Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

And here is some real surprising news .....

"Studies: Too Much TV May Inhibit Learning"

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

Tue Jul 5, 7:16 AM ET

CHICAGO - Too much TV-watching can harm children's ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, three new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on kids.

Critics faulted the research for not adequately considering the content of the TV watched, but experts said it bolsters advice that children shouldn't have TVs in their rooms.

The separate findings were published Monday in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

One of the studies involved nearly 400 northern California third-graders.

Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedroom TVs.

A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 adults in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood.

A third study, based on nationally representative data on nearly 1,800 U.S. children, found that those who watched more than three hours of television daily before age 3 scored slightly worse on academic and intelligence tests at ages 6 and 7 than youngsters who watched less TV.

The effect was only modest but still worrisome, said co-author Frederick Zimmerman, a researcher at the University of Washington.

The studies took into account other factors that might have influenced the outcome, such as household income.

But they largely ignored other research that "found positive associations between children's educational TV viewing and subsequent academic achievement," according to an Archives editorial.

"Reliable and valid estimates of viewing, including content-based measures, are critical to our understanding of the effects of TV on young children, especially children younger than age 2 years," the editorial said.

Previous research has linked television exposure in young children with attention problems and difficulty learning to read.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that youngsters under age 2 not watch any television, that older children watch no more than two hours daily of "quality" programming, and that televisions be kept out of children's bedrooms.

Recent data suggest, however, that U.S. youngsters from infancy to age 6 watch an average of one hour of TV daily, and that 8-to-18-year-olds watch an average of three hours daily.

John Wilson, senior vice president of programming at PBS, released a statement saying that other studies have shown that the Public Broadcasting Service's children's programs, which include "Sesame Street," can benefit child development.

"As overall media usage increases among young children ... further research and study on media's impact on child development is needed," Wilson said.

The New Zealand study led by Dr. Robert Hancox of the University of Otago in Dunedin acknowledged that the results don't prove that TV is the culprit and don't rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters may watch lots of TV.

But the authors said they don't think that explains their results.

Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages 5 and 15.

Participants with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2 1/2 hours for those who had no education beyond high school.

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest, according to researchers Dina Borzekowski of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Dr. Thomas Robinson of Stanford University.

"While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating data that kids shouldn't have TVs in their bedrooms," Robinson said.
___

On the Net:

Archives: http://www.archpediatrics.com

[jeffmoskin]

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest, according to researchers Dina Borzekowski of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Dr. Thomas Robinson of Stanford University.

Another brilliant study. Sure hope it was funded with public money.

The cock crows, and then the sun rises.

If the cock fails to crow, will the sun fail to rise?

[Livyjr]

Another brilliant study.

Sure hope it was funded with public money.

The cock crows, and then the sun rises.

If the cock fails to crow, will the sun fail to rise?

Uh, hhhhmmmm!

Hmmmm, let's see .....

If the cock does crow, and then the sun does rise, well, that sure would seem to be cause and effect to me, alright, and so .....

So, if you didn't feel like going in to the office that day, because you wanted to play hookey and get some extra sleep, well, just put a bag over the cock's head that morning, and then he won't crow, and then, you get to sleep in!

[Livyjr]

"Flood of questions after dam's failure - Power, houses and highways are casualties as Pataki declares state of emergency" 
 
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
First published: Monday, July 4, 2005

FORT ANN -- As day broke over the aftermath of the catastrophic dam breach that sent millions of gallons of water gushing through residential neighborhoods here, officials began to cobble together what caused the massive collapse of the 2-month-old dam that, incredibly, killed no one.

By day's end Sunday, dozens of officials, including Gov. George Pataki's chief of staff, had come to survey the devastation in this Washington County community about 60 miles northeast of Albany.

But there was no word on what caused the earthen, cement and steel bulwark to wash away, taking homes and roads with it.

"Tropical Storm Cindy Prompts Precautions"

2 hours, 27 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - Scattered rain spread into the Gulf Coast states on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Cindy strengthened and headed toward land, and communities and oil companies started taking precautions.

A second weather system was gaining tropical storm strength in the Caribbean and forecasters warned it could hit Florida later in the week.

Cindy, which had crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a tropical depression, reached tropical storm strength early Tuesday and by early afternoon had sustained wind of around 60 mph.

The second storm became Tropical Storm Dennis as it developed wind of 40 mph.

The minimum for a tropical storm is 39 mph.

Cindy could strengthen further before its center reaches the coast late Tuesday or early Wednesday, but it is not expected to become a hurricane, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A tropical storm warning was posted from Intracoastal City, La., to the Florida Panhandle town of Destin.

The main danger would be if Cindy stalls along the coast, dumping heavy rain over a small area for an extended period, said sheriff's Capt. Mike Sanders in coastal St. Bernard Parish.

Officials of Louisiana's coastal Lafourche Parish called for a voluntary evacuation of the lower portion of the parish outside of storm protection levees.

Water levels were lowered about a foot in canals along part of the Louisiana coast in anticipation of high water, and the barrier island town of Grand Isle, a popular fishing spot, ordered all recreational vehicles removed to get the big, slow machines out of the way in case evacuations are needed.

