- Signs of the Times Archive for Fri, 13 Jul 2007 -



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Almost Human - Psychopaths In Power


Signs of the Times
2007-07-12 18:14:00



It's time to wake up to the true cause of all unnecessary war, death and suffering...

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Best of the Web

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U.S. News
Programmed fear about passenger taken off plane unfounded


CNN
2007-07-12 17:29:00

The Transportation Security Administration said that a passenger taken off an international flight in an emergency stop on Thursday, because of a crew member's suspicions, had done nothing wrong and had posed no security threat.

The American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to New York early Thursday after a crew member became suspicious of the passenger, an airline spokeswoman said.

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Flight Attendant Boots Mom and 'Bubbly' Baby From Plane


WSBTV.com
2007-07-11 12:40:00

A Gwinnett County mother says she wants answers and action after she and her baby were kicked off a plane.

Kate Penland said she was glad to board the plane in Houston after an 11-hour delay to visit her father in Oklahoma. But she said a rude and aggressive flight attendant caused her to get to Oklahoma a day late.

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126 People Ill After Chicago Food Fest


Associated Press
2007-07-13 10:39:00

More than 120 people who ate from the same booth at the Taste of Chicago food festival last week became ill, at least nine of them with salmonella poisoning and 10 who were hospitalized, the health department said Thursday.

The Chicago Department of Health was investigating the cases and confirmed that nine were caused by salmonella bacteria. The number could increase because lab results are pending in some of the cases.

The 126 people all ate at the Pars Cove Persian Cuisine booth, which served cucumber salad over hummus, grilled lamb and beef, pomegranate barbecued chicken and baklava.

It was the first confirmed outbreak of a food-borne illness associated with the Taste of Chicago in at least 20 years, the health department said in a release. The 10-day outdoor festival, which ended Sunday, brings out food from more than 70 restaurants and concerts.


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House votes for withdrawal from Iraq

DAVID ESPO
AP
2007-07-13 03:57:00

The Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political progress, the Bush administration conceded Thursday in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings. Within hours, the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.

Comment: Don't hold your breath!


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Report card mixed for kids in U.S.: report

Julie Steenhuysen
Reuters
2007-07-13 02:45:00

More children in the United States are living in a household with at least one working parent and fewer teens than ever are having babies, the annual federal report on children has found.

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More migrants die as U.S. tightens border security

Robin Emmott
Reuters
2007-07-13 02:45:00

Tougher security along the U.S.-Mexico border is forcing migrants to take more dangerous, remote routes to cross into the United States and pushing up the number of deaths in the desert.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
Spain seizes Florida treasure ship


The Press Association
2007-07-13 11:54:00

Spanish Civil Guards heightened a battle over a £250million treasure of gold and silver coins from a shipwreck when they seized a vessel belonging to a Florida-based company.

The Ocean Alert was seized three miles off the south-eastern coast and taken to the nearby port of Algeciras to be searched, the Civil Guard said.

The Civil Guard acted on an order of a Spanish judge who in June instructed police to seize two vessels of Tampa's Odyssey Marine Exploration if they left the British colony of Gibraltar - on Spain's southern tip - and entered Spanish waters.

Odyssey, a treasure hunting company, said it had found a Colonial-era shipwreck on May 18, and the coins have been flown to the United States from Gibraltar.


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Britain 'will expel Russian diplomats over Litvinenko'


Daily Mail
2007-07-12 13:32:00

Russian diplomats are facing expulsion from Britain as the crisis over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko escalated today.

Moscow and London are on the brink of a damaging showdown after President Vladimir Putin refused to hand over the main suspect in the poisoning of the former spy.

©Daily Mail
Moscow has confirmed it will not extradite Andrei Lugovoi, prompting a diplomatic crisis with Britain.


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UK: obese girl taken into care because of her weight

Russell Jenkins
The Times
2007-07-13 11:28:00

An eight-year-old girl has been taken from her parents and put into care because she is seriously overweight.

The girl, who is 5ft (1.52m) tall, is a size 16 � six sizes bigger than the average for her age. She has suffered several health problems associated with her weight. But her parents, from West Cumbria, say that they are devastated, and that her size is due to a medical problem or genetics, not a poor diet.

The girl's mother said she and her partner would fight to get their daughter back. She added: "Our world has fallen apart. Our daughter doesn't overeat and she's active. She's always been chubby but she's always out playing. The only bad thing we have given her is fizzy drinks."


