Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Leaked Iraq war files detail torture, civilian killings

AFP

Sat Oct 23, 2:31 am ET

2 WikiLeaks defends Iraq files as exposing ‘truth’

by Robin Millard, AFP

2 hrs 54 mins ago

3 Suicide bombers attack UN office in Afghan city

by Aref Karimi, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 10:07 am ET

4 NYT photographer badly wounded in Afghanistan

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

1 hr 42 mins ago

5 More than 200 dead in Haiti cholera epidemic: official

by Clarens Renois, AFP

1 hr 33 mins ago

6 Haiti cholera outbreak likely to spread: experts

by Thony Belizaire, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 4:40 am ET

7 Fractious G20 confronts currency row, reforms IMF

by Nick Coleman, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 8:24 am ET

8 French families face holiday petrol shortages

by Charles Onians, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 11:57 am ET

9 French unions unbowed as pension reform edges in

by Charles Onians, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 10:52 am ET

10 Police hurt in clashes over Italy garbage dump

AFP

2 hrs 43 mins ago

11 World finance ministers agree IMF shake-up

by Eric Bernaudeau, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 6:02 am ET

12 Bahrain votes as Shiites seek to ease royal power

by Taieb Mahjoub, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 5:50 am ET

13 Runway unveiled for world’s first ‘tourist’ spaceship

by Paula Bustamante, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 3:32 am ET

14 Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 in Korea F1 qualifying

by Gordon Howard, AFP

Sat Oct 23, 3:17 am ET

15 WikiLeaks says logs show 15,000 more Iraq deaths

By Adrian Croft, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 9:50 am ET

16 Iraqi officials vow to probe any abuse cases

By Muhanad Mohammed, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 11:31 am ET

17 Quake camps at risk as Haiti cholera toll tops 200

By Joseph Guyler Delva, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 12:37 pm ET

18 G20 inks pact to avert trade war

By David Lawder and Yoo Choonsik, Reuters

24 mins ago

19 Bahrainis go to polls amid sectarian tension

By Frederik Richter, Reuters

1 hr 12 mins ago

20 French pension law nears adoption as unions fight on

By Brian Love, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 12:58 pm ET

21 Bombers hit U.N. base in Afghanistan

By Sharafuddin Sharafyar, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 10:10 am ET

22 Obama accuses Republicans of peddling "snake oil"

By Caren Bohan, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 12:26 am ET

23 Rangers down Yanks to reach first World Series

By Ed Stoddard, Reuters

Sat Oct 23, 12:59 am ET

24 Google says its cars grabbed emails, passwords

By Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters

Fri Oct 22, 7:38 pm ET

25 U.S. halts aid to Pakistani army units over abuses

By Phil Stewart, Reuters

Fri Oct 22, 5:44 pm ET

26 Leaked Iraq war files portray weak, divided nation

By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer

4 mins ago

27 Iraq PM: WikiLeaks abuse leak designed to hurt him

By REBECCA SANTANA and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writers

21 mins ago

28 Cholera outbreak spreads toward Haiti’s capital

By JACOB KUSHNER, Associated Press Writer

12 mins ago

29 Tightening Senate races give pause to upbeat GOP

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

13 mins ago

30 Frustration with GOP leader despite expected gains

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

14 mins ago

31 Same Hill leaders could emerge from voter upheaval

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

15 mins ago

32 Suicide attackers assault UN office in Afghanistan

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

16 mins ago

33 Motherhood generates talk in Okla. governor’s race

By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 23 mins ago

34 Group of 20 vows to avoid currency devaluations

By KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer

Sat Oct 23, 12:15 pm ET

35 All in: Rangers finally reach first World Series

By STEPHEN HAWKINS, AP Sports Writer

Sat Oct 23, 7:29 am ET

36 Gone from NPR, Williams begins bigger role on Fox

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer

Sat Oct 23, 7:28 am ET

37 Health insurers help GOP after dalliance with Dems

By JIM KUHNHENN and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writers

Sat Oct 23, 4:46 am ET

38 Tribune Co. CEO resigns, new bankruptcy plan filed

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and ANDREW VANACORE, AP Business Writers

Sat Oct 23, 1:21 am ET

39 Bill Clinton races to help Democratic candidates

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

Fri Oct 22, 11:26 pm ET

40 Migrants unite for better trailer park living

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

Sat Oct 23, 2:07 pm ET

41 ND vote could ban big game hunting on fenced land

By DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press Writer

Sat Oct 23, 1:09 pm ET

42 In Wash., illegal immigrants canvassing for votes

By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Writer

Fri Oct 22, 11:26 pm ET

KAWAII DIPLOMACY

Officials in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, were beaming after Hikonyan, a “samurai cat” that serves as the city’s mascot, was chosen as the favorite character at the Japan Expo in France.

A Japanese woman was one of six people selected to become a temporary panda keeper in China’s Sichuan province.

A Toyama-based NPO called Dream of the Earth has embarked on an 18-month project to teach fishermen in southern Sri Lanka “a traditional Japanese fishing method using fixed nets.”

In an unusually poetic turn of phrase, a Fuji TV newscaster described the scene at last week’s rescue of miners in Copiapo, Chile, as kisu no arashi-“a storm of kisses.”

Meanwhile, Japan’s space agency revealed it had sent the miners a care package that included “antibacterial underwear” and brown-sugar candies that are used for “space food.”

STATS

803,000

Foreigners who visited Japan in August, a new record for the month, according to the Japan Tourism Agency

247,000, 172,000

Number of those visitors who came from South Korea and China, respectively

16

Members of newly formed pop group OJS48, made up of retired Tokyo police officers (“OJS” stands for ojisan)

30,000

Number of photographs, mostly dating from the Meiji era, being digitized by the Imperial Household Agency

ONLY IN JAPAN

Police in Niigata are on the lookout for two door-to-door futon salesmen who are accused of swindling a 75-year-old woman out of ¥10 million.

A group of Japanese researchers who used “slime molds for determining the optimal routes for railroad tracks” were among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes.

Two men and a woman in London were sentenced to prison for committing over 100 thefts from Japanese tourists.

It was reported that Utsunomiya University will start a course in wildlife management to help farmers keep animals out of their fields.

Headline of the Week: “Nurse’s Acquittal Finalized over Patients’ Nail-clipping Injuries” (via The Mainichi Daily News)

Gone Fishing

Just, Not For Fish

Motoring

A Great Pass Time

Foreign People Get Out  

The Welcome Mat It Was Not  

China’s rare earth blockage taking a toll on businesses

2010/10/22

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN  

Only two of 30 Japanese importers have received rare earth material shipments from China since late last month, prompting concerns that the continued export blockage could put Japanese companies out of business.

Chinese suppliers of the materials have unilaterally told many Japanese companies that they intend to terminate contracts for dealing of the minerals, according to trade ministry officials.

The Chinese companies said new customs procedures, requiring thorough inspections of all shipments and the submission of paperwork in Chinese, have made it virtually impossible to ship the materials, which are crucial in the production of hybrid vehicles and other advanced products.

