28. juni 2003

Syrian border guards still in US custody The US has still not returned the five captured and injured Syrian border guards that were taken in the attack on a convoy that were thought to carry senior Iraqi fugitives. Officially, they are "working on it." It is pretty obvious that the border guards are under extensive interrogation, as the US thinks they know some very important things, possibly about the whereabouts of Saddam's government, or, as some have speculated, about incursions into Iraq from Syria. 10:58:47 PM    comment []

Blame the west for everything John Pilger is one of the anti-American journalists who have toed the Baath party line by blaming Iraq's health problems on the sanctions instead of Saddam's deliberate policies of starving his population to build palaces. John Sweeney tells it like it is. Picked this from Glenn Reynold's blog. 9:28:04 PM    comment []

Improving on nature These pictures are not for the faint of heart, showing before and after of breast augmentation surgery on a 46 year old woman following a 170 lbs weight loss. You have been warned. 8:59:19 PM    comment []

More on Supreme Court decisions Slate's "breakfast table" correspondents Walter Dellinger and Dahlia Lithwick gives some background and insight on one of the most powerful persons in the US, Justice O'Connor, and tells us how Justice Scalia is out to lunch. Scalia was widely quoted in the press for saying "I have nothing against homosexuals," which was a blatant misquotation. What he really said was "I have nothing against homosexuals, or any other group, promoting their agenda through normal democratic means." Essentially, as Dahlia points out, Scalia had nothing against democracy. What is obvious, however, is that he has a lot against gays or anyone else that challenges his conservative Christian views. Essentially, he is an old, bigoted man fighting tooth and nails for the state's right to put its prejudices into law. The only good thing is that he is outnumbered. 7:05:49 PM    comment []

Masked Crusader unmasked, a bit late Do you remember the masked crusader in a small English that made it into newspapers worldwide? The real-life superhero was dubbed Spa Man or the Caped Crusader of Tunbridge Wells. I wrote about it, as did other blogs, Somehow, the resolution of the real-life-imitating-comic-books did not get nearly as much attention, and I missed it at the time. It was something of an anti-climax, as this story too, proved to be a bunch of people making a hoax. The letters to local paper, Kent and Sussex Courier, was part of the hoax, but eventually people started talking and it was time to reveal the facts. At last the answer can be provided: in the corner of the White Hart pub on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells last week, a bearded, shaggy haired man dressed in jeans and a blue shirt slipped away for an instant, then reappeared in an orange top, brown mask and brown underpants (worn, naturally, outside the orange trousers). Meet Matt Lees, mild-mannered hairstylist by profession, would-be superhero in his spare time. The 31-year-old stood proudly, ignoring the stares of some rather surprised pensioners. "Ha, ha!" he said. "It was me all along! Do my pants look all right like this?" Mr Lees and his Robins - Chris Shaw, 33, and Rachel Bishop, 21 - then confessed to how they had created the character whose supposed exploits had gone round the world. It had, they admitted, been one big joke. In fact, for most of his carreer, the superhero had not even existed. The costume was made somewhat later, complete with a zero (misread for the letter O) on the chest to tell it was really nothing to it. It was, like most fantastic stories, just another funny hoax. 5:23:26 PM    comment []

Headline of the day "Listen Up, Ladies: Long, Lush Locks Lure Lovers" (Reuters) One surprise, and one that is not. First, (American) men prefer brunettes to blondes by a wide margin. I suspect racial preferences may have been important there. Second, men 'overwhelmingly' prefer women with long hair, "Halle Berry aside." Always those pesky exceptions to the rules, isn't it? 6:41:30 AM    comment []

Iran sorta denies having taken al-Zawahiri So, has Iran arrested top al-Qaeda officials, including Bin Laden's second in command al-Zawahiri? Full confusion today, after this imaginative non-denial from Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi: "First of all this is not the case," Asefi said. "The people in question have not yet been identified. Also, there is no reason that even after the identification process is completed that we should discuss this issue with the media because this is a security issue." So he is saying 1) It is not true; 2) We don't know; and 3) If we knew, we wouldn't tell you anyway. 4:45:14 AM    comment []

Study: Pot doesn't cause brain damage A study by researchers at the University of California at San Diego showed that while marijuana smoking effects perception, it does not cause permanent brain damage.  "The findings were kind of a surprise. One might have expected to see more impairment of higher mental function," said Dr. Igor Grant, a UCSD professor of psychiatry and the study's lead author. Other illegal drugs, or even alcohol, can cause brain damage. His team analyzed data from 15 previously published, controlled studies into the impact of long-term, recreational cannabis use on the neurocognitive ability of adults. The studies tested the mental functions of routine pot smokers, but not while they were actually high, Grant said. The results, published in the July issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, show that marijuana has only a marginally harmful long-term effect on learning and memory. No effect at all was seen on other functions, including reaction time, attention, language, reasoning ability, and perceptual and motor skills. He suggested that studies coming to a different conclusions may have been mislead by pot smokers often using other drugs as well, like amphetamines or alcohol. 1:53:25 AM    comment []

Hamas truce, Israeli pullback Two positive developments in the Israeli-Palestine conflict just ahead of Rice's visit to the region: First, Israel and the PA has agreed about an IDF pullback from the Gaza strip. Second, Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire. Israel wasn't too impressed about Hamas' move, and neither was Colin Powell, who said he'd withhold judgment until the terror group agrees to a formal truce. 1:27:30 AM    comment []

Bush wants Christian rehab programmes in federal prisons Always eager to push his religion, Bush is planning to introduce a Christian-only rehab programme is Federal prisons.Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries already runds Christian rehab in several state prisons. Colson, who was White House counsel under President Nixon and spent seven months in prison for his part in the Watergate affair, launched the InnerChange Freedom Initiative in 1997 at a Texas prison, with close enthusiastic support from Bush, then the state's governor. The program is now offered at prisons in Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa. The state program in Iowa is facing a legal challenge on grounds that it violates the Constitution by receiving state government funding. What establishment clause? 12:49:48 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:27:06.