australia has sent a mere 1,400 troops to Iraq. This uncharacteristic misstep from such a grizzled political operator had a fairly simple explanation: Howard is expected to call an election of his own, probably later this year, and figured taking a swing at Obama would play well in his staunchly, even uniquely pro-American country. Only he figured wrong; the normally self-assured Howard is becoming rattled, and it shows."
Pure racism challenged
"If we are to listen to visiting Israeli professor Raphael Israeli, Rwanda must now be heading for disaster. "When the Muslim population gets to a critical mass you have problems," he contributed last week. For this, we are told the archetypal exhibit is France, where, thanks to a 10 per cent Muslim minority, "French people say they are strangers in their own country". Violence flows from sizeable Muslim minorities as surely as breathing, apparently. But "if there is only 1 or 2 per cent they don't dare to do it … they are drowned in the environment of non-Muslims and are better behaved".
Sometimes a statement is so manifestly boneheaded it is difficult to know whether or not it is worthy of a response. So it is with Israeli's unsolicited social commentary. "Greeks or Italians or Jews don't use violence," he blundered, as though the Mafia had never existed, and Revolutionary Struggle, an active Greek terrorist group, had not claimed responsibility for bombing the US embassy in Athens last month. Israeli either forgets or omits Dr Robert J. Goldstein, the American Jew convicted for plotting to blow up a Muslim educational centre with the stated aim being to "Kill all 'rags' — ZERO residual presence — maximum effect". The capitals are Goldstein's"
This op-ed piece in The Age, by Waleed Aly, responds to the outrageous statements made by visiting Professor Israeli, a visiting lecturer and guest of the AIJAC. One can only wonder about AIJAC's motives and policies in bringing the professor to Australia. Resourced as AIJAC is they must have known of the professor's racist views. If they didn't, then they fail in being an organisation which should be heard in any forum.
Sometimes a statement is so manifestly boneheaded it is difficult to know whether or not it is worthy of a response. So it is with Israeli's unsolicited social commentary. "Greeks or Italians or Jews don't use violence," he blundered, as though the Mafia had never existed, and Revolutionary Struggle, an active Greek terrorist group, had not claimed responsibility for bombing the US embassy in Athens last month. Israeli either forgets or omits Dr Robert J. Goldstein, the American Jew convicted for plotting to blow up a Muslim educational centre with the stated aim being to "Kill all 'rags' — ZERO residual presence — maximum effect". The capitals are Goldstein's"
This op-ed piece in The Age, by Waleed Aly, responds to the outrageous statements made by visiting Professor Israeli, a visiting lecturer and guest of the AIJAC. One can only wonder about AIJAC's motives and policies in bringing the professor to Australia. Resourced as AIJAC is they must have known of the professor's racist views. If they didn't, then they fail in being an organisation which should be heard in any forum.
A Fatal Trifecta
The Federal Budget Submission for the International Heart and Diabetes Institute puts forward these truly frightening statistics:
Obesity - 3.2 million Australians were obese in 2005 and that figure is expected to more than double to 7.2 million by 2025
Diabetes - 1 million-plus Australians have diabetes with 102,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes having been diagnosed in 2005
Heart Disease - 3.7 million Australian are affected by herat disease, stroke and vascular disease.
In the end, Australians will pay for all of this in one way or another - either physically themselves or the cost-burden on our hospitals and health-facilities. A call to wake up?
Obesity - 3.2 million Australians were obese in 2005 and that figure is expected to more than double to 7.2 million by 2025
Diabetes - 1 million-plus Australians have diabetes with 102,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes having been diagnosed in 2005
Heart Disease - 3.7 million Australian are affected by herat disease, stroke and vascular disease.
In the end, Australians will pay for all of this in one way or another - either physically themselves or the cost-burden on our hospitals and health-facilities. A call to wake up?
737 US Military Bases = Global Empire
The figures are truly staggering:
"The worldwide total of U.S. military personnel in 2005, including those based domestically, was 1,840,062 supported by an additional 473,306 Defense Department civil service employees and 203,328 local hires. Its overseas bases, according to the Pentagon, contained 32,327 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and 16,527 more that it leased. The size of these holdings was recorded in the inventory as covering 687,347 acres overseas and 29,819,492 acres worldwide, making the Pentagon easily one of the world's largest landlords."
The premise of a piece on AlterNet is that with all that American military personnel across the planet, and military bases spread across each continent, it's time to face up to the fact that American democracy has spawned a global empire.
"The worldwide total of U.S. military personnel in 2005, including those based domestically, was 1,840,062 supported by an additional 473,306 Defense Department civil service employees and 203,328 local hires. Its overseas bases, according to the Pentagon, contained 32,327 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and 16,527 more that it leased. The size of these holdings was recorded in the inventory as covering 687,347 acres overseas and 29,819,492 acres worldwide, making the Pentagon easily one of the world's largest landlords."
The premise of a piece on AlterNet is that with all that American military personnel across the planet, and military bases spread across each continent, it's time to face up to the fact that American democracy has spawned a global empire.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Six Critical Questions on Rumsie
As Harper's Magazine writes:
"If you miss having Donald Rumsfeld to kick around, you'll definitely want to check out Andrew Cockburn's soon-to-be released Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy. Cockburn, who for the past three decades has written on national security issues for such publications as Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker, shreds the former secretary of defense, following Rumsfeld's career from his early days in the Nixon Administration (Nixon once called him a “ruthless little bastard”) through his departure last fall. Cockburn's previous books include The Threat, Inside the Soviet Military Machine, and Out of the Ashes, the Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, which he co-authored with his brother, Patrick."
The six critical questions are posed here - in Harper's Magazine - and make for interesting reading.
"If you miss having Donald Rumsfeld to kick around, you'll definitely want to check out Andrew Cockburn's soon-to-be released Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy. Cockburn, who for the past three decades has written on national security issues for such publications as Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker, shreds the former secretary of defense, following Rumsfeld's career from his early days in the Nixon Administration (Nixon once called him a “ruthless little bastard”) through his departure last fall. Cockburn's previous books include The Threat, Inside the Soviet Military Machine, and Out of the Ashes, the Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, which he co-authored with his brother, Patrick."
The six critical questions are posed here - in Harper's Magazine - and make for interesting reading.
"The Ground Truth"
PM Howard, and many in his Cabinet, were more than sceptical, if not scathing, of Al Gore when he visited Australia late last year to promote his movie "An Inconvenient Truth". Ministers like Joe Hockey actually "rubbished" Gore.
Whether any of these intellectual pygmies ever ended up seeing the movie we really don't know. However, no doubt prompted by political considerations, the issue of climate change is now on the Federal Government's agenda.
