Engineering Faults Led to New Orleans Flooding

From an Editor and Publisher article, 'Times-Picayune': Corps Never Pursued Design Doubts :

'Times-Picayune': Corps Never Pursued Design Doubts [/] By E&P Staff [/] Published: December 30, 2005 12:59 PM ET

NEW YORK In a troubling exclusive, the Times-Picayune reported Friday that engineering mistakes that led to the levee failures, leading to the flooding of most of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, "were found and then dismissed in the Army Corps of Engineers' design review process in 1990."

[…] "Corps documents show the mistake of overly optimistic levee strength was detected by its Vicksburg, Miss., office, which directed local engineers to make changes," the newspaper's Bob Marshall writes. "But when the chief engineer in New Orleans replied that the results were based on 'engineering judgment,' his superiors dropped the issue."

[…] "The design engineers didn't account for the weak layers in that swamp, and the Vicksburg office picks that up in review. But the New Orleans office says it's our professional judgment this is OK. In our business, that's an acceptable answer. But it's an answer Vicksburg can disagree with -- but it didn't.

[…] The Times-Picayune also published on its Web site samples of the key documents.

Marshall observed: "Investigators have long suspected engineering mistakes were at the heart of the levee and floodwall breaches. Not only did the structures fail before they reached design capacity, but documents show the designs were not appropriate for the weak soils and the depth of the canals, investigators said. Yet discovering why skilled engineers at reputable firms came up with obviously faulty designs, and how those mistakes were missed in the corps' lengthy review process, has stumped investigators." [My ellipses and emphasis]

CIA couple outed by 5-year-old son

CIA couple outed by 5-year-old son / Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:22 PM ET | Reuters.com:

"By Tabassum Zakaria

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Washington couple at the heart of the CIA leak investigation had their cover blown by their small son as they tried to sneak away on vacation on Thursday.

'My daddy's famous, my mommy's a secret spy,' declared the 5-year-old of his parents, former diplomat Joe Wilson and retired CIA operative Valerie Plame.

The former spy, who just retired from the agency, and the diplomat have been at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has reached into the White House.

They said they were headed to an undisclosed vacation location with their twins but stopped for a brief interview inside the airport terminal."

SBA Finds 9/11 Loan Recipients Ineligible - Yahoo! News

SBA Finds 9/11 Loan Recipients Ineligible - Yahoo! News:

"The AP found that terrorism recovery loans went to a South Dakota radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops in various locations.

Meanwhile, small businesses near Ground Zero in New York couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought."

Good News from Turkey

From a The Independent [U.K.] article, Customers help stamp out Turkey's sex slaves

Customers help stamp out Turkey's sex slaves [/] By Meriel Beattie in Ankara [/] Published: 28 December 2005

An unlikely hero has emerged in Turkey to rescue victims of forced prostitution: the brothel customer. [/] While the country's security forces are hardly renowned for their attention to human rights or sympathetic treatment of women, they have been chalking up impressive successes in finding and freeing trafficked women from brothels. [/] In the past six months, 100 women - mostly from Ukraine, Moldova, Romania or Russia - have been rescued from sex slavery and Turkish police have broken up 10 trafficking networks.

There are two reasons for these results. A charge-free hotline was set up in May by the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for women to call for help. It is staffed by multi-lingual operators who try to pinpoint where the women are - and then send in the police. [/] But the second, more unexpected, factor is the chivalry of the Turkish brothel client. Since the hotline started, 74 per cent of tip-offs have come from men: customers who have learned to spot the difference between a professional prostitute, and someone who's been forced into it.

"I've been very surprised," said Marielle Lindstrom, head of the IOM in Turkey. "We haven't noticed this anywhere in Europe. Turkish men seem to have an old-fashioned view of women. They don't mind using prostitutes, but they want the woman to be doing this willingly. If she's found not to be doing it willingly ... it affects their pride."

[…] The hotline is publicised in two ways: passport officials at borders and airports slip an information leaflet into the passports of women from high-risk countries; and a Russian language advert has been playing on Turkish television stations. [/] "Turkey respects your rights," it says. "If anyone takes away your passport, your freedom, or forces you to perform work of any kind without pay, call the helpline 157, free of charge. Any time, any phone." [My ellipses and emphasis]

The surprise to me is that the U.N. has stumbled into doing something useful. But, of course they should, now and them. They have the best bureaucrats that money can buy.

Those of us who remember the Korean War, have great respect for the Turks.

Smoz from Oz remembers (StrategyPage.com Message Board 7/4/2005 3:34:21 PM):

johnyturc, Aussies remember you in Korea. Aussies remember you. Great to have you as allies. Lest we forget.

(And a previous generation of Australians remembered "Johnny Turk" from being thoroughly defeated by the Turks at Gallipoli. Better, by far, to have them as allies.)

Other countries, including the United States of America, would do well to have a similar hot line. Even if they might have advanced beyond chivalry.

Pill That Prevents Cancer

From a The Independent [U.K.] article, Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer :

Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer [/] By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor [/] Published: 28 December 2005

A daily dose of vitamin D could cut the risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary by up to a half, a 40-year review of research has found. The evidence for the protective effect of the "sunshine vitamin" is so overwhelming that urgent action must be taken by public health authorities to boost blood levels, say cancer specialists.

[…] A growing body of evidence in recent years has shown that lack of vitamin D may have lethal effects. Heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis are among the conditions in which it is believed to play a vital role. The vitamin is also essential for bone health and protects against rickets in children and osteoporosis in the elderly.

After assessing almost every scientific paper published on the link between vitamin D and cancer since the 1960s, US scientists say that a daily dose of 1,000 international units (25 micrograms) is needed to maintain health. " The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency combined with the discovery of increased risks of certain types of cancer in those who are deficient, suggest that vitamin D deficiency may account for several thousand premature deaths from colon, breast, ovarian and other cancers annually," they say in the online version of the American Journal of Public Health.

The dose they propose of 1,000IU a day is two-and-a-half times the current recommended level in the US. In the UK, there is no official recommended dose but grey skies and short days from October to March mean 60 per cent of the population has inadequate blood levels by the end of winter.

[…] High rates of heart disease in Scotland have been blamed on the weak sunlight and short summers in the north, leading to low levels of vitamin D. Differences in sunlight may also explain the higher rates of heart disease in England compared with southern Europe. Some experts believe the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet may have as much to do with the sun there as with the regional food.

[…] Australia is one of the world's sunniest countries and has among the highest rates of skin cancer. For three decades it has preached sun avoidance with its "slip, slap, slop" campaign to cover up and use sunscreen. But in a statement in March, the association said: "A balance is required between avoiding an increase in the risk of skin cancer and achieving enough ultraviolet radiation exposure to achieve adequate vitamin D levels." Bruce Armstrong, the professor of public health at Sydney University, said: " It is a revolution."

In the latest study, cancer specialists from the University of San Diego, California, led by Professor Cedric Garland, reviewed 63 scientific papers on the link between vitamin D and cancer published between 1966 and 2004. People living in the north-eastern US, where it is less sunny, and African Americans with darker skins were more likely to be deficient, researchers found. They also had higher cancer rates. [/] The researchers say their finding could explain why black Americans die sooner from cancer than whites, even after allowing for differences in income and access to care.

Professor Garland said: "A preponderance of evidence from the best observational studies... has led to the conclusion that public health action is needed. Primary prevention of these cancers has been largely neglected, but we now have proof that the incidence of colon, breast and ovarian cancer can be reduced dramatically by increasing the public's intake of vitamin D." Obtaining the necessary level of vitamin D from diet alone would be difficult and sun exposure carries a risk of triggering skin cancer. "The easiest and most reliable way of getting the appropriate amount is from food and a daily supplement," they say.

The cost of a vitamin D supplement is about 4p a day. The UK Food Standards Agency said that taking Vitamin D supplements of up to 1,000IU was " unlikely to cause harm". [My ellipses and emphasis]

Link to this article for more, including details of how vitamin D deficiencies lead to heart disease, cancer, rickets, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, diabetes, high blood pressure, and multiple sclerosis.

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XVI

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From a The Telegraph [U.K.] article, Boxing Day hunts show ban must be repealed :

Boxing Day hunts show ban must be repealed [/] (Filed: 27/12/2005)

It was a foregone conclusion that the hunting ban introduced by this Government would be spiteful and unjust; what did not become clear until the weekend was its sheer absurdity. [/] Fretful that current legislation denies Pc Plod the right to invade private land in order to ensure that certain vermin meet only a lawful end, the Association of Chief Police Officers is now pressing for powers that would be justified only for the prevention of acts of terrorism.