Tsukiji to relocate to Toyosu: Ishihara

DPJ ranks vow to block budget for shift to toxic site

By TAKAHIRO FUKADA

Staff writer Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010

The metropolitan government will spend ¥128.1 billion this fiscal year to relocate the Tsukiji fish market to the Toyosu district in Koto Ward, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Friday.

His announcement drew an immediate outcry from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which holds a majority in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and opposes the move to a site deemed highly toxic. The DPJ also threatened to block the budget for the move.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

These perfect protein packages (each large egg has six grams of complete protein and just 71 calories) take minutes to prepare. Like omelets and frittatas, scrambled eggs make a great setting for vegetables. Generally, the vegetables are cooked first, then the eggs are added to the hot pan and stirred until scrambled. Mexican cooks add eggs to a seared tomato salsa for the iconic huevos a la Mexicana, while Tunisians make a spicy scrambled egg dish with onions, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Simpler, milder scrambled egg dishes can be made with whatever produce lingers in your refrigerator, like mushrooms, zucchini or greens.

Americans Still Reaching for the Salt Shaker

Study Shows No Reduction in U.S. Salt Intake Over the Past 4 Decades

Oct. 20, 2010 — Despite constant pleas by public health experts to hold the salt, the sodium intake of the U.S. population hasn’t decreased over the past 46 years, according to a new review.

Most of us eat a lot more sodium than is recommended, says researcher Adam Bernstein, MD, ScD, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Aspirin May Cut Colon Cancer Deaths

Study Shows Long-term, Low-Dose Aspirin Cuts Risk of Aggressive Colon Cancer

Oct. 22, 2010 – Long-term use of low-dose aspirin reduces colon cancer risk, U.K. researchers find.

Low-dose aspirin takers have a 24% lower risk of colon cancer and a 35% lower risk of dying from colon cancer, find University of Oxford researcher Peter Rothwell and colleagues.

“The new findings on the effect of low-dose aspirin should be included in advice given to the public,” Rothwell says in a news release.

Diabetes Could Surge in U.S. by 2050

CDC Projects Diabetes Rates Could Grow to 1 in 3 Americans

Oct. 22, 2010 — As many as one in three Americans could develop diabetes by 2050 unless a significant dent is made in the obesity epidemic, according to the latest CDC projections.

As it stands, one in 10 Americans has diabetes, but this could double — or even triple — by 2050 if current trends continue. These trends include the aging of the population, increasing rates of obesity, the fact that people with diabetes are living longer, and increases in the number of people belonging to minority groups at high risk for diabetes.

“The numbers are alarming,” says Ann Albright, PhD, RD, director of the CDC’s division of diabetes translation.

Smoking Raises Surgery Risks

Smokers Nearly 40% More Likely Than Nonsmokers to Die After Surgery, Study Finds

Oct. 19, 2010 — Smokers who undergo surgery are more likely than nonsmokers to have complications or to die shortly after surgical procedures, according to a new study.

The risk of death within 30 days of a wide variety of surgeries was nearly 40% higher in smokers than in nonsmokers, says Alparslan Turan, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic. He presented his findings today at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Diego.

Drugs May Cut Risk of Colorectal Cancer

Analysis Shows Link Between the Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs and Reduced Cancer Risk

ct. 18, 2010 — An analysis of 22 studies involving about 2.5 million people shows a significant association between using cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and a reduced risk for colorectal cancer.

The analysis shows there was a 12% reduction of colorectal cancer risk among statin users. Also, the longer patients used statin drugs, the greater their reduction in risk for colorectal cancer.

The findings are based on a review of 22 studies published through October 2009 and were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific meeting in San Antonio.

Medical Errors Persist Despite Safeguards

Errors in Diagnosis, Communication, Judgment Blamed for Wrong-Patient, Wrong-Site Medical Mistakes

Oct. 18, 2010 — Serious medical mistakes, like performing a medical procedure on the wrong person or wrong site, continue to occur despite recently implemented preventive measures.

A new study shows 25 cases of procedures performed on the wrong person and 107 cases of procedures performed on the wrong site occurred in a 5 1/2-year period in Colorado, resulting in at least one death and several complications.

Some Dental Treatment Is Linked to Heart Risk

Study Shows Short-Term Risk After Invasive Dental Procedures

Oct. 18, 2010 — Heart attack and stroke risk may rise in the month following invasive dental treatments such as tooth extractions, a study shows.

The risk returns to normal levels within six months, according to the study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

This is not the first time oral health and heart health have been linked, and the likely culprit is inflammation.  The theory is that bacteria from periodontal infection can enter your bloodstream. Once this occurs, the bacteria accumulate along the blood vessels, causing inflammation, which can make people more vulnerable to heart attacks and stroke.

Low Vitamin D Levels for Skin Cancer Patients

Study Shows People With Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome More Likely to Have Vitamin D Deficiency

Oct. 18, 2010 — Protecting your skin from the sun to help prevent skin cancer may have an unhealthy side effect: vitamin D deficiency.

A new study shows vitamin D deficiency is increasingly common among people with a genetic predisposition to sun-related skin cancers known as basal cell nevus syndrome.

Researchers found people with basal cell nevus syndrome were three times more likely to have low vitamin D levels than the general population.

Few docs recognize “chronic” Lyme disease

(Reuters Health) – Despite lots of media attention, “chronic” Lyme disease is only recognized by a small group of doctors in Connecticut, where the tick-borne infection was first discovered.

That’s according to a new statewide survey, reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, that found just two percent of doctors in Connecticut said they had diagnosed and treated the controversial chronic version of the disease.

If you are online a lot, “you think every doctor in Connecticut believes in chronic Lyme,” said Dr. Henry Feder, of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, who worked on the study.

4 Baby Deaths Spur Graco Stroller Recall

Strangulation, Entrapment Risk for 2 Million Older Graco Strollers

Oct. 20, 2010 — The strangulation deaths of four babies has led Graco to recall 2 million Quattro and MetroLite brand strollers.

The deaths aren’t recent. They occurred between 2003 and 2005. That bothers Donald Mays, senior director of product safety for Consumer Reports.

“This troubles me very much. It seems to me way too long before Graco recalled these products,” Mays tells WebMD. “It seems that for this company there are lots of cases where injuries mounted before something was done.”

FDA: Prostate Cancer Drugs Raise Diabetes, Heart Risk

New Warnings for Eligard, Lupron, Trelstar, Viadur, Zoladex

Oct. 20, 2010 — A class of drugs used to treat advanced prostate cancer raises patients’ risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, the FDA today warned.

The five drugs, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, are approved for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. They are:

   * Eligard

   * Lupron

   * Trelstar

   * Viadur

   * Zoladex

All of the drugs will stay on the market but will be required to carry new label warnings.

The risk that the drugs will trigger diabetes or heart disease/stroke appear small, the FDA says. But recent studies suggest that doctors should monitor blood sugar levels and watch for signs of heart disease in men taking these drugs.

Cribs Recalled, Most Sold at Kmart

40,000 Cribs Recalled Due to Potential for Suffocation or Injuries From Falls

Oct. 22, 2010 — About 40,000 drop-side cribs, including 34,000 Heritage cribs sold only at Kmart, have been recalled over entrapment, suffocation, and fall hazards.

