] Good morning. My name is Paul Rieckhoff. I am addressing
] you this morning as a US citizen and veteran of Operation
] Iraqi Freedom. I served with the US Army in Iraq for 10
] months, concluding in February, 2004.
]
] I'm giving this address because I have an agenda, and my
] agenda is this: I want my fellow soldiers to come home
] safely, and I want a better future for the people of
] Iraq. I also want people to know the truth.

[ Worth a read. Rieckhoff is a 1st Lieutenant in the NY National Guard, and has some very cogent, straightforward words... -k]

:: paulrieckhoff.com ::

] Business is booming in the mining zone that supplied
] uranium for the atomic bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and
] Nagasaki despite a decree by Congo's president banning
] all mining activity here.
]
] President Joseph Kabila ordered the zone closed three
] months ago amid growing concerns that unregulated nuclear
] materials could get into the hands of so-called rogue
] nations or terrorist groups. Yet 1,000 miles away from
] the capital, Kinshasa, thousands of diggers are still
] hacking away at a dark cavity of open earth in this
] southeastern village, filling thousands of burlap sacks a
] day with black soil rich in cobalt, copper and
] radioactive uranium.

[ It's not clear how much uranium is being dug up or shipped, but there's clearly some kinda shenanigans going on. My question is, how many other such mines are there? Where else can you get some uranium that maybe we don't even know about? -k]

ABCNEWS.com : AP: Miners Drawn to Illegal Congo Uranium

] Via Unqualified Offerings we have this letter to the
] editor written in 2000 in response to the "pro-family"
] haters.
]
] Letter to the Editor
] by Sharon Underwood, Sunday, April 30, 2000
] from the Valley News (White River Junction, VT/Hanover,
] NH)
]
] As the mother of a gay son, I've seen firsthand how cruel
] and misguided people can be.

[ One of the best letters i've seen... well said. -k]

Eschaton

] Engineers brought the two central ends of the Millau road
] viaduct in southwest France together, completing the span
] of the highest bridge in the world.
]
] The road surface is 270 metres above ground, a world
] record, and the total structure, with suspension cables
] added will be 343 metres (1,132 feet) above ground at its
] highest point or 23 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower.

[ Holy crap bridges are cool. Awesome. -k]

Yahoo! News - Span of French Millau bridge, world highest, is completed

] An infant planet just a million years old is puzzling
] astrophysicists - it is simply too young to exist,
] according to the standard model of planet formation.
]
]
] Evidence for this precocious planet comes in the form of
] infrared radiation from the Taurus Molecular Cloud, about
] 400 light years away, detected by NASA's Spitzer space
] telescope.

[ Well, iirc from my physics classes, all the planetary guys were quick to note that they're pretty clueless, all in all. Interesting development... -k]

New Scientist - 'Youngest planet' flouts theory of formation

] Early molecular comparisons between humans and
] chimpanzees suggested that the species are very similar
] to each other at the nucleotide sequence level%u2014a
] difference of between 1.23% and 5%, Sakaki said. The
] results reported this week showed that "83% of the genes
] have changed between the human and the
] chimpanzee%u2014only 17% are identical%u2014so that means
] that the impression that comes from the 1.2% [sequence]
] difference is [misleading]. In the case of protein
] structures, it has a big effect," Sakaki said.

[ Wow... genetics is hard. -k]

The Scientist :: Chimps are not like humans

] For almost a quarter-century, Powell and his volunteer
] team have been working away at what he calls "the other
] space program." Over the next few years, he hopes to test
] a three-part system that could put people and payloads in
] orbit without rockets.

[ Very cool. Smart tech. -k]

MSNBC - Airship groomed for flight to edge of space

] Hunter S. Thompson's ESPN column was scrubbed of
] controversy late Monday afternoon when online editors
] worried the famed gonzo journalist had gone too far.

HST has a way with words. Specifically, "Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these [Abu Ghraib] photographs did."

[ Yeah, that's one way. One that causes me to stop paying attention. I'm as critical as the next guy of Bush, and of toturing fucks, but come on, really. Does Thompson really expect me to believe that Auschwitz shocks him less than Abu Graib? Sure. -k]

ESPN SCRUBS HUNTER S. THOMPSON BUSH BASH

] Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are shunning
] technological protocols invented abroad and developing
] their own.
]
] They want Chinese-made video discs to run on
] Chinese-invented players. They want Chinese consumers
] linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.

[ Big problem or will the market sort this out with minimal pain? -k]

CNEWS - Tech News: China seeks to develop its own technology standards

This is not a war that will be won with bullets. Bullets are required, but they are not the answer. This war, like every war, is a war that will be won with words. It will be won in the hearts and minds of people who might consider radical Islam. Like every war.

Are we fighting it? Do we know how?

[ Probably with economics, assuming we retain enough economic superiority to pull it off. Comfort softens resolve. Not always a bad thing. Now, how do we do that? No idea. Someone probably does though, and I'll wager a guess that shooting at the people you want to like you isn't involved. -k]

Islamists