Yet even if these powers were to be granted, and police were to ride with the hunt, they would still have to determine whether the hounds had found and killed a fox accidentally or by design; and, if the latter, whom they should arrest for this felony. Ludicrous though the status quo might be, there are untold heights of risibility still to be scaled.

Meanwhile the architects and supporters of the current ban are tearful with frustration because it doesn't seem to have spoilt anyone's fun, except that of the hunt saboteurs. [/] That's funny enough in itself, but a turn-out for the traditional Boxing Day meetings that was inflated with new enthusiasts, to an extent that would have made it impossible to monitor even if the police had had the resources to do so, makes the voice of freeborn England guffaw with joy.

As it happens, the hunts seem to have abided by the law down to its idiotic letter, and the good humour with which they did so also affords us some amusement at the expense of the urban power freaks. [/] In Buckinghamshire, for instance, a good time was had chasing a scent line across country, while the Cheshire rode out with two hounds and an eagle owl, as solemnly permitted by Act of Parliament. [/] These new, officially sanctioned forms of hunting might seem daft but, objectively considered, they are no more so than the traditional version.

The point of the hunt, after all, was always highly necessary pest control, and that in itself is a pretty joyless business. But an accumulation of seasonal rituals, special drinks and menus, private language and silly clothes turned an onerous obligation into a community festival, and the native absurdity of it was always part of the enjoyment.

So if the opponents of hunting thought that the spirit of traditional countrymen would be broken by making them ride with an owl, or chase a false scent before accidentally encountering a fox (as though that had never happened before), they were rather pitifully missing the point. Hunting was always absurd, because fun usually is.

The law, however, is a different matter. It might be a jolly recreation for judges (when they're not on the hunting field), but for the rest of us the law is the guardian of our property and liberty, the arbiter of our behaviour, the guarantor of justice. [/] When one law is absurd (as this one is), it undermines the credibility of all others; however good-humoured the hunts' observance of the new legislation, they must not waver in their determination to see it repealed. [My ellipses and emphasis]

No one has been able to even theorize how Bush's minion, Karl Rove, engineered this complete fiasco.

But such a complete mess, to those who have studied these things, betrays the fine Italian hand of the master of complete collapse.

Undoubtedly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XV

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

Holiday Spending Up 8.7%

People are spending money in shops instead of following the example of Time Magazine's noble Persons of the Year , Bill and Melinda Gates, and Bono.

Do not people realize that "the wretched of the earth" are in need!

And, of course, It Is All Bush's Fault!

From a Reuters article, Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct :

Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct: report [/] Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers spent 8.7 percent more during the just ended holiday shopping period than in the comparable period a year ago, according to a report from an affiliate of MasterCard International, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Monday.

[…] The report found the biggest increases in spending on home furnishings, up 15.2 percent, followed by consumer electronics and appliances, up 10.5 percent. Spending on jewelry was down 4.6 percent. [/] The report covers spending in stores and on the Internet, and includes food sales. It excludes spending on autos and gasoline. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jewelry sales are down almost 5%, and, rather obviously, It Is All Bush's Fault!

Freedom Fading in Russia?

From a Breitbart.com article, Putin's liberal economic adviser resigns :

Putin's liberal economic adviser resigns, saying Russia 'not free' [/] Dec 27 8:09 AM US/Eastern

President Vladimir Putin's outspoken liberal economic adviser Andrei Illarionov announced his resignation to protest what he said was an end to political freedom in Russia. "It is one thing to work in a partially free country, as Russia was six years ago. It's another when the country has stopped being politically free," Illarionov, 44, was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency on Tuesday. He said he expected Putin to accept his resignation.

Illarionov, who became Putin's economic adviser in 2000, said he did not recognise the country anymore. [/] "In these six years the situation has radically changed and in the last year it became clear that not only the political, but economic model of the country has changed," he was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS. "I did not go to work for such a country, or sign a contract, or swear an oath."

[…] Illarionov has long been the highest profile critic within the Kremlin of the Putin administration. Just last week, in what may have been his last major press conference as adviser, he said: "Russia has ceased being a free and democratic country."

Illarionov has cut an increasingly lonely figure as he lashed out at the direction the country was taking -- in stark contrast to the rest of the Kremlin's tightly managed information machine. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

ACF Poll: 9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

This must be a really good poll. The first two responders have refused to vote for strongly held but very different reasons.

Poll contents:

9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

1. Absolutely! Incites hatred of all Muslims!

2. A Hate Misdemeanor, to be precise.

3. To many people, whose feelings should be considered.

4. To those whose friendship is important: the UN, the EU, and the Saudis.

5. All of 1 through 4.

6. Most of 1 through 4.

7. Only to those within the Liberal Bubble.

8. Only to the terminally misguided Mainstream Media.

9. Probably not.

10. No.

11. "Hate Crime" is a meaningless phrase.

12. Don't be ridiculous.

13. Lack of reruns demonstrates disloyalty.

14. Lack of reruns demonstrates treason.

15. All of 7 through 14.

16. Most of 7 through 14.

17. Other.

18. No comment.

19. No opinion.

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Lights, & Christmas Decorations from Bronner's...since 1945

Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Lights, & Christmas Decorations from Bronner's...since 1945

Welcome to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland and bronners.com, your one-stop shop for everything Christmas - Christmas ornaments, artificial Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Nativity scenes, Christmas decorations, collectibles, and more. The Bronner family and staff hope you enjoy visiting our website and invite you to visit our store located in Frankenmuth, Michigan's "Little Bavaria." Home to over 50,000 gifts and trims for all seasons and reasons, Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store. With thousands of twinkling lights, shimmering ornaments and sparkling Christmas trees, a spectacular Christmas wonderland awaits you the size of one-and-a-half football fields. Bronner’s features a fantastic selection of ornaments and trims, trees, lights, Nativities and collectibles. Christmas cards, garlands, stockings, and Advent calendars are also among the many items available.

Judge Creeds Not People

From another thread:

{{___ Why it is your place to judge a Christian who leans towards a different political creed than yours I just don't get.}}

The political creed that one holds judges him, just as his religious creed judges him.

All people may be created equal (the thought is from the philosophers of the Enlightenment, not scripture), but all creeds are not.

And each one has a right and a duty to judge creeds.

Best Notable Quotables of 2005

The Elite Media/Celebrity View From Inside the Liberal Bubble

From a Media Research Center article, Best Notable Quotables of 2005:

Introduction [/] Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2005 (December 2004 through November 2005). To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 52 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers and media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of six to nine quotes in each category.

[…] Quote of the Year [/] Reporter Brian Ross: "Mary Mapes was the woman behind the scenes, the producer who researched, wrote and put together Dan Rather’s 60 Minutes report on President Bush’s National Guard service, a report which Rather and CBS would later apologize for airing...."
Ross to Mapes: "Do you still think that story was true?"
Ex-CBS producer Mary Mapes: "The story? Absolutely."

[…] Runner-up: [/] Ted Turner: "I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere. There’s really no reason for them to cheat [on nukes]....I looked them right in the eyes. And they looked like they meant the truth. You know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time."

[…] Slam Uncle Sam Award [/] Andrea Mitchell: "It is an iconic picture: American hostages, hands bound and blindfolded, being paraded outside the U.S. embassy in Tehran by their captors. But has one of those student radicals now become Iran’s newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?...Tonight, U.S. intelligence officials say that they will continue to study this, but may never have definitive proof of what the role was of Iran’s new president, Brian."
Brian Williams: "Andrea, what would it all matter if proven true? Someone brought up today the first several U.S. Presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called terrorists at the time by the British Crown, after all." [/] Mitchell: "Indeed, Brian."

[…] Madness of King George Award for Bush Bashing [/] "It’s like he [President Bush] stuck a broomstick in his [FDR’s] wheelchair wheels." [/] — Newsweek’s Jon Meacham on MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning May 9, discussing Bush’s criticism of Roosevelt’s Yalta deal with Stalin on post-war Europe.

[…] The Kanye West "George Bush Doesn’t Care About Wet People" Award "The dilatory performance of George Bush during the past week has been outrageous. Almost as unbelievable as Katrina itself is the fact that the leader of the free world has been outshone by the elected leaders of a region renowned for governmental ineptitude....The populism of Huey Long was financially corrupt, but when it came to the welfare of people, it was caring. The churchgoing cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the House of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die in foreign deserts." [/] — Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, September 1.