In Mississippi's coastal Hancock County, jail inmates filled sandbags for distribution to flood-prone areas, said Dee Lumpkin of the county's Emergency Operations Center.

Shell Oil Co. said 56 people were evacuated from offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and Chevron Texaco said it had started evacuations.

Shell said on its Web site that production was not affected.

At 2 p.m. EDT, Cindy was centered 125 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving north at about 14 mph, with a gradual turn expected toward the northeast.

Tropical storm-force wind and rain extended up to 105 miles to the east of its center.

Dennis was centered about 335 miles south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moving west-northwest at about 20 mph.

It was on track to reach Haiti on Wednesday and South Florida on Friday, said hurricane center meteorologist Trisha Wallace.

Tropical storm watches were posted for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Dora in the Pacific was moving toward Mexico's southwest coast.

It had maximum sustained wind of 40 mph and meteorologists did not expect it to strengthen significantly.
___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

[Livyjr]

Well, another flood watch for us up here, too, in the Capital District area of the corrupt EMPIRE of New York!

I was going to say "state" of New York, but I don't think it is a mere state, anymore, and so, I called it by what it is ....

Had some thunder boomers out prowling around a bit before, and there was one tremendous bang of thunder, like a bomb exploding, but not a lot of rain, where I was anyway!

Four o'clock this afternoon until four o'clock tomarrow is what the flood watch covers, and where the heavy rain is forecast, up to a couple on inches, is to the north of me, where they have already suffered quite a bit of damage from all the rain, some of which cut the Adirondack Northway, north of Albany, and so closed that road for some days, while a Herculean effort was made around the clock to get it back open again, until the next time!

Tropical air in the mountains of New York!

What's next?

Dinosaurs?

[Livyjr]

"Police Scuffle With Protesters Before G-8"

By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Police scuffled with black-clad anarchists and antiglobalization protesters Monday in the streets of Edinburgh, and 450 demonstrators sat down in the road blocking an entrance to a naval base for nuclear submarines.

"It is vitally important that people make the link between the industrial war machine and the poverty that so many people are suffering from around the world," said protester Jenny Gaiawyn, 26.

There was also a standoff in Edinburgh near the Sir Walter Scott monument where riot police stood three-deep to stop a mix of about 150 clowns, anarchists and local people.

end quotes

I don't know about anyone else, but those clowns sure do scare me!

Pretty heavy duty TAY-RIZM when they bring in the clowns ......

"Activists Pressure World Leaders at G-8"

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer

24 minutes ago

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Activists kept up pressure on leaders of the world's richest nations Tuesday to lift Africa out of poverty, but Britain's Treasury chief said those who believe human misery can be eliminated "with the stroke of a pen" may be disappointed by the results of this week's G-8 summit.

As Irish singer Bob Geldof — energized by his Live 8 concerts' success — joined the demonstrators in Scotland, police warned they will crack down on any further violence by anarchists and others bent on spoiling the summit.

About 100 arrested during clashes a day earlier appeared in court Tuesday.

The Make Poverty History campaign launched around the summit has been endorsed by the Dalai Lama, Pope Benedict XVI and Nelson Mandela, along with scores of others around the world.

They have something of an ally in British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the G-8 presidency and hosts the three-day summit opening Wednesday at nearby Gleneagles.

He has made Africa and climate change the central themes of Britain's G-8 presidency, and he describes global warming as "probably the most serious threat we face."

Blair, who has been battered domestically over his support for the Iraq war, has pressed those two issues with such zeal that the increasingly chaotic situation in Iraq has all but disappeared from the summit's agenda.

Yet that by no means guarantees a summit free of acrimony.

At the heart of Blair's difficulties may be that his closest ally, President Bush, does not share the ambitious goals he has set for the summit.

Although the leaders appear ready to wipe out $40 billion worth of debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries, Bush has not accepted Blair's call for a massive increase in aid to Africa and seems unlikely to back British ideas about urgent action on climate control.

An additional complication is the lingering bad blood between Britain and European Union heavyweights France and Germany over a ferocious dispute about spending at last month's EU summit.

In the background, there are the protesters — who find themselves in the unusual situation of being at least theoretically in agreement with the host government, and whose protests to date have not been very violent.

But some of the protesters are anarchists opposed to the G-8 in principle, and they could yet explode in anger.

There are fears they may try to stop leaders from getting to the elegant Gleneagles golf resort where the summit is being held, or even try to breach the tightly protected five-mile security perimeter.

Geldof said Britain was pushing hard for a deal to help Africa, but sounded pessimistic.

"I am not sure the others want to do it, which will be a grotesque failure," Geldof said.

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who has worked closely with Geldof, U2's Bono and other campaign leaders, said he has warned them to temper their expectations.

"I know that what you will say is that what we can achieve is perhaps not good enough, but we have got to bring the whole of the world together," Brown, in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. television, said he told Make Poverty History organizers.

"What Britain says is one thing, (and) what we can persuade the rest of the world to do together is what we will get as the outcome of Gleneagles."

