Rice attacks Kremlin's power grip

Ms Rice has received a cool reception in Moscow
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has voiced concern about Russia's direction by saying too much power is concentrated within the Kremlin.

Her comments, made during a visit to Moscow, will be seen as a thinly veiled criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier she met human rights activists and said she wanted to help them build institutions to protect people from the "arbitrary power of the state".

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Gus: err Miss Rice..? What about too much power in the White House, in the US?  "Arbitrary power of the state"? Vetoes... Unilateral decisions... illegal wiretapping, Guano Bay, illegal wars — for oil... etc...

The huge pot calling the small kettle black...

Posted 29 minutes ago

A group of former US military captains say it will be impossible to secure Iraq unless the United States introduces compulsory military service.

The 12 former captains, who have all served in Iraq, voiced their concerns in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

The opinion piece has also been published in Fairfax newspapers in Australia.

One of the former captains, Jason Blindauer, says to continue the operation in Iraq successfully 500,000 extra troops need to be sent there.

He says Australia needs to bear that in mind when deciding what course of action it should take in Iraq.

"Is Prime Minister John Howard willing to sit across the table from our President, George W Bush, and say, 'Hey listen, let's dig into the history books, let's dig into the hard military science'?" he said.

"This is what history tells us is necessary for this type of operation.

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Gus: The festering sore that is the invasion of Iraq should be remembered when going to the polls. John Howard, Tony Blair helped their mate George Bush to invade a country illegally, FOR OIL... Forget all the other rigmarole about WMDs, democracy and whatever... Are we going to a carry on higgledy-piggledy as if we did not know? Are we going to leave Iraq to its own device? Are we going to send plenty more troops (conscripted) and, may be, face a bigger enemy that we ever thought... Is the US army going to dictate the future of the world?

Australia should leave Iraq but then we've got to sell wheat and the cost of this exercise is actually more expensive than selling to someone else and having no troops in Iraq... We are just helping the US plunder Iraq's resources, even if it does not appear like this on the surface. Sending more troops will increase the resentment beyond belief and possibly the Iraqis will fight till the last child standing... That would solve the problem: Iraq nullius....

John Howard has sullied Australia's reputation by going to war in Iraq. He should go-go-go...

And Lazarus never died, he just smelt that way... May the Force be with Luke Rudd...

(see cartoon at top of line of blogs) 

Now doctors say it's good to be fat
After years of anti-obesity public health advice, a major new study causes an outcry by concluding that the overweight live longer
By David Usborne in New York
Published: 08 November 2007

A startling new study by medical researchers in the United States has caused consternation among public health professionals by suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, being overweight might actually be beneficial for health.

The study, published yesterday in the respected Journal of the American Medical Association, runs counter to almost all other advice to consumers by saying that carrying a little extra flab – though not too much – might help people to live longer.

Struggling dieters, used to being told that staying thin is the best prescription for longevity, are likely to be confused this morning if not heartily relieved. While being a bit overweight may indeed increase your chances of dying from diabetes and kidney disease – conditions that are often linked with one another – the same is not true for a host of other ailments including cancer and heart disease, the report suggests.

In fact, scanning the whole gamut of diseases that could curtail your life, being over weight is, on balance, a good thing. The bottom line, the scientists say, is that modestly overweight people demonstrate a lower death rate than their peers who are underweight, obese or – most surprisingly – normal weight.

The findings will be hard to dismiss. They are the result of analysis of decades of data by federal researchers at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. This is not a study from a fringe group of scientists or sponsored by a fast-food chain.

Being overweight, the report asserts in its conclusions, "was associated with significantly decreased all-cause mortality overall".

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Gus: fat, non-fat, half-fat... we'll all going to die no matter what... It's just a question of timing... and of quality of life... By the way, in their research, have the good doctors taken into account the death rates amongst soldiers, mainly "thin" and fit young people send to die on battlefields while the unfit stay home and play money market..? This stat could change soon with the US army recruitment drive to take anybody to fill the trenches...

US military recruits more ex-cons
The US Army and Marine Corps recruited significantly more people with criminal records last year than in 2006, amid pressure to meet combat needs.

Statistics released by a congressional committee show 861 people were granted waivers to enlist, up from 457 in 2007.

The crimes included assault, sex crimes, manslaughter and burglary.

The Army says waivers are only granted after careful review and are in response to the challenges of recruiting in a changing society.

The number of people granted waivers are just a small fraction of the more than 180,000 people who entered active duty in the armed forces during the fiscal year that ended in September 2007.

But the perceived lowering of standards is causing concern in some quarters.

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Gus: Hum... if a US soldier is shot in the back, while in the "theater of war", it's likely to be less from "friendly fire" and more from the mafia?

see toon at top 

From the Washington post

The Army last month stopped accepting felons and recent drug abusers into its ranks as the nation's economic downturn helped its recruiting, allowing it to reverse a decline in recruiting standards that had alarmed some officers.

While shunning those with criminal backgrounds, the Army is also attracting better-educated recruits. It is on track this year to meet, for the first time since 2004, the Pentagon's goal of ensuring that 90 percent of recruits have high school diplomas.

The developments mark a welcome turnaround for the Army, which has the military's biggest annual recruiting quota and had in recent years issued more waivers for recruits with criminal records. That, coupled with unprecedented strains from repeated deployments, led some senior officers to voice concerns that wartime pressures threatened to break the all-volunteer force.

Now, though, rising unemployment, security gains in Iraq and other factors have helped make military service more attractive and have allowed recruiters to be more choosy, according to military officials and Pentagon data.

Among the other military branches, the Marine Corps saw some increase in the number of recruits with low test scores, but even so, the service remained within Pentagon guidelines. The Air Force and the Navy have been trimming personnel.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said, "We are not even going to consider" applicants who test positive for drugs or alcohol, or have adult felony convictions such as assault, arson and robbery.

Previously, Army recruits had to wait six months -- and before that, just 45 days -- to reapply after failing a drug test, and some felons could apply for waivers, Army officials said. Every day, the Army processed eight to 10 requests for such drug and felony waivers, Anderson said.

The Army annually granted hundreds of waivers for felons in recent years, reaching a high of 511 in 2007. Now, that category of waiver, for "adult major misconduct," is closed, Anderson said.

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see toon at top....