Learning languages 'boosts brain'

Learning a second language 'boosts' brain-power, scientists believe.

Researchers from University College London studied the brains of 105 people - 80 of whom were bilingual. They found learning other languages altered grey matter - the area of the brain which processes information - in the same way exercise builds muscles. People who learned a second language at a younger age were also more likely to have more advanced grey matter than those who learned later, the team said. Scientists already know the brain has the ability to change its structure as a result of stimulation - an effect known as plasticity - but this research demonstrates how learning languages develops it.

(news.bbc.co.uk)

So, the moral of the story is, Teach your children a second language and if there is time, a third and a fourth!

The Birth of the Cosmos

Liquid universe

The cosmos was born in a churning fluid 300 million times hotter than the sun. We've recreated this hell, and it's not just hot, it is also very, very strange, says Amanda Gefter ( science writer based in London). TO LOOK deep into the fundamental structure of matter is to look billions of years back in time, to the moment when matter first blinked into being. Recreating the conditions of that moment has long been an aim for physicists wanting to understand how the universe evolved from the cosmic fireball that existed a fraction of a second after the big bang. Now researchers at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, have, almost certainly, finally recreated the moments after creation. By colliding nuclei together at enormous speeds, RHIC experimenters were able to break down the structure of nuclear matter. This resulted, most experts agree, in the formation of a long-sought-after plasma that is believed to be the primal stuff of the cosmos, the state of matter at the beginning of time. It turns out, though, that the nature of matter is inextricably tied to the vacuum in which it resides. And the RHIC experiments have thrown up some surprises. They seem to show that the vacuum is a richer and more complicated place than was previously imagined. They suggest the boundary between something and nothing is more blurred than experts had predicted. The stuff made at RHIC is a plasma consisting of quarks and gluons, the most basic building blocks of everything we see around us. Quarks combine in threes to form the protons and neutrons that comprise the nucleus of every atom. But while we can observe a single proton or neutron, we cannot observe a single quark. Quarks are perpetually confined to group living. In fact, the harder you try to pull quarks apart, the stronger the force between them becomes. This is part of the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which describes how the force between the quarks is carried by the massless gluons.

(www.eurekalert.org)

Is this the Future - Number of Votes proportional to Intelligence

Democratic Reform: The Perils of a Pliable Populous
by ferrethouse

Democratic Reform: The Perils of a Pliable Populous
When Kasparov challenged the world to a chess match he knew it would be one of the easiest challenges he had faced in years. Fortunately for him, most people thought that the collective minds of millions of people would provide for an entertaining chess match. Kasparov made millions, those who watched witnessed the brutal defeat of our collective mediocrity.

The recent presidential and vice-presidential debates offer a similar glimpse into the pliability of the average American mind. The fact that more Americans are swayed by the perception of who won the debate than by the actual debate itself speaks volumes about the ability of the average American to understand the issues and make judgements of their own.

Now, I wouldn't be much of a conservative if I was to argue that the elite should rule the country because they know what is best for the lowly peons but I do find it disconcerting that the debate about the issues is merely a distraction from the real contest of determining who won. Declaring a victor in these debates should be irrelevant. Every person should be making this judgement themselves and the very fact that it is debated draws light to the ignorance of most voters.

I propose a system whereby the number of votes cast is proportional to the intelligence of the voter. Every single person in the country would still be allowed to vote regardless of how stupid they are (even Michael Moore could vote) but those with an IQ above 100 would be granted an additional vote. An additional vote would be granted for every 20 points beyond 100. The IQ test would be taken at the age of 18 and would be required every 10 years. We could add complexity to this reformed democracy by deducting votes from people who watch reality television or wrestling. Anyone convicted of a crime would be punished by having negative votes and anyone who figured out that that wouldn't work would gain a bonus vote.

(conservativelife.com)

Food for Thought... However a High IQ doesn't even come close to guaranteeing a "good vote". This would be tantamount to a Modern Day Aristocracy!

The French switch off at the Cinema

Mobiles silenced in French cinemas
Amelia Gentleman in Paris

Responding to years of lobbying by the film industry, the French government has legalised the use of mobile phone jamming devices in cinemas, theatres and concert halls, to prevent audiences being disturbed by ring tones and telephone conversations. Sophisticated technology means people can be prevented from receiving and making mobile telephone calls within 30 metres of the device. Only emergency calls will be able to override the block.

French film-makers have said the use of mobile phones in cinemas was resulting in a "disastrous" impact on ticket sales. The change in the law is part of the government's campaign to make cinemas more enticing. Patrick Devedjian, the French industry minister, said: "It's the same for concerts. You know how it is when thugs let their phones ring during a concert."

He added: "But that's all over now."

Until now, the use of blocking devices has been punishable with a fine of €30,000 (£20,660) or a six-month prison sentence.

The Guardian

Women Barred from Saudi Vote

Women Barred from Saudi Vote, Election Body Says
By Dominic Evans

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's election committee said on Tuesday women will not take part in the country's first nationwide vote, blaming problems over special polling arrangements for women in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

The widely expected announcement marks a victory for Saudi Arabia's religious establishment, alarmed by even modest reforms in the birthplace of Islam.

"Because of the shortage of time it is difficult to create favorable conditions for women to participate," Prince Mansour bin Mutib bin Abdul Aziz, head of the general municipal elections committee, told a news conference.

(Reuters)

Ex-director diz que Santana pressionou jornal

"António Tavares, antigo director do jornal «Linha do Oeste», da Figueira da Foz, disse à TSF que Santana Lopes, ex-autarca da cidade, fez várias pressões para acabar com o jornal por estar desagradado com um editorial publicado."

(TSF Online)

Well, seems like here we go again. Where has this guy been for the last 6 years? Why did he choose today to come forward? This type of story puts bees under my bonnet. I am supposed to believe that António Tavares suddenley decided to let the country in on his little secret. I am worried about the Marcelo affair. Limiting freedom of speech is always worrying. but this guy looks like one of those swift-boaters in the U.S. out to make a name for himself by creating some interesting publicity.

Fuel Prices in Portugal

Galp announced another rise in prices here in Portugal today. Petrol rises 1cent and Diesel rises two. Seems very clear to me that the rise in prices is not only related to the rise of crude on the world market, but is also a clear attempt to equalize the price of Petrol and Diesel. For a long time now, Diesel has been much cheaper but in the last year the gap has been steadily closing. Continuing current trend we are soon going to be paying the same for Petrol and Diesel. This is going to have a serious effect on the transport sectors. I suppose the only ones left smiling will be the auto-sellers for it is easier to sell the cheaper Petrol vehicle if the price of the fuel is the same.

"A escalada dos preços do petróleo já se faz novamente sentir.

A Galp Energia anunciou esta terça-feira o aumento dos preços do gasóleo em dois cêntimos e o das gasolinas em um cêntimo. TAP, Portugália e Air Luxor também aumentaram as tarifas."

(TSF Online)

Son of Jor-el returns to Krypton...

This is my tribute to a gutsy actor who showed us what it means to fight adversity. Christopher Reeve, may your rest in peace

George Bernard Shaw

"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for the appointment by the corrupt few. "

"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. "

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience."

"Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization."

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

Iraq - US

Gulliver's travails: The U.S. in the post-Cold-War world
by John O'Sullivan

At the same time the intervention has had undeniably valuable benefits. The Iraqi people are free for the first time in almost fifty years. There is a free press, freedom of association, a multiplicity of political parties, and all the apparatus of a liberal democracy. Political prisoners have been freed from torture and captivity-an achievement that has received far less media coverage than the failure to find WMDs. And now an internationally recognized Iraqi government-not yet an elected one, but still the most representative government in the Arab world-has been established. If elections follow next January then the most important American promises will have been kept.