In addition to the proposal to double aid for Africa by 2010, Blair's Commission for Africa has also recommended a second $25 billion increase in aid to Africa, to $75 `billion annually, by 2015.

Oxfam, the British relief agency, said Tuesday that children would die without swifter action.

"2010 will be five years too late for the 55 million children who will die waiting for the world's richest leaders to deliver on their promises," said Jo Leadbeater of Oxfam.

But Bush has rejected the British targets, saying he could not commit a future U.S. administration to meeting them.

His administration boasts that aid to Africa has tripled since Bush took office in 2001, and that it plans to double the 2004 level to $8.6 billion by 2010.

Bush has sought $15 billion over five years to combat AIDS, mostly in Africa, and last week called for spending $1.2 billion to cut malaria deaths in half by 2010 in Africa.

Since the 1960s, however, the United Nations has called for rich countries to increase aid to 0.7 percent of their national incomes.

U.S. spending now is at 0.17 percent, lagging behind the Europeans.

"So far France is in the lead, saying they will reach the 0.7 percent target by 2012, followed by the U.K. with 2013, and Germany and Italy with 2015," Leadbeater said.

"Canada, the U.S. and Japan aren't even at the starting line."

Brown spoke of his frustration on the issue.

"It makes you angry because there's nothing in science or technology or medicine that should prevent us from tackling poverty," he said.

"It's a lack of political will."

[lazyboy]

Promised aid does not always get realized, and when it does it probably goes to the corrupt officials on the way. I heard that the starving Africans get an eighth of what they are actually supposed to receive. I am against aid, and because we should not be lending to poor countries AT LARGE INTEREST RATES, I am against loans, and because of that debt relief is really not of much interest to me because it is just whitewashing the bad governments of the African countries involved. The only thing I think will save these countries is fair trade. We should stop our subsidies to our large corporate agriculture (my term for huge farm owners). Then perhaps spend that money on paying the real prices of products from Africa, instead of a price that is fixed by the World Bank by getting Africans to overproduce one product.

In Britain supermarkets have Fair Trade sections. I believe this is beginning in America too. Also I was in a church in my home city and they had sectioned off a large portion of the back of the church for a Fair Trade shop, open daily and selling a large variety of Fair Trade products.

[Livyjr]

The only thing I think will save these countries is fair trade. 

The only thing that will save those countries is the people in them, as far as I can see!

And if they don't feel like doing that, then they are gone!

There have been people in Africa since time immemorial, and for most of that time, they didn't need any saving from anyone, and maybe a lot of their problems now come from too many people trying to save them, when their own houses are not in order.

As to fair trade, that is a joke, by and large, for several reasons, chief of which is that trade has never been fair.

Look in the dictionary for words like "rapacious"!

Why do words like this exist?

Isn't it because that which they describe pre-exists the word?

And if Africa is some thousands of miles away from me, and separated by an ocean, how is it that I am going to trade with some African, fairly or not?

For a really good look at what I call the "insanity factor" that is presently at work down here on this earth of ours, try the book "The Sword and the Cross" by Fergus Fleming which is about the competition between bloody England and stupid France over who would own all of Africa, including the Sahara Desert, which the French were sure they could put to productive use, if they could but conquer it and its indigenous nomadic peoples.

For another illuminating book about this region, try "The River Wars" by none other than Winston Churchill, who served in the Sudan as a young officer in the British military, and so, had first hand experience in that area of the world.

It gives one some perspective as to how long the "troubles" in that part of the world have been going on now, which is a lot longer than I have been alive, and that is for sure.

And you are right about this "aid" business, which is exactly what it is, a business like any other, and so, the game is about money!

The "aid" part is just the advertising that brings in more money.

Does anyone ever get helped by any of it?

Who knows?

I know I don't and that is that!

And if it is like up here, where I am, in one of the top ten corrupt states in America, and maybe the world, as well, it just goes to line pockets, where the possessor of the pocket has previously insured that they will then "kick-back" some of the money to the party in power, for making sure their name is on the right list, instead of the "blacklist".

[Livyjr]

Look in the dictionary for words like "rapacious"!

Why do words like this exist?

"Leaders to Begin Arriving at G-8 Summit"

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

1 hour, 4 minutes ago

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - Compromise appeared within reach on Wednesday among the world's most industrialized nations on relieving Africa's crushing poverty and combating global warming.

President Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight nations were to begin arriving at this posh golf resort.

Their three days of annual discussions were beginning over dinner at the Gleneagles hotel.

Protesters who have vowed to disrupt the summit were already in place.

A group of about 100 activists smashed car windows, threw rocks and attempted to blockade one of the main roads leading to this luxury resort, prompting police to call off a protest march in a nearby village on the grounds public safety could not be guaranteed.

Police with armor, helmets and shields formed a chain across the closed main highway to Gleneagles from the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

Leaders' aides, meanwhile, met behind closed doors on the two issues British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made the main focus of this year's summit.

