| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
08 Jul 2007 02:36:21 PM |
| Object: |
OT: When the Game Is the Controller |
When the Game Is the Controller
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
1730.html
By David Walsh
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A15
Addiction is a word we associate with drugs and alcohol. We think of
addicts as people whose lives spin out of control. Prioritizing the
object of their addiction above all else, addicts can become erratic,
irresponsible and dangerous, damaging their families, careers and
their sense of self. This isn't exactly what one pictures when
thinking about children who play video games a lot. Nevertheless,
video game addiction is a real problem, and it's getting worse.
The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest and most
influential group of physicians, warned parents last month about
potential harm from excessive video game playing. The AMA asked the
American Psychiatric Association to further study the long-term
effects of video game use, including video game addiction. Respected
experts, including doctors such as those at the AMA, have spoken out
about problems associated with video games. Some games are too
graphically violent or are filled with sexual content that is
inappropriate for children. Games can make children aggressive and
contribute to attention disorders. Children who play video games a lot
seem to have more trouble in school. But this AMA statement was
something new. For the first time, a major American medical
organization acknowledged the dangers of video game addiction.
Lessons Unlearned In Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
1731.html
By Kiki Munshi
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A15
JULIAN, Calif. -- Last year at this time, I traveled from Forward
Operating Base Warhorse into the Iraqi town of Baqubah several times a
week to meet with the governor, the provincial council chairman and
other officials. Yes, it was dangerous. But it wasn't suicidal.
Today, though, such trips would be almost impossible. Baqubah is a
battlefield, the site of a major push against al-Qaeda and other
insurgents. The houses that haven't been destroyed are riddled with
bullet holes. Many of the Iraqis I worked with are dead, and many
others have fled.
Airborne Intimidation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2038.html
A missile attack on one of Russia's pro-Western neighbors. Who could
be responsible?
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A14
FOR CENTURIES, the nations inhabiting the mountainous stretch between
the Black and Caspian seas have lived under direct or indirect Russian
influence. But since its Rose Revolution in 2003, the Republic of
Georgia has attempted to assert its sovereignty, led by pro-Western
President Mikheil Saakashvili. Mr. Saakashvili and his political
allies are lobbying to secure NATO membership for Georgia. The Russian
response to Georgia's independent streak has been depressingly
predictable: trade embargoes, deportations of Georgian citizens and
continuing military support for breakaway regions within Georgia.
Power Shortage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2036.html
The House energy package is missing some key components.
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A14
IN MANY WAYS, the bills that will make up the House energy package are
a lot like the version passed by the Senate last month. There's a push
for investment in renewable energy. There are greater efficiency
measures, with the federal government leading by example. There's a
drive to test whether carbon capture and sequestration will work on a
commercial scale. And a move to fund a coal-to-liquid fuel boondoggle
has been thwarted -- for now. Still, the legislation is incomplete.
Not in This Court
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2044.html
Congress and the FISA judges must oversee government surveillance.
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A14
A FEDERAL appeals court decision yesterday rejecting a challenge to
the administration's warrantless wiretapping program is sensible,
carefully crafted and ultimately unsatisfying.
In France, Jogging Is a Running Joke
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2104.html
President's Exercise Regime Has Critics in a Lather
By Joel Garreau
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page C01
The sight of the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, jogging --
often wearing his favorite NYPD T-shirt -- has fired up a tempest in a
Reebok in France and Britain this summer. Sarkozy's running is an un-
French, right-wing conspiracy, suggests Paris' left-wing newspaper
Lib=E9ration. In response, British commentators gleefully conclude: The
French have lost their minds, again.
On the primary state television channel, France 2, Alain Finkielkraut,
a leading French intellectual, recently demanded that Sarkozy give up
his "undignified" exercise. Not only did he imply that exposing the
boss's naked knees is something that never would have occurred in the
time of Mitterrand, much less Louis XIV, Finkielkraut claimed
strolling is the proper activity of the thinking person, from Socrates
to the poet Arthur Rimbaud.
