Facing the Music

Well, Amnesty International's 2005 Report has stirred up some controversy. In addition to going after countries that everyone expected to be there like Afghanistan, they also slammed the United States, Australia and Israel for their human rights record in the last year, using words like 'torture' for the former and 'war crimes' for the latter. Especially bad for the United States was a passage calling the facility at Guantanamo Bay a modern-day gulag. The Republicans quickly countered, with General Myers declaring it irresponsible and President Bush calling it absurd. Of course Amnesty spokespeople shot back by saying, "What is 'absurd' is President Bush's attempt to deny the deliberate policies of his administration."

In American politics, the Bush administration is moving beyond the traditional 'defensive use' idea of nuclear weapons, issuing a directive that will see them used in conflicts when they are strategically needed. 'Coincidentally,' the administration is looking into bunker-busting nuclear weapons that would destroy an underground facility and, according to the New Scientist, also potentially kill a whole pile of people if used in an urban area where a majority of these bunkers are. Republicans continue to get upset about things inconsequential to everyday Americans, with an Alabama congressman getting all heated up over the fact that Bill Maher said something about low-lying fruit, calling it possible treason and demanding that the show get cancelled. His leader, Tom DeLay, got upset at another show, this time Law and Order, over a reference to him during an investigation of the death of a federal judge, specifically joking that they were looking for someone with a Tom DeLay t-shirt. Of course, when you're quoted as saying, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behaviour," when talking about these same federal judges, I don't think there is much defence to being brought up in an off-hand way. All of this nonsense might be coming to an end, as 53% of Americans recently polled said that they were very or somewhat likely to vote for Hillary Clinton as the next President.

Well, first it was France that said no, in what can be said to be a fairly decisive way. Then there was piles of speculation over what it all meant, what it would mean for the economy, whether 'the West' still has a meaning as a term, what's up with President Chirac, etc. Then the Dutch did the same thing, Chirac got replaced, and there's going to have to be a pile of negotiation to get further EU integration happening. Was it a real vote against the proposed constitution, or just people getting back at their elites?

Charles Mugabe is still lurching from one domestic mistake to another. Now that his 'land reform' programme has dumped experienced white farmers off their land in favour of his political cronies, causing a massive drop in production, the new plan is apparently to nationalize all farmland. It's Soviet Russia all over again in the heart of Africa, and I guess it's a good thing that he recently decided to accept additional food aid, because this change is unlikely to improve the agricultural production problem.

A Conservative website, Human Events Online, just published the ten most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to the usual Communist/Fascist works, they interestingly also selected the Kinsey report, Democracy and Education by John Dewey, The Feminine Mystique, and Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Other 'honourable mentions' include The Origin of the Species, The Second Sex and Silent Spring. I suggest you read them all if you haven't already.

Also:
- There might be new hope for the Hubble telescope if they can get a ship up there to attach two new cameras to explore the beginnings of the universe and search for non-luminous matter.
- The Spitzer telescope, in the meantime, has captured the birth of stars from interstellar gas.
- The Andromeda Galaxy is about 3 times bigger than previously thought.
- The Man on the Moon that we are all familiar with was caused by the formation of Jupiter and Saturn flinging large amounts of debris into the inner solar system.
- How x-ray telescopes are letting astronomers understand black holes.
- Peter Lynds, present-day Einstein?
- Scientists have located the part of the brain responsible for understanding sarcasm.
- The dead-zone in the Gulf of Mexico, caused primarily by drainoff from agricultural fertilizers, is apparently the size of New Jersey.
- Another article about the crunch in global oil.
- Big-ass article in the New Yorker about what Intelligent Design isn't.
- The Columbia Journalism Review examines the 'follow the leader' journalism in describing the situation in Iraq.
- The opposition in Lebanon has claimed electoral victory in the first election in 30 years without the presence of Syrian troops.
- Though it might be late for Chancellor Schroeder, recent reports show the German unemployment rate falling and Germany having the cleanest ground water ever measured.
- 83% of Egyptians voted in favour of changing the constitution to allow for multiple candidates in the Presidential election.
- Some African leaders want to present a more optimistic outlook for their continent.
- In case you missed it, and I don't know how you could have, Deep Throat is former FBI #2 W. Mark Felt.
- Here is a list of the 'low points' of the Michael Jackson trial summarized, so you can take part in such discussions without having to waste much time.
- 11 steps to a better brain, at least according to the New Scientist.
- The newest way to increase the numbers going into the priesthood -- beermats.
- A British couple have made it all the way to their 80th wedding anniversary.
- Playing around with the Half-Life 2 physics engine, or setting up dominos to squash a guy.
- Or, you can add Half-Life 2 characters to your own photographs.
- A very scary looking alien puppet sings poorly about Jesus' love. (QuickTime)
- Another video in WMV about fainting goats -- it's seriously funny.
- Funny in a different way, but not for the light of heart, a video set to music of all those cool stunts that didn't work out.