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ciaegis
"Afridi is probably the only person capable of gathering the Pashtun commanders and tribal chiefs together to broker their interests to get them to agree on one leadership - which could be either former monarch Zahir Shah or any of his nominees - to initially form an interim set-up leading to the formation of a constitutional framework to establish an elected government in Afghanistan."
"Without fanfare, Afridi was freed from prison in Karachi last Thursday after serving just a few weeks of a seven-year sentence for the export of 6.5 tons of hashish, seized at Antwerp, Belgium, in the 1980s. (He had been in custody for over two years). He had also been fined 5 million rupees (US$82,000). No reasons were given for Afridi's release, or under which legislation he was allowed to return to his home town in Khyber Agency in North Western Frontier Province."
urinetown
"The holding in Board of Education of Pottawatomie County v. Earls shouldn't just enrage students and parents unwilling to see their kids shamed just for joining the band. It should terrify any of us who fear that in promoting a War on Something, the court might be prepared to suspend all rules of constitutional interpretation based on the preposterous legal theory that "Heck, we oughtta try something." The majority opinion in Earls reflects some of the worst results-based decision-making we've seen since Bush v. Gore. And like Bush v. Gore, it is rooted in panic, expediency, and a twisting of prior precedent to fit the facts."
a leg up
"The unique fossil is around 345 million years old and has been dubbed Pederpes, meaning rock crawler. "It's by far the earliest leg that looks like it could have been used on land," says Jennifer Clack of the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge UK, who reports the discovery Nature. Previously, only a few fragments of tetrapod legs and shoulders had been found in Canada from this time gap. Before the gap, tetrapods had evolved limbs for paddling, but not walking. Immediately after the gap, they were running all over the land." also the natl geo report
balms away
"The team, which is based at the Applied Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University, is assessing weaponization of a number of psychiatric and anesthetic pharmaceuticals as well as "club drugs" (such as the "date rape drug" GHB). According to the report, "the choice administration route, whether application to drinking water, topical administration to the skin, an aerosol spray inhalation route, or a drug filled rubber bullet, among others, will depend on the environment." The environments identified are specific military and civil situations, including "hungry refugees that are excited over the distribution of food", "a prison setting", an "agitated population" and "hostage situations". At times, the JNLWD team's report veers very close to defining dissent as a psychological disorder." via amsa
running numbers
"But there is a problem here. If greed and corruption and the glamorization of corporate executives have been riding high since the Reagan administration, there came a time when the Democrats showed themselves as part of the problem. Money is fungible (and necessary), and the Democrats have been in on it. Numbers collected by the Center for Responsive Politics on the political contributions of 17 big companies now under scrutiny and investigation show that in the past 18 months, those companies have been giving the Democrats almost as much money as they have been giving Republicans."
virtual hell
"A virtual reality environment that conjures up the terrifying sounds and sights of a patient's own hallucinations has been designed to help treat people with schizophrenia."
sally fourth
damn. and i thought they were all coming back looking for more self indulgent poetry. turns out they just want more besmirkment.some value added linkage via cursor.
cocaine blues
"And now the "war on drugs" is merging with the "war on terror," with a corresponding growth in scale and firepower, offering excellent potential for long-term profits for the "defense"-related industries that hold such a disproportionate sway in international politics. This merging also accelerates the moral corrosion that flourishes under the acidic metaphor of "war"--as we can see in Bolivia."
monetary fun
"Brazil, the Workers' Party and the FT
Casino Real: Brazil's Other Challenge"
state of the nation
nothing says independence day like surveillance cameras and metal detectors.