U.S. Continues Quagmire-Building Effort In Afghanistan
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN— According to sources at the Pentagon, American quagmire-building efforts continued apace in Afghanistan this week, as the geographically rugged, politically unstable region remained ungovernable, death tolls continued to rise, and the grim military campaign persisted as hopelessly as ever.
"We've spent a lot of time and money fostering the turmoil and despair necessary to make this a sustaining quagmire, and we're not going to stop now," President Barack Obama said in a national address Monday night. "It won't be easy, but with enough tactical errors on the ground, shortsighted political strategies, and continued ignorance of our vast cultural differences, we could have a horrific, full-fledged quagmire by 2012."
Added Obama, "Together, we can make Afghanistan into a nightmarish hell-scape Americans will regret for generations to come."
The U.S. plan to build a lasting quagmire in Afghanistan calls for the loss of at least 5,000 coalition troops, nearly 1,500 of whom have already been killed, and a wasted investment of nearly $1 trillion, a quarter of which has thus far been spent.
With more than 80 percent of the country currently under Taliban control, Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that U.S. nation-dismantling efforts are actually proceeding ahead of schedule.
"We've made a complete mess of local institutions, and moving forward this substantial lack of infrastructure will be the cornerstone of our strategy to ensure long-term chaos in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region," said Gates, gesturing to a complex, 6-foot-tall wall map of what were either newly established al-Qaeda bases in Waziristan, tribal trade routes over the Hindu Kush, or perhaps U.S. military outposts of some kind. "I couldn't be happier with our progress. This place is a complete clusterfuck."
( There's lots more - but you get the idea. The Onion - the only straight reporting available is disguised as satire. )
Ranking Terrorist Threats By Degree Of Separation
This past year has been one of the FBI's busiest — at least when it comes to terrorism cases. In the first 10 months of 2009, there have been possible plots exposed in Denver; Springfield, Ill.; Dallas; Boston; and, just this week, Chicago.With so many alleged plots, it's difficult to know how seriously to take any particular threat. So the intelligence community has an informal system for ranking them. The basic idea: The closer the link to al-Qaida, the more serious the plot.
Consider the case of Najibullah Zazi, the Denver-area shuttle bus driver who stands accused of plotting to blow up targets in New York City. Intelligence officials claim that the Zazi case is the most serious this country has faced since Sept. 11, 2001, because they believe Zazi had a direct link to senior al-Qaida leaders. Officials say that in addition to allegedly training in an al-Qaida camp, Zazi apparently called someone in Pakistan for instructions just before he was arrested.
That's seen as a red flag, because it suggests that al-Qaida was behind the plot in some way. And al-Qaida, as a general matter, likes its attacks to be big.
"In my view, these tend to be the most serious [cases], because, of course, the goal of them is to create a terrorist spectacular," says Bruce Hoffman, a Georgetown professor who advises the U.S. government on terrorism. "They are looking to stage an enormous attack that will, as 9/11 did, change the game or change the calculation."
So that's the highest-level category — a plot connected directly to al-Qaida.
( One must accurately categorize drivel. Presumably that enhances credibility and utility...or at least furthers the cause of PYA. )
Nine U.S. banks seized in largest one-day haul
U.S. authorities seized nine failed banks on Friday, the most in a single day since the financial crisis began and the latest stark sign that substantial parts of the nation's banking industry are being crippled by bad loans.
The move brought the total number of failed banks in 2009 to 115 -- their highest annual level since 1992 -- with analysts expecting more to come. Among the lenders seized Friday was Los Angeles-based California National Bank, in what was the fourth-largest U.S. bank failure this year.The largest institution to fail in the current financial crisis was Washington Mutual, which boasted $307 billion in assets when it was shuttered in September 2008.
U.S. Bancorp on Friday acquired the nine banks that had been held by FBOP Corp, picking up $18.4 billion in assets and $15.4 billion of deposits.
The Agonist
The Point Of A Stimulus Is?
The point of an economic stimulus package is to grow the economy. There is no question in my mind that the stimulus enacted by Obama and the Congress succeeded in doing that. I've been pretty clear in giving credit where credit is due on that front. But the problem is this: it was the wrong kind of stimulus--too many tax cuts and not enough money to the states. Cash-for-clunkers? A beefed up subsidy for first time home buyers? Lots of military Keynesianism? Wasn't it this kind of free-for-all in credit what got us here in the first place?
Meanwhile, the states are still in the red, bloody oozing red that it is. And business spending, that engine of economic growth and employment? Where's that? One could go on and on.
As Krugman says, "we’ve gotten the big boost, and it’s clearly far short of what we really need."
Do you feel stimulated? Or are you still personally retrenching?