By the sounds of this piece on Common Dreams, there is another compelling movie which ought to be compulsory viewing for PM Howard and at least his little "echo" Defence Minister Nelson.
"Last night, I attended a MoveOn event, one of more than a thousand nationwide. Our principal agenda was to view the film, "The Ground Truth." The movie focused briefly on the recruiting, training and deploying of U.S. military troops to Iraq. It did not shy away from deaths - ours, theirs, calculated, accidental. However, the film's main focus was on women and men who physically survive the Iraq War, with or without all of their limbs, facial features and internal organs intact.
The "lucky ones" look much as they did when they left for war. But they're not. To some extent, they're soul-scarred humans who are sent home after their literal involvement in the killing stops. They are forever changed. They're also trained killers who have seen and participated in the worst the world has to offer. They must attempt to distance themselves from all of that when they come "home," however that is defined.
Just so you know, I'm not going to do a synopsis here. "The Ground Truth's" message is a visual thing, which is why it's a film and not an IPod broadcast. Click here and here for more information and to view a trailer.
It's not the best movie ever made, Oscar nod notwithstanding. But its message is profoundly important. Shortcut: "What the hell are we doing?"
"The Ground Truth" combines live footage of carnage and chaos in Iraq, interspersed with commentary from multiple military vets and a few mental health experts. The troop commentary was very moving. As was the additional commentary from some of their spouses and parents. Lives upside down and hind-side to. This is sacrifice that is rarely if ever mentioned, and certainly not by the Bush administration or the DOD."
Whether any of these intellectual pygmies ever ended up seeing the movie we really don't know. However, no doubt prompted by political considerations, the issue of climate change is now on the Federal Government's agenda.
By the sounds of this piece on Common Dreams, there is another compelling movie which ought to be compulsory viewing for PM Howard and at least his little "echo" Defence Minister Nelson.
"Last night, I attended a MoveOn event, one of more than a thousand nationwide. Our principal agenda was to view the film, "The Ground Truth." The movie focused briefly on the recruiting, training and deploying of U.S. military troops to Iraq. It did not shy away from deaths - ours, theirs, calculated, accidental. However, the film's main focus was on women and men who physically survive the Iraq War, with or without all of their limbs, facial features and internal organs intact.
The "lucky ones" look much as they did when they left for war. But they're not. To some extent, they're soul-scarred humans who are sent home after their literal involvement in the killing stops. They are forever changed. They're also trained killers who have seen and participated in the worst the world has to offer. They must attempt to distance themselves from all of that when they come "home," however that is defined.
Just so you know, I'm not going to do a synopsis here. "The Ground Truth's" message is a visual thing, which is why it's a film and not an IPod broadcast. Click here and here for more information and to view a trailer.
It's not the best movie ever made, Oscar nod notwithstanding. But its message is profoundly important. Shortcut: "What the hell are we doing?"
"The Ground Truth" combines live footage of carnage and chaos in Iraq, interspersed with commentary from multiple military vets and a few mental health experts. The troop commentary was very moving. As was the additional commentary from some of their spouses and parents. Lives upside down and hind-side to. This is sacrifice that is rarely if ever mentioned, and certainly not by the Bush administration or the DOD."
Get healthy - or else
Here is some food for thought for a Monday morning. Companies in the USA are taking more than an active interest in the health of their employees. Of course the employer has more than an eye on its bottom line in all of this - rather than the health and well being of its employee.
BusinessWeek reports on a trend which is certain to catch on in Australia. Maybe it's good, perhaps not. As the article points out, the active intervention of the employer saved one man's life. Whatever, it all raises interesting questions like the privacy of information on the the employee's health.
"Two stories—one man saved by the 11th-hour intervention of his employer; another fired on his 30th birthday for smoking—capture the dilemma facing companies around the country. How do executives looking to cut medical costs persuade employees to take better care of themselves without killing morale and spawning lawsuits? It's a question that's very much on the mind of Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn, who acknowledges his company's wellness program is controversial. "Jack Welch told me: Man, you have balls of steel,'" says Hagedorn. "This is an area where CEOs are afraid to go. A lot of people are watching to see how badly we get sued."
BusinessWeek reports on a trend which is certain to catch on in Australia. Maybe it's good, perhaps not. As the article points out, the active intervention of the employer saved one man's life. Whatever, it all raises interesting questions like the privacy of information on the the employee's health.
"Two stories—one man saved by the 11th-hour intervention of his employer; another fired on his 30th birthday for smoking—capture the dilemma facing companies around the country. How do executives looking to cut medical costs persuade employees to take better care of themselves without killing morale and spawning lawsuits? It's a question that's very much on the mind of Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn, who acknowledges his company's wellness program is controversial. "Jack Welch told me: Man, you have balls of steel,'" says Hagedorn. "This is an area where CEOs are afraid to go. A lot of people are watching to see how badly we get sued."
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Battlefield medical techniques may assist civilians
What a strange world we live in! The carnage continues in Iraq, yet this report from Reuters suggests that all civilians will gain from the medical knowledge and know-how gained in treating all those US military men and women injured in battle. Of course whatever medical treatment may be given to the military people overlooks any mental scarring they probably suffered - and totally ignores the poor Iraqis, mostly innocents victims, caught up in the War.
"Advances in treatment of horrific battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan that have saved the lives of many U.S. soldiers who would have died in previous wars may yield valuable techniques for treating civilian trauma victims, military doctors said.
Survival rates have improved to 90 percent in this war from about 75 percent during the Vietnam War, even though today's weapons are more lethal.
"People are surviving more mutilating injuries," Dr. Dana Covey, a Navy captain and chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, said in an interview.
According to the U.S. government, nearly 24,000 soldiers have been injured in the conflict so far. Critics argue that the estimate doubles when military accidents sustained away from combat, brain injuries that can turn up later or other diseases like pneumonia are included."
"Advances in treatment of horrific battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan that have saved the lives of many U.S. soldiers who would have died in previous wars may yield valuable techniques for treating civilian trauma victims, military doctors said.
Survival rates have improved to 90 percent in this war from about 75 percent during the Vietnam War, even though today's weapons are more lethal.
"People are surviving more mutilating injuries," Dr. Dana Covey, a Navy captain and chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, said in an interview.
According to the U.S. government, nearly 24,000 soldiers have been injured in the conflict so far. Critics argue that the estimate doubles when military accidents sustained away from combat, brain injuries that can turn up later or other diseases like pneumonia are included."
Taking a [big] stick to Ruddock & Co.
The Age reports today that the Government will do whatever it can to get David Hicks back to Australia before the Federal election, mooted for next October - as PM Howard and Co. realise that the electorate, whatever its views on Hicks, is not prepared to accept the unaccpetable way in which Hicks has been dealt.
