Abortion

Avedon Carol over at The Sideshow is grumpy about the timidity with which liberals handle the abortion debate:

I guess I'm really old or something, but I frankly don't understand why so many people seem so nervous about the idea that we might not be using the "right" language to talk about a subject that most people are in agreement on, anyway. In real life, there really aren't that many people who need convincing that Roe v. Wade was the right thing. The number of people who want it overturned are really not a very big minority, and I want to know why I should let these misogynists determine my language anyway when the fact is that no matter what I say they aren't going to suddenly come around to realizing what the rest of us already know.

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Posted 12:33 PM by Martin Wisse

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The permanent state of emergency

Is the subject of this Law and Disorder post:

This is important. Whilst the systematic exclusion of certain persons from the legal system is never something to be taken widely, an increase in its scope is of course worrying. It represents the increasingly overt politicisation of the law, and a continued disintegration of the legal form.

Of course, when one rationally examines the situation there really is no state of emergency to speak of. One wonders just how much threat there truly is from terrorism. Even those 'big' attacks that do succeed in reality kill very few people. If one was to judge states of emergencies from deaths surely the most pressing state of emergency is caused by the impersonal violence of global capitalism, which kills untold numbers of people every day.

But if we have reached an 'emergency', the one wonders when it will ever end. If this is an emergency, then for the foreseeable future we will surely be living through an emergency.

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Posted 8:42 AM by Martin Wisse

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Retirement and the cluelessness of the Washington media

Is the theme of this Archy post

Media watching bloggers often point out how culturally detached the Washington media is from the rest of the country. This is not just a problem of political writers in the capitol. Most writers for the top ranked media, whether they are in Washington, New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles, belong to a single tiny class. They have arrived in the professional upper- middle class. Most people they work with and socialize with are in careers that they have chosen. Their jobs are interesting and rewarding. Whatever their background, they have either forgotten or never knew what life is like for people outside their clique.

This cluelessness was on display last summer when New York Times columnist John Tierney and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley both proposed raising the retirement age. Of course, they were both reading from the same GOP talking points, but their justifications for it were revealing. Neither one admitted to the possibility that work might be an unpleasant burden for some people. Many of us put a great deal of faith in the idea of a social contract that states, if we work hard and eat our vegetables someday we will be rewarded with the gift of full ownership of our time. We are mortgaging the most healthy and productive years of our lives to someone else for the promise of a few years of our own. Any attempt to move the payoff day further away from today and closer to our deaths is a complete and brutal betrayal of our good faith.

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Posted 10:42 PM by Martin Wisse

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Al-Jazeera has a new blog, Don't Bomb Us - A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers:

"Would you like to bomb us?"

Originally uploaded by aljazeerastaffer.

"These are the men and women who bring you the news at Al Jazeera. We have a diverse staff complement. Our people are made up of dozens of nationalities...

Come and have a look at who we are (here is our flickr photoset). We are not afraid of your threats - we are journalists. And there thousands like us around the world. You may be able to kill some of us - but you will never kill us all."

I'm listening to that unelected party hack Lord Goldsmith on the Today programme, being inteviewed by John Humphries about the leaked memo alleged to detailed Bush's plan to bomb Al-Jazeera -

Lord G: 'I wasn't intending to gag newspapers... Humphries: But you did. Lord G: I am acting in my independent role to protect the administration of justice.... to protect the law... editors should take legal advice'. Humphries: But isn't the Official Secrets Act to be used only in matters of national security? Lord G: Yes. Humphries: It's not being used to save embarassment of a politician then? Lord G: Nonsense.

I'll leave the morality of a US president ordering the bombing of independent journalists to the many blogs who discuss it in depth: suffice it to say that it's wrong. What's very interesting is the way the Blair government is behaving - proving its complicity in crime yet again in invoking the Official Secrets Act to cover up Bush's crimes.

Goldsmith knew damned well he was fooling no-one this morning, if the sheer lazy arrogance in his voice was any guide. His protestation that he was not acting politically rings hollow when one remembers that he's the first Attorney General to be a purely political appointee, chosen by Blair, rather than to have been picked from the ranks of sitting MP's.

After the recent revelations by former Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer, Tony and his closest cronies know that we all know exactly how whipped they are by the Rethugs in Washington, all because of Blair's original decision to capitulate to the PNACers. Blair has entwined his administration so closely with Bush's, in so many ways, he can't extricate himself now. Hence the lack of even minimal dissembling this morning, that sense of Goldsmith just going through the motions, knowing the game is up.

Go Boris, Go!

Which brings me to Boris Johnson, who couldn't just go through the motions if he tried, judging by last night's performance on Have I Got News For You. (He'd have to actually know what the proper motions are first.) Boris was his usual plummy, daffy self, tail wagging like an overactive labrador puppy, hair irrationally blond and exuberant. In between indiscretions and gaffes he re-iterated the call he made on his blog and in his leader in the Telegraph, that he will spite the Official Secrets Act and publish the memo, if only someone will send it to him (and of course if Ian Hislop doesn't get it first).

Amusing as it is to see Boris ( and he really is rather a dear, despite being an adulterous Tory) playing the part of stout defender of press freedom, he's only doing something that every UK editor should have done the moment the Attorney General tried to gag this story. I can't exonerate him totally from the suspicion of grandstanding - come on, would Blair really attempt to send a sitting Opposition MP to jail? - think of the PR- but even with that caveat, what Boris Johnson has done is admirable compared to the utterly craven capitulation to Goldmsith's edict by the 'broadsheet' editors.

Let's not forget that this isn't just another nice juicy political scandal, ammunition to use against Bush & Blair. People are being extra-judicially murdered for just doing their jobs as journalists. All those people in that Al-Jazeera flickr album and writing on the blog and the unnamed and unpictured Al-J stringers all over the world risk their lives to report the facts. They all have homes and families and pets and lives and dreams and no-one has the right to take that away. As the FCC takes the view that we're all journalists now, bloggers should show their solidarity by republishing the memo as soon as it becomes available.

You may be able to kill some of us - but you will never kill us all."

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Posted 9:28 AM by Republic of Palau

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Torture is wrong

This amazing moral insight comes from Avedon Carol over at The Sideshow, who says that obvious as this is, there are an awful many people who just don't get this --and trying to convince them otherwise is useless:

You don't argue with these people on this subject. There's no point. And you have to remember that the things they believe - about the place of women, about the depravity of Bill Clinton's sex life, about gays and liberals - are just things they were told. It wasn't: "Don't you see that homosexuality is morally wrong?" It was: "Homosexuality is wrong." These people aren't moral reasoners, they're what happens when you let graffiti stay on a blank wall.

These people want to torture. They will accept any reasoning that justifies torture. They will reject your arguments against it. So don't waste your time.

Just say: "Torture is wrong." It's just that simple. Decent people understand this. No argument is necessary. You can embellish it with, "Torture is immoral," or "Only thugs torture," but intellectual persuasion is beside the point. If they don't understand that torture is wrong, they shouldn't be allowed out.

I would like to add that anybody who does try to debate why torture is wrong, and starts by poiting out it is pointless, has already lost half the battle. By debating the usefulness of torture you have already conceded that torture is morally justifiable. It is a sign of how morally wrong allowing torture is that its proponents have to come up with ridiculous scenarios about ticking a-bombs in the heart of New York City to even get people to consider torture may be needed sometimes; if you then debate them about these scenarios, they've won!

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Posted 8:52 AM by Martin Wisse

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Preznit Give Me Turkee

Happy Thanksgiving

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Posted 5:50 AM by Republic of Palau

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Jose Padilla

Remember Jose Padilla, the guy arrested in May 2002 for allegedly plotting to detonate a socalled "dirty bomb" somewhere in the US and who since his arrest has been rotting away in prison, without a charge? Well, he finally has been charged, but not with plotting to explode a dirty bomb. The charge instead reads that he conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas. TalkLeft discusses this change of heart:

How does Attorney General Gonzalez explain the administration’s change of heart? He claims the administration’s decision to hold Padilla for more than three years, first as a material witness and then as an uncharged “enemy combatant,” as well as the administration’s previous accusations of wrongdoing, are “legally irrelevant to the charges we’re bringing today.”

[...]

