by David Steven | Feb 7, 2009 | Influence and networks, North America
“A congressional trip to Iraq this weekend was supposed to be a secret,” reports Congressional Quarterly. “But the cat’s out of the bag now, thanks to a member of the House Intelligence Committee who broke an embargo via Twitter.”
The leak came from Peter Hoekstra, “a former chairman of the Intelligence panel and now the ranking member, who is routinely entrusted to keep some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets.”
Best twitter reaction: “Me in Baghdad. That’s Rep. Hoekstraover my shoulder, head-down cause he’s tweeting our location.”
by David Steven | Feb 6, 2009 | Economics and development, North America
You have to admire his chutzpah, but former Global Dashboard Hack of the Year, Grover Norquist has concluded (okay, okay – is pretending he believes) that the financial crash was caused by the US’s Democrats:
The economy began to collapse when the Democrats captured the House and Senate and we then knew that the lower tax rates on individuals, capital gains, and dividends would end after 2010.
We are in the early stages of the Reid/Obama/Pelosi recession and nothing they are even talking about doing will help.
George Bush? Never heard of him.
by Richard Gowan | Feb 6, 2009 | Climate and resource scarcity, Cooperation and coherence, North America
While the UK struggles with snow, spare a thought for Kentucky, which is suffering from an ice storm:
The storm has been blamed for 27 deaths in Kentucky, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. More than 175,000 homes and businesses served by 55 water systems remained under orders to boil water, emergency officials said.
But there’s good news for my GD colleagues who major on community resilience:
The chairwoman of an Ohio County school board converted a middle school into a shelter. And in Murray, Murray State University’s student-run radio station was the only source of communication.
An unexpected problem has emerged, however: a peanut panic.
Making matters worse, because of a recent salmonella outbreak, federal officials on Thursday recalled all “ready to eat” meal kits that included packets of peanut butter. The packets had been distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In a news conference on Thursday, Gov. Steve Beshear tried to send a reassuring message to residents who had received the food packages. He said there had been no reports of food-related illnesses, even though more than 100,000 emergency packages had been given out in storm recovery efforts.
Mr. Beshear said he had eaten one of the peanut butter products and suffered no ill effects. As an alternative, emergency officials were trying to hire a private food vendor to secure hundreds of thousands of prepared meals, the governor said.
Yum yum.
by David Steven | Feb 6, 2009 | Conflict and security, South Asia
With AQ Khan – the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb – released from house arrest, what better day to savour some highlights from the scientist’s own website?
By their deeds and actions such persons, though not prophets, demonstrate that they are an extension of the will of the transcendental. These are the people, who are destined to make history in the elevation of nations. Such is the personality of Dr. Abdul Quadeer Khan…
It is entirely due to his efforts that the process of enrichment of Uranium was successfully completed in Pakistan… The list of his contribution and achievement is far too long to be mentioned in this short citation. He is a person imbued with the spirit of serving the cause of Pakistan and Muslim Ummah through his able researches, high acumen, intellectual robustness and unwavering devotion.
So numerous are his activities that every segment of society has praised him in different forms. He has been awarded 42 gold medals by various national institutions and organizations. He was also presented with 3 gold crowns
He has contributed immensely to the establishment of educational and research institutes in Pakistan. These include several colleges, schools, Institutes and academies. So wide are the applications of his activities that his contributions extend to the construction of 11 mosques, 1 tomb, a number of dispensaries and community health centers…
It is rare that a person in single life time accomplishes so much. This is done only by men who are endowed with special abilities by God and who prepare themselves through hard work and devotion to fulfill the mission of serving mankind.
Never before have greatness and modesty mingled to such effect, say I.
by David Steven | Feb 6, 2009 | What we're watching
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2I0uGR_ZVI[/youtube]