Bush cleared the way for one compromise when he pledged last week to double U.S. support for Africa to more than $8.6 billion by 2010, up from the $4.3 billion the United States provided last year.

That amount wouldn't nearly meet Blair's target for summit nations to increase Africa aid to 0.7 percent of their gross national product, but still would be far higher than any previous U.S. administration's commitment.

Bush, stopping in Denmark on the way to Scotland, warned that he would emphasize the need for African nations to commit to good governance.

"I don't know how we can look our taxpayers in the eye and say, this is a good deal to give money to countries that are corrupt," he said.

"What we're interested in ... is helping people and, therefore, we have said that well give aid, absolutely, well cancel debt, you bet."

"But we want to make sure that the governments invest in their people, invest in the health of their people, the education of their people and fight corruption."

Compromise has proven even tougher on Blair's other key issue, developing a plan to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, with U.S. officials lobbying behind the scenes against setting any specific goals or timetables for emission reductions as called for in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Sir Michael Jay, Blair's representative in the discussions, called the negotiations "pretty intense."

He predicted the G-8 would reach an accord that recognized the problem and the need to combat it.

The United States is the only G-8 country that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States has been at odds with most of the other nations regarding global warming, saying further study is needed about scientific findings on climate change.

Bush said in Denmark that "the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem."

However, he made plain that mandatory targets are off the table.

He referred repeatedly to the Kyoto treaty in the past tense, even though it took effect in February, and said the goal for his plan is to control greenhouse gases merely "as best as possible."

Bush said he "can't wait" to talk with summit colleagues about the United States' alternative proposed approach, which stresses spreading clean-energy technologies to both developed and developing nations.

"I think there's a better way forward," Bush said.

"I would call it the post-Kyoto era, where we can work together to share technologies."

Blair was expected to try to salvage the climate change issue by shifting debate away from disagreements with the United States and toward gaining support for emission controls in China.

The country's surging economy has made it the world's second biggest producer of greenhouse gases after the United States.

In addition to boosting aid for Africa, the G-8 leaders were expected to endorse a deal their finance ministers reached in June to wipe out $40 billion in debt that 18 poor countries — 14 of them in Africa — owe international lending agencies including the World Bank.

Blair also was pushing the rich nations to reach agreement on cutting the farm subsidies that they give their farmers but which depress imports from poor nations.

Bush has said the best way to deal with agricultural subsidies is for Europe and the United States to jointly agree to get rid of them through the Doha Round of global trade talks.

This year's G-8 talks at an 850-acre resort marked the third consecutive summit held at remote, sealed-off locales.

Those decisions followed the 2001 summit in Genoa, Italy, when hundreds of thousands of protesters clashed violently with police.

In addition to the two key issues Blair selected, the discussions are expected to cover the world's political hot spots, from Iraq to the Middle East peace process and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Energy was also expected to occupy discussion time as leaders grapple with ways to halt a surge that has pushed global oil prices to unprecedented heights, briefly topping $60 per barrel, and threatening to slow the global economy.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and the leaders of India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa will meet with the G-8 on Thursday while leaders of several African countries will hold talks with the leaders on Friday.

The G-8 comprises the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
___

On the Net:

U.S. on G-8: http://usinfo.org/usia/usinfo.state.gov/to...oup8/g8what.htm

Answers.com on G-8: http://www.answers.com/topic/g8-1

Gleneagles Hotel: http://www.gleneagles.com

[Livyjr]

Well, another flood watch for us up here, too, in the Capital District area of the corrupt EMPIRE of New York!

I was going to say "state" of New York, but I don't think it is a mere state, anymore, and so, I called it by what it is ....

Tropical air in the mountains of New York!

What's next?

Dinosaurs?

2.1 inches of rain up here last night, which is a new record!

And it's barely into July!

In the meantime .......

"Miss. Braces for Rain From Tropical Storm"

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 50 minutes ago

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - Residents prepared for possible flooding as a weakening Tropical Storm Cindy headed toward the Mississippi Gulf Coast early Wednesday after pelting the Louisiana shores with squalls of heavy rain and wind.

With up to 10 inches of rain possible, authorities cautioned people in low-lying areas to be ready to evacuate if necessary.

A pre-emptive state of emergency was declared by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour for coastal and southern counties.

Cindy's maximum sustained winds reached 70 mph Tuesday, but emergency officials in Mississippi said they were bracing for a slightly weakened system with winds up to 60 mph Wednesday.

Most people along the coast were taking the storm in stride.

"When the birds leave, then we've got a problem," said Barbara Blanchard, who lives with her husband, Don, in a home raised 8 feet off the ground in Bay St. Louis.

"The birds aren't worried."

"The pressure must not be dropping," her husband added.

Nevertheless, the couple had placed a supply of sand bags around a patio and workshop beneath their house.

Fishermen worked to tie down their boats along the coast where tides were expected to rise several feet, putting stress on ropes and moorings.

"I've got three boats and three headaches," said John Livings, a shrimp and oyster fisherman in Pass Christian.

Meanwhile, a second tropical storm named Dennis was brewing in the Caribbean and was expected to arrive in the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend.