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Italian authorities evacuate seven crew from burning ship


Associated Press
2007-07-13 10:30:00

Italian authorities evacuated seven crew members from a mercantile ship that caught fire about 10 miles (15 kilometers) off the southern coast between Brindisi and Taranto, early Friday, a coast guard official said.

The fire stated in the engine room of the 84-meter (275-foott) ship, which was sailing under the flag of the African nation of Comoros. The evacuated crew members were from Georgia, Ukraine and Russia. No one was reported injured.


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Programmed to kill? French gendarme kills own children in murder-suicide


The Guardian
2007-07-13 10:26:00

A police officer shot dead his two children, a superior and himself today at the suburban Paris station where he was based, an official said.

The killings took place just after noon local time at the gendarmerie station at Malakoff, south of the French capital. No motive was given.

Police commander Pierre Bouquin said the children were aged around 10. The officer's identity was not made public.


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Were the Dutch hoodwinked into Afghanistan?

Louise Dunne
radionetherlands
2007-07-13 03:40:00

Tuesday's suicide attack in southern Afghanistan, which left at least 17 civilians dead and a number of Dutch soldiers injured, has again raised questions about Dutch involvement in Afghanistan. A year ago, the deployment of Dutch troops in the Afghan province of Uruzgan was widely seen as primarily a reconstruction mission but it's becoming clearer by the day that this is a military operation with all the attendant risks.

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Around the World
Anti-smoking nonsense: Non-smoking candidates only for Malaysia's Islamic party


AFP
2007-07-13 11:22:00

Malaysia's main Islamic opposition party will only field candidates for the upcoming general elections who do not smoke or are willing to kick the habit, its leader said.

The Pan-Malaysia Islamic (PAS) party's spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said smoking was un-Islamic and people who smoked did not fully understand Islam, state Bernama news agency reported late Thursday.

"Some Muslims consider smoking haram (forbidden)," the elderly religious leader said.

"I prefer to choose candidates who do not smoke. By now they should understand the party's requirements that to contest in the election, they must have the characteristics of a true Islamic leader," he said.


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Brazil orders Berezovsky, soccer bosses detained


Reuters
2007-07-13 10:32:00

A Brazilian federal court on Thursday ordered Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and several directors of the Brazilian soccer team Corinthians detained on money laundering charges.

Judge Fausto Martin de Sanctis froze the bank accounts of one of Brazil's most popular teams and said Interpol would be asked to carry out the overseas arrests of Berezovsky, Kia Joorabchian and Nojan Bedroud.

Four Brazilian directors of the club were also told to testify about the alleged money laundering and international transfers of soccer players next month.


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Mexico: Rebels Say Attack on Mexican Pipeline is Just the Beginning

LAURENCE ILIFF
Dallas Morning News
2007-07-13 07:56:00

A shadowy leftist rebel group took responsibility Tuesday for a gas pipeline blast that shut down some industry in central Mexico, including two car assembly plants.

The Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR for its initials in Spanish, said Tuesday's explosion and two similar attacks on Pemex pipelines in Guanajuato state last week marked the beginning of a "national campaign of harassment against the interests of the oligarchy and this illegitimate government."

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Heavy shelling in Somali capital


BBC
2007-07-12 09:16:00

Shells have been fired overnight at the presidential palace and the venue for forthcoming peace talks in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Shooting was also heard in the city's main Bakara market. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks.


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Big Brother

No new articles.


Axis of Evil
FBI Patriot Act Abuse Documents: What Special Project Lives in FBI HQ Room 4944?

Ryan Singel
Wired
2007-07-10 13:11:00

In March, the Justice Department's Inspector General revealed that FBI agents had sent a flurry of fake emergency letters to phone companies, asking them to turn over phone records immediately by promising that the proper papers had been filed with U.S. attorneys, though in many cases this was a complete lie. More than 60 of these letters were made public today as part of a FBI document dump in response to a government sunshine lawsuit centered on the FBI's abuse of a key Patriot Act power.

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No Surprise! Bush Dismisses CIA Leak As Old News

By JENNIFER LOVEN
Forbes
2007-07-12 22:00:00

WASHINGTON -President Bush always said he would wait to talk about the CIA leak case until after the investigation into his administration's role. On Thursday, he skipped over that step and pronounced the matter old news hardly worth discussing.

Comment: See 17 Techniques for Truth Suppression in comment below.



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Middle East Madness
Killing the messenger: New York Times journalist shot dead in Iraq


AP
2007-07-13 15:01:00

- An Iraqi journalist for The New York Times was shot to death Friday on his way to work, less than an hour after he called the bureau to say a checkpoint had blocked his normal route, the newspaper said.

