Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 18:06 - Category: Unfiled ;
Iraq Affecting Mental Health of Troops.
Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army’s surgeon general said Thursday.
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 17:04 - Category: Unfiled ;
About 300 fall ill from heat at Boy Scout Jamboree.
It was in the upper 90’s, high humidity, so they marched hundreds of Boy Scouts onto an unshaded field and waited for Dubya to arrive.
Hundreds had to be treated for dehydration and heat-related illness. None of it had to happen.
I was at the US Festival, a big rock concert in ‘82, twenty feet from the outdoor stage. It was over 100 degrees and we were seriously jammed in close together. During the breaks, staff came out with fire hoses and just hosed us down. Wow, great. After five minutes. Umm, we’re soaking. After ten minutes, hey please stop. No, they nodded, we will hose you down until the next act starts. We don’t want casualties.
Thus, a bunch of rock and rollers apparently understood far better than the Boy Scouts what to do with large numbers of people in big fields when it’s very hot. Oh, a few keeled over from the heat at the US Festival, but nowhere near 300. And about 100,000 people were there.
And then there were the Boy Scout “leaders” who erected a tent with metal poles near a power line and killed themselves.
The illnesses came as many were still reeling from the deaths of four Boy Scout leaders from Alaska. Some Scouts had been watching as the metal pole at the center of a large, white dining tent touched power lines. Screams rang out as the tent caught fire and the men burned.
I believe Cub Scouts 101 teaches you not to do stupid stuff like this.
I’m stupefied by these pointless, tragic deaths and by 300 scouts needing medical attention because their elders were too clueless to take action.
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 12:36 - Category: Unfiled ;
MARK HONIGSBAUM, GUARDIAN - Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead in the head, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, Vivien Figueiredo, 22, said that the first reports of how her 27-year-old cousin had come to be killed in mistake for a suicide bomber on Friday at Stockwell tube station were wrong.
“He used a travel card,” she said. “He had no bulky jacket, he was wearing a jeans jacket. But even if he was wearing a bulky jacket that wouldn’t be an excuse to kill him.” . . .
How could she have known he didn’t jump the ticket barrier unless maybe she saw the videos during her meeting with the police?
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 08:33 - Category: Unfiled ;
Three men have died after working in the recent intense heat of the Central Valley, sparking a demand for more safeguards.
One worker died after being made to work in 105 degree heat at double speed.
But two weeks ago, in the 105-degree sun of a brutal July, he could not keep up with the tractor that was dictating his pace in a bell pepper field near this Kern County town.
Co-workers said that for more than two hours, the tractor doubled its speed in a dash to finish the last pick of one field so the grower could begin a fresh field the next morning.
An apt metaphor for the out-of-control predatory capitalism so prevalent in this country; Workers die while owners profit.
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 08:11 - Category: Unfiled ;
Microsoft uber blogger Robert Scoble today announced that he had decided to worship Satan in place of Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Scoble said that his decision had followed a number of disturbing trends from Microsoft and Bill Gates, which had led him to believe that Microsoft had started to decline as the lead force of evil on the planet, and that worshiping Bill Gates just didn’t cut it as being evil enough for him any more.
I nominate RIAA as the New Satan.
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 08:01 - Category: Unfiled ;
The Irish Republican Army said Thursday that it was giving up its armed struggle for a united Ireland and agreeing to turn solely to political methods.
Slugger O’Toole, a blog covering politics in Northern Ireland, is a bit skeptical.
The IRA statement is now out, giving volunteers an order to dump arms - which we expected a number of years ago. The rest is the usual IRA-style statement - you could have written it yourself, it’s so predictable. As we’re watching the breaking news on Sky, there’s a collective shrug in this office. Frankly, no-one really cares what the republican movement says any more, because no-one believes it - it’s what it does that counts from here on in.
Given the sudden flury of activity, and the hype discussion around the statement issued today, it would be remiss of me not to note the discussions currently taking place on new anti-terrorism laws.
New, much tougher anti-terrorism laws, are scheduled to take effect soon.
Bob Morris @ Jul 28th 2005 07:57 - Category: Unfiled ;
The top US commander in Iraq has predicted that the US-led coalition could start withdrawing troops early next year IF political progress remained on track and the insurgency did not escalate.
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