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Powell Denies Intelligence Failure In Buildup To War, But Evidence Doesn't Hold Up

The evidence, or lack thereof, speaks for itself. In the months leading up to the war in Iraq, the Bush administration produced hundreds of pages of intelligence for members of Congress and for the United Nations that showed how Iraq's President Saddam Hussein possessed tons of chemical and biological weapons and was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

  The intelligence information, gathered by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, a Department of Defense agency that gathers foreign military intelligence for the Pentagon, was used by the Bush administration to convince the public that Iraq posed a threat to the world.  

But the information in those reports, much of which has been declassified and is now available online, hasn't panned out as U.S. military forces comb Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, it turns out that a bulk of the intelligence contained in the reports was just plain wrong, suggesting that either the intelligence was doctored to make a case for war or, even worse, that a massive intelligence failure is rampant inside the CIA and other U.S. government agencies.  

Why do Africans get AIDS?

 Initially I was much taken with an interesting piece in the latest issue of Discover magazine, Vol. 24 No. 6, dated June 2003, containing an article, "Why Do So Many Africans Get AIDS?" by Josie Glausiusz.

            Every major campaign against AIDS in Africa, Glausiusz writes, has been based on the premise that heterosexual sex accounts for 90 percent of transmission in adults, Yet safe-sex efforts have not stopped the spread of the epidemic, which now affects 30 million people. Economic anthropologist David Gisselquist therefore suspected that HIV might be spreading primarily by another route.

            After analyzing 20 years of epidemiological studies, he and his colleagues concluded that unsafe injections, blood transfusions and other medical procedures may account for most of the AIDS transmission in African adults. Their analysis indicates that no more than 35 percent of HIV in that population is spread through sex.

            Gisselquist's interest in AIDS was stimulated by the guidance he received while traveling through Africa as a World Bank consultant. "They

Psst, kids, <i>there's money in the wind</i>

AUSTIN -- Remember the guy in "The Graduate" who tells Dustin Hoffman, with heavy emphasis, "Plastics"? This column is sort of in the same vein. Psst, kids, there's money in wind. If I were a fresh graduate looking for something useful and profitable to do with my life, I'd sure take a close look at windpower.

            The American Wind Energy Association recently met in Austin, and danged if there aren't over 500 businesses involved, and vendors with high-tech booths and all that good trade show stuff. As they say on Wall Street, there's been "solid growth" in the wind biz. Naturally, the United States is lagging behind Denmark, et al, but even so, this thing is ginnin'. This will be huge.

            According to the Wind Energy Association, they expect the industry to grow by 25 percent in 2003, moving from the current production of 4,700 megawatts to 6,000 megawatts (enough to serve 1,500,000 homes).

            The industry is still small enough and new enough so you can sit around and drink coffee with already-legendary founders and pioneers such as

Protect the Ridges

To the editor,

President Glidden once again is failing to keep his promises to protect the Ridges, a state treasure of natural beauty in Athens with old forests, prairies and hilltops with grand vistas.

Local volunteer efforts to help our rivers

"Though people lack not wealth, they cannot afford to breathe clean air. Rain and streams cleanse not, but remain inert and powerless liquids. Human beings and countless beings that inhabit water and land reel under the yoke of physical pain caused by malevolent diseases. Their minds are dulled with sloth, stupor, and ignorance. The joys of the body and spirit are far, far away. We needlessly pollute the fair bosom of our mother earth; rip out her trees to feed our shortsighted greed, turning our fertile earth into sterile desert. As a noble being recognizes the kindness of a sentient mother and makes recompense for it, so the earth, the universal mother, which nurtures all equally, should be regarded with affection and care. Forsake wastage, pollute not the clean, clear nature of the four elements and destroy the well being of people, but absorb yourself in actions that are beneficial to all. Being attentive to the nature of interdependence of all creatures, both animate and inanimate,one should never slacken in one's efforts to persevere and conserve nature's energy."
 Bhikshu Tenzin Gyatso
The XIVth Dalai Lama

The Godliness of Dollar Bill

I. Learn to swim, or trust their life preserver around your neck…up to you It’s either sing along or
make new music,
get on your knees or
get aroused

