Monthly Archives: March 2006

Priests Purify Shrine After Bush Visit

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“Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from President Bush. But it wasn’t the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit.” (Yahoo! News)

The reason I clicked on the headline was that I thought it would turn out that it was Bush’s smarmy hypocrisy in visiting a Gandhi memorial, given the blood on his hands from thousands of Iraqi and U.S. dead, which had to be purified away. The priests did the right thing for the wrong reason if they thought it was the dogs who tainted the site.

R.I.P. Octavia E. Butler

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//graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/01/arts/butler_184.jpg' cannot be displayed] Science Fiction Writer Dies at 58: “Octavia E. Butler, an internationally acclaimed science fiction writer whose evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human, died on Friday after a fall near her home in Lake Forest Park, Wash. She was 58.

The precise cause of death has not been determined, Ms. Butler’s literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz, said on Monday. She added that Ms. Butler had suffered from severe hypertension and other health problems in recent years.

In 1995 Ms. Butler was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, the first science fiction writer to be so honored. She received two Hugo Awards from the World Science Fiction Society and two Nebula Awards from the Science Fiction Writers of America.” (New York Times )

New 7 Wonders

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I entered a post about this phenomenon several years ago; it has taken off since then. The preliminary rounds are finished and you can now participate in a global vote to christen the new seven wonders of the world, from among 21 finalists. There is only one U.S. candidate left in the running, the Statue of Liberty. The whole thing, of course, has no pretense to balance, since voting is restricted to those cognoscenti with internet access. But have at it… How many of these places have you visited? (I count twelve for myself.)

Marriage Made in Hell?

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“A fascinating and important insight from the ever-astute French commentator Michel Gurfinkiel (subscription required) suggests that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France’s neo-fascist National Front, is poised to strike a strategic alliance with French Muslims. Those who have just done a double-take over that last sentence because they assume that French neo-fascists, like the British BNP, detest all immigrants equally and Muslims in particular, should think again.

First, one of the most striking aspects of today’s politics of racial hatred is the axis that links the far left, the far right and Islamists. If you read the websites and utterances of all three, there are certain areas where the point of view and indeed the language and the imagery are virtually identical. Three guesses what those areas are. Yup, got it in one: hatred of the Jews and of Israel.” (Melanie Phillips’s Diary thanks to walker)

"…Only Following Orders"?

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Gulf War Veteran Gets Placebos Instead Of Real Medicine: “A Gulf War veteran undergoing medical treatment said he was given placebos — or sugar pills — instead of real medicine.

Like thousands of other soldiers, Army veteran Mike Woods said he developed bizarre symptoms after serving in the first Gulf War — blackouts, chest pain and numbness in the extremities.

Woods looked to the Veterans Administration for help. He said his VA doctor prescribed him a drug called Obecalp.

‘She told me there was this new drug out that would really help me with all of my physical conditions, and my pain. She really wanted me to try it,’ said Woods.

But when the pill provided no relief, Woods did some research and learned that Obecalp isn’t a medicine at all, but a sugar pill. He was shocked to learn the word ‘obecalp’ is placebo spelled backward.” (WSOC-TV thanks to Uncle $cam)

35% of Iraq vets sought therapy after war’s 1st year

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“Some veterans and veterans advocates say the research, published yesterday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, provides a window into the enormous psychological and emotional toll the conflict is having on military personnel. Some also contend the military is not doing enough to deal with the problem, which they said may be larger than the study showed.

But military officials and the lead author of the study said the findings showed that the Department of Defense is responding effectively.” (Baltimore Sun)

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Irish Veterinarian plays down fears after cat’s bird flu death

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“…The first case was reported in Europe of a cat dying from the deadly strain of bird flu” (Ireland Online ) as H5N1 continues its westward trek across Europe. The housecat was thought to have eaten an infected bird. Panicky advice to keep your housecats indoor results, prompted by fears that infected cats might be a medium in which the virus mutates to a pandemic strain. Certainly we live in closer proximity to our housecats than to avian vectors in the West, except on poultry farms.