A Quiet Rainmaker
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2091_pf.html
He's Raised $300,000 For Hillary Clinton. To Bal Das It's Not About
the Money.
By Sridhar Pappu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; C01
NEW YORK Inside the Park Avenue office of 38-year-old lawyer and
Democratic heavyweight Bal Das, there are none of the usual artifacts
of vanity. No grip-and-grin photos of him smiling brightly with Bill
or Hillary Clinton, with Harold Ford Jr. or ***** Durbin or Ted
Kennedy. Nor are there any hints of a family life -- no drawings by
his son, no portraits of him and his wife holding each other closely
at sunset at the home they still keep in Paris.
It is precisely the absence of these manifestations of ego that makes
Das such a valuable power within the Democratic Party, and
particularly in Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the presidency. As a
senior partner and general counsel for a small, highly profitable
specialty finance company called InsCap, he doesn't go running for a
mention in Page Six and doesn't mug for nightlife photographer Patrick
McMullan. Instead, he's someone people-in-the-know know, someone who,
by raising oodles of money for Democrats, is routinely courted by
politicians across the country.
Colombia's Low-Tech Coca Assault
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2225_pf.html
Uprooting Bushes by Hand Preferred Over U.S.-Funded Aerial Spraying
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A01
EL MIRADOR, Colombia -- The latest shift in Colombia's war on drugs is
evident on a green hilltop in this town, as weather-beaten men in gray
jumpsuits -- government-paid eradicators -- use hoes and muscle to rip
out bushes of coca. Policemen carrying M-16 assault rifles and land-
mine detectors stand sentry, while a radio operator listens in on the
crackling conversation between two Marxist guerrilla units.
The operation here in the southern state of Caqueta is tedious, hard
and dangerous, since destroying coca is a financial blow to the
guerrillas, who draw much of their funding from the crop that is used
to make cocaine. But Colombian officials say uprooting by hand is the
future -- a strategy at odds with U.S. reliance on aerial fumigation.
Lawsuit Against Wiretaps Rejected
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
0779.html
Case's Plaintiffs Have No Standing, Appeals Court Rules
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A01
A federal appeals court removed a serious legal challenge to the Bush
administration's warrantless wiretapping program yesterday, overruling
the only judge who held that a controversial surveillance effort by
the National Security Agency was unconstitutional.
Two members of a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ordered the dismissal of a major
lawsuit that challenged the wiretapping, which President Bush
authorized secretly to eavesdrop on communications involving potential
terrorists shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Virginia May Spurn GOP in '08
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
1975_pf.html
Independents Leaning Democratic for President
By Tim Craig and Jennifer Agiesta
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A01
Virginia, usually a reliably Republican state in presidential
elections, may become a key battleground in the 2008 election as
broadly negative views among independents of President Bush and the
war in Iraq have altered the presidential race.
Mirroring the national mood, Virginians' approval of Bush and support
for U.S. policies in Iraq have eroded as the war has dragged on. Bush
is the worst of the past nine presidents, say Virginia's independent
voters, who helped him win in 2004 but now say they are more likely to
prefer that a Democrat rather than a Republican be the next president.
In Morocco's 'Chemist,' A Glimpse of Al-Qaeda
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2304_pf.html
Bombmaker Typified Resilient Network
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A01
CASABLANCA, Morocco -- On March 6, Moroccan police surrounded a
cybercafe here and arrested a fugitive who many people assumed had
fled the country or was dead. Saad al-Houssaini, known as "the
Chemist" because of his scientific training and bombmaking skills, had
vanished four years earlier after he was accused of helping to
organize the deadliest terrorist attack in Moroccan history.
It turned out that Houssaini hadn't gone anywhere. Since 2003,
according to Moroccan police documents, he had remained underground in
Casablanca as he rebuilt a terrorist operative network and recruited
fighters to go to Iraq. He also spent time honing his bombmaking
techniques, designing explosives belts that investigators believe were
used in a string of suicide attacks this spring, including one that
targeted the U.S. Consulate in this North African port city.
