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Maybe you've noticed another lapse between blogs. I've been away in non-bloggable territory. But in my travels I had yet another
rendezvous with my renegade Harvard physicist time traveler friend, about whom I've written before ("The Secret NPR Tapes, Reel One", "The Secret NPR Tapes, Reel Two", "Next, This News"). This time, as always, he surfaced from underground when I least expected him.
"Sorry to interrupt your dinner," he said as I looked up at him in surprise from my booth in one of my favorite late-night
haunts. "I have more bad news from the future, I'm afraid."
"Bad news?" I asked. "We have the most corrupt presidency in American history, devastation and destabilization in the Mideast
for the sake of corporate positioning, an attorney general whose outright prostitution of the Justice Department is defended
by a wild-eyed White House, school slaughters by gunfire while the argument for arming students and faculty is treated as
credible... and you're predicting 'bad news?'"
"It's not a prediction," he said flatly, laying a sheaf of newspaper clippings on the table.
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New York Times, Feb. 4, 2009:
CLINTON SAYS "WE MUST PREVAIL" IN IRAQ
Washington -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her first major post-inaugural speech on the Iraq war, warned against "a
premature weakening of our national will" in the conflict, and urged Congress and the Senate to "not yield to defeatists even
as we seek to avoid the unnecessary sacrifice of American lives." She proclaimed, "This moment calls for responsible strength
on the part of our heroic men and women in uniform and our nation. We are fighting for democracy. And we must prevail."
The six-year war has, to date, claimed nearly 5,000 American lives and killed at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians. The current
Iraqi government, the fourth since the war began, appears ready to collapse, as did its predecessors, amid a catastrophic
nationwide lack of security and a popular furor over its deference to American-backed policies allowing foreign ownership
of Iraqi oil, water, and utilities, and contracts with Halliburton and other firms to run the Iraqi military and police forces.
A particular priority for military contractors has been to try to regain control of the "Green Zone" in Baghdad, overrun last
year by a series of massive insurgent attacks.
In a press conference following her speech, the President did not respond directly to questions about the bipartisan Senate
commission that in December called the war "a tragic misappropriation of American resources and resolve that must end immediately."
But in an apparent assertion of her executive authority, she declared, "I am open to all sources of information and input.
But in the end, I am the decision-maker..."
Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2018:
DEATH TOLL FROM GENETICALLY ENGINEERED VEGETABLES HITS 100,000
Washington -- In a grim statement yesterday, Food and Drug Administration head Milton J. Shillman announced that clinically-verified
deaths from diseases related to ingestion of genetically-altered vegetables have topped 100,000 nationally.
"This is a day on which we rededicate our agency to eradicating the tragic travesties of the past in protecting American consumers,"
said Shillman.
The deaths, primarily from formerly rare aggressive varieties of stomach and colon cancers, stem chiefly from genetically
engineered broccoli, particularly the banned and now-infamous Version 15722, which long-term studies have shown radically
alters cell growth in ways that can ultimately trigger the sudden onset of fast-growing cancers. Some engineered varieties
of corn, lettuce, spinach and tomatoes have been found to have similar effects. In response, the FDA and U.S. Public Health
Service have jointly undertaken a massive national screening program to try to detect such cancers early.
Genetically engineered foods, pulled from the American market in a government-mandated moratorium in 2016, became prevalent
in the early 2000s as a cost-effective method of mass-cultivating fruits, vegetables and livestock with desired traits of
taste, appearance, and shelf life. Such foods were banned early on in Europe, but flourished in the United States despite
consumer skepticism, largely because of the lack of any government requirement to label them as such. Experts now agree that
several successive Administrations in the 1990s and 2000s, most notably the George W. Bush Administration, named industry-friendly
political appointees to FDA leadership posts who overrode scientific opposition within the agency to the relaxed regulation
sought by food and drug companies...
National Enquirer, October 27, 2008:
FIJI FOUND TO POSE "MAJOR" NUKE THREAT
by Judith Miller
Washington --The Fiji Islands, long a fantasy destination for sun-starved vacationers, now harbor "a major and imminent" nuclear
threat to world safety, according to a highly-placed informant cooperating with the Bush Administration, an Administration
official said last week.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the danger "a looming threat to world security. We have incontrovertible
evidence that Fiji has a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons and intends to use them. We know what they have and we know where
they are hiding them."
Calling the secret informant "an impeccable source with top-level personal knowledge of Fiji's nuclear arsenal," the official
said the President is studying responses and will not rule out military action against the island nation.
"We don't want a smoking gun in paradise to become hell's mushroom cloud," the official said...
The Washington Post, November 19, 2008
DEMS MOUNT CAUTIOUS OPPOSITION TO PUBLIC STONINGS
Washington -- In an apparent attempt to walk a fine line between public opinion and an entrenched White House, the Democratic
leadership is treading carefully in its opposition to a threatened presidential veto of a capital punishment bill amended
by Democrats to forbid execution by public stoning.
President George W. Bush has vowed to veto any bill that would limit federal authority to execute capital criminals by public
stoning. The Democratic amendment, added yesterday to the capital punishment omnibus bill, specifically prohibits public stoning
as a means of execution. Polls show that Americans disapprove of public stoning by a wide margin. But President Bush has declared
stoning "a moral imperative on which I won't blow with the wind of public opinion. Any bill that tries to tie the hands of
our correctional forces on the ground, I will veto."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) replied in a carefully-worded statement, "The American people have spoken on public
stoning, and we hope that the President finds the ability to listen. We believe there is a better way than public stoning
to support our dedicated and courageous correctional professionals. We look forward to working with the President to craft
a fair and realistic bill."
Asked by reporters if, in negotiations with the White House, Democrats would go along with language permitting some version
of public stoning, Pelosi answered, "I'm not prepared to speculate. We're going in with a reasonable and open attitude, and
I hope and trust that the President will as well."
But several high-ranking Democrats, speaking on the condition of anonymity, predicted a compromise. "We're not going to get
everything we want on public stoning," said one. "We know that. I think the Speaker understands that we'll have to work with
the White House on this one."
A meeting between top Democrats and the President is scheduled for next week after the President's expected veto of the anti-stoning
legislation...
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I had seen enough. I looked up and, as I expected, my friend was gone and he had left a note, this one scribbled on a napkin.
"You might want to wait a bit," it read, "before you read the piece about our military invasion of Canada."
(Posted 5/26/07 by Bruce A. Jacobs)
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