Dennis was moving west-northwest at about 16 mph and was centered about 275 miles southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, early Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Livings said he was eyeing Dennis on the horizon.

"A rough week or two added on a rough shrimp season," he said.

Tropical Storms Cindy and Dennis are the third and fourth named storms of the Atlantic hurricane season.

July 5 is the earliest date on record for four named storms, and worries about the already active season helped send oil prices climbing briefly past $60 a barrel Tuesday.

A survey of oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico found that 23 petroleum production platforms and six drilling rigs had been evacuated, interrupting more than 3 percent of the gulf's normal oil and natural gas production.

Casinos and other businesses along the Mississippi coast were also prepared to take a hit in the wallet.

"It's light traffic tonight," said Kevin Murphy, owner of a restaurant overlooking the beach at Bay St. Louis.
___

Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.
___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

[Livyjr]

And speaking of EMPIRES, and armies and corrupt, rapacious politicians ........

war stories Military analysis.

"Who's in the Army Now? - Why we can't send more troops to Iraq."

By Fred Kaplan

Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005, at 3:21 PM PT

As we're often told, 1 million men and women serve in the U.S. Army.

So, why is it such a strain to keep a mere 150,000 in Iraq?

What are the other 850,000 doing?

Why can't some of them be sent there, too?

And if they really can't be spared from their current tasks, what broader inferences can be drawn about America's military policy?

Should we bring back the draft to provide more boots on the ground—or, alternatively, scale back our global ambitions so fewer boots will be needed?

First, let's look at those million soldiers.

Who are they?

The Web site GlobalSecurity.org has a pie chart breaking them down into categories.

It turns out that fewer than 40 percent of them—391,460—are combat soldiers.

And fewer than 40 percent of those combat soldiers—149,406—are members of the active armed forces. (The rest are in the National Guard and Army Reserve.)

The others are support and logistics troops—50,252 in transportation, 37,763 in medical, 34,270 in the training and doctrine command, and so forth.

The distinctions are not ironclad.

Transportation soldiers, for example, get shot at and shoot back.

Still, however you define it, a strikingly small percentage of the million-man Army consists of active soldiers whose principal job is to fight.

These combat soldiers are organized into brigades (between 3,000 and 4,000 in each).

The Army now has 37 active combat brigades—10 in Iraq, one in South Korea (another one, which used to be there, is now among the 10 in Iraq), and one in Afghanistan.

That's 12 brigades deployed to hot spots.

What about the other 25?

Nine have recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan (the rule is 12 months out, 12 months back home—though some units have seen their overseas tours stretched); 15 are in training; one is reconstituting around the new Stryker combat vehicle.

It would be possible to put a few more of these brigades on the battlefield.

Soldiers could be given less training and be allowed less time at their home bases.

But the chiefs know that if they did that, they would soon have a disgruntled, ill-prepared Army—and a smaller Army, too, since such strains would torpedo recruitment and re-enlistment rates, which even now are falling well below target.

(Soldiers and civilians might feel differently if the war in Iraq were truly a war of national survival or a titanic struggle of civilizations. During World War II, after all, millions were perfunctorily trained before shipping out to Europe or the Pacific, and they stayed there for years until the fighting was over. But the stakes of the present war are far less momentous.)

The fact is, the U.S. Army has substantially shrunk since the Cold War ended 15 years ago—to the point where it simply cannot fulfill the Bush administration's global dreams.

The Army is making some adjustments to fill the gap—mainly by restructuring its brigades so that each one has more combat troops and fewer support-and-service personnel.

This process has been going on for a couple of years now.

Once the process is complete, the Army will have 43 or possibly 48 combat brigades (in 2000, it had 33)—each brigade smaller but loaded with 20 percent to 30 percent more fighting power.

With this reorganization, the Army will be able to maintain its current level of troops in Iraq without having to rely so heavily on the Guard and Reserve. (According to an Army spokesman, the last time U.S. troops rotated into Iraq, they consisted of 10 brigades from the active Army and seven brigades from the reserves. The next rotation, later this year, will consist of 15 active brigades and just two from the reserves.)

John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, describes the result of the restructuring this way: "We'll be able to fight the war we're fighting, indefinitely."

In short, it's a smart gap-filler, but little more.

It won't allow George W. Bush to send more troops to Iraq or Afghanistan, much less to other countries that he might like to liberate.

So, how do we get more troops?

A return to the draft?

There are plenty of arguments for or against, but they're not worth the waste of bandwidth, because it's just not going to happen.

Military commanders don't want a draft; they're happy to have, in the All-Volunteer Army, the best-educated, best-tempered, most easily trained soldiers in American history.

Politicians don't want a draft, because they know it's the surest route to losing the next election; millions of supportive voters will turn into raging protesters if their little Johnny—or, worse yet, Janie—gets forced into battle.

Almost no one in the executive branch wants a draft, because it would instantly give every American family a stake in U.S. foreign policy.

With a volunteer Army, issues of war and peace are almost abstract; only a tiny portion of the population is directly affected.