I prefer standing to bowing
I like to see my reflection in lying eyes,
writing poems to reading prayers
I’ve got my own words for God,

he must get tired of hearing the same old
please pleas day after day
after all,
God’s an artist with a big dick
craving satisfaction
and evolution
like the rest of us,

divine spirit,
sexy morning sun,
I saw her reach out to me
her still burning ashes blowing into the breeze;

I sweat like I do in my sleep God,
I miss how you used to tuck me in at night
I always felt so lucky and loved
like a chosen soul, even though I knew
you fondled me and raided my wallet
while I slept,
at least it was something…

now here I stand whistling under cloudless skies,
the time to be an angel has passed,
thousands of thirsty flies spin ‘round
as I sever my wounded wings for cash.

The Evolution of an Animal

It’s a complicated organism,
Multi-celled, hairy
I find it quite sexy
With tits like missiles
An ass like man’s defeat,

I’ve heard it nurses it’s young
To full maturation
Without once feeding,

Sleeps on cliff tops
To dream of flying,

Darts through traffic
To sniff fresh bodies
Of squished squirrels,

It’s said to be extremely toxic
Eating wormholes in plush carpets,

It no longer fights by biting
It’s learned to eject poison for miles

Leaving a pregnant future
Prowling silent nights
For wheezing carcass’

Lungs bloated like cooked eggs,
Tongues numb and of no use.

Where At Least I Know I’m Free

When I met him I didn’t know
but he told me with clenched fists

how men’s heads explode like chicken bones
crushed by rocks
and how rubber bullets hurt worse than real ones,

how homeless was nothing
compared to nationless or
defenseless or

how tanks crushed his sister’s shoes
along with a star of David he had copied from soldier’s sleeves
while he, his father and brothers rebuilt the home
they lost during the previous occupation.

He told me without tears
of years and years of genocide
swallowing their blessed cities
inch by inch,

of soldiers with bloody gun butts
kicking aside dead boys
still clutching rocks,

of swarms of children with murdered parents
and stolen land
forming tiny armies in the sand,

of teenage girls with bombs
in their pants

of wars I’d never heard of
through my electric earplugs,

I was terrified
at these truths,
so raw and beautiful

I knew what I had to do
as an American,
it was my duty

Wounded Patriot

Countless crippled inches of soul crave release
     from civilization’s circular marching herd,
     metal shoed hooves pounding dirt and grass
     like ten-thousand Sioux drumming war
     punishing the silent ears of their enemies
     choking on screams for mercy as their heads implode;
     Under Bill Gates’ trance swarms of ants sit staring
     through monitored Windows stained
     waiting for God to appear on their computer screens
     via www.heaven.com …
         …Something’s gone so very wrong;
The truth is blurred and hidden
     lost in sounds and television
     masked by textbooks facts and proofs,
Look into the reflection pool at foolish eyes
     blind to the depths
     beneath the rippling wet portrait
     swept up in sexy sounds of water and wind;
Let Oprah spew her Harpo gospels to housewives from her studio altar,
     ‘Get rich quick with a diary of happiness’
     hypnotized with a daily helping of hope
     tuning in tomorrow every day
     their lives are over anyway;

Like a bridge over troubled waters

            AUSTIN, Texas -- "I said you were a man of peace. I want you to know I took immense crap for that." George W. Bush, diplomat extraordinaire, to Ariel Sharon, The Washington Post, June 3, 2003.

            The effort to find peace in the Middle East is something on which all Americans can support the president, whether we think he knows what he's doing or not. He has recently been getting some criticism for letting his religious beliefs into the process. According to the New Yorker, he told Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: "I think God loves me. I think God loves the Palestinians. I think God loves the Israelis. We cannot allow this to continue." This is good news: It seems to me Bush's attention span is longer and more focused when his religious convictions are involved.

            But I was pleased to see that the Stagecraft Administration has already set up the "money shot" for this peace conference, whether any progress is made or not. The New York Times reports the Big Photo-Op is ready to go. The president and the two prime ministers are to appear together on a bridge over the swimming pool behind the King of Jordan's palace.

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