Perhaps Gonzalez intended the modifier “legally” to distinguish between facts that are relevant to the administration’s outrageous handling of Padilla’s case and facts that are relevant to the legal merit of the charges the Justice Department finally decided to bring. But keeping Padilla from having meaningful representation during the three-and-a-half years it took the government to build its case -- effectively preventing Padilla from preparing a defense -- seems highly relevant to whether Padilla can now have a fair trial. Courts rarely give defendants relief when the government delays in bringing an indictment, but defendants are rarely detained for years, with no meaningful access to counsel or the courts, while the government decides whether to indict. The government’s prior conduct may be highly relevant to this prosecution, as much as Gonzalez would like to pretend otherwise.

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Posted 9:44 AM by Martin Wisse

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Even A Stopped Clock...

Looks like Johann Hari agrees with Martin about Little Britain. Shame Hari is such a dick about everything else.

Johann Hari: Why I hate 'Little Britain' It is disturbing to me that this sadistic, unfunny piece of spite has captured the public imagination Published: 22 November 2005

Let me tell you a hilarious joke. The other day, I saw an incontinent old woman in a supermarket, and she pissed herself. OK, here's another. I saw a man get up out of his wheelchair, and he was so mentally disabled he just walked into a wall. Wait, I know this might kill you but there's one more. I saw a teenage single mum who was wearing a shell-suit and she was so thick she barely knew her own name. And she had three children. Did I mention she was thick? And fat? And spotty? Did I say she lived on benefits?

Welcome to the spleen-rupturing hilarity of Little Britain. This is a golden age of British TV comedy - The Thick of It, Chris Morris, Nighty Night, Ricky Gervais, Peep Show, Peter Kay, John Sullivan, David Renwick, Coronation Street - so it is disturbing to me that this sadistic, unfunny piece of spite has captured the public imagination. Little Britain has been a vehicle for two rich kids to make themselves into multimillionaires by mocking the weakest people in Britain. Their targets are almost invariably the easiest, cheapest groups to mock: the disabled, poor, elderly, gay or fat. In one fell swoop, they have demolished protections against mocking the weak that took decades to build up.

I'd have reproduced the whole thing but it's behind a pay-wall, and I don't usually pay for online content, particularly not for Hari. I really really hate agreeing with him, but Little Britain is just nasty now.

At first it was daringly hilarious, but as it's become more popular it's using a broader and broader brush and is now merely a pale echo of the Daily Sport cartoon pages - cruel, unfunny and catering to the smug self-satisfaction of the petty bourgeouisie. It's nothing but the comedy of contempt.

But never mind pissing on poor people, they're making millions from the merchandising - oh well, that's OK then:

£22M LITTLE BRITISH EMPIRE By Laurie Hanna

IT started out five years ago as a bunch of wacky characters on Radio 4, with only a few thousand fans tuning in.

But a switch to TV on BBC3 and then mainstream BBC2 has garnered surreal comedy Little Britain a huge army of devotees.

Now, creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams are laughing all the way to the bank as Little Britain becomes Big Money.

With homes, offices and playgrounds still echoing to the sound of "Yeah-but-no-but-yeah-but-no" and "I'm the only gay in the village!", Lucas, 31, and Walliams, 34, are set to join the ranks of our wealthiest entertainers, netting £11million each from their creation

Their nationwide tour, which kicked off on Monday, will earn them £5million each.

On the same day, they scooped Most Popular Comedy Programme at the National Television Awards.

Their third, and possibly final, series of Little Britain will arrive on BBC screens this winter, so with the end in sight, it's hardly surprising that the double act seem determined to milk the cash cow dry.

On top of a vast array of DVDs, scripts and books, the pair have sanctioned a range of talking dolls, talking mugs and talking key-rings as well as calendars, jigsaws, clocks and games.

Cannily, they've retained the merchandising rights, ensuring they reap even greater rewards.

But the Little British Empire doesn't stop there. Sales of the tour DVD will earn Lucas and Walliams £2million each and a tell-all biography will add another £700,000 to their bank balances.

THE talking dolls - including "chavette" Vicky Pollard, gay Daffyd and wheelchair-bound Andy and his carer Lou - will fill thousands of stockings this Christmas, at a cost of £20 each.

And last festive season they sold more than two million DVDs of the first series, alongside 130,000 copies of scripts from the same series.

While Lucas doesn't flaunt his newfound wealth - he lives quietly in North London with his long-term boyfriend - Walliams is a regular on the party scene, guzzling champagne and revelling in his extravagant lifestyle. He snapped up Oasis star Noel Gallagher's old pad, Supernova Heights - a £3million mansion in fashionable Primrose Hill, North-West London - and is often spotted cruising around in his vintage Mercedes.

Sorry, who is it that's the parasites on society again?

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Posted 2:32 PM by Republic of Palau

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Coffee -Down-Nose Links of the Day

The past couple of posts have been a bit depressing, so here's some links to cheer you up:

Crooks & Liars - Bush: Where's The Exit? (video, .wmp and QT)

Go Fug Yourself - 'cause people are just too damned fugly.

World O' Crap: Teen Charged With Having Sex With Dummy

Whitehouse.org: Vice President Cheney's Remarks Angrily Rebuking Democrats' Inexcusable Transformation into Treasonously Insolent Vertebrates

Something Awful: Your Butt Ain't Made For That!

Picture credit, http://whitehouse.org

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Posted 1:49 PM by Republic of Palau

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I was just listening to Alvin Hall's documentary on BBC Radio 4 . Hall is an African-American, native NO-nian, now working as a financial journalist for the BBC. He went back to talk to his family and friends, post-Katrina, and to hear the views of Black NO residents on the reconstruction ethnic cleansing effort. Hall is no liberal but was deeply shocked by the stories he heard. Definitely worth the 30 minutes of your time, listen here.

Then, serendipitously, Attaturk at Rising Hegemon spotted this:

USA Today has another story of just how large the death toll will certainly rise:

The whereabouts of 6,644 people reported missing after Hurricane Katrina have not been determined, raising the prospect that the death toll could be higher than the 1,306 recorded so far in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to two groups working with the federal government to account for victims.

Most of those who remain listed as unaccounted-for 12 weeks after the storm probably are alive and well, says Kym Pasqualini, chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing Adults. She says they are listed as missing because government record-keeping efforts haven't caught up with them in their new locations.

However, Pasqualini says those counting the victims are particularly concerned about an estimated 1,300 unaccounted-for people who lived in areas that were heavily damaged by Katrina, or who were disabled at the time the storm hit. The fact that authorities haven't been able to determine what happened to them suggests that the death toll from Katrina could climb significantly.

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Posted 1:19 PM by Republic of Palau

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Think Progress catches the US government in yet another blatant lie:

Exclusive: Classified Pentagon Document Described White Phosphorus As ‘Chemical Weapon’

To downplay the political impact of revelations that U.S. forces used deadly white phosphorus rounds against Iraqi insurgents in Falluja last year, Pentagon officials have insisted that phosphorus munitions are legal since they aren’t technically “chemical weapons.”

The media have helped them. For instance, the New York Times ran a piece today on the phosphorus controversy. On at least three occasions, the Times emphasizes that the phosphorus rounds are “incendiary muntions” that have been “incorrectly called chemical weapons.”

But the distinction is a minor one, and arguably political in nature. A formerly classified 1995 Pentagon intelligence document titled “Possible Use of Phosphorous Chemical” describes the use of white phosphorus by Saddam Hussein on Kurdish fighters:

IRAQ HAS POSSIBLY EMPLOYED PHOSPHOROUS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE KURDISH POPULATION IN AREAS ALONG THE IRAQI-TURKISH-IRANIAN BORDERS. […]

IN LATE FEBRUARY 1991, FOLLOWING THE COALITION FORCES’ OVERWHELMING VICTORY OVER IRAQ, KURDISH REBELS STEPPED UP THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST IRAQI FORCES IN NORTHERN IRAQ. DURING THE BRUTAL CRACKDOWN THAT FOLLOWED THE KURDISH UPRISING, IRAQI FORCES LOYAL TO PRESIDENT SADDAM ((HUSSEIN)) MAY HAVE POSSIBLY USED WHITE PHOSPHOROUS (WP) CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST KURDISH REBELS AND THE POPULACE IN ERBIL (GEOCOORD:3412N/04401E) (VICINITY OF IRANIAN BORDER) AND DOHUK (GEOCOORD:3652N/04301E) (VICINITY OF IRAQI BORDER) PROVINCES, IRAQ.

In other words, the Pentagon does refer to white phosphorus rounds as chemical weapons — at least if they’re used by our enemies.