[…] "God Save This Court from Extremists" Award [/] "An Advocate for the Right." [/] — Headline over a New York Times "news analysis" of Judge John Roberts’ judicial philosophy, July 28. [/] vs. [/] "Balanced Jurist at Home in the Middle." [/] — Headline over a June 27, 1993 New York Times story on Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[…] #### Those Conservatives Award [/] "The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for President, I’ll kill myself. All we need is one more liar." [/] — Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas, as quoted in the "Under the Dome" column by Albert Eisele and Jeff Dufour in The Hill newspaper, July 28.

[…] Captain Dan the Forgery Man Award [/] Dan Rather: "My principal problem was that I stuck by the [Memogate] story, I stuck by our people for too long. I’m guilty of that. I believed in the story, and the facts of the story were correct. One supporting pillar of the story, albeit an important one, one supporting pillar was brought into question. To this day no one has proven whether it was what it purported to be or not....You know, I didn’t give up on my people, our people. I didn’t and I won’t." [Applause]
Marvin Kalb: "Dan, thank you. You said, I believe you just said, that you think the story is accurate." [/] Rather: "The story is accurate."

[…] What Liberal Media? Award [/] "I’m going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that’s interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that’s interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don’t have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people." [/] — Bill Moyers, who retired in December 2004 from the PBS show Now, as quoted by AP television writer Frazier Moore in a December 10, 2004 dispatch.

[…] "Baghdad Bob" Was Correct Award [/] Co-host Mike Jerrick: "What do you think’s going to happen Sunday?"
FNC reporter Steve Harrigan, just back from Iraq: "I think there’s going to be a bloodbath on Sunday....All over the place, especially in Baghdad and a few other cities." [/] — FNC’s Fox & Friends, January 28, two days before Iraq’s largely peaceful elections.

Runners-up: [/] "I’m Bob Schieffer. It just keeps getting worse in Iraq. The death toll is rising. Tension is growing between Shiites and Sunnis. Is the country sliding toward civil war?" [/] — Schieffer beginning the May 19 CBS Evening News. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Check all the top quotes out.

Do not miss: Crazy Chris Award for Chris Matthews’ Left-Wing Lunacy; Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity; Media Millionaires for Smaller Paychecks Award; Good Morning Morons Award; Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis; Oh, That Liberal Media Award; and the Media Hero Award.

Does Post-Christian Culture Have a Future?

Read article below and vote in Forum Poll, even "No comment" is counted. Key conclusion of article:

But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future.

Quote above is from a Chicago Sun-Times article, Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe . Article follows:

Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe [/] December 25, 2005 [/] BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

"But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John." [/] If, like increasing numbers of Europeans, you have "some problems with conventional organized religion" (as Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling puts it), you've probably forgotten that bit from the Christmas story. It's Luke 1:13, part of what he'd have called the back story, if he'd been a Hollywood screenwriter rather than a physician.

[…] Nonetheless, an aged, barren woman conceives and, in the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy, the angel visits her cousin Mary and tells her that she, too, will conceive. [/] If you read Luke, the virgin birth seems a logical extension of the earlier miracle -- the pregnancy of an elderly lady. The physician-author had no difficulty accepting both. For Matthew, Jesus' birth is the miracle. Luke leaves you with the impression that all birth -- all life -- is to a degree miraculous and God-given.

[…] Confronted with all the begetting in the Old Testament, the modern mind says, ''Well, naturally, these primitive societies were concerned with children. They needed someone to provide for them in their old age.'' In advanced Western society, we don't have to worry about that; we automatically have someone to provide for us in our old age: the state. [/] But the state -- at least in its modern social-democratic welfare incarnation -- needs children at least as much as those old-time Jews did. And the problem with much of the advanced world is that, like Elisabeth, it's barren. Collectively barren, I hasten to add. Individually, it's made up of millions of fertile women, who voluntarily opt for no children at all or one designer kid at 39. In Italy, the home of the Church, the birth rate's down to 1.2 children per couple -- or about half ''replacement rate.'' You can't buck that kind of arithmetic.

Here's a story from Friday's Japan Times: [/] ''Japan's population has started shrinking for the first time this year, health ministry data showed Thursday, presenting the government with pressing challenges on the social and economic front, including ensuring provision of social security services and securing the labor force.'' [/] Happy New Year, guys! And, as the reporter adds, ''Japan joins Germany and Italy in the ranks of countries where a decline in population has already set in.'' And don't forget Russia, which is even further ahead in the demographic death spiral. Of the great powers of the 20th century, America's still healthy birth rate, like its still healthy Christianity, is now an anomaly.

Demography is not necessarily destiny. Today's high Muslim birth rates will fall, and probably fall dramatically, as the Roman Catholic birth rates in Italy, Ireland and Quebec have. But demographics is a game of last man standing. It's no consolation that Muslim birth rates will be as bad as yours in 2050 if yours are off the cliff right now. The last people around in any numbers will determine the kind of society we live in.

You can sort of feel that happening already. ''Multiculturalism'' implicitly accepts that, for a person of broadly Christian heritage, Christianity is an accessory, an option; whereas, for a person of Muslim background, Islam is a given. That's why, as practiced by Buckinghamshire County Council in England, multiculturalism means All Saints Church can't put up one sheet of paper announcing its Christmas carol service on the High Wycombe Library notice board, but, inside the library, Rehana Nazir, the ''multicultural services librarian,'' can host a party to celebrate Eid.

To those of us watching Europe from afar, it seems amazing that no Continental politician is willing to get to grips with the real crisis facing Europe in the 21st century: the lack of Europeans. If America believes in the separation of church and state, in radically secularist Europe the state is the church, as Jacques Chirac's ban on head scarves, crucifixes and skull caps made plain. Alas, it's an insufficient faith.

By contrast, if Christianity is merely a ''myth,'' it's truly an immaculately conceived one, beginning with the decision to establish Christ's divinity in the miracle of his birth. The obligation to have children may be a lot of repressive Catholic mumbo-jumbo, but it's also highly rational. What's irrational is modern Eutopia's indifference to new life.

A year or so back, I had a conversation with an European Union official who, apropos a controversial proposal to tout the Continent's religious heritage in the new constitution, kept using the phrase ''Europe's post-Christian future.'' He used the phrase approvingly. But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future. Luke, a man of faith and a man of science, could have told them that. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe

Mark Steyn: Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe:

"But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future"

Good News from Bethlehem

From a Breitbart AP article, Bethlehem Sees Largest Turnout Since 2000:

Bethlehem Sees Largest Turnout Since 2000 [/] By SARAH EL DEEB [/] Associated Press Writer [/] Dec 24 10:51 AM US/Eastern

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Holiday spirit returned to Bethlehem on Saturday for the first time in six years as thousands of foreigners and local people packed the town of Jesus' birth for Christmas Eve celebrations. Lining the streets on a crisp, windy day, pilgrims gathered in Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity _ built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born _ to watch a procession of marching bands, bagpipe players and boy scout troops.

They also watched Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, enter town for the Christmas celebrations.

Whipping winds blew the hats off boy scouts and police officers and knocked down metal security barriers. Yet the streets were packed with visitors excited about spending the holiday in one of Christianity's holiest sites.

More than 30,000 people were expected in what would be the largest turnout since fighting erupted in September 2000, although the bleak gray concrete slabs of Israel's separation barrier at the entrance to town provided a looming reminder of the conflict.

Israel's summer withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a sharp drop in violence this year contributed to the joyful atmosphere, which buoyed the spirits of Bethlehem residents and tourists in the festively decorated town. Forecasts of a rare snowfall added to the sense of excitement.

"It's really amazing. When you hear about all the conflict between Israel and Palestine, really I was expecting things to be a little bit _ rougher," said Stephen Ogden, 23, of Knoxville, Tenn.

[…] Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, elected last January to succeed Arafat, planned to join the Bethlehem celebrations and attend Midnight Mass in a church next to the grotto. Tickets to the Mass were sold out, and some tourists had a hard time finding hotel rooms.

[…] "It will be joyful and a very Merry Christmas, especially since the president will join us," Mayor Victor Batarseh said. "There is enough police and security. It will be very peaceful."

