Don't put your tongue in a socket. The taste of power is too refined for you.

 

* Insanity

Weird coincidence, or a bad consequence of war, I don't know. But since returning from Afghanistan, no fewer than three different members of the US Special Forces based in Fort Bragg have murdered their wives. Two of them also committed suicide. The article also mentions a fourth soldier from Fort Bragg (who did not go to Afghanistan) who killed his wife in the last month.

Of course, this is being reported by The Guardian Unlimited, a UK operation. The US media wouldn't want to malign the Army, now would they?
posted by David at 6:08 PM

 

* War

Lots of Iraq war articles these days. The NYTimes has another good one; it's about the probable affect of the war on the US Economy (hint: not good). But read the article until the end -- the key paragraphs are the last two. It appears that the real fear is that the war might spread to Saudi Arabia and really mess with world oil markets.
posted by David at 11:27 AM

 

** War

The July 28 and July 29 Debka.com articles about the forthcoming war with Iraq are both worth a read. The July 28 article discusses the posture of the relevant arab governments, while the July 29 article discusses possible US tactics.

The NYTimes is also running an article on possible US tactics.
posted by David at 9:34 AM

 

* Health

What a shock. Turns out that the alleged health benefits from drinking wine may actually be explained by the wine drinkers' generally more healthy lifestyles as compared with beer and hard-alcohol drinkers. What a scam. The wine-makers have actually been pushing for legislation to allow them to tout the "benefits" of drinking wine. Now don't get me wrong, I drink plenty of wine (and other spirits). But I don't kid myself that it's good for me.
posted by David at 11:20 AM

 

** War

The July 23 and July 22 Debka.com articles are both worth a read. They're projecting war in September.
posted by David at 9:35 AM

 

*** Politics

They're not usually my favorite authors, but I highly recommend this hard-hitting political analysis of George W. from Jonathan Alter and Howard Fineman.
posted by David at 8:56 PM

 

* Terrorism

Is your UPS / Fed Ex. / Verizon guy spying on you on behalf of the government?
posted by David at 1:30 PM

 

** Media

So get this. A reporter questions a government official about problems with US visas in Saudi Arabia. The reporter is then detained by the government for 30 minutes and questioned about his sources. Boy, Saudi Arabia sure needs freedom of the press, and a Bill of Rights, right?


Er, no, this actually happened in the US. It was a reporter for the National Review, and he was detained by our own State Department. Of course, nothing came of it except for some bad press.
posted by David at 9:53 AM

 

*** Health

Given the vast amount of medical research, are human brains sufficient to diagnose illness? Is a doctor's memory good enough? What about for very rare diseases? Wouldn't it be great if there were a computer program and database that could help doctors out? Well, there is, but it seems that doctors don't like it. (Perhaps they are afraid that the public will finally catch on to the fact that much of the time they're just guessing.)


This was a great article, but I wish that the author had compared standard Western medicine to homeopathy. Homeopaths have been using software like this for a long time, and it helps greatly at ending misdiagnosis.
posted by David at 11:15 AM

 

* Politics

The AP is running a funny article about who the biggest accounting crook in the US really is: the US.
posted by David at 9:46 AM

 

* Health / Economics

Celebrities are now getting paid by pharmaceutical companies to talk about their illnesses on news shows. Apparently it's quite an effective way to boost sales, and it doesn't even look live advertising!
posted by David at 5:16 PM

 

* World Cup / Economics

This is a June 29 Washington Post article that examines the economic impact of the World Cup on South Korea and Japan. Turns out it wasn't so good.
posted by David at 10:33 AM

 

** Politics

These George Bush stories are getting funner by the day. For a good summary, check out this morning's Media Notes.

I hestitate to mention, however, that the National Review has a good rebuttal to the evidence against W.
posted by David at 10:08 AM

 

** Food / Economics

Today we have some good articles about everyone's favorite thing: food. First, the NYTimes Magazine explores low-fat vs. low-carb diets.


Next, the Guardian tells everything you never wanted to know about chicken nuggets. Also lots of good information about world trade in food, and what happens to the food.
posted by David at 1:47 PM

 

** Humor

Evangelist Hurls Insults At Funeral
posted by David at 9:48 PM

 

* Health/Politics

Oops. It looks like irradiated mail may not be harmless. Bummer for Capitol Hill mail handlers since the Anthrax scare.
posted by David at 9:37 AM

 

* Media/Politics

This morning's Media Notes is worth a read. In addition to summarizing some good articles, Kurtz talks about how basically everyone has let society down; he specifically goes after business leaders, accountants, Wall St. brokers, the Government, Martha Stewart, Amtrak, airlines, historians, athletes, Internet geeks (god forbid!), and journalists.
posted by David at 10:13 AM