The real point here goes beyond the Pentagon’s legalistic parsings. The use of white phosphorus against enemy fighters is a “terribly ill-conceived method,” demonstrating an Army interested “only in the immediate tactical gain and its felicitous shake and bake fun.” And the dishonest efforts by Bush administration officials to deny and downplay that use only further undermines U.S. credibility abroad.

To paraphrase President Bush, this isn’t a question about what is legal, it’s about what is right.

UPDATE: George Monbiot in The Guardian gives credit for this story where it's due:

Last night the blogger Gabriele Zamparini* found a declassified document from the US department of defence, dated April 1991, and titled "Possible use of phosphorus chemical". "During the brutal crackdown that followed the Kurdish uprising," it alleges, "Iraqi forces loyal to President Saddam may have possibly used white phosphorus (WP) chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels and the populace in Erbil ... and Dohuk provinces, Iraq. The WP chemical was delivered by artillery rounds and helicopter gunships ... These reports of possible WP chemical weapon attacks spread quickly ... hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled from these two areas." The Pentagon is in no doubt, in other words, that white phosphorus is an illegal chemical weapon.

*An Italian-born former law student, Gabriele Zamparini moved to the States in 1998 where he worked as an Italian teacher and freelance journalist.

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Posted 11:45 AM by Republic of Palau

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Nanas in Pyjamas

We haven't posted anything, as yet, about that ill-fated rethug endeavour Open SourcePyjamas Media. Watching a claque of provincial wannabe-journo fuckwits trying to position themselves as the right-wing opposition to the media corporations just isn't that interesting.

But then I found this comment by Richard Bennett at the Daily Pundit, which seems to sum up the whole enterprise nicely.

Ugly people need their own version of Huffington Post so I wish them well, but it's not looking too good so far.

For readers who have no idea what I'm wittering on about, here's the potted history of Pyamas Media from the IT industry analysts at Threadwatch:

It's hard to imagine a worse entry into the blogosphere than those idiots at pyjamas media (now, but hopefully soon to change, open source media) have pulled. How can you be so utterly clueless -- who did their research, who's in charge of PR, who gives a flying fuck? Other than it's amusement value, which is probably the best thing they'll ever produce, what good is a bunch of old farts demonstrating that they dont get it to the internet at large?

Astonishing stuff.

I've been avoiding this story a little bit, as it really didnt interest me very much when it first started to break. But over time, it just gets worse, and worse, and worse.

One clumsy, foot in mouth blunder after another -- really, you'd have to work damn hard to plan something like this.

Here's the VERY short version:

• A bunch of old journo types form to start a blog network
• The call themselves "pyjamas media" as a working title
• The get $3M in funding (bubble bubble, Dana explains that best)
• They rename as "open source media", yeh yeh, all very good untill...
• The clueless fuckwits realize they've stolen the name of a very well respected (in blogging terms) media firm
• Then, not content to stop their, in response, they piss off every blogger on the net by belittling the medium and trivalizing their theft

Way to go dumbarses...

Way to go indeed. And heh.

Whenever the mainstream media take 'wry' look at the 'blogging phenomenon' it's always the loudest blogs they go to, which means idiots, and usually rightwing white male idiots, just like those who've bought into the whole PJ pyramid-selling scheme.

As someone who's been blogging since 2001 ( and Martin for longer) I'm sick and tired of being misrpresented by late-to-the-game twats like these. Call me an unreconstructed lefty, but I still cling to the ideal of blogging as samizdat.

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Posted 11:00 AM by Republic of Palau

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Not-So-Great Danes

From that excellent compendium of media gosip and all you wanted to know about the ad industry, Ad-World :

It's election time again in Denmark, this time for the local major and city elections, and as usual the election posters scattered all over town have to be messed with. During the last government election an artist on Nørrebro painted almost every poster in his neighbourhood so that they became colourful portraits, works of street art, instead of the usual smiling politicians. This time someone decided to unveil a particular politicians past.

Louise Frevert, best known for her dumbass comments a few weeks ago where she suggested that all muslims in Denmark should be placed in Russian prisons, has a past as a belly dancer and "erotic model". That's right, she was a porn star in the seventies. Someone thought that all the voters should know this, and defaced almost every one of her posters in Copenhagen, replacing her posed politician portrait with her decidedly raunchier porn poses from the past. Louise was of course, not amused - but man on the street says it won't change their opinion of her. She can't "drop any further below the freezing point" as a poll in Politiken.dk revealed. Her blast from the past can be seen here not safe for work link, unless you work in a porn shop.

Yes... but what does the woman in the street think? And, no matter how reprehensible her racist political views are, what relevance does Frevert's sexual history have to her policy positions now? If, for example, she's suggesting a crackdown on porn, then she 'd be a hypocrite and deserving of that particular type of attack. If it's just common or garden racism, what relevance has her sexual history? Unless of course the porn was of the interrracial kind, in which case the previous also applies. Or is this another example of a woman's gender and sexual history being the weapon of choice against her, as though evidence of supposed sexual laxity trumps all other considerations? 'She's a slag, therefore she's not entitled to an opinion'. That bothers me as a feminist. Yesterday I was arguing that DOS attacks on rightwing hate sites could be a valid tactic, on the grounds that the right would not hesitate over some obscure moral scruple about cultural vandalism to use any means in its power to gain political advantage, (Viz the whole Swiftboat thing) and that the left needs to grow some spine. That's how the right defeats the left effortlessly every time, by using our own ethics against us. So fuck her, she does not deserve my sisterly sympathy.

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Posted 11:00 AM by Republic of Palau

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On the Road to Gilead

The blogger known as D r i f t g l a s s on fundie interference in the science of the morning-after pill by the religious-bigot-controlled Food and Drug Administration :

Congratulations again, Moderates! I hope all of you that voted this Christopath junta into power are very happy.

And Mrs. Moderate Republican, remember that when that man of yours get his Wahabi Wang anywhere near you, he thinks of you as his property. His chattle. A Petri dish for breeding his whelplings...so why are you OK with that?

And little Moderate Republican Jimmy and Susie, remember that Daddy wants you raised up full of fear and ignorance and unable to compete in the 21st century...because Jesus wants you that way.

Well, he wants you reared that way, Jimmy. Unfortunately Susie, Daddy doesn't think of you as fully human at all, but I'm sure he'll arrange for a nice "marriage" for you to a kindly owner who will never beat you on a whim, but only beat you when you disobey and forget your place.

After all, if this is not the future Hubby and Daddy dreams of, why in the fuck does he keep voting for it?

Why so angry, Drifty?

Well, this from the FDA, on their decision making process regarding Plan B, the post-coital contraceptive that prevents the implantation of fertilised eggs, might be part of it:

"The FDA’s drug center, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research or CDER, completed its review of this application, as amended, and has concluded that the available scientific data are sufficient to support the safe use of Plan B as an over the counter product, but only for women who are 17 years of age and older.

What we are saying today is that the Agency is unable at this time to reach a decision on the approvability of the application because of these unresolved regulatory and policy issues that relate to the application we were asked to evaluate.

[...]

We are beginning a process that will address the regulatory questions today, but we believe we can only decide these issues in an open, public process.

Through this process, all interested parties can weigh in on the questions of whether a drug may be both prescription and over the counter based on uses by different subpopulations and whether the prescription and over the counter versions of the drug may be marketed in a single package.

[...]

Today I am making the commitment that we will work with our stakeholders to make sure that this process is expeditious and thorough.

So who are these stakeholders they're so desperate to run US policy past for approval? Step forward(yet again) the fundies:

In August, the FDA said it was considering the over-the-counter sale of Plan B to women over 17. Then, in what critics say is a response to pressure from the Bush administration, the agency said it would launch a period of "public comment" on the drug that could delay its approval indefinitely.

The announcement infuriated activists such as Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the Washington-based National Women's Health Network, who called it "denial couched in the bureaucratic language of delay."

Before making the announcement, FDA officials alleged that girls under 16 would engage in riskier sex if they could obtain get the drug. Studies, however, show no increase in pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases when women have access to emergency contraception.

A similar struggle surrounds a newly-developed vaccine for cervical cancer. Pharmaceutical company Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., plans to ask the FDA to approve the vaccine for sale before the end of the year, according to the Washington Post.

But some conservative groups argue its release will condone premarital sex. In a retort to them, Congresswoman Lois Capps, D-Calif., circulated a letter to her colleagues this week urging them to overlook "ideological agendas" while reviewing public input about the vaccine.