Robert Richter QC - one of Australia's foremost barristers - writing under what The Age describes as Comment, takes a very big and sharp stick to Attorney-General Ruddock as he excoriates him and John Howard and Alexander Downer:
"Philip Ruddock is a hypocrite when parading his Amnesty International membership. He pretends to give a toss for the organisation and the principles for which it stands: the rule of law, freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment, freedom from torture, opposition to the perversion of accepted civilised notions of justice and the obligations he owes to those notionally under his protection. Instead, he has publicly and shamefully betrayed all of these precepts.
He is a liar when he pretends concern for David Hicks' fate. His protestations about Australia's efforts to secure a speedy trial for Hicks cross the line of decency when we consider that Hicks is, after five years, not charged with any offence. Nor is he subject to the jurisdiction of any lawfully constituted court of justice. We know he has not committed any offences against Australian law. Our A-G says so. We also know that he does not stand charged with any known crime against US law. So how is it that the Attorney-General has not demanded the return of Hicks to the country that owes him protection as a matter of law?
It is because the A-G has publicly prostituted his duties to the law — and to those he owes a duty of protection — in the service of his political masters in the government he serves.
I say this without cover of privilege and challenge him to sue for defamation and take the risk of the facts emerging in any litigation. Cabinet solidarity is one thing; his mealy-mouthed public utterances on the subject are another. He should at least have the decency to stay silent rather than seek to defend and advance the indefensible."
Robert Richter QC - one of Australia's foremost barristers - writing under what The Age describes as Comment, takes a very big and sharp stick to Attorney-General Ruddock as he excoriates him and John Howard and Alexander Downer:
"Philip Ruddock is a hypocrite when parading his Amnesty International membership. He pretends to give a toss for the organisation and the principles for which it stands: the rule of law, freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment, freedom from torture, opposition to the perversion of accepted civilised notions of justice and the obligations he owes to those notionally under his protection. Instead, he has publicly and shamefully betrayed all of these precepts.
He is a liar when he pretends concern for David Hicks' fate. His protestations about Australia's efforts to secure a speedy trial for Hicks cross the line of decency when we consider that Hicks is, after five years, not charged with any offence. Nor is he subject to the jurisdiction of any lawfully constituted court of justice. We know he has not committed any offences against Australian law. Our A-G says so. We also know that he does not stand charged with any known crime against US law. So how is it that the Attorney-General has not demanded the return of Hicks to the country that owes him protection as a matter of law?
It is because the A-G has publicly prostituted his duties to the law — and to those he owes a duty of protection — in the service of his political masters in the government he serves.
I say this without cover of privilege and challenge him to sue for defamation and take the risk of the facts emerging in any litigation. Cabinet solidarity is one thing; his mealy-mouthed public utterances on the subject are another. He should at least have the decency to stay silent rather than seek to defend and advance the indefensible."
A plaintiff plea....
"I know of no way to measure suffering, no mechanism to quantify pain. All I know is that we Palestinians are not children of a lesser God.
Had I been a Jew or a Gypsy, I would consider the Holocaust to be the most atrocious event in history. Had I been a Native American, it would be the arrival of the European settlers and the subsequent near-total extermination of the indigenous population. Had I been an African American, it would be slavery in previous centuries and apartheid in the last. Had I been an Armenian, it would be the Turkish massacre.
I happen to be a Palestinian, and for Palestinians the most atrocious event in history is what we call the Nakba, the catastrophe. Humanity should consider all the above as morally unacceptable, all as politically inadmissible. Lest I be misunderstood, I am not comparing the Nakba to the Holocaust. Each catastrophe stands on its own, and I do not like to indulge in comparative martyrology or a hierarchy of tragedies. I only mention our respective traumas in order to illustrate that we each bring to the table our own particular history.
The fact that the accords reached last week in Mecca between Hamas and Fatah were met with a variety of reactions, ranging from warm to cautious to skeptical, makes it imperative to revisit and learn the lessons of the diplomatic history of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
The above is the beginning of a plea by Afif Safieh, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mission to the United States, published on Forward. Sadly, his plea will fall on deaf ears - as already today we read [here in the SMH] that the so-called Mecca agreement reached between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to establish a unity government has been met by both the Israelis and the US [Condi is back in Jerusalem] as not "good enough".
Had I been a Jew or a Gypsy, I would consider the Holocaust to be the most atrocious event in history. Had I been a Native American, it would be the arrival of the European settlers and the subsequent near-total extermination of the indigenous population. Had I been an African American, it would be slavery in previous centuries and apartheid in the last. Had I been an Armenian, it would be the Turkish massacre.
I happen to be a Palestinian, and for Palestinians the most atrocious event in history is what we call the Nakba, the catastrophe. Humanity should consider all the above as morally unacceptable, all as politically inadmissible. Lest I be misunderstood, I am not comparing the Nakba to the Holocaust. Each catastrophe stands on its own, and I do not like to indulge in comparative martyrology or a hierarchy of tragedies. I only mention our respective traumas in order to illustrate that we each bring to the table our own particular history.
The fact that the accords reached last week in Mecca between Hamas and Fatah were met with a variety of reactions, ranging from warm to cautious to skeptical, makes it imperative to revisit and learn the lessons of the diplomatic history of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
The above is the beginning of a plea by Afif Safieh, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mission to the United States, published on Forward. Sadly, his plea will fall on deaf ears - as already today we read [here in the SMH] that the so-called Mecca agreement reached between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to establish a unity government has been met by both the Israelis and the US [Condi is back in Jerusalem] as not "good enough".
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The "magical" power of an ipod!
From Kenya this report:
"In a strange turn of events, would be burglars got the shock of their lives when they broke into what they thought was an empty house only to stumble into the home’s owner who was getting a midnight “valentine” present from his wife.
John Kamau, 29, got an ipod from his older brother who lives in Kansas, USA as a christmas gift last December.
Lacking a radio set or receiver of any kind, John was lying next to his wife in the darkness of his living room and was holding the ipod in his hands while his wife had the headsets on her ears listening to romantic music that John’s brother had also sent from the US.
John had used the ipod to get his wife into a more loving and giving mood and was smiling from ear to ear when the wooden window behind him was suddenly smashed into pieces.
One of the pieces landed right next to John’s head on the floor almost popping his right eye out.
He says he turned and looked up from where he was lying on the floor with his wife to see a man’s gigantic foot rise up and almost crash his face in.
It was at that moment that John’s held his hands up as a sign of giving up.
But before he could even say anything, the two thieves, not knowing that the owner of the house was lying on the floor with his wife, got scared and ran back out via the window apparently thinking that the light from the ipod was a ghost.
John immediately put on his clothes, left his wife and trekked the 12 miles to the nearest police station.