No children have died, but there have been 23 reported injuries from the cribs in the latest recall.

The danger is that the cribs’ drop sides can detach or malfunction, causing the drop-side rail to partially detach. Children can get trapped in the space, resulting in strangulation, suffocation, cuts, bruises, and falls.

Frozen Peas Recalled Due to Glass Fragments

Pictsweet Recalls Frozen Peas That Were Sold in Walmart and Kroger Stores

Oct. 18, 2010 — About 24,000 pounds of frozen green peas and other vegetables supplied by the Pictsweet Co. of Bells, Tenn., are being recalled from Walmart and Kroger stores because the products sold in 12-ounce containers may contain broken glass.

Pictsweet says in a statement on the FDA’s web site that the recall is voluntary and was issued after it learned that some packages may contain glass fragments, which the company’s statement says “may cause injury” if eaten.

Quake-hit Haiti battles cholera epidemic, 150 dead

(Reuters) – Quake-hit Haiti and its aid partners fought on Friday to stem a cholera epidemic that has killed over 150 people and sickened hundreds, with experts saying more cases could be expected before it was contained.

Although the main outbreak area was north of Port-au-Prince, which bore the brunt of the January 12 earthquake, humanitarian agencies were on high alert to prevent the disease from spreading to crowded survivors’ camps in the capital.

Haiti: 135 dead, more than 1,000 sick from disease outbreak

ST. MARC, Haiti (AP) – An outbreak of severe diarrhea has killed at least 135 people in rural central Haiti and sickened hundreds more who overwhelmed a crowded hospital Thursday seeking treatment. Health workers suspected the disease is cholera, but were awaiting tests.

Hundreds of patients lay on blankets in a parking lot outside St. Nicholas hospital in the port city of St. Marc with IVs in their arms for rehydration. As rain began to fall in the afternoon, nurses rushed to carry them inside.

Doctors were testing for cholera, typhoid and other illnesses in the Caribbean nation’s deadliest outbreak since a January earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people.

Catherine Huck, deputy country director for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the Caribbean nation’s health ministry had recorded 135 deaths and more than 1,000 infected people.

New malaria estimate says 205,000 die in India

Reuters) – Malaria kills around 205,000 people in India each year, more than 13 times the estimate made by the World Health Organization, researchers said on Thursday.

WHO, the public health arm of the United Nations, estimates that approximately 15,000 people a year die from malaria in India, and 100,000 adults worldwide.

MRSA superbug much more common in U.S. than UK

(Reuters Health) – The antibiotic-mocking MRSA bacteria seem to be thriving better in the US than in the UK, according to new government data.

They show Americans are more than six times as likely as Britons to contract the superbug in the community, although rates of hospital infections are about the same.

“This is the first time we compared rates of MRSA bloodstream infections between US and England,” said Dr. Fernanda Lessa, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. “So, the findings are new to us.”

HRT-Related Breast Cancer Is More Advanced

Study Examines Breast Cancer Risk Tied to Hormone Replacement Therapy

Oct. 19, 2010 — Breast cancers tied to the use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women tend to be diagnosed at a more advanced and deadly stage.

That’s according to the latest research from the landmark Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study on combined estrogen-plus-progestin hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and breast cancer risk.

Early results from the WHI study in 2002 caused the study’s intervention phase to be stopped early due to an increased risk of breast cancer among the participants taking HRT, compared to those taking a placebo.

Low Testosterone Raises Heart Death Risk

Study Shows Men With Heart Disease Die Sooner if Testosterone Levels Are Low

Oct. 19, 2010 – Men with heart disease die sooner if their testosterone levels are low, a U.K. study shows.

It’s becoming clear that low testosterone is a risk marker for heart disease in men. Now it appears low testosterone predicts worse outcomes in men who already have heart disease.

What isn’t clear is whether low testosterone causes or worsens heart disease — and whether testosterone replacement therapy would help.

Food Allergies Linked to Asthma Risk

Study Also Shows Children Are at Greater Risk for Food Allergies Than Adults

Oct. 20, 2010 — About three of every 100 people in the U.S. have at least one food allergy, and the presence of a food allergy may raise their risk of asthma, a study shows.

The study, which appears in the October issue of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, is the largest to offer a national snapshot of food allergy prevalence.

Children are at greater risk for food allergy than adults, and black male children are particularly at risk, the study shows.

“This gives us a good perspective, and the prevalence number is pretty solid,” says study researcher Andy Liu, MD, an allergist at National Jewish Health in Denver.

Teen Car Crash Deaths Decline

Graduated Driver Licensing Programs May Be Behind Dip in Teenage Traffic Deaths, Researchers Say

Oct. 21, 2010 — Teenage traffic deaths declined nearly 17% in 2009 from 2008 for youths aged 15 to 19, the CDC says in a new report. That’s about 500 fewer deaths, for a total of about 3,000.

The CDC, in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for Oct. 22, says that the traffic death rate has improved partly because of graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs. Such programs extend the period for learner’s licenses, place driving restrictions on young drivers, and limit the number of passengers allowed in their vehicles.

Not only did the national teenage traffic death rate decline in 2009 for 15- to 19-year-olds, but drivers aged 16 and 17 involved in fatal crashes declined 38% between 2004 and 2008, to a rate of 16.7 per 100,000 people, the MMWR report says.

Obesity in Kids Rises Around the World

Study Shows Developed Nations Have Highest Percentage of Obese Children  

Oct. 21, 2010 — The proportion of young children who are overweight or obese has increased about 60% in the past 20 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) says in a new report.

The WHO says that in 1990, 4.2% of kids under age 5 were overweight or obese, but that figure grew to 6.7% in 2010.

What’s more, researchers say the prevalence will likely hit 9.1% in 2020, and that the problem is worse in developed nations than in developing ones.

Teen Birth Rates Highest in Southeast

CDC Report Shows Mississippi Has Highest Teenage Birth Rate and New Hampshire the Lowest

Oct. 20, 2010 — Teenage birth rates are highest in states across the Southern part of the country and lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest, the CDC says in a new report.

Teen birth rates in 2008 ranged from less than 25 per 1,000 young women between 15 and 19 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont to more than 60 per 1,000 in Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, according to a report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Vitamin B12 Linked to Lower Alzheimer’s Risk

Study Suggests Vitamin B12 May Reduce Levels of an Amino Acid Linked to Alzheimer’s

Oct. 18, 2010 — Vitamin B12 may help protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease, according to new evidence that suggests the vitamin and an amino acid called homocysteine may both be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s.

High levels of vitamin B12 in the blood are already known to help reduce levels of homocysteine, which has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss, and stroke. But researchers say the relationship between homocysteine and vitamin B12 levels and Alzheimer’s disease risk has been unclear.

Anxiety Plays Role in Pain After Surgery

Even in Those With Low Pain Sensitivity, Anxiety Counts

ct. 19, 2010 — Having the form of a gene associated with low sensitivity to pain may not automatically protect people from developing chronic pain after surgery, a new study suggests.

