Pentagon Used White Phosphorous in Iraq: “Pentagon officials say white phosphorous was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny an Italian television news report that it was used against civilians.

Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that while white phosphorous is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants.” (New York Times )

“ NASA’s Gravity Probe B spacecraft has gathered all the data physicists need to check a bizarre prediction of Einstein’s relativity... Time and space, according to Einstein’s theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called ‘space-time.’ The tremendous mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the curvaceous lines of the dimple.

If Earth were stationary, that would be the end of the story. But Earth is not stationary. Our planet spins, and the spin should twist the dimple, slightly, pulling it around into a 4-dimensional swirl. This is what GP-B went to space to check…” (NASA)

” ‘In the face of the United States administration’s rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent,’ said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide.

President Bush is a member of the United Methodist Church, according to various published biographies. The White House did not return a request for comment on the bishops’ statement.

Although United Methodist leadership has opposed the Iraq war in the past, this is the first time that individual bishops have confessed to a personal failure to publicly challenge the buildup to the war.” (FoxNews [sic] via kos [thanks, walker])

Dennis Prager: “Hundreds of millions of non-Muslims want honest answers to these questions, even if the only answer you offer is, “Yes, we have real problems in Islam.” Such an acknowledgment is infinitely better — for you and for the world — than dismissing us as anti-Muslim:

(1) Why are you so quiet?

(2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?

(3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?

(4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?

(5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?” ( LA Times op-ed via walker)

3. La-Bas (The Damned) by JK Huysman
In the course of his research for this novel Huysman became genuinely entangled with black magic groups. One of the few virtuous characters in La-Bas, a tireless master exorcist called Dr Johannes, was based on a priest, the Abbe Boullan. It only later emerged that this priest, who convinced the writer he was an all round good-egg, was also fond of performing rites involving orgies, incest and bestiality. The novel itself is remarkable: a trawl through the Satanic underworld of fin de siecle Paris complete with evil old cults, dark garrets, unspeakable rites and mad perversions. The prolonged and graphic descriptions of child murder make American Psycho look like Peter Rabbit. A must read – but not after you’ve just eaten.

5. Spying In Guruland by William Shaw
In the early 90s William Shaw took it upon himself to join half a dozen of the stranger British new religious movements, including the delightfully named Chrisemma, the cult of two people called Chris and Emma. I’m pretty jealous of the guts William Shaw demonstrated in getting so deeply involved with so many crazy cult groups and his descriptions of the rigours of life within the Hare Krishna organisation are unforgettable. I don’t envy him all those insanely early mornings, however.

“The growing ranks of the hip and holistic are seeking their inner bliss with serious style — Gwyneth Paltrow is one. So are Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio. Chances are your bikram yoga teacher has the major characteristics and so does the guy who makes your fruit smoothie at Jamba Juice. Donna Karan is totally in on it. The salesperson who helps you find the right Botanical Kinetics moisturizer at Aveda is probably one, along with your eco-tourism guide at Costa Rican surf camp. Richard Gere may be the proto-one and Uma Thurman was pretty much born into it. What is influencing Hollywood stars and Wal-Mart shoppers, fashionistas and Filene’s basement-dwellers alike? It’s called metrospirituality, and chances are you already know or even lead the life of a metrospiritual.” (Beliefnet)

“Tide turns in GOP senators’ war view as they demand an exit strategy from Iraq and to bring U.S. troops home.” (Washington Post)

“A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001 — something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.” (Washington Post)

“For speechwriters drafting a presidential address for a patriotic holiday such as Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Veterans Day, there are three rules: Don’t be wordy; don’t be wonky; and, most important, don’t be partisan. In his Veterans Day remarks today at the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, President Bush and his staff broke all three rules, producing a strident speech that went on for almost 50 minutes, included a lengthy comparison of ‘Islamic radicalism’ and ‘the ideology of communism,’ and concluded by attacking ‘some Democrats,’ while taking an implicit shot at ‘my opponent during the last election.’ It may have been the worst speech of his presidency.” — David Kusnet (The New Republic via Common Dreams)

“But the popularity of puggles and other designer dogs, such as labradoodles (Labrador Retriever-Poodle mix) and schnoodles (a Miniature Schnauzer-Poodle mix), has become a contentious topic among communities of dog owners. Some argue the mixed breeds aren’t breeds at all, but simply overblown, overpriced mutts, while others decry popularizing specially bred dogs when thousands of dogs languish in shelters.” (ABC)

It’s hard to remember just how large UFOs loomed in the public mind a mere ten years ago, (but if) “you’re looking for one of those famous, big-eyed alien abductors, try looking on the sides of milk cartons. The UFO cultural moment in America is long since over, having gone out with the Clintons and grunge rock in the 90s. Ironically, the force that killed the UFO fad is the same force that catapulted it to super-stardom: the Internet. And therein hangs a tale about how the Internet can conceal and reveal the truth.” (Tech Central Station)

“Strangely enough, the most likely place to be killed by lightning in the early 1890s was in bed or while doing something else around the house.” (Discovery Channel)

Unaffected family members show characteristic abnormalities.: “The results are prompting researchers to ask how some people can be unaffected by brain deficits that cause such pronounced behavioural abnormalities in others.” (Nature)

Science asks the iguana: “Today animals sleep in many different ways: brown bats for 20 hours a day, for example, and giraffes for less than two. To understand why people sleep the way they do, scientists need an explanation powerful enough to encompass the millions of other species that sleep as well.” (International Herald Tribune)