The cops, who’d never seen an iPod before, confiscated it and sent John away calling him a liar and rich with imagination.
John’s brother later sent him another ipod, calling it “better than those Kenyan cops”
"In a strange turn of events, would be burglars got the shock of their lives when they broke into what they thought was an empty house only to stumble into the home’s owner who was getting a midnight “valentine” present from his wife.
John Kamau, 29, got an ipod from his older brother who lives in Kansas, USA as a christmas gift last December.
Lacking a radio set or receiver of any kind, John was lying next to his wife in the darkness of his living room and was holding the ipod in his hands while his wife had the headsets on her ears listening to romantic music that John’s brother had also sent from the US.
John had used the ipod to get his wife into a more loving and giving mood and was smiling from ear to ear when the wooden window behind him was suddenly smashed into pieces.
One of the pieces landed right next to John’s head on the floor almost popping his right eye out.
He says he turned and looked up from where he was lying on the floor with his wife to see a man’s gigantic foot rise up and almost crash his face in.
It was at that moment that John’s held his hands up as a sign of giving up.
But before he could even say anything, the two thieves, not knowing that the owner of the house was lying on the floor with his wife, got scared and ran back out via the window apparently thinking that the light from the ipod was a ghost.
John immediately put on his clothes, left his wife and trekked the 12 miles to the nearest police station.
The cops, who’d never seen an iPod before, confiscated it and sent John away calling him a liar and rich with imagination.
John’s brother later sent him another ipod, calling it “better than those Kenyan cops”
Darfur and Chad: Off the world's radar?
The world is, rightly, concerned about the worsening situation in Iraq and the ever-growing threat of war with Iran.
In the meantime, the world's eyes, and concern, seems to have been averted from the plight of those in Darfur, and now Chad as well.
As BBC News reports:
"The violence in Chad could turn into a genocide similar to that in Rwanda in 1994, the UN refugee agency has warned.
The UNHCR says the killing tactics from neighbouring Darfur in Sudan have been transported to eastern Chad in full.
The warning comes as Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic signed a deal not to support rebels attacking each other's neighbouring territory.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5m displaced since war broke out in Darfur four years ago.
Concern is now growing for the 200,000 refugees who sought shelter in eastern Chad.
The conflict in Darfur has followed them across the border with attacks by Janjaweed Arab militia on camels and horseback leaving hundreds dead and 110,000 people homeless."
In the meantime, the world's eyes, and concern, seems to have been averted from the plight of those in Darfur, and now Chad as well.
As BBC News reports:
"The violence in Chad could turn into a genocide similar to that in Rwanda in 1994, the UN refugee agency has warned.
The UNHCR says the killing tactics from neighbouring Darfur in Sudan have been transported to eastern Chad in full.
The warning comes as Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic signed a deal not to support rebels attacking each other's neighbouring territory.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5m displaced since war broke out in Darfur four years ago.
Concern is now growing for the 200,000 refugees who sought shelter in eastern Chad.
The conflict in Darfur has followed them across the border with attacks by Janjaweed Arab militia on camels and horseback leaving hundreds dead and 110,000 people homeless."
Deadeye headed our way.....
In what can only be described as a searing piece on VP Dick Cheney, aka Deadeye, Mike Carlton in his weekly column in the SMH provides some background about the man who John Howard is due to welcome to Australia next week:
"The Chickenhawk-in-Chief is coming. We are to be visited next week by Deadeye Dick Cheney, the most odious individual to hold the office of US Vice-President since the criminal Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace from the Nixon administration.
A little history to begin with: first the chicken. Asked in 1989 by The Washington Post why he had dodged the draft for the Vietnam War, Cheney notoriously replied that "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service".
Now the hawk. In recent years, his enthusiasm for military service - other people's military service, that is - has multiplied like anthrax. No man, not even George Bush, has done more to drive the American disaster in Iraq."
"The Chickenhawk-in-Chief is coming. We are to be visited next week by Deadeye Dick Cheney, the most odious individual to hold the office of US Vice-President since the criminal Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace from the Nixon administration.
A little history to begin with: first the chicken. Asked in 1989 by The Washington Post why he had dodged the draft for the Vietnam War, Cheney notoriously replied that "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service".
Now the hawk. In recent years, his enthusiasm for military service - other people's military service, that is - has multiplied like anthrax. No man, not even George Bush, has done more to drive the American disaster in Iraq."
Before the invasion there was Feith. Who?
"Someday, you are going to read a whole lot about the shenanigans of one Douglas J. Feith and an elaborate scheme to get the United States to invade Iraq. That is because Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has been determined to get to the bottom of this sordid tale and is now, fortunately, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee and thereby empowered to get at the truth.
Last week, his focus led to the partial declassification of a report produced by the Pentagon’s inspector general. Although its shocking revelations did not get the coverage they deserved—what with a jealous astronaut under arrest and the death of a certain voluptuous stripper/heiress—efforts such as Levin’s eventually will uncover the full picture of why President Bush committed to a war costing tens of thousands of lives and an expected $1 trillion that served no valid national security purpose."
Read Robert Scheer' piece in truthdig on the attempts by a US Senate Committee to uncover the true story on the Iraq War - and some of the shadowy characters behind the scenes, including people like Douglas Feith.
Last week, his focus led to the partial declassification of a report produced by the Pentagon’s inspector general. Although its shocking revelations did not get the coverage they deserved—what with a jealous astronaut under arrest and the death of a certain voluptuous stripper/heiress—efforts such as Levin’s eventually will uncover the full picture of why President Bush committed to a war costing tens of thousands of lives and an expected $1 trillion that served no valid national security purpose."
Read Robert Scheer' piece in truthdig on the attempts by a US Senate Committee to uncover the true story on the Iraq War - and some of the shadowy characters behind the scenes, including people like Douglas Feith.
Friday, February 16, 2007
David Hicks - continued
Former PM Malcolm Fraser in an op-ed piece in The Age this morning:
"In his defence of his government's behaviour in having imprisoned David Hicks for five years without trial, the US ambassador was reported in The Age yesterday as saying that Hicks is ideologically ruthless, a fanatic, who would kill Australians and Americans without blinking an eye.
The ambassador went on to argue that, because of the war on terror, it was fair enough to keep Hicks in jail while that war continued. This would mean keeping him in jail forever because, as defined by President George Bush, the war on terror will never end. It is also making a total mockery of the trial process.
The ambassador also said that challenges to the military commission process protected the "pedigree" of America's democratic processes in getting the law right. Today that surely means in American terms establishing a commission that will provide a guilty verdict. How can it be otherwise? From the President to the ambassador, Americans have said that Hicks is guilty, get the law right, make sure he is convicted. That is not a fair trial, that is not justice.