“Even if you have the form of this gene that is thought to protect, it didn’t protect from this kind of chronic pain [after surgery],”  says researcher Craig Hartrick, MD, director of anesthesiology research at Beaumont Hospitals, Royal Oak and Troy, Mich., and discipline director for pharmacology, Oakland University’s William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, Mich.

Rather, anxiety seems to play a role in whether people suffer chronic pain after surgery, he says.

He presented the findings at Anesthesiology 2010, the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Diego.

 Study: Fish Oil Doesn’t Affect Postpartum Depression

Nor Does Fish Oil Boost Children’s Learning

Oct. 19, 2010 — Taking fish oil (DHA)  supplements during pregnancy, widely thought to help mothers’ moods and children’s cognitive skills, does not appear to reduce the risk of postpartum depression of mothers or boost the language development and cognitive skills of their children, according to a new Australian study.

”Our data suggest that there is no need for apparently healthy pregnant women to take DHA supplements,” says researcher Maria Makrides, PhD, deputy director of the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute and professor of human nutrition at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Coffee, Tea Linked to Lower Brain Cancer Risk

Researchers Say Antioxidants in Coffee and Tea May Explain Possible Reduction in Risk

Oct. 22, 2010 — Drinking about a half cup or more of coffee or tea per day is associated with a 34% reduction in the risk for glioma, a type of brain tumor, researchers report.

Researchers led by Dominique Michaud, DSc, an investigator at Brown University, and colleagues analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition longitudinal study, which includes more than 410,000 people from nine countries who were followed for about 8.5 years.

Are Cortisone Shots for Tendon Injuries Worth It?

Study: Shots Provide Short-Term Relief but Inferior in Long Term

Oct. 21, 2010 — Corticosteroid injections, better known as cortisone shots, provide short-term pain relief for tendon problems such as tennis elbow but may be worse than other treatments later on, according to a new analysis.

“We have shown strong evidence that corticosteroid injection is beneficial in the short term for treatment of tendinopathy, but is worse than other treatment options in the intermediate and long terms,” says researcher Bill Vicenzino, PhD, professor of sports physiotherapy at the University of Queensland in St. Lucia, Australia.

Marathon man: How not to hit the wall

(Reuters) – Marathon runners can train for months to condition for the big race, yet struggle to finish if they exhaust stores of carbohydrates too quickly, a phenomenon known as “hitting the wall.”

A new formula by a marathon runner and student at Harvard and MIT gives elite runners and marathon enthusiasts a more exact way to calculate just how many carb calories they need to take to stay in the 26.2 mile race.

“About 40 percent of marathon runners hit the wall,” said Benjamin Rapoport, a student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Computational Biology.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

William K. Black and L. Randall Wray: Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 1: Put Bank of America in Receivership

After a quick review of its procedures, Bank of America this week announced that it will resume its foreclosures in 23 lucky states next Monday. While the evidence is overwhelming that the entire foreclosure process is riddled with fraud, President Obama refuses to support a national moratorium. Indeed, his spokesmen on the issue told reporters three key things. As the Los Angeles Times reported:

 

A government review of botched foreclosure paperwork so far has found that the problems do not pose a “systemic” threat to the financial system, a top Obama administration official said Wednesday.

Yes, that’s right. HUD reviewed the “paperwork” problem to see whether it threatened the banks — not the homeowners who were the victims of foreclosure fraud. But it got worse, for the second point was how the government would respond to the epidemic of foreclosure fraud.    

The Justice Department is leading an investigation of possible crimes involving mortgage fraud.

That language was carefully chosen to sound reassuring. But the fact is that despite our pleas the FBI has continued its “partnership” with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The MBA is the trade association of the “perps.” It created a ridiculous on its face definition of “mortgage fraud.” Under that definition the lenders — who led the mortgage frauds — are the victims. The FBI still parrots this long discredited “definition.” That is one of the primary reasons why — in complete contrast to prior financial crises — the Justice Department has not convicted a single senior officer of the large nonprime lenders who directed, committed, and profited enormously from the frauds.

Glenn Greenwald The real danger from NPR’s firing of Juan Williams

I’m still not quite over the most disgusting part of the Juan Williams spectacle yesterday:  watching the very same people (on the Right and in the media) who remained silent about or vocally cheered on the viewpoint-based firings of Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Rick Sanchez, Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett, Phil Donahue, Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Ward Churchill, Chas Freeman, Van Jones and so many others, spend all day yesterday wrapping themselves in the flag of “free expression!!!” and screeching about the perils and evils of firing journalists for expressing certain viewpoints.  Even for someone who expects huge doses of principle-free hypocrisy — as I do — that behavior is really something to behold. And anyone doubting that there is a double standard when it comes to anti-Muslim speech should just compare the wailing backlash from most quarters over Williams’ firing to the muted acquiescence or widespread approval of those other firings.

But there’s one point from all of this I really want to highlight. The principal reason the Williams firing resonated so much and provoked so much fury is that it threatens the preservation of one of the most important American mythologies:  that Muslims are a Serious Threat to America and Americans.  That fact is illustrated by a Washington Post Op-Ed today from Reuel Marc Gerecht, who is as standard and pure a neocon as exists:  an Israel-centric, Iran-threatening, Weekly Standard and TNR writer, former CIA Middle East analyst, former American Enterprise Institute and current Defense of Democracies “scholar,” torture advocate, etc. etc.

David Sirota: The Tea Party Test Case

What is the tea party? Many have tried to answer that question ever since CNBC’s Rick Santelli first launched the backlash with his trading-floor rant against the poor.

Democratic operatives, for instance, say the tea party is merely a Republican Party facade. As proof, they point to GOP-linked corporate groups’ involvement in tea party events, and cite the absence of tea party deficit and bailout protests during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Social scientists, meanwhile, suggest that the tea party is not the entire Republican apparatus, but specifically the extreme conservative edge of the GOP. The data add credence to that argument: As the Public Religion Research Institute and the University of Washington report, tea party followers are disproportionately part of the Christian right and are more racially resentful than the general public.

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III: Racist Elements in the Tea Party Movement?

On Wednesday, October 20, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights in conjunction with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released the report “Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of the Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope and Function of Its National Factions.” According to the report, it examines histories and the “… corporate structure and leadership, finances and membership concentrations …” of “… six of the national organizational networks at the core of the Tea Party Movement.” The six Tea Party organizational elements examined are the Freedom Works Tea Party, 1776 Tea Party, Tea Party Nation, Tea Party Patriots, ResistNet and Tea Party Express (the “Movement”).

The report is very clear from the outset: ” … the majority of Movement supporters are people of good will.” But integrated into their calls for a reduction of the budget deficit, greater focus on the national debt and smaller government are concerns about race, sexual orientation, national identity, national birth rights and who qualifies to be an American. As the Tea Party Movement has taken shape amid calls for less government, lower taxes and less government spending; racist, white nationalist, anti-immigrant, homophobic and anti-Semitic elements have found their way into the Movement.

Taylor Marsh: Sarah Palin’s Team Sends Smoke Signal on 2012

Jonathan Martin of Politico really touched a raw Palin nerve with “Hurricane Sarah”. She tweeted Martin, calling him a liar, with Rebecca Mansour of Conservatives4Palin.com firing away, too.