To repeat: the stimulus was good, but it wasn't enough and was targeted correctly. And we'll see the results of a committee designed stimulus plan soon enough.
Meanwhile, the states are still in the red, bloody oozing red that it is. And business spending, that engine of economic growth and employment? Where's that? One could go on and on.
As Krugman says, "we’ve gotten the big boost, and it’s clearly far short of what we really need."
Do you feel stimulated? Or are you still personally retrenching?
To repeat: the stimulus was good, but it wasn't enough and was targeted correctly. And we'll see the results of a committee designed stimulus plan soon enough.
The New Zim Zam Optimistic Vision Protector
Yes folks, now YOU can have the new Zim Zam Optimistic Vision Protector: Zim Zam helmets are immune to pessimism and are even safer than burying your head in the sand. Worried about another financial disaster? Peak oil? Climate change? The war in Afghanistan? ... Your Zim Zam helmet filters out everything but optimism; Read the Wall Street Journal and never have to worry about seeing an article quoting Nouriel Roubini. Pessimism is filtered out through a digital HTLS system.
Do you have a love one who is anxious or down because they read the Internet? Zim Zam has the equipment you need to turn their lives around. You can even rescue followers of Michael Rupert by slapping one of our helmets over them. In a matter of days the most pessimistic person will invest their remaining 401K or IRA in high risk securities.
Don't worry be happy, wear a Zim Zam.
Support our troops stickers extra.
yes, but does it come with batteries? ~eds.
Second Class Education For All
Americans love to pay lip service to the idea of education. But let's face it, when the rubber hits the pedal to the metal (purposely mixed metaphor) Americans don't give a fuck. Exhibit one is here. And it ain't pretty. The story out of the New York Times magazine documents a public higher educational system that is rapidly being privatized in all but name. It also documents a system that has shifted it's focus to educating the children from lower income families to one that seeks out prosperous out of state students. It further describes a system that is raising prices almost as fast as healthcare and failing in its primary mission of providing an inexpensive education for all Americans. Lastly, it's clearly a system that the separate states have simply abandoned financially.I'm an absolutist when it comes to education. Higher education should be subsidized, if not completely free to all those who qualify. I have a hard time getting exercised by just about anything these days, but when it comes to education I tend towards the apoplectic. Long the bedrock of our success as a nation education has now become just another overpriced commodity. One thing I don't understand is why students aren't in open rebellion at paying thousands of dollars in fees? Fees! What the hell is a fee at a university? Isn't that what the tuition is for?
As Ian might say, it's just another regressive tax on the middle class that they can no longer afford. Instead students are leveraged to the hilt by the time they graduate. The American dream is rapidly slipping out of reach for all except the wealthy in this country.
But I think the most odious aspect of this article is the description of how the University of Florida is now pushing students away from the flagship state school and steering them to a second class institution: the University of Central Florida. (Before an UCF grads get their panties in a wad please note I graduated from a second class university myself.) It's unreal.
As Ian might say, it's just another regressive tax on the middle class that they can no longer afford. Instead students are leveraged to the hilt by the time they graduate. The American dream is rapidly slipping out of reach for all except the wealthy in this country.
But I think the most odious aspect of this article is the description of how the University of Florida is now pushing students away from the flagship state school and steering them to a second class institution: the University of Central Florida. (Before an UCF grads get their panties in a wad please note I graduated from a second class university myself.) It's unreal.
Take Florida. The University of Central Florida, now the state’s largest university, serves roughly the same demographic the University of Florida did 15 years ago. That’s partly because the University of Florida accepts far fewer good students, sticking mostly to great ones. It is attracting students who also apply to Duke and Emory and other expensive private institutions.The bottom line is that while Americans say education is a high priority it's not. It's not even in the top ten.
Cannabis row drugs adviser sacked
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8334774.stm
Professor David Nutt, head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, criticised the decision to reclassify cannabis to Class B from C.He accused ministers of devaluing and distorting evidence and said drugs classification was being politicised.
Earlier this week Prof Nutt used a lecture at King's College, London, to attack what he called the "artificial" separation of alcohol and tobacco from illegal drugs.
The professor said smoking cannabis created only a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness.
Phil Willis MP, chairman of the science and technology select committee, said he would write to the home secretary to ask for clarification as to why Prof David Nutt had been sacked "at a time when independent scientific advice to government is essential".
"It is disturbing if an independent scientist should be removed for reporting sound scientific advice," he said.
Prof Nutt said he was "disappointed" by the sentiments expressed by Mr Johnson.
He added: "Whilst I accept that there is a distinction between scientific advice and government policy there is clearly a degree of overlap.
"If scientists are not allowed to engage in the debate at this interface then you devalue their contribution to policy making and undermine a major source of carefully considered and evidence-based advice."
