Prosthetic Conscience

Bush wanted to bomb media in Arab ally

The Mirror reports that a memo leaked from No. 10 Downing St. shows that Bush planned to bomb the satellite TV station al-Jazeera in Qatar, a friendly Arab country; he was talked out of it by Tony Blair. The persons who leaked the memo are being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. “The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors.”

This has been picked up by the mainstream media (the Mirror is a tabloid), which are are mainly reporting on the denials. But if it’s not true, why are the leakers being prosecuted?

[ Posted: 15:13] | [ Category: /politics] | Permalink | Comments: 0 ]

Probe connects DeMint to Abramoff

Article in The State.

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint took campaign money from colleagues of embattled Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and intervened with the Bush administration in a way favorable to Abramoff’s clients.

[ Posted: 09:46] | [ Category: /politics] | Permalink | Comments: 0 ]

Top 20 Geek Novels

For those who are interested, the Guardian (newspaper) has compiled a list of the top 20 geek novels. I have read 14 of them. Neal Stephenson appears three times. The Terry Pratchett book that made the list is not one of his best. Surprisingly, there is no Arthur C. Clarke on the list, but two (blech) Asimov. One by Iain M. Banks, which makes me genki. Sad but typical that there are no female authors on the list — Ursula K. Leguin should have made the list for either The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed. Octavia Butler should have made the list too; maybe because she’s a biology geek rather than a physics geek?

[ Posted: 09:23] | [ Category: /books] | Permalink | Comments: 0 ]