James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by "Justice"? - Yahoo! News

James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by "Justice"? - Yahoo! News: "James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by 'Justice'? James Heffernan
Wed Jun 14, 8:16 PM ET


On June 9, when asked for his reaction to the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, prime mover of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, President Bush declared, 'I'm thrilled that [he] was brought to justice.' The president's euphemism is profoundly revealing. He does not say 'fatally wounded by our bombs' or simply 'killed.' He says 'brought to justice.' While most of us would probably agree that coalition forces were justified in killing Al-Zarqawi, the president's phrase nonetheless prompts a crucial question. Just what does 'justice' mean to this president and his administration?
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The starting point for an answer is his first response--nearly five years ago--to the airborne attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Less than one hour after he learned about the attacks, he told Vice President Cheney, 'We're at war . . . somebody's got to pay.' Awkwardly enough, the nineteen perpetrators of the attack had already paid in advance with their lives, and were no longer available for punishment. So the president has made others pay--on the principle that 9/11 justifies massive, indiscriminate, and open-ended retaliation. Speaking from the Oval Office on the evening of 9/11, the president said, 'We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.' Ignoring the simple fact that 'the terrorists who committed these acts' were already dead when he spoke those words, the president thus flaunted his grand disdain for fine distinctions. And like a gia"

Scientists Say Sun's Next Cycle Stronger - Yahoo! News

Scientists Say Sun's Next Cycle Stronger - Yahoo! News: "Scientists Say Sun's Next Cycle Stronger By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
2 hours, 2 minutes ago


LOS ANGELES - A new computer model suggests the next solar cycle will be more active than the previous one, potentially spawning magnetic storms that will be more disruptive to communication systems on Earth.
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The next sunspot cycle will be between 30 percent to 50 percent more intense than the last one, scientists said Monday.
The cycle will also begin a year later than expected, in late 2007 or early 2008, and peak around 2012, said Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
The new prediction is at odds with previous forecasts, which suggested that the intensity of the next solar cycle would be measurably smaller.
Accurately predicting the intensity of the sunspot cycle, which occurs about every 11 years, allows scientists to anticipate solar storms. They are caused by solar flares, or giant eruptions that burst from the surface of the sun.
Solar storms, which eject billions of tons of plasma and charged particles into space, can produce dazzling northern lights, but also disrupt power lines, radio transmissions and satellite communication.
The last time the solar cycle peaked was in 2001. During the last cycle, solar storms caused extreme radio blackouts in the Pacific.
For decades, scientists have tracked the solar cycle and appearance of sunspots, but they have been unable to accurately predict the intensity or timing of solar storms, which increase as the number of sunspots increases.
Dikpati, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said her team tested the new computer model usin"

World science body slams tougher U.S. visa rules - Yahoo! News

World science body slams tougher U.S. visa rules - Yahoo! News: "World science body slams tougher U.S. visa rules By Tom Heneghan
1 hour, 58 minutes ago


PARIS (Reuters) - A leading world science body denounced tougher U.S. visa policies on Thursday after its Indian-born president said he failed to get permission to enter the country on charges he was hiding information that could be used for chemical weapons.
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Professor Goverdhan Mehta, 62, an internationally recognized organic chemist invited to a conference by the University of Florida, has denied the charges and said he was rejected because he could not recall details of research he did 40 years ago.
The protest from the Paris-based International Council for Science (ICSU) came only a week before President George W. Bush was due to visit India with another scientific issue -- a planned civilian nuclear cooperation deal -- high on the agenda.
The ICSU and the U.S. embassy in New Delhi disagreed over details of the row. The embassy said it had not denied a visa but asked Mehta for more information on his work before his application can proceed.
The ICSU said Mehta had provided it with written proof his visa was denied and it complained that tough visa rules imposed after the September 11, 2001 attacks were keeping many foreign scientists from needed exchanges with their U.S. colleagues.
'The whole procedure is outrageous,' said Carthage Smith, Deputy Executive Director of ICSU, an umbrella group of 133 national academies of science and international science unions. 'He is not going to go on his knees and ask for a visa.'
LESSER KNOWN SCIENTISTS
'Professor Mehta is a very well known scientist, but there are many lesser known scientists to whom this is happening,' Smith said. 'The bigger issue is important.'
"

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Given Torino 1 Rating | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Given Torino 1 Rating | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference: "
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Given Torino 1 Rating
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Source: NEO Information Centre
A potential asteroid impact on 21 March 2014 has been given a Torino hazard rating of 1, defined as 'an event meriting careful monitoring'. The newly discovered 1.2 km wide asteroid, known to scientists as 2003 QQ47, has a mass of around 2 600 billion kg, and would deliver around 350 000 MT of energy in an impact with Earth.
Currently, the overall probability of this asteroid impacting Earth is 1 in 909 000. However, the orbit calculations are based on just 51 observations during a 7-day period. Dr Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen's University, Belfast, one of the expert team advising the UK NEO information Centre said 'The NEO will be observable from Earth for the next 2 months, and astronomers will continue to track it over this period.'
Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program (LINEAR), operating out of Socorro, New Mexico, first observed the giant rock on 24 August and reported their observations to the Minor Planet Centre in Massachusetts. The Minor Planet Centre plays a crucial role as the clearinghouse for all new discoveries of asteroids and comets. 'As additional observations are made over the coming months, and the uncertainties decrease, asteroid 2003 QQ47 is likely to drop down the Torino scale,' said Kevin Yates, project manager for the UK NEO Information Centre, based at the National Space Centre in Leicester. 'The NEO Information Centre will continue to monitor the latest results of observations and publish regular updates on our website.'
Asteroids such as 2003 QQ47 are chunks of rock left over from the formation of our Solar System 4.5 billion years ago. Most a"

NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference: "
NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Source: National Optical Astronomy Observatory
NASA should be assigned to lead a new research program to better determine the population and physical diversity of near-Earth objects that may collide with our planet, down to a size of 200 meters, according to the final report of a workshop on the scientific requirements for the mitigation of hazardous comets and asteroids.
The workshop�s report also recommends that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) work to more rapidly communicate surveillance data on natural airbursts of smaller rocky bodies, and it concludes that governmental policy makers must 'formulate a chain of responsibility' to be better prepared in the event that a threat to Earth becomes known.
�As our discussions proceeded, it became clear that the prime impediment to further advances in this field is the lack of assigned responsibility to any national or international governmental organization,� said planetary scientist Michael Belton, organizer of the September 2002 workshop. �Since it is part of NASA�s newly stated mission to �understand and protect our home planet,� it seems obvious that this responsibility should reside in NASA.�
Belton presented the findings of the workshop today in Washington, DC, to officials at NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Management and Budget, and the report was delivered to the U.S. Congress.
About 2,225 near-Earth objects (NEOs) have been detected, primarily by ground-based optical searches, in the size range between 10 meters and 30 kilometers, out of a total estimated"

New Abu Ghraib abuse photos anger Arabs - Yahoo! News

New Abu Ghraib abuse photos anger Arabs - Yahoo! News: "New Abu Ghraib abuse photos anger Arabs By Michael Perry
1 hour, 11 minutes ago


SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian television station broadcast on Wednesday what it said were previously unpublished images of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, fueling more Arab anger against the United States.
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The Special Broadcasting Service's 'Dateline' current affairs program said the images were recorded at the same time as the now-infamous pictures of U.S. soldiers abusing Abu Ghraib detainees which sparked international outrage in 2004.
Some of the newly broadcast pictures suggest further abuse such as killing, torture and sexual humiliation, Dateline said.
The grainy, still photographs and video images show prisoners, some bleeding or hooded, bound to beds and doors, sometimes with a smiling American guard beside them.
They include two naked men handcuffed together, a pile of five naked detainees photographed from the rear, and a dog straining at a leash close to the face of a crouching man wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
The images were swiftly re-broadcast by Arab satellite television stations and several news organizations, including American ABC News television, showed them on their Web sites.
They stirred up more anger among Arabs, already incensed by the publication on Sunday of images of British soldiers apparently beating Iraqi youths and by cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammad printed in European papers this month.
'This is truly American ugliness that no other country in the world can compete with,' journalist Saleh al-Humaidi told Reuters in Yemen.
'The Americans ought to apologize to mankind for their government's lie to the world that it is fighting for freedom and that it came to Ir"

A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA - New York Times

A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA - New York Times: "A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA

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By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: February 8, 2006
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word 'theory' at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.
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Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him (Jan. 29, 2006)

Lawmaker Condemns NASA Over Scientist's Accusations of Censorship (Jan. 31, 2006)

NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness (Feb. 4, 2006) Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his r�sum� on file at the agency asserted.
Officials at NASA headquarters declined to discuss the reason for the resignation.
'Under NASA policy, it is inappropriate to discuss personnel matters,' said Dean Acosta, the deputy assistant administrator for public affairs and Mr. Deutsch's boss.
The resignation came as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was preparing to review its policies for communicating science to the public. The review was ordered Friday by Michael D. Griffin, the NASA administrator, after a week in which many agency scientists and midlevel public affairs officials described to The New York Times instances in which they said political pressure was applied to limit or flavor discussions of topics uncomfortable to the Bush administration, particularly global warming.
'As we have stated in the past, NASA is in the process of revising our public affairs policie"

Accused of censoring scientists, NASA vows reform - Yahoo! News

Accused of censoring scientists, NASA vows reform - Yahoo! News: " Accused of censoring scientists, NASA vows reform By Deborah Zabarenko
2 hours, 39 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA, accused of censoring its scientists on global warming and the origin of the universe, pledged on Wednesday to reform its policies to ensure 'open and full communications.'
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The move followed more than a week of revelations in The New York Times and on the Internet about internal tussles between NASA writers and researchers and the U.S. space agency's public affairs office at its Washington headquarters.
A key figure in the controversy, George Deutsch, resigned on Tuesday. He had told NASA writers in an e-mail to refer to the Big Bang as a 'theory' because NASA should not discount 'intelligent design by a creator.'
The Times and the scientificactivist.blogspot.com Web site reported that Deutsch, who worked on President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, lied about his college degree.
'The theory that the universe was created by a 'big bang' is just that -- a theory,' Deutsch wrote in an e-mail on October 17, 2005, which was obtained by Reuters. 'It is not proven fact; it is opinion. Yes, the scientific community by and large may share this opinion, but that doesn't make it correct ... .
'It is not NASA's place, nor should it be, to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator -- the other half of the argument,' the e-mail continued.
Most scientists believe that a monster explosion, the Big Bang, gave birth to the universe.
The e-mail appeared to conform to Bush's views on the debate over "