Of course, a final judgment on Iraq will not be possible for some years. If, in a decade, there is a flourishing democracy in Baghdad, then we will judge the U.S. intervention to be an unqualified success. We would even think it a worthwhile effort if, as Mark Steyn has speculated, the Iraqis end up with a moderate authoritarian regime that allows free speech, free markets and some kind of parliament-and that generally votes with Tunisia and Morocco at international forums. If Iraq has descended into a Lebanon-like chaos or a Taliban-like autocracy- either of which would provide a base for international terrorism directed against the United States-then the Iraqi intervention would have proved an actual setback in the war on terror. And that, alas, cannot be ruled out.

(www.newcriterion.com)

Comunicação, liberdade e democracia

Um excelente post por VIVA ESPANHA

Comunicação, liberdade e democracia

Zimbabwe's Civil Servants

Civil servants forced to bankroll welcome bash for murder suspects

Date:9-Oct, 2004

CIVIL servants in Buhera are angry over a decision by the Zanu PF leadership at Murambinda Growth Point to force them to each contribute towards a bash to celebrate the release from jail, on bail, of three ruling party activists who are facing murder charges. Webster Gwama, Morris Kainos Zimunya (better knon as Kitsiyatota) and Johnson Mudzamiri were released on $5 million bail each. They
all face two charges of murder. They are alleged to have murdered Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika during the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary election. The three Zanu PF activists together with Joseph Mwale, a top CIO operative, allegedly beat up the two before setting on fire the vehicle they were in. They died as a result of the burns. The three were arrested and arraigned before the courts facing murder charges and were eventually released on bail by High Court
Judge, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu. Mwale, is however, still at large although his whereabouts are known. Mwale is widely known to be operating from Mutoko District, 143 km north east of Harare.

After the release of the trio from prison, the Zanu PF leadership at Murambinda ordered that all civil servants contribute ZW$5 000 each for a bash to welcome the alleged murderers. It is not yet clear when the welcome bash would be held.

(www.daily-news.co.za)

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Blowing up Zarqawi
How the coalition transformed a failed fringe fanatic into The World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist.
by Brendan O'Neill

What a difference two years makes when it comes to being the 'most evil man in the world'.

Until January 2003 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a bit of a mystery. He was said to be an Islamic fundamentalist from Jordan, a 'lone wolf' according to one CIA official, fixated on toppling the Jordanian monarchy. He moved to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviets in the late 1980s, was imprisoned in Jordan for seven years in the 1990s, was later injured in America's war in Afghanistan in 2002, and then fled to northern Iraq to seek shelter with the Islamic fundamentalist outfit Ansar al-Islam. He reportedly moved down to Iraq proper some time after the war, with an eye for stirring up trouble.

Today Washington has branded him 'the most wanted man in Iraq'. He is said to have links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Videos allegedly made by his group Tawhid and Jihad, showing American civilians being beheaded and other kidnap victims, notably British construction worker Ken Bigley, chained up, caged and distressed, have captured the world's attention. He stands accused of wanting to 'foment civil war in Iraq' (2). He even seems to have elbowed aside bin Laden to become, in the words of Newsweek, 'the world's most dangerous terrorist'. Many other governments are 'scared to death of him', too, says Newsweek (3). US officials have put a $25million bounty on his head, the same as that offered for info that leads to the capture of bin Laden.
(www.spiked-online.com)

Senator J. William Fulbright on the Arrogance of Power, 1966

The attitude above all others which I feel sure is no longer valid is the arrogance of power, the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission. The dilemmas involved are preeminently American di lemmas, not because America has weaknesses that others do not have but because America is powerful as no nation has ever been before and the discrepancy between its power and the power of others appears to be increasing....

We are now engaged in a war to "defend freedom" in South Vietnam. Unlike the Republic of Korea, South Vietnam has an army which [is]
without notable success and a weak, dictatorial government which does not command the loyalty of the South Vietn amese people. The official war aims of the United States Government, as I understand them, are to defeat what is regarded as North Vietnamese aggression, to demonstrate the futility of what the communists call "wars of national liberation," and to create conditions under which the South Vietnamese people will be able freely to determine their own future. I have not the slightest doubt of the sincerity of the President and the
Vice President and the Secretaries of State and Defense in propounding these aims. What I do doubt_and doubt very much is the ability of the United States to achieve these aims by the means being used. I do not question the power of our weapons and the efficiency of our logistics; I cannot say these things delight me as the y seem to delight some of our officials, but they are certainly impressive. What I do question is the ability of the United States, or France or any other Western nation, to go into a small, alien, undeveloped Asian nation and create stability where there is chaos, the will to fight where there is defeatism, democracy where there is no tradition of it and honest government where corruption is almost a way of life. Our handicap is well expressed in the pungent Chinese proverb: "In shallow waters dragons become the sport of shrimps."

The Full Document

How much have things changed since 1966?

Is this for Real?

Hidden Draft Agenda Memo Recovered through FOI ACT
by KOS MEMBER Regeneration Man:

The President said: "Forget all this talk about the DRAFT". Here's why you shouldn't. On October 4, Tom Delay attempted to defuse fears about a Bush Draft by calling for a vote on Democrat Charlie Rangel's protest legislation to 1) expand the draft from men 18-25, to women and men 18-34 and 2)reinstate the draft immediately. Not only was the legislation defeated by a vote of 402-2, Rangel voted against his own bill--a House first. The Republicans are saying that since the Rangel legislation has been defeated, no one need worry about a
re-instatement of the draft if President Bush is re-elected.

The truth is that any President can go to Congress under the Military Selective Service Act, the current registration law, and ask for re-authorization of the Combat Draft. All Congress need do is pass a 1-page "trigger resolution" and the Combat Draft for men 18-25 is back. At the same time, the Medical Draft is automatically activated for men and women, 18-44, with no deferments for health reasons.

The main worry for young people is that beyond Iraq, Bush and
Cheney are following the neo-con plan that would involve the invasion of still more countries, such as Syria and Iran. In fact, Wes Clark charges in his book Winning Modern Wars, that a senior Pentagon official told him in 2001 that there was a 5-year plan to topple 7 countries: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Libya,Sudan and Somalia. Assuming Libya is now off the list, that still leaves five countries.

Story from Dailykos

Document in PDF format

Bush's Battle of the Bulge...

Bush's bulge stirs media rumours

A bulge in the back of President George W Bush's suit jacket during the first TV debate with John Kerry has triggered rumours that he was wired to get help.
Internet websites alleged the apparent bulge, during last week's debate in Miami, was a radio receiver feeding him answers from an offstage aide.

The Bush campaign dismissed the claims, saying it was just a wrinkle in the presidential jacket. It also denied some web reports that Mr Bush was wearing a bullet-proof vest. "People have been spending too much time dealing with Internet conspiracies. It's ridiculous," Bush campaign manager Scott Stanzel was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. Another campaign official said it was nothing more than a question of tailoring.
(news.bbc.co.uk)

First it was Kerry's crib-notes, now it seems Bush was wired...

Whats next, psychics helping Kerry to predict Bush's answers? Hosts being paid-off to help Bush look good?

World Trade Towers

World Trade Towers design exceeded wind load codes

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported on Sept. 17 that it has done additional analysis of the wind "loads" that the World Trade Center (WTC) towers were originally designed to resist--critical data to help the agency better assess the overall strengths and baseline performance of the two buildings before they were brought down by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The work is being conducted as part of NIST's federal building and fire safety investigation of the WTC disaster.

NIST recently completed its review of the original 1960s-era source documents containing wind tunnel test data and wind load estimation methods used for the towers, calculated the wind load estimates based on a clearer interpretation of this information, and determined the values actually used in the design of the buildings. These clarified original design wind load estimates all exceed those established by the New York City building code prior to 1968 (when the WTC towers were designed) and through 2001 (when the towers were destroyed). The values also are higher than those required by other selected building codes of the era, including the relevant national model building code.
(www.eurekalert.org)

Deriving Dimensions

Deriving Dimensions
P. Coddington/Univ. of Adelaide

It seems like the most obvious physical fact: The universe has four dimensions--three spanning space and one ticking away time. But the ultimate theory of gravity should explain why the universe is four-dimensional and how those dimensions arose, say researchers trying to unify the theories of quantum mechanics and relativity. Now, calculations in the 24 September PRL show that when all possible microscopic contortions of spacetime are added together, a large-scale four-dimensional universe can emerge.

