Commuters racing to catch the train typically forget things in the car -- keys, wallets, briefcases. But a baby daughter?

That's what happened Thursday just north of Washington, police say.

"Dad forgot baby was in the car, parked the car, got on the Metro," said Lucille Baur, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County, Md., Police Department.
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"I don't know exactly when he got the memory flash, but he was in D.C. when it was the horrible defining moment, `Oh, my goodness, I think I've left my child back in my car,"' Baur said.

Maybe he's taking Ambien too?

EU leaders are considering imposing sanctions against Belarus following the arrest of about 150 opposition demonstrators overnight in Minsk.
The US also denounced the police raid saying Belarussians had a "right to peacefully express their views".
Protesters had camped out in the square since the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko last Sunday.
International observers said the poll was flawed but the authorities insist the election was democratic.

Also read Sirocco's entry over at ET.

Jailed for swearing

Eystein Røssum, Bergens Tidende, March 23

Translation by Sirocco

As debate over the issue flares in several states, a major adoption institute says in a new report that it strongly supports the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt, and urges that remaining obstacles be removed.

"Laws and policies that preclude adoption by gay or lesbian parents disadvantage the tens of thousands of children mired in the foster care system who need permanent, loving homes," the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute says in the report to be issued Friday...

...Adoption agencies should energetically recruit gays and lesbians, including them in outreach programs and parenting panels, the institute said.

The report arrives on the heels of a nationwide poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press that found public approval of gay adoption is increasing. In 1999, 57 percent of Americans opposed the practice and 38 percent approved, while the new poll found 48 percent opposed and 46 percent in favor with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

French President Jacques Chirac showed his temper at the EU summit when a French business leader addressed delegates in English. He stormed out of a session when Ernest-Antoine Seilliere said he chose English "because that is the accepted business language of Europe today". (snip) According to a French official, Mr Seilliere was interrupted by Mr Chirac, who asked him in French why on earth he was speaking English. He replied that English was the working language of that particular session and the accepted business language of Europe today. Mr Chirac, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Finance Minister Thierry Breton left the room.

via Feministing.com
Mediagirl
Alternet

"I intend to call attention to the internal and external threats to our country's freedoms -- Al Qaeda and other forms of religious extremism, conventional and W.M.D. terrorism, and growing government secrecy in the name of national security -- subjects that have long defined my work."

LibbyLibbyLibbyLibbyLibbyLibbyLibbyPlamePlamePlamePlamePlamePlame.  

Like many newcomers, Muslims who settled in the Triangle hoped for a life of peace and prosperity.

Few expected to become public relations specialists. But that's the role many have taken on in a quest to defend their faith.

It started with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and continued with the ongoing war in Iraq.....

"The sheer number of Muslims in attendance, courageously opening their center and their place of worship and their hearts and welcoming non-Muslims, was very touching," said Sharon Ryan of Durham.

Others were not quite as gracious. They had difficult questions to ask and they wasted no time.

"Why don't imams denounce attacks on non-Muslims?"

"Did the Prophet Muhammad actually marry 9-year-old Aisha?"

"Why do some women wear a head scarf while others wear the abaya [a full body over-garment]?"

Muslims hear these kinds of questions every day. It's the deep-rooted prejudices behind the questions that hurt most, some said.

Beginning in April, a Brooklyn art gallery will display a life-size clay sculpture of pop songstress Britney Spears giving birth to her first child, son Sean Preston, on a bearskin rug. According to the press release from Send2Press.com:

"Natural aspects of Spears' pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean's head."

But wait, it gets better.  The artist has dedicated the monument (?) to the anti-abortion movement.

Indeed; you read that correctly. This repellent work of "art" -- again, to reiterate, a creepily sexual sculpture of a young, cheesy pop star with her legs spread, back arched, pelvis thrust, butt in the air, and generally, you know, looking more prepared for a roll in the sack than the painful expulsion of a small human from her body -- is, in fact, called "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston."

Oh. My. God.

"Don't waste your time on the clowns, watch the real show"

Just as a moving electrical charge creates a magnetic field, so a moving mass generates a gravitomagnetic field. According to Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, the effect is virtually negligible.  Although just 100 millionths of the acceleration due to the Earth's gravitational field, the measured field is a surprising one hundred million trillion times larger than Einstein's General Relativity predicts. Initially, the researchers were reluctant to believe their own results, and took three years to perform hundreds of additional experiments to confirm the result.  Finding a theoretical framework that explains the observations fully could lead to a potential framework for merging relativity and quantum theory.  Details here.

A new study of a meteorite that originated from Mars has revealed a series of microscopic tunnels that are similar in size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by feeding bacteria. And though researchers were unable to extract DNA from the 600 million year old Martian igneous rock, the finding nonetheless adds intrigue to the search for life beyond Earth.

Three icy comets orbiting among the rocky asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter could be linked to the origin of Earth's oceans. The newly discovered comets, called "main-belt comets," hold asteroid-like orbits, and unlike other comets they appear to have formed in the warm inner solar system inside the orbit of Jupiter, rather than in the outer solar system beyond Neptune.

