Have I Got a Lieberman for you!

 

 

by Steve Brodner

 

Thinking about Avigdor Lieberman, the new hate-foaming Israeli foreign minister. Yes, FOREIGN MINISTER. I was wondering whom he reminded me of. Then I realized it's BILLY MAYS the ubiquitous TV pitchman, who advertises KaBoom! among other things. They look alike and, who knows they may be related. Or alter-egos. In any case this alternative universe where you can find a grotesque version of something recognizable is very interesting to me. Like Bizarro-world. What if we all had a crazier, weirder version ourselves currently living in Israel? Interesting graphic novel.

This Lieberman has opposed the Anapolis peace process, threatened Israeli Arabs with deportation unless they sign loyalty oaths and lots more. I guess they should be grateful if they are only to be deported.

This from Christopher Schult in Der Spiegle:

"His words have the force of cluster bombs. He spares no one. He once proposed executing Arab members of the Knesset with ties to Hamas or Hezbollah as "Nazi collaborators." Later he suggested that Israel should proceed in the Gaza Strip the way Russia did in Chechnya -- without consideration for losses or civilians. This remark gained him a reputation as a virulent racist.

"If Lieberman had his way, perhaps Tehran would have been obliterated as a punishment for Iran's refusal to shut down its nuclear program. Years ago he threatened Egypt -- Israel's key ally in the Arab world -- with the bombardment of the Aswan Dam unless the regime withdrew support for then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He also had one of his typical remarks at the ready for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. It was about time the president paid a visit to Jerusalem, Lieberman said, "and if he doesn't want to come, he can go to hell."

 

http://www.drawger.com/stevebrodner/

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Google's Love For Newspapers & How Little They Appreciate It

 

By Danny Sullivan

It was a hostile audience. It was June 2007, at a conference center in London, where newspaper and magazine publishers were hearing how a new industry-backed search engine rights standard called ACAP was coming along. The day ended with an "issues" oriented panel. The audience didn't seem that pleased with me telling them they were full of shit about how important they thought they were and how awful they thought they had it from Google in particular.

I didn't phrase it like that, but that was the essence of my attitude. I'd rarely encountered so many people in one place with such a sense of entitlement. Worse, these were supposedly my own people. Newspaper folks, where I got my start in journalism. What an embarrassment.

I'm not talking the rank-and-file of newspapers, however -- the reporters and editors doing the grunt work. This crowd was full of publishers or editors of a different type, not wordsmithing and story assignment but looking out for the business issues.

ACAP -- the Automated Content Access Protocol -- was a convoluted system being developed at the time to "solve" the problems that newspapers and some other publishers felt they had with search engines. In particular, that they felt they should be able to selectively decide which pictures could be printed, how long stories could be listed and a number of other things all of which largely already could be controlled through existing systems (my past post, Search Engines, Permissions & Moving Forward In Copyright Battles, goes into this in more depth).

ACAP's real goal, of course, was to establish a way that newspapers could demand Googlegeld, their own version of Danegeld, a tribute tax they felt entitled to get just for being listed in Google. The panel started with a progress report on how ACAP was going, with the audience then asking the panel questions or simply making statements.

Over and over, people kept using the phrase "quality publishers" and how they hoped ACAP would protect these publishers and how "many" publishers were behind it.

I'd had enough. I can't recall my exact spiel, but it went something like this. I explained to that group that ACAP was far from backed by most publishers. That on the internet, there were millions of publishers, while the newspaper groups backing ACAP mounted to a few hundred, if that. That these millions of publishers have a diverse set of concerns about search engines that ACAP was far from addressing, since it was so newspaper-centric. That an online shopping site is also a publisher, as is a small blog, as is a social media site, as is a vertical news site -- and none of these groups had been invited to participate in the hallowed discussion of a supposed new robots.txt 2.0 system.