Edwina Webster, 53, on a two-week vacation from Hereford, England, overcame her safety concerns to spend Christmas in Bethlehem. "It's awesome here. To come here is very emotional," she said. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XIV

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

** Bush No. 1 Liar in the World **

Democratic and Media Assessment Confirmed by Knowledgeable Iraqi

(Haliburton experts in subterfuge, under the direction of Bush minion Rove are undoubtedly responsible for the tall tales of torture under the prior government.)

(CIA units undoubtedly tortured defendants behind the backs of U.S. Army guards.)

From a CNN article, Hussein: White House 'No. 1 liar in the world':

Hussein: White House 'No. 1 liar in the world' [/] After day of outbursts, the trial adjourns until January

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, which has fallen into a pattern of grim testimony interrupted by theatrical outbursts, adjourned Thursday for more than a month. [/] The trial resumes on January 24. [/] On Thursday, as in previous days, testimony about brutal treatment was interrupted by courtroom tirades by Hussein and his half brother.

Hussein charged Thursday that the Bush administration lied when it claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, just as it lied by disputing his claims of being beaten. [/] "The White House lies once more," Hussein said, "the No. 1 liar in the world. They said in Iraq, there is chemicals, and there is a relation to terrorism, and they announced later we couldn't find any of that in Iraq.

"Also, they said that what Saddam Hussein (said) was not true," he continued in an apparent reference to his claims Wednesday that he and all seven of his codefendants were beaten and tortured by their American captors. [/] Hussein: 'We don't lie'
"I have documented the injuries I had before three American medical teams," he said. [/] Hussein later appeared to waver, saying the medical teams numbered "two, for sure, unequivocally." He began to heal after eight months, he said, but bruises remain three years later. [/] "We don't lie," he said. "The White House lies."

Meanwhile, defense attorneys requested that the testimony of prosecution witnesses not be broadcast until all the witnesses have testified, saying they are watching each other's testimonies and repeating them. The court said it would consider that request.

Copying testimonies. Part of the Rove/Haliburton master plan undoubtedly.

A day of disruptions [/] Hussein and seven codefendants are charged with crimes against humanity, including the killings of 140 men and boys in the town of Dujail following a failed 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein there.

Note the date. Bush's father was Vice President. After serving as head of the CIA.

The trial went into a closed session Thursday at the end of an eventful day in which Hussein and his half brother, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti repeatedly disrupted the proceedings.

[…] Ranting about the food he is being served, Hassan said a New York Times magazine column mentioned that his ribs are showing because of weight loss.

[…] "This is not justice," Hassan declared. "This is not democracy." Asked to stop by prosecutors, Hassan said, "My talk is strengthening the court, and will give it credibility."

Courtroom fracas [/] At one point, a fracas erupted among Hassan, Hussein and prosecutors, prompted by Hussein's claim that a guard had been rude to him. "He acted without your orders, so he should be disciplined," Hussein said. "He is a small employee." The guard was removed from the courtroom.

Hussein also challenged the validity of a witness, the first of two to testify Thursday from behind a curtain to protect his identity. The witness said he was 8 years old at the time of the Dujail killings, but testified his father, his three uncles and his grandmother were arrested and imprisoned. [/] "She complained to us about what had happened to her," he said of his grandmother, who was released after four years. "They used to torture her before her children and they would torture her children before her. She said, 'They tortured us, and we did not know for what reason.' "

Defense attorneys and Hussein complained about the witness because he was a child at the time, was not arrested and did not see any torture or killings personally. [/] "His testimony is documented and accepted, and he's underage (at the time)?" Hussein asked. "This is something I would like to understand. Is this allowed? Is this permissible?"

Hussein claims he was beaten [/] On Wednesday, Hussein said his American captors beat him "on every part of my body and marks are still on top of my body and that was done by Americans," Hussein said. "Yes, we were beaten by the Americans, and we were tortured, everyone of us."

[…] Also on Wednesday, witness Ali Haj Hussein al-Haydari described more than four years of captivity and torture, and the execution of family members, including several brothers. His brother Hassan, who was among those killed, was one of six men who plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate Hussein. [/] More than 40 members of his family were taken into custody by government agents. Al-Haydari also talked of "walking through dead bodies" at the headquarters of the Baath Party, the ruling party during Hussein's regime.

Another witness said he was tortured three times with electric shocks during the initial 17-day period and beaten with cables during the time at Abu Ghraib. [/] "Even children were beaten with cables," he said. "Children died at Abu Ghraib."

CNN's Aneesh Raman contributed to this report [My ellipses and emphasis]

Haliburton experts in subterfuge, under the direction of Bush minion Rove are undoubtedly responsible for the tall tales of torture by the prior government of Iraq.

Special CIA operatives secretly placed in the prison where the defendents were held are undoubtedly responsible for the real and severe torture of the defendants. The regular guards, U.S, Army Military Police, were kept unaware of the torture.

And most certainly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XIII

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

** New York Times Wire Tap Crime Fibs Indefensible **

(Bush minion Rove undoubtedly responsible.)

From a Power Line article, A Colloquy With the Times :

December 21, 2005 [/] A Colloquy With the Times

Reporter Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times responded to the email I sent earlier today; we had the following exchange. [/] Me to Lichtblau:

Mr. Lichtblau, in your reporting in the Times you appear to have tried to create the impression that the NSA's overseas intercept program is, or may be, illegal. I believe that position is foreclosed by all applicable federal court precedents. I assume, for example, that you are aware of the November 2002 decision of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, in Sealed Case No. 02-001, where the court said:

"The Truong court [United States v. Truong Dinh Hung, 4th Cir. 1980], as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. *** We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."

In view of the controlling federal court precedents, I do not see how an argument can be made in good faith that there is any doubt about the NSA program's legality. Therefore, I wonder whether you are somehow unaware of the relevant case law. If you know of some authority to support your implication that the intercepts are or may be illegal, I would be interested to know what that authority is. If you are aware of no such authority, I think that a correction is in order. [/] Thank you.

Lichtblau to me:

You must not have read to the end of our original story last Friday. It quotes from the FISA appellate decision that you cite.

Me to Lichtblau:

That's great, but doesn't answer the question. It seems to me that the import of the Times' stories is to suggest that the NSA intercepts are, or may be, illegal. That implication is what gave your paper's reports the quality of a "scoop." Are you telling me that you knew all along that this wasn't true, and the intercepts are clearly legal? If not, what are you telling me? [/] Thanks for responding.

Lichtblau to me:

I'd refer you again to our story. There's an extensive section on the debate over whether the program was legal, including the FISA ruling you cite.

Me to Lichtblau:

Here's my problem with your coverage: as a legal matter, there isn't any debate. The authorities are all on one side; they agree that warrantless surveillance for national security purposes is legal. I think your articles misleadingly suggest that there is real uncertainty on this point, when there isn't. Thus, for example, you write:
Some officials familiar with it say they consider warrantless eavesdropping inside the United States to be unlawful and possibly unconstitutional, amounting to an improper search. One government official involved in the operation said he privately complained to a Congressional official about his doubts about the program's legality. But nothing came of his inquiry. "People just looked the other way because they didn't want to know what was going on," he said.

I don't think you should be quoting anonymous "officials" making incorrect assertions about legal issues, while not pointing out that their assertions are wrong. (I would also note that the NSA intercepts are not "inside the United States.") And I don't think that a partial sentence from one of the controlling decisions, buried at the end of a long article and not repeated in subsequent articles, removes the incorrect impression you convey that the NSA program is, in all likelihood, illegal. Also, with all due respect, I think your treatment of the 2002 FISA case is itself misleading. While you do quote part of the key sentence, you go on to suggest that the court left the issue in a state of ambiguity by writing:

But the same court suggested that national security interests should not be grounds "to jettison the Fourth Amendment requirements" protecting the rights of Americans against undue searches. The dividing line, the court acknowledged, "is a very difficult one to administer."

Those quotes had nothing to do with the court's recognition of the President's inherent power to surveil without a warrant to obtain foreign intelligence information, and did not in any way qualify the court's clear holding on that issue. You plucked them from another part of the opinion. The "dividing line" the court referred to was the "primary purpose" test that was established by the Truong decision and changed by Congress in the Patriot Act. The court noted that the "primary purpose" test was difficult to administer, which it saw as an argument in favor of the constitutionality of its revision by Congress. Contrary to the implication of your paragraph, this had nothing to do with the President's power to conduct warrantless surveillance.