New preliminary data on the properties of a subatomic particle called a B_s meson suggest that the particle actually oscillates between matter and antimatter - something that if verified could help scientists understand why antimatter is almost nonexistent in the current universe, and perhaps provide the first tangible evidence for the scientific theory called supersymmetry.

Astronomers have found powerful X-ray-producing regions located around two quasars that could have powered their activation. If so, the discovery could help scientists understand how the distant, mysterious quasars ignite.

Seismologists at Columbia and Harvard Universities have found a new indicator that the Earth is warming: "glacial earthquakes" caused when the rivers of ice lurch unexpectedly.  Glacial earthquakes in Greenland, the researchers found, are most common in July and August as metwater runs through cracks to the base of the glacier. Lubricating its movement, and have more than doubled in number since 2002.  There have also been increases measured in such quakes in Alaska and Antarctica.  In a related story in the same issue of Science magazine, paleoclimatologists studying the melting of glaciers 130,000 years ago say that if CO2 levels rise to twice the pre-industrial levels this century a "tipping point" will be passed, triggering a massive melting of polar ice and increase in sea levels on the order of 2-3.5 meters.

A pioneering study of the numbers of fish and other marine animals over a 15-year period in the deep sea of the eastern North Pacific Ocean has been published.  The numbers of creatures in the deep sea were measured to increase, apparently due to an increase in their food supply falling from shallower waters.  [Perhaps due to over-fishing in the shallow waters?]

Notoriously "promiscuous" plants like oaks and dandelions have led some biologists to conclude plants cannot be divided into species the same way animals are.  A new study says that perception is wrong, and plant hybrids are less, not more, likely to be fertile than animal hybrids.  Part of the confusion arose from a tendency of plant taxonomists to declare plants with slight differences to be different species when they may in fact be simply different "varieties" or subspecies of the same species.  It is not common knowledge that many bird and fish species successfully hybridize in the wild. The scientists found that birds were most likely to produce fertile hybrids when crossed with other bird species. Ferns, of all things, were least likely to generate fertile hybrids.

The mutation of a single gene has been found to switch the symbiotic interaction of a species of grass and an associated fungus from mutually beneficial to antagonistic.  In the natural wild form, the fungus grows within developing leaves but stops short as the leaf matures, preventing major harm to the plant.  In the mutant form this control is lost, and the fungus seriously harms the plant.  Details here.

Life on Earth may have driven the evolution of the planet itself.  Researchers have proposed that ancient microbes provided the chemical energy to create the Earth's continents - a nod to the Gaia hypothesis, in which life helps create the conditions it needs to survive.  The theory would solve the puzzle of why the Earth's continental crust appeared when it did, and explain the presence of granite, a substance not found anywhere else in our solar system.  The appearance of the continental crust coincided with the rise of photosynthesis.  Today, photosynthetic organisms, which convert solar energy into usable chemical energy, contribute three times as much energy to the Earth's overall geochemical energy cycle as geological activity driven by the Earth's interior.  The first photosynthetic life forms would have made solar energy available for chemical changes, cranking up the Earth's energy cycle and altering its geochemistry, keeping oceans and atmosphere out of chemical equilibrium with the rock.  This enhances weathering cycles, causing more chemical breakdown in the crust compared with physical processes. Such breakdown of basalt produces smectite and illite clays, which in turn play a role in the creation of granite - which, floating on the heavier basalts of the mantle, forms the continents in Earth's crust.  [Of course, this would not be a new idea at all to the Russian scientist V.I.Vernadsky, who proposed in 1926 that life has molded the surface of the earth, concepts much later developed independently by James Lovelock in the Gaia Hypothesis.  Vernadsky's expansion of this concept to the higher realm of intelligent thought, the noosphere, would be explored by a range of philosophers, including deChardin in a Christian context.]

And from the sublime to the slime:

An environmental-labor partnership on Thursday launched a project to remove 3 inches of arsenic-contaminanted soil from homes in eastern New Orleans and planting sod.  The state department of environmental quality says the project is unnecessary and that the activist have misinterpreted the guidance on cleanup levels for arsenic in soil.

From Congress to California, there's a growing movement aimed at convincing automakers to build a new kind of gas-electric hybrid vehicle -- one that plugs into a wall outlet and can go 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline.  Detroit says their models' electrical distribution systems are not designed for all-electirc use, but this feature is already available on Toyota hybrids sold in Asia and Europe - but not in the US, unless you want to "hack your hybrid." [sounds like jolly good fun to me!]

The American Prospect is currently featuring a story on green chemistry - redesigning the chemical industry so it operates in an environmentally-benign manner.  The concept is gaining traction.  And the Philadelphia inquirer has a story on green homes - they're still pricey, but are beginning to enter the mainstream.

The Washington Post has a thought-provoking piece today on scientific studies - some funded by the government - being done on the efficacy of prayer to bring about healing...  And I'm not going to state my opinion lest I offend friends or start a food fight!


