From MyDD via Atrios. Everyone should see this.
Stem cells in baby teeth
In October there was a conference on stem cell research, held in Australia. One finding presented at the conference was that children’s discarded baby teeth, when carefully preserved, can have more stem cells than an embryo, and those cells may be more versatile as well. If further work bears this out, it provides a way out of the ethical dilemma stem cells pose.
The conference also reported on the use of stem cells to cure diabetes in mice, while elsewhere stem cells taken from an umbilical cord have been used to cure spinal injuries. It’s essential that we move ahead with research using stem cells, especially those that come from such unobjectionable sources. For that reason I’m grateful that California decided to fund stem cell research, a move other states would be wise to follow.
Those who dare to count the dead
In today’s Guardian, Naomi Klein presents evidence for her claim that U.S. forces in Fallujah specifically targeted anyone who dared to report on civilian casualties, placing them under arrest and removing any ability to communicate. In particular, doctors, journalists, and clerics were targeted, according to Klein.
To: David T Johnson, Acting ambassador, US Embassy, London
Dear Mr Johnson, On November 26, your press counsellor sent a letter to the Guardian taking strong exception to a sentence in my column of the same day. The sentence read: “In Iraq, US forces and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal attacks on civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone – doctors, clerics, journalists – who dares to count the bodies.” Of particular concern was the word “eliminating”.
The letter suggested that my charge was “baseless” and asked the Guardian either to withdraw it, or provide “evidence of this extremely grave accusation”. It is quite rare for US embassy officials to openly involve themselves in the free press of a foreign country, so I took the letter extremely seriously. But while I agree that the accusation is grave, I have no intention of withdrawing it. Here, instead, is the evidence you requested….
Reverend Ted Haggard
If you like to understand the mind of your opponents, you might want to listen to this interview with Rev. Ted Haggard, who is a pastor in Colorado Springs and head of the National Association of Evangelicals. Personally I disagree with his point of view on pretty much everything, but he’s well spoken and I think he lays out very clearly the Christian conservative view of the world and of U.S. politics. The interview was broadcast on Colorado Matters, a local public radio show. Scroll down to the link “Colorado Evangelicals”, or you can hear the show directly.
Fallwell’s big decision
So I saw Jerry Falwell on Hardball this week, and watched an incredulous Chris Matthews grill him on exactly when he’d made the momentous decision to be straight rather than gay. Falwell’s argument was that gay people all choose their evil behavior, and therefore it was correct to deny gay people the right to come to church. This was a back-handed way to denounce the United Church of Christ for practicing inclusivity, but Matthews clearly wasn’t buying it. It was a pretty funny moment, raising the spectre of Falwell as a young teenager stuggling with evil homosexual impulses but valiantly deciding to walk the path of godliness instead.
It’s very kind
and a pleasant shock to find that those on the right care so much about the integrity of the United Nations.
I get so angry
…when so many are still dying in the disaster that is our war in Iraq, and yet I hear that, of all the cabinet members Bush is ditching, Rumsfeld gets to stay.
“Unmitigated disaster”
Over in Salon, Sydney Blumenthal writes about an internal paper that the Department of Defense has quietly posted to its web site. Apparently a task force of experts from the military, the diplomatic corps, military-oriented businesses, and academia was put together to review progress in the war on terror, including the invasion of Iraq. Their conclusions were quite negative on how things have gone so far.
The task force discovered more than a chaotic vacuum, a government sector “in crisis,” though it found that, too: “Missing are strong leadership, strategic direction, adequate coordination, sufficient resources, and a culture of measurement and evaluation.” Inevitably, as it journeyed deeper into the recesses of the Bush administration’s foreign policy, the task force documented the unparalleled failure of its fundamental premises. “America’s negative image in world opinion and diminished ability to persuade are consequences of factors other than the failure to implement communications strategies,” the report declares. What emerges in this new Pentagon paper is a scathing indictment of an expanding and unmitigated disaster based on stubborn ignorance of the world and failed concepts that bear little relation to empirical reality except insofar as they confirm and incite gathering hatred among Muslims.
You can find the paper itself here (.PDF file), if you have a strong stomach.
Fallujah
One goal of the Fallujah offensive was to make the city safer for the upcoming elections. But the offensive itself rained so much destruction on the city that it’s not clear the city can be rebuilt in anything under a year or two. Plus we face the additional burden of trying to tell who is or is not an insurgent among the people wanting to return to Fallujah. This isn’t something we’re really good at.
The U.S. death toll in the Fallujah offensive has climbed to 71. Overall, November was the worst month yet for U.S. military deaths. I haven’t seen any definitive count of Iraqi civilian deaths in the Fallujah assault.
Has napalm returned?
We know the military used white phosphorus weapons, but have they been been using napalm too? I believe such use is considered a war crime.
Link courtesy of No More Mister Nice Blog