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Dahr Jamail, Iraq Reporter Schizophrenic in Disneyland

Dahr Jamail
Tomdispatch
2007-07-13 14:03:00

"In violence we forget who we are" -- Mary McCarthy, novelist and critic

1. Statistically Speaking

Having spent a fair amount of time in occupied Iraq, I now find living in the United States nothing short of a schizophrenic experience. Life in Iraq was traumatizing. It was impossible to be there and not be affected by apocalyptic levels of violence and suffering, unimaginable in this country.

But here's the weird thing: One long, comfortable plane ride later and you're in Disneyland, or so it feels on returning to the United States. Sometimes it seems as if I'm in a bubble here that's only moments away from popping. I find myself perpetually amazed at the heights of consumerism and the vigorous pursuit of creature comforts that are the essence of everyday life in this country -- and once defined my own life as well.


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Destructive power is no measure of a country's might, Britain tells US

Tom Baldwin
Times Online
2007-07-13 09:26:00

Gordon Brown's Government took another tentative step to distance itself from President Bush yesterday, as one of the Prime Minister's chief lieutenants delivered a series of coded criticisms of American foreign policy.

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False flag operation continuing! 'Islamists' kill 6 Lebanese troops in camp battles

Nazih Siddiq
Reuters
2007-07-13 03:14:00

Al Qaeda-inspired militants killed six Lebanese soldiers on Thursday in fierce battles at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, security sources said.

Comment: This is about 2 weeks after the Lebanese Army declared victory. The Al-CIAda objective obviously wasn't fully accomplished.



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US Forces kill Reuters photographer and driver in Iraq by "random American bombardment"


Reuters
2007-07-13 02:45:00

An Iraqi photographer and driver working for Reuters in Iraq were killed in Baghdad on Thursday in what witnesses said was a U.S. helicopter attack but which the military described as a firefight with insurgents.

Comment: Of course the military denies that they killed them. The past four and a half years in Iraq have proven beyond doubt that the US doesn't like journalists who report and film what is actually happening there. To them they are fair game! According to the former head of CNN's news division, Eason Jordan, who was fired after making these comments, "he knew of about 12 journalists who had not only been killed by American troops, but had been targeted as a matter of policy."


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World Bank says Gaza may face 'irreversible' collapse


YNet
2007-07-12 23:01:00

International lending agency prolonged closure of Israel's border crossings with Hamas-controlled Strip could lead to the coastal Strip's economic collapse

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The Loan Gunmen
Part of the show? Japan Should Diversify Reserves, Advisor to Prime Minister Says

Shigeki Nozawa
Bloomberg
2007-07-11 12:57:00

Japan, the largest overseas holder of U.S. Treasuries, should invest $700 billion of its currency reserves in higher-yielding assets such as stocks and corporate bonds, said Takatoshi Ito, an adviser to the prime minister.

The reserves should be managed by a special fund that will gradually diversify into euros, Australian dollars and emerging- market currencies, Ito said in an interview in Tokyo.

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Let the Show Begin! Iran Asks Japan to Pay Yen for Oil, Starting Immediately

Megumi Yamanaka
Bloomberg News
2007-07-13 11:15:00

Iran asked Japanese refiners to switch to the yen to pay for all crude oil purchases, after Iran's central bank said it's cutting holdings of the U.S. dollar.

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Retail sales take steep fall in U.S.

Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press
2007-07-13 09:38:00

WASHINGTON - Consumers put away their wallets in June, sending retail sales crashing by the sharpest amount in nearly two years.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales fell by 0.9 percent last month, the biggest drop since August 2005. Demand for autos, furniture and building supplies all plunged.


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Oil hits 11-month high as dollar crashes

Santosh Menon
Reuters
2007-07-13 08:14:00

Oil briefly scaled a new 11-month high above $77 a barrel on Thursday amid increased flows of fund money, though gains were capped by news of refinery restarts in the fuel-hungry United States.

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The Living Planet
Powerful typhoon strikes Japan


thewest.com.au
2007-07-13 16:02:00

A powerful typhoon hit the southern Japanese island of Okinawa today, pounding them with torrential rains and high winds, and was later expected to head north towards the nation's main islands.

©thewest.com.au
A satellite image shows Typhoon Man-yi off the east coast of Taiwan.


Up to 500mm of rain was expected to fall on some parts of Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu by tomorrow morning, further battering areas already hit by heavy rains and flooding earlier this week.