I also explained that unlike virtually all other publishers on the internet, newspapers were given extraordinary special status with Google. They were among the very select few to be admitted into Google News and receive the huge amounts of traffic it could send their ways. That many small blogs with excellent content struggle for admittance that these other publishers just got handed to them on a silver platter.

I then got very personal. I explained that I was also a journalist, publishing what I considered to be quality content as well. Indeed, I've published content on my topic (search engines) that I know has been of far superior quality than that published by many supposedly "quality" publications. So for them to argue they were somehow "quality publications" deserving special treatment was arrogant not to mention simply incorrect.

And now I'm hearing the same old crap again, and I'm feeling the same way I did back then. Some samples in the past few days. First from Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal:

Meantime Thomson said it was "amusing" to read media blogs and comment sites, all of which traded on other people's information.

"They are basically editorial echo chambers rather than centres of creation, and the cynicism they have about so-called traditional media is only matched by their opportunism in exploiting the quality of traditional media," he said.

Robert, I've been creating original content on the internet for about 12 years longer than you've been editor of the WSJ. Shut up. Seriously, shut up. To say something like that simply indicates you really do not understand that all blogs are not echo chambers.

http://daggle.com/090406-225638.html

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New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ

by Glenn Greenwald

When Congress immunized telecoms last August for their illegal participation in Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, Senate Democratic apologists for telecom immunity repeatedly justified that action by pointing out that Bush officials who broke the law were not immunized -- only the telecoms.  Here, for instance, is how Sen. Jay Rockefeller justified telecom immunity in a Washington Post Op-Ed:

Second, lawsuits against the government can go forward. There is little doubt that the government was operating in, at best, a legal gray area. If administration officials abused their power or improperly violated the privacy of innocent people, they must be held accountable. That is exactly why we rejected the White House's year-long push for blanket immunity covering government officials.

Taking them at their word, EFF -- which was the lead counsel in the lawsuits against the telecoms -- thereafter filed suit, in October, 2008, against the Bush administration and various Bush officials for illegally spying on the communications of Americans.  They were seeking to make good on the promise made by Congressional Democrats:  namely, that even though lawsuits against telecoms for illegal spying will not be allowed any longer, government officials who broke the law can still be held accountable.

But late Friday afternoon, the Obama DOJ filed the government's first response to EFF's lawsuit (.pdf), the first of its kind to seek damages against government officials under FISA, the Wiretap Act and other statutes, arising out of Bush's NSA program.  But the Obama DOJ demanded dismissal of the entire lawsuit based on (1) its Bush-mimicking claim that the "state secrets" privilege bars any lawsuits against the Bush administration for illegal spying, and (2) a brand new "sovereign immunity" claim of breathtaking scope -- never before advanced even by the Bush administration -- that the Patriot Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is "willful disclosure" of the illegally intercepted communications.  

In other words, beyond even the outrageously broad "state secrets" privilege invented by the Bush administration and now embraced fully by the Obama administration, the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they "willfully disclose" to the public what they have learned.

There are several notable aspects to what happened here with this new court filing from Obama:

(1) Unlike in the prior cases where the Obama DOJ embraced the Bush theory of state secrets -- in which the Obama DOJ was simply maintaining already-asserted arguments in those lawsuits by the Bush DOJ -- the motion filed on Friday was the first response of any kind to this lawsuit by the Government.  Indeed, EFF filed the lawsuit in October but purposely agreed with Bush lawyers to an extension of the time to respond until April, in the hope that by making this Obama's case, and giving his DOJ officials months to consider what to do when first responding, they would receive a different response than the one they would have gotten from the Bush DOJ.  