With a draft, everybody's life is on the line—a turbulent state that can energize and unify a country under serious threat but tear the same country apart in a war of stalemate or dubious motive.

President Bush could not possibly want the intense debate that even the prospect of a draft would inspire.

And yet, draft or no draft, the country is headed toward that debate.

Does America want to be—can it be—the world's policeman, colossus, liberator, call it what you will?

If so, with what resources?

By itself or with allies?

Through international law or by whim?

Whatever the answers, there is a potentially calamitous mismatch between the Bush administration's avowed intentions and its tangible means.

They can print or borrow money to float the national debt.

They can't clone or borrow soldiers to float an imperial army.

[Livyjr]

 

As to that "intelligent design", I thought you were talking about some kind of engineering or technology course, at first.

It's amazing that I have never heard that term used before!

I believe that including Intelligent Design theory along side Darwin's theory of evolution is intellectually dishonest.

And that is why I am vehemently opposed to its inclusion in public school science curricula.

I really have no more to say about this issue, thank goodness!

"Kids to hear evolution's 'flip side' - Adirondack school allows annual lectures from creationist who says Darwin's theory is flawed"

By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Wednesday, July 6, 2005

HORICON -- Ron Cote, who describes himself as a born-again creationist, has obtained permission to give annual guest lectures to students at the North Warren High School in the Adirondack community of Chestertown.

Cote doesn't disagree with the idea that students should learn about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

And he realizes that prohibitions on bringing religion into the classroom mean that he can't talk about his evangelical Christian faith.

"I'm not there to convert people," Cote said during an interview in the spacious hillside A-frame he shares with his wife in this rural community near the Schroon River.

"I'm there to get them to think about the flip side of evolution."

Sunday will mark the 80th anniversary of the Scopes "Monkey Trial," in which a high school biology teacher was convicted of teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee law.

The case pitted biblical belief that the Earth was literally created in seven days against the scientific view that species evolved over millennia by natural selection.

The courtroom drama captivated the nation and secured an indelible spot in history textbooks.

Darwin's theory of natural selection remains one of the underpinnings of biological science, but the battle with religious creationists rages on.

In recent years, state and local school boards in Kansas, Georgia and Pennsylvania have fought over whether students should also be exposed to alternate, religion-based theories.

In New York, Assemblyman Daniel Hooker, a Republican from Saugerties, proposed a bill that would support teaching alternatives to evolution, such as intelligent design, but the measure died early on.

Much of the current battle focuses on efforts to teach intelligent design, which posits that instead of random genetic mutations combined with natural selection, species evolve according to a master plan by a creator.

Adherents of this theory say the natural world is too complex and intricate to have evolved randomly.

Mainstream scientists and educators, including a long list of organizations such as the National Science Teachers Association, are aghast.

They say classic evolutionary theory is well documented and to pull away from it would be to turn the clock back.

"School districts would do well to be wary of this," Glenn Branch said of intelligent design or other theories that dispute Darwin.

The deputy director of the Oakland, Calif.-based National Center for Science Education, Branch also said that evolution and a belief in God don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Cote, though, believes they are.

A scientist by training, Cote, 73, spent decades as a manager for United Technologies Corp. in the early phases of the biotechnology industry, helping NASA to develop life-support devices used by the first moon walkers and later managing a program to design and build dialysis machines.

He has a clear command of biological topics and believes evolution should be taught, but as a theory.

And he's not without humor -- he wears a watch depicting the various stages of human evolution, from ape to Neanderthal to modern man.

When he approached the North Warren school board two years ago, he explained that lots of kids in the area learn in their churches that there is a creator, yet evolution presupposes no such thing.

His lectures, he maintained, could help reconcile those conflicting ideas.

He said he doesn't teach intelligent design, per se, during his once-a-semester, 45-minute in-classroom talk, but focuses instead on what he terms holes in evolutionary theory.

He questions the veracity of some fossils that play a key role in evolutionary studies.

Cote appears to be exploiting the built-in vagueness that exists in the state's education regulations.

While students must take Regents exams to graduate from high school, and to pass biology they need to know about evolution, local school boards technically have the final word over what is taught.

New York state doesn't even dictate which textbooks local districts should buy, noted James Dawson, a member of the Board of Regents who represents the North Warren district.

Dawson declined to say whether he thought Cote's lectures were a good idea.

But he said he has encountered some of the dilemmas that arise when a literal interpretation of the Bible runs up against evolutionary theory.

Dawson teaches geology at the State University of College at Plattsburgh, where instruction on evolution and fossils has sparked concern in his classroom.

"I have had students in that class over the years who have been fairly fundamentalist," Dawson said.

"They usually come up to me and say, 'I have a real hard time with this.'"

His response is that they should know about evolutionary theory even if they don't believe it.

For Dawson, an individual's religious faith is not the issue.

"My job is to teach to the standards," he said.

"If they learn it, they will be all right."

[amy]

Livyjr,
No state is immune from these people who are determined to attach religious views to scientific theories. I guess they feel that science is the enemy of religion, detaching learners from spiritual knowledge so they feel compelled to fill in the gaps. Makes me CRAZY!!!