"Money ruined Democracy. Washington is lost. We only have the grassroots left." - Bill Moyers

Canada, U.S. split on ADHD drug warnings --- "Health authorities in Canada and the U.S. are split on how to warn users about the potential side effects of certain drugs prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Health Canada has added tough new warnings to the labels of Ritalin and similar drugs used to treat ADHD. (...)"


parvum opus

The Gov't is still presenting its case; one major development was the assertion by their informant that al-Qaeda's #2, al-Zawahiri, was seen numerous times at the mosque in Lodi in 1999, at which time he was wanted by the FBI for his role in Africa bombings. Local mosque leaders & terrorism experts all say that that is highly unlikely.

Two weeks ago, one of the jurors in the trial told the judge she'd forgotten that she had dated a Sheriff's deputy a decade ago. After considering the defense motion to have her excused, the judge released her from further jury duty. She spoke to the press afterwards; the defense may be wishing she was still on the jury. Her remarks confirm what press reports seem to indicate: the governemt's case is thin & not going too well.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt hasn't been proven at this point," the 39-year-old Clabaugh said in a hallway interview with reporters. "It's not very clear-cut."

Keep in mind that the gov't hasn't rested yet, so the defense has yet to even present its case. Writing about the FBI's videotaped 'confession' by the younger Hayat, I mentioned last month that "[a]ny teenager raised on US tv crime shows would see a problem in this line of questioning"

The government's case is built primarily on Hayat's videotaped admission to FBI agents that he attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and initially denied it when questioned by agents, and on secretly recorded conversations he had with an FBI informant.

"I felt like he was being badgered" by FBI agents, Clabaugh said of the confession. "I felt like he was giving them information because they refused to believe he didn't know anything.

"It seemed like the agents fed names to him. It didn't seem like he actually volunteered anything," said Clabaugh, who was free to speak about the case after she was released from jury duty.   {snip}

With respect to the Khan recordings of Hamid Hayat, Clabaugh said, "I got a picture of a young kid who wanted to impress an older man, but it doesn't mean those were things he would actually follow through on.

"She was referring to Hayat's statements in 2003 to Khan about his plan to undergo terrorist training in Pakistan and then wage jihad, or a holy war, against the enemies of Islam. At the time, Hayat was 20 and Khan was 29.

"As far as I'm concerned, at this point in time, Naseem Khan didn't help or hurt," Clabaugh said. "I think he very much wanted to provide information the FBI wanted him to provide. Whether he obtained the information legitimately, I don't know.

"As of this moment, the government has not proven its case to me," said Clabaugh, an account manager for a Sacramento structural engineering firm.

"I've seen that this young man was interested in hurting the enemies of Islam, but I haven't seen that he did some of the things they said he did," she said.

Clabaugh was asked about Khan's testimony that, while living in Lodi in the late 1990s, he encountered Osama bin Laden's top adviser at the Muslim mosque on numerous occasions.

"It seemed a bit far-fetched, but that doesn't mean it's not possible," she said. Terrorism experts have said Khan's claim is highly improbable.

"It was frightening to hear these topics discussed with Lodi being so close," Clabaugh added.

Asked about Hamid Hayat's scrapbook of widely-circulated Pakistani newspaper and magazine articles and editorials, many of which reflect virulent anti-American and pro-Taliban sentiments among Pakistan's citizens, she said:

"He lived in Pakistan a number of years and his grandfather is connected to these extremist groups, so it makes sense that he would keep a record. That doesn't necessarily mean anything to me."

Asked about a prayer found in Hayat's wallet when he was arrested that an Islamic scholar testified is persuasive evidence that Hayat sees himself as an enemy of the United States, Clabaugh said:

"It doesn't mean he did anything."   link

How things have changed. In recent weeks, the United States did all it could to oppose the creation of an improved Human Rights Council to replace the now-dysfunctional commission; the final vote was 170-4. Apart from the three countries that the United States cajoled into joining it in a "no" vote, the only other states who declined to support the council were three human rights abusers: Iran, Belarus and Venezuela abstained.
Now that the council is being formed, we must do our utmost to ensure that the United States is among its first members selected May 9. Next week, members of Congress will visit the United Nations to discuss various reforms, including this one. We will make clear the merits of not only securing an immediate seat at the new council's table but also taking a central role.
This new council replaces a travesty of a commission that, with time, diverged wildly from its original role and made a mockery of international human rights. A commission never could be taken seriously so long as it welcomed the pathological despots of Sudan, authors of the Darfur genocide, as if they occupied the same moral ground on human rights as Denmark and Sweden.
It is true that the new council might not live up to each of our hopes and expectations. The best outcome would have been an ironclad guarantee that the council will shut out human rights abusers. But as the dozen Nobel Peace Prize winners and key human rights groups who supported it will attest, the new council nevertheless offers critical, groundbreaking achievements. Let me highlight three of the most important ones:
(snip)
I am strongly pressing for a speedy announcement of our country's candidacy for membership in the new U.N. Human Rights Council. Its inaugural session in June will make critical decisions on how it functions and will determine whether all the fuss over the council's creation was worthwhile. For the United States to fail to participate actively in these events would be an enormous mistake.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

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