ABCNEWS.com : E-Mail Us About National ID Cards

“Sheep may be brighter than we think.

According to British scientists, they probably experience some degree of emotion and could even be capable of conscious thought. [So… referring to us as a “nation of sheep”, as has been fashionable in certain sociologically but apparently not ethologically astute circles since William Lederer’s seminal book by that name in the ’50’s, actually is disparaging… to the sheep?? -FmH]

This astonishing verdict is based on the ability of sheep to remember old faces, be it a member of the flock or even a shepherd.

Sheep may be capable of using the same system (as humans) to remember and respond emotionally to individuals in their absence…

New studies have revealed that sheep can remember up to 50 sheep faces as well as familiar human faces, such as their shepherd.” BBC

Fathers urged to bath baby: ‘Babies who miss out on regular baths by their father are more likely to grow up with social problems, a survey has revealed.” BBC

Why Are Deep Thinkers Shallow About Tyranny? NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]

FBI Press Briefing on linguistic and behavioral analysis of the anthrax letters by the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. We now have a catchy media-friendly title and a glitzy logo for our anthrax alarm — look at the web page. By the way, could the perpetrator have been a weblogger?? To wit:

He may have exhibited significant behavioral changes at various critical periods of time throughout the course of the Anthrax mailings and related media coverage. These may include the following:

1. Altered physical appearance.
   

2. Pronounced anxiety.
   

3. Atypical media interest.
   

4. Noticeable mood swings.
   

5. More withdrawn.
   

6. Unusual level of preoccupation.
   

7. Unusual absenteeism.
   

8. Altered sleeping and/or eating habits.

Today’s New York Times op-ed columnists suggest aspects of Bush Administration (or, after Counterpunch, “Bush Dictatorship”) cluelessness:

• Frank Rich: War Is Heck:
  

  “Disingenuous official claims
  
  of our allies’ strengths and
  
  our enemies’ weaknesses
  
  will come back to haunt the
  
  administration if all does not
  
  go smoothly.”

• Anthony Lewis: Ideology As Usual:
  

  “George W. Bush has not yet
  
  understood what a wartime
  
  president has to do at home:
  
  Put aside ideological politics
  
  so he can be president of all
  
  the people.”

Bin Laden Has Nuclear Arms, He Tells Paper — ‘A leading

Pakistani newspaper published an interview with Osama

bin Laden today in which he said, “We have chemical and

nuclear weapons as a deterrent and if America used them

against us, we reserve the right to use them.” ‘ He declined to answer an interviewer’s question about how and where he had obtained the weapons.

(A)sked… if he could justify the deaths of “innocent

people,” including hundreds of Muslims, in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on

the United States, Mr. bin Laden called this a “major point of jurisprudence,” replying that,

“America and its allies are massacring us in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir

and Iraq. The Muslims have the right to attack America in reprisal.” He

said, “The Sept. 11 attacks were not targeted at women and children. The real targets were America’s

icons of military and economic power.”

Mr. bin Laden blamed the “entire America” for “anti-Muslim policies.”

“The American people should remember that they pay taxes to their government, they elect their

president, their government manufactures arms and gives them to Israel and Israel uses them to massacre

Palestinians,” he said.

Late in the interview, Mr. bin Laden allowed that “there are many innocent and good-hearted people in

the West.” But, he said, “The Jewish lobby has taken America and the West hostage.”

[US analysts, while recognizing that bin Laden has made efforts to acquire nuclear materials, consider it unlikely that he has succeeded. How much can we rely on such assurances, especially in the face of such a convoluted reasoning that would rationalize and propel their indiscriminate use?]

Ananova, admittedly one of those more sensationalistic British media sites, goes further:

Bin Laden may have shipped nuclear bomb to US: “Osama bin Laden may have already shipped weapons of mass destruction to the US.

Pakistan’s Frontier Post says the Al-Qaida network has transported nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons there.

It claims at least two briefcases containing nuclear weapons may have reached US shores.

The report says Pakistani and US investigators have been able to identify that at least one such weapon has been acquired by Al Qaida from Central Asian groups.

The device of Russian origin, can be activated through a timer or cell phone command.”

Pakistani Leader Seeks ‘Gestures’ for Backing U.S.. In the face of a general strike over Pakistani support for the US (oops! “coalition”) war effort, (which he deflected neatly by declaring yesterday a Pakistani national holiday to explain widespread business closings — which, to be fair, may have been in fear of rather than support of fundamentalist rioters), Musharraf wants us to resume fighter sales withheld after Pakistan developed nuclear weapons. Pakistan has felt, he articulated, that until the recent “war on terrorism”, the US had cold-shouldered Pakistan after the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from its invasion of Afghanistan had diminished Pakistan’s usefulness to the US as a strategic partner. Other gestures “should include

major debt relief, military assistance, and more understanding for the

sensitivity of the Pakistani public on the issue of its nuclear weapons.”

With the Northern Alliance’s reported capture of Mazar-i-Sharif, the US may be able to set up forward bases there with a lifeline to Uzbekistan to the north, and may again need to rely less on Pakistan for support of the war effort. NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]

Iran’s Leader Says Muslims Reject bin Laden’s ‘Islam’, After a videotaped message from bin Laden denouncing the UN and branding Islamic leaders who participated in it as ‘infidels’, Iran’s President Mohammed Khatami, in New York to address the General Assembly, agrees to first interview with a Western newspaper since he assumed office in 1997. Although he faces an uphill battle in creating an anti-terrorist image of Iran (branded a major exporter of terrorism by the US State Dept for its support of Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah), he held up his country as evidence that an ‘Islamic republic’ model can a role model and condemned the portrayal of Islam as a religion of anti-Western hatred. In a significant concession, he said Iran would respect the wishes of the Palestinian people with respect to the recognition of Israel. NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]

Agency Looks Into Claim Doctor Had Skin Anthrax: ‘Should the case of the cardiologist, Dr. Gerald M.

Weisfogel, turn out to have been anthrax, it

would be of considerable interest to investigators.

It precedes the first batch of anthrax letters that

was sent out on or around Sept. 18 and would

indicate a new and earlier source of exposure.’

In other anthrax news, ‘Postal

investigators said today for the

first time that other mail containing anthrax

bacteria was probably sent here last

month in addition to the one letter that has

been found, the one sent to the office of

Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

“We’re thinking there may be one more

letter and maybe more than one,” said

Kenneth Newman, the deputy chief postal

inspector for investigations.’ NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]