In my opinion, you should not convey the impression to your readers that the NSA surveillance is likely illegal unless there is, at a minimum, a respectable argument, supported by legal authority, to that effect. Do you think there is such an argument? If so, what is it, and what is the authority? [/] Thanks again for responding.

Since I haven't heard from Mr. Lichtblau for some time, I'm going ahead and posting the discussion we've had so far. I hope that Mr. Lichtblau will respond to my criticisms of the Times' coverage in my last email; if so, I'll post his answer. In any event, we greatly appreciate his taking the time to engage us in this conversation.

Posted by John [Hinderaker] at 04:36 PM [My ellipses and emphasis]

There must be some evil influence at work to cause a distinguished journalist to write and a distinguished newspaper to print such obvious and outrageous fibs.

The machinations of Bush minion Karl Rove, undoubtedly.

It is most certainly All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XII

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers

Because of secret underhanded machinations by Bush minion Karl Rove, undoubtedly. And therefore It Is All Bush's Fault!

From a Chicago Sun Times article, Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers :

`Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers [/] December 18, 2005 [/] BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.

[…] Heigh-ho. The Iraq election's over, the media did their best to ignore it, and, judging from the rippling torsos I saw every time I switched on the TV, the press seem to reckon that that gay cowboy movie was the big geopolitical event of the last week, if not of all time. Yes, yes, I know: They're not, technically, cowboys, they're gay shepherds, but even Hollywood isn't crazy enough to think it can sell gay shepherds to the world. And the point is, even if I was in the mood for a story about two rugged insecure men who find themselves strangely attracted to each other in a dark transgressive relationship that breaks all the rules, who needs Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger when you've got Howard Dean and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi? Yee-haw! And, if that sounds unfair, pick almost any recent statement by a big-time Dem cowboy and tell me how exactly it would differ from the pep talks Zarqawi gives his dwindling band of head-hackers -- Dean arguing that America can't win in Iraq, Barbara Boxer demanding the troops begin withdrawing on Dec. 15, John Kerry accusing American soldiers of terrorizing Iraqi women and children, Jack Murtha declaring that the U.S. Army is utterly broken. Pepper 'em with a handful of "Praise be to Allahs" and any one of those statements could have been uttered by Zarqawi.

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire. It's not just that Iraq is going better than expected, but that it's a huge success that's being very deftly managed: The timeframe imposed on the democratic process turns out to have worked very well -- the transfer of sovereignty, the vote on a constitutional assembly, the ratification of the constitution, the vote for a legislature -- and, with the benefit of hindsight, it now looks like an ingeniously constructed way to bring the various parties on board in the right order: first the Kurds, then the Shia, now the Sunni. That doesn't leave many folks over on the other side except Zarqawi and Dean. What do the two have in common? They're both foreigners, neither of whom have the slightest interest in the Iraqi people.

And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them. Your party is regarded as unserious on national security because it got it wrong last time round, when Kerry spent the last half of the Cold War siding with every loser on the planet -- opposing the liberation of Grenada, supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And at least that little Sandinista guy looked awful cute in his fatigues, like a novelty houseboy Teresa picked up on vacation. It's hard to believe a bunch of crazy mullahs and suicide bombers are going to do much for the lefty T-shirt business.

George Clooney, the matinee idol, made an interesting point the other day. He said that "liberal" had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim "liberal" for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word "liberal" has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny. Yet, if you wandered the Internet on Thursday, you came across far too many "liberals" who watched the election, shrugged and went straight back to Valerie Plame, WMD, Bush lied.

Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers. That's what this is about: Millions of Kurds, Shia and Sunnis beaming as they emerge from polling stations and hold up their purple fingers after the freest, fairest election ever held in the Arab world. "Liberal" in the American sense is a dirty word because it's come to stand for a shriveled parochial obsolescent irrelevance, of which ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' Clooney's dreary little retread of the McCarthy years, is merely the latest example. (Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)

The Anglo-American political tradition is the most successful in the world in part because of the concept of "loyal opposition." Yes, the party out of office opposes the party in office and hopes to supplant it, but not at the expense of the broader political culture. A party that winds up cheerleading for a deranged loser death cult is the very definition of pointless self-defeating sour oppositionism. So, as Zarqawi flails, Dean and Murtha and Kerry flail ever more pathetically, too. Just wait till the WMD turn up. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Some of those whose bizarre behavior gains adverse attention claim that the use of metallic foil in a head covering will prevent malign transmissions from reaching the receivers secretly implanted in their brains.

But, whatever it is that is causing all this self-destructive behavior on the part of the media, party leaders, and George Clooney, It Is All Bush's Fault!

Warrentless Foreign Intelligence Searches Constitutional

From a Washington Times article, 'Warrantless' searches not unprecedented :

'Warrantless' searches not unprecedented [/] By Charles Hurt [/] THE WASHINGTON TIMES [/] Published December 22, 2005

Previous administrations, as well as the court that oversees national security cases, agreed with President Bush's position that a president legally may authorize searches without warrants in pursuit of foreign intelligence.

"The Department of Justice believes -- and the case law supports -- that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes and that the president may, as he has done, delegate this authority to the attorney general," Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick said in 1994 testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. [/] That same authority, she added, pertains to electronic surveillance such as wiretaps. [/] More recently, the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- the secretive judicial system that handles classified intelligence cases -- wrote in a declassified opinion that the court has long held "that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information."

[…] In a 2002 opinion about the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the USA Patriot Act, the court wrote: "We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power." [/] Indeed, previous administrations have used that same authority. [/] One of the most famous examples of warrantless searches in recent years was the investigation of CIA official Aldrich H. Ames, who ultimately pleaded guilty to spying for the former Soviet Union. That case was largely built upon secret searches of Ames' home and office in 1993, conducted without federal warrants.

In 1994, President Clinton expanded the use of warrantless searches to entirely domestic situations with no foreign intelligence value whatsoever. In a radio address promoting a crime-fighting bill, Mr. Clinton discussed a new policy to conduct warrantless searches in highly violent public housing projects. [/] Previous administrations also asserted the authority of the president to conduct searches in the interest of national security. [/] In 1978, for instance, Attorney General Griffin B. Bell testified before a federal judge about warrantless searches he and President Carter had authorized against two men suspected of spying on behalf of the Vietnam government.

That same year, Congress approved and Mr. Carter signed FISA, which created the secret court and required federal agents to get approval to conduct electronic surveillance in most foreign intelligence cases. [/] A Washington Post report at the time said the new FISA law permits "the government (primarily NSA with the occasional help of an FBI 'black bag job' or break-in) to continue electronic spying without a court order if it is directed solely at the premises or communications of 'official' powers, such as governments, factions or entities openly known to be directed and controlled by foreign governments."

The year after FISA became law, a columnist in The Washington Post described what could still happen to any person or group determined to be "an agent of a foreign power." [/] "Once the attorney general has made that finding about someone, then the FBI can spy on them or burglarize their offices," wrote William Greider in a May 1979 column.

The Bush administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill say terrorist cells in this country are precisely what those FISA loopholes were intended for, even if they don't represent a traditional enemy state. [/] "Following the 9/11 attacks, it was obvious that al Qaeda utilized high-tech communication systems and modified its communication methods to avoid surveillance," Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, said. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Bling Bling for the Common Person

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Okay to Build Artificial Life?

(See article below for details and vote in Forum Poll. Even "No comment" is counted.)

From a Globe and Mail article, Creating first synthetic life form :

Creating first synthetic life form By CAROLYN ABRAHAM [/] Monday, December 19, 2005 Posted at 2:49 AM EST [/] Globe and Mail Update

Work on the world's first human-made species is well under way at a research complex in Rockville, Md., and scientists in Canada have been quietly conducting experiments to help bring such a creature to life. [/] Robert Holt, head of sequencing for the Genome Science Centre at the University of British Columbia, is leading efforts at his Vancouver lab to play a key role in the production of the first synthetic life form -- a microbe made from scratch.

The project is being spearheaded by U.S. scientist Craig Venter, who gained fame in his former job as head of Celera Genomics, which completed a privately-owned map of the human genome in 2000. [/] Dr. Venter, 59, has since shifted his focus from determining the chemical sequences that encode life to trying to design and build it: "We're going from reading to writing the genetic code," he said in an interview.