Britain's Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, only the other day again emphasised the barbarity of the Guantanamo Bay military commission process. The longer it goes on, the more we learn, the more we must be totally bewildered, dismayed at the way in which the Australian Government has responded to these circumstances."
Meanwhile, the other day the Law Council of Australia released this Statement in relation to David Hicks:
"The fact that David Hicks is a step closer to facing a fundamentally flawed trial process is cause for grave concern and not comfort.
The Australian Government’s acquiescence in this legal fiasco should be deeply disturbing to all Australians.
Two of the offences that the Australian Government was previously more than happy for Hicks to stand trial for, have suddenly disappeared from the charge sheet.
Meanwhile, more than five years after being detained, an entirely new charge has been sworn against David Hicks, namely “providing material support for terrorism”.
Law Council President Tim Bugg, said “No doubt, even though this new offence isn’t recognized under the law of war and even though it is being applied to David Hicks retrospectively, the Australian Government will be satisfied once again that the process is entirely fair and above board.”
“This whole sorry saga is the result of political expediency in both the US and Australia and justice has been the casualty,” Mr Bugg concluded."
"In his defence of his government's behaviour in having imprisoned David Hicks for five years without trial, the US ambassador was reported in The Age yesterday as saying that Hicks is ideologically ruthless, a fanatic, who would kill Australians and Americans without blinking an eye.
The ambassador went on to argue that, because of the war on terror, it was fair enough to keep Hicks in jail while that war continued. This would mean keeping him in jail forever because, as defined by President George Bush, the war on terror will never end. It is also making a total mockery of the trial process.
The ambassador also said that challenges to the military commission process protected the "pedigree" of America's democratic processes in getting the law right. Today that surely means in American terms establishing a commission that will provide a guilty verdict. How can it be otherwise? From the President to the ambassador, Americans have said that Hicks is guilty, get the law right, make sure he is convicted. That is not a fair trial, that is not justice.
Britain's Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, only the other day again emphasised the barbarity of the Guantanamo Bay military commission process. The longer it goes on, the more we learn, the more we must be totally bewildered, dismayed at the way in which the Australian Government has responded to these circumstances."
Meanwhile, the other day the Law Council of Australia released this Statement in relation to David Hicks:
"The fact that David Hicks is a step closer to facing a fundamentally flawed trial process is cause for grave concern and not comfort.
The Australian Government’s acquiescence in this legal fiasco should be deeply disturbing to all Australians.
Two of the offences that the Australian Government was previously more than happy for Hicks to stand trial for, have suddenly disappeared from the charge sheet.
Meanwhile, more than five years after being detained, an entirely new charge has been sworn against David Hicks, namely “providing material support for terrorism”.
Law Council President Tim Bugg, said “No doubt, even though this new offence isn’t recognized under the law of war and even though it is being applied to David Hicks retrospectively, the Australian Government will be satisfied once again that the process is entirely fair and above board.”
“This whole sorry saga is the result of political expediency in both the US and Australia and justice has been the casualty,” Mr Bugg concluded."
Chips.....without any fish?
Chips, without any fish, might be the order of the day if the world keeps on fishing out fish stocks.
The position with respect to fish stocks and the variety of fish available to consumers was graphically put on ABC Radio National's Breakfast program earlier this week.
"According to the annual 'state of the fisheries' report, 64 out of 83 species surveyed are either being over-fished or we don't know enough about them.
And then there are as many species again that we are not surveying.
Dr Jessica Meeuwig is project manager of the WA Marine Futures project and a lecturer at the University of Western Australia." - and is interviewed here.
The position with respect to fish stocks and the variety of fish available to consumers was graphically put on ABC Radio National's Breakfast program earlier this week.
"According to the annual 'state of the fisheries' report, 64 out of 83 species surveyed are either being over-fished or we don't know enough about them.
And then there are as many species again that we are not surveying.
Dr Jessica Meeuwig is project manager of the WA Marine Futures project and a lecturer at the University of Western Australia." - and is interviewed here.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
How some in the US view Howard's outburst
John Nichol writing in The Nation ponders [and comes to a conclusion] why John Howard not only entered into the fray of American politics but singled out Barack Obama:
"Why would Australian Prime Minister John Howard separate out Barack Obama from all of the other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination -- and from all the prominent Democratic and Republican critics of President Bush's dangerous foreign policies -- for attack as the favorite son of the terrorists?
Why would Howard, suggest that the Illinois senator's candidacy will "encourage those who wanted completely to destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory"?
And:
"...Howard, a savvy student of US politics, is unquestionably aware that many prominent Democrats -- including figures such as John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, who are far better known in Australia than Obama -- have criticized both the war in Iraq, which Howard continues to support unquestioningly, and the general approach of the Bush Administration to the so-called "war on terror."
"Why would Australian Prime Minister John Howard separate out Barack Obama from all of the other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination -- and from all the prominent Democratic and Republican critics of President Bush's dangerous foreign policies -- for attack as the favorite son of the terrorists?
Why would Howard, suggest that the Illinois senator's candidacy will "encourage those who wanted completely to destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory"?
And:
"...Howard, a savvy student of US politics, is unquestionably aware that many prominent Democrats -- including figures such as John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, who are far better known in Australia than Obama -- have criticized both the war in Iraq, which Howard continues to support unquestioningly, and the general approach of the Bush Administration to the so-called "war on terror."
Iraq viewed through rosy hues in 2002
As the debate rages in Australia and the US about the Iraq War, any timetable for a withdrawal of troops, how everyone got into the mess in the first place and who might be seen as "deserting" the war-torn country, today the NY Times reveals how the whole exercise was viewed back in 2002:
"When Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his top officers gathered in August 2002 to review an invasion plan for Iraq, it reflected a decidedly upbeat vision of what the country would look like four years after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.
A broadly representative Iraqi government would be in place. The Iraqi Army would be working to keep the peace. And the United States would have as few as 5,000 troops in the country.
Military slides obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act outline the command’s PowerPoint projection of the stable, pro-American and democratic Iraq that was to be.
The general optimism and some details of General Franks’s planning session have been disclosed in the copious postwar literature. But the slides from the once classified briefing provide a firsthand look at how far the violent reality of Iraq today has deviated from assumptions that once laid the basis for an exercise in pre-emptive war."
Questions direct to PM Howard about the rosy assessment and what he knew about it should make for interesting answers. Just watch the PM duck and weave!
"When Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his top officers gathered in August 2002 to review an invasion plan for Iraq, it reflected a decidedly upbeat vision of what the country would look like four years after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.
A broadly representative Iraqi government would be in place. The Iraqi Army would be working to keep the peace. And the United States would have as few as 5,000 troops in the country.
