Purpose Statement
The purpose of this blog is for David Schult to communicate with others regarding ideas, editing and the creation of news and other articles. Articles submitted here are not intended to be complete or factual but a work in progress. Articles make no claim to be true nor does David Schult accept any liability regarding what is published herein. This blog's purpose is for the pursuit of academic inquiry within the realm of journalism.
Honduran ex-President Azcona dies
Print Story: Honduran ex-President Azcona dies on Yahoo! News: "Former Honduran President Jose Azcona, who gave safe haven in the 1980s to the U.S.-backed Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua, died on Monday.
Azcona, who was president of the Central American nation from 1986 to 1990, died at home of heart problems at age 78, family members said.
His term was marked by controversy over the presence of armed Nicaraguan Contra rebels on Honduran soil. The rebels received U.S. training and aid for their fight against the Sandinista government reviled by Washington.
The United States sent its own troops to Honduras, at Azcona's request, when the Sandinista army crossed the border to pursue the Contras.
Azcona's government agreed to oust the Contras if Nicaragua would hold free elections. In 1990 the Sandinistas lost power to U.S.-supported candidate Violeta Chamorro at the polls.
Azcona is remembered by some Hondurans as one of few clean politicians in a country where public life is often characterized by corruption, and credited with helping to negotiate peace accords in a region torn by civil war."
Honduran ex-President Azcona dies
Print Story: Honduran ex-President Azcona dies on Yahoo! News: "Former Honduran President Jose Azcona, who gave safe haven in the 1980s to the U.S.-backed Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua, died on Monday.
Azcona, who was president of the Central American nation from 1986 to 1990, died at home of heart problems at age 78, family members said.
His term was marked by controversy over the presence of armed Nicaraguan Contra rebels on Honduran soil. The rebels received U.S. training and aid for their fight against the Sandinista government reviled by Washington.
The United States sent its own troops to Honduras, at Azcona's request, when the Sandinista army crossed the border to pursue the Contras.
Azcona's government agreed to oust the Contras if Nicaragua would hold free elections. In 1990 the Sandinistas lost power to U.S.-supported candidate Violeta Chamorro at the polls.
Azcona is remembered by some Hondurans as one of few clean politicians in a country where public life is often characterized by corruption, and credited with helping to negotiate peace accords in a region torn by civil war."
Student journalists sue school district - May 20, 2005
CNN.com - Student journalists sue school district - May 20, 2005: "LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Student journalists sued their Bakersfield high school district Thursday in an effort to keep the school's principal from censoring student newspaper articles on homosexuality.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, requests an emergency order to allow the paper to publish the stories in The Kernal's year-end May 27 issue.
'The Kernal staff, along with the gay students we interviewed, we have lost our voices,' said the paper's editor in chief, Joel Paramo, a plaintiff in the case filed in Kern County court.
East Bakersfield High School Principal John Gibson said he blocked publication because he is worried about violence on campus.
'It's not about gay and lesbians. It's about student safety,' he said.
Paramo, however, said the principal's decision 'regrettably sends the unmistakable message that school officials would rather students keep closeted about their sexual orientation.'"
Puqee-oh means Always-absent woman
BBC NEWS | Americas | Bid to save nearly-lost language: "He said linguists found the language fascinating because of its complexity.
'Entire sentences can be built up into a single word,' Dr Stonham said.
'But there are also some concepts that can be encapsulated in a single syllable. A single sound describes the state of remaining in seclusion when the husband goes out to hunt, for example.'
Dr Stonham hopes providing a dictionary of words will encourage teachers to use the language in the classroom and that older people too will be spurred into passing their language on to the next generation."
SAVED SYLLABLES
puqee-oh - Always-absent woman
hina?aluk- I look out for what I know is to happen
Simaacyin?ahinnaanuhsim?aki - their whaling spears were poised in the bow
haasulapi-ck'in?i - sing a little louder
A Toilet in your Car
Now just what do you think that looks like?
Click here.
BBC NEWS | Technology | UK company launches in-car toilet: "UK company launches in-car toilet
Geoff Adams-Spink
BBC News website disability affairs correspondent
Photo of the Indipod toilet in its inflatable bubble
The inflatable bubble expands into any available space
A portable, in-car lavatory has been launched by a British firm for use by people with medical conditions, as well as families with small children.