The work is an extreme example of a burgeoning new field in science known as synthetic biology. It relies on advances in computer technology that permit the easy assembly of the chemical bits, known as nucleotides, that make up DNA. [/] Several scientific groups are trying to make genes that do not exist in nature, in hopes of constructing microbes that perform useful tasks, such as producing industrial chemicals, clean energy or drugs. Dr. Venter and his colleagues are pushing the technology to its limits by trying to put together an entirely synthetic genome. [/] "We have these genetic codes that we have been determining, so part of the proof [that they encode an organism] is reproducing the chromosome and seeing if it produces the same result," he said.

Government and scientific bodies in the U.S. have investigated safeguards for the new technology, given its potential to yield new pathogens as weapons of bioterror. Ethicists have raised concerns about humans altering the "nature of nature." [/] But proponents feel the many benefits of redesigning micro-organisms to do human bidding far outweigh the risks.

The Venter team is starting small, working to construct a simpler version of the bacteria known as Mycoplasma genitalium, a common resident of the human reproductive tract. They hope to determine the minimum number of genes required to breathe life into an organism.

(As Robin would say, "Holy artificial venereal disease, Batman!".)

[…] "I grew up doing that with cars and clocks and radios and things like that," Dr. Venter said. "You take them apart to understand them and then you try and see if you can reassemble them." [/] But even if the team can assemble all of the bug's 500,000 DNA chemicals (roughly 35,000 has been the record so far), no one knows if the organism will be viable. Will simply synthesizing a chemical sequence spark life? [/] "Nobody has ever done it before so absolutely it is a key hurdle," Dr. Venter said.

Dr. Holt, a Vancouver native who worked in the United States with Dr. Venter until 2002, described it as a "chicken and egg" problem."You need an egg to make the chicken, but you also need the chicken to make the egg," Dr. Holt said.

[…] "But the way biology works, you need the organism to make the genome."

Dr. Holt and his UBC group are tackling that very problem. [/] One option for sparking life in a lab-made genome, he explained, is to transplant the synthetic DNA into the shell of an existing microbe. But unlike a human cell, the genetic material of bacteria is not neatly contained in one nucleus that can be removed and simply replaced with another. [/] "Their chromosomal DNA is floating throughout the entire organism," Dr. Holt said. [/] So the Vancouver group is researching the use of high-voltage electricity to essentially zap open a host bacteria and slowly infuse it with small pieces of new DNA.

(Human cell is easier than bacteria. High voltage electricity is key. Baron Frankenstein could have told them that.)

Having launched a company called Synthetic Genomics, Dr. Venter believes "the whole world is open" in terms of the commercial applications of being able to build or redesign micro-organisms for specific tasks. [/] He insists the main goal of his project to build the first synthetic life form, however, is to understand the essence of life, how it evolved and the essential elements that sustain it. [/] […] "So if we ever have any hope of understanding our own genome, we need to start with something we can actually tear apart, break down and rebuild. So we're starting with a four-cylinder engine instead of a space shuttle."

Editor's Note: Globeandmail.com editors read and approve each comment. Comments are checked for content only, spelling and grammar errors are not corrected and comments that include vulgar language or libelous content are rejected. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Link to article with Globe and Mail reader comments.

What Has Barbie Done Wrong?

See article below for unexpected mutilation and destruction.

Please vote at Forum Poll. (Even "No comment" is counted.)

From a Breitbart AP article, :

Researchers Find Barbie Is Often Mutilated [/] By JILL LAWLESS [/] Associated Press Writer [/] Dec 19 2:37 PM US/Eastern

LONDON - Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics. "The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."

Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.

"The meaning of 'Barbie' went beyond an expressed antipathy; actual physical violence and torture towards the doll was repeatedly reported, quite gleefully, across age, school and gender," she said.

While boys often expressed nostalgia and affection toward Action Man _ the British equivalent of GI Joe _ renouncing Barbie appeared to be a rite of passage for many girls, Nairn said.

"The most readily expressed reason for rejecting Barbie was that she was babyish, and girls saw her as representing their younger childhood out of which they felt they had now grown," she said.

Nairn said many girls saw Barbie as an inanimate object rather than a treasured toy.

"Whilst for an adult the delight the child felt in breaking, mutilating and torturing their dolls is deeply disturbing, from the child's point of view they were simply being imaginative in disposing of an excessive commodity in the same way as one might crush cans for recycling," she said.

[…] Mattel U.K. said that despite the findings of "this very small group of children, we know that there are millions of girls in the U.K. and across the world that love and enjoy playing with Barbie and will continue to do so in the future." [My ellipses and emphasis]

Are Liberals Actually Bubbleheads?

See background article below and …

Vote your opinion in the Poll.

At least let your "No comment" be counted.

Background Article

From an American Thinker article, The Liberal Bubble :

The Liberal Bubble [by Thomas Lifson /] December 20th, 2005

To a remarkable degree, America’s liberal elites have constructed for themselves a comfortable, supportive, and self esteem-enhancing environment. The most prestigious and widest-reaching media outlets reinforce their views, rock stars and film makers provide lyrics and stories making their points, college professors tell them they are right, and the biggest foundations like Ford fund studies to prove them correct.

It has been a disaster for them.

American liberals are able to live their lives untroubled by what they regard as serious contrary opinion. The capture of the media, academic, and institutional high ground enables them to dismiss their conservative opponents as ill-informed, crude, bigoted, and evil. The memes are by now familiar. Rush Limbaugh and the other radio talkers “preach hate.” Evangelicals are “religious fanatics” comparable to the Islamo-fascists in their desire to impose “theocracy.” Catholics observant of the teachings of their church are “hypocrites” and their priests possible “pedophiles.” [ ] Jewish conservatives are members of the “neocon” cult, a suspicious lot schooled in the esoteric works of Leo Strauss.

Liberal elites tend to cluster themselves in the biggest cities, coastal blue states, and if marooned in a red state, liberal enclaves like Austin, Texas, Missoula, Montana, Lawrence, Kansas, and Moscow, Idaho. Ensconced in their turf, they feel free to utter casual epithets directed at the President, Republicans, or conservatives in general, as if no person worthy of respect would dare to disagree.

As a result, liberal discourse has become an in-group code, perfectly understandable and comforting among the elect, but increasingly disconnected from everyone else, and off-putting to those not included in the ranks of the in-group. Rather than focusing on facts, logic, and persuasion, liberals find it easier to employ labeling (“That’s racist!”) and airy dismissal of contrary views to sway their audience, and because their authority figures in the media and academia accept this behavior, they assume it is persuasive to the rest of us.

Even worse (for them), the self-reinforcement they experience in their geographical, academic and media strongholds encourages more and more extreme expression of their worldview. Within the in-group, such strong expression of group norms earns prestige. But to the rest of society it becomes stranger and stranger, until it becomes repellant.

[…] Last week’s catchword in the mainstream media’s ongoing campaign against President Bush was “bubble.” Newsweek pictured the Commander in Chief helplessly trapped inside a transparent sphere, and other journos and commentators joined the chorus, chanting that Bush is out of touch, speaking only to friendly group and relying on a tight circle of advisors where no diversity of opinion is tolerated.

While every President faces the danger of splendid isolation, and President Bush does indeed rely on the advice of a long-trusted inner group, there is more than a small dose of projection in this picture, coming from practitioners of in-group journalism. The liberal bubble, encompassing more than 90% of the education industry and all but a handful of big city newspapers and all three broadcast networks, dwarfs anything a conservative White House located in liberal-dominated Washington, DC could construct for itself.

[…] Rather than experiencing their isolation from the rest of us as “disorientation” – a state which connotes confusion and uncertainty – most liberals experience their differences with the rest of society as a sign of their advanced intelligence and consciousness. At best, they are perplexed at how long it is taking everyone else to catch-up with their enlightened state of understanding.

[…] The liberal establishment in the media remains strong, but it is a vestigial strength, weakening every year with the rise of talk radio, Fox News, and the blogosphere. Because the liberal media’s circulation and viewership still dwarfs that of the conservative alternatives, they can sell a vague image or storyline as long as the public isn’t paying close attention.

The biggest problem the inhabitants of the liberal bubble face now is that War on Terror is a compelling story, one that affects vital interests – like survival. Nobody wants to spend all day, every day worrying about survival, so there is room for vague images to gain a foothold, especially when there is at least some evidence to support it. Missteps like Abu Ghraib can be blown out of proportion to indict an entire military and administration.

