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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

6 November - News Picks

Meanwhile in Halifax pre-emptive bombing of Iran is on the table

And not just their nuclear site, but pre-emptive bombing of their navy, their air force, their army.

Political leaders and security and defence officials and generals are in Halifax from November 5 to 7 for the second Halifax International Security Forum, presented by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and hosted by Airshow MacKay. 


GOP senator: Consider neutering Iran's 'ability to wage war'

( The apparent IQ in comments is about 68, I would suggest )
The top-secret minutes, now declassified, make for a gripping, terrifying read.
Here they are, the top policymakers, meeting behind closed doors to discuss what to do about the worsening situation in Afghanistan. There is disagreement, born of frustration—the whole enterprise has become incredibly costly; it is dragging on, and unsavory compromises increasingly seem inevitable.
Reading these minutes but blotting out the names and the dates, you might think you are reading Bob Woodward’s recent book, Obama’s Wars. But these documents detail a debate among another “innermost” circle—the Soviet Politburo debating the faltering policy in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
The only real difference between the Kremlin documents and the contemporary U.S. policy debate is that we know how the first debacle ended.

New $600B Fed Stimulus Fuels Fears of US Currency War

The money isn’t going into the American economy. The lending is actually below what it was in 2007. In a globalized economy, the money is looking for the best place to go. And where is it finding it? In the emerging markets. So, the irony is that money that was intended to rekindle the American economy is causing havoc all over the world. Those elsewhere in the world say, what the United States is trying to do is the twenty-first century version of "beggar thy neighbor" policies that were part of the Great Depression: you strengthen yourself by hurting the others. You can’t do protectionism in the old version of raising tariffs, but what you can do is lower your exchange rate, and that’s what low interest rates are trying to do, weaken the dollar. The flood of liquidity abroad is trying to push the exchange rates abroad. 



Justice for Sale? Right-Wing Groups Fund Successful Campaign to Oust Iowa Judges Who Legalized Same-Sex Marriage


Sisters in Spirit shut down

They must apply to Status of Women for less money under new rules which will prohibit them from continuing to use the name Sisters in Spirit, or maintaining and extending their research database of nearly 600 missing aboriginal women, or lobbying government.
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9 Good Sources of Disease-Fighter Vitamin D

Insufficient vitamin D, in fact, is associated with a higher incidence of chronic and life-threatening conditions such as various cancers, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cognitive decline. Healthy amounts can impede inflammation, a component of many illnesses, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Yemen: The Backstory


The county is desperate for assistance in sustainable economic development. The vast majority of U.S. aid, however, has been military. The limited economic assistance made available has been of dubious effectiveness and has largely gone through corrupt government channels.
With the United States threatening more direct military intervention in Yemen to root out al-Qaeda, the Yemeni government’s crackdown may be less a matter of hoping for something in return for its cooperation than a fear of what may happen if it does not. The Yemeni government is in a difficult bind, however. If it doesn’t break up the terrorist cells, the likely U.S. military intervention would probably result in a greatly expanded armed resistance. If the government casts too wide a net, however, it risks tribal rebellion and other civil unrest for what will be seen as unjustifiable repression at the behest of a Western power. Either way, it would likely increase support for extremist elements, which both the U.S. and Yemeni governments want destroyed.
( Um.  The U.S. may declare it wants them destroyed. Proof of that intent is scarce indeed.  Helping the Yemeni government to self-destruct is equally plausible given past experience. )


How to Vote for Muslims

That's what it is. A 'How To' targeted at Muslims )


Russian journalist in dire condition after attack

Chief Patent Judge Feigns Ignorance Of How Often Patents Are Used To Hinder Innovation

 It's a situation where a bunch of folks are successfully building things independently, and then suddenly someone knocks on their door, doesn't add any value to what's been done, but claims a right to money. That's the situation that happens all the time in the tech industry today.

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