The Indipod, made by Bromsgrove-based Daycar, is aimed at people with bowel and bladder problems.
The chemical toilet is housed in an inflatable 'bubble' which is powered from the car's cigarette lighter."
Newsweek withdraws Koran report
BBC NEWS | Americas | Newsweek withdraws Koran report: "In a one-sentence statement released on Monday evening, Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said: 'Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay.'
We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence
Mike Whitaker
Newsweek editor
Press unmoved by retraction
In pictures: Anti-US protest
Newsweek had originally apologised for publishing an uncorroborated report, but failed to issue a full retraction."
The media's fault?
BBC NEWS | Americas | The media's fault?: "Do not blame the news media for this. Instead, all the effort needs to go into convincing the world that the abuse has stopped, and will never be allowed to start again."
Amnesty International's Report on Honduras
HONDURAS
REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS
Head of state and government: Ricardo Maduro Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes International Criminal Court: ratified UN Women’s Convention: ratified Optional Protocol to UN Women’s Convention: not signed
Violent deaths of children and young people continued at alarmingly high levels. Members of human rights groups, indigenous groups and the lesbian, gay men, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) community suffered intimidation, harassment and death threats. Two indigenous activists were political prisoners.
Background
There were public protests against state corruption, illegal logging and other socio-economic issues. In November the Public Ministry announced that corruption charges against former President Rafael Callejas were to be dropped. This generated a crisis in the Ministry as the prosecutors involved were dismissed or suspended and demanded in turn the removal of the Attorney General.
Children and young people
The authorities again failed to take effective measures to prevent or investigate killings of children and young people. More than 350 violent deaths of children and young people were reported during the year. Although progress was made in investigating a small number of cases, only three convictions resulted.
The anti-gang law introduced in 2003 to deal with crimes committed by youth gangs, which was criticized
by human rights groups for severely restricting the right to freedom of association, reportedly led to the arrest of some 1,500 alleged gang members, often simply for having tattoos. The majority of those arrested had not been charged or tried by the end of the year.
In an incident in San Pedro Sula Prison in May, 104 young people were killed after a fire broke out in a cell. All the dead and injured were members of the Salvatrucha gang who remained locked in their cells during the fire. A formal complaint for negligent homicide was presented against the then director of the prison, but the charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
Fifty-one people, including police officers, soldiers and prisoners, were indicted for their involvement in the deaths of 68 people, including 61 imprisoned members of the M-18 gang, at El Porvenir prison in April 2003. According to the prosecution, the killings were planned by the authorities in the context of a dispute over the supply of drugs within the prison. In December the man who was Prison Director at the time of the
incident was found guilty of the deaths; he was to be sentenced in February 2005. Trials were pending for the other accused.
Human rights defenders
Members of human rights organizations faced harassment and intimidation. Andrés Pavón Murillo, President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (known by its Spanish acronymCODEH), received threatening phone calls and was verbally attacked on television and radio after alleging that members of the government were implicated in human rights violations, negligence and denial of justice following the fire at San Pedro Sula prison in May. Staff at the non-governmental Centre for the revention, Rehabilitation and Treatment of Victims of Torture (CPTRT) received death threats in the context of a break-in at their offices.
Despite reports that two of those responsible for the murder of journalist Germán Antonio Rivas in November 2003 had been identified, the authorities failed to apprehend them.
Indigenous people
Indigenous activists were subjected to threats and harassment and two were held as political prisoners.
In May, leaders of the Regional Coordination of Popular Resistance (CRRP) and the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations (COPINH) in the department of Intibucá were harassed and received
death threats. CRRP leader José Idalecio Murillo and seven members of his family escaped unhurt when four men fired shots at their home.
Despite evidence of serious procedural irregularities, an appeal court confirmed the 25-year prison sentence imposed on brothers and COPINH leaders Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda, both of whom were repeatedly tortured in pre-trial detention in 2003. However, in November an appeal to the Supreme Court was upheld and the case was referred back to the Santa Rosa de Copán appeal court. AI was concerned that the two did not receive a fair trial and that the charges against them had been filed in order to punish them for their human rights work.
Lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people
There was continuing concern about the climate of intimidation facing the LGBT community in Honduras. In September, at the instigation of the Evangelical Church, the National Congress recommended that the legal status granted in August to three LGBT organizations be revoked on the grounds that it constituted an attack on “the family, public order and decency”. However, government officials defended their decision to grant the organizations legal status, stating that it did not violate domestic legislation and was in line with international treaties signed by Honduras.
No progress was made in the police investigation into the killing of Erick David Yáñez (Ericka) in 2003. Members of the Comunidad Gay Sampedrana, a nongovernmental LGBT group based in San Pedro Sula where the killing took place, were harassed and intimidated even though the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had in 2003 ordered the authorities to adopt precautionary measures to protect four members of the group.
Dozens Have Alleged Koran's Mishandling
Dozens Have Alleged Koran's Mishandling: "# Complaints by inmates in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba emerged early. In 2003, the Pentagon set a sensitivity policy after trouble at Guantanamo.
By Richard A. Serrano and John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — Senior Bush administration officials reacted with outrage to a Newsweek report that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, and the magazine retracted the story last week. But allegations of disrespectful treatment of Islam's holy book are far from rare."
Newsweek Reporter Says He Dropped the Ball - Yahoo! News
Newsweek Reporter Says He Dropped the Ball - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK - One of the two Newsweek journalists behind the retracted article alleging that interrogators at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Quran said he had underestimated the impact of the report and dropped the ball by not properly corroborating his anonymous source."
CNN.com - Student journalists sue school district - May 20, 2005
CNN.com - Student journalists sue school district - May 20, 2005Student journalists sue school district
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Student journalists sued their Bakersfield high school district Thursday in an effort to keep the school's principal from censoring student newspaper articles on homosexuality.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, requests an emergency order to allow the paper to publish the stories in The Kernal's year-end May 27 issue.
"The Kernal staff, along with the gay students we interviewed, we have lost our voices," said the paper's editor in chief, Joel Paramo, a plaintiff in the case filed in Kern County court.
East Bakersfield High School Principal John Gibson said he blocked publication because he is worried about violence on campus.
"It's not about gay and lesbians. It's about student safety," he said.
Paramo, however, said the principal's decision "regrettably sends the unmistakable message that school officials would rather students keep closeted about their sexual orientation."
California's education code allows schools to censor student publications if articles are obscene, libelous or slanderous, or incite students "as to create a clear and present danger."
The articles include photos and interviews with gay students discussing their sexual orientation. The reporters obtained written permission from those they interviewed and from the parents of those who were minors.
"No incident in the past led us to believe that those students, who are already open about their sexual orientation, had anything to worry about," Paramo, 18, told reporters Thursday at the ACLU's Los Angeles office.
The plaintiffs include 18-year-old senior Janet Rangle, who was interviewed along with her mother for the paper. She said when she came out as a lesbian, students were either supportive or didn't care.
Gibson's decision "made me feel like I was back where I was -- in the closet again, hiding," Rangle said.
Bakersfield, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is known as a conservative community, but Paramo said students at East Bakersfield High are tolerant for the most part.
School district spokesman John Teves expressed concerns about possible violence.
"It's our concern that with the publication of those articles, those students might be in danger or that our campus might be subject to some kind of violence," Teves said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/20/student.paper.lawsuit.ap/index.html
Sumatran quake shook Earth's entire surface before unleashing tsunami: report - Yahoo! News
Sumatran quake shook Earth's entire surface before unleashing tsunami: report - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (AP) - The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake that generated the devastating tsunami in December was so powerful that the ground shook everywhere on the Earth's surface and weeks later the planet still trembled.
'No point on Earth remained undisturbed,' said Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado.
Ground movement of at least one centimetre occurred everywhere as a result of the strongest quake in more than 40 years, though the sensation was not noticed in many areas"
Paper Prints More Photos of Saddam in Jail - Yahoo! News
Paper Prints More Photos of Saddam in Jail - Yahoo! News: "The photos have not provoked much of an outcry in the Middle East but raised concerns about offending Arab sensibilities and doing further damage to the American image already tarnished by the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison and a now retracted Newsweek report about the desecration of the Quran at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Saddam's chief lawyer, Ziad al-Khasawneh, said the photos 'add to acts that are practiced against the Iraqi people.' He said he would sue the newspaper 'and everyone who helped in showing these pictures.'"