But in the end, those outside the bubble notice other data points: election turnout, the prosecution of Abu Ghraib miscreants, and the overwhelming decency and superb behavior of our armed forces. And timely reminders of the stakes involved come up with regularity, often with tragic consequences from the victims of bombings and other terror tactics.

When the President launches a counter-offensive, focusing the public on the counter-arguments, the results are nearly immediate and dramatic.

In the end, the liberal bubble is a seductive delusion, one to which many liberals are addicted. Repeated failures to persuade the public to vote into power those politicians who agree with their political principles will not persuade many to venture outside the glossy confines. As result, expect the liberal spiral downward to increasingly resemble a vortex, leading to oblivion.

Thomas Lifson is the editor and publisher of The American Thinker. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Victory or Defeat

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion:

"his is a very simple, but ultimately accurate, reflection of a strain of so-called 'realist' thought that courses through the non-psycho criticisms of the Bush administration policy. We are under attack, according to this line of thinking, because we are being provocative towards our attackers.

'This,' Bush said, 'is not the threat I see.' The threat he sees is from a 'global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims.' The terrorists he fears 'view the world as a giant battlefield � and they seek to attack us wherever they can. . . . And if we were not fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Southeast Asia and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens. They would be on the offense, and headed our way.' After all, when we were attacked on 9/11, we were not in Afghanistan, or Iraq.

'My conviction comes down to this,' Bush said. 'We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.'

Thus, in a gesture rare for any president, did Bush fairly summarize criticism of his policy and then attempt to rebut it in a straightforward and humble fashion.

'I have heard your disagreement, and I know how deeply it is felt,' he said to his critics. 'Yet now there are only two options before our country � victory or defeat.' "

The Australian: Pope John Paul 1 'assassinated'

The Australian: Pope John Paul 1 'assassinated' [December 19, 2005]: "Pope John Paul 1 'assassinated'

December 19, 2005
LISBON: Pope John Paul I, who died from an apparent heart attack just 33 days after becoming pontiff in 1978, was assassinated because of his plans to radically reform the Catholic church, according to a novel to be published next year.

Portuguese author and scriptwriter Luis Miguel Rocha said he based The Last Pope on documents he obtained through an undisclosed Vatican source, which he will make public when the novel is published in April.
The novel puts the theory that John Paul I had become a threat because he was aware of money-laundering involving the Vatican Bank and also because of his plans to liberalise aspects of centuries-old church doctrine.
'He wanted to be the last wealthy pope. John Paul I wanted to redistribute the riches of the church, open the church to women and authorise the use of contraceptives,' said Rocha, 29, in a weekend interview.
The novel depicts the assassination of John Paul I as the result of a conspiracy involving top financial officials, several European governments and a Mafia group that counted top officials of the Roman Curia, including the pontiff's personal secretary, among its members. "

A War Without Heroes?

A War Without Heroes?:

"A War Without Heroes? \ Only if you're reading the mainstream media. \ by Fred Barnes \ 12/26/2005, Volume 011, Issue 15

DO YOU KNOW WHO PAUL Ray Smith is? If not, don't feel bad. Most Americans aren't familiar with Paul Ray Smith. He is the first and only soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage in the war in Iraq. Five days before Baghdad fell in April 2003, Sergeant Smith and his men were building a makeshift jail for captured Iraqi troops.
Surprised by 100 of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards, Smith and his men, some of them wounded, were pinned down and in danger of being overrun. Smith manned a 50-caliber machine gun atop a damaged armored vehicle. Exposed to enemy fire, he singlehandedly repelled the attack, allowing his men to scramble to safety. He killed as many as 50 of Saddam's elite soldiers and saved more than 100 American troops. Paul Ray Smith, 33, was killed by a shot to the head.
The war in Iraq is a war without heroes. There are no men--or women, for that matter--known to most Americans for their bravery in combat. There are no household names like Audie Murphy or Sgt. York or Arthur MacArthur or even Don Holleder, the West Point football star killed in Vietnam. When President Bush held a White House ceremony to award the Medal of Honor to Smith, posthumously, the TV networks and big newspapers reported the story. The coverage lasted one day. The story didn't have legs."

Instead of heroes, there are victims. The two most famous soldiers in the war are Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman (in Afghanistan). Lynch

was captured by Saddam's troops after her truck crashed. Stories of her heroism in a gun battle with Iraqis turned out to be false. She was rescued later from an Iraqi hospital. Tillman, who gave up a pro football career to join the Army, was killed by friendly fire. "The press made that a negative story, a scandal almost," says a Pentagon official.

It gets worse. In a study of over 1,300 reports broadcast on network news programs from January to September of this year, Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center found only eight stories of heroism or valor by American troops and nine of soldiers helping the Iraqi people. But there were 79 stories, Noyes said, "focused on allegations of combat mistakes or outright misconduct on the part of U.S. military personnel."

Who is responsible for the lack of heroes? The Pentagon bears some of the blame. "We could do a better job," says Larry Di Rita, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. But the fault lies mostly with the media. With the striking exception of CBS News, the media aren't interested in stories of heroism by Americans in Iraq.

And even when the media take an interest, it isn't always respectful. When CNN took up the medal awarded to Smith the day after the ceremony at the White House, here's how anchor Paula Zahn presented it:

"Time now for all of you to choose your favorite person of the day. Every day, you can vote on our website, cnn.com/paula. Today's choices: the mourners pouring into Rome, spending hours in line to pay their respects to the pope; Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Paul Smith for giving his life to save so many of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. And British prime minister Tony Blair, calling for a new election, even though his party has lost support in the polls."

At least Smith won. Zahn went on to describe his heroic act and call up soundbites from the president and Smith's widow. "His actions in that courtyard saved the lives of more than 100 American soldiers. Scripture tells us . . . that a man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends."

The New York Times took an odd approach to the Paul Ray Smith case. The nearer the awarding of the Medal of Honor came, the less coverage the Smith case got. It was as if the Times didn't want President Bush to get any credit for honoring Smith.

The day after the White House event, the Times put a picture of Smith on page A16 with a brief caption. True, the Times had run two earlier stories about Smith, one in 2003, the other earlier this year. The first was headlined: "The Struggle for Iraq: Casualties; Medals for His Valor, Ashes for His Wife." The second said Smith would get the Medal of Honor.

The back-page treatment of the award ceremony infuriated the White House. "We keep hearing how the people opposed to the war are not against the troops but only against the president," an official said. "Man wins the highest medal this nation offers--and you know how rare that is--and the Times does not think that is worth a full story and on page one. The Medal of Honor is not about the president. It is about the troops."

The media have no excuse for ignoring

heroism. "There's no dearth of opportunity there," says Di Rita. In Iraq and Afghanistan, American Marines alone have been awarded 8 Navy Crosses, 35 Silver Stars, 617 Bronze Stars with "V," 1,126 Bronze Stars, and 5,197 Purple Hearts.

For its part, the White House has made an effort to play up heroes. In his speeches on Iraq, the president frequently singles out soldiers and sailors. Last month in Annapolis, Bush cited Marine Corporal Jeff Starr, who had been killed in Ramadi. He left behind a message on his laptop and the president read a portion of it. "If you're reading this, then I've died in Iraq," he wrote. "I don't regret going. Everybody dies, but few get to do it for something as important as freedom."

Last July 4, Bush spoke at West Virginia University and mentioned two men who'd served in Iraq with the state's National Guard. One of them, Lieutenant James McCormick, had just written him a letter. "If needed, all of us would return and continue the mission," McCormick wrote. "It's a just and much needed fight."

Bill McGurn, the chief White House speechwriter, says the stories of heroism are easy to find. "There are gazillions of them," he says. "It's like dipping your hand in a barrel and pulling one out." And when the president mentions a brave American service man or woman, that person tends to get some press coverage, if only in a hometown paper.

There is an exception to the rule on heroes. Beginning in May 2004, CBS News began running a short feature on "fallen heroes" on its evening news show--every night. A few sentences touched on the life and death of a deceased soldier. Despite the name, however, these stories did not focus on heroism. Then on December 5, 2005, CBS revamped the feature and began calling it "American Heroes." The segment was expanded to include, as anchor Bob Schieffer put it, "not only those killed in the war zones, but also those who display exceptional courage on the battlefield and beyond."

On December 8, the hero was Gary Villalobos. He and his lieutenant were ambushed during a house-to-house hunt for enemy soldiers. The lieutenant was killed. Villalobos didn't retreat. He fought off insurgents and risked his life to protect a fellow soldier. In all, the CBS segment consisted of only 67 words--but words rarely spoken by the media.

