Rise of the machinesHollywood is rabidly technophobic. Whether it's robots, computers or genetically engineered beings, technology is out to get humanity. It's trying to enslave or kill us, or make us suffer on behalf of some corrupt corporate or government entity. But is it merely fanciful fiction or the bleak reality that awaits mankind?
Many of our favourite science-fiction films are part of a genre known as "tech noir", stories that prophesy that the advancement of technology will have foreboding... (more)
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Some Experts Think Experimenting With Living, Disabled Patients Is OkayIn the new novel "Hunters of Dune," biotechnologists of the future create "ghoulas" -- clones made from the dead -- in breeding contraptions known as "axlotl tanks." About 100 pages into the novel, the reader is shocked to learn that axlotl tanks are really unconscious women whose bodies have been expropriated to serve the greater good as so many gestating vats.
Happily, "Hunters of Dune" is science fiction. In the real world, we have a ... (more)
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The woman who would be speaker says, "Impeachment is off the table"How does Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who may become Speaker of the House of Representatives if the Democrats win control on Nov. 7, propose the US regain any standing in the world, much less any honor, if George W. Bush and his whole administration are allowed to skate on their criminality?
Yet, when CBS's Leslie Stahl on Sunday's 60 Minutes brought up the subject of impeachment, Pelosi said, "No, impeachment is off the table."
"And that's a pledge?" Stahl asked.<... (more)
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Flashback: The Mansion the War Bought Richard Blum and Dianne Feinstein's new house.
It happens all the time. If the antiwar movement takes on the Democrats for their bitter shortcomings a few liberals are bound to criticize us for not hounding Bush instead. It doesn't even have to be an election year to get the progressives fired up. They just don't seem to get it. "How can you attack the Democrats when we have such a bullet-proof administration ruling the... (more)
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Drug firms and media outlets push vaccine safety myth for infants and expectant mothersA new, short-term study published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that flu vaccine shots are safe for toddlers and infants, but critics say the short length of the study failed to examine possible long-term health implications.
The study -- the largest ever to examine the side effects of flu shots in young children -- included 45,000 American kids who were given flu shots and examined for side effects over a period of six weeks. The 19 res... (more)
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Constitution, Schmonstitution Suddenly, the most sacred text in America is under attack from all sides. The Constitution was never meant to be a "suicide pact," says eminent judge and author Richard Posner. It's "undemocratic," says University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson. In this time of terror we need a new one — an "emergency Constitution" — says Yale Law School guru Bruce Ackerman. And Richard Labunski, in his fine and timely book about James Madison, pretty much destroys the myth that the Foun... (more)
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Gore Vidal Assured Military Would Prevent Staged Terror Controversial and prolific author, political commentator and essayist Gore Vidal is assured that the military's growing revulsion at the Bush junta's policies would ensure they would try and prevent any false flag staged terror attack, while slamming the end of Habeas Corpus and the administration's coup de 'tat of America on a nationally syndicated radio broadcast.
Speaking with the Alex Jones Show, Vidal decried the end of the foundational bedrock of "due process of law,... (more)
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Paraguay in a spin about Bush's alleged 100,000 acre hideaway Meeting the new couple next door can be an anxious business for even the most relaxed home owner. Will they be international drug traffickers? Have they got noisy kids with a penchant for electronic music? As worries go, however, having the US president move in next door must come fairly low on the list.
Unless of course you are a resident of northern Paraguay and believe reports in the South American press that he has bought up a 100,000 acre (40,500 hectare) ranch in y... (more)
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Niger orders expulsion of Arabs The government of Niger has ordered around 150,000 Arabs who live in the east of the country to leave.
Most of the Arabs, known as Mahamid, are nomads who have fled conflict in Chad. A BBC correspondent says many have lived in Niger for decades.
The governor of Diffa State, where most of the Mahamid live, told them it was "high time" to pack and return to Chad.
No reason for the order has been given, but government officials ar... (more)
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Poll: Americans for more border cops, not a fence Although a majority of Americans support increasing the number of Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border, most do not support building a 700-mile fence along the border, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday.
Seventy-four percent of 1,013 poll respondents said they would be in favor of more U.S. agents along the border. But only 45 percent said they wanted a border fence built, according to the survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. on behalf of CNN.... (more)
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NY Times falsely reported Lieberman never "utter[ed] the words 'stay the course' "In an October 24 New York Times article, reporters Jennifer Medina and Anne E. Kornblut wrote of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's (CT) stated positions on the Iraq war: "Never, in the statements reviewed, did Mr. Lieberman utter the words 'stay the course.' " In fact, Lieberman has uttered those exact words about Iraq several times.