More Allegations of Mishandled Qu'ran
CNN.com - Karzai�'shocked' by�abuse report - May 21, 2005: "That report by Newsweek was later retracted, but the International Committee of the Red Cross subsequently said it had told the Pentagon of allegations U.S. personnel had mishandled the Koran."
Amazon tribe faces 'annihilation'
BBC NEWS | Americas | Amazon tribe faces 'annihilation': "Amazon tribe faces 'annihilation'
A living area abandoned by Indians in Brazil's rainforest (Pic: Survival International)
Brazilian officials in Rio Pardo found Indian villages, but no Indians
A remote tribe living amid the depths of the Amazon rainforest is facing extinction at the hands of loggers, campaigners warn.
Armed loggers working in Brazil's vast forests have driven the tribe from several villages, according to Indian rights group Survival International."
Tales from the coffee shop
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Tales from the coffee shop: "Sleaze
The intellectual strength of this scene also contributed to its reputation for political dissent, and King Charles II tried and failed in 1675 to thwart their power by closing or levying fees on the houses.
But the decline of the coffee house was well under way by the 19th Century, when many shed their open door policy and turned into gentlemen's clubs serving tea, coffee and alcohol. And their role as a communication centre was eclipsed by an improved press, transport and postal system.
In the sanitised, lactified form of the branded chain, the coffee house is no longer oppositional, rebellious and dissident
Markman Ellis
Author
The coffee houses that remained took on a slightly sleazy nature, associated with gambling and prostitution and characterised in the novels of Dickens and Trollope, says Professor Chapman. Mass production, driven by the East India Company, also meant swigs of coffee could be bought at street stalls and tea could be drank at home."
More on the Newsweek Fiasco
Newsweek published a short, 200 word story in its May 9th issue where it alleged that "
that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that American guards at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had committed infractions in trying to get terror suspects to talk, including in one case flushing a Qur'an down a toilet."
An anonymous source inside the US military gave Newsweek this information. Newsweek brought it to the attention of two defense Department officials. One declined to comment, the other corrected another error. So what did Newsweek do wrong? And what did they do right?
Right now, we still do not know if the Newsweek story is actually true. What we do know is that it can not be properly verified. Newsweek ran into the same problem that CBS did a while back. It may very well be true. After all, other news organizations ran similar stories. So Newsweek only used one source -- which is not uncommon for such a magazine -- and ran it by two government officials and then decided to publish it.
What they did not realize is how inflammatory the story actually was. Bob Zelnick, former ABC News Correspondent claims that "
even if the Koran incident was true, he would have had 'reservations' about running it because 'the potential to inflame is greater than the value of the piece itself.'" But Newsweek officials insist they went by the book but "
will review its standards for dealing with unnamed sources."Almost a week later, cricket legend turned politician Imran Khan and others start drumming up opposition to the US government's handling of the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The intense reaction in Afghanistan and Pakistan is highlighted by a cultural gap. "
In Pakistan and Afghanistan destruction of the Qur'an is seen as blasphemous and punishable by death. In the US, destruction of any religious text is a constitutional right."
Now at least 17 people have died and hundred have been injured. Newsweek, right or wrong, has retracted its story. The US government feels that its reputation has been damaged. What Connie Rice et al. fail to realize is that their reputation was horribly damaged long before.
It's appalling that this story got out there," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she traveled home from Iraq.
"People lost their lives. People are dead," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
Such problems in the US media circus are nothing new.
The episode is the latest in a series of scandals that have dogged the US media, beginning with an uproar caused by former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who fabricated quotes and other elements for his articles, and continuing with a similar controversy at USA Today involving reporter Jack Kelley. These two episodes were soon followed by the case of former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather, who used documents of dubious authenticity to question President George Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard Service.