For nearly 80 years physicists have struggled to reconcile the prevailing theory of gravity with quantum mechanics. According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, mass and energy warp spacetime. The undulations then affect the trajectories of passing objects, producing the effects we call gravity. In Einstein's theory, spacetime is a stretchy, dynamical entity.
(focus.aps.org)

Solar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse to Start Thursday, End Wednesday!
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Night Sky Columnist

A partial solar eclipse will take place next week, oddly ending the day before it begins.

The eclipse will be visible, weather permitting, from northeastern portions of Asia, including all of Japan, northeastern Mongolia and China, and much of Siberia. Since these regions are located to the west of the International Date Line, the eclipse will take place Thursday, Oct. 14.

To the east of the Date Line, however, the calendar date is Oct. 13. And it will be those lucky skywatchers who live in the western half of Alaska that will be able to see the final moments of the eclipse, when it reaches a spectacular peak just as the Sun sets beyond the west-southwest horizon late Wednesday afternoon. The eclipse will start on Oct. 14, but it will end on the previous day!
(SPACE.com)

Afghanistan Elections

Afghans give democracy a chance
Declan Walsh Chuquri

Chuquri has seen a century's worth of battles. British colonists, Soviet soldiers and the black-turbanned Taliban have variously marched, bombed or shot their way through the mud-walled, hilltop hamlet.

But at 7.55 yesterday morning the fight for power in Afghanistan took on a new dimension, when 70-year-old Mohammed Zaffar cast the battered village's first vote. 'I prayed, had breakfast and came here. I thought about who to vote for on the way,' explained the one-time Mujahedeen holy warrior, now a wrinkled wheat farmer. 'And now I expect it will bring good things.'

Behind him, a slow trickle of turbanned men braved the sharp morning chill to enter the barbed wire enclosure. Some arrived by donkey, others drove herds of sheep. And in an ominous hint of the row that threatened the entire poll a few hours later, the polling station registration clerk struggled to understand how he would apply a small bottle of indelible ink to voters' hands.

Millions of Afghans flooded to the polls yesterday, bringing with them hopes that a tick on a ballot box would also mark the closing chapter of a 25-year sage of bloodshed, war and suffering.
(www.guardian.co.uk)

Saddam Hussein

What Saddam Was Really Thinking
By JOHANNA MCGEARY

For years, Saddam Hussein showed himself to be a master practitioner of the big bluff. Everyone outside Iraq and just about everyone inside believed that he harbored a secret stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. So imagine the shock his generals received in late 2002 when U.S. forces were massing on the country's borders for an imminent invasion, and Saddam suddenly informed them that Iraq had no biological or chemical or nuclear weapons at all. Longtime aide Tariq Aziz told U.S. interrogators that military morale plummeted the moment senior officers learned Iraq would have to fight the U.S. without those weapons. The dictator's cunning policy of deception had deceived the wrong side.

Saddam had always hoped to dictate how history would view him. In his mind, he was the successor to great Iraqi heroes like Nebuchadnezzar and Saladin, to be revered as a giant among them for millenniums. But the Saddam who emerges from the pages of a new, comprehensive CIA report on Iraq's alleged arsenal will be remembered for the colossal misjudgments that cost him his rule. The exhaustive detail compiled by the report's author, Charles Duelfer, chief U.N. weapons inspector in the 1990s and the Bush Administration's top hunter since January, richly fills in the previous portrait of a paranoid and brutal dictator who believed that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were the prime tools with which to advance his extravagant ambitions. Drawn from lengthy interrogations of the core Iraqi leadership and Saddam during their months in U.S. custody, the Duelfer report sheds fresh light on the dictator's inner motivations and artful deceptions.
(www.time.com)

Mathematics and the War on Terror

Mathematicians Offer Help in Terror Fight
By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - A small group of thinking men and women convened at Rutgers University last month to consider how order theory — a branch of abstract mathematics that deals with hierarchical relationships — could be applied to the war on terror.

It almost seems ridiculous for people who inhabit a world of concept lattices and partially ordered sets to think they can affect a war that is being fought on the streets of Baghdad and in the remote mountains of northern Pakistan. But the war on terror is also fought in cyberspace, and in the minds of people from Lahore to Los Angeles. Mathematicians are right at home in such abstract realms.
(Yahoo! News)

Election Quotes

"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."
P. J. O'Rourke

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
Joseph Stalin

"Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody."
Franklin P. Adams

"When the political columnists say 'Every thinking man' they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to 'Every intelligent voter' they mean everybody who is going to vote for them"
Franklin P. Adams

"Vote: The instrument and symbol of a free man's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country."
Ambrose Bierce

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...we [will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers. And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent ...till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery. And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."
Thomas Jefferson

"I could think of no worse example for nations abroad, who for the first time were trying to put free electoral procedures into effect, than that of the United States wrangling over the results of our presidential election, and even suggesting that the presidency itself could be stolen by thievery at the ballot box."
Thomas Jefferson

HISTÓRIA SANGRENTA:

Acordando de manhã
Ao som das bombas caindo.
Adormecendo cansado
Ao som das sirenes chorando.

As imagens eléctricas,
Uma novela de vidas reais,
Usurpando as nossas almas
No santuário dum lar.

Vivendo as imagens da guerra,
Remotas e quase irreais,
Que cheguem duma terra distante,
Uma pátria de morte.

A lógica preparando o seu discurso,
Uma mente que tenta divagar,
Um coração chorando civis
Que morrem nas terras distantes.

A minha mente procura razões
Para fazer face à miséria.
E meu coração não consegue
Separar o homem da besta.

Crescentes e cruzes,
O calvário dos inocentes.
Mais uma bomba cirúrgica
Destruindo a vida dum vizinho.

A paz, a paz eles reclamam,
A virtude virtual saindo às ruas
Contra guerra eles lutam
Com suas vozes cobardes.

O ruído alem do horizonte,
As sirenes das trevas.
- Eles vêm mãe, eles vêm,
- Eles voltarem...

Adormecendo
Nos sonhos dum mundo
Sem senhores...
Sem lágrimas...

A Word of Thanks

A word of thanks to the following Blogs that have linked to The Leviathan and the Republic

A Chama do Dragão
Acuso 1
Acuso 2
A Gíria Do Futebol
Blogo Social Português
Cucamacuca
Jumento
Maschamba
Satyricon
Sob a Estrela do Norte
Timshel

Amardeep Singh
Back Seat Drivers
Gregorian Rants
Jerz's Literacy Weblog
Keywords
Liberty Corner

Al-Sadr disarmament

"Al-Sadr disarmament offer welcomed
Friday 08 October 2004, 18:15 Makka Time, 15:15 GMT

The government's statement was issued by Kasim Dawud (L)
Iraq's interim government has said it welcomes a proposal by Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr's militia to disarm.

"The government welcomes the announcement by Sadr that his militia will disband, hand over their weapons, respect the authority and the unity of the state and abide by the rule of law in Iraq," said a statement issued on Friday in the name of Qasim Dawud, Iraq's national security adviser and chief negotiator.

"Unlike the old regime, this government will abide by its pledges to afford equal and fair treatment to all as well as to offer amnesty to those who have not committed crimes against the Iraqi people," the statement said. "
(aljazeera.net)

If the offer is genuine it is good news for suffering Iraq...

Bush Versus Bush Debate : Round Two

"Mindful of the spin game, the President angles for a favorable comparison with himself

The second presidential debate was a battle between two candidates: one peevish, shaky and floundering; one aggressive, active and emotional. I speak, of course, of President George W. Bush... and President George W. Bush.