'Disgraceful' decision
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the sacking had been "an inevitable decision" after Prof Nutt's "latest ill-judged contribution to the debate".
But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the decision to sack the adviser had been "disgraceful".
"What is the point of having independent scientific advice if as soon as you get some advice that you don't like, you sack the person who has given it to you?" he said.
Mr Huhne said if the government did not want to take expert scientific advice, it might as well have "a committee of tabloid newspaper editors to advise on drugs policy".
Similarly, Claudia Rubin from Release - a national centre of expertise on drugs and drugs law - said the expert should not have been penalised.
Cannabis reclassification
"It's a real shame and a real indictment of the government's refusal to take any proper advice on this subject," she said.
And Prof Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University and former chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said the government could not expect experts who serve on its independent committees not to voice their concern if the advice they give is rejected.
"I worry that the dismissal of Prof Nutt will discourage academic and clinical experts from offering their knowledge and time to help the government in the future," he said.
( Isn't it comforting to know that 'shooting the messenger' is an international effort : ditto not letting facts interfere with administration and policy. )
The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana
The banana appears almost purpose-designed for efficient human consumption and distribution. It is difficult to conceive of a more fortuitous fruit.The banana is a freakish and fragile genetic mutant; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained application of selective breeding by diligent humans. Indeed, the “miraculous” banana is far from being a no-strings-attached gift from nature. Its cheerful appearance hides a fatal flaw— one that threatens its proud place in the grocery basket. The banana’s problem can be summed up in a single word: sex.
The banana plant is a hybrid, originating from the mismatched pairing of two South Asian wild plant species: Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Between these two products of nature, the former produces unpalatable fruit flesh, and the latter is far too seedy for enjoyable consumption. Nonetheless, these closely related plants occasionally cross-pollinate and spawn seedlings which grow into sterile, half-breed banana plants. Some ten thousand years ago, early human experimenters noted that some of these hybridized Musa bore unexpectedly tasty, seedless fruit with an unheard-of yellowness and inexplicably amusing shape. They also proved an excellent source of carbohydrates and other important nutrients.
Stuck with the clunky, inefficient cloning of asexual reproduction, the sterile banana is at a serious disadvantage in the never-ending biological arms race between plant and pest. Indeed, it is a well-established fact that bananas are particularly prone to crop-consuming insects and diseases. A severe outbreak of banana disease could easily spread through the genetically uniform plantations, devastating economies and depriving our fruitbowls. Varieties grown for local consumption would also suffer, potentially causing mass starvation in tropical regions.
Banana bunches in protective isolation.This scenario may seem preposterous, but researchers all over the world are earnestly exploring the possibility. The custodians of the beloved banana are all too aware of the potential for a banana apocalypse— because it has already happened in the fruit’s past. And the next time could be much worse.There is no obvious back-up variety waiting in the wings. So far, banana science has provided scant few approaches for improving disease resistance. One method involves the traditional techniques of selective breeding: although banana plants are clones, very occasionally they can be persuaded to produce seeds through a painstaking process of hand pollination. Only one fruit in three hundred will produce a seed, and of these seeds only one in three will have the correct chromosomal configuration to allow germination. The seeds are laboriously extracted by straining tons of mashed fruit through fine meshes. Research stations in commercial banana growing countries, such as Honduras, engage large squads of banana sex workers for such tasks, and to screen the new plant varieties for favourable characteristics.
Another fruit subject to such human-assisted reproduction is the ubiquitous navel orange. It, too, was the result of a serendipitous mutation, this one from an orange tree in Brazil in the mid-1800s. Each orange on this particular tree was found to have a tiny, underdeveloped twin sharing its skin, causing a navel-like formation opposite the stem. These strange siamese citruses were much sweeter than the fruit of their parent trees, and delightfully seedless. Since the new tree was unable to reproduce naturally, caretakers amputated some of its limbs and grafted them onto other citrus trees to produce more of the desirable fruit. Even today navel oranges are produced through such botanical surgery, and all of the navel oranges everywhere are direct descendants—essentially genetic clones—of those from that original tree.
WebMD
Infections Now Resistant to Old Antibiotic
An old antibiotic, largely abandoned after causing kidney ailments some 50 years ago, has become the treatment of last resort for some drug-resistant infections. But now there are signs that bacteria are developing resistance to this antibiotic, called polymyxin B, as well.Polymyxin B is active against a variety of bacteria that cause respiratory and urinary tract infections.
CNet News - Green Tech
Researchers ask how best to engineer the planet
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--A group of academics on Friday considered the ultimate engineering challenge: building machines to stabilize the earth's climate.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology convened a symposium here to discuss the potential benefits and pitfalls of geoengineering, also called climate engineering. Everything from shooting light-blocking particles into the atmosphere to "artificial trees" is being seriously studied, despite trepidation among researchers and opposition from others.
