Devotion, desire drive youths to ‘martyrdom’: ‘In more than a dozen interviews with former and current members of the militant group Hamas and with Israeli security officials who track them, USA Today was given a rare look into the secretive and terrifying world of suicide bombers and the culture that creates them…

At any time, Israeli officials believe, Hamas has from five to 20 men, ages 18 to 23, awaiting orders to carry out suicide attacks. The group also claims to have “tens of thousands” of youths ready to follow in their footsteps. “We like to grow them. From kindergarten through college.”

In Hamas-run kindergartens, signs on the walls read: “The children of the kindergarten are the shaheeds (holy martyrs) of tomorrow.” The classroom signs at Al-Najah University in the West Bank and at Gaza’s Islamic University say, “Israel has nuclear bombs, we have human bombs.” ‘

Should your child have a tanning doll? All the rage at French beaches this summer, but appalling to cancer experts fearing it undoes all their public health efforts to deglorify dangerous sun-based skin damage. “What will be next, a smoking Barbie?” says one appalled critic.

Inappropriate Cancer Chemotherapy at Life’s End: ‘Many patients with cancer receive chemotherapy at the end of life, even if their kind of cancer is known to be unresponsive to the drugs, according to a study reported at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists held in San Francisco.

The finding “strongly suggests overuse of chemotherapy at the end of life,” lead author Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of the department of clinical bioethics at the US National Institutes of Health, told delegates. “Many are concerned with the quality of end of life care and specifically that patients should not be overtreated with ineffective therapies that won’t improve their quality of life,” he said.’ British Medical Journal

The music world diminished: R.I.P. Chet Atkins, age 77, slick-fingered country and crossover guitarist and producer, inventor of the Nashville sound without which country music would probably never have made it to the pop charts. And lyrical jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson [right] is gone at 64. “You could hear roots coming out of Lester Young, Stan Getz. There was a wailing, a search in his playing. Within just a few notes you knew that it was Henderson.” New York Times

R.I.P. Mortimer Adler, age 98. One of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, at least if judged by presence in the public forum. Paradoxically, a passionate populist and yet best known for his insistence that it is familiarity with the classical ‘Great Ideas’ that is the best indicator of quality of thought. Adler was a high school dropout who ascended to the University of Chicago faculty, although for much of his career in departments other than the philosophy dept., where his ideas (or perhaps his personality?) were too contentious.

Supreme Court upholds free speech rights of tobacco industry: “A state government may not impose its own advertising restrictions on tobacco beyond the broad federal law that bans cigarette ads on television and requires warning labels on packages, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.” Washington Post

Supreme Court upholds free speech rights of tobacco industry: “A state government may not impose its own advertising restrictions on tobacco beyond the broad federal law that bans cigarette ads on television and requires warning labels on packages, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.” Washington Post

Supreme Court upholds free speech rights of tobacco industry: “A state government may not impose its own advertising restrictions on tobacco beyond the broad federal law that bans cigarette ads on television and requires warning labels on packages, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.” Washington Post

Disabling Smart Tags on a Web Page — Thanks to boing boing for pointing me to this tip. ‘If you are a Web author, you can disable Smart Tag recognition in Internet Explorer within a Web page by adding a Meta tag to that Web page.

After adding this tag, any Smart Tags that the author has added to the page will continue to work, but Internet Explorer will not dynamically add new tags when users view the page.

The tag is:

<meta name=”MSSmartTagsPreventParsing” content=”TRUE”>‘

How your chocolate may be tainted: this may try the virtue of those of us who try to use our purchasing power to leverage social good. 43% of the world’s cocoa beans come from the Ivory Coast, where its cultivation and harvesting is achieved with adolescent slave labor. Americans spend $13 billion a year on chocolate; adolescent laborers in the Ivory Coast harvesting the fruit of the cacao tree have never heard of chocolate. Representatives of the industry say the harvests are pooled, so it’s impossible to discriminate products produced by dint of slave labor with those for which a decent living wage was paid.

Roger Clinton Linked to New Clemency Case. Latest in a long series of seeming payments to the ex-first-brother to intervene for Presidential pardons before Clinton left office appears to be some hefty sums directed his way on behalf of a Gambino family heroin dealer. Roger Clinton continues to deny such allegations but has no explanation for his lifestyle in the absence of visible means of support. LA Times

Clinton to Arafat: It’s All Your Fault. More on what Clinton’s up to since leaving office, and it’s not a pretty picture. Reportedly, he regaled guests at a recent Manhattan party with the story ‘that Arafat called to bid him farewell three days before he left office. “You are a great man,” Arafat said. “The hell I am,” Clinton said he responded. “I’m a colossal failure, and you made me one.” ‘ MSNBC

‘Furious advocacy groups worldwide have slammed rapper Eminem for trivializing Tourette syndrome by blaming his foul mouth on the disorder.

The Tourette Syndrome Association says Eminem’s claims are “dubious.”

They believe the Detroit-born rapper was “just trying to be provocative” by claiming his lyrics are full of four-letter words because he has the rare brain and nerve disease.’

Supreme Court upholds free speech rights of tobacco industry: “A state government may not impose its own advertising restrictions on tobacco beyond the broad federal law that bans cigarette ads on television and requires warning labels on packages, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.” Washington Post