That didn't happen.  This brief and this case are exclusively the Obama DOJ's, and the ample time that elapsed -- almost three full months -- makes clear that it was fully considered by Obama officials.  Yet they responded exactly as the Bush DOJ would have. This demonstrates that the Obama DOJ plans to invoke the exact radical doctrines of executive secrecy which Bush used -- not only when the Obama DOJ is taking over a case from the Bush DOJ, but even when they are deciding what response should be made in the first instance.  Everything for which Bush critics excoriated the Bush DOJ -- using an absurdly broad rendition of "state secrets" to block entire lawsuits from proceeding even where they allege radical lawbreaking by the President and inventing new claims of absolute legal immunity -- are now things the Obama DOJ has left no doubt it intends to embrace itself.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/06/obama/index.html

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Video reveals G20 police assault on man who died

Exclusive footage obtained by the Guardian shows Ian Tomlinson, who died during G20 protests in London, was attacked from behind by baton–wielding police officer

The Guardian obtained this footage of Ian Tomlinson at a G20 protest in London, shortly before he died. It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police Link to this video

Dramatic footage obtained by the Guardian shows that the man who died at last week's G20 protests in London was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a baton–wielding police officer in riot gear.

Moments after the assault on Ian Tomlinson was captured on video, he suffered a heart attack and died.

The Guardian has handed a dossier of evidence to the police complaints watchdog.

It sheds new light on the events surrounding the death of the 47-year-old newspaper seller, who had been on his way home from work when he was confronted by lines of riot police near the Bank of England.

The submission to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) includes a collection of testimonies from witnesses, along with the video footage, shot at around 7.20pm, which shows Tomlinson at Royal Exchange Passage.

The film reveals that as he walks, with his hands in his pockets, he does not speak to the police or offer any resistance.

A phalanx of officers, some with dogs and some in riot gear, are close behind him and try to urge him forward.

A Metropolitan police officer appears to strike him with a baton, hitting him from behind on his upper thigh.

Moments later, the same policeman rushes forward and, using both hands, pushes Tomlinson in the back and sends him flying to the ground, where he remonstrates with police who stand back, leaving bystanders to help him to his feet.

The man who shot the footage, a fund manager from New York who was in London on business, said: "The primary reason for me coming forward is that it was clear the family were not getting any answers."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault

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The Most Dangerous Person in the World?

By JOHN GOEKLER

A significant majority of Americans, polls repeatedly tell us, list terrorism as one of their greatest fears. Like most of our media-inspired interests and worries, however, this one has little basis in reality.

In actual fact, unless you're serving in a war zone, the most dangerous person you're ever likely to encounter – by several orders of magnitude – is the one you see in the mirror every morning.

Not some shadowy arms dealer peddling second hand nukes. Not some dusky Jihadi with a song on his lips and a suicide belt around his middle. Not some mad scientist, bribed by the forces of evil to cook up a bio-bug capable of ending life as we know it.

Here are the hard facts.

The single greatest killer of Americans is the so-called "lifestyle disease". Somewhere between half a million and a million of us get a short ride in a long hearse every year because of smoking, lousy diets, parking our bodies in front of the TV instead of operating them, and downing yet another six pack and / or tequila popper.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, between 310,000 and 580,000 of us will commit suicide by cigarette this year. Another 260,000 to 470,000 will go in the ground due to poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. And some 85,000 of us will drink to our own departure.

After the person in the mirror, the next most dangerous individual we're ever likely to encounter is one in a white coat. Something like 200,000 of us will experience "cessation of life" due to medical errors – botched procedures, mis-prescribed drugs and "nosocomial infections". (The really nasty ones you get from treatment in a hospital or healthcare service unit.)

The next most dangerous encounter the average American is likely to have is with a co-worker with an infection. Or a doorknob, stair railing or restaurant utensil touched by someone with the crud. "Microbial Agents" (read bugs like flu and pneumonia) will send 75,000 of us to meet the Reaper this year.

If we live through those social encounters, the next greatest danger is "Toxic Agents" – asbestos in our ceiling, lead in our pipes, the stuff we spray on our lawns or pour down our clogged drains. Annual body count from these handy consumer products is around 55,000.