Senate Floor To Be a Stage For '08 Race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2167_pf.html
Antiwar Candidates Seeking the Spotlight
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A01
The four Senate Democrats seeking their party's presidential
nomination will take their campaigns to the chamber's floor next week,
pushing new limits on U.S. involvement in Iraq in an attempt to
burnish their antiwar credentials.
Next week, the Senate turns to the annual Defense Department
authorization bill, legislation that is becoming a magnet for Iraq-
related amendments as Democrats press ahead in their quest to force
President Bush to change course and begin withdrawing U.S. troops.
Among those hoping to reshape the bill are a who's who of the 2008
field -- Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.),
Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) and Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.).
Eco-Kosher Movement Aims To Heed Tradition, Conscience
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2092_pf.html
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A01
First she had to find an organic cattle farm near Washington. Then a
shochet, a person trained in kosher slaughtering, who was willing to
do a freelance job. Then a kosher butcher to carve the beef into
various cuts and other families from her synagogue to share it.
All told, it took Devora Kimelman-Block of Silver Spring 10 months to
obtain 450 pounds of meat that is local, grass-fed, organic and
strictly kosher. Which is a lot of effort -- and a lot of meat -- for
someone who keeps a kosher vegetarian household.
Whistle-Blower's Fight For Pension Drags On
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2127_pf.html
Former Defense Official Seeks Private Relief Bill
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A03
From a cramped motor home in a Montana campground where Internet
access is as spotty as the trout, Richard Barlow wakes each morning to
battle Washington.
Once a top intelligence officer at the Pentagon who helped uncover
Pakistan's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, Barlow insisted on
telling the truth, and it led to his undoing.
Pentagon Appeals Case Of Canadian Detainee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
1976.html
War Crimes Charges Were Dismissed
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A06
Prosecutors in the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions have
appealed the dismissal of war crimes charges against a Canadian
detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, continuing their argument that
detainees in U.S. custody can be tried under Congress's new rules for
military commissions.
The case against Omar Khadr, who allegedly killed a U.S. soldier while
fighting with al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, was
dismissed last month. The judge, Col. Peter E. Brownback III, found
that the Military Commissions Act required Khadr to be an "unlawful
enemy combatant" in order to face trial. Combatant Status Review
Tribunals (CSRTs) at Guantanamo had determined detainees to be "enemy
combatants" but made no reference to lawful or unlawful, an oversight
that Brownback said was enough to end the case.
Two Terror Suspects Inquired About Medical Positions in U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
0617.html
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A07
Two of the foreign-born doctors suspected of plotting last week's
failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow had inquired about
applying for medical training positions in the United States, U.S.
officials said yesterday.
Within the past year, Mohammed Asha, 26, a Saudi-born Jordanian,
contacted a Philadelphia-based clearinghouse that reviews and approves
foreign applicants for U.S. medical residency and fellowship programs.
A second suspect, who was not identified, approached the same group,
whose members include the American Medical Association, medical
schools and teaching hospitals.
For Rio, a Test of Temperament
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2135.html
Brazilians Hope Famed Hospitality Trumps Homicides During City's Turn
on World Stage
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A10
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 6 -- Magazine surveys have called the residents
here the friendliest in the world, the local music can melt stress on
contact, and geological terms seem less apt than religious ones for
the spectacular landscape.
So why is Rio de Janeiro making so many Brazilians nervous?
Fear Grows Of Hostage Situation at Red Mosque
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
0260_pf.html
Hundreds Still Inside, Pakistani Officials Say
By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 7, 2007; A10
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 6 -- Security forces ringing a besieged
mosque pummeled Islamic radicals with gunfire on Friday, as concern
grew that many of those still inside -- including children -- were
being held against their will.
