Detailed schematics of a military detainee holding facility in southern Iraq. Geographical surveys and aerial photographs of two military airfields outside Baghdad. Plans for a new fuel farm at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
The military calls it “need-to-know” information that would pose a direct threat to U.S. troops if it were to fall into the hands of terrorists. It’s material so sensitive that officials refused to release the documents when asked.
But it’s already out there, posted carelessly to file servers by government agencies and contractors, accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
On July 5, Beatrice Were, the founder of Uganda’s National Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS, stood before hundreds of other HIV-positive women in Nairobi’s vaulted city hall and denounced the Bush administration’s AIDS policies.
Like many in attendance, Were contracted HIV from her husband, a common occurrence in a region where women make up the majority of new infections and marriage is a primary risk factor. For those like her, the White House’s AIDS prevention mantra — which prescribes abstinence and marital fidelity, with condoms only for “high risk” groups like prostitutes and truck drivers — is a sick joke.
“We are now seeing a shift in recent years to abstinence only,” she said. “We are expected to abstain when we are young girls and to be faithful when we are married to men who rape us, who are not necessarily faithful to us, who batter us.” The women in the audience, several waiting to share their own stories of marital rape, applauded.
Were exhorted her audience to “denounce programs that are not evidence-based, that view AIDS as a moral issue, that undermine the issues that affect us, women’s rights. I want to be very clear — the abstinence-only business, women must say no!” Again, there were hollers and applause.
The article also points out Bono’s admiration of Bush for pledging more money to “fight” AIDS in Africa, even though that pledge means nothing:
In late May, the White House made the announcement that so pleased Bono, promising to double spending on AIDS from $15 to $30 billion. Like most of the administration’s financial figures, the numbers were misleading. The $30 billion was to continue funding PEPFAR for five more years essentially at current levels.
As Health GAP, a U.S.-based NGO, pointed out, “Given that the White House requested $5.4 billion on global AIDS this year (expected to be increased to fulfill U.S. obligations to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), the $6 billion annual request effectively represents flat funding into the next decade.” What the administration is trying to spin as a staggering new burst of generosity is basically the maintenance of the status quo.
Note to Bono: Time to stop being so star-struck by Bush and wise up. Two-thirds of that money will go to promote abstinence, which doesn’t work.
The article goes on to say she’s planning to quit her job and travel the world to cure her shopping problem…how? I thought declaring bankruptcy was no longer an option for big spenders. 🙂
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the license to the dummy company in just 28 days with only a cursory review, the Government Accountability Office said in a report to be released on Thursday.
Well, we can officially call ourselves Toker Nation now. According to the 2007 World Drug Report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Canada has the dubious honour of leading the industrialized world in marijuana use, at least when calculated as a percentage of population.
According to the UN report, which is a staple of police forces around the world, 16.8 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 15 and 64 smoked pot or ingested one of its derivatives last year.
That’s well above the world average of 3.8 per cent for the same demographic and ahead of almost every other country in the world…
Our viewing of the AttorneyGate Hearings are relegated to a 2×2 window on the web….meantime Bush is on a big TV Speech, and The Repubs are dominating the speaking on cspan, and cspan2. They planned, and are supported by the MSM to dominate the propaganda stream, while us libberuls are the only ones to witness the hearings!!
“This extraordinary series gives life to all those generalities about the decline of the oceans in a way that should grab the imaginations not only of politicians responsible for taking corrective steps but also of ordinary readers.“
“Wearing the device that is said to put “1,000 songs in your pocket” during a thunderstorm may have sent millions of volts surging through the head of an unlucky Vancouver jogger.
The man, who played in a church orchestra and was listening to religious music on an iPod while he ran, was injured when lightning struck a nearby tree, then snaked out to zap him as well.
His eardrums were ruptured, his jaw was fractured and he suffered first- and second-degree burns on his chest – where the device was strapped – up into his ear channels, along the trail of the iPod’s trademark white earphones.
He also had burns down his left leg and on the foot, where the electricity exited his body, blowing his sneaker to smithereens in the process. [.]
government incompetence in the morning: AP/Yahoo
D’oh!
How’s that working out? American Prospect
The article also points out Bono’s admiration of Bush for pledging more money to “fight” AIDS in Africa, even though that pledge means nothing:
Note to Bono: Time to stop being so star-struck by Bush and wise up. Two-thirds of that money will go to promote abstinence, which doesn’t work.
how a person could have thousands of dollars to spend on Saturday shopping every week? Let alone the desire to spend so much time shopping…
(h/t to Susie.)
Fret not. She’s merely a patriotic American doing her part so the terrorists won’t win. Don’t you just stand in awe of her great sacrifice?
Get her a medal of freedom right away.
I’m never gonna be a good ‘Murkan. Just as well, I guess.
She’ll probably need 4 or 5 medals to go with all those clothes and shoes she bought.
You go to coordinate, you see. (Play to 1:50)
Credit cards, Cabin – just pay the $10 minimum every month and don’t worry about the future. Someday her prince will come.
It’s some people’s version of instant gratification – a substitute for sex, drugs and rock & roll.
The article goes on to say she’s planning to quit her job and travel the world to cure her shopping problem…how? I thought declaring bankruptcy was no longer an option for big spenders. 🙂
Someday her prince will come.
That’s the rethug girl’s mantra.
but it’s cool unless you’re afraid of heights.
JoAnne Allen/Reuters: Fake firm gets nuclear license in U.S, govt sting
tokers…
olivia’s been Bogarting us…:{)
lTMF’sA
LMAO!!
But I need some warning, or something. I almost spit water on the monitor!
Our viewing of the AttorneyGate Hearings are relegated to a 2×2 window on the web….meantime Bush is on a big TV Speech, and The Repubs are dominating the speaking on cspan, and cspan2. They planned, and are supported by the MSM to dominate the propaganda stream, while us libberuls are the only ones to witness the hearings!!
for excellence in Reporting on the Environment has been awarded to kenneth weiss and usha lee mcfarling for their 5 part series: Altered Oceans
“This extraordinary series gives life to all those generalities about the decline of the oceans in a way that should grab the imaginations not only of politicians responsible for taking corrective steps but also of ordinary readers.“
highly recommended
lTMF’sA
In the What you should know file:
iPods + lightning = injury
Vancouver jogger, Colorado teen among those hurt when electricity from nearby strike jumped to electronic device, rupturing their ear drums
Serious this.
.
... extinct"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."