After that, the most dangerous person in our lives is the one behind the wheel. About 42,000 of us will cash our chips in our rides this year. More than half will do so because we didn't wear a seat belt. (Lest it wrinkle our suit.)

Some 31,000 of us will commit suicide by intention this year. (As opposed to not fastening our seat belts or smoking, by which we didn't really mean to kill ourselves.)

About 30,000 of us will die due to our sexual behaviors, through which we'll contract AIDS or Hepatitis C. Another 20,000 of us will pop off due to illicit drug use.

The next scariest person in our lives is someone we know who's having a really bad day. Over 16,000 Americans will be murdered this year, most often by a relative or friend.

After that, it's an overdose on "non-steroidal anti-inflammatories", acetaminophen or aspirin. About 7,600 hundred a year, perhaps due to the aftermath of those tequila poppers.

Next most dangerous thing is going to work. About 5,500 of us will buy the farm due to "occupational trauma".

If that's scary enough to skip work, we might want to skip lunch, too. Next most dangerous thing is the food we eat. About 5,200 of us will hurl our lives away due to "foodborne agents".

Another 4,000 of us will drown. A significant percentage will be fishermen found floating with a high blood alcohol content and an unzipped fly.

As the data clearly shows, the things that genuinely threaten us are the ones we are most likely to ignore or simply accept. (We're statistically far more likely to be killed by a lightning strike than by an action of Al Qaeda, for example.) The ones that we're scared witless of – and spend trillions of increasingly scarce dollars to avert in our boundless paranoia – are less likely to harm us than a bag of peanuts. (Deaths in America due to peanut allergies average 50 – 100 per year.)

Deaths of Americans due to terrorist activities, according to the US State Department, have averaged less than 15 per year since 2002.

http://www.counterpunch.org/goekler03242009.html

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Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies

By SIOBHAN GORMAN

Robert Moran monitors an electric grid in Dallas. Such infrastructure grids across the country are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

"The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians."

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year."

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on."

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html

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The Pursuasive Mr. Cheney

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Shocking True Tales of Health Care in America

 

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Our foreign rivals don't face these health care costs

By Richard Parker

You've heard the naysayers complaining that President Barack Obama's $634 billion down payment on health care reform costs too much. We're in a global economic crisis, they say. How can we afford it?

But, having opposed reform for years, in good times and bad, their argument for leaving our health care system broken doesn't compute. By looking at costs but not benefits, they pretend not to know what the advantage of health care reform really is -- and why it's a major benefit to us all.

Think of it this way. You wouldn't balance your checkbook by counting the checks you've written, then ignoring the deposits you've made. That's exactly what many opponents of the Obama plan do, even though they know good health care is intrinsically linked to the health of our economy. 

Take housing. Recent surveys of homeowners in foreclosure showed that 25 percent to 50 percent fell behind on their payments because of a medical crisis. That means at least 1.5 million households are at risk of losing their homes each year to the high costs of medical care.

What's astonishing is that most of the people who fell behind had insurance, but not enough to cover the full costs of their medical treatment. A medical crisis isn't something one can put off. If you or a loved one breaks a leg, you go to the hospital.

Health care also affects wages. Take-home pay for most Americans hasn't risen for nearly a decade. Even if you were lucky enough to get a raise, the rising cost of insurance premiums almost always outpaced the additional income.

Health care costs have been rising 6 percent each year. Families now spend on average nearly $13,000 per year for their insurance. As reported in Americans for Democratic Action's "Unhealthy Handouts for Health Care," this staggering increase in cost hurts businesses as well as families.

The majority of Americans get insurance through their job. But now, fewer businesses can afford the benefit, so they're canceling it or passing the cost on to their employees. We can't compete internationally with other businesses when their governments offer publicly funded health care, which only the United States, among the world's industrialized nations, doesn't have.