Interesting that Mansour would cite “primary 2012.” Nobody’s flagged it, but it reads like a smoke signal sent before the charge. . . .

From Martin’s piece:

   Recognizing the money Palin can raise, Grassley’s team said it wanted to have her do a luncheon fundraiser. Palin, however, indicated that she didn’t want to raise money, but preferred a “message” event on a policy issue. So no event took place.

   Grassley aides remain puzzled as to why she would offer her help, then refuse to do what the veteran senator thought was most beneficial to his bid for a sixth Senate term.

   “It says to me she’s not serious about running for president,” said a source close to Grassley, suggesting that a real White House hopeful would not have snubbed a figure like the senior senator in the state that begins the nomination process.

What’s clear about Sarah Palin is that she’s hoping the victories she’s stoked in a 2010 House takeover by the Right will evolve into an incarnation of the Ronald Reagan revolution. However, the Republican she most resembles is Barry Goldwater, the Tea Party akin to the Goldwater grass roots movement more than anything else.

What’s clear about Sarah Palin is that she’s hoping the victories she’s stoked in a 2010 House takeover by the Right will evolve into an incarnation of the Ronald Reagan revolution. However, the Republican she most resembles is Barry Goldwater, the Tea Party akin to the Goldwater grass roots movement more than anything else.

Bill Maher: New Rule: Christine O’Donnell Has to Stop Saying “I’m You” in Her Campaign Ads

New Rule: Christine O’Donnell has to stop saying, “I’m you” in her campaign ads. It doesn’t get truer the more you say it. Because it’s not a spell. And also because a recent poll by Harvard confirms that my views are actually more aligned with America’s views than are Christine’s or Sarah Palin’s or Carl Paladino’s or any of the other nuts that spilled out of the nut bag this year.

When I hear Christine O’Donnell say “I’m you” I take it personally, because I think back to how our love-making was so raw and powerful it was hard to know where my body ended and hers began, but if I were you, I’d really want her to stop saying she was you. Eighty-six percent of Tea-baggers think climate change is a hoax — that’s not you! Tea Partiers want to repeal the health care law, but two thirds of AMERICANS either like it or want it to go further. Fifty-nine percent of AMERICANS support gay marriage and civil unions. The Tea Partiers support traditional gender roles, where men are in charge, like Glenn Beck, and women are soft and emotionally fragile, with spooky mood swings, like Glenn Beck. Six in ten Americans think illegal Mexicans should have a path to citizenship and be allowed to stay here. And the other four in ten are illegal Mexicans.

Ellen Dannin: Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor

Two hundred thirty-four years ago, our country’s founders concluded this country’s founding document by declaring: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” How odd that the document we call the Declaration of Independence concludes as a Declaration of Inter-Dependence.

Furthermore, that interdependence was not just some feel-good, wishy-washy sentiment. Rather, it demanded that we put all toward the general good – not just money, but everything we are and ever will be.

As Americans, we are their heirs. They pledged this country’s future as one built through the efforts of people who are willing to give their all to the common enterprise.

This wasn’t a one-shot doctrine.

Alexander Cockburn: Down With Sarko and Osborne; Three Cheers for the French Strikers

The strikes and demonstrations that have brought France to a near-halt are provoking the usual patronizing commentaries across the Channel and on my side of the Atlantic. Those pampered French workers, not to mention schoolkids, are at it again, raising hell just because sensible President Sarkozy points out that the French pension system is simply not affordable and the retirement age must be raised from 60 to 62. It’s time for a reality check, of the sort just being imposed by Chancellor Osborne, proposing to carve $128 billion out of spending and entitlements.

Across Europe, the slash-and-burn crowd is in full cry, calling for tighter belts — though not to any stringent degree those ample ones circling the portly tums of the richer classes. Cheering them on are the neoliberals here in the U.S., urging similar retrenchment, starting with Social Security “reform” — a higher retirement age and reduced pensions. The mainstream press here, starting with The New York Times, has been florid with homages to Osborne’s estimable zeal to pare back the welfare state “excesses” of 60 years.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 69 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1921, in the French town of Chalons-sur-Marne, an American officer selects the body of the first “Unknown Soldier” to be honored among the approximately 77,000 United States servicemen killed on the Western Front during World War I.

According to the official records of the Army Graves Registration Service deposited in the U.S. National Archives in Washington, four bodies were transported to Chalons from the cemeteries of Aisne-Marne, Somme, Meuse-Argonne and Saint-Mihiel. All were great battlegrounds, and the latter two regions were the sites of two offensive operations in which American troops took a leading role in the decisive summer and fall of 1918. As the service records stated, the identity of the bodies was completely unknown: “The original records showing the internment of these bodies were searched and the four bodies selected represented the remains of soldiers of which there was absolutely no indication as to name, rank, organization or date of death.”

The four bodies arrived at the Hotel de Ville in Chalons-sur-Marne on October 23, 1921. At 10 o’clock the next morning, French and American officials entered a hall where the four caskets were displayed, each draped with an American flag. Sergeant Edward Younger, the man given the task of making the selection, carried a spray of white roses with which to mark the chosen casket. According to the official account, Younger “entered the chamber in which the bodies of the four Unknown Soldiers lay, circled the caskets three times, then silently placed the flowers on the third casket from the left. He faced the body, stood at attention and saluted.”

Bearing the inscription “An Unknown American who gave his life in the World War,” the chosen casket traveled to Paris and then to Le Havre, France, where it would board the cruiser Olympia for the voyage across the Atlantic. Once back in the United States, the Unknown Soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

The World War I Unknown lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda from his arrival in the United States until Armistice Day, 1921. On November 11, 1921, President Warren G. Harding officiated at the interment ceremonies at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. During the ceremony, the World War I Unknown was awarded the Victoria Cross by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty, on behalf of King George V of the United Kingdom. (The Victoria Cross being the highest award for valour issued in the UK, on par with the Medal of Honor. Earlier, on March 4, 1921, the British Unknown Warrior was conferred the U.S. Medal of Honor by General of the Armies John Pershing.) In 1928, the Unknown Soldier was presented the Silver Buffalo Award for distinguished service to America’s youth by the Boy Scouts of America.

 42 BC – Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat Brutus’s army. Brutus commits suicide.

425 – Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.

502 – The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.

1086 – At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.

1157 – The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.

1295 – The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.

1641 – Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

1642 – Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.

1694 – British/American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec from the French.

1707 – The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.

1739 – War of Jenkins’ Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.

1812 – Claude Francois de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he is now the commandant of Paris.

1850 – The first National Women’s Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

1861 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Westport – Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.

1867 – 72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.

1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.

1911 – First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.

1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.

1915 – Woman’s suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.

1917 – Lenin calls for the October Revolution.

1929 – Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.

1929 – The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.

1935 – Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard “Lulu” Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.

1941 – World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.

1942 – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein: – At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begins a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt.

1942 – All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger (“Thanks for the Memory”, “Love in Bloom”, “Blue Hawaii”).

