Sweden plans to be world’s first oil-free economy
Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations.
The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy
Daily Illini Editor Sacked for Publishing Cartoons
The New York Times "reports":http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/national/17cartoons.html that editors responsible for publishing cartoons offensive to Muslims in the Daily Illini, University of Illinois' student newspaper, have been fired in retaliation.
Shaz Kaiseruddin, a third-year law student and president of the Muslim Student Association, is quoted as saying, "I was in disbelief that they would do this, that our own student-based newspaper would be so ignorant and disrespectful."
Hmm, disrespectful of what? Of Muslim's right to live in a world where no one doubts the words of the prophet Muhammad? If the newsworthiness of the original publication of the cartoons is debatable, certainly they are newsworthy now that they have caused such a ruckus. Should the journalists cower before the threat of violent protest by Muslim extremists? Isn't it the responsibility of journalists to inform us of things we don't want to know about. That responsibility doesn't end for people that have decided to be Muslim.
"Universally, we found the cartoon to be repugnant," said Mac VerStandig, the editor in chief of The Badger Herald.
Repugnant? Really? Cause I found them pretty tame. I can "think":http://derekgulbranson.com/2006/02/08/heres-the-actual-muhammad-cartoon/ of some pretty repugnant variations on them, but the cartoon that I've seen is pretty tame. Makes a point; while not all Muslims are terrorists, pretty much all terrorists are Muslims, certainly nearly all of them using religion to justify their terrorism. Perhaps Ms. Kaiseruddin is ignorant of this fact. Does Mr. VerStandig find equally repugnant the fact terrorists use Islam to justify their terrorism? Because I find it repugnant that my government uses "freedom" and "democracy" to justify theirs.
Bush Fought Hard to Keep You From Seeing This
More images from Abu Ghraib shown on Australian television, watch the video. I guess there's more photos of that one chic that lead the prisoner around on a leash having sex with one of the other soldiers. Some prisoner with the skin ripped off his face. Some other guy with little holes all over his ass. Dude, what the hell is with these soldiers? Is it in some kind of interrogation handbook that you should line up all the detainees and force them to masturbate while you film it? That strikes of sexual repression to me, now it's OK to be "bad" so what are you going to do?
And this is just the stuff that's been caught on video, come to public knowledge and been subsequently obtained by the ACLU via the Freedom of Information Act. Eric Alterman has some interesting commentary about it on the Huffington Post.
Update: Looks like Salon has published some of their own previously unrelease photos.
President Jonah
Gore Vidal has another great post on Bush that you should read. He also pointed out some more disturbing statistics.
Meanwhile, the indoctrination of the people merrily continues. “In a ‘State of the First Amendment Survey’ conducted by the University of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First Amendment ‘goes too far’; 46 percent said there was too much freedom of the press; 28 percent felt that newspapers should not be able to publish articles without prior approval of the government; 31 percent wanted public protest of a war to be outlawed during that war; and 50 percent thought the government should have the right to infringe on the religious freedom of ‘certain religious groups’ in the name of the war on terror.”
Fifty-nine percent of Americans believe that John’s apocalyptic prophecies in the Book of Revelation will be fulfilled, and nearly all of these believe that the faithful will be taken up into heaven in the ‘Rapture.’
Here’s The Actual Muhammad Cartoon
You'd think a cartoon that has gotten so much attention would be a little easier to find on the internet. I guess the protests are working. Anyway, so here one of them, seems there where 12?
Pretty damn offensive, huh? Completely baffling to me. Am I not the only one that looks at the cartoon and says, you have GOT to be kidding. That's it? I was expecting Jesus having his way with Muhammad's ass, or Jesus, Moses and Muhammad in a circle jerk or something (yes, telling isn't it).
Now in "retaliation" an Iranian newspaper has started a contest for the most offensive cartoon about the holocaust? Huh? What does that have to do with the Danes and Muhammad? Are the Danes Jewish? I don't get it.
"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons"
How are cartoons making fun of genocide motivated by racism in any way sacrilegious? Seems to just illustrate their racism to me. But whatever, bring it. Yea, lets start a fight over who can be more offensive, cause I know we'd win that one. I will start working on my version now, I can picture it already and it's amazingly offensive. Shit, you thought that was offensive... you're gonna blow up the world when you see mine.
This from the New York Times, At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystalized:
The closing communique took note of the issue when it expressed "concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the media of certain countries" as well as over "using the freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions."
Umm, well in my mind that's one of the main reasons for freedom of expression, defaming religions. But anyway, so to express their concern at the rising hatred against Islam and Muslims, they start the Danish embassy on fire? Umm..., so people liking you better now? Guess you showed them to think you were all just crazed lunatics.
The leader of Lebanon's governing Hezbollah faction observed that the whole episode could have been avoided if only the novelist Salman Rushdie had been properly slaughtered for writing "The Satanic Verses." Too bad he's not running the world, huh? I guess it can get worse than Bush as president and a congress-full of yellow Democrats. Bush should exploit that angle to improve his ratings.
Sam Harris on the Reality of Islam
Sam Harris has posted some interesting comments about the lunatic Muslims upset by cartoons of Islamic prophets.
The idea that Islam is a "peaceful religion hijacked by extremists" is a dangerous fantasy--and it is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims to indulge. It is not at all clear how we should proceed in our dialogue with the Muslim world, but deluding ourselves with euphemisms is not the answer. It now appears to be a truism in foreign policy circles that real reform in the Muslim world cannot be imposed from the outside. But it is important to recognize why this is so--it is so because the Muslim world is utterly deranged by its religious tribalism. In confronting the religious literalism and ignorance of the Muslim world, we must appreciate how terrifyingly isolated Muslims have become in intellectual terms. The problem is especially acute in the Arab world. Consider: According to the United Nations' Arab Human Development Reports, less than 2% of Arabs have access to the Internet. Arabs represent 5% of the world's population and yet produce only 1% of the world's books, most of them religious. In fact, Spain translates more books into Spanish each year than the entire Arab world has translated into Arabic since the ninth century.
That last statistic is amazing. Maybe we all need to learn Arabic. Maybe they just lack dissent. I mean, criticism of Islam will get you beheaded in many Muslim countries. Beheading is a pretty strong deterrent. Maybe Sam should get his book translated into Arabic.
Anyone who imagines that terrestrial concerns account for Muslim terrorism must answer questions of the following sort: Where are the Tibetan Buddhist suicide bombers? The Tibetans have suffered an occupation far more brutal, and far more cynical, than any that Britain, the United States, or Israel have ever imposed upon the Muslim world. Where are the throngs of Tibetans ready to perpetrate suicidal atrocities against Chinese noncombatants? They do not exist. What is the difference that makes the difference? The difference lies in the specific tenets of Islam.
...
It is as though a portal in time has opened, and the Christians of the 14th century are pouring into our world.
Good point.
Has BYU Professor Found AIDS Cure?
Found an interesting article about a family of compounds called Ceragenins (CSAs) that have had some really interesting preliminary success in fighting the HIV virus.
What studies to date show is a compound that attacks HIV at its molecular membrane level, disrupting the virus from interacting with their primary targets, the "T-helper" class white blood cells that comprise and direct the human immune system. Further, CSAs appear to be deadly to all known strains of HIV.
In addition to being a potential checkmate to HIV, the compounds show indications of being just as effective against other diseases plaguing humankind - among them influenza, possibly even the dread bird flu, along with smallpox and herpes.