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Butterfly shows evolution at work


BBC
2007-07-12 23:25:00

Scientists say they have seen one of the fastest evolutionary changes ever observed in a species of butterfly.

The tropical Blue Moon butterfly has developed a way of fighting back against parasitic bacteria.

©BBC
The bacteria selectively kills male Blue Moons before they can hatch




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New Mexico Ranchers Fight Caterpillar Invasion

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press
2007-07-12 22:38:00

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - It has all the makings of a potential rangeland disaster: thousands of acres of grass and the herds of cattle, antelope and other animals that need to eat it versus an emerging army of spiky caterpillars with voracious appetites. But ranchers hope quick action will take care of the caterpillars _ also known as range worms _ before they can destroy pastures in northeastern New Mexico.

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1 dead as heavy rain continues in western Japan


Associated Press
2007-07-11 22:29:00

A man died Wednesday in Kumamoto Prefecture after falling into a swollen river as heavy rain continued in western Japan.

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Health & Wellness
Moles 'good indicator to ageing'


BBC
2007-07-13 11:05:00

The number of moles may offer an indication of how quickly the body ages, a study suggests.

King's College London scientists compared key ageing DNA with the number of moles in a study of 1,800 twins.

They found the more moles a person had, the more likely their DNA was to have the properties to fight off ageing.

The study, in the Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention journal, contrasts with the link between a high mole-count and high skin cancer risk.

Moles appear in childhood and disappear from middle age onwards.

When present in large numbers they can increase the risk of melanoma, a rare form of skin cancer. Moles vary significantly in numbers and size between individuals.


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New Hysteria in UK: Toxic health warning over fake Sensodyne toothpaste

David Byers
The Times
2007-07-13 10:41:00

Fake Sensodyne toothpaste which contains traces of toxic chemicals is being sold in markets, discount shops and car boot sales, the UK's medicines watchdog warned today.

The contaminated 50ml tubes of Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Mint contain potentially dangerous levels of diethylene glycol, which could harm anyone with an impaired liver or kidney function and young children.

Comment: And what about similar harm effects of Fluoride? Why UK's medicines watchdog doesn't warn the public about it?


The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned that the fake products were being made by "unauthorised" copycat suppliers who printed their tubes in both English and Arabic, with genuine Sensodyne products only ever being printed in English.

Comment:
Oh, we get it. If it's printed in Arabic, it's Eeeevil! Those damn terrorists are everywhere, and they are going to poison us!


The affected batch code is PROD 07 2005/EXP 08/2008, the agency said, instructing anyone who believes they may have bought the product to throw all tubes away.

Comment: Along with those tubes don't forget to throw a way last remains of common sense.



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Diabetes drug side effect reports triple

MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP
2007-07-13 04:12:00

In the month after a surprising analysis revealed possible heart risks from the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, reports of side effects to federal regulators tripled.

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Flashback: Doctor Says He Was Assailed for Challenging Drug's Safety

By STEPHANIE SAUL
The New York Times
2007-06-06 22:07:00

WASHINGTON - The business of developing and selling new drugs is fraught with peril and setbacks. Billions of dollars are at stake. Nerves are on edge. Tempers flare.

Just ask Dr. John B. Buse, a medical researcher who testified at a House hearing on Wednesday about the safety of the popular diabetes drug, Avandia.


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Flashback: Heart Attack Risk Seen in Drug for Diabetes

Stephanie Saul
The New York Times
2007-05-23 06:22:00

An article in a leading medical journal yesterday raised serious safety questions about the widely used diabetes pill Avandia and renewed skepticism about the vigilance of federal drug regulators.


The analysis, based on a review of more than 40 existing clinical studies involving nearly 28,000 patients, showed that Avandia significantly increased the risk of heart attacks, compared with other diabetes drugs or a placebo.


Both the study's lead author and the editors of The New England Journal of Medicine, in which the article appeared, cautioned that the research method used left the findings open to interpretation. But they said the study nevertheless raised important concerns.


And the publication of the study on the journal's Web site prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue a public safety alert and advise users of the drug - an estimated million people in this country and two million worldwide - to consult their doctors about the potential cardiovascular risks.


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Creating Psychopaths! You can forget the unhappy past sez study

Ishani Ganguli
Reuters
2007-07-13 03:21:00

Researchers have confirmed what common wisdom has long held -- that people can suppress emotionally troubling memories -- and said on Thursday they have sketched out how the brain accomplishes this.