 1942 – World War II: The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf – The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines.

1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.

1956 – Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).

1958 – The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.

1958 – The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series, appear for the first time in the story Le flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou

1965 – Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launches a new operation seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).

1972 – Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months.

1973 – The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations.

1973 – A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.

1983 – Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.

1989 – The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Matyass Szuros, replacing the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.

1989 – Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas kills 23 and injures 314.

1992 – Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.

1993 – Shankill Road bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in the Shankill area of Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians.

1998 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a “land for peace” agreement.

2001 – Apple releases the iPod.

2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.

2004 – A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

News organizations look at leak with different eyes

Times handles WikiLeaks disclosures more cautiously than Guardian, Al-Jazeera

By Alex Johnson

Reporter  

WikiLeaks.org tried to coordinate coverage of its highly anticipated release of secret U.S. documents from the war in Iraq by sharing the material with a select group of news organizations weeks in advance, but it couldn’t coordinate what they actually said.

In the end, the shadowy, decentralized organization couldn’t even coordinate the release of its own documents.

Al-Jazeera, one of the news organizations that it had given the documents weeks ago, broke WikiLeaks’ embargo by publishing a six-minute video on its website late Friday afternoon. The New York Times, The Guardian of Britain and Le Monde, which also received the material under the embargo, followed swiftly with their extensive prepared reports.

Shakespeare & Company: The bookshop that thinks it’s a hotel



By Clare Dwyer Hogg  Saturday, 23 October 2010

When William Burroughs wanted to research his book Naked Lunch, he was in Paris. So he went straight to the Rue de Bucherie on the Left Bank, through the doors of the bookshop Shakespeare & Company, and directly to the bookshelves of the American bookseller George Whitman. There, he found stacks and stacks of hefty medical tomes, along with just about every English language paperback of note you could want. Burroughs has long gone from this world, but Shakespeare & Company has not. It is still perched on the same cobblestones on the bank of the Seine, overlooked by the Notre Dame. And if Willy Wonka were to take time off from chocolate concoctions and open a bookshop, this is what it would look like.

USA

Curing the Ills of America’s Top Foreign Aid Agency

THE SATURDAY PROFILE

By MARK LANDLER

Published: October 22, 2010

A FEW days after Rajiv Shah was sworn in as the head of the United States Agency for International Development, he stopped by to see its rapid response center, a high-tech command post for disaster relief, which on that day stood empty and still.

Twelve hours later, an earthquake devastated Haiti, and for the next two months the center became Dr. Shah’s round-the-clock home. A brainy, 37-year-old physician with little government experience, Dr. Shah suddenly found himself coordinating a desperate emergency relief effort under the gaze of President Obama.

In Arizona, a candidate faces a boycott backlash

Rep. Raul Grijalva should slide to reelection in a district where Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans, but his call for a boycott of his state over a harsh immigration law has made him a target.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

October 23, 2010

Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz. – The contrast between the two candidates couldn’t have been starker. On one side of the stage slouched Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, 62, a four-term congressman and local Democratic icon, sporting a bushy moustache and wearing an open-collared shirt that he had changed into an hour earlier but already looked rumpled.

On the other end sat Republican nominee Ruth McClung, 28, her yellow jacket matching her sensibly styled blond hair, carefully smiling at the crowd gathered here this week at a candidate forum about 15 miles from the Mexico border.

Europe

Swedish police hunt for gunmen targeting immigrants

Sweden’s third largest city was on alert on Friday following two more shootings police said could be the work of one shooter or several gunmen targeting people of immigrant origin.

Telegraph

“As citizens of Malmo, regardless of nationality or origin, we must have public safety in mind,” Aasa Palmqvist of the Malmo police told reporters on Friday.

Police this week said they were setting up a task force of up to 50 police officers to look into around 15 unsolved shootings in the southern city of Malmo over the past year which could be motivated by racism.

The crimes bear a chilling similarity to the case of an immigrant-shooting sniper in Stockholm in the early 1990s.

Police were cautious in drawing parallels between the two cases, but the Swedish press quickly picked up on the similarities, with the country’s two largest tabloids on Friday saying that police were searching for“a new laserman.”

Senate approves controversial pension changes

The Irish Times – Saturday, October 23, 2010

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris

THE FRENCH senate last night approved President Nicolas Sarkozy’s controversial pension reform, but trade unions vowed to maintain their campaign with further strikes and protests.

After a long and acrimonious debate, which the government hastened to an end by invoking a rarely used constitutional clause, the upper house adopted the pensions Bill by 177 votes to 153.

The draft law, which raises the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, is now likely to be definitively adopted by parliament early next week.

Middle East

It was the Gaza assault’s worst atrocity. Now the truth may finally be told



By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Saturday, 23 October 2010

Israeli military police are investigating whether an air strike which killed 21 members of the same family sheltering in a building during the Army’s Gaza offensive in 2008-9 was authorised by a senior brigade commander who had been warned of the danger to civilians.

The new turn in the enquiry has cast a fresh spotlight on what is widely thought to be the worst single incident involving civilian casualties during Operation Cast Lead, the missile attack on a building in the Zeitoun district of Gaza City, where around 100 members of the extended Samouni family were taking refuge on the morning of 4 January, 2009.

A Day in Hell

Iraq, Nov. 23, 2006

By Friederike Freiburg

The war never sleeps, including this Thursday.

It’s seven minutes past midnight, and US soldiers are on an operation in the northwestern Iraqi city of Haditha. They apprehend two men that intelligence reports say are insurgents. The men are then taken to a nearby operating base for interrogation. “No casualties or damages reported,” the military report of the operation reads. That’s all. No other details about the men or the operation.

The log of the event at 0:07 hours is classified as secret — just like the 359 other logs that were filed on Nov. 23, 2006, in the US Army database. They cover routine operations such as the arrest, but also attacks in which hundreds of people will be killed.

Asia

China detonates regional goodwill



JOHN GARNAUT

October 23, 2010  

BEIJING: In May 1986 a diminutive veteran of the long and brutal Japanese occupation of China, the then Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, leaned forward in his oversized armchair and told the Australian prime minister Bob Hawke how he was changing the course of history.

”There can be no peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region unless China and Japan are friends,” said Hu, after detailing his profound initiatives to build a base for future good relations between the two former enemies.

Japan’s middle school girls devour novels using their phones

 A new genre of fiction, popular with Japan’s middle school girls, is capitalizing on the popularity of smart phones – cellphone novels, most often romantic comedies.

By Yuriko Nagano, Correspondent / October 22, 2010

Sales of smart phones and electronic reading devices are strong as ever here, and one literary genre in particular continues to capture the heart of middle school girls.

Keitai shosetsu (cellphone novels) have found a steady teen following. Popular themes are romantic comedies in school settings. The novels can be read on tiny digital screens by accessing websites that publish the stories. The most popular ones are printed into books.

Nippan, Japan’s largest publication distributor, reports that the keitai bestseller in the past year was “Koisuru Akuma” (“Devil in Love”).

Africa

AU seeks air, naval blockade of Somalia

 

 EDITOR

THE African Union (AU) is calling for a naval and air blockade of Somalia as well as more troops and aid to fend off piracy and terrorism in the struggling Horn of Africa nation.

