The fairest bloom the mountain knows
Is not an iris or a wild rose
But the little flower of which I’ll tell
Known as the brave acony bell
– G. Welch
Is not an iris or a wild rose
But the little flower of which I’ll tell
Known as the brave acony bell
Just a simple flower so small and plain
With a pearly hue and a little known name
But the yellow birds sing when they see it bloom
For they know that spring is coming soon
Well, it makes its home mid the rocks and the rills
Where the snow lies deep on the windy hills
And it tells the world “Why should I wait?
This ice and snow is gonna melt away”
And so I’ll sing that yellow bird’s song
For the troubled times will soon be gone…
– G. Welch
Forensic Vagina Specialists? Listen here.
Rachel Maddow interviews journalist Jack Hitt on this Sunday’s NY Times Magazine cover story, Pro-Life Nation. Scary stuff.
and review = bad movie?: AOL news
Just in case you were thinking of seeing either of these movies this weekend….
A new low: Yahoo
How bad are these numbers?
Happy dance.
German inquiry to probe Iraq war, CIA links
An End to The Silvio Show?
LINK
Good to see they are finally coming to the same conclusion some of us have been warning about since 2004.
link
Al-Hayat reports [Ar.] that tensions are running so high within the United Iraqi Alliance UIA] that its two major wings– the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq [SCIRI] and the Sadr Movement– are declining to talk. The Sadrists, followered of young Shiite nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr, cancelled a meeting that was supposed to be held with SCIRI on Thursday. The Mahdi Army, the Sadrist paramilitary, is stockpiling arms in expectation of an American attack on them in Najaf.
[snip]
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador in Baghdad, said of the building US confrontation with Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia, “We have our ways in any struggle with any movement, and we encourage all to involve themselves in the political process.” He warned against the growth of sectarian militias in Iraq, which threaten the stability of the country.
The elected civil government of Karbala province announced that it had severed relations with the Americans in protest against a Marine raid in the city against a Mahdi Army safe house, which the Americans carried out without any coordination with the local government.
American troops appear to be fanning out in Najaf after the car bombing there on Thursday, raising suspicions of the Sadrists in the city.
KarbalaNews.net says that a curfew has been imposed by the governor of Najaf until further notice.
I love professor Cole… he’s smart, informed, and very accessible. There’s lots more in today’s report. Looks like the US is planning another disaster in Iraq. Najaf will explode if we go in after Muqtada al-Sadr.
Apparently, Californina hopes to avoid waiting for the federal government to get its act together. (as demonstrated elsewhere.)
Link
The outermost ring of Uranus, just discovered last year, is bright blue, as is the outermost ring of Saturn. Perhaps not coincidentally, both blue rings are associated with small moons. “The outer ring of Saturn is blue and has Enceladus right smack at its brightest spot, and Uranus is strikingly similar, with its blue ring right on top of Mab’s orbit,” said Imke de Pater, astronomy professor at UC – Berkeley. “The blue color says that this ring is predominantly submicron-sized material, much smaller than the material in most other rings, which appear red.”
Charred meat chemical may lead to prostate cancer. The compound PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine) — formed by cooking meats at very high temperatures — acts as both an initiator and promoter of prostate cancer in rats, according to a Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center study.
Bad day for “intelligent design,” part 1: Using new techniques for resurrecting ancient genes, scientists have for the first time reconstructed the Darwinian evolution of an apparently “irreducibly complex” molecular system. How natural selection can drive the evolution of complex molecular systems — those in which the function of each part depends on its interactions with the other parts–has been an unsolved issue in evolutionary biology. Advocates of Intelligent Design argue that such systems are “irreducibly complex” and thus incompatible with gradual evolution by natural selection. “Our work demonstrates a fundamental error in the current challenges to Darwinism,” said Joe Thornton of the U of Oregon. “New techniques allowed us to see how ancient genes and their functions evolved hundreds of millions of years ago. We found that complexity evolved piecemeal through a process of Molecular Exploitation — old genes, constrained by selection for entirely different functions, have been recruited by evolution to participate in new interactions and new functions.”
Bad day for “intelligent design,” part 2: In a counterintuitive discovery, physics researchers have discovered that they can create order by using disorder. Watch the fundamentalist’s heads explode over that.
The UK’s first case of H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed, a dead swan in Scotland.
Results from the Arecibo Radio Telescope’s new Galaxy Environment Survey show what appears to be the first candidates for mysterious objects called dark galaxies, which burn brilliantly in radio wavelengths but are almost invisible to optical telescopes. Dark galaxies could help explain where part of the so-called missing mass of the universe is hiding.
The discovery of a possible hibernation hormone in the brain may unlock the mystery behind the dormant state, researchers reported in the April 7, 2006 issue of Cell.
And here’s a good story to end the week with: Giving some plants diluted alcohol — whiskey, vodka, gin or tequila — stunts the growth of a plant’s leaves and stems but doesn’t affect the blossoms, said William Miller, director of Cornell’s Flower Bulb Research Program. Details here on how to share vodka:30 with the flowers… …And they’ll be able to ask for refills, too: Green fingered amateur gardeners often talk to their plants; now the plants can talk back. Scientists have developed a system that picks up the subtle cues of plant communication helping plant growers to monitor the crop’s state of health and will result in optimal environmentally-friendly growing conditions.
A pic of Condi that’s worth a 1000, needs a caption. Click on link. Never mind the text.
embedded in ATimes article ‘Searching for attackers lurking in the night’
is a pic of Condi as Lawrence of Arabia?
“As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw strutted their stuff in Baghdad, two powers traditionally active in the region were watching closely – Russia and Turkey. Maybe Rice was getting a first-hand briefing on how the British once did it – and still want to – in the deserts of Arabia, a la T E Lawrence. Whatever, Moscow and Ankara are working to protect their interests.” – M K Bhadrakumar
Judas: this is what really happened
This news report is only delayed by some 1,700 years.
Today’s undercovered news stories from storiesinamerica.
Study: Katrina Aid From Abroad Was Lost
‘The War is Illegal. I Can’t Pay for a Government Killing Machine’
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