The CBS feature, as admirable as it is, won't create national heroes. The segments are too short and involve a different person each night. For a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan to achieve national renown--to become a celebrity even--the media would have to dwell on his heroism. That didn't happen with Paul Ray Smith. So don't get your hopes up.

Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

Gateway Pundit: Will the Gray Lady Leakers Get Frog Marched to the Hoosegow?

Gateway Pundit: Will the Gray Lady Leakers Get Frog Marched to the Hoosegow?: "Observations of the World from the Heart of Jesusland!
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Will the Gray Lady Leakers Get Frog Marched to the Hoosegow?
After yesterdays high fives and back slaps, the mood at the New York Times was not so jolly today after about, oh, 10:06 AM, when GW talked about how he really feels about the latest national security leak reported in yesterday's edition:


'This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country. ' "

Impeach the New York Times

Senator Accuses Times of Endangering U.S. - Yahoo! News: "Senator Accuses Times of Endangering U.S. Sat Dec 17,10:15 PM ET


WASHINGTON - A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants.
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'At least two senators that I heard with my own ears cited this as a reason why they decided to vote to not allow a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Patriot Act,' said Republican Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record) of Texas. 'Well, as it turns out the author of this article turned in a book three months ago and the paper, The New York Times, failed to reveal that the urgent story was tied to a book release and its sale by its author.'"

Teens Arrested in Alleged Massacre Plot

Teens Arrested in Alleged Massacre Plot - Yahoo! News:

LANCASTER, Calif. - Two teenagers were in custody for allegedly plotting to carry out a Columbine-like massacre at their former high school next Valentine's Day, authorities said.

The former Quartz Hill High students, whose names were not released, were arrested Thursday after searches of their homes turned up knives, ammunition, a gas mask and bomb-making instructions downloaded from the Internet, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

[...] The boys, ages 17 and 15, had been transferred from Quartz Hill to other schools for disciplinary reasons, authorities said.
Brown said an investigation began Wednesday when a student contacted the school's vice principal and said the former classmates were planning a 'Columbine-style assault' on the campus. The student said she had learned about it second-hand.
The boys told investigators that they planned to kill Quartz Hill students who had made fun of them, using guns and homemade explosives, then commit suicide, Brown said.

[...] On Friday, deputies at the sheriff's station in Lancaster displayed a page from the 15-year-old's notebook with the scrawled message: "When I'm God, everyone dies."

The notebook was accompanied by a three-ring binder with pictures of Columbine High School killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and murderer Charles Manson.

Deputies said they found a black trench coat at one boy's home, possibly to be used in imitation of the similarly-dressed Columbine killers, and the 15-year-old boy had carved the word "hate" into his forearm, authorities alleged.

Unhappily Married Happier Than Most

Cornell University study: "Married people had the highest sense of well-being, whether they were happily married or not."

From a Yahoo! Health News article, Married People Happier Than Others :

Married People Happier Than Others [/] Yahoo! Health: Relationships News [/] December 13, 2005 08:41:16 PM PST

TUESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Women and men in committed relationships are happier than other people, claims a Cornell University study. [/] Researchers analyzed information collected from 691 people and found that the stronger the commitment, the greater the sense of happiness and well-being. [/] Married people had the highest sense of well-being, whether they were happily married or not. Next on the scale of happiness and well-being were people who were living together, followed by people in steady relationships and those in casual relationships. [/] The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

"Some commitment appears to be good, but more commitment appears to be even better," study author Claire Kamp Dush, a postdoctoral fellow with the Evolving Family Theme Project of the Institute for Social Sciences at Cornell, said in a prepared statement. [/] The finding that even people in unhappy marriages had a high sense of well-being and happiness may be due to the benefits they derive from the stability, commitment and social status of marriage, Kamp Dush said.

"Even when controlling for relationship happiness, being married is associated with higher self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, greater happiness and less distress, whereas people who are not in stable romantic relationships tend to report lower self-esteem, less life satisfaction, less happiness and more distress," she said. [/] Studying romantic relationships is important because these relationships can affect people's mental and physical health, sexuality and financial status, Kamp Dush noted.

More information: The U.S. Administration for Children and Families outlines the benefits of a healthy marriage . [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XI

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From a Yahoo! Reuters article, With delight and fervor, Iraqis cast ballots :

With delight and fervor, Iraqis cast ballots[!] [/] Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:30 AM ET [/] By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - There may not be the same sense of history this time round, but the joy and determination of Iraqi voters emerging from dictatorship is still evident.

Young and old, able-bodied and infirm, they streamed to polls for the third time in 11 months on Thursday, this time to elect a four-year parliament.

While not as novel as the first post-Saddam Hussein election in January, participation was more widespread. Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the earlier poll for an interim assembly, flocked to vote this time, determined not to miss out on power again.

"I'm delighted to be voting for the first time," said 21-year-old driver Jamal Mahmoud in Ramadi, a Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad that has been at the front line of the anti-American insurgency for the past two years.

[...] "Ballot boxes are a victory of democracy over dictatorship," said Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari capturing something of the moment as he cast his vote in the protected Green Zone. [/] "The real triumph is that people are casting ballots, whoever they choose, and that they've chosen voting over bombs."

[...] Hussein Garmiyani, a Kurd dressed in traditional clothing, was an early voter in the Shorja district. He jabbed his finger with a pin and cast his ballot in blood. [/] "I was a victim of the Anfal campaign," he said, referring to Saddam's purge of the Kurds in the 1980s. "These past years were years of blood and I signed for freedom with my blood."

This is, of course, self-mutilation. And it is also All Bush's Fault!

[…] "We have huge numbers of voters waiting at stations, but we don't have enough ballot papers," said Najib Mahmood, an official with the Electoral Commission in Falluja. [/] Earlier, some Falluja residents had complained that voting stations were too far away from their homes, so the Electoral Commission laid on cars for those unable to walk. [/] "The problem is, we don't have enough cars to cope with number of voters," said Mahmood, describing a complete turnaround in sentiment from January, when just two percent of those registered in Anbar province cast ballots.

Not enough ballots! Not enough cars! It is very evident that It Is All Bush's Fault!

[…] "This is a day of freedom for us," said Selima Khalif, an elderly woman. "We are so happy. The most important thing we need is security. We want our children to get a better life."

Families walked together to vote with her, and others came on bicycles, keen to make their ballots count. [My ellipses and emphasis]

But, of course, all this euphoria will fade eventually and it will be plain to all that It Is All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - X

Labor Department reports that consumer prices plunged by 0.6 percent in November, the largest decline in more than a half-century

- Drudge Report Front Page Flash News.

14-Day Plan Improves Memory - Yahoo! News

14-Day Plan Improves Memory - Yahoo! News

14-Day Plan Improves Memory Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
Tue Dec 13,10:00 AM ET



It sounds like an infomercial from late-night TV: Follow this four-step plan and improve your memory in just 14 days!

ADVERTISEMENT




But researchers have indeed found a way to improve memory function in older people. After a two-week study that involved brainteasers, exercise and diet changes, study participants' memories worked more efficiently.


Here's the program:


Memory Training: Brainteasers, crossword puzzles and memory exercises that emphasized verbal skills throughout the day.


Healthy Diet: Five meals daily included a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fats, whole grains and antioxidants. Eating frequent meals prevents dips in blood glucose, the primary energy source for the brain.


Physical Fitness: Brisk daily walks and stretching. Physical fitness has been found in other research to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.


Stress Reduction: Stretching and relaxation exercises. Stress causes the body to release cortisol, which can impair memory and has been found to shrink the memory centers in the brain.


Before-and-after brain scans showed the participants experienced on average a five percent decrease in brain metabolism in the dorsal lateral prefrontal region of the brain, which is directly linked to working memory and other cognitive functions. This suggests they were using their brains more efficiently. The subjects also performed better on a cognitive test.


A control group that didn't follow the plan showed no significant changes.


"We've known for years that diet and exercise can help people maintain their physical health, which is a key component of healthy aging," said Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences UCLA. "But maintaining mental health is just as important. Now we have evidence which suggests that people can preserve their memory by adding memory exercises and stress reduction to this routine."

Some Imagination! How Memory Fails Us
Happiness in Old Age Depends on Attitude
Chronic Pain Shrinks People's Brains
Marital Spats Slow Healing of Wounds

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