:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 1.30.2007 ::

:: "Stonehenge Settlement Found: Builders' Homes, Cult Houses" ::
National Geographic

A major prehistoric village has been unearthed near Stonehenge in southern England.

The settlement likely housed the builders of the famous monument, archaeologists say, and was an important ceremonial site in its own right, hosting great "feasts and parties" (see a photo gallery of the Stonehenge village).

A prehistoric village has been discovered in southern England that was likely home to the builders of Stonehenge, archaeologists announced in January 30, 2007.

The village, located 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers) from the famous stone circle, includes eight wooden houses dated back to around 2500 B.C.

The remains of a cluster of homes include the outlines of floors, beds, and cupboards. Tools, jewelry, pottery, and human and animal bones were also found.

The excavated houses formed part of a much bigger settlement dating back to the Late Stone Age, according to project leader Mike Parker Pearson of England's Sheffield University.

"We could have many hundreds of houses here," Parker Pearson added. "Our dates for the building of Stonehenge are identical to the dates for this very large settlement."

The village stood next to a newly revealed stone avenue, partly visible in the excavation ditch at top right, which once led from a large timber circle to the nearby River Avon.

The site was excavated in 2006 as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.

A L S O

Discovering Stonehenge's Twin
TIME

Stonehenge builders' houses found
BBC News

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Labels: stonehenge archaeology 2007

:: 11:22:00 PM [+] ::
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:: State of the Union ::

Disapproval of Bush
A report from The Nation

President Bush will use tonight's State of the Union address to make what White House Press Secretary Tony Snow refers to as "bold proposals" designed to appeal to Democrats.

In one of the more remarkable admissions ever by a presidential spokesman regarding the surreal nature of the administration in which he serves, Snow suggested that Bush's speech would be a departure from past State of the Union remarks in that it would "reflect a little bit of the political reality.''

Reality is good. And it makes sense for Bush to reach out to Democrats as, for the first time since he assumed the presidency in 2001, the Republican chief executive will be addressing a Congress that is completely controlled by members of the opposition party. But Bush's ridiculously doctrinaire proposals to send more US troops into the Iraq quagmire, undermine the health benefits of unionized workers and renew his exceptionally unpopular and ineffectual No Child Left Behind education initiative are unlikely to resonate with even the most conservative Democrats.

Read more here.

A L S O
From Alternet.org
The State of the Apocalypse
Glen Ford, TomPaine.com
The State of the Union address is a farce in the face of the destruction this administration has wreaked on the nation and world.

posted by me

:: 8:59:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "War’s toll on Iraqis tripled in late 2006" ::

Health Ministry data show sharp increase in deaths
The Washington Post

BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 - More than 17,000 Iraqi civilians and police officers died violently in the latter half of 2006, according to Iraqi Health Ministry statistics, a sharp increase that coincided with rising sectarian strife since the February bombing of a landmark Shiite shrine.

In the first six months of last year, 5,640 Iraqi civilians and police officers were killed, but that number more than tripled to 17,310 in the latter half of the year, according to data provided by a Health Ministry official with direct knowledge of the statistics. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said those numbers remained incomplete, suggesting the final tally of violent deaths could be higher.

Much of last year's politically motivated bloodshed unfolded in Baghdad. The Bush administration is considering sending more U.S. troops there, as the newly ascendant Democrats in Congress press for a military withdrawal. Bringing stability and rule of law to the capital is a cornerstone of the administration's strategy to exit Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced over the weekend his own security push to tame Baghdad's sectarian strife.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 12:19:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Army asks dead to sign up for another hitch" ::

CNN International

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.

"Army personnel officials are contacting those officers' families now to personally apologize for erroneously sending the letters," the Army said in a brief news release issued Friday night.

posted by me

:: 9:37:00 AM [+] ::
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:: The Foo Fighter report ::

UFO Is Reported at O'Hare; Feds Are Silent
npr.org

All Things Considered, January 1, 2007 · In November, a gray, metallic, saucer-like object was spotted hovering above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As many as 12 United Airlines employees spotted the object and filed reports with United.

Officials at the airline say they have no knowledge of the incident, and the Federal Aviation Administration is not investigating.

Melissa Block speaks with Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevtich, who reported on the incident.

posted by me

:: 7:24:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "The Consequences of Killing Saddam" ::

A report from The Nation
Robert Dreyfuss | More violence, waning chances for reconciliation and a trove of secrets taken to the grave.

Excerpt:

And something else is lost. Since his capture in 2003, Saddam has been interrogated by US officials, including CIA officers. According to sources close to the resistance, US officials--including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld--met with Saddam Hussein earlier this year, to ask if he would cooperate in some way to urge the resistance to lay down its arms. (He refused.) But whatever transpired between US officials and Saddam since he was captured, none of it is public. Not a single journalist interviewed Saddam. As far as we know, he wrote no memoir in prison. The countless secrets that he had, about thirty-five years of his leadership, he has taken to the grave. Decades of history have been lost, irrecoverably. Perhaps one of the reasons for the hurried rush to the gallows, even before a series of other staged, show trials could be arranged, was to make guarantee that Saddam's secrets never see the light of day.

posted by me

:: 5:38:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "President Ford Laid to Rest in Michigan" ::

San Francisco Chronicle
[1 of 1,666 articles currently linked @ Google News]

Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP) -- Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum Wednesday during a ceremony watched by thousands of onlookers who lined streets and bridges to catch a glimpse of history.

The sunset burial capped six days of official mourning for the 38th president, from services in California, to ceremonies at the nation's capital, and a 17-hour viewing Tuesday night and Wednesday at the museum in his hometown.

posted by me

:: 5:28:00 PM [+] ::
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:: So Weird ::

From Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird (.986)
WEEK OF DECEMBER 31, 2006

Latest Religious Messages

Islamic Blues: (1) Ginnah Muhammad, 42, who was suing a rental car company in Hamtramck, Mich., in October, refused to remove her veil (which covered all but her eyes) on the witness stand, and consequently, the judge refused to accept her testimony and dismissed the lawsuit. He said judges must evaluate witnesses' credibility, which the veil prevented. (2) According to an October dispatch from Bangkok appearing in Melbourne's newspaper The Age, some Muslim teenagers are mixing Coca-Cola, codeine and the native kratom leaf to get high. "Muslims cannot drink alcohol," said one, but if you get "drunk" on that mixture, "(it) is not a sin." [St. Petersburg Times-AP, 10-23-06] [The Age (Melbourne), 10-23-06]

(Visit Chuck Shepherd daily at http://NewsoftheWeird.blogspot.com or www.NewsoftheWeird.com. Send your Weird News to WeirdNewsTips@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, FL 33679.)

posted by me

:: 1:36:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "New telescope looks below polar ice" ::

United Press International

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 29 -- A new radar instrument peered through more than a mile of Greenland ice to show an image of the land hidden for millions of years, U.S. researchers said.

The instrument should help scientists determine how global climate change affects the ice melt, Ken Jezek, earth sciences professor at Ohio State University, said in a news release.

Beneath the ice, Greenland's topography matches that of Canada and the northern United States, Jezek said.

Scientists are trying to gauge the effects of global climate change by examining conditions beneath Earth's ice sheets, which cover roughly 15 percent of the planet, Jezek said. Scientists theorize that water below the ice could influence how much of the surface ice may melt because of rising temperatures.

posted by me

:: 11:10:00 AM [+] ::
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