Although more than 1,200 people have fled the mosque since the siege
began Tuesday, authorities estimated that several hundred remain
within. Only a few dozen are suspected to be hard-core radicals;
others appear to want to leave but have been prevented from doing so.
Experts Reduce Estimate of India's HIV Population by Half
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR200707060=
2102.html
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A10
NEW DELHI, July 6 -- India's HIV population, thought to be the largest
in the world, is actually half what experts had previously estimated,
according to new figures released Friday by the country's Health
Ministry.
The number of Indians infected with HIV is 2 million to 3 million, a
large figure but one that accounts for only about 0.3 percent of
India's 1.1 billion people. About 0.4 percent of the U.S. population
is HIV-positive.
Three cheers for change, but don't uncork the bubbly
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2121378,00.html
This paper's 18-month campaign on civil liberties is finally bearing
fruit, but there is still much to do
Henry Porter
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
My astonishment was complete on Tuesday when Jack Straw, the new Lord
Chancellor, went on Channel 4 News to say that Gordon's Brown's first
statement in the House of Commons as Prime Minister was one of his
proudest moments in the chamber. He then confessed to suffering
several bouts of constitutional squeamishness during the Blair
government, which is brass neck of an international order and won him
no points for self-knowledge, or for that matter loyalty.
Tap, tap, tap to wear down the terrorists
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2121358,00.html
Gordon Brown must beware Tony Blair's mistakes if he wants to beat the
bombers
Kenneth Roth
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
In his response to the attempted terrorist bombings in London and the
attack in Glasgow, Gordon Brown may have revealed a change of approach
to counterterrorism. There was no overreaction, despite the
seriousness of the threat, and no rush to introduce new security
measures that flout human rights.
But will this lead to a reversal of government policies that, in the
name of national security, are undermining two key pillars of liberty:
the absolute prohibition of torture and the fundamental rule against
prolonged detention of suspects without charge?
We must help Poland to overcome its demons
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2121323,00.html
Denis MacShane
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
Poland should be Europe's happy country. Its economy is growing at
three times that of Britain's or France's and it has more inward
investment than any European nation but Britain. Its cities are
booming, with new skyscrapers, restaurants and one of the youngest
populations in the old continent. Flights to the UK are crammed both
ways.
Poland's economic and civil society is booming, but its politics is
troubling. Twins and a father and son typify the problem. The twins
are the Kaczynskis, Poland's President and Prime Minister. They are
busy burying the democratic revolution that ousted communism after the
Solidarity movement rose in Gdansk 27 years ago this month. The heroes
of Solidarity, like Lech Walesa, the journalist-activist Adam Michnik,
or the liberal historian and MEP, Bronislaw Geremek, are being
sidelined along with left-over communists.
Is it British to flaunt our flag?
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2121356,00.html
Gordon Brown has ordered all government buildings to fly the Union
flag 365 days a year
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
Mary Warnock
As an adolescent at the beginning of the Second World War, I was
passionately against 'flag-wagging'. Now, nearly 70 years later, I am
delighted with Gordon Brown's decision to let the word go forth,
through the symbolism of flags, that we are proud of being Brits. I
like understatement and modesty in individuals; but nationally we have
carried it rather too far. I will never be party to national apologies
for historical happenings, nor the excesses of multiculturalism. We
must get a grip on teaching citizenship, and if this means saluting
the flag and not using it to make underpants then so be it.
It takes more than Mr Targets to get results
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2121173,00.html
Simon Caulkin, management editor
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
One of the innovations that Gordon Brown inherits from Tony Blair is
the Prime Minister's delivery unit (PMDU) at Number 10. To the
uninitiated that may not sound interesting, but governments around the
world have leapt on the experiment with alacrity.
It's not hard to see the appeal. The delivery unit - a small
performance-management unit at the heart of government - offers the
promise of driving public-service improvement from the centre, acting
as a transmission mechanism between the motor of prime ministerial
edict and the wheels of the individual departments.