Military slides obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act outline the command’s PowerPoint projection of the stable, pro-American and democratic Iraq that was to be.
The general optimism and some details of General Franks’s planning session have been disclosed in the copious postwar literature. But the slides from the once classified briefing provide a firsthand look at how far the violent reality of Iraq today has deviated from assumptions that once laid the basis for an exercise in pre-emptive war."
Questions direct to PM Howard about the rosy assessment and what he knew about it should make for interesting answers. Just watch the PM duck and weave!
A nap a day keeps a coronary at bay.....
Yeah! Good news! Napping on the job is a health-benefit. We leave it to you to persuade your employer that it is in your, and his, interests to take a nap on the job, but the "evidence" is seemingly in that all those Spaniards and Southern Europeans are right to have siesta-time.
"There may be something to siestas after all. Office workers feeling a bit drowsy during the day may feel better about themselves knowing that midday napping seems to reduce fatal heart problems by about one third among men and women, according to new research.
The study, released Monday, followed more than 20,000 individuals over an average of 6.3 years. Initially, all individuals were healthy at the start. The study also controlled details for risk factors such as diet and physical activity.
The study was carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School in Greece.
Siestas, which are common in the Mediterranean region and some Latin American countries, tend to have people with low mortality rates of coronary heart disease, the study said.
The study found that people who took an average of three naps per week, for 30 minutes each had 37 percent lower coronary mortality than those who did not. Occasional nappers found a 12 percent reduction in coronary mortality, however this was not considered statistically significant by the researchers."
Read the complete article in International Business News here.
"There may be something to siestas after all. Office workers feeling a bit drowsy during the day may feel better about themselves knowing that midday napping seems to reduce fatal heart problems by about one third among men and women, according to new research.
The study, released Monday, followed more than 20,000 individuals over an average of 6.3 years. Initially, all individuals were healthy at the start. The study also controlled details for risk factors such as diet and physical activity.
The study was carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School in Greece.
Siestas, which are common in the Mediterranean region and some Latin American countries, tend to have people with low mortality rates of coronary heart disease, the study said.
The study found that people who took an average of three naps per week, for 30 minutes each had 37 percent lower coronary mortality than those who did not. Occasional nappers found a 12 percent reduction in coronary mortality, however this was not considered statistically significant by the researchers."
Read the complete article in International Business News here.
Jan Morris on how the USA has become a hated country
This piece in The Guardian by well-known Jan Morris [author and travel writer] highlights the position of how the US is viewed around the world.
"Far from being the most beloved country on earth, today the US is the most thoroughly detested. The rot really started to set in, in my view, with Abraham Lincoln, one of the most admirable men who ever lived. He it was who saw in American glory the duty of a mission. America, he declared, was the last best hope of earth. The pursuit of happiness was not its national vocation, but the example of democracy. The more like the United States the world became, the better the world would be. No statesman was ever more sincere or kindly in his beliefs, but poor old Abe would be horrified to see how his interpretation of destiny has gone sour."
"Far from being the most beloved country on earth, today the US is the most thoroughly detested. The rot really started to set in, in my view, with Abraham Lincoln, one of the most admirable men who ever lived. He it was who saw in American glory the duty of a mission. America, he declared, was the last best hope of earth. The pursuit of happiness was not its national vocation, but the example of democracy. The more like the United States the world became, the better the world would be. No statesman was ever more sincere or kindly in his beliefs, but poor old Abe would be horrified to see how his interpretation of destiny has gone sour."
Home, sweet dream
The newspapers have lately been full with articles pointing up how expensive houses have become for any prospective purchasers, especially first-time home-buyers, and even how costly obtaining rental accommodation is also. In the latter case there is now a critical shortage as well.
In an article in The Age, "Home, sweet dream" Tim Colebatch drills down into the actual figures on housing. No wonder the Australian dream of securing a quarter-acre block is becoming a mere dream for increasing numbers of people.
"At no time since statistics began have Australians directed so much of their spending into buying and improving homes: buying, building, renovating and redecorating, to make them an image of the way we want our lives to be.
Fifty years ago, when our population was growing twice as fast as now, Australians spent 4.5 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on building and renovating their homes. In the past four years, on average, we have spent 6.6 per cent, and that's not counting furniture, wide screen TVs, and all the other things we need to fulfil our destiny. And real estate sales dwarf construction.
In Victoria, the Valuer-General tells us, the value of residential sales swelled from $13 billion in 1995 to $45 billion in 2003, edging down to $42 billion in 2005. At national level, lending to home buyers (excluding refinancing) has grown almost sevenfold in 15 years: from $28 billion in 1991 to $188 billion in 2006. After spending all that money, you might think Australians now have more housing than they know what to do with. Not so.
First, the Housing Industry Association and the Commonwealth Bank report that housing is now more unaffordable than at any time in the 23 years they have measured it. For the first time, the average Australian household can no longer afford to buy the average Australian home. With the median first home costing $376,000 in the December quarter, they say, buyers need a gross household income of $93,300 to adequately cover the mortgage bill of $2332 a month (or roughly $28,000 a year). But average household income, they estimate, is just $91,300.
Sure, we all find ways of adapting: lower our ambitions, look for something further out or less attractive, move back with the olds and start saving, or keep renting until affordability improves. But it is quite clear that, as a society in which home ownership has been central to the Australian dream, we have a big problem. Younger people and lower income people increasingly are unable to afford the dream."
In an article in The Age, "Home, sweet dream" Tim Colebatch drills down into the actual figures on housing. No wonder the Australian dream of securing a quarter-acre block is becoming a mere dream for increasing numbers of people.
"At no time since statistics began have Australians directed so much of their spending into buying and improving homes: buying, building, renovating and redecorating, to make them an image of the way we want our lives to be.
Fifty years ago, when our population was growing twice as fast as now, Australians spent 4.5 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on building and renovating their homes. In the past four years, on average, we have spent 6.6 per cent, and that's not counting furniture, wide screen TVs, and all the other things we need to fulfil our destiny. And real estate sales dwarf construction.
In Victoria, the Valuer-General tells us, the value of residential sales swelled from $13 billion in 1995 to $45 billion in 2003, edging down to $42 billion in 2005. At national level, lending to home buyers (excluding refinancing) has grown almost sevenfold in 15 years: from $28 billion in 1991 to $188 billion in 2006. After spending all that money, you might think Australians now have more housing than they know what to do with. Not so.
First, the Housing Industry Association and the Commonwealth Bank report that housing is now more unaffordable than at any time in the 23 years they have measured it. For the first time, the average Australian household can no longer afford to buy the average Australian home. With the median first home costing $376,000 in the December quarter, they say, buyers need a gross household income of $93,300 to adequately cover the mortgage bill of $2332 a month (or roughly $28,000 a year). But average household income, they estimate, is just $91,300.