[jeffmoskin]

The only thing that will save those countries is the people in them, as far as I can see!

And if they don't feel like doing that, then they are gone!

True true true.

The only thing we can do is:

1. Analyze foreign debt on a case-by-case basis and offer debt relief ONLY where the Government of that country has shown convincingly that it won't repeat its mistakes. We should be cognizant of the fact that, under the cold war paradigm, WE and the USSR encouraged the arms race as well as supported people like Mobutu.

2. Stop subsidizing Ag exports from rich countries (USA and Europe). Let the African nations get into the food export business. Let the American sell them tractors.

[Livyjr]

Let the Americans sell them tractors.

Catch a man a fish, he eats for one day!

Teach a man to fish, and help him get a pole to do so, and then, you can relax afterwards, because he can catch his own fish then!

And by relaxing, you also conserve the energy that you would have needed to whip the man before, because he was bugging you about being hungry, when all you wanted to do was rest!

[Livyjr]

2.1 inches of rain up here last night, which is a new record!

And it's barely into July!

In the meantime .......

"Miss. Braces for Rain From Tropical Storm"

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer

July 5 is the earliest date on record for four named storms, and worries about the already active season helped send oil prices climbing briefly past $60 a barrel Tuesday.

"Dennis Builds Toward Hurricane Strength"

By LEONARDO ALDRIDGE, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 38 minutes ago

LES CAYES, Haiti - Tropical Storm Dennis flooded roads in Haiti and Jamaica and built toward hurricane strength Wednesday, pushing oil prices sharply higher as it became the second storm to threaten petroleum output in the Gulf of Mexico.

A hurricane warning was posted for eastern Cuba including the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, where some 520 terror suspects are detained.

Forecasters also warned Dennis was on track for the Alabama-Florida coastline.

Some rural Jamaicans were cut off by floodwaters hours before the storm was to pass, and authorities planned to fly over the affected southeast area in a helicopter to search for stranded islanders.

Dennis came right behind Tropical Storm Cindy, which made landfall late Tuesday in Louisiana and hindered oil production and refining.

Traders said that uncertainty over both storms helped to push oil prices to new highs.

Crude oil for August delivery rose $1.69 to settle at $61.28 a barrel and establish a new record on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The previous closing high was $60.54 set June 27.

Packing sustained winds of 65 mph, the fourth storm of the Atlantic season could dump up to 12 inches of rain over mountains in its path, including Jamaica's coffee-producing Blue Mountains, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Last year three hurricanes — Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — tore through the Caribbean with a collective ferocity not seen in many years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damages.

Inside the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the military prepared audio tapes in at least eight languages warning that a storm was coming and heavy steel shutters would be closed on some cell windows, said Col. Mike Bumgarner.

Military officials had no immediate plans to evacuate troops or detainees at Camp Delta, which is about 150 yards from the ocean but was built to withstand winds up to 90 mph, according to Navy Cmdr. Anne Reese, supervisor of camp maintenance and construction.

Power lines could be knocked down and roofs could be damaged on some older, wooden buildings, Reese said.

"It will be bad, but it's not going to be very destructive," she said.

Meteorologist Chris Hennon said the quadrant threatening Haiti "is typically the worst part of the storm" in terms of wind strength and rains.

Haiti took the deadliest hit of last year's hurricane season when Jeanne, at the time a tropical storm, triggered flooding and mudslides: 1,500 people were killed, 900 missing and presumed dead and 200,000 left homeless.

Poverty-stricken Haitians said there was little they could do about the warnings this time.

"It's not only that we don't have money to prepare, we don't have money either to eat."

"We are willing to stay here and let whatever happens happen," said Martine Louis-Pierre, a 43-year-old mother of three selling fried food on a street of Port-au-Prince.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 135 miles south of the Hispaniola coast where Haiti and Dominican Republic share a border, moving west-northwest near 14 mph, the Hurricane Center said.

Storm-force winds stretched 105 miles.

Hurricane warnings were also posted for Jamaica and Haiti's southwest peninsula.

Hurricane watches were in effect for Cayman Islands and the southern Dominican Republic was on tropical storm watch.

Private forecaster AccuWeather has the storm tracking into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, with landfall Friday or Saturday on the Florida-Alabama border as a strong Category 2 or Category 3 hurricane, with winds from 96 mph to 130 mph.

Radio stations in Haiti and Jamaica warned people to stay away from rivers that could overflow their banks.

Some southern roads in Haiti, which is dangerously deforested, already were blocked by flooding Wednesday.

Six small communities in the eastern Jamaica parish of St. Thomas were also cut off by flood waters, emergency management spokeswoman Nadene Newsome said.

Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson abandoned the final day of the annual Caribbean summit in St. Lucia, to rush home.

