Today’s reason: hiding from the public.
First, on our own soil the President has force fed a media image to us free from protests — he hasn’t killed free speech but he’s certainly neutered it’s effectivness. The second part of today’s post is hard for me. I admire most of the men and women who are fighting in our name on two major fronts (and how many minor fronts?) around the world. The president has standing orders that disrespect the soldiers whose lives have been lost overseas. A military contractor was fired for releasing a picture of flag draped coffins to the media. Darby Conley is using Get Fuzzy to highlight that even wounded vets are brought back in the secret of night without the press seeing them. Both of these actions clearly define a presidency that chooses to present an alternate reality, hidden from the truth.
Hybrids are growing, and the car companies are doing their part. I’d be in favor of waiving sales tax on hybrids for the next 5 years… Thoughts on that?
Turns out that the theory that HIV came from a simian virus in monkey bits chopped up to make Polio vaccine in the 1950’s ain’t so, says scientists. Which is extremely good news:
“We are very close to eradicating polio globally, a sweet triumph for humanity if we can accomplish it. Hopefully the article will help resolve the confusion that surrounds this last push in this great undertaking,” (Betty) Korber (of Los Alamos National Laboratory) told The Scientist.
And Peak Oil, I gotta get me some of this to outfit the boat that the family and I will take to the BPB Commune on Tonga.
Hooray!
No, really. It’s spring, the trees are budding, the tulips are blooming, and it’s a great day to reflect on what a great planet we’ve got here. I’m leaving work on time this afternoon, and taking the boys for a walk in the woods before supper. Saturday, we’ll go check this out.
Israel’s recent assinations of Palistenian terrorist group leaders has yielded results. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat early Thursday expelled 21 Fatah Tanzim fugitives from his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah, fearing that the IDF was about to raid the compound and arrest the wanted men.
The more I consider it, the more I like Sharon’s plan to unilaterally pull out of most of the West Bank and all of Gaza, and wait for a final settlement until a legitimate government arises in Palestine. No more crying about Israeli troops bulldozing houses, no more roadblocks. Most importantly, no more negotiations with terrorists.
I waited to post this until it showed up in a major news outlet instead of just the right wing rags that have been digging into the developing scandal for a long time.
One year after his fall, U.S. officials say they have evidence, some in cash, that Saddam diverted to his personal bank accounts approximately $5 billion from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program.
But it’s still a scandal that action was taken in Iraq without “UN Approval”. The international body is, as I continue to claim, an undemocratic scandal that should be evicted from its perch on the middle East Side. A partial list of other people on Hussein’s dole follows:
The Companies of the Russian Communist Party: 137 million The Companies of the Liberal Democratic Party: 79.8 million The Russian Committee for Solidarity with Iraq: 6.5 million and 12.5 million (two separate contracts) Head of the Russian Presidential Cabinet: 90 million The Russian Orthodox Church: 5 million France Charles Pasqua, former minister of interior: 12 million Trafigura (Patrick Maugein), businessman: 25 million Ibex: 47.2 million Bernard Merimee, former French ambassador to the United Nations: 3 million Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club: 17.1 millionRussia