The battle for access to Plan B goes beyond state laws and the FDA and extends to policymaking by pharmacies and hospitals.

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the U.S., does not carry emergency contraception in any state, even those with collaborative practice agreements. Chains including Rite-Aid and Winn-Dixie allow their pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception.

More

We can add Target to that list now too. John Aravosis at AmericaBlog has the whole story:

"Thursday, October 20, 2005

Target now saying "screw you" if their pharmacist doesn't want to fill your prescription because "you're a sinner" by John in DC - 10/20/2005 12:28:00 PM

Well, Target has given its answer to customers who are concerned that Target pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions simply because they think you're a sinner. Target's answer? Go Cheney yourself.

An AMERICAblog reader just sent me this email they received from Target. I've spoken with Planned Parenthood and the email is legit. Target's response to PPFA and to its customers is that they stand by their pharmacists - if the pharmacist thinks you're a sinner they don't have to fill your prescription and can send you elsewhere.

From: Target.Response Target.Response@target.com

Date: Oct 20, 2005 7:18 AM

Subject: Filling Prescriptions at Target

Dear Target Guest,

Target places a high priority on our role as a community pharmacy and our obligation to meet the needs of the patients we serve. We expect all our team members, including our pharmacists, to provide respectful service to our guests, particularly when it comes to their health care needs.

Like many other retailers, Target has a policy that ensures a guest's prescription for emergency contraception is filled, whether at Target or at a different pharmacy, in a timely and respectful manner. This policy meets the health care needs of our guests while respecting the diversity of our team members.

Your thoughts help us learn more about what our guests expect, so I'll be sure to share your feedback with our pharmacy executives.

Thanks for taking the time to share your questions, thoughts and comments. I hope we'll see you again soon at Target.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hanson, Target Executive Offices

Planned Parenthood has had other communications with Target. Target's policy is that the customer can go to hell if their pharmacist thinks you're a sinner. Target will let their pharmacist turn you away so that YOU have to go find another pharmacy, rather than their pharmacist getting another frigging job."

Late last October Dr. W. David Hager, a prominent obstetrician-gynecologist and Bush Administration appointee to the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), took to the pulpit as the featured speaker at a morning service. He stood in the campus chapel at Asbury College, a small evangelical Christian school nestled among picturesque horse farms in the small town of Wilmore in Kentucky's bluegrass region. Hager is an Asburian nabob; his elderly father is a past president of the college, and Hager himself currently sits on his alma mater's board of trustees. Even the school's administrative building, Hager Hall, bears the family name.

That day, a mostly friendly audience of 1,500 students and faculty packed into the seats in front of him. With the autumn sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows, Hager opened his Bible to the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel and looked out into the audience. "I want to share with you some information about how...God has called me to stand in the gap," he declared. "Not only for others, but regarding ethical and moral issues in our country."

For Hager, those moral and ethical issues all appear to revolve around sex: In both his medical practice and his advisory role at the FDA, his ardent evangelical piety anchors his staunch opposition to emergency contraception, abortion and premarital sex. Through his six books--which include such titles as Stress and the Woman's Body and As Jesus Cared for Women, self-help tomes that interweave syrupy Christian spirituality with paternalistic advice on women's health and relationships--he has established himself as a leading conservative Christian voice on women's health and sexuality.

(My emphasis)

Lots more on Hager here.

And for those who are thinking "Oh, those loony Yanks" it's not just them. We in Britain have our own fundy nutters (not to mention Opus Dei in government, and yes, I mean you, Ruth Kelly):

Pharmacist refuses morning-after-pill over religious beliefs 29 Nov 2004

A UK pharmacist has refused to sell the morning-after-pill to a woman customer, citing his Catholic beliefs.

The woman, a 24-year-old mother of two, said she was furious and had been forced to attend an NHS walk-in-clinic to obtain the pill.

"Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I don't want someone making a decision like this for me," she told the Daily Mirror. "It is available to buy so I had the right to buy it. It's irresponsible of the pharmacy not to have someone there who is able to serve it."

Kerrie Gooch reportedly plans to sue if she falls pregnant after the condom she and her long-term partner, aged 22, were using split. Ms Gooch went to Lloyds Pharmacy in Abbey Meads, Swindon, where the pharmacist refused to dispense the pill because of his views on contraception. She then had to attend an NHS clinic as there was no other pharmacist on hand at that time to dispense the pill.

Lloyds, which has 1,363 outlets nationwide, has defended its employee, pointing out that the industry's code of conduct states that he can refuse to dispense on religious grounds as long as he suggests an alternative pharmacist.

Andy Murdock, Lloyds' pharmacy director, said: "He objected on religious grounds, which he is fully within his rights to do. Another member of staff, and a supervisor, had lengthy discussions with Ms Gooch and partner. They were given advice as to alternative sources."

Please contact Lloyds Pharmacies and tell them what you think about their policy of allowing unproven superstitions to determine women's health. What's next? Jainists can refuse to dispense any medications because they might have been tested on animals? That would be an equally valid religious position. Or are Lloyds in the business of deciding whose religious views have validity and whose don't, now?

If you wish to write a letter use the address below:

Customer Services Officer

LLoyds Pharmacy Limited,

Sapphire Court,

Walsgrave Triangle, Coventry,

CV2 2TX

Lloyds is owned by Unichem, who also own Moss' pharmacies. They're also considering taking over Boots the Chemist and they will then have a massive monopoly over prescriptions and OTC medications in the UK, including contraception.

Feel free to contact them too: write to their Head Offices at the following addresses:

UniChem Ltd, UniChem House, Cox Lane, Chessington, Surrey. KT9 1SN

and

Alliance Pharmacies, Fern House, 53-55 High St Feltham, Middlesex TW13 1HU 0208 890 9333

Tel. 020 8391 2323, Fax. 020 8974 1707

You can contact Boots The Chemist here or write to:

Boots Group PLC 1 Thane Road Nottingham NG90 1BS

The main telephone number for all areas of Boots is: 0115 950 6111 Boots central Customer Service department can be contacted on: 0845 070 80 90

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Posted 2:22 PM by Republic of Palau

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No Comment Required

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Posted 1:26 PM by Republic of Palau

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The conspiracy to out Valerie Plame

Why isn't the media treating it as such, rather than as individual cases, is the question Digby asks:

I've been hearing all the television gasbags try to explain what impact this "bombshell" is going to have on Fitzgerald's case. Victoria Toensing is on CNN pushing the Libby line that Fitzgerald is inept because he didn't know about this Woodward conversation. (She's making very little sense because she doiesn't know what to make of this revelation and can't figure out quite how to play it.) But one thing seems obvious to me that nobody is mentioning. We know Libby leaked about Plame to reporters. We know Rove leaked about Plame to reporters. We now know that some other administration figure leaked to Woodward and another one (perhaps the same one) leaked to Novak. What is it going to take for the media to start calling this what it was --- a conspiracy?

I don't know if Fitz can prove such a thing. But common sense says that if a bunch of different White House sources are talking to the most powerful journalists in Washington about the same subject, it isn't just idle gossip. Woodward knew that. So did every other top reporter in town. They just preferred to pretend otherwise.

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Posted 12:01 PM by Martin Wisse

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Meanwhile, In Other News...

Athenae at First Draft:

The Final Rattle Rocks Its Empty Empty Cage

Posted by athenae on Wednesday, November 16 @ 10:55:49 EST (91 reads)

"Dead bodies being found by NOLA homeowners returning to the city.

You know, it's hard to imagine anything worse than coming back to your home in New Orleans and finding it completely destroyed. But, tonight, as you're about to hear, there is something worse, much worse. Dozens of families have returned to what is left of their homes and found, lying amidst the mold and the wreckage, a body, forgotten, abandoned. Maybe it's their mother or their grandmother, sometimes even their missing child.

The state called off searching house to house in New Orleans well over a month ago. They said they completed the job. SNIP There was no joy for Paul Murphy (ph) in this homecoming. When he walked into his house in New Orleans' Ninth Ward last month for the first time since Katrina, it was shock and anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I'm thinking that, OK, I was going to come and salvage a few pictures or something. And I walk in here. I found my grandma on the floor dead. "

I'm sure there's some way Ass Missile can spin this so that it's the families' fault. After all, if they really loved their relatives, they would have sprouted wings like one of the X-Men and flown in to NOLA and gotten their families out.

