Bush Admin.: Treaty Outlawing Torture Doesn't Apply Beyond U.S. Soil

"Echoing recent comments by White House officials, a U.S. government report submitted to the United Nations last Friday bears a message that the brutal treatment of people held in U.S. military custody abroad is and should be legal. "

Ok, but unless we want to be hypocritical, we can't say anything about the treatment of any U.S. citizens held in custody by any other countries. Instead of being a shining example to the world, all we ever seem to do, is emulate other countries more and more. Fighting fire with fire just gets everyone burned.

WNY Media Network - VIDEO: "The Nexus of Politics and Terror"

Ahhh yes!! I was not surprised when, as soon as the Katrina coverage began to disapate, we started getting "Terror Threats". Bogus terror threats. I knew that with all the problems Bush was having in regards to the scandals of his cronies, Iraq, Governmental incompetence in dealing with the huricane aftermath, and constant mention of his ever slipping approval ratings, that a "distraction" was just around the corner. I certainly wasn't disappointed. In the waning days of Katrina coverage, there were those (few) in the media who were noting that whenever terrorism was in the news, Bushs' approval rating would rise. Within days, there was an alleged threat to the New York subway system. Mere coincidence?

This site lists the last 13 times we've been subjected to phony terror threats. Now, as the article states, these could simply be coincedences, but it didn't escape my notice during those times, that there never seemed to be unsubstantiated terror threats, until after some scandal involving the White House began affecting approval ratings.

Backer of 'Intelligent Design' Testifies

The march towards faith-based science continues....

"Introducing "intelligent design'' to high school students could help the idea gain wider acceptance among mainstream scientists, a sociology professor testified Monday in a landmark federal trial over whether the concept can be mentioned in public school biology classes."

"Lawyers for the Dover Area School Board called Steve Fuller, a sociology professor at the University of Warwick, England, as an expert witness Monday morning. He tried to bolster the school board's contention that intelligent design, which holds that life on Earth was the product of an unidentified intelligent force, is a scientific concept."

"Fuller said minority views can sometimes have a difficult time getting a toehold in the scientific community, but students might be inspired to develop intelligent design as future scientists if they hear about the concept in school."

Anyone who thinks it's a good idea to base science on religion, should revisit the story of Galileo, and what he went through when he butted heads with those who refused to even consider any views of the universe that clashed with their faith.

Time after time, scientific methods have proven the beliefs of the pious to be in error. This debate need not be about whether or not God exists, that's the domain of faith, but what and how his universe works. How and why things are, what they do, and what they can become, must be left up to scientific methods, otherwise progress will slow down and eventually grind to a halt. This is about two entirely different institutions. One is static, and the other dynamic. One has it's basis in words written thousands of years ago, and those words cannot be amended. While the other is ever changing and advancing, with new words written every day.

If we return to faith-based science, it will be enough to simply say that some natural disaster was Gods' will, with no real need to study the phenomenon any further. Medical science will also suffer. Think of all the medical advancements that the religious have claimed were tamperings with Gods' design. Remember all those quaint sayings about how if God had meant man to fly, he would have given him wings, and if God had meant man to swim to the depths, he would have given him gills? Well that's the sort of mentality we're headed towards if we merge science with religion. To be sure, there are plenty of scientists who believe in a God, but the true scientist, believer of God or not, simply cannot taint his work with a religious belief system. He must keep them separate, or else fall into the catagory of an Alchemist.

The inclusion of Intelligent Design within true science, is one gigantic leap backwards. Do we really want to go there again?

Media Reform Information Center

Just in case you think I'm just blowing smoke about the news media, here's where the fire smolders..............

"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly."

"In 2004, Bagdikian's revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations -- Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) -- now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric's NBC is a close sixth."

Ok, now how in the world can we expect anything even close to fair and unbiased journalism when only a small handful of mega-corps owns most all of it? When only a few large corporations own most of anything, competition begins to look more like collusion. Instead of competing against a wide variety of "products", which tends to promote boldness and innovation, you end up with products where the only thing that differentiates them, is the brand name.

And brand names arent what they used to be.

When I was younger, I used shortwave radio to pick up news and info that the U.S. media was neglecting.

Now I must rely on the internet.

........But as you read this, governments the world over, are making attempts to control it, and thus control what you can do and say on it. And of course, the main rallying cry is to Save The Children!! .............but don't get me started on those who regularly use children for political causes................sigh

CBS News | Poll: Majority Reject Evolution

CBS News | Poll: Majority Reject Evolution: "Poll: Majority Reject Evolution"

Hmm, that's sound pretty conclusive, doesn't it? Let's read on............

"Most Americans do not accept the theory of evolution. Instead, 51 percent of Americans say God created humans in their present form, and another three in 10 say that while humans evolved, God guided the process. Just 15 percent say humans evolved, and that God was not involved."

"These views are similar to what they were in November 2004 shortly after the presidential election."

Well there you have it folks. belief in evolution is waning, to be replaced by what, "Intelligent Design"?

Hey wait......something's not quite right here!! Here's what they say at the end of the article...........

"This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 808 adults, interviewed by telephone October 3-5, 2005. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points."

Ummm.... Now, accoring to the U.S. Census Bureau, at this moment, the population here is 297,502,038. Almost 300 million people, and CBS believes that a mere 808 random people are representitive of a nation this size???

Now if you've read a few of my posts, you know I don't think much of the media. I believe they're as much in the manipulation of the masses business as is government, so as far as I'm concerned, this is just another effort to help promote religious dominance in America. The rightious have been trying for a long time to knock evolution out of the way, in favor of Creationism, even to the extent of downplaying the religous aspect of creation by calling it Intelligent Design.

This little "news poll" is just another shot fired in the war for the hearts and minds of our kids. To move us closer to an age where all our laws are based on biblical law, and you know what it means to be governed by a theocracy don't you? Not only are there current examples around the world, examples also abound throughout history. When a nation is ruled by religion, there is no tolerance for anything, or anyone, that doesn't conform. There is no freedom of anything, or of any kind. You can only do what was "written" long ago, and that's that. No appeals.