There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that the media have largely missed and, thus, of which the American people are almost completely unaware. For that matter, few within the government who were not directly involved are aware either. The first of these is the utter incompetence of the battlefield vetting in Afghanistan during the early stages of the U.S. operations there. Simply stated, no meaningful attempt at discrimination was made in-country by competent officials, civilian or military, as to who we were transporting to Cuba for detention and interrogation. This was a factor of having too few troops in the combat zone, of the troops and civilians who were there having too few people trained and skilled in such vetting, and of the incredible pressure coming down from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others to ‘just get the bastards to the interrogators’. It did not help that poor U.S. policies such as bounty-hunting, a weak understanding of cultural tendencies, and an utter disregard for the fundamentals of jurisprudence prevailed as well (no blame in the latter realm should accrue to combat soldiers as this it not […]
YAOUNDE Cameroon — The Vatican on Wednesday defended Pope Benedict’s opposition to the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as activists, doctors and politicians criticised it as unrealistic, unscientific and dangerous. Benedict, arriving in Africa, said on Tuesday that condoms ‘increase the problem’ of AIDS. The comment, made to reporters aboard his plane, caused a worldwide firestorm of criticism. ‘My reaction is that this represents a major step backwards in terms of global health education, is entirely counter-productive, and is likely to lead to increases in HIV infection in Africa and elsewhere,’ said Prof Quentin Sattentau, Professor of Immunology at Britain’s Oxford University. ‘There is a large body of published evidence demonstrating that condom use reduces the risk of acquiring HIV infection, but does not lead to increased sexual activity,’ he said. The Church teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage and abstinence are the best ways to stop AIDS. Asked about the criticism, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope was ‘maintaining the position of his predecessors’. The Vatican also says condoms can also lead to risky behaviour but many contest that view. Kevin De Cock, director of the […]
More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than in any other year in American history, according to preliminary data reported Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 4,317,000 births in 2007 just edged out the figure for 1957, at the height of the baby boom. The increase reflected a slight rise in childbearing by women of all ages, including those in their 30s and 40s, and a record share of births to unmarried women. But in contrast with the culturally transforming postwar boom, when a smaller population of women bore an average of three or four children, the recent increase mainly reflects a larger population of women of childbearing age, said Stephanie J. Ventura, chief of reproductive statistics at the center and an author of the new report. Today, the average woman has 2.1 children. Also in 2007, for the second straight year and in a trend health officials find worrisome, the rate of births to teenagers rose slightly after declining by one-third from 1991 to 2005. ‘The 14 years with teenage birth rates going down was one of the great success stories in public health, and it’s possible that it’s […]
Two Michigan entrepreneurs say they plan to begin putting thousands of people to work in the wind energy industry this summer. Global Wind Systems Inc. says it will employ 300 at its Novi assembly operations by this fall, building the central hubs of huge 1.5 megawatt wind turbines. CEO Chris Long likens the hubs to ’70-ton school buses in shape and size. Meanwhile, Gilbert Borman and his Borman Holdings LLC hope to act as a supplier of gears to Global Wind Systems. The dirty little secret of today’s rapidly growing American wind power industry is that virtually all of its hardware is imported from Europe, which has been pursuing wind power for 30 years now. Long and Borman aim to change that, with the enthusiastic support of state officials like Stanley ‘Skip Pruss, director and chief energy officer of the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. Long said Michigan’s long legacy manufacturing expertise gives it substantial advantages in wind turbine manufacturing, and global demand is astounding. Long said current industry figures show a global market for one 1.5 megawatt wind turbine to be built every 20 minutes, but […]
The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system. The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a ‘superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community,’ the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site. The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries. The Kremlin has persistently criticized the dollar’s status as the dominant global reserve currency and has lowered its own dollar holdings in the last few years. Both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have repeatedly called for the ruble to be used as a regional reserve currency, although the idea has received little support outside of Russia. Analysts said the new Kremlin proposal would elicit little excitement among the G20 members. ‘This is all in the realm of fantasy,’ said […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