Or something. I'm trying here, but I'm really just shaking with rage. Many of the cameras may have left New Orleans. Most people I know seem to have moved on. The no-bid contracts and labor exploitation seems to be greeted as ho-hum, the usual in Bush's America.

But the reason NOLA turned into a national nightmare was that the stories were personal. The faces of the people who'd been promised help and didn't get it, they were real. Grandmothers and grandfathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, standing on an on-ramp with a sign: Please come save us, we're going to die. You saw the woman floating face-down in the river that had once been a city street, saw that she was wearing a patterned housedress like the one your mom used to wear.

That personal story? Those personal nightmares? Aren't over. And nobody has yet been held to any meaningful account. So spread the news far and wide: Somebody's grandmother was found dead today. It could have been mine. It could have been yours. Our government didn't just leave New Orleans' 9th Ward to rot. It left us all.

A.

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Posted 11:51 AM by Republic of Palau

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Charles Clarke urged police to lobby

Via the Daily Telegraph comes the news that the British Home Secretary Charles Clarke urged police chief constables to lobby members of parliament to vote for his anti-terrorism proposals, including the controversial and rejected proposal to lock up subjects without trial for ninety days.

The Exile explains why this is going to hurt Labour badly:

This one is just going to backfire, and what is left of Labour's membership are going to be outraged. It is not all that long ago that Labour canvassers were getting harrassed in some areas by the police. The industrial wing of the movement has a whole catalogue of instances where the police have acted as an escort agency for scabs, and ordinary people will be able to chip in with tales of kids harrassed, fathers picked up on spurious charges and homes left wrecked as the police conduct their "search for evidence". The police are not the friends of the Labour Movement and we all know that. At best they are a necessary evil, but one that we want kept well away from us.

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Posted 9:50 AM by Martin Wisse

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Inherit The Stupid

Kansas State Board Votes to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Kansas State Board of Education approved a proposal to teach intelligent design along with evolution as a scientific explanation of how life began.

The board voted 6 to 4 in favor of the guidelines, which say schools should teach

that doubt exists about the validity of evolution, a theory that originated with British biologist Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century.

The debate about teaching intelligent design, which says life is too complex to have happened through evolution, has led to a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania and the introduction of legislation in Michigan. President George W. Bush told a group of reporters visiting the White House on Aug. 1 that the theory should be taught alongside evolution, according to Knight Ridder.

Board Chairman Steve Abrams and members John Bacon, Kenneth Willard, Kathy Martin, Connie Morris and Iris Van Meter voted in favor of the guidelines, said Nicole Corcoran, a spokeswoman for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The issue was raised by these members amid an effort to overhaul the Kansas school system that began in February 2001.

HL Mencken, "THE MONKEY TRIAL": A Reporter's Account

"Darrow has lost this case. It was lost long before he came to Dayton. But it seems to me that he has nevertheless performed a great public service by fighting it to a finish and in a perfectly serious way. Let no one mistake it for comedy, farcical though it may be in all its details. It serves notice on the country that Neanderthal man is organizing in these forlorn backwaters of the land, led by a fanatic, rid of sense and devoid of conscience. Tennessee, challenging him too timorously and too late, now sees its courts converted into camp meetings and its Bill of Rights made a mock of by its sworn officers of the law. There are other States that had better look to their arsenals before the Hun is at their gates."

"The new standards say high school students must understand major evolutionary concepts. But they also declare that the basic Darwinian theory that all life had a common origin and that natural chemical processes created the building blocks of life have been challenged in recent years by fossil evidence and molecular biology.

In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena."

They did WHAT?

"..the board rewrote the definition of science."

Just like that. As you do.

But wait - all is not lost! The Hun is repelled! Pandas Thumb reports :

Just days after the close of testimony in the Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School Board case, the people got a chance to put in their two cents via school board elections, choosing between the incumbents with their “intelligent design policy”, or the contenders of the Dover CARES campaign. The results, courtesy of the York Dispatch:

----- Dover ----- B Reinking Dem. 2754 H Mc Ilvaine, Jr. Dem. 2677 B Rehm Dem. 2625 T Emig Dem. 2716 A Bonsell Rep. 2469 J Cashman Rep. 2526 S Leber Rep. 2584 E Rowand Rep. 2547 2-Year Term L Gurreri Dem. 2623 P Dapp Dem. 2670 J Mc Ilvaine Dem. 2658 E Riddle Rep. 2545 R Short Rep. 2544 S Harkins Rep. 2466 2-Year Unexp P Herman Dem. 2542 D Napierskie Rep. 2516 6 Out of 6 precincts

The Democratic slate contains the challengers to the current board members.

It should be noted that the incoming board members from the Dover CARES campaign have a platform plank saying that “intelligent design” will be taught in Dover public schools. However, the venue of such instruction will not be the science classrooms, where it was out-of-place, but rather an elective course on comparative religion, where it fits perfectly.

Yes, it was a clean sweep and the people of Pennsylvania said emphatically where they stand on the deliberate warping of science teaching by religious nutjobs.

It's not quite over yet, though. An appeal by Pa. parents against the Board's initial decision to teach so-called intelligent design is being heard now. This Panda's Thumb piece, “Waterloo In Dover: The Kitzmiller v. DASD Case” gives an account of the trial, and much background. From some of the quotes it doesn't look good for ID -

At close, Pat Gillen remarked to Judge Jones, “Your honor, by my reckoning we have been here 40 days. That seems an auspicious number.” Jones replied, “So it seems, but it was not designed!” At which point the courtroom burst out in applause.

But Kansas is just gone, sunk in the swamp of medieval know-nothingness, and no Clarence Darrow in sight.

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Posted 2:51 PM by Republic of Palau

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He's A Wanker: UPDATE

I love Pharyngula's commenters. Here's Samuel Crane, uncovering the wanker's real motivation for his stupidity . Not just a wanker, then, but a venal, devious and unintelligent one -

#47614:

Samuel Crane — 11/08 at 02:14 AM I managed to read all three paragraphs of the Mandlebrot post (see Dustin' and the s in his for lawsuit!

"So I propose to use the vehicle of the libel lawsuit against Wally and his friend as a means of discovery and exposition of larger political and sociological themes...."

But wait! In a comment on his own blog, he writes,

"Come January, I will need to support a family with a real wage. If I do not get the jobs that I have applied for, the results may be catastrophic to our financial well-being."

"Suing Wally is the best investment I can make at this point. It is that critical. My hand is forced and he has every reason to know it. Every day that goes by converts to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in lost wages and opportunities."

Egads. So on one hand, he intends to spend his (apparently copious) time to expose large themes! Aren't we all so lucky. And yet on the other hand he's fretting over "tens of thousands" of dollars.

Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about playing the family patriarch if, rather than using a court of law as an heuristic, he'd do us all a favor and disappear back into the lab and get some actual research done instead.

And apology: I wrote the last two posts without linking to the original blog on which all this asshattery occurred.

Mea culpa. mea maxissima culpa.

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Posted 2:08 PM by Republic of Palau

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He's A Wanker, He's A Wanker...

I do like a good takedown, and PZ Myers of Pharyngula does it beautifully. There's now a new word for 'wanker' in the blogthesaurus.

" Pissant of the Week

Paul Deignan.

This little pimple rather pompously trolled Bitch Ph.D., and one commenter ("Wally") sent an email to his advisors, and Dr B chopped out some of his comments and banned him. His response? He's trying to puzzle out Dr B's identity so he can reveal it and use it in his lawsuit against Wally.

That's right. Lawsuit. Over blogging.

The story is pretty damned stupid already, and Mr Deignan is looking like a whiny little wanker with an elevated sense of entitlement, but what really blows the story into a major league example of assholishness and hypocrisy are his dimbulb rationalizations for doing this:

1. To make an example out of miscreants. The internet should be a place where free speech is respected.

Whaaa…? Who is trying to silence his critics with a nuisance lawsuit and an attempt to intimidate by exposing a pseudonym here? He is no friend of free speech, obviously.

2. Because, I am a nice guy. I am allowing Wally one more opportunity to save himself and his friend a lot of grief. Ever been sued Wally? It goes on forever and it is no fun at all (except for me). And I'm going to enjoy spending a lot of money in attorney fees because I like lawyers.

He's also trying to extort Wally by threatening to sue Dr B:

Remember, if I sue you, I sue your friend. It's a twofer.

Nice guy, huh? I think a declaration that he enjoys harrassing people with lawsuits, and is also willing to lash out at people's friends to get them to obey his demands, pretty much closes the book on that claim. Oh, and one more example of Deignan's hypocrisy:

Apparently, this professor has nothing better to do with his time than to go on a witch hunt (and not a very smart one at that).