Journalists need to be careful. Cultural sensitivity is necessary when reporting. Should Newsweek have published the story as it did? If it were true and verified, then yes. The problem is the magazine only had one confidential source. US officials were not aware of how inflammatory such a story could become in the hands of someone like cricketer Khan.
So how should Holy Books be handled? USA Today's article presents more information on how to handle the big three.
Newsweek, Journalism and the Qur'an
The Editor's Desk
Newsweek
May 23 issue - Did a report in NEWSWEEK set off a wave of deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan? That's what numerous news accounts suggested last week as angry Afghans took to the streets to protest reports, linked to us, that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Qur'an while interrogating Muslim terror suspects. We were as alarmed as anyone to hear of the violence, which left at least 15 Afghans dead and scores injured. But I think it's important for the public to know exactly what we reported, why, and how subsequent events unfolded.
Two weeks ago, in our issue dated May 9, Michael Isikoff and John Barry reported in a brief item in our Periscope section that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that American guards at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had committed infractions in trying to get terror suspects to talk, including in one case flushing a Qur'an down a toilet. Their information came from a knowledgeable U.S. government source, and before deciding whether to publish it we approached two separate Defense Department officials for comment. One declined to give us a response; the other challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur'an charge.
Although other major news organizations had aired charges of Qur'an desecration based only on the testimony of detainees, we believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence. So we published the item. After several days, newspapers in Pakistan and Afghanistan began running accounts of our story. At that point, as Evan Thomas, Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai report this week, the riots started and spread across the country, fanned by extremists and unhappiness over the economy.
Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur'an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them "not credible." Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.
—Mark Whitaker
Editor's Note: On Monday afternoon, May 16, Whitaker issued the following statement: Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Qur'an abuse at Guantanamo Bay.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7857154/site/newsweek/
Picture power: Tragedy in Oklahoma
The power of a photograph and a photographer just being in the right place at the right time. A short history of powerful pictures from Vietnam, Darful to Iraq can also be found here.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Picture power: Tragedy in Oklahoma: "Picture power: Tragedy in Oklahoma
In the first of four pieces by photographers talking about their famous pictures, amateur Charles Porter describes how he captured the defining image of the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995. His pictures won a Pulitzer Prize.
I am talking about two photographs that I took on 19 April 1995 from the Oklahoma City bombing.
One being of a policeman handing an infant to a fireman and the other of a fireman gently cradling this lifeless infant."
'Honey, I'm off to see some art...' - Yahoo! News
Now, if only they could sing.
'Honey, I'm off to see some art...' - Yahoo! News: "OSLO (Reuters) - Striptease is art like opera or ballet, an Oslo court has ruled in a victory for nightclub owners over Norway's tax authorities."
Don't ground the teen, confiscate the mobile phone - Yahoo! News
Please ground me but don't take my phone!
Don't ground the teen, confiscate the mobile phone - Yahoo! News: "A study by a top South Korean advertising firm shows that a mobile is one of a Korean teenager's most prized possessions.
Among 13- to 15-year-olds, 77.5 percent said a mobile phone was a 'must-have' item, while for those aged 16 to 18 the figure was 76.7 percent, the Cheil Communications survey showed."
'Virgin Mary' stain defaced, covered - Yahoo! News
Hey, wasn't that the face of Elvis underneath the overpass of I72?
'Virgin Mary' stain defaced, covered - Yahoo! News: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - A stain under a highway bridge that had drawn hundreds of faithful who thought it resembled the Virgin Mary was painted over by a road crew on Friday after a vandal defaced the image.
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Chicago police said they charged a 37-year-old man with damage to state property after he used black shoe polish to paint 'big lie' on the yellow and white stain which had become the site of an impromptu shrine for the past three weeks."
Viagra for the mob? This can't turn out well... - Yahoo! News
You talkin' to me? I said, are you talkin' to me?
Viagra for the mob? This can't turn out well... - Yahoo! News: "Viagra for the mob? This can't turn out well...
By Gail Appleson Fri May 6,12:17 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York doctors were charged on Thursday with giving large amounts of Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs to mob members in return for construction and auto repair work done by mafia-controlled businesses."
His Name is Bond. Derek Bond.
The US says, woops, we made a mistake but no compensation for you. Too bad about getting messed up in that South African prison.
BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | US refuses arrest blunder damages: "A Bristol pensioner who was arrested at gunpoint after the FBI put him on their 'most-wanted' list has been told he will not receive any compensation.
Derek Bond, 74, says the FBI admitted its mistake but will now only pay for his legal expenses.
He was held at Durban police station in South Africa for nearly three weeks after being arrested at gunpoint while on holiday in February 2003.
FBI agents had detained Mr Bond believing him to be someone else.
Mr Bond's solicitor, Andrew Gregg, said Mr Bond had been treated absolutely appallingly."
CNN.com - Cafeteria critic develops a following - May 4, 2005
CNN.com - Cafeteria critic develops a following - May 4, 2005: "CARLISLE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Rick Seltzer's interest in journalism and passion for food have thrust him into an unusual role at his high school newspaper: cafeteria critic.
Seltzer has written Rick's Cafe Critique, a regular feature in the monthly Periscope, since about midway through his junior year at Carlisle High School. He has graded everything from chicken patties to cheese steaks using a rating system of up to five 'sporks,' plastic utensils that combine a spoon and a fork.
It seems everyone devours his monthly bites of wisdom except for the cafeteria staff, oddly enough. But the 18-year-old senior says he doesn't want his musings to be mistaken for a high school-style Zagat guide."
CNN.com - Evolution on trial in Kansas - May 2, 2005
CNN.com - Evolution on trial in Kansas - May 2, 2005: "While many call themselves creationists, who believe that God was the ultimate designer of all life, they are stopping short of saying creationism should be taught in schools.
'We're not against evolution,' said Calvert. 'But there is a lot of evidence that suggests that life is the product of intelligence. I think it is inappropriate for the state to prejudge the question whether we are the product of design or just an occurrence.'"
BBC NEWS | Americas | Pressure driving young to steroids
BBC NEWS | Americas | Pressure driving young to steroids: "Pressure to succeed on the sports field or simply to look 'better' is driving a growing number of US children to abuse steroids.
There is concern that young girls are taking steroids to get a toned look.
Latest estimates suggest more than a million high school students in the country have tried the body-altering drugs - nearly six times the number just 10 years ago.
Among the users are an increasing number of girls - some as young as nine - who are taking steroids to emulate the toned looks of movie stars and pop idols.
Experts say the phenomenon is due in part to children being pushed harder and younger than ever before."
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: From 'Gook' to 'Raghead'
He said: "Guys in my unit, particularly the younger guys, would drive by in their Humvee and shatter bottles over the heads of Iraqi civilians passing by. They'd keep a bunch of empty Coke bottles in the Humvee to break over people's heads."
He said he had confronted guys who were his friends about this practice. "I said to them: 'What the hell are you doing? Like, what does this accomplish?' And they responded just completely openly. They said: 'Look, I hate being in Iraq. I hate being stuck here. And I hate being surrounded by hajis.' "
"Haji" is the troops' term of choice for an Iraqi. It's used the way "gook" or "Charlie" was used in Vietnam.
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: From 'Gook' to 'Raghead'
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Day 113 of the President's Silence
Mr. Bush might reflect on a saying of President Kennedy: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Day 113 of the President's Silence: "
Finally, finally, finally, President Bush is showing a little muscle on the issue of genocide in Darfur."
U.S. Military's PDF Fiasco Was Avoidable - Yahoo! News
U.S. Military's PDF Fiasco Was Avoidable - Yahoo! News: "Most people don't realize how much information Word (along with
PowerPoint and Excel) stores with your document, including previous
versions and some changes. But the culprit was Adobe Acrobat, not
Microsoft Word. Reporters found they could remove the black from
blacked-out areas of the PDF document and read the text underneath."
Does 'Supernanny' know best? | csmonitor.com
Does 'Supernanny' know best? | csmonitor.com: "All the theories out there today about parenting can lead some moms and
dads to say they feel self-conscious about the job they're doing - not
sure if they're keeping up with the latest techniques and executing
them correctly. Bullard says she and her husband knew about timeouts,
for example, but not how to make them work effectively until Frost
showed them."
Think You Know What Patriotism Is?
America needs some more patriots like this.
Think You Know What Patriotism Is?