... (more)
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Why brains link Bugs to beautyCartoons are not just about mindless fun on a Saturday morning – they help our brains to comprehend beauty.
After studying 4,300 cartoons, researchers discovered that attractive characters such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny were more likely to be intelligent, employed, happy, loving, active, flirtatious and just plain nice.
On the other hand, unattractive characters such as Wile E Coyote were often associated with physical aggression, acts of violence, unhapp... (more)
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No limits on DNA database, says PM Tony Blair has insisted there should be no limits on the expansion of the national DNA database, saying it was vital for catching serious criminals.
The Prime Minister said the public were behind the controversial project as he urged police to make use of technological advances to solve thousands of "cold cases"
During a tour of the Forensic Science Service Headquarters in central London, he said: "I think the politicians are more resistant (to the datab... (more)
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RFID chips embedded into collectable videgame cards Mattel has teamed up with British company Innovision Research and Technology to create a new games platform that incorporates RFID technology into collectable cards.
Hyperscan combines video games with collectable cards for the first time interactively. Each card is equipped with an RFID chip, while a reader plugs into the games console. Players scan their cards in order to take on the role of certain characters on the cards, and imbue them with special skills and powers.... (more)
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The beginning of the end of hard cash RESPONDING to a recent rash of robberies, Salisbury House, that most Winnipeg of culinary institutions, has declared it no longer wants your paper money after 10 p.m. Would-be robbers are thus advised to arrive before then.
Seriously, what happens when Sal's gets robbed at 9:30? Will they scale back the cash ban another hour? What if there's a hold-up during lunch hour? Will they move to refuse cash altogether?
Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a cash-o... (more)
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Ellsberg: The Next WarA hidden crisis is under way. Many government insiders are aware of serious plans for war with Iran, but Congress and the public remain largely in the dark. The current situation is very like that of 1964, the year preceding our overt, open-ended escalation of the Vietnam War, and 2002, the year leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In both cases, if one or more conscientious insiders had closed the information gap with unauthorized disclosures to the publ... (more)
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Bush Signs the Reichstag Fire DecreeWith a flip of the wrist, Bush signed into law the anti-Habeas Corpus, pro-torture law (cleverly repackaged as the Military Commissions Act of 2006), signaling with it the end of American democracy.
For the Bush family it was simply another day - like any other day - for the entitled nobility, who take from others that which does not belong to them.
The Bush dynasty was always filthy rotten, with not a single member of the imperial family ever doing an actual hone... (more)
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Ellsberg: Hastert got suitcases of Al Qaeda heroin cash, should be in jailPresented below is a transcribed interview between Daniel Ellsberg and Kris Welch of KPFA.
Daniel Ellsberg says that Dennis Hastert received suitcases of cash at his home from Turkish heroin money and that Hastert should be in jail, along with his friends.
He also says that people in the State Department, and in nuclear labs, are paid in 'cold cash' for secrets that are sold o... (more)
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The Exodus: 1.6m Iraqis have fled their country since the war Iraq is in flight. Everywhere inside and outside the country, Iraqis who once lived in their own houses cower for safety six or seven to a room in hovels.
Many go after they have been threatened. Often they leave after receiving an envelope with a bullet inside and a scrawled note telling them to get out immediately. Others flee after a relative has been killed, believing they will be next.
Out of the population of 26 million, 1.6 million Iraqis have fl... (more)
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Israel admits using phosphorus bombs during war in Lebanon Israel has acknowledged for the first time that it attacked Hezbollah targets during the second Lebanon war with phosphorus shells. White phosphorus causes very painful and often lethal chemical burns to those hit by it, and until recently Israel maintained that it only uses such bombs to mark targets or territory.
The announcement that the Israel Defense Forces had used phosphorus bombs in the war in Lebanon was made by Minister Jacob Edery, in charge of government-Knesset... (more)
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Active troops ask congress to end Iraqi occupationWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sixty five active duty service members are officially asking Congress to end the war in Iraq -- the first time active troops have done so since U.S. invasion began in 2003.
Three of the service members will hold a press conference Wednesday explaining their decision to send "Appeals for Redress" under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act to their members of Congress. Under the act, National Guard and Reservists can send communications about any subject to ... (more)
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The American Police State: End Game for 9/11 and Bush's Subsequent Power Grabs "Catastrophic Empowering Events"
Throughout history, various politicos have utilized "Catastrophic Empowering Events" to incite their citizenry and coerce them into accepting undesirable agendas. Hitler torched the German Reichstag and blamed his opponents in a plot to eliminate them. FDR allowed the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor to thrust America into WWII. Then, there was George W. Bush and 9/11.
Back in 1998, Dick Cheney's group dubbed as the "Projec... (more)
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