Cover of Sicko (Special Edition)US envoy Bill Richardson warns of Korea tinderbox
North Korea has warned it will launch "unpredictable self-defensive strikes" if the drill goes ahead on the island of Yeonpyeong, which lies close to the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border.But the South insists the one-day exercises will be held some time between Saturday and Tuesday.
Local news reports say they are likely to take place on Monday or Tuesday, when the weather is expected to be better.
Haiti cholera investigation announced by United Nations
The United Nations has set up an independent panel to investigate the source of cholera in Haiti.
The move comes after accusations that UN peacekeepers from South Asia introduced the disease to the poverty-stricken country.The UN has previously denied any connection.
In November, the US Center for Disease Control found that the cholera strain in Haiti most closely resembled a South Asian strain.
A leaked study by epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux on behalf of the French and Haitian governments also suggested the strain had been imported from South Asia.
Sources who saw the report said it had evidence the outbreak was caused by river contamination by Nepalese troops.
The UN has said that health officials now estimated that 650,000 people in Haiti could become infected with cholera over the next six months.
Nearly 100,000 people in the country have already contracted the disease.
Image by tehf0x via FlickrWhy Is Medicaid So Important To Texas Seniors?
50% of all seniors in nursing homes are there on Medicaid.
Good Magazine
Google's New "Body Browser"What to Do When the Government Takes Away Your Lightbulbs
Transparency: Which Korea Has the Bigger Army?
WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting 'mythical' healthcare system
Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.
( There was a flood of similar stories suggested by Zemanta )
¡Viva WikiLeaks! SiCKO Was Not Banned in Cuba
Image via Wikipedia
Former health insurance executive Wendell Potter recently revealed that the insurance industry -- which had decided to spend millions to go after me and, if necessary, "push Michael Moore off a cliff" -- had begun working with anti-Castro Cubans in Miami in order to have them speak out and smear my film. 
So, on January 31, 2008, a State Department official stationed in Havana took a made up story and sent it back to his HQ in Washington. Here's what they came up with:
XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that Cuban authorities have banned Michael Moore's documentary, "Sicko," as being subversive. Although the film's intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, he said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.Sounds convincing, eh?! There's only one problem -- the entire nation of Cuba was shown the film on national television on April 25, 2008! The Cubans embraced the film so much so it became one of those rare American movies that received a theatrical distribution in Cuba. I personally ensured that a 35mm print got to the Film Institute in Havana. Screenings of 'Sicko' were set up in towns all across the country. In Havana, 'Sicko' screened at the famed Yara Theater.
Image via WikipediaCuba Documentation Project Freed on bail – but US steps up efforts to charge Assange with conspiracy
US authorities have stepped up their efforts to prosecute Julian Assange by offering Bradley Manning*, the American soldier allegedly responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of government documents, the possibility of a plea bargain if he names the Wiki-Leaks founder as a fellow conspirator.
*The Torture of Bradley Manning
One peculiar outcome of the new clampdown on whistleblowers is the spectacle of Americans cheering on the destruction of their own rights, as in the case of avowed tough guys commenting in blogs that people like Bradley Manning "did the crime and now does the time," deserves no sympathy, and merits the clear torture he is now undergoing. The tough consistently miss the point that Manning has been convicted of nothing, and that the treatment he is undergoing has become the new norm in the case of high profile cases purportedly involving national security.The peerless Glenn Greenwald in this case gets it wrong when he says Manning's treatment is "possibly" torture. Isolation is torture, and has been proven to be so. Hardened prisoners have said they would take almost any other punishment for misbehavior over isolation, and its effects on the mind and the spirit.
Scientists Critical of Argument for GM Crops
Yield has clearly not been increased by genetic modification. While corn and soybeans—the two food crops that have been genetically modified—did have a rise in yield in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, it was largely not as a result of GE traits but rather of successes in traditional breeding and other agricultural technologies.
Why GMO Foods Have Failed at Producing Healthy Food for More People
ONE REPORT- TWO HEADLINES
How does one scientific report generate two entirely contradictory stories and headlines? This is a perfect example of how information on climate change is filtered by the newsmedia and distorted to fit the politics and worldview of their readers.
Citizen of Science
With the use of recycled and second-hand items I hope that individuals and teachers will use this blog to bring back the joys of doing science.
Our Natural Life
Provocative discussions about leading a holistic, sustainable, and healthy life 
Image by WanderingtheWorld (www.LostManProject.com) via Flickr
File:Gmo acreage world 2008.PNG
DIY Bio4Beginners
Letters
Synthetic Biology, DIYbio, Creative Commons, Rapid Prototyping, and other Fun Stuff
Wit's End
Insidious Soup - Global Dimming
A Bright Shiny Tin Foil Hat Just in Time for the Holidays!! - Gasland
( Shots of dying trees. I put in a note to check the links in 'Water - Wealth & Power' in the Topical Index here )
Gasland
Palin Perturbations
( You may not have noticed my thoughts on Palin link her 'religious' associates to witch burnings in Kenya - a result of 'evangelical outreach'. People like this make it rough on anyone who thinks of their Christian upbringing which taught respect for others - Ecumenacism. Not that universal approval of that is apparent! )
Ohhh....BAMA!!!
A brand new form of profanity.
"The delayed smog rule would lower the allowable concentration of airborne ozone to 60 to 70 parts per billion from the current level of 75 parts per billion, putting several hundred cities in violation of air pollution standards. The agency says that the new rule would save thousands of lives per year but cost businesses and municipalities as much as $90 billion annually."
reductions to agricultural yield and declining forests from exposure to ozone
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