Matthews, Buchanan slam neocons for Mideast ‘warmongering’ (video): “Appearing on MSNBC, conservative pundit Pat Buchanan — along with MSNBC host Chris Matthews — slammed neoconservatives for what Buchanan described as Mideast ‘warmongering’ surrounding the crisis in Lebanon.” (The Raw Story)

“The two men are mixed martial arts fighters. Others know it as extreme fighting. Maritimers call it cage fighting. Critics, and there are many, call it barbaric.” (Globe and Mail)

Arrested Bush Dissenters Eye Courts: “In the months before the 2004 election, dozens of people across the nation were banished from or arrested at Bush political rallies, some for heckling the president, others simply for holding signs or wearing clothing that expressed opposition to the war and administration policies.

Similar things have happened at official, taxpayer-funded, presidential visits, before and after the election. Some targeted by security have been escorted from events, while others have been arrested and charged with misdemeanors that were later dropped by local prosecutors.

Now, in federal courthouses from Charleston, W.Va., to Denver, federal officials and state and local authorities are being forced to defend themselves against lawsuits challenging the arrests and security policies.” (My Way)

“You don’t need to be Susan Sontag to know that images of war always present us with a problem of representation. They are usually emotionally charged, bloody, wrenching, and almost always presented with no real context. What are we looking at? The man screaming in grief or pain. The dead child amidst the rubble. The father throwing his body over the lifeless corpse of his son. What we receive in these moments is more than just news; it’s a jolt of emotion, be it anger, despair, or frustration.

To look at the way the photos of the little girls have been used by bloggers is to understand how this enigmatic image — Who are these children? Where are their parents? Why are they so close to weaponry? — has become emblematic for many people opposed to the Israeli assault. For those pathologically inclined to hate Israel no matter what, it is a confirmation of all the worst fantasies they have about Jewish society.” (Columbia Journalism Review)

“If you think you have read this before, you have either picked up an old magazine or have just had a case of déjà vu. Up to 97 per cent of people have experienced that feeling of witnessing a recreation of something they have already seen, and now déjà vu itself has been recreated in the lab. The experiment could throw light not only on the possible causes of the phenomenon but also on the fundamental workings of human memory.

Two key processes are thought to occur when someone recognises a familiar object or scene. First, the brain searches through memory traces to see if the contents of that scene have been observed before. If they have, a separate part of the brain then identifies the scene or object as being familiar. In déjà vu this second process may occur by mistake, so that a feeling of familiarity is triggered …” (New Scientist)

“Hans Peter Niesward, from the Department of Gravitationsphysik at the ISA in Munich, says we can stop global warming in one fell swoop — or, more accurately, in one big jump.

The slightly disheveled professor states his case on WorldJumpDay.org, an Internet site created to recruit 600,000,000 people to jump simultaneously on July 20 at 11:39:13 GMT in an effort to shift Earth’s position.” (ABC News )

Recommends Bush ‘beef up’ White House Counsel’s office fearing possible Dem-controlled House probes: “An adviser to President George W. Bush wants the White House Counsel’s office to be ‘beef[ed] up’ in case a possibly Democratic controlled House pursues a ‘tangle of investigations,’ according to a Time Magazine web exclusive.

Near the end of an article about how ‘the crisis in Lebanon has dragged the Administration into the role of potential peacemaker,’ Time’s Mike Allen reports that the Administration’s ‘outlook’ for the midterm elections reads ‘ominous’ for the Republican Party and for President Bush.” (The Raw Story)

…but Scorn at U.N.: “The Bush administration is not popular at the United Nations, where it is often perceived as disdainful of diplomacy, and its policies as heedless of the effects on others and single-minded in the willful assertion of American interests. By extension, then, many diplomats say they see Mr. Bolton as a stand-in for the arrogance of the administration itself.” (New York Times )

“PETA activists are cracking the whip on …Merriam-Webster, demanding that the definition of ‘circus’ be rewritten to label the big top as cruel to ‘captive’ animal performers.

The dictionary currently defines a circus as ‘an arena often covered by a tent and used for variety shows, usually including feats of physical skill, wild animal acts, and performances by clowns.’

But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – known for caging naked women to protest the wearing of fur and protesting the living conditions of pet store iguanas – wants a new entry.

PETA’s proposal defines a circus as a ‘spectacle that relies on captive animals’ who are ‘forced to perform tricks under the constant threat of punishment.’ It also wants the definition to say that ‘modern circuses include only willing human performers.'” (Boston Herald via Dowbrigade News)