In this uneven fight, second-debate Bush defeated first-debate Bush. This, of course, is the way Bush and his handlers want the media to spin this debate—"Bush improved, therefore Bush won" —since, after all, it was a fight the President was bound to win. All he had to do was avoid kicking over his stool, shouting "No fair!" and storming off stage. (In fact, on the cable networks after the debate, Bush's surrogates happily denigrated his performance in the first debate, by way of saying how decisively they believed he won the second.)

And let's be honest—for the media, it's the most tempting angle, because it allows analysts to draw a firm conclusion without being called biased. Not to mention, it guarantees they not give Kerry a 2-0 lead going into the last debate. (Much like the TV networks during the baseball playoffs, the political media has an interest in making sure there's a decisive rubber match.)

Bush defeating himself, though, is not the same as Bush defeating Senator John Kerry. The second debate—a "town hall," with questions offered by undecided voters in St. Louis, Mo.—was a format that was supposed to play more to Bush's strengths in connecting to people. The fact that the candidates were not tethered to the podium eliminated the President's problem, from debate one, of hunching at the podium while he spoke; he had an audience to smile and wink at; and simply being able to move around the stage made him appear less physically besieged."
(www.time.com)

Full transcript of the debate at CNN.com

I enjoyed this debate. It felt less staged than the first debate, more honest and a lot more direct.

Kenneth Bigley

"The life and death of Kenneth Bigley
09 October 2004


Up to the end, they had clung to hope and had shunned despair, pleading calmly and with dignity to the kidnappers. For 22 days, in public and behind the scenes, Ken Bigley's family laboured so hard; fighting an unceasing battle across the airwaves and through all diplomatic channels to secure their over-riding ambition ­ an unlikely happy ending.

Just before noon yesterday, Paul Bigley was buoyed by reports that his elder brother had been handed over from a bunch of murderous ideologues to gangsters willing to accept a ransom. "If this is the case, moving from a political situation to a monetary situation, that's a little bit of optimism," he said.

Less than an hour afterwards, the glimmer that had sustained the Bigleys through three weeks of agony was extinguished. There was to be no miracle for Ken Bigley."
(independent.co.uk)

The world continues to experience a wave of terror which leaves many feeling more and more insecure. The question which seems to have no answer is, What do we do about it?
How does one face an enemy who hides in the shadows and is everywhere and nowhere?

Chenney - Edwards Debate

An interesting column...

Jimmy
Breslin

At right moment, Edwards pounced

October 6, 2004

Somewhere around 9:45 last night, Richard Cheney, vice president of the nation, turned and said to Sen. John Edwards, Democratic candidate, that he missed big votes in the Senate and had the worst attendance record. Cheney said that he sat as the head of the
Senate and was there for practically every session

Cheney spoke in a deep, dull, confident voice and said things
like, "al-Zarqawi has been in Baghdad before the war and after the war." As if all this smoke and fire and reports of dead soldiers and dead babies are an illusion.

(Full text at New York Newsday)

(The Text of the Debate from omaha.com)

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa deixa a TVI

VISAOONLINE 6 Out. 2004

Depois de uma conversa ocorrida a pedido do presidente da Media Capital, Miguel Paes do Amaral, o antigo líder do PSD anunciou que vai abandonar de imediato os comentários semanais na TVI, que duravam desde 13 de Maio de 2000. A oposição acusa o Governo de pressões sobre a comunicação social

"Na sequência de conversa da iniciativa do presidente da Media Capital, Miguel Paes do Amaral, decidi cessar, de imediato, a colaboração na TVI, a qual sempre pude livremente conceber e executar durante quatro anos e meio", declarou Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, que fazia comentários políticos ao domingo no
telejornal da TVI desde 13 de Maio de 2000.

A decisão de Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa ocorre dois dias depois de o ministro dos Assuntos Parlamentares, Rui Gomes da Silva, ter estranhado o silêncio da Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social em relação aos comentários, que classificou de «ódio», feitos pelo ex-presidente do PSD aos domingos na TVI.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa leaves TVI

VISAOONLINE 6 Out. 2004

After a meeting with the president of Media Capital, Miguel Paes do Amaral, the ex-leader of the PSD party announced that he would be abandoning his weekly opinion show, effective immediately. This was after having come on board, on the 13 May 2000. Opposition parties are accusing the Government of putting pressure on the mass media.

"After a meeting called by the president of Media Capital, Miguel Paes do Amaral, I decided to cease, effective immediately, my collaboration with TVI, where I had freedom to conceive and produce during four and a half years", said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who had a spot on Sunday night, after the news for political commentaries since 13 of May 2000.

This decision comes two days after the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Rui Gomes da Silva, found the silence of The High Authority for the Mass Media in relation to the commentaries, strange. He had classified these commentaries, by the ex-president on Sundays, on TVI as hatred.

(Translated by DemonPoet)

Freedom of expression suffered a blow in Portugal Today! This after, as far as I can see, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa refused censorship by TVI's president. This seems obvious when he says that he had freedom to create and produce during four and a half years. From this I conclude that the meeting was to discuss these new work conditions. The Big question is if this was just a move by Miguel Paes do Amaral in result of the brewing problems, or if in fact some or other member of the Goverment applied pressure for TVI to change...

That remains to be seen.

Freedom

"Freedom requires that governments and all those who bear responsibility bow before that which presents itself as essentially defenseless and is incapable of exercising any coercion. At this level is situated the threat posed by modern democracy.... It is difficult to see how democracy, which rests on the principle of majority rule, can enforce moral values that are not recognized by a majority without introducing a dogmatism that is foreign to its nature."
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

"Freedom can abolish itself, become sick of itself, once it has become empty. This too we have experienced in our century: a majority decision can have the effect of destroying freedom. ... Strict positivism, which expresses itself in absolutizing the principle of the majority, will inevitably revert at some time into nihilism."
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Well finally got hello working... This is me on a cable car in Madeira

George Soros and The US Election

A Personal Message from George Soros

Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush (Prepared text of speech delivered at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, September 28, 2004)

This is the most important election of my lifetime. I have never been heavily involved in partisan politics but these are not normal times. President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests and undermining American values. That is why I am sending you this message. I have been demonized by the Bush campaign but I hope you will give me a hearing.

President Bush ran on the platform of a "humble" foreign policy in 2000. If we re-elect him now, we endorse the Bush doctrine of preemptive action and the invasion of Iraq, and we will have to live with the consequences. As I shall try to show, we are facing a vicious circle of escalating violence with no end in sight. But if we repudiate the Bush policies at the polls, we shall have a better chance to regain the respect and support of the world and to break the vicious circle.

Just a simple question:
What does Soros lose if Bush is re-elected?

The Iraqi Quagmire (Chapter from Soros's Book "THE BUBBLE OF AMERICAN SUPREMACY" in PDF format)

Interesting seeing things from another point of view.

"Our national confusion
By CAROLINE GLICK (Jerusalem Post)

A close friend was recently called up to the reserves, where he serves as a commander in an infantry battalion currently responsible for an area of operations in Samaria. On his first furlough home, he told me the story of an interchange with one of his soldiers. The soldier – a kibbutznik whom we'll call Alon – gave my friend, his new commander, the following background information during a personal interview:

"I refused to serve in the reserves for the past three years while we were in Gaza because I think that we should give the territories to the Palestinians. But then I realized that the Arabs keep killing us no matter what we do, so now I don't know what I think. My wife, who comes from Denmark, doesn't think I should be here. She wants us to move to Denmark. I decided to serve this year because now I think I am supposed to fight."

Infertile problems...

"Serviço de Saúde sem solução para casos de infertilidade
Custos de tratamentos e técnicas de procriação medicamente assistida chegam aos 100 mil euros.
Presidente da Entidade Reguladora diz que ainda existe Medicina para ricos

Estado deve criar condições para que os casais tenham acesso aos tratamentos
A infertilidade é uma doença que afecta cerca de meio milhão de casais em Portugal e, apesar de se tratar de um problema de saúde pública, os tratamentos e técnicas de procriação medicamente assistida (inseminação intra-uterina, implantação in vitro e microinjecção intracitoplasmática de espermatozóide) ainda são, para a maioria das pessoas, uma solução inatingível dados os custos exorbitantes."
(Jornal de Notícias- Portuguese National Newspaper)


National Health Service without solution for problems of infertility.
Cost of treatments and techniques for overcoming this problem can reach 100 thousand Euros.
Presidente of the Health Regulatory Body says Health care for the rich only, is still a reality.