Put that one simple fact in the context of today's news: The Big Three automakers could save $1,000 or more in overhead costs on every car they build just by moving their plants across the border from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, because the Canadian government has a national health service that covers every citizen. We need to level the playing field now or face further job losses as businesses outsource in order to survive.

http://www.modbee.com/opinion/national/story/655548.html

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It is feared bird flu could become more frightening

 

by M. Azis Tunny

There is a need to raise awareness of bird flu because of a real threat: It could turn into something much more frightening than the H5N1 virus.

The frightening thing would be if the virus caused a pandemic if  and when it became able to spread among humans, Coordinator of Surveillance and Monitoring at the National Commission on Bird Flu Control and Awareness on Influenza Pandemic (Komnas FBPI) Heru Setijanto said Friday.

Setijanto said Indonesia was currently ranked highest in the world in the number of deaths from bird flu, and was unprepared as to how to deal with a pandemic.  

"The incubation period of the virus is very fast and deadly when contracted by humans. We are
not ready to face a pandemic if the situation arises," Setijanto told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a national seminar on a Bird Flu Pandemic Response Simulation in Toraja, South Sulawesi.  

He said Indonesia was ill-equipped to face the bird flu pandemic because training was only provided so far to personnel at government ministries and agencies.

"When it turns into a pandemic, it becomes a multi-sector problem and would involve every sector. We are unprepared as of now, especially for other sectors to [cope with] the epidemic," he said.

According to Setijanto, the bird flu virus will always mutate and this is a cause for grave concern.
When contracted by humans, the incubation period of the H5N1 virus could cause death rapidly, in as little as  five days.

Indonesia so far remains on top of the world chart with the highest number of deaths from H5N1.

Data at the Health Ministry showed 121 of the 145 patients diagnosed as infected with the virus had died, a very high fatality rate.

He added a bird flu pandemic could claim many lives and that 30 percent of the world's population could be at risk.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/04/04/it-feared-bird-flu-could-become-more-frightening.html

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Nathan Wolfe, "Hunting for the Next Killer Virus"

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Illinois doctor offers free treatment in recession

 

One west-central Illinois doctor says he has no intention of cutting off care to his patients, even if economic woes mean they have to stop paying him.

In a small ad posted in the Greene County Shopper in March 2009, Dr. Gary L. Turpin offered this notice:

"For the duration of this calendar year, I will treat, free of charge, my regular patients who have lost their jobs or health insurance due to the current recession."

Turpin, 71, said he considered the ad the best way to get the word to every patient.

"I didn't see it as selfless, but just my way to do my part during this economic crisis," Turpin said. "My patients have been very good to me, and I wanted a way to be good to them. It's nothing new to me to take care of my patients."

Turpin said he treats between 30 and 60 patients a day at his practice, which includes one nurse and three secretaries. He said he decided to make offer free care after watching President Barack Obama give a speech asking Americans to do what they could to help each other during the recession.

The doctor doesn't want patients to skipping out on treatment over concerns about mounting medical bills.

"So, my sincere hope is that none of my patients will need to take advantage of my offer," Turpin said. "But I am here if they do."

http://www.journalstandard.com/state_news/x1331537248/Illinois-doctor-offers-free-treatment-in-recession

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Bring back banking regulations!

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New Exoskeleton Gives Soldiers Super Strength

The Incredible HULC
This illustration shows the Lockheed Martin-developed HULC exoskeleton, which could supplement human strength enough to let a soldier carry a 200-pound load while running at 10 mph.

by Eric Bland

April 6, 2009 -- Stronger, faster and harder is the promise of a new exoskeleton developed by Lockheed Martin for U.S. soldiers. Dubbed the Human Universal Load Carrier, or HULC, the device helps a soldier carry up to 200 pounds at a top speed of 10 mph.

"The soldier has the feeling of maybe an extra five to 10 pounds," said Doug Medcalf, Business Development Manager at Lockheed Martin. Today some soldiers are carrying loads of up to 130 pounds into combat.