You've got mail - all you need is a way to get rid of it
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2121185,00.html
John Naughton
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
'You can', my mother used to say, 'have too much of a good thing'.
Since she was generally not in favour of good things (which she
equated with self-indulgence), I habitually disregarded this advice.
But I am now beginning to wonder if she may have been right after all.
This thought is sparked by an inspection of my email system. I have
852 messages in my 'office' inbox. Correction, make that 854: two more
came in while I was typing that last sentence. My personal inbox has
1,304 messages. My spam-blocking service tells me that, in the past 30
days, I received no fewer than 3,920 invitations to: enhance my, er,
physique; invest in dodgy shares; send money to the deserving widows
of Nigerian dictators; and purchase Viagra. I am - literally -
drowning in email.
Pope's move on Latin mass 'a blow to Jews'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2121325,00.html
Jason Burke in Paris
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
Jewish leaders and community groups criticised Pope Benedict XVI
strongly yesterday after the head of the Roman Catholic Church
formally removed restrictions on celebrating an old form of the Latin
mass which includes prayers calling for the Jews to 'be delivered from
their darkness' and converted to Catholicism.
In a highly controversial concession to traditionalist Catholics, Pope
Benedict said that he had decided to allow parish priests to celebrate
the Latin Tridentine mass if a 'stable group of faithful' request it -
though he stressed that he was in no way undoing the reforms of the
Sixties Second Vatican Council which allowed the mass to be said in
vernacular languages for the first time.
Everest at risk as new road conquers roof of the world
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2121287,00.html
It is meant to pave the way for the Olympic torch, but Tibetans fear
that China's highway to heaven will mean yet more pollution and
repression
Dan McDougall in Lhasa
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
The harsh strip lighting of Lhasa's cavernous railway station
illuminates a tiny Tibetan girl as her mother tucks her in on an oil-
stained patch of ground. Dozens more rag-wrapped pilgrims on their way
to Jokhang Temple settle in cheek by jowl in the darkness. Child
porters scurry back and forward carrying the brightly coloured luggage
of Chinese tourists and wicker baskets of yak dung, used to fuel
stoves.
Crackling loudly over the PA system, a folk singer croons longingly of
the Himalayas and the beauty of Qomolongma, known in the West as Mount
Everest. 'It calls Everest mother earth,' says Kelsang, a Tibetan
guide, grimacing at the static. 'They play this over and over again.
It is a Chinese song written about Tibet. 'Propaganda,' he says,
pointing at a huge TV screen showing images of demure, dancing
Tibetans. 'It's part of the myth they want the Chinese tourists to buy
into. They are turning Tibet into Everestland, that way it's easier to
forget the past and make us into a theme park.'
The man making the world's worst polluter clean up its act
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2121288,00.html
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
He is not as well known as Al Gore or David Attenborough but among
green campaigners, no one has a bigger role in tackling climate change
than Ma Jun. As China's economic growth races on at breakneck speed
and with more dirty, coal-burning power plants coming on line each
year, the world's most populous nation will soon overtake the US as
the biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
Ma, 39, has emerged as the powerful voice of a budding green movement
that is forcing industry and China's tightly run state to be more
accountable for the long-term consequences of their rush to get rich.
From the web to the White House
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2121069,00.html
Since the 1960 face-offs between Kennedy and Nixon, televsion has been
the dominant medium in US presidential election campaigns. But the
advent of YouTube has changed all that. Now it's the internet that has
become the key political battleground for 2008. But is this the birth
of a new democraticatising medium - or just a passing fad?