Before leaving, he went on Jamaican national radio to say "I call upon every Jamaican and every community to be prepared ... to protect those who are infirm, the elderly and the young."
___

Associated Press Writers Ben Fox in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Stevenson Jacobs in Kingston, Jamaica, contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

For one of the most cogent political speechs that you are ever likely to hear in your life, a speech that shows why George W. Bush is in that very select Pantheon of ALL of the Heroic Leaders of All the World, at any given time, click on this URL, now:

http://dr-joe.net/flash-files/Bush-Leno.htm

And speaking of that zany George W. Bush that we have come to know and love, pratfalling his way through history as he bankrupts OUR America, and threatens to set the world itself on fire ......

"Bush Falls Off Bike in Scotland"

53 minutes ago

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.

Bush suffered scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The police officer was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, McClellan said.

Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.

It was raining lightly at the time.

The officer was on a security detail.

He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, a nearby town, McClellan said.

The president was concerned about the officer's condition, and talked with him for some time after the collision, McClellan said.

The president also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.

The fall did not affect the president's schedule.

Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit.

He showed no signs of distress.

[jeffmoskin]

were pretzels involved?

[Livyjr]

Were pretzels involved?

I was thinking about this, this morning, what exactly did happen over there with this international incident of George W. Bush riding down this Scottish cop as he did.

I was wondering if maybe George W. Bush was showing Putin and Chirac how he rides down jack-a-lopes with his bike, down on the ranch there in Crawford, and the cop just broke in the wrong direction, and so got run down, or maybe George W. Bush ran him down on purpose, to demonstrate his martial spirit to Berlusconi, and maybe some of the wait staff, or maybe George W. Bush was going to show off some of his goat-roping skills, and he had the cop out there running around like a goat, and the end of George's lariat got caught in his sprocket, or something .....

But I don't think he had a pretzel in his mouth, this time, anyway; I think his handlers know better than to let him out now, without checking his mouth real good to see what is in there ....

Kind of reminds me of Gerald Ford, in a way, except, of course, Gerald knocked people down at a distance with his errant golf balls ....

[Livyjr]

I was thinking about this, this morning, what exactly did happen over there with this international incident of George W. Bush riding down this Scottish cop as he did.

But I don't think he had a pretzel in his mouth, this time, anyway; I think his handlers know better than to let him out now, without checking his mouth real good to see what is in there ....

"G-8 leaders remain split on global warming - Blair, Bush unable to narrow differences; African debt relief also on agenda"

July 6: The leaders of the Group of Eight nations arrived in a Scottish resort town for their annual summit.

Updated: 4:47 a.m. ET July 7, 2005

GLENEAGLES, Scotland - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush said Thursday they were unable to narrow differences between the United States and other major industrial countries over how to tackle global warming.

“There is no point in going back over the Kyoto debate,” Blair said at Bush’s side after a breakfast meeting between the two leaders.

Blair had sought to do just that at this year’s Group of Eight nations economic summit.

As summit host, Blair wanted the United States, along with the other countries, to set specific targets for reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that many scientists believe are responsible for global warming.

The United States is the only G-8 country that has refused to ratify the Kyoto agreement which set forth targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The international treaty took effect in February.

“Now is the time to get beyond the Kyoto protocol and develop a strategy forward,” Bush said.

Seeking to emphasize areas of agreement, Bush praised Blair for inviting China, India and other developing countries to the summit and its discussions of climate change.

The president says the Kyoto treaty, aside from being bad for the U.S. economy, is seriously flawed because it does not include developing countries such as China and India.

Well aware of the impasse with the United States over global warming, Blair has tried to shift the debate toward increasing support for emissions controls in China.

“You made a wise move, Mr. Prime Minister,” Bush said.

Bush said he would stick to what he has previously supported — a reduction in U.S. emissions by roughly 18 percent.

“The goal of the United States is to neutralize and then reduce greenhouse gases,” he said.

“We are now developing the better way forward.”

In search of consensus

Blair, appearing resigned to failure on achieving specific emissions targets, said he hoped to get back on a path to consensus by the time Kyoto expires in 2012.

“Everybody has got their positions on the existing Kyoto and that is not going to change,” he said.

Bush brushed off a question on China’s proposal to acquire U.S. oil giant Unocal, saying there was already a process in the government to review the takeover of American companies by foreign interests on the grounds of national security.

“There is a process in the United States that our government uses” to analyze such deals, Bush said.

African debt relief

Bush and his wife, Laura, arrived in Scotland hours before the summit opened with a dinner for G-8 leaders hosted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

The last leg of the journey, from the airport in Glasgow, was by helicopter.

As part of G-8 agenda on African debt relief, Bush, Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin held separate meetings with U2 singer Bono, a campaigner for African aid.

Blair has challenged G-8 countries to double aid to Africa to $50 billion by 2010, from the current $25 billion.

“A lot has been accomplished but there is no sense that a real deal, a $50 billion number, we are not there on that,” Bono said, speaking of Blair’s goal.

Blair also made a joint appearance with Bob Geldof, organizer of last weekend’s Live 8 concerts that were held to pressure G-8 leaders to do more to fight poverty and disease in Africa, and Bono.

“You’ve got to be prepared to hold out for what is right,” Blair said when questioned about reports that Britain was preparing to scale back its demands on support for Africa and climate change in the face of U.S. opposition — and to help present a united front by summit’s end.