That's in the middle of a long post with sitemeter screenshots and obsessive nitpicking over comments…by Deignan. I guess Ph.D. candidates in Indiana have even more free time.

You know, for such a self-declared smart guy, you might think he'd realize that this kind of outrageous excess is going to attract links to his behavior, and Google is going to remember who Paul Deignan is. What's going to hurt his reputation isn't an email to an advisor or an edited comment on a weblog…it's his own ugly, petty response."

From Deignan's blog:

Wally and his friend are in a spot. They have both managed to cross two lines together. The first line was the commission of libel. They can make amends for that one. However, the second line was akin to crossing the Rubicon. Congratulations Wally, you're going to find yourself on the end of a lawsuit and there is damn near nothing that you can do about it short of a formal signed, admission of fault delivered to me on your department letterhead by FedEx by Monday. Realistically, I have no other option. We tried to warn you Wally, but you wouldn't listen.

Paul Deignan, this is especially for you:

The Wanker's Song

"My mother said that I never should

play with the naughty, rude girls in the wood.

Their giggling talk I could never understand,

and that's why I fell in love with my right hand.

And that's why... "

Paul Deignan Gender: male Industry: Education Occupation: PhD Candidate at Purdue University Contact Email My Web Page deignan@ada-vs.com (MSN) Location: Lafayette : Indiana : United States

"I'm a wanker, I'm a wanker. and it does me good like it bloody well should. I'm a wanker, I'm a wanker and I'm always pulling my pud'.

I was twenty-five years old before I was kissed, and then I found that I preferred a swift one off the wrist. It's cheap and convenient, you can't catch VD. It's available at any time and it's absolutely free. And that's why... (chorus)

Oh, Mrs Palm and your five lovely daughters, thank you for having me and being oh, so kind. I've got pains in my arms and my dong is growing shorter, My knees have turned to water, and I think I'm going blind. I've wanked over Italy, I've wanked over Spain. I've wanked in an omnibus, I've even had a wank in a train. I've used a badger and a melon and a cat, an inflatable Linda Lovelace, and a Davy Crockett hat. And that's why...

I'm a wanker, I'm a wanker. and it does me good like it bloody well should. I'm a wanker, I'm a wanker and I'm always pulling my pud'. [..] "

The Wanker's Song - Ivor Biggun & The Red-Nosed Burglars

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Posted 1:02 PM by Republic of Palau

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Why is France rioting?

Apostate Windbag attempts to answer this question:

It is true that this abandonment of the field allows fundamentalists to fill the void, just as a similar attitude by social democrats to their traditional (white) working class constituency opens the door to the far right, but it is not true, as not a few have been reporting, that the riots are a product of Islamist agents provocateurs. First of all, it should be noted that the rioters are not just 'beurs' - French verlan for Arabs - but also black youth. Secondly, to be sure, the riots are anger uncorked, but there is also an explicit political aspect to their actions: "We'll stop when Sarkozy steps down," said a Strasbourg rioter, according to the Guardian. Liberation's interviews with the youth published today show how 'encore et toujours' the anger reduces to Sarkozy. 'C'est nous qui allons passer Sarkozy au Kärcher, c'est l'erreur de sa carrière. [It is us who will Karcherise Sarkozy. He's made the error of his career.]' says one thirteen-year-old. Another pair declare quite perceptively that Sarko's provocation was simply to put 'l'insécurité', or crime, back on the agenda ahead of the 2007 presidential elections.

There is a line that runs through the recent strikes - economic, political and general - of France, Belgium and Italy, the movement against Agenda 2010 and vote for the Linkspartei in Germany, and the vote against the neo-liberal European Constitution in the Netherlands and France, and, yes, even the election of the socially conservative but fiscally semi-Keynesian PiS in Poland - and the French riots. This reaction to neo-liberalism is uneven. It cannot in all regions and at all times be called progressive - no one is celebrating these riots - and in parts (particularly in Poland) is incoherent, and can just as easily swing over to the far right or Islamists if the left does not take a lead, but it is nonetheless the inescapable product of years of rightist economic retrenchment combined with, in the case of the French riots, festering racism and exclusion.

All those who believe in a 'social Europe' must address this unrest. To turn Thatcher's commandment on its head - We have no alternative: we must not merely protect but expand Europe's social provision, or else the fires of Paris' suburbs will spread right across the continent, one day or another.

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Posted 12:25 PM by Martin Wisse

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US Atrocities in Fallujah : The Proof

Italian public news channel RAI 24 ran a documentary last night on the US use of white phosphorus and napalm on the citizens of Fallujah. In the investigative story, produced by Maurizio Torrealta, dramatic footage is shown revealing the effects of the bombardment on civilians, women and children, some of whom were surprised in their sleep.

The investigators broadcast documentary proof of the use in Iraq of a new napalm formula called MK77.

The MK-77 is a napalm canister munition. The MK77 familiy is an evolution of the incendiary bombs M-47 and M-74, used during the conflict in Korea and the war in Vietnam. Napalm is an incendiary mixture of benzene, gasoline and polystyrene. The Marine Corps dropped all of the approximately 500 MK-77s used in the Gulf War. They were delivered primarily by the AV-8 Harriers from relatively low altitudes. MK-77s were used to ignite the Iraqis oil-filled fire trenches, which were part of barriers constructed in southern Kuwait.

The use of the incendiary substance on civilians is forbidden by a 1980 UN treaty. The use of chemical weapons is forbidden by a treaty which the US signed in 1997.

"The CWC bans the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons by its signatories. It also requires the destruction of all chemical weapons and production facilities. The Convention provides the most extensive and intrusive verification regime of any arms control treaty, extending its coverage to not only governmental but also civilian facilities. The Convention also requires export controls and reporting requirements on chemicals that can be used as warfare agents and their precursors. The CWC establishes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to oversee the Convention's implementation."

Unfortunately the USA neglected to sign the part of the treaty that refers to the use of these chemicals, just like they didn't sign up for the ICC.

The use of white phosphorus violates the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. Incendiary agents such as napalm and phosphorus are 'not considered to be CW agents since they achieve their effect mainly through thermal energy - therefore the US did not sign. How very convenient.

Information Clearing House has very quickly made an English-language version of the video available here.

WARNING: very graphic, not worksafe.

This is what these weapons do when used against civilians.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency describes white phosphorus as either a yellow or colorless, volatile crystalline sold that darkens when exposed to light and ignites in air to form white fumes and greenish light. The website also states that white phosphorus is extremely toxic to humans.

Acute exposure to high levels in humans is has three stages: the first stage consists of gastrointestinal effects; the second stage is symptom-free and lasts about two days; the third stage consists of gastrointestinal effects, plus effects on the kidneys, liver and cardiovascular system. Chronic exposure results in necrosis of the jaw, termed “phossy jaw”. Dermal exposure to white phosphorus may result in severe burns, which are necrotic, yellowish, fluorescent under ultraviolet light and have a garlic-like odor.

According to another website, http://www.rmarlowe.freeserve.co.uk/chemicals_m-z.html, the effects of ingestion are extremely unpleasant. Symptoms begin with severe irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract, accompanied by sever vomiting and loss of mucosal surfaces of the stomach and intestine. The liver and kidneys will also be affected, leading to severe jaundice.

Death can follow after several days. The inhalation of gaseous or particulate as a result of processing is a more widespread problem. Inhalation can lead to osteomyelitis of the jaw bone (“phossy jaw”).

Severe burns can result if phosphorus comes into contact with the skin: white phosphorus burns in ambient temperature air, and continues to burn until entirely oxidised unless extinguished in water. And it sticks. People literally melt away. Some incendiary chemicals used by the US have an additional oxidising agent added, to burn longer.

The Pentagon flat-out denies that it uses incendiaries against civilians, just like it denies that it tortures. From Kos:

"More word games at the Pentagon. They've recently denied reports that they used napalm against troops in Iraq. Reporters have claimed they did and so to have Air Force pilots We napalmed both those bridge approaches said one.

Turns out the weapons used were "remarkably similar" to napalm, the firebombing agent used extensively during the Vietnam War. Those burning Vietnamese kids running from giant orange balls of fire in the classic pictures were being "napalmed." Highly controversial, it was banned by a United Nations convention in 1980 that the United States refused to sign. The U.S. did claim to have destroyed its napalm arsenal two years ago but here it is napalming Iraqi troops.