State should create conditions for couples to have access to the treatments avaidable. Infertility affects about half a million portuguese couples and despite being a public health issue, the treatments avaidable (intrauterine insemination, implantation in vitro and intracitoplasmática microinjecção of spermatozoon) are still for most an impossible solution because of the extreme costs.
(Translated Version)


Just one question, why not push adoption as an alternative. With so many kids in orphanages who need good homes, why should the state spend billions on these treatments. We should be looking at accelerating the adoption process which is still way too slow.

The state has to spend millions with abortions( if the law gets changed which is likely sooner or later) and then spend millions on infertility treatments. Does anyone else see the lack of logic in this?

Speechless!!!

"Gomes da Silva acusa Marcelo de «ódio» e «mentiras»
Foi desta forma que o ministro dos Assuntos Parlamentares, Rui Gomes da Silva, classificou os comentários de Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa na TVI, sublinhando que o antigo líder do PSD tem um «problema» com Santana Lopes. Em declarações à agência Lusa, Rui Gomes da Silva disse, esta segunda-feira, sentir-se «revoltado com as mentiras e falsidades» "

Full Story from TSF on-line

(Translated Text)
"Gomes da Silva accuses Marcelo of hatred and lies.
This was how the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs classified Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's commentaries on Portuguese TV channel "TVI", stressing that the once leader of the PSD party has a problem with Prime Minister Santana Lopes. In statements to The "Agência Lusa", Rui Gomes da Silva that he felt outraged by the lies and falsities."

This was after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had said last night (Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has a spot on TVI for commentaries about the previous weeks happenings in Portugal) that he felt the decision to allow portuguese schools to close for the day in result of tomorrow's Public Holiday was worse than the worst decisions of the last PS Goverment.

Gome da Silva forgets that at this moment in Portugal, half the population has a problem with Prime Minister Santana Lopes

Kerry's Crib-notes

Seems like the story is going around that Kerry used crib-notes in the debate last Thursday night. It cracks me up the stories surrounding this U.S. Presidencial election, from both sides of the political spectrum. Between Gun-boats, AWOL, crib-notes and War records there isn't much space left for serious debating. And how do you have a serious debate when there is a contract of Thirty pages on the do's and dont's for the debate. I've always liked the U.S. but at times they do seem to take things to the extreme.

Picked the story up at Liberty Corner A post dated Sunday, October 03, 2004

"1. A single candidate's use of prepared notes could provide a distinct advantage in the debate, hence their mutual prohibition.

2. While the nature of the object is inconclusive based on the angle and resolution of the video, the rules clearly state that "[n]o ... tangible things may be brought into the debate by either candidate." That includes notes, Mont Blanc pens, magic hats, you name it."


The full story Here:(www.indcjournal.com)
The text of the Memorandum of understanding HERE

Seems like they both got it wrong...
Check out the Distortions and Misstatements of this debate at FACTCHECK.ORG

Ridiculous

Schools opening late because of the bungled placement of teachers for the 2004/2005 school year. All due, so has been said, to a software system introduced this year to speed things up which went bust (and obviously not excluding the incompetency shown by the Education Ministry) . But worst of all is that after all that many teachers were allowed to take today off because of tomorrow's public holiday. Not only have the pupils lost about a month of studies, on top of this, they lose another precious day because of a government decision.

Escolas que abrem tarde por causa da colocação desastrosa dos professores para o ano escolar de 2004/2005. Tudo devido ao sistema de software introduzido este ano (e também da incompetência do Ministério)para apressar as coisas, e que deu para o torto. Mas o mais ridículo é que após disto, ainda hoje foi permitido aos professores fazerem ponte. Perdeu-se não só um mês de estudos, mas também se perde mais um dia precioso, por causa de outra decisão do governo.

Written by a Muslim

The Sad Truth Is That All Terrorists Are Muslim

Editorial Written by Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, September 4, 2004

(Translated by Worldpress.org contributing editor Peter Valenti)

"It is certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, however, sadly we say that the majority of terrorists in the world are Muslims. The kidnappers of the students in [the city of Beslan in the Russian state of] Ossetia were Muslim. The kidnappers who killed the Nepalese chefs and laborers [in Iraq] were also Muslims. Those who perpetrate acts of rape and murder in Darfur are Muslims, and their victims are Muslim also. Those who blew up civilian housing complexes in Riyadh and Khobar [Saudi Arabia] were Muslims. Those who kidnapped the two French reporters [in Iraq] were Muslim. The two women who blew up those two planes a week ago [in Russia] were Muslim."

EDUCATION

With so much being said about education here in Portugal, I found a couple of quotes that should be enough to enlighten our politicians...

1) The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.
--Robert Maynard Hutchins

2) Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
--Malcolm Forbes

3) All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.
--Aristotle

4) The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.
--Bill Beattie

5) It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.
-- John Dryden

Thoughts on the Bush-Kerry Debate

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."
Plato

"What luck for the rulers that men do not think."
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

"True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance."
Akhenaton - King of Egypt (14th century BC)

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Hermann Goering:

UM ORGULHO DE OFÍCIO

Está concluído.
A loucura gloriosa recua,
O artista adormece.
A fome roendo, saciada,
A luxúria do medo,
O seu trabalho
Um testamento da sua alma.

Uma queda livre
Há muito lançada,
Uma dança desafortunada,
Um azar que mudou o futuro.
Em vez de vida, a morte,
A sua companheira
De muitas vigílias.

Cortesia desapaixonada, dançando
Ao ritmo de demónios, íntimos.
Ele diverte-se em severas delicadezas.
O orgulho é tudo o que o refreia
De entrar num sono eterno e
Cumprir finalmente
O que foi iniciado.

Nesta estrada solitária,
Ele sabe muito bem,
A destruição que o espera.
Nunca envelhecer,
Nunca morrer,
Fechado e condenado
Numa prisão de palavras.

Autores declamarão,
Durante os anos vindouros,
O hino que foi elaborado nestas noites.
Enquanto na tumba
O chumbo, alojado no cérebro,
Nunca o deixará descansar,
Nunca o deixará morrer.

Arlindo Costa

OUR WORLD:

The digital world is seen
Through a filter of overpowering greed,
As western and eastern dictators
Take turns at showing their men.

The experts on the corner
At five cents a hour,
Strut for the cameras
With the little they know.

I awake to the sound of thunder
That burns my defiled soul
I fall asleep to the wail of sirens
That forces me to dream.

Restaurants and supermarkets
Are filled with the gentle hum of ignorance.
With people who see and see,
And endlessly refuse to see.

And out on the streets
The hypocrites bawl
For finally the inferno
Threatens to reach their doorstep.

Arlindo Costa

Mount St. Helens Volcanic Advisory

Mount St. Helens Volcano Advisory (Alert Level Two) : September 29, 2004 10:40 A.M., PDT -- U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington / University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, Seattle, Washington

Over night, seismic activity at Mount St. Helens has accelerated significantly, which increases our level of concern that current unrest could culminate in an eruption. We are increasing the alert level to the second of three levels, which is similar to Color Code Orange of the alert system used by the Alaska Volcano Observatory and analogous to the National Weather Service's hazard watch. Earthquakes are occurring at about four per minute. The largest events are approaching Magnitude 2.5 and they are becoming more frequent. All are still at shallow levels in and below the lava dome that grew in the crater between 1980 and 1986. This suggests that the ongoing intense earthquake activity has weakened the dome, increasing the likelihood of explosions or perhaps the extrusion of lava from the dome. The cause and outcome of the accelerating unrest is uncertain. Explosions from the lava dome could occur suddenly and without further warning.

There is news and then there is News.