Unlike most exoskeletons built to boost human ability, the HULC, which Medcalf says does not owe its name to the popular green comic book character, isn't limited to the length of its power cable.

The titanium HULC instead runs on a four lithium ion batteries nestled into the small of a soldier's back. Eight batteries can power the HULC on missions up to 96 hours.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/06/hulc-exoskeleton.html

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Study: 'highly engineered explosive' found in WTC rubble

by Stephen C. Webster

A team of scientists claim to have unearthed startling data from dust and debris gathered in the days and weeks after the World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.

In a study published by the Open Chemical Physics Journal -- a peer-reviewed, scientific publication -- Steven E. Jones and Niels Harrit level a stark allegation: that within the dust and rubble of the World Trade Center towers lays evidence of "a highly engineered explosive," contrary to all federal studies of the collapses.

"We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center," reads the paper's abstract. "One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)."

They claim their analysis has uncovered "active thermitic material": a combination of elemental aluminum and iron oxide in a form of thermite known as "nanostructured super-thermite."

Thermite, used in steel welding, fireworks shows, hand grenades and demolition, can produce a chemical reaction known for extremely high temperatures focused in a very small area for a short period of time.

According to the Navy's Small Business Innovation Research, super-thermite "is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services."

"This finding really goes beyond anything that has previously been shown," said Jones in a media advisory. "We had to use sophisticated tools to analyze the dust because this isn't just a typical explosive, RDX or CD4 or something -- this is a highly engineered material not readily available to just anyone."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Scientists_find_active_superthermite_in_WTC_0404.html

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Congo: Condition Critical

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Second alliance of civilizations forum begins in Istanbul

 

The Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations began in Istanbul's Ciragan Palace yesterday with the attendance of heads of state and government and other top officials from 81 countries, high-level representatives of international organizations, religious leaders, scholars and many guests. Speaking at the opening of the forum, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who shares the alliance's co-chairmanship with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said the initiative is a rejoinder to those who argue a clash of civilizations is inevitable. Stating that Turkey and Spain began the initiative in the belief that dialogue is possible, Erdogan said, "We sincerely believe that the Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples, and the East and the West, can understand and tolerate each other. Prejudices in a globalizing world can only be dangerous." Erdogan said that intolerance causes conflicts and separation, adding that it is necessary to enhance tolerance and strengthen dialogue, understanding and solidarity. Stressing that terrorism is an international problem, Erdogan said, "Those who see terror as other nations' problem may suffer from terror themselves. Thus, starting today, it is necessary to build a strong culture of solidarity." He said the Alliance of Civilizations, which became a UN initiative in 2005, is now creating concrete solutions and projects to improve dialogue and cooperation among different civilizations from all over the world. Erdogan concluded his speech by quoting famous Turkish mystic poet Mevlana Rumi: "Come, come whatever you are, it doesn't matter. Come, our convent is not a place of despair. Come, even if you violated your oath a hundred times, come again."

http://www.dunyagazetesi.com.tr/haber.asp?id=43350&cDate=

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Peshawar's black market for stolen military goods

Vulnerable supply lines put US mission at risk

Six weeks after GlobalPost broke the story of stolen US military computers and hardware, the black market still thrives.

By Shahan Mufti

 

ISLAMABAD — As President Obama sets in motion a new strategic initiative in Afghanistan and Pakistan,  supply lines remain vulnerable to attack and a black market is still thriving in stolen military hardware and computers.

As the U.S. begins a surge of 21,000 troops and military advisers in Afghanistan over the summer, the threat to supply lines and the stolen equipment could compromise the mission, military analysts say.

More than six weeks after GlobalPost broke the news of American military hardware and software being sold openly in markets in Pakistan's northwest, the trade of American goods robbed from supply trucks and smuggled in from Afghanistan is still going on.

U.S. military officials in Pakistan would not comment on GlobalPost's special report titled "In The Wrong Hands," even as attacks on convoys are on the rise. 