Still, speakers at the event said it's time to step up research in geoengineering to sort out which approaches are worth serious consideration. But they cautioned against expecting easy fixes or abandoning efforts to ratchet down the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
"At this point the fear is that if we talk about this, people will stop cutting emissions, which is a rational fear. But the idea that we shouldn't have a research program would be a real mistake," said David Keith, the director of the ISEEE Energy and Environmental Systems Group at the University of Calgary during his talk the symposium, which was called Engineering a Cooler Planet.
Speakers said each climate engineering approach needs to be viewed with an associated cost and risk. For example, one relatively inexpensive idea is to shoot particles, called aerosols, into the air in order to block the amount of heat from the sun that reaches the earth's surface.
The cooling effect from aerosols, such as sulfur dioxide, in the atmosphere is rapid--measured in days or years. But they also impact the planet's water cycle. Early models show that large-scale efforts to inject aerosols in the atmosphere would likely make certain areas drier and affect the monsoons in India and Asia, said Joyce Penner, a professor of atmosopheric sciences at the University of Michigan.
Even with the risks and uncertainties of climate engineering, speakers said that there is risk with the so-called business-as-usual scenario where the concentration of greenhouse emissions continues to increase at its current pace.
These heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are forecast to raise average global temperatures, speakers said. But there are a number of regional impacts from global warming, which will likely spur more research in planet-level engineering, said Thomas Karl, the director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
For example, higher temperatures directly affect water and agriculture. The productivity and ability to reproduce of common crops goes down after certain temperature levels, Karl noted. Pests have a longer time to populate and weeds grow better with more carbon dioxide, too, he said. The west of the U.S. is already feeling the impact of droughts, which will continue if mountain snowpack decreases.
"It's an important choice to make even if we don't do a thing--that's a choice itself," said Karl. "The consequences of not studying this are enormous--understanding the physical, ecosystem, and societal impacts."
'Iceman of Ladakh' Helps Mankind In Fight Against Glacial Melting
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/iceman-of-ladakh-helps-mankind-in
Chewang is going great guns in creating glaciers (by now he has already created 12) and is all set to create five more. The only fear is that he is already 76 and may not be able to cope up for many more years against his age. That is why he is creating CDs for training purposes so that more Icemen can be created by passing the knowledge.
( In Water - Wealth and Power is a note about International Rivers. They have a PDF on Dam Building in the Himalayas which serves to worsen matters. )
World's leading protector of the oceans? President Bush
The environmental legacy of the Bush administration is a matter of some dispute but by designating three more marine monuments in the Pacific today, George W. Bush has entered the annals of history as the protector of 335,000 square miles of ocean. In fact, environmentalists and Bush himself likened the action to President Theodore Roosevelt's creation of the national parks more than a century ago.
Pollution Trips Up Female Marathon RunnersOctober 30, 2009 -- Female marathon runners take heed: If you want to run your best race, you'd be advised to look at pollution levels before you choose your course.
Higher levels of coarse particle pollution appear to slow marathon times for women, according to research presented today by Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech.
Marr and colleague Matthew Ely of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine considered marathon times in seven cities -- Boston, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Duluth, Minn. -- over the years 1980 to 2007.
They calculated how much slower the average of the top three finishers' times was compared to the course record. The researchers then weighed those times against levels of several pollutants on the day of the marathon.
Discovery Channel
Superstitious Beliefs Cemented Before Birth
The propensity to believe in paranormal phenomena and superstitions appears to arise in the womb, suggests new research.
The findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, further indicate that a reduced ability for analytical thinking may correspond with increased intuitive thinking, which has been associated with a belief in extrasensory perception (ESP), ghosts, telepathy and other paranormal phenomena.Author Martin Voracek claims his new study's determinations "suggest (there are) biologically based, prenatally programmed influences on paranormal and superstitious beliefs."
"Or, paraphrasing the probably best-known slogan from the defining X-Files television series: It may well be that some of the truth is in the womb, rather than out there," added Voracek, a University of Vienna psychologist.
Scientific American
TED MED: The Power of the Mind over the Body
TED MED[www.tedmed.com] wrapped up with compelling personal stories that celebrated the power of the human mind to help the body endure or to reach physical achievements. The sold-out meeting in San Diego, held for the first time in five years, had during the past four days covered a spectrum of themes, including research on engineering life to create cures and regenerative medicine, the need to collect information about a patient’s environment, the personalization of healthcare, the quest to slow aging, and technologies, such as robots, to make it more practical for the elderly to extend their years at home.
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