Orgies are the way to ease social tensions, claims US judge

Oliver Burkeman in New York
Friday October 1, 2004
The Guardian

He is the conservative bastion of the US supreme court, a favourite of President Bush, and a hunting partner of the vice-president. He has argued vociferously against abortion rights, and in favour of anti-sodomy laws. But it turns out that there is another side to Justice Antonin Scalia: he thinks Americans ought to be having more orgies.

Pseudo-protesters need to get real

Today's stunts are staged as an alternative to engaging in political debate.

Public protests seem to be always in the news these days, whether it be foxhunters invading parliament, estranged fathers scaling the walls of Buckingham Palace, or animal rights activists threatening those involved in animal research.

It may appear strange that there are so many high-level protests at a time when there is such a low level of interest in politics. But in fact they are two sides of the same coin. These are not really political protests as we might have known them in the past. They are more a cry of personal rage than an attempt to engage with the public.

Artice from SPIKED-ONLINE.COM

The Media?

Are the media helping the hostage takers?

By Peter Preston -Former editor of the Guardian

The taking of hostages, such as Ken Bigley in Iraq, has prompted debate on the media's role and responsibilities in covering such events.

Does publicity help or hinder their plight? Was Margaret Thatcher right to decry the 'oxygen of publicity'?

Full Story - BBC

Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold,
Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold:
And double death did wretched Man invade,
By steel assaulted, and by gold betray'd,
Now (brandish'd weapons glittering in their hands)
Mankind is broken loose from moral bands…
— Ovid's Metamorphoses, Garth and Dryden translation, 1:180-184

The Bush Kerry Debate

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
President Bush: :
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work. You know my hardest, the hardest part of the job is to know that I committed the troops in harm's way and then do the best I can to provide comfort for the loves ones who lost a son or a daughter or husband and wife." - president George W. Bush. Reassured that he's on top of things in Iraq? Me neither.

President Bush:
I believe I'm going to win, because the American people know I know how to lead. I've shown the American people I know how to lead. I understand everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand.

Senator Kerry:
I believe in being strong and resolute and determined. And I will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are. But we also have to be smart. And smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on terror in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden and taking if off to Iraq.

President Bush:
We're making progress. But the front on this war is more than just one place... The biggest disaster that could happen is that we not succeed in Iraq. We will succeed. We've got a plan to do so. And the main reason we'll succeed is because the Iraqis want to be free.

Senator Kerry:
This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgement. And judgement is what we look for in the president of the United States of America.

President Bush: :
The only thing consistent about my opponent's position is that he's been inconsistent. He changes positions. And you cannot change positions in this war on terror if you expect to win.

Senator Kerry:
I've had one position, one consistent position [on Iraq]: That Saddam Hussein was a threat, there was a right way to disarm him and the wrong way, and the president chose the wrong way.

President Bush:
My opponent says help is on the way, but what kind of message does it say to our troops in harm's way - wrong war, wrong place, wrong time? Not a message a commander in chief gives, or this is a great diversion.

Senator Kerry:
When I talked about the $87bn [extra money to provide equipment for US troops], I made a mistake in how I talk about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse? I believe that when you know something's going wrong, you make it right. That's what I learned in Vietnam.

President Bush:
Of course we're doing everything we can to protect America. I wake up every day thinking about how best to protect America. That's my job.

Senator Kerry:
Unfortunately, [Osama Bin Laden] escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use American forces, the best-trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on Afghan warlords, and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong.

President Bush:
But to say that there’s only one focus on the war on terror doesn’t really understand the nature of the war of terror. Of course we’re after Saddam Hussein - I mean bin Laden. He’s isolated. Seventy-five percent of his people have been brought to justice. The killer in, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is in prison. We’re making progress.

CORAL GABLES, Florida (CNN) -- The following is a transcript of the first section of the debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry held Thursday night at the University of Miami. The topic of the debate was foreign affairs and, and the moderator was Jim Lehrer of PBS.

GET THERE ON TIME:

Cockcrows,
too soon it is morning,
rise and shine,
begins the mourning.
Greet the sun,
rapidly moving,
So much to be done
in this day of proving.
Time is fleeting,
the bullet to outrun.
Boss is waiting,
that can't be undone.
Nourishment,
too quickly,
barely enough time.
The tie and the briefcase
are tools of the trade.
Kiss her goodbye,
with a pang of regret,
Easy to forget it all,
climb back into bed.
Out to the transport,
to join the insanity,
In a blinding instant
on the bonfire of vanity.

The ants now are marching,
No time for benevolence.
Marching,
With one destination,
One goal in mind.
Get to work,
Get there on time.

Arlindo Costa

REDENÇÃO:

O Padre suplica,

Na busca urgente

Da minha salvação.

Os sorrisos do director são

Uma ameaça de cova,

Eles prevêem o meu destino:

Um frango assado.

A última refeição

Tão doce e dolorosa.

Provar a essência

Enquanto ela se ausenta.

Reminiscência derradeira,

Debaixo do céu aberto.

Sem ter a oportunidade

De reviver esta vida.

Eles vêm para o sacrifício,

Conduzem-me nos metros finais

Que em quilómetros se transformam

Uma porta gigantesca me espera.

- Meu Deus, eu quero chorar!...

É medonha e muda,

Esperando o meu peso.

Anjos cantam, demónios rogam.

Pesares demasiados,

Alegrias de menos.

Sinto, a hora chegando,

A madeira grita o meu nome.

Os membros presos com ferros, enquanto

A visão é finalmente obscurecida.

Escassos momentos preciosos,

Por um instante,

O mundo cessa.

Paixões se incendeiam.

Uma última petição,

- Meu Deus!

Arlindo Costa

"As escolas deveriam ser locais cuja preocupação prioritária deveria ser transmitir cultura e conhecimento. Locais de exigência e rigor. Não tem nada que tentar rivalizar com espaços lúdicos e afins. Embarcou-se na peregrina ideia de que a educação pode-se realizar sem esforço."

Satyricon

Interesting Post, however...

A school for me is a place where one is taught to "think". Secondly, it is a place where one is taught how to learn. It's primary function is not transmiting "facts" and knowledge. For with the capacity to "think" and the capacity to learn there are more than enough place to aquire knowledge. For too long Schools have been seen as being the font of knowledge when in actual fact their primary role should be to teach students how to aquire knowldege and just as importantly, how to use it.

This basic lack in the education system is what accounts for many peoples inability to digest mass media reports and in so doing arrive at a balanced view of the world around them. Most just regurgitate last nights headlines.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The Sparks Fly

Interesting how here in portugal, the football bigshots, go off in such a ridiculous fashion. The latest row is over the standard of refreeing in the first 4 rounds of the Super-Liga. With the three biggest clubs (Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting) exchanging insults I am left wondering why the hell these "Gentlemen" don't meet around a table, like was done until a couple of years ago. At the time meetings were held where all the clubs discussed the good of football. But no more! It's time for these "Gentlemen" to put aside their petty diffrences and get their act together!

Poor Medical Treatment Kills Thousands in U.S.,

"Poor Medical Treatment Kills Thousands in U.S., Says New Report on Health Care Quality

Requiring doctors and hospitals to report publicly on their performance and tying their pay to the results would dramatically reduce avoidable deaths and costs attributable to poor medical care, says a new report from an organization that works to improve health care quality. Wild variations in medical care led to 79,000 avoidable deaths and $1.8 billion in additional medical costs last year, the private National Committee for Quality Assurance said in its annual report released Wednesday."

The full story

And here we are Portugal bemoaning a imperfect National healthcare system. Makes you think!

Speech at New York University

"New York, NY - I am honored to be here at New York University --one of the great urban universities, not just in New York, but in the world. You haveset a high standard for global dialogue and I hope to live up to that tradition
today. This election is about choices. The most important choices a President makes are about protecting America… at home and around the world. A president’s first obligation is to make America safer, stronger and truer to our ideals."

The full speech

Welcome to San Francisco

"Nudists, grab your yoga mats and head for San Francisco.