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Science & Technology
"Fizz" triggering fiery volcanic eruptions emanates 10000 ft beneath crater


Big News Network - ANI
2007-07-13 09:22:00

The fizzy gases that cause some volcanoes to blow their tops appear to originate deep beneath the surface, a new study by a team of Italian geologists from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology has revealed.

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Our Haunted Planet
Unexplained sighting gives the Show-Me state a spot in UFO lore

Nicholas J.C. Pistor
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
2007-07-13 09:23:00

Strange sightings of a massive, triangular object that stretched across the sky seven years ago have propelled St. Clair County into the heights of UFO lore.

"I can't explain what I saw," said Mark Lopinot, an O'Fallon police detective who watched as the object approached his city. "It was shocking."

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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Oops! Shuttle's Name Misspelled On NASA Launch Pad Sign


Local6.com
2007-07-13 15:56:00

The first NASA sign at launch pad 39A encouraging the next launch of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center was misspelled and noticed by someone looking at the craft.

When the shuttle rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building Wednesday, a giant "Go Endeavour" sign was put on a fence in front of the craft.

©Local6.com


However, one item was missing from the sign: the "u" in Endeavour.

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'Killer' Wasps Menace State Department

Matthew Lee
Associated Press
2007-07-13 13:59:00

As if the insurgency in Iraq and the fight against terrorism wasn't enough, U.S. diplomats are now struggling with a new threat: menacing "killer" wasps that have infested areas around the State Department's headquarters.


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What's al-Qaeda's take on the iPhone?


The Register
2007-07-13 13:45:00

In-depth analysis In a fortnight during which just about everyone on the planet, excluding naturally those in a coma or temporarily indisposed up some tributary of the Amazon, has offered their two bits' worth on the launch of Apple's iPhone, it comes as a bit of a surprise that al-Qaeda has dismally failed to contribute to the brouhaha.

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Fashion Alert: UK judges abandon traditional wig and gown in civil cases

Frances Gibb
The Times
2007-07-13 11:52:00

Judges are to end centuries of tradition and abandon the wearing of wigs and gowns in hundreds of civil and family cases.

The decision to abolish the 300-year-old horsehair headgear, along with wing collars and bands, was announced yesterday by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers.

However, in a compromise ending one of the most hotly disputed legal debates of recent years, judges sitting in criminal courts will continue to wear their wigs.

And solicitor-advocates, who have long fought for parity with barristers, will be allowed to wear the same traditional costume that is the hallmark of the Bar. The issue of what judges and advocates should wear has split the profession and been the subject of several lengthy consultation exercises.


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Rock star back at university again after 33 gap years

Simon de Bruxelles
The Times
2007-07-13 11:20:00

Brian May, the multimillionaire guitarist who founded the rock group Queen, has finally completed the PhD in astrophysics that he abandoned more than 30 years ago.

The 59-year-old composer of hits such as Fat Bottomed Girls and We Will Rock You turned his back on the stars for international fame with Freddie Mercury and his band. His thesis on interplanetary dust clouds lay gathering dust of its own in the attic of his home in Surrey.

May's interest in the subject was rekindled last year when he co-authored a children's science book with the astronomer Sir Patrick Moore. He discovered that remarkably little research had been done in the intervening 33 years.

He dug out his old handwritten notes and spent nine months conducting further research at Imperial College, London, where he had studied before Queen hit the big time.


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Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth - Must Read Survival Guide

by H. Michael Sweeney
proparanoid.com
2007-07-13 07:17:00

Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down or damage a government, religion, or corporation.

Where the crime involves a conspiracy, or a conspiracy to cover up the crime, there will invariably be a disinformation campaign launched against those seeking to uncover and expose the truth and/or the conspiracy.

When these type of entities lack an effective, fact-based offense or defense, Propaganda Techniques for Truth Suppression are employed.

The specific tactics which disinfo artists tend to apply are revealed here. Also included with this material are seven common traits of the disinfo artist which may also prove useful in identifying players and motives.

The more a particular party fits the traits and is guilty of following the rules, the more likely they are a professional disinfo artist with a vested motive. People can be bought, threatened, or blackmailed into providing disinformation, so even "good guys" can be suspect in many cases.

The success of these techniques, Built upon Thirteen Techniques for Truth Suppression by David Martin, depends heavily upon a cooperative compliant press, an inept and token opposition force, and how naive, frightened, and apathetic the general public is.

Beware of what and who you trust.

Know and understand what these Propaganda Techniques for Truth Suppression are, and how they can be used against (to destroy / damage) and for (to support) any issue or point of view- or you.

Remember, most of the information in the Information Age, is false--(what you think you know, just ain't so).

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