Watch the top ten Presidential candidate YouTube moments
Gaby Wood
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer
On 5 March this year, an ad appeared on the spectacularly popular
video-sharing website, YouTube. The person who posted it identified
him or herself as 'ParkRidge47' - the place where Hillary Clinton grew
up and her year of birth - but the video did not appear to have
originated anywhere near that presidential candidate's camp. An
updated version of Ridley Scott's famous Apple Macintosh ad from 1984,
it took the Orwell-inspired original, in which armies of grey-faced
workers are lectured to from a vast television screen by a fearsomely
Nazi-like dictator, and replaced the face and voice of Big Brother
with those of Hillary Clinton. 'One month ago I began a conversation
with all of you,' she says from the screen, addressing the masses she
refers to as 'hard-working'. A digital subtitle appears across her
face: 'This is our conversation', before a colourfully clad sprinter
races up to the screen and smashes it with a mallet.
Musharraf warns Red Mosque militants: 'surrender or die'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2745142.ece
By Faisal Aziz in Islamabad
Published: 08 July 2007
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan yesterday told Islamist
militants barricaded in a mosque in Islamabad to surrender or die,
while concern grew for hundreds of women and children inside the
compound.
"If they don't surrender, I'm saying it here, they will be killed," Mr
Musharraf said, in his first public comments on the deadly stand-off
in the capital. Hundreds of troops have surrounded the fortified
compound housing Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and a girls' madrassa, or
religious school, where clashes between armed students and security
forces began on Tuesday following months of tension.
100m vote for world's seven new wonders
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2745152.ece
By Ruth Elkins
Published: 08 July 2007
The Great Wall of China, Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer and
India's Taj Mahal were among those that were last night voted as the
new Seven Wonders of the World.
More than 100 million people voted online or by text in a global poll
to find the world's best architectural wonders, which were announced
yesterday evening in a glitzy ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.
Afghanistan: Time to review our presence as two more soldiers die
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2745079.ece
Poppies grow unchecked and reconstruction falters as Taliban maintains
tenacious resistance
By Sadie Gray
Published: 08 July 2007
Paul Flynn, it was, who came up with a noteworthy statistic during
Gordon Brown's inaugural PMQs. In the first five years of the British
forces presence in Afghanistan, he said, seven of our soldiers had
died, most in road accidents. In the past 14 months, though, 56 have
been killed as the Taliban step up the ante.
The sorry total tells only part of the story. Overstretch, as this
newspaper reported last week, is biting hard as the Army juggles wars
on two fronts.
Richard Watson: The voice of the Muslim majority still goes unheard
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2745080.ece
To tackle extremism, new leaders must be found who genuinely represent
the community in Britain
Published: 08 July 2007
Not all Islamists are terrorists, but all Muslim terrorists are
Islamists. This fact must lie at the heart of new thinking about how
to take on the terrorist threat at home and abroad. There is a growing
but belated recognition by Western intelligence agencies and
governments that the ideological and theological support structure for
extreme Islamism must be tackled if the so-called war on terror is to
be won. This is, in effect, a battle of ideas.
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has called for a celebration of
British values. He even suggested deploying propaganda, as in the Cold
War. But former Islamists I have spoken with believe this is missing
the point.
Out of America: A tale of greed, ambition and lashings of ketchup
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2745141.ece
Summertime, and Americans are stuffing themselves in eating contests.
But the obesity debate can't ruin a good old-fashioned battle between
two arch rivals
By Rupert Cornwell
Published: 08 July 2007
What to make of this epic feat of human nourishment? A disgraceful
incitement to the spread of America's great obesity epidemic - or,
after decades in which Toyota, Honda and the like have brought Detroit
to the brink of ruin, finally one back for the good ol' USA over
Japan?
I refer to last week's annual Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest,
held every 4 July in Coney Island, New York, which since 1916 has
constituted a curious sidebar to the Independence Day festivities. The
difference is that what began as an innocent, little-noticed
competition among local immigrants to find the most patriotic consumer
of a quintessentially all-American foodstuff is now just one more
overhyped strand in the rich fabric of Freak Show USA.
