:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 1.23.2008 ::

:: Bush Lied? ::

Study: Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war
from CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released Tuesday by two nonprofit journalism groups.

"In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003," reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

According to the study, Bush and seven top officials -- including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice -- made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources -- mainly quotes from major media organizations.

A L S O

Web Site Assembles U.S. Prewar Claims
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
The New York Times
Published: January 23, 2008

WASHINGTON — Students of how the Bush administration led the nation into the Iraq war can now go online to browse a comprehensive database of top officials’ statements before the invasion, connecting the dots between hundreds of claims, mostly discredited since then, linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda or warning that he possessed forbidden weapons.

The Center for Public Integrity, a research group that focuses on ethics in government and public policy, designed the new Web site to allow simple searches for specific phrases, such as “mushroom cloud” or “yellowcake uranium,” in transcripts and documents totaling some 380,000 words, including remarks by President Bush and most of his top advisers in the two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Warnings about the need to confront Iraq, by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and two White House press secretaries, among others, can be combed line by line, and reviewed alongside detailed critiques published after the fact by official panels, historians, journalists and independent experts.

posted by me

:: 11:37:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "The Genome in High Resolution" ::

From Wired News

An ambitious plan to sequence and compare the genomes of 1,000 people promises to provide scientists with the most detailed picture yet of human genetic variation.

The 1000 Genomes Project, announced today and led by scientists from around the world, builds on the groundbreaking HapMap project. Launched in 2002, HapMap spotlighted regions of the genome that vary from person to person.

Any two people have 99% identical DNA; it's in the difference that the genetic roots of human development and disease variance exist. By marking "hotspots" where people tend to vary, the HapMap allows scientists to ignore overlap and focus on genomic areas of likely relevance.

Whole-genome association studies, considered to be the gold standard of modern genetics, owe their existence to the HapMap. In just a few years they've produced insights into whole networks of genes that appear implicated in many diseases, and have largely supplanted a hunt-for-a-single-gene model that geneticists now consider outdated. But for all its virtues, the HapMap is relatively limited: it only compared genomes from people in Nigeria, China and Japan, as well as people of Western European ancestry in the United States.

The 1000 Genomes Project promises to scan not only people from those areas, but from China, Italy and Kenya, along with Americans from Gujarat, China and Mexico. The new project will also tag areas where just one in a hundred people varies from the norm. The HapMap only tagged areas where at least 10% of people. In short, the HapMap was a magnifying glass; the 1000 Genome Project is a microscope.

International consortium announces the 1000 Genomes Project [press release]

A L S O

Project to map 1,000 people's DNA
Telegraph.co.uk

posted by me

:: 4:01:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Auction of key airwaves begins Thursday" ::

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bidding begins on Thursday in a crucial auction of government-owned airwaves that is expected to help set the future course of the U.S. telecommunications business.

Companies ranging from AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, to possible new competitors like Internet company Google Inc, EchoStar Communications Corp and Cablevision Systems Corp will be able to snap up some of the last remaining wireless spectrum and perhaps use it for a new generation of wireless broadband and other advanced services.

"This spectrum is probably the last spectrum (to be offered) for the foreseeable future," said Tole Hart, an analyst with Gartner Group. "So it's kind of the last crack at the apple."

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

Although the flagging economy could crimp some bidders, the FCC has high hopes for the airwaves auction. The sale is seen as a way to spur more competition in the wireless business, create a new network that can be used by public safety agencies and rake in as much as $10 billion into the federal treasury.

"I think there's no question (that) it's an unprecedented opportunity in terms of the quality and the characteristics of the spectrum that were going to be auctioning," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said recently. "It's going to be critical in facilitating additional innovation."

Under rules set out by the FCC, the spectrum will be sold in five separate blocks, ranging from smaller regional chunks set aside in blocks designated "A" and "B," to larger blocks designated "C" and D" that could more easily be used to create a nationwide network.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 3:53:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Of Blogs & Shrubbery::

Shrub is in Israel helping to generate odd headlines like:

Bush calls for end of 'occupation' of Arab lands

What the...? Here's a great quote from today's press: "Bush reiterated that Palestinians deserve better than a 'Swiss cheese' state."

Making a state out of Swiss Cheese is hard work, uh, and by that I mean work that is hard.. er, I prefer Monterrey Jack. Solid, but soft, too. And you can always just melt the damned stuff anyway...

What the [censored by Blogger] are we going to do w/o Shrub???

Here's an entry from an MSNBC World Blog about a blushing shrub:

JERUSALEM – Whenever a president participates in an event, he's carefully briefed on what's planned. No doubt President Bush was told that when he went to call on Israeli President Shimon Peres at his official residence in Jerusalem, there would be a "children's performance," which was the guidance that was given to the press.

But from the look on Bush's face Wednesday, it seemed he didn't quite expect what he got. Outside the residence, a line of children waving U.S. and Israeli flags sang what sounded like a club remix version of the Hebrew celebratory folk song "Hava Nagilah."

At one point, both Bush and Peres stepped behind the singers. The two men started swaying slightly to the music, but stopped themselves before getting fully carried away. As they moved out of the group, Bush had to duck to avoid a waving flag.

That seemed to be the end of it.

But after the two men moved inside, a young girl appeared and sang "Over the Rainbow" in Hebrew and English. She gave each leader a red rose. Then back-up singers appeared to sing more verses. Then came a dance troupe.

At one point, Peres rid himself of his rose, handing it to one of the performers. Bush tried to follow his lead, but it was too late – the troupe had turned its back to him. So there he stood, looking a bit awkward, blushing deeply and holding the flower.

All in a day's work.

posted by me

:: 6:31:00 PM [+] ::
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