The Asia Times is one of the best newspapers on the web today, but one that I think does not get enough recognition out there. Here is a very interesting column by David Isenberg on how the administration thinks the press should be following its lead on finding Iran a strategic threat to the United States, one that justifies a war against it.
Asia Times Online :: Middle East News – Another US intelligence test
Middle East
Aug 29, 2006
Another US intelligence test
By David Isenberg
One might think that after all the post-mortems on politicization of intelligence leading up to the US invasion of Iraq, members of the US Congress might have learned a few things about not rushing in where angels fear to tread. But you would be wrong, if a recent report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is any example.
Last Wednesday, Pete Hoekstra, a Republican congressman
from Michigan and chairman of the committee, released a report, “Recognizing Iran as a Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States”. [1] The not very subtle implication was that those who don’t agree Iran is a threat are fools.
This is exactly the same sort of tactic that the White House was using in 2002 and 2003 when Vice President Dick Cheney was talking about mushroom clouds rising into the sky due to an Iraqi nuclear weapon.
Category: News (Page 9 of 13)
ABC News: FDA Says Viruses Safe for Treating Meat
The FDA has just approved using a combination of six viruses to combat bacteria in cold cuts and sausages. The combination would be sprayed on the meats before packaging. Consumers will not be told which meats are treated with the listeria-eating-viruses.
Listeria is a big problem for elderly people and pregnant women, for whom it can cause premature delivery and other complications. For that reason pregnant women are advised not to eat deli meats, soft cheeses, sushi and other products more likely than average to contain listeria. BUT there seems to be little point in applying this product to some products and not others – as careful pregnant women would still have to keep away from these products in general as they wouldn’t know which ones would be safe. The rest of the population, who wouldn’t need them, may want to stay away from viruses in general.
As for my part, I plan to call whatever manufacturers of sausages & hotdogs & deli meats I use and ask whether they’re serving me viruses a la carte.
5 August 2006
The government of Israel has recently purchased from the United States bunker-busting bombs (GBU-28), for use in its war in Lebanon. These bombs contain depleted uranium – a carcinogenic substance that spreads in the form of a toxic and radioactive dust, which enters the lungs and bones and is especially harmful to babies and young children.
We call on the government of Israel not to make use of these bombs.
A very interesting article in the LA Times about how Supreme Court justice John Stevens was clerking for SCJ Wiley Rutledge when the court had to decide on the legality of the trial against Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita. The court ruled 6-2 in favor, but Rutledge wrote an impassionate discent about how what what differentiates us from our opponents was the rule of law. Apparently Stevens took that to heart, and it was a major reason why he led the court to find that the US was bound (imagine that) by the Geneva Conventions.
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