Jonathan Fenby: The great pall of China
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2745085.ece
Turning off lights in Britain will achieve nothing if the world's
biggest market doesn't clean up its act. And China, whatever it says,
is putting growth ahead of the planet, says Jonathan Fenby
Published: 08 July 2007
First, it was the spectre of China cutting a swathe through Western
economies. Now, as the last strains of Live Earth die away from London
to Shanghai, awareness is mounting of the menace that the economic
rise of the People's Republic of China (PRC) poses for its own ecology
and that of the planet. Not only is the world's most heavily populated
nation the biggest producer of shoes, textiles, toys and IT hardware,
but it is also, according to a report by Dutch monitors, the biggest
emitter of greenhouse gas.
The scale of the environmental damage in China may induce some people
to wonder what is the point of turning out the lights and leaving the
car at home if such harm is being done on the other side of the world
in the cause of maintaining 10 per cent annual growth. That would be a
confession of defeat, or an attempt to shrug off the responsibilities
of developed nations.
Bernard Wasserstein: The philosophers of France should take a running
jump
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2745082.ece
Published: 08 July 2007
So Nicolas Sarkozy is a fascist because he goes jogging! Worse,
according to Alain Finkielkraut, his over-energetic exercise and sweat-
filled brow constitute an offence against good taste. Instead,
according to his critic, the newly elected president should walk "like
Socrates or Rimbaud".
Finkielkraut passes for a philosopher rather than an arbiter on
etiquette. He is an unlikely candidate for appointment as Mademoiselle
Manners and his latest pronouncement carries little weight.
.
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
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| Title: WaPo Learns No Lessons In Baqubah |
08 Jul 2007 05:53:46 PM |
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maff <maff91@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:1183923381.259771.192710@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
Lessons Unlearned In Iraq
Like, "Not To Lie To Americans Who Can Check Your Stories".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR20070
70601731.html
By Kiki Munshi
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page A15
JULIAN, Calif. -- Last year at this time, I traveled from Forward
Operating Base Warhorse into the Iraqi town of Baqubah several times a
week to meet with the governor, the provincial council chairman and
other officials. Yes, it was dangerous. But it wasn't suicidal.
Today, though, such trips would be almost impossible. Baqubah is a
battlefield, the site of a major push against al-Qaeda and other
insurgents. The houses that haven't been destroyed are riddled with
bullet holes. Many of the Iraqis I worked with are dead, and many
others have fled.
http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/baqubah-update-05-july-2007.htm
Baqubah Update: 05 July 2007
Today marks “D +16” of Operation “Arrowhead Ripper,” the Battle for
Baqubah. Arrowhead Ripper kicked off on 19 June 07. I have several
dispatches in the works about the major events since that time. Although
the serious fighting seems to be over, there remains a possibility for
some sharp fighting in the near future. The morning of 06 July began
with the sounds of American cannons firing, shells whizzing through the
air, while they checked systems and aiming for combat. Apache
helicopters orbited Baqubah as the orange sun crested into view.
Media coverage went from a near monopoly (Michael Gordon from New York
Times and me) to a nearly capsized boat as journalists flooded in from
other parts of Iraq to see the fight. They managed to miss most of it.
Today, I’m told, there are now only 3 journalists remaining, including
one writer (me).
As with the Battle for Mosul, which I held in near monopoly for about
five months during 2005, the most interesting parts of the Battle for
Baqubah are unfolding after the major fighting ends. But as the guns
cool, the media stops raining and starts evaporating, or begins making
only short visits of a week or so.
The big news on the streets today is that the people of Baqubah are
generally ecstatic, although many hold in reserve a serious concern that
we will abandon them again. For many Iraqis, we have morphed from being
invaders to occupiers to members of a tribe. I call it the “al Ameriki
tribe,” or “tribe America.”
I’ve seen this kind of progression in Mosul, out in Anbar and other
places, and when I ask our military leaders if they have sensed any
shift, many have said, yes, they too sense that Iraqis view us
differently. In the context of sectarian and tribal strife, we are the
tribe that people can—more or less and with giant caveats—rely on...
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"Be intolerant. Because some things are just stupid"
- Ryan Dobson
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