When is napalm not napalm? When you switch gasoline for for jet fuel apparently. The new not-napalm has the happy name of "Mark 77," which sounds more like the latest boy band than the latest firebombing agent. Marine spokesperson Col. Michael Daily explained the difference between the gasoline of napalm and jet fuel of Mark 77 in a recent email:

'This additive has significantly less of an impact on the environment.'

Nice to know the Pentagon is environmentally-senstive when it's roasting people alive. "

Much, much more on Falluja, chemical weapons and atrocities here.

Please link to the video. It's horrific, but the more links to this footage that there are, the less the Pentagon can deny it. And they will.

But let's not forget, THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO THIS. This is not friendly fire, or collateral damage, or rogue soldiers.

Edward Hammond, CounterPunch, February 7, 2003

'Top US military planners are preparing for the US to use incapacitating biochemical weapons in an invasion of Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed the plans in February 5th testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee. This is the first official US acknowledgement that it may use (bio)chemical weapons its crusade to rid other countries of such weapons. The Sunshine Project and other nonprofits have warned since late 2001 that the "War on Terrorism" may result the United States using prohibited biological and chemical armaments, thereby violating the same treaties it purports to defend. The US announcement creates grave concerns for the future of arms control agreements, particularly the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Rumsfeld stated that plans are being made for multiple applications, including use of gas or aerosols on unarmed Iraqi civilians, in caves, and on prisoners. Rumsfeld reiterated the confusing, typical US official language about so-called "non-lethal" biochemical weapons, which is at odds with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Rumsfeld described applications of a "riot agent" that clearly imply the complete incapacitation of victims, combatant and non-combatant, in armed conflict - a definition and usages that are at odds with the CWC. Rumsfeld acknowledged US ratification of the CWC but expressed "regret" about its restrictions, stating that the US has "tangled ourselves up so badly" on policy for use of incapacitating biochemical weapons. Rumsfeld indicated that - in his opinion - if President Bush signs a waiver of long-standing restrictions on US use of incapacitating chemicals, that the US will be able to legally field them in Iraq and elsewhere.'

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Posted 11:55 AM by Republic of Palau

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The Grauniad is excerpting former British Ambassador to the US Christopher Meyer's biography this week. Amidst the settling of personal scores with Blair et al (telling us nothing we didn't already know, other than a few personal cabinet foibles) there's this, which does tell us all we need to know about British complicity with the Bush crime family and the Saudi Bin Laden family. On 9/11, in Washington DC at the Embassy:

"John Major was due to head off to a meeting of the Carlyle Group, one of the most powerful private equity firms in the US, whose European arm he chaired.

Catherine urged him not to go downtown, but he did. He returned at lunch to say there had been a brief meeting of the Carlyle Group people, who had then gone their separate ways. "I met Mr Bin Laden this morning," he reported. This was, it transpired, one of Osama's many siblings, a major Carlyle investor.

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Posted 10:56 AM by Republic of Palau

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Interesting... Abramoff Probe Staffer Attacked

Someone is getting desperate.

From The Hill , via Talking Points Memo:

FBI called in on Hill

By Bob Cusack and Jackie Kucinich

The FBI and Capitol Police are investigating the vicious attack of a top Senate staffer at her home last week amid concerns that the assault might be related to her work on the Finance Committee.

Emilia DiSanto, chief investigator for committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), arrived at her suburban Virginia home after work Wednesday about 6:30 p.m. As she was unloading belongings from her car, a 6-foot-1-inch white man dressed in black struck her repeatedly with an unidentified object believed to be a baseball bat.

After she screamed to her family inside the house, the assailant fled. DiSanto was transported to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, where she was treated for significant upper-body injuries. Nine staples were needed to close her head wound.

[...]

Grassley is known for his aggressive oversight of the public and private sector. Over the past year, he has scrutinized healthcare fraud, organ-donation procedures used by hospitals, drug-safety matters and the use of nonprofit groups related to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Who's Jack Abramoff, you ask? Wikipedia's entry:

Abramoff is a central figure in a series of high-profile political scandals linked to the Republican Party. He is currently under investigation by grand juries in Washington, D.C., for his involvement in the Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal, and by a grand jury in Guam over a separate matter. He was indicted on August 11, 2005, by a third grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for bank fraud arising out of an unrelated business deal.

The investigations and indictments of Abramoff have taken on significant national importance because of the lobbyist' close political connections with leading national Republicans, including President of the United States George W. Bush, Congressional Republicans and various influential conservatives.

Congressman Tom DeLay, former Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, has called Abramoff one of his “closest and dearest friends.”

Ah, but there's more...

In September 2005 murder charges were brought against three men for the murder of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, the seller of the Sun Cruz Casino. Anthony Moscatiello, a former bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family and Anthony Ferrari were charged with murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. James Fiorillo, was charged with murder and conspiracy. Moscatiello had previously received $145,000 from Kidan through SunCruz for services that were allegedly never rendered. Ferrari had received $95,000 as payment for security services and further sums in casino chips.

Boulis had made his first fortune out of the 'Miami Subs' chain of sandwich shops. He then launched the SunCruz business which offered 'cruises to nowhere', taking passengers into international waters out of reach of the Florida state gambling laws. Florida state made several attempts to shut the business down, finally succeeding in 1999 when federal prosecutors charged Boulis with violating shipping laws over the ship's registration. Boulis agreed to pay a $1 million fine and sell the business.

Boulis alleged that the $23 million payment was never made. Boulis also alleged that Kidan had links to organized crime. [6] Kidan had hired Anthony Moscatiello as a business advisor despite a previous indictment as an associate of the Gambino crime family led by Mafia crime boss John Gotti. In February 2001, Boulis was shot to death five months later in what police called "a gang style hit". A suit brought by Boulis' estate alleges that Adam Kidan made three payments of $10,000 to Moscatiello immediately prior to the murder.[7]

[edit]

Political connections

The casinos were subsequently auctioned off to new management in a bankruptcy action brought by Foothill Capital. Foothill settled with Abramoff for an undisclosed sum and continue litigation against Kidan.

Press accounts have suggested that Abramoff used his political connections to gain support for the deal in Washington [8].

Tom DeLay, then House minority whip gave Boulis a flag that had flown over the capitol building. Abramoff brought his lead financier in the deal to a fund raiser for DeLay in Abramoff's box at FedEx Field.

Ohio Republican Representative Bob Ney promoted the Kidan/Abramoff in the House on several occasions. In March 2000, before the deal was closed, Ney accused the SunCruz management of cheating passengers. On October 26 2000, praised the change of ownership:

"While Mr. Kidan certainly has his hands full in his efforts to clean up SunCruz's reputation, his track record as a businessman and as a citizen lead me to believe that he will easily transform SunCruz from a questionable enterprise to an upstanding establishment that the gaming community can be proud of."

Ney has since accused Abramoff of duping him

Fraud, murder, corruption.... and all this slimetrail leading directly to the doors of Congress and the White House. I would love to know what exactly senior investigator DiSanto was working on.

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Posted 10:17 AM by Republic of Palau

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Comment of The Week ( So Far)

In a thread at Eschaton

"America washes its dirty linen in public."

Uh, not always. Sometimes the pillowcases get a light rinse, but the blood-stained sheets are quietly discarded. Lime Rickey | 11.07.05 - 11:48 am | #

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Posted 9:17 AM by Republic of Palau

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Der Spiegel: What's Wrong With Europe?

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Posted 2:48 PM by Republic of Palau

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Horses Bolting and Doors

Digby reports that

"President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe."

Here

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Posted 2:19 PM by Republic of Palau

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Torture Audit Trail Leads right back To Cheney

Why is this not above the fold page 1 news in every newspaper in the US and UK?

Another Thunderbolt from Wilkerson

By Dan Froomkin, Special to washingtonpost.com

Friday, November 4, 2005; 12:45 PM

Another shocking accusation by former administration insider Lawrence Wilkerson appears to be going under the media radar today.

On NPR yesterday, the former chief of staff to the secretary of state said that he had uncovered a "visible audit trail" tracing the practice of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers directly back to Vice President Cheney's office.

I hope, for Col. Wilkerson's safety, that he has the originals or verified copies and that they're in a very, very safe place. I would put nothing past this bunch of crooks.