City prosecutors on Wednesday said it was not illegal to perform naked yoga in the city — even at the crowded tourist destination of Fisherman’s Wharf. Prosecutors dropped charges against a limber nudist, known locally as the “Naked Yoga Guy,” who made a habit of striking yoga poses in the buff in order to promote a book and his lifestyle."

Read the Full Story

Peer to Peer for Cellphones

"File-sharing leaps from internet to cellphones

14:54 14 September 04

NewScientist.com news service

Music, videos and games could soon be swapped between cellphones using a mobile file-sharing network developed by phone maker Nokia."

Full Story

BAGÃO FELIX

Raras são as ocasiões que um político neste pais fala de uma forma simples. Geralmente, são conversas complicadíssimas e poucos são aqueles que entendem.

Ontem falou o nosso Ministro das Finanças, comparando as finanças de um país com as finanças das nossas famílias. Há quem o acuse de demagogia. Mas a verdade é que, as diferenças entre os dois são ao nível da complexidade. Obviamente que, o orçamento de um país é mais complicado do que, de uma família. Dito isso, o importante são as semelhanças.

Uma regra de ouro é: QUEM GASTA MAIS DO QUE GANHA, VAI À FALÊNÇIA.

Isto é verdade em casa, nas nossas empresas e para o Estado. Não há nenhuma entidade, que consiga durante anos a fio viver acima das suas possibilidades.

É importante também notar que, os portugueses geralmente não conseguem fazer a correlação entre o orçamento familiar e o orçamento de Estado. Acham que as coisas são totalmente diferentes e que o Estado consegue gastar mais do que recebe, indefinidamente. Neste momento, exemplos são muitos. Nos Estados Unidos há muitas empresas multinacionais de aviação à beira da rutura. Os seus orçamentos são, de certo modo, comparáveis aos dos pequenos Estados como Portugal.

Se o Estado cobra 100 mil milhões de Euros em impostos e gasta 150 mil milhões tem a necessidade de arranjar essa diferença noutro sítio. Há algumas opções:
1) Aumenta os impostos;
2) Recorre ao crédito;
3) Vende bens e património;
4) Vai a falência, e deixa de pagar os seus fornecedores. Uma situação que, em certa medida, já existe em Portugal (claro que, um Estado na prática nunca vai à falência, mas muitos países na África e noutros continentes estão na falência. Já não conseguem pagar as suas dívidas).

Visto dessa forma, equilibrar o orçamento é bastante importante, porque se não formos nós a pagar, vão ser os nossos filhos a pagar. Neste contexto, Bagão Félix esteve bem. Não anunciou medidas concretas, mas pelo menos falou para os portugueses duma forma que qualquer um que quer entender, entende.

Finally!

"Spain Says Last Oil Sucked Out of Prestige Tanker

MADRID (Reuters) - The last few tons of sticky toxic fuel oil have been sucked out of the wreck of the Prestige tanker, Spain said on Friday, almost two years after the ship went down in the country's worst environmental disaster.

The Prestige broke in half and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic after days struggling in high winds in November 2002, spewing thick oil over a once pristine coastline in the north-western region of Galicia.

"In recent days they have completed the extraction of fuel from the wreck," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told a news conference.
"We can say that 13,000 tons have been extracted," she said, adding the government had not yet decided what to do with the fuel.

Coming up with a plan to deal with the wreck took months, partly because it lay 3.8 km (2.4 miles) down on the seabed. Spain considered building a concrete tomb around the wreck but finally opted to suck out the 13,000 tons that remained. The other 64,000 tons have been painstakingly scooped out of the sea and cleaned off Galicia's rocky beaches.

Environmental groups complain it could take a decade for the eco-system to recover. De la Vega said scientists would continue to investigate and work on damage to algae and the seabed. "

From Yahoo News

Handing our enemies a propaganda victory

Quoted Alienlandscape

"No, I'm not speaking of our friends on the left - their opposition to our efforts is well known. I'm speaking of the Administration, which has confirmed its uncritical acceptance of one of bin Laden's main points about Americans.

At no time has the repeal of Selective Service been contemplated. At no time has the Administration made a serious attempt to increase the number of people permitted to serve in the all-volunteer military even to Reagan-era levels.

Despite the knowledge that a larger number of troops may be needed, and more likely than not will be needed, in the years ahead, no serious attempt has been made to recruit them or to change the law in order to authorize larger numbers of them to be recruited.Nearly everyone who discusses a significantly more agressive warfighting strategy states, in terms that imply that it is self-evident, that a draft would be needed to carry it out.All of this sends the message, more loudly and clearly than bin Laden ever could, that bin Laden was right about Americans. These people are broadcasting, for all the world to hear, that they do not believe that large numbers of Americans will fight for this country except under compulsion. This is exactly the belief that encouraged bin Laden, helped him attract followers, and convinced them that they could bury thousands of our civilians under tons of rubble on our own soil with impunity. This is the belief that even now convinces the nutcases running Iran that they can send thugs to Iraq to destroy what we build and murder the builders without fearing for their own regime, and convinces them that they can safely work on nuclear weapons and not even keep it a very well-guarded secret without interference from us.We are making great strides against the enemies of civilization, but our own leaders are contributing to their morale.

This must end. Our friends on the left, such as Charlie Rangel, assert that the draft would be a good way to limit our action, prevent aggressive strategies from taking place, and cause the Administration to be restrained in its military action. Let us take them at their word, remove from everyone's mind any hint of possibility that the draft will be reimposed under any circumstances, and repeal the Selective Service Act without delay."

Interesting Read From Chicagoboyz

"Incidentally, I called Beslan an "atrocity" advisedly. I am sick of mass-murders being called tragedies. Tragedies just happen, they are inevitable, in the hands of the Gods. This type of made-for-TV murder is not tragic it is squalid, vile, and is a decision for evil, not inevitable, a decision requiring a response, not resignation."

The Full Post

Não sabia

"The Serbian government has reversed an order to ban Charles Darwin's theory of evolution from schools, following widespread criticism from scientists."
The full story.

Manuel Monteiro, O Grande Lider?

Salvando a democracia com a Nova Democracia.

"Se queremos salvar a Democracia temos de implantar a 4ª República, escrever e aprovar uma Nova Constituição, mudar o sistema de poderes e alterar a orgânica das instituições de segurança e de justiça. Nunca como agora foi tão urgente um golpe no Estado, um golpe que restitua vida e credibilidade à Democracia Representativa, um golpe que devolva o poder ao povo e aos órgãos de soberania eleitos. Trata – se afinal de defender uma Revolução Pacífica, feita através de uma Assembleia Constituinte que, legitimada pela vontade popular, abra caminho a um Novo Estado, exigência cada vez maior da Nação! Esta Revolução é um imperativo para todos os Patriotas e uma necessidade para todos os Democratas. Enquanto é tempo!"

Sinceramente, não tenho paciência para este marginalizado!

Uma ideia final: Temos deputados a mais e trabalhadores a menos.

Virtual Humans

TELLURIDE, COLORADO -- Better make room for an extra crewmember aboard any spaceship heading outward. This person wont require food, oxygen or water, nor even need to buckle up for safety. The tag-along traveler could, however, be a lifesaver in terms of getting the expedition to and from a celestial destination.

The Full Story

Bush, the Great Commander in Chief?

BOSTON, United States (AFP) - Fresh questions were raised over George W. Bush's national guard service during the Vietnam War, with The Boston Globe reporting the president had fallen "well short" of meeting his military obligations.
For the rest of the story


WASHINGTON - Addressing questions that have lingered for years, newly unearthed memos state that George W. Bush failed to meet standards of the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war, that he refused a direct order and that his superiors were in a state of turmoil over how to evaluate his performance after he was suspended from flying.
For the rest of the story

And this is the guy that leads the States to War?