The problem the U.S. confronts in keeping supply lines open is critical as the U.S. steps up its mission. More troops will need more uniforms, Kevlar vests, boots, canned food, sleeping bags, night vision equipment, and computers — a melange of supplies that enables the military to wage war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the hostile "Af-Pak" terrain.

But just as the demand for war materials is set to surge, the supply of vital equipment to American soldiers remains imperiled in its route through Pakistan and there are few signs of improvement.

Earlier in March another eight trucks laden with NATO supplies were torched outside Peshawar, the largest city in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. Another dozen were damaged when militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked a truck terminal.

Since 2007, several hundred NATO supply trucks have been torched and looted in similar attacks.

Noor Muhammad a trader in Sitara Market, a hub for stolen American military equipment where GlobalPost purchased a U.S. military issue laptop for $650 last month, says business is still good.

"We feel no threat from law enforcement," he says. "These are smuggled goods, but
we are just meeting people's demands."

The day after GlobalPost's story last month the U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report that revealed that American forces had lost track of more than 87,000 weapons supplied to Afghan security forces between 2004 and 2008.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/pakistan/090330/vulnerable-supply-lines-put-us-mission-at-risk?page=0,0

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Baracklava

Nadir Gullu, chef and baklava master of Karakoy Gulluoglu, shows off his portrait of President Obama made of baklava, also known as the Baracklava.

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Save the planet: Get rid of your cat

Evidence is mounting that having a cat isn't very green: Along with humans, they are having a devastating impact on birds and marine life.

By Knute Berger

We're willing to tax plastic bags to save the planet, but are we willing to give up our pets? There's increasing evidence that our love of cats and dogs is having an adverse impact on the earth. Sure, pet owners experience joy and even the release of endorphins when they cuddle with Fluffy, but benign Fluffy is not.

A new report on the state of bird populations in the United States paints a grim picturefor the future diversity of bird species. The State of Birds survey indicates that fully one third of U.S. species are in decline. There are many pressures, most of them human, including habitat destruction. But the second biggest reason for the decline of birds: non-native species predation, which includes invasive critters, domestic animals, and house pets. Among pets, cats are the major threat. There are an estimated 77 million pet cats (pdf) in the U.S. (that doesn't count feral or stray populations which could more than double that number). Numbers vary but experts believe pet cats kill millions of birds in this country each year.

Urban cats are part of the problem in part because habitat fragmentation turns your yard from part of the larger wild system into an ecological island. Visiting birds are more isolated and vulnerable and can be more easily picked off by hunting cats who have the place staked out. Islands are particularly rough on stressed species: The place native birds are doing the worst is Hawaii. Another problem: despite best intentions, keeping cats indoors is problematic. since only about a third (35%) of pet cats are kept exclusively indoors, according to the American Bird Conservancy. Well-fed cats hunt. Cats with bells on their necks are successful predators too.

Then there's the problem of cat food. The New York had a recent column on the earth-devastating, or more accurately, sea-devastating, impact of cat food. In an op/ed, author Paul Greenberg, writes about the problem with his cat:

Coco, like most American cats, ate fish. And a great deal of them — more in a year than the average African human, according to Jason Clay at the World Wildlife Fund. And unlike the chicken or beef Coco also gobbled up, all those fish were wild animals, scooped out of the sea and flown thousands of carbon-belching miles to reach his little blue bowl....

The pet food industry now uses about 10 percent of the global supply of forage fish. The swine industry consumes 24 percent of fish meal and oil — fish oil being considered the best way to wean piglets. Poultry meanwhile takes as much as 22 percent, which means that even when Coco ate chicken, indirectly he was still eating fish.

The bottom line is that wild fish runs, on which whales, seals, orcas and other species depend, is being radically depleted worldwide, and much of the catch winds up in your cat's bowl.

http://crosscut.com/2009/04/02/mossback/18925/

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