The AU’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, yesterday sought Security Council approval for the blockade. He also called for far more international aid and a contingent of 20,000 troops, up from the current level of 7,100.

Associated Press (AP) reported that Lamamra said the international community’s policies of “limited engagement” and “half measures” are insufficient to deter pirates off the country’s coast and the al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabab Islamist rebels who control much of Somalia.

An offensive launched by Somali government troops recently killed about 15 people as the weak, United Nations (UN)-backed government attempts to win back control of areas held by militants.

According to AP, the government stated that the offensive, which began last Sunday, has recorded some early successes, with militants fleeing from at least one town near the border with Kenya.

Somalia’s Ministry of Information said 11 al-Shabab militants and one government soldier have been killed in the fighting. A witness said at least three civilians died. There was no way to independently verify the casualty figures.

Africa sees lag in funds for UN peacekeeping



JOHN HEILPRIN | NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – Oct 23 2010  

A report Friday from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon emphasised the increasing role of AU peacekeeping. Whether the missions are led by UN or AU forces, African conflicts — many a legacy of colonialisation and long-simmering divisions like those in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo — occupy about 70% of the Security Council’s usual monthly agenda.

Behind the recurring theme of ever-increasing cooperation among UN and AU operations, African leaders and AU officials disclosed their uneasiness with a system that, in their view, often leaves their troops unable to do their jobs properly.

Ignoring Asia A Blog  

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos

PLEASE READ THIS

Whenever I post diaries like this — What is Your Fav TV Sitcom of All-Time? and Snowy TGIF: What is Your Favorite Classic Rock Song — some of you with dial-up, older pc’s, slower processors, not enough RAM, and the like complain that you could not easily scroll through the comments as way too many videos had been posted.  If you’d like to post a few favorite videos of movie scenes, feel free to do so but just don’t go overboard. Embed one YouTube video and post links to the others.

Example: This is a YouTube link to a scene from the German movie Stalingrad (1993).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Thanks.

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It is often said that the victors of a war — any war — write its history.  This is largely true with perhaps one exception.  Prior to World War II becoming known as the “Good War” for much of the Western world, the 1930’s civil conflict in Spain was known as a war fought for a worthy and just cause, even though it was not won by the good guys.  

The Spanish Civil War was the prelude to and trial run leading up to World War II.  If you have read George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, he described the leftist groups aligned with the Republican Spanish government — consisting of Communists, socialists, Trotskyists, trade unionists, and other sympathizers from around the world — as poorly organized, with conflicting goals, and often at odds with each other.  The United States was not only in the midst of the Great Depression but also in political isolationist mode at the time, though hundreds of Americans volunteered in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.  The other major European countries, particularly Stalin’s Soviet Union, made half-hearted efforts of behalf of Republican forces.  General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces were actively aided and supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.  That help proved critical in the Nationalists ultimately prevailing over the Republicans.  Franco would rule Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975.  

One of the best-known movies about this conflict was based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls

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Here are a few more war movies considered to be among some of the best ever made about the horrors and devastation of war

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The rest of the movies included in the diary poll are: The Longest Day (1962), Casablanca (1942), The Deer Hunter (1978), Breaker Morant (1980), Paths of Glory (1957), and The Great Dictator (1940).

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How realistically is war portrayed in movies?  It depends on your perspective

Some war films do balance the soul-searching, tragic consequences and inner turmoil of combatants or characters with action-packed, dramatic spectacles, enthusiastically illustrating the excitement and turmoil of warfare.  And some ‘war’ films concentrate on the homefront rather than on the conflict at the military war-front.  But many of them provide decisive criticism of senseless warfare.

War films have often been used as ‘flag-waving’ propaganda to inspire national pride and morale, and to display the nobility of one’s own forces while harshly displaying and criticizing the villainy of the enemy, especially during war or in post-war periods. Jingoistic-type war films usually do not represent war realistically in their support of nationalistic interests, while avoiding the reality of the horrors of war.  The good guys are portrayed as clashing against the bad guys (often with stereotyped labels such as ‘krauts,’ ‘commies,’ ‘Huns,’ or ‘nips’). These revisionistic, politically-correct and historically inaccurate films, in such diverse examples as Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and The Alamo (1960), would often redefine the facts.

link

As usual, the diary poll excludes many worthy candidates.  You may want to check this list of great war movies — 100 Greatest War Movies — to find more of your favorite ones.

Don’t forget to take the diary poll.

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I’ll admit that 2 weeks ago I didn’t think they’d run this.  As it is, the place is raw.

That green stuff?  Spray painted dirt.

It’s marshland they’re building an industrial/residential development on around the racetrack (like condos around a golf course) which is eventually going to integrate with the street grid so it becomes a true street circuit like Monaco.  Artifacts of this include the non-existent elevation change and the high walls at 16 & 17.

They literally laid down the surface 2 weeks ago and had to use a fast curing asphalt.  The track is really bumpy, especially in Turn 16 and in some sections they have *ahem* “low curbs”, which are essentially paved ditches where you can drop straight off the road.

Some fun eh?

There may be some logic to it that escapes the analysts, it’s 3.5 miles with just 3 straights none of which seems long.  The rest is twisty bits.  It’s very tight without a lot of obvious passing opportunities.  Some drivers are complaining about the tightness of the pit entrance and pit lane.  F-Ducts are reported to confer an advantage, but it’s not clear which teams will be running them.

In competitive news Mercedes is blaming its non-competitiveness on the inherited Brawn chassis and McLaren is not giving up and came with all kinds of fiddly new aero bits that all had to be replaced on Button’s car when it caught fire near the end of practice.

There’s a chance of rain which would wipe away all the rubbering in they’ve done.  The track seems to be hard on tires, particularly the right front, so people won’t want to be out on Softs for long.

Observations and surprises below.

h/t watertiger @ Dependable Renegade

Yaaaay . . . um, Putin?

Leaders to Convene on Tiger Rescue

By John Rudolph Collins

With just 3,200 tigers thought to remain in the wild, time is growing short to save the species. Poaching and habitat destruction continue to imperil the tiger, which has undergone an estimated 40 percent drop in its wild population over the last decade and is now perched on the brink of extinction throughout much of its range.

Next month, however, officials from the remaining countries with wild tigers will gather in St. Petersburg, Russia, for a major conference on how to reverse the decline of the species. A draft declaration for the summit sets a goal of doubling the wild tiger population by 2022, and conservationists and biologists have high hopes for the gathering.

The summit conference “promises to be the most significant meeting ever held to discuss the fate of a single non-human species,” a group of tiger experts declared in September, in the preface of a major new report charting the tiger’s perilous condition.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has already agreed to attend the event and has been a critical force behind its development. His presence is expected to draw numerous heads of state and high-level delegations from the 13 “tiger range” nations.