Sure, we all find ways of adapting: lower our ambitions, look for something further out or less attractive, move back with the olds and start saving, or keep renting until affordability improves. But it is quite clear that, as a society in which home ownership has been central to the Australian dream, we have a big problem. Younger people and lower income people increasingly are unable to afford the dream."
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
On Valentine's Day: A prescription for a healthy and longer life
Forget about the chocolates, flowers, sexy underwear, etc. Love, and more particularly married life, is the operative word for a healthy and longer life. Who says so? The Mayo Clinic in this piece:
"The benefits of a healthy marriage have been carefully studied for decades. Statistically, people who are happily married live longer than do their single counterparts. They have lower rates of heart failure, cancer and other diseases and develop tighter networks of emotional support.
According to one Harvard University study, married women are 20 percent less likely than are single women to die of a variety of causes, including heart disease, suicide and cirrhosis of the liver. Married men enjoy an even greater benefit — they're two to three times less likely to die of such causes than are single men. Statistics have also shown married people are less likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes.
The upsides of healthy marriages — those which enjoy strong commitment and open lines of communications — span both mental and emotional well-being. One study states definitively that the happiness of married people is significantly greater than that of the unmarried and remains true throughout the entire life cycle."
"The benefits of a healthy marriage have been carefully studied for decades. Statistically, people who are happily married live longer than do their single counterparts. They have lower rates of heart failure, cancer and other diseases and develop tighter networks of emotional support.
According to one Harvard University study, married women are 20 percent less likely than are single women to die of a variety of causes, including heart disease, suicide and cirrhosis of the liver. Married men enjoy an even greater benefit — they're two to three times less likely to die of such causes than are single men. Statistics have also shown married people are less likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes.
The upsides of healthy marriages — those which enjoy strong commitment and open lines of communications — span both mental and emotional well-being. One study states definitively that the happiness of married people is significantly greater than that of the unmarried and remains true throughout the entire life cycle."
Gerard Henderson goes for sleaze
For reasons best known to itself, the SMH continues to publish a weekly op-ed piece by Gerard Henderson [of the Sydney Institute - whose funding is kept under wraps]. To all intents and purposes Henderson is an apologist for the Howard Government. Bottom line Henderson's pieces lack any real substance or analysis worth more than a passing thought - that is, to dimiss it!
In his latest piece Henderson, dealing with the Howard outburst against US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obana has, like the Murdoch press in Australia reporting on the brou-ha ha, gone for the sleaze-factor by referring to Obama's middle name Hussein.
As the Washington Post editorialised late last month:
It's become a fad among some conservatives to refer to the junior senator from Illinois by his full name: Barack Hussein Obama. This would be merely juvenile if it weren't so contemptible. Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers, on "Hardball," was one of the early adopters of this sleazy tactic. "Count me down as somebody who underestimates Barack Hussein Obama," he said. Radio host Rush Limbaugh, demonstrating his usual maturity, got a chuckle out of the senator's allegedly oversized ears, calling him "Barack Hussein Odumbo." And Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council issued this e-mail alert: "Joining an already glutted field of hopefuls, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama (D-Ill.) announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination yesterday.
Insight magazine managed to further degrade the public discourse with a scurrilous "report" alleging that Mr. Obama, as a child in Indonesia, attended a radical Islamic madrassa. In fact, Mr. Obama attended a public school in Jakarta that was predominantly Muslim -- no surprise given that Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country. Insight, whose piece was eagerly touted by Fox News Network, might have learned this if it had bothered to check its story rather than cravenly attributing the false report to "Hillary Clinton's camp," citing unnamed "sources close to the background check" that the New York senator supposedly conducted into Mr. Obama."
In his latest piece Henderson, dealing with the Howard outburst against US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obana has, like the Murdoch press in Australia reporting on the brou-ha ha, gone for the sleaze-factor by referring to Obama's middle name Hussein.
As the Washington Post editorialised late last month:
It's become a fad among some conservatives to refer to the junior senator from Illinois by his full name: Barack Hussein Obama. This would be merely juvenile if it weren't so contemptible. Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers, on "Hardball," was one of the early adopters of this sleazy tactic. "Count me down as somebody who underestimates Barack Hussein Obama," he said. Radio host Rush Limbaugh, demonstrating his usual maturity, got a chuckle out of the senator's allegedly oversized ears, calling him "Barack Hussein Odumbo." And Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council issued this e-mail alert: "Joining an already glutted field of hopefuls, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama (D-Ill.) announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination yesterday.
Insight magazine managed to further degrade the public discourse with a scurrilous "report" alleging that Mr. Obama, as a child in Indonesia, attended a radical Islamic madrassa. In fact, Mr. Obama attended a public school in Jakarta that was predominantly Muslim -- no surprise given that Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country. Insight, whose piece was eagerly touted by Fox News Network, might have learned this if it had bothered to check its story rather than cravenly attributing the false report to "Hillary Clinton's camp," citing unnamed "sources close to the background check" that the New York senator supposedly conducted into Mr. Obama."
Humanising the numbers
Chron.com reports on a race to match up numbers tattooed on people's arms by the Nazis with records whose those people actually were. It's a legacy of the Holocaust still very much alive 74 years after Hitler came to power.
"The hunt begins with a number.
Harry Stein sits nose-to-screen, squinting at the fuzzy digits in column after column on faded microfilm, searching for clues to a mystery: Who was Auschwitz inmate 185403?
The number was tattooed on the left forearm of one of the thousands who were processed through Auschwitz, shipped off to Buchenwald concentration camp, and never seen again.
Male? Female? Old? Young? Jewish? Christian? Reason for arrest? The list Stein is scrutinizing says nothing. There's only that number.
More than six decades after the Nazi Holocaust ended, historians such as Stein are still struggling with a gargantuan task — to make a semblance of order among hundreds of thousands of dead by finding, at least, their names.
There is no central catalog — just miles and miles of files, scattered across Europe, the United States, Israel and elsewhere. Of 56,000 people who perished behind the barbed wire at Buchenwald alone, or on the way there, 23,000 on the camp's records remain unidentified."
"The hunt begins with a number.
Harry Stein sits nose-to-screen, squinting at the fuzzy digits in column after column on faded microfilm, searching for clues to a mystery: Who was Auschwitz inmate 185403?
The number was tattooed on the left forearm of one of the thousands who were processed through Auschwitz, shipped off to Buchenwald concentration camp, and never seen again.
Male? Female? Old? Young? Jewish? Christian? Reason for arrest? The list Stein is scrutinizing says nothing. There's only that number.