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/BushGuardmay4.pdf

And from Boston.com

THE DAY AFTER

After so much said, there's a easy solution to all this. Distributing morning after pills to all the portuguese women would sort that out. If someone still ended up having an abortion, she should go to jail for sheer stupidity...

Abortion Again

"Ninguém Aborta Por Prazer -Nenhuma mulher aborta por prazer (deporto, gosto, etc.). Se ela decide abortar é porque não vê alternativa e quem somos nós para julgar a sua situação particular?"
That's the illusion created. actually there are two types of woman, the one that aborts because she has "no choice"(financially,emotionally, etc.) and the one that has an abortion because she wants to, because she doesn't want the hassle of having a kid, doesn't want the change of lifestyle, wants to pursue her career etc. Then possibly a third kind who is cajoled into it by doctors out to make a quick buck.

"A Questão de Consciência - O aborto é uma questão de consciência»."
Obviously, so too is murder, theft, fraud, prostitution and many others.

"Despenalização - Não se quer legalizar nem liberalizar o aborto: quer-se despenalizar.»"
Nope, I should think that changing the punishment is better (community service in orphanages comes to mind). Also depends on her motives for aborting and therefore she should be tried in court to see if she really had alternatives or not.

"Discriminação dos Pobres -Proibir o aborto é uma discriminação das mulheres pobres.As ricas podem ir ao estrangeiro, ou a clínicas privadas, fazer o aborto com toda a segurança. As pobres sujeitam-se a sórdidos vãos de escada». "
Illogical...Does not compute...Should use the same reason for not having a big house, not having a big car, not going on holiday... Capitalism always discriminates against the poor. ´For example you can't get a decent operation at a hospital here, but if you have money, you cross the seas to the States and your worries are over. Also no-one is forced to abort in the backstreets.

"Os Homens Não Podem Falar - O aborto é uma questão que só diz respeito às mulheres. Não deveria ser discutida nem decidida por homens»."
Another one, the guy is needed to have kids but then is chucked out when it suits the ladies. When there is child support to pay, the guy is suddenly important and has to shoulder his responsibility. It is or isn't.

"Liberdade de Escolha - A mulher deve ter a possibilidade de escolher o que lhe parece melhor. Numa sociedade democrática as pessoas são livres. Eu não sou a favor do aborto: sou a favor da liberdade de escolha.»"
This one cracks me up. Freedom of choice, no limits, no boundaries is chaos. Because in that case I have the freedom to choose to murder someone, the freedom to choose not to pay my taxes, the freedom to choose to follow a woman every day( harrasing her in everyway), or do I?

"Impor a Moralidade - Proibir o aborto é legislar moralidade. Pessoalmente sou contra o aborto, mas não posso impor as minhas convicções morais aos outros».
No its upholding a basic human right, THE BASIC HUMAN RIGHT - THE RIGHT TO LIFE.

Mulher e Médico - O aborto é um assunto da mulher e do seu médico» Ninguém é Obrigado a Abortar -A legalização do aborto não obriga ninguém a abortar. Quem entende que as suas convicções não lhe permitem abortar, não aborte».
This is like saying that murder is between a murderer and his priest. No one is forced to murder. Those who believe they should not murder because of their convictions, don't murder.

As Cadeias São Pequenas - Não há possibilidade de prender todas as mulheres (sejam 18000, 20000, etc.) que abortam ilegalmente. Por isso, na prática, o aborto já está legalizado mas sem condições, sem regras, sem controle.»- E nos casos em que o bebé é deficiente ou a mãe é demasiado pobre para o sustentar?»
You don't have to send a woman who has aborted to jail, just give her something useful to do(community service).

Outros Países - Portugal deve juntar-se aos países mais avançados do mundo, aproximando a sua legislação das leis em vigor no estrangeiro.»
Just because others have it doesn't mean its right. Rome was extremely advanced for its time but every week thousands died in the arenas, in all four corners of the empire.History is full of similar examples.

Por Razões de Segurança - Um aborto precoce não tem os riscos do aborto tardio e, assim, a lei, ao permitir o aborto até ás dez semanas, está a promover os abortos precoces que por razões de segurança devem ser sempre preferidos.
Allowing people to murder sooner rather than later doesn't make sense, at least not to me. Ithink we should be spending our time and effort getting goverments to create the conditions necessary for women to have their kids without needing to resort to abortion.

Criminalizar - «Parece-lhe que a mulher que aborta deve ir para a cadeia? Ser presa junto com as criminosas? Ser considerada uma criminosa
You don't have to send a woman who has aborted to jail, just give her something useful to do(community service).

Um modelo Politico e de Estado

1) Não há assembleia de república (Pessoalmente eu acho que os deputados são dinheiro mal investido. Não trazem nenhuma mais valia). Eleições quatro em quatro anos para eleger um governo. Durante dos quatro anos o governo retém os poderes executivas e legislativas (Funcionando como um governo que tem maioria absoluta).

2) O cargo de presidente da república é extinto com o Tribunal Constitucional. Assume funções de fiscalização da legalidade das leis promovidas pelo governo e é o presidente do mesmo a promulgar as leis. Continuam a assegurar a protecção da constituição. O TC poderá agir sem ser consultado.

Eleição do Tribunal constitucional é feita pelos magistrados e advogados.
Justiça totalmente independente incluindo um imposto próprio cobrado pela direcção nacional de impostos
(O Imposto da Justiça – IJ).

3) Constituição só pode ser alterado em referendo com maioria de 2/3.

4) Eleições:

Dois tipos - Eleições Nacionais: para eleger governo da nação
- Eleições Distritais: Para eleger governo do distrito.

Presidentes das câmaras municipais são eleitos pelo governo do distrito e formam a sua equipa.

5) Funções do Governo Nacional
· Defesa
· Negócios estrangeiros
· Administração Interna
· Fiscal
· Obras Nacionais (aquelas obras que ultrapassam limites dos distritos, linhas ferias, alta-estradas, etc.)

Funções do Governo do Distrito
· As funções restantes são tratadas regionalmente

Aborto Clandestino.

Não podemos utilizar o facto de as mães recorrerem ao aborto clandestino, como razão para legalizar o aborto. Seguindo esse raciocínio, seria necessário legalizar todos os crimes praticados clandestinamente.

Por exemplo: vamos legalizar o roubo porque é praticado clandestinamente. Mais vale o roubo em público, que pode ser controlado e fiscalizado. Desta forma, o ladrão, também, passaria a pagar impostos (O que seria bom para o país). Também podiam ser estipuladas quotas (do género das quotas de pesca) e uma taxa sobre os lucros do ladrão para financiar projectos de apoio aos desfavorecidos que foram vítimas de roubo.

É muito lógico, não é?

Freedom of Speech

Dr. Rebecca Gomperts (Abortion Doctor) of the "Woman on Waves" defends the freedom of speech. Paraphrasing her, we have the right to say what we want when we want.

Beautiful World that would be. It would mean that I could walk up to her in public and call her a f&#$ing whore, slut, bitch and whatever other word came to mind.

It would mean me being able to phone her up in the middle of the night threatening her and her family because obviously that is freedom of speech

Or is it? Obviously Not

Weapons of Minimum Destruction

Weapons of Minimum Destruction
An American terror expert has a radical theory as to why nobody is using chemical and biological weapons: they aren't much use for killing masses of people.by Brendan O'Neillin (spiked-politics)

And now I´ve seen it all...

How would you like to vote in the american elections. No, you don´t have to be a US citizen. Just follow the link.

http://www.theworldvotes.org/

"In November 2004, U.S. citizens will elect their new President. The outcome of this election directly influences the life of citizens around the world.
Theworldvotes.org gives people all around the world a voice in the forthcoming U.S. Presidential Election.
Ensure that your voice is heard by casting your vote electronically and add momentum to a worldwide drive to establish global democracy."

Whats next, voting in the Iranian election, French election, Indonesian election or how about the Zimbabwean election ( I´m sure Robert Mugabe is waiting for your vote)

Baby at 12 weeks

Have a look at these fotos taken using a 3D ultrasound technique.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3846525.stm