Look at the size of these paws

The Tiger Summit, to be hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Russia in November 2010-the Chinese Year of the Tiger and the International Year of Biodiversity-promises to be the most significant meeting ever held to discuss the fate of a single non-human species. The Summit will culminate efforts by the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI), launched in 2008 by Robert Zoellick, World Bank President. Leaders of 13 tiger range states, supported by international donors and conservationists attending the summit, are being asked to commit to substantive measures to prevent the unthinkable: extinction of the world’s last wild tiger populations.

Wild tiger numbers are at an historic low. There is no evidence of breeding populations of tigers in Cambodia, China, Vietnam, and DPR Korea. Current approaches to tiger conservation are not slowing the decline in tiger numbers, which has continued unabated over the last two decades. While the scale of the challenge is enormous, we submit that the complexity of effective implementation is not: commitments should shift to focus on protecting tigers at spatially well-defined priority sites, supported by proven best practices of law enforcement, wildlife management, and scientific monitoring. Conflict with local people needs to be mitigated. We argue that such a shift in emphasis would reverse the decline of wild tigers and do so in a rapid and cost-efficient manner.

Most of you know that I try to keep in touch with popular culture.  Also, many of you know that I appreciate a good advert.  I also really dislike what I perceive to be bad ones, that this week there were a lot of them.

Now, I recognize that adverts are essential to keep the cost of mass communication low, so I welcome any and all of them.  Welcoming them does not mean that I have to LIKE all of them.  Tonight we shall take a look of some of the worst that are currently circulating.

Note:  I would have covered the brilliant King Crimson tonight, but as I researched that band, it became obvious that more time would be required.  I think that I can be ready to do it next time.

Before we get started, I want to report a very rare find.  Many of you know that I am a numismatist, and Tuesday I found a very rare US cent, one dating from 1867.  The colloquial term is “Indian Head”, but the creator of it, James B. Longacre, called it “Liberty with a Feathered Headdress”.  This is the oldest coin that I have ever found in circulating cents.  Doing the maths, it is at least 143 years old, and still pretty clear.  The Red Book tells me that is worth around $50 or more, but is much more valuable to me just for finding it.

There were only about nine million of them minted that year (all of them from the mint in Philadelphia), so to find one in circulation is extraordinary.  I estimate that cents have an attrition rate of over 5% annually, so finding this one is a once in a lifetime thing.  I strongly suspect that it came either from a stolen coin collection, or from an estate that, after the owner died, got cashed in using the CoinStar machines.  Anyway, I digress.

Back to the adverts.  Usually I like the Geico ones, but the “Bird in the Hand” one is not very funny.  I understand that it is a parody on that show that looks at what some folks might believe are valuable antiques, but it just falls short.  With a better subject, it might have been better.  I do not call it horrible, but only people who watch Antiques Roadshow would understand it.  Since the cavemen have departed, I think that the Geico ones are pretty good, but this one falls far short.

There are at least three series of adverts that I think are just really bad.  The first one is the series from Progresso Soup, where folks take a can with a string and instantly call the “chefs” at Progresso.  There are so many things wrong with this that it makes it hard to begin.  First, I know of no one who uses a can on a string to talk.

Come on, admit it!  We all tried to do that as kids!  It NEVER worked!  As soon as the string was long enough that we could not hear each other over the air, it failed.  The idea of chefs in kitchens cooking the soup in a stockpot is ridiculous for a brand that sells millions of cans of soup.

Then there is the series about buying gold.  The convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy tells us how the US dollar is being ruined because of current fiscal policy.  Now, if you think about it, this is actually conservative Republican fiscal policy, but no matter.  Then he pulls the plugs out of plastic, inflated things to make his point.  He claims to be patriotic.  G. Gordon Liddy is, in my opinion, a traitor.  There are lots of other gold adverts, and just about all of them are deceptive.  They all imply that gold is a good investment, and it is more of a speculation than an investment.  Why would one buy something when it is at an all time high on a noninflation adjusted basis?  My mum always told me that when something is higher than it ever has been it is really not a very good time to buy.

Speaking of gold, The SOBber, always eager to capitalize on crisis, is at it with an advert for, instead of gold this time because of the coming financial crisis, is pitching freeze dried food for an outfit that I will not name for the coming disruption in society.  Each backpack of food is supposed to be good for two weeks for one person, all self contained and ready to go…….except they forget the water.  (Freeze dried water is NOT a good thing).  If society were so disrupted that you could not obtain food, the chances are pretty good that potable water would be unavailable as well.  I estimate that the bare minimum of water that one requires for drinking (and reconstituting freeze dried food) and for the most basic hygienic activities would come to about a gallon per day, so when you add in the 14 gallons of water that you would need, at 8.3 pounds per gallon, you add another 115 pounds or so in your neat little backpack.  Little details like that never bother The SOBber, which is obvious from the nonsense that he prattles every day.  Gloom and doom are both his message and his medium, and I will have to give him credit for one thing:  

The Xerox series is just silly to the point of being offensive.  They are trying to pitch their cost saving systems, but whoever designed the campaign got it wrong.  In one for some hotel chain there are two actors dressed up like bellhops working on computers to do invoicing, but they never get around to actual invoicing because they keep doing favors for each other, like making waffles and smoothies for one another.  The concept of bellhops doing invoicing is ludicrous on its face, and then to keep putting it off to do favors for each other is pretty dumb.  In another one some guy at Notre Dame comes to a cutout of the Fighting Irishman and asks him to help cut printing costs.  They he pretends that the silent cut out is arguing with him!  Just too silly for words.

Then there is the Alka Seltzer Plus cold remedy with the skier (Lindsey Vonn) who is purported to have a bad cold, but still wins the race, thanks to the product.  Now, Ms. Vonn may be a very good skier, but an actress she is not.  She dissolves the product in water, looking all feverish and ill, and brings the glass toward her lips.  Miraculously, by the mere smell of the product, she brightens up and is all better, even before drinking any of it!  As a matter of fact, the advert never shows her drinking it at all.  On a positive note, they have brought back Speedy Relief, their mascot who has been away for a while.  Speedy first appeared in 1951 and pretty much was phased out after 1964, but he is back now.

The Korean Air advert is just spooky.  It is the one with the giant people who are shown sitting on the wings of a jumbo jet, looking into each others’ eyes over the fuselage.  This is just creepy and really does not do much to get their message across to the viewer.  I do not know what the agency was thinking when it came up with this angle.

I almost forgot the Tide advert where the daughter asks her mum is she borrowed the green blouse.  The mum commits of lie of omission by telling her that “that’s not my style.”  Then the advert shows the mum on girls’ night out with her friends, wearing said green blouse.  She spilt something on it, then buried it in the hamper.  From how deeply she had to root into the hamper, it obviously had been some time since she had taken it.  Of course, the product cleaned the stain perfectly, and the mum put it back into the daughter’s closet covertly.  Then she feigns surprise when the daughter shows up wearing it, “You found it?”  I find this advert to be particularly distasteful because of the glorification of deception betwixt parent and child.

I am not even going to mention political adverts, which are particularly vile this year.  Local TeeVee is almost unwatchable at present because of the multitude and the nastiness of them.  November 03 will be a joyous day!

Well, enough for now.  Please let us know about the adverts that you find particularly bad in the comments.

Warmest regards,

Doc