More than six decades after the Nazi Holocaust ended, historians such as Stein are still struggling with a gargantuan task — to make a semblance of order among hundreds of thousands of dead by finding, at least, their names.
There is no central catalog — just miles and miles of files, scattered across Europe, the United States, Israel and elsewhere. Of 56,000 people who perished behind the barbed wire at Buchenwald alone, or on the way there, 23,000 on the camp's records remain unidentified."
Arabs fear US and Israel, not Iran
AlterNet republishes this piece from IPS News:
"U.S. and Israeli hopes of forging of a Sunni Arab alliance to contain Iran and its regional allies may be misplaced, at least at the popular level, according to a major survey of six Arab countries released last week.
The face-to-face survey of a total of 3,850 respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates found that close to 80 percent of Arabs consider Israel and the United States the two biggest external threats to their security. Only six percent cited Iran.
And less than one in four Arabs believe Iran should be pressured to halt its nuclear programme, while 61 percent, including majorities in all six countries, said Tehran had the right to pursue it even if, as most believe, the programme is designed to develop nuclear weapons."
"U.S. and Israeli hopes of forging of a Sunni Arab alliance to contain Iran and its regional allies may be misplaced, at least at the popular level, according to a major survey of six Arab countries released last week.
The face-to-face survey of a total of 3,850 respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates found that close to 80 percent of Arabs consider Israel and the United States the two biggest external threats to their security. Only six percent cited Iran.
And less than one in four Arabs believe Iran should be pressured to halt its nuclear programme, while 61 percent, including majorities in all six countries, said Tehran had the right to pursue it even if, as most believe, the programme is designed to develop nuclear weapons."
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Howard v Obama: What US bloggers say
From today's Crikey [on subscription only - worth getting by the way]:
"Howard v Obama: what the US blogs say
When Obama's President, We're Bombing Australia: Is there a reason Howard’s so upset about Barry, considering that all the Democrats running for president are running against the Iraq War — including the usually bloodthirsty but ever-adaptable Hillary. Not even Republicans are in line with Bush’s crazy bullsh-t these days ... One reason might be that Howard noticed Barry’s complexion; John Howard’s government doesn’t care much for the dark-skinned folk -- especially dark-skinned Muslim folk, and we all know Barry was raised in a madrassa by his mom, Mama bin Laden ... John Howard’s not exactly a smarty jones. -- Wonkette
President Bush, however, has not spoken with Prime Minister Howard of Australia since Jan. 9, the White House maintains, with a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to dispute suggestions that Bush had put his good friend from Sydney and ally in the war in Iraq up to criticism for the Illinois senator who announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend. -- The Swamp, Chicago Tribune blog
Australia's Slime Minister: We all know the Dems have been in bed with Al Qaeda for years but couldn't do anything about strengthening their alliance until they got into power. But it took the clarity of Howard to sum it up, and when you break his statement down, you can hardly disagree with its validity. -- The Huffington Post
Howard’s position is completely understandable: despite taking risks at home to back America, allies will be abandoned when it’s inconvenient for America. If being a friend of the United States will bring you no rewards and hurt you, nobody will be a friend. Indeed, it pays to be neutral or antagonistic. Nevertheless, Howard was clumsy in his criticism. He didn’t need to mention Obama by name; all he needed to do was note that setting a timetable would encourage terrorists. -- Snarky B-stards
As I headed over to Memorandum today, I expected to see a slew of liberal attacks on Aussie PM John Howard after he had the audacity to speak the truth about Barack Obama and the Democratic Party ... Surprisingly, at least so far today, the lib bloggers don't seem to be up to the challenge. Maybe that's because the liberal activists don't like Obama as much as the Democrats in general or maybe it's just because what Howard said is absolutely true. -- rightwingnews.com
Howard has been criticized as a "chickenhawk," for supporting Australia's military involvement in Vietnam and Iraq while personally passing on the opportunity to serve in Vietnam. So I guess this makes him a "double chickenhawk." -- Mark Weisbrot and Robert Naiman, The Huffington Post
Neither Howard’s use of the word “pray as many times as possible” nor Obama’s characterization of Howard as “George Bush’s” ally can be entirely coincidental. Both men were speaking to a domestic political audience. -- Pajamas Media
"Howard v Obama: what the US blogs say
When Obama's President, We're Bombing Australia: Is there a reason Howard’s so upset about Barry, considering that all the Democrats running for president are running against the Iraq War — including the usually bloodthirsty but ever-adaptable Hillary. Not even Republicans are in line with Bush’s crazy bullsh-t these days ... One reason might be that Howard noticed Barry’s complexion; John Howard’s government doesn’t care much for the dark-skinned folk -- especially dark-skinned Muslim folk, and we all know Barry was raised in a madrassa by his mom, Mama bin Laden ... John Howard’s not exactly a smarty jones. -- Wonkette
President Bush, however, has not spoken with Prime Minister Howard of Australia since Jan. 9, the White House maintains, with a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to dispute suggestions that Bush had put his good friend from Sydney and ally in the war in Iraq up to criticism for the Illinois senator who announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend. -- The Swamp, Chicago Tribune blog
Australia's Slime Minister: We all know the Dems have been in bed with Al Qaeda for years but couldn't do anything about strengthening their alliance until they got into power. But it took the clarity of Howard to sum it up, and when you break his statement down, you can hardly disagree with its validity. -- The Huffington Post
Howard’s position is completely understandable: despite taking risks at home to back America, allies will be abandoned when it’s inconvenient for America. If being a friend of the United States will bring you no rewards and hurt you, nobody will be a friend. Indeed, it pays to be neutral or antagonistic. Nevertheless, Howard was clumsy in his criticism. He didn’t need to mention Obama by name; all he needed to do was note that setting a timetable would encourage terrorists. -- Snarky B-stards
As I headed over to Memorandum today, I expected to see a slew of liberal attacks on Aussie PM John Howard after he had the audacity to speak the truth about Barack Obama and the Democratic Party ... Surprisingly, at least so far today, the lib bloggers don't seem to be up to the challenge. Maybe that's because the liberal activists don't like Obama as much as the Democrats in general or maybe it's just because what Howard said is absolutely true. -- rightwingnews.com
Howard has been criticized as a "chickenhawk," for supporting Australia's military involvement in Vietnam and Iraq while personally passing on the opportunity to serve in Vietnam. So I guess this makes him a "double chickenhawk." -- Mark Weisbrot and Robert Naiman, The Huffington Post
Neither Howard’s use of the word “pray as many times as possible” nor Obama’s characterization of Howard as “George Bush’s” ally can be entirely coincidental. Both men were speaking to a domestic political audience. -- Pajamas Media
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