"Mr. WILKERSON: I'm privy to the paperwork, both classified and unclassified, that the secretary of State asked me to assemble on how this all got started, what the audit trail was, and when I began to assemble this paperwork, which I no longer have access to, it was clear to me that there was a visible audit trail from the vice president's office through the secretary of Defense down to the commanders in the field that in carefully couched terms -- I'll give you that -- that to a soldier in the field meant two things: We're not getting enough good intelligence and you need to get that evidence, and, oh, by the way, here's some ways you probably can get it. And even some of the ways that they detailed were not in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions and the law of war.

"You just -- if you're a military man, you know that you just don't do these sorts of things because once you give just the slightest bit of leeway, there are those in the armed forces who will take advantage of that. There are those in the leadership who will feel so pressured that they have to produce intelligence that it doesn't matter whether it's actionable or not as long as they can get the volume in. They have to do what they have to do to get it, and so you've just given in essence, though you may not know it, carte blanche for a lot of problems to occur."

Addington, incidentally, was promoted this week to the position of vice presidential chief of staff, replacing his indicted former boss, Scooter Libby. (For more on Addington, read my columns from Tuesday and Wednesday .)

The only news service I have found that covered Wilkerson's comments on NPR was Agence France Presse .

But if past is prologue, it will get picked up by more people soon.

Full Story

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Posted 1:02 PM by Republic of Palau

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WWII as Online Game

7Hi5, LiK3, 707@lLy r0cK5.

If World War Two had been an online Real Ttime Strategy game, the chat room traffic would have gone something like this.

*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*

*Eisenhower has joined the game.*

*paTTon has joined the game.*

*Churchill has joined the game.*

*benny-tow has joined the game.*

*T0J0 has joined the game.*

*Roosevelt has joined the game.*

*Stalin has joined the game.*

*deGaulle has joined the game.*

Roosevelt: hey sup

T0J0: y0

Stalin: hi

Churchill: hi

Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!

paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks

T0JO: lol

Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!

benny-tow: haha america sux

Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?

Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever

Stalin: cool

deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help

Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy

Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry

Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me

Roosevelt: get antiair guns

Churchill: i cant afford them

benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?

paTTon: stfu

Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys

deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick

Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army

paTTon: yah hurry the fock up

Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded

deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck

*deGaulle has left the game.*

Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?

benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?

benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?

Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO

T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u

Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses

T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol

Read the whole thing...

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Posted 2:11 PM by Republic of Palau

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Happy Eid

The BBC reports that, following last month's Birmingham riots involving Asian and black youths - sparked by a claim that a 14-year-old black girl had been raped - Pakistani Moslem graves have been desecrated.

Dozens of Muslim grave stones have been smashed and pushed over in a cemetery in Handsworth in Birmingham.

The desecration was discovered on Friday morning by relatives visiting the Muslim part of the cemetery.

Leaflets were also scattered with insults against Muslims, from a group calling themselves Black Nation.

Last month riots involving Asian and black youths took place in nearby Lozells, sparked by a claim that a 14-year-old black girl had been raped.

West Midlands Police are at the scene collecting the leaflets and taking statements from those who found them.

Between 35 and 45 grave stones had been desecrated, it was reported.

It seems someone would like to drive a wedge further between not only Black and Asian Britons, but between different flavours of Islam. In whose interests is it that the minority ethnic communities in the UK be so violently split? I have no evidence at all to back up this hunch, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that this was the work of local neo-nazi agent provocateurs, anxious not to miss any opportunity to foment racial division.

I might be entirely wrong and it may well have been a radical Black Moslem group ( but don't expect me to apologise for thinking the worst of neonazis) - but any way you look at it, it's a deliberate provocation in the current climate of deep Islamophobia, when anyone non-white is automatically suspect. It's a provocation deepened by the fact that many of those visiting the desecrated graves will have also lost family in the recent earthquake.

That local Pakistani leaders are calling for no response is admirable. You only have to look to Paris to see what can happen.

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Posted 1:06 PM by Republic of Palau

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Bushie Don't Do Symbols

Steve Gilliard picks up reports that a Bush visit to Howard University resulted in a total security lockdown, with the dining hall closed and students made to fetch their meals from the kitchen door. Protesting students were told that snipers were aiming at them.

Howard University From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Motto Veritas et Utilitas (Truth and Service)

[...]

Howard University is a historically black university in Washington, D.C. It was established by a congressional charter in 1867, and much of its early funding came from the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard University has played an important role in civil rights history on a number of occasions. After being refused admission to the then-segregated University of Maryland School of Law, a young Thurgood Marshall enrolled at Howard University School of Law instead. There he studied under Charles Hamilton Houston, a Harvard Law School graduate and leading civil rights lawyer who at the time was the dean of Howard's law school. Houston took Marshall under his wing, and the two forged a friendship that would last for the remainder of Houston's life and forever change America.

How much more insulting could Bush and his entourage have been? His support amongst African-American voters is only 2% - what amazes me is that there is any , given the blatant contempt he so obviously shows.

This happened within days of Bush using the corpse of Rosa Parks for a partisan photo-op with his newest nominated rightwing incompetent. This is pure contempt. Every day, in every way, Bush proves he is the worst President ever.

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Posted 11:34 AM by Republic of Palau

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Some Guardian commissioning editor has a sick sense of humour, if this encomium to Tony Blair by Sion Simon is any proof. It reads as parody - his lust for office is so obvious, it virtually dribbles down his chin. And yet the paper assures us the writer is, indeed, Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington so therefore this must have been written straight-faced. We can even email him.

Lefty, look in your heart

The chatterati consensus against the prime minister isn't only wrong - it's a betrayal of the powerless

Siôn Simon

Friday November 4, 2005 The Guardian

"Ecce, Tony! Dux. Imperator.

A decade and a year since we gave birth to him; since we the party, we the papers, we the people, called him forth from green, musty corridors and gave him life, how he is brought low. Having then bestrode the world like a colossus, what a shambling, deluded husk now stumbles where once was greatness.

Thus the chatterati consensus. That's pretty much what you think, isn't it? He's lost the plot. It's only a matter of time before there are pets in the cabinet. We don't know whether Blunkett's departure was a crazy whim of this fading Caligula; or if his resignation in the face of prime ministerial support is evidence that Blunkett, too, has perdu ses marbres. Either way, the whole thing is a disaster.

The most baffling thing about such bunkum is that it's wishful thinking. For some reason, very many people - commentators, Labour supporters, Guardian readers - have set their hearts on a black caricature of this government and its prime minister that has no basis whatsoever in actuality."

Overblown metaphor? Check. Use of classical tags for pseudo-intellectual effect ? Check. Grandiose statements - 'no basis whatsoever in actuality'? What, not even a tiny, tiny smidgen? Check:

'Ive heard: "I will never vote Labour again while that man is leader." But that's a betrayal of all the least powerful people in the land, who rely on a Labour government to help them. The sentiment is dysfunctional, illogical; frankly, it's disgraceful. So look into your heart, Lefty, and ask yourself: "Why do I hate Tony Blair?" I don't know the answer, but I know that it's nothing to do with Tony, or Labour, or even politics itself. It's about you.'

Oh dear, oh dear. Tony is wonderful; everything's wonderful, and we're all insane.

It's no surprise to learn that Simon's one of those lightweight shoehorned-in Blairites who has bugger-all political experience and bottom, little experience at anything resembling real life, but who have huge self-regard. What does surprise me is he is a professional writer. You mean people have paid for this crap?

Political profile

Sion Simon, like several Labour MPs, is a journalist. But few, however, have a resume quite like his.

An associate editor of Conservative journal The Spectator (edited by Tory MP Boris Johnson), he also had regular contracts with the Daily Telegraph and News of the World - neither organs renowned for their support for Labour.

Nonetheless, he espoused a very loyal line to the Labour government throughout its first term and was selected for the safe seat of Birmingham Erdington, where he grew up.

He pledged soon after his election to fight to bring the new national stadium to the city.

He caused controversy in April 2002, when he was quoted in a magazine saying that developing a political specialism was "not really me, so I'm writing a fiction book and planning a political book".

Aaaaah, OK. The Spectator. Boris Johnson. Apparently, he's also a product of Magdalen College Oxford. There's a surprise.

Never mind, Tony, at least some opportunist Tories still love you ( although they'll be off as soon as young Cameron takes over , as it's their wont to go where personal advantage lies) . But it's still a sad day for what once was a working-class, socialist party when the leader's last public support is that of a Sion Simon.

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Posted 8:57 AM by Republic of Palau

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