Today is Thursday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2009. There are 126 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 27, 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pa. On this date In 1858, the second debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln [...]
Archive for August, 2009
Today in History – August 27
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 27 on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
The Dawning Age of Mind-Reading Machines
Posted in Computers, Living on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Imagine controlling machines, typing text or juggling balls using nothing but the power of thought. What sounds like far-fetched science fiction is gradually becoming possible, providing hope for disabled patients — and new gimmicks for the computer gaming industry. DIZ SENTENS IS WRUTEN WID TAUGHTS. No keyboard, no hands, no blinking even. I think, therefore [...]
More votes than voters
Posted in Politics on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Gloom descends after a deeply flawed election in Afghanistan BY MID-MORNING on August 20th, election day, the police standing outside the Haji Janat Gul High School, a polling centre a few miles east of Kabul, estimated it had been visited by just four lorries, carrying a score of voters each, and three or four cars. [...]
Does Exercise Reduce Your Cancer Risk?
Posted in Health on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Finnish researchers recently concluded that, if you wish to ward off lung or gastrointestinal cancer, you might want to spend your leisure time jogging instead of picking berries, mushroom gathering or fishing. In the study, published in late July on the Web site of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, scientists studied the health of [...]
Bierce’s Bugbears
Posted in On Language, tagged August 23 2009 on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Host is a noun, not a verb. People are healthy; foods are healthful. You lie down to sleep and lay down your pencil. A dilemma involves two choices. Usage rules like these, especially if we learned them young, tend to have the ring of eternal truth. We rarely ask ourselves which ones reflect centuries of [...]
Obama’s Health Rationer-in-Chief
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
White House health-care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the ‘overuse’ of medical care. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health adviser to President Barack Obama, is under scrutiny. As a bioethicist, he has written extensively about who should get medical care, who should decide, and whose life is worth saving. Dr. Emanuel is part of [...]
Obama Targets Medicare Advantage
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Seniors would lose with health ‘reform,’ and seniors vote. President Barack Obama was wise to vacation this week on Martha’s Vineyard. Not because it’s one of the few places in America where his health-care plan is still popular, but because by getting out of Washington he gave staff time to repair his vaunted message machine, [...]
To readers
Posted in Other on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Due to travel and illness, I have been unable, between August 14 and August 26, to devote much time and, some days any, to Cervantes. In the next few days, some effort will be made to cover some of the gaps and to keep the information current. Thank you. AB
Today’s papers – August 24, 2009
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged August 24 2009 on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
On August 24, 2009, SLATE announced that Today’s papers was discontinued and replaced by The Slatest. The link to The Slatest is: http://slatest.slate.com/. The explanation for the change can be found at: http://www.slate.com/id/2225909/ . AB
Today’s papers – August 23, 2009
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged August 23 2009 on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
U.S. Shifts, Giving Detainee Names to the Red Cross The New York Times leads with the Pentagon’s decision to release the names of detainees held at secret camps in Iraq and Afghanistan to the Red Cross. The military previously insisted that the detainees’ identities be kept classified for fear they could jeopardize counterterrorism efforts. Red [...]
Today’s papers – August 22, 2009
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged August 22 2009 on August 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Economy Is ‘Leveling Out,’ Bernanke Says All the papers lead with news that the battered global economy could finally be on the mend. The Washington Post and the New York Times both top their front page with yesterday’s declaration from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the economy appears to be “leveling off,” his most [...]
Today’s papers – August 21, 2009
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged August 21 2009 on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Afghan Election Called a Success Despite Attacks The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal‘s world-wide newsbox lead with, and everyone else fronts, Afghanistan’s presidential election, which was marred by low turnout and scattered violence. A steady campaign of intimidation by the Taliban over the past week kept many inside their homes. Officials were [...]
The Pelosi-Obama Deficits
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Health on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Earlier this year when President Obama was selling his first budget blueprint, he promised to end years of “borrow and spend” budgeting. Yesterday, reality struck. Mr. Obama’s White House and the Congressional Budget Office told us that current U.S. fiscal policy is “borrow and spend” on a hyperlink. The good news is the deficit for [...]
Why Obamacare Is Failing
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
At first it seemed plausible that President Obama had a communications problem on health care — to which the solution was always more and more Obama. But exposure did not translate into persuasion. Then it seemed useful to diagnose a partisan problem, blaming a small minority of congressional obstructionists and town hall crazies for frustrating [...]
Today in History – August 26
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 26 on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 2009. There are 127 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. On this date In 55 [...]
Today in History – August 25
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 25 on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 25, the 237th day of 2009. There are 128 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 25, 1944, during World War II, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation. On this date In 1825, Uruguay declared independence from Brazil. In 1875, Capt. [...]
Today in History – August 24
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 24 on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Monday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2009. There are 129 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol (which was still under construction) and the White House, as well as other public [...]
Today in History – August 23
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 23 on August 26, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Sunday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2009. There are 130 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 23, 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (On this date in 1977, Massachusetts Gov. Michael [...]
Today in History – August 22
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 22 on August 22, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Saturday, Aug. 22nd, the 234th day of 2009. There are 131 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 22, 1485, England’s King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses. Henry Tudor succeeded Richard to become King Henry VII. On [...]
Today in History – August 21
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 21 on August 22, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Friday, Aug. 21, the 233rd day of 2009. There are 132 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History Fifty years ago, on Aug. 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order, five months after signing the Hawaiian statehood bill. On this date In [...]
Shhh! Gallup Reports That Conservatives Outnumber Libs in All 50 States; Media Plays Dumb
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on August 21, 2009 | Comments Off
Media ignores stunning news–again. You know this is important polling news, because the establishment media is pretending it doesn’t exist. You can’t find a relevant reference to it in searches on “Gallup” at the New York Times, AP.org, the Washington Post, or the LA Times. A Google News search on “Gallup conservatives outnumber liberals” (not [...]
Pull the Plug on ObamaCare
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 21, 2009 | Comments Off
It’s the best cure for what ails the Obama presidency. Looking back, this must have been the White House health-care strategy: Health care as a subject is extraordinarily sticky, messy and confusing. It’s inherently complicated, and it’s personal. There are land mines all over the place. Don’t make the mistake the Clintons made and create [...]
The Truth About Death Counseling
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
Let’s see if we can have a reasoned discussion about end-of-life counseling. We might start by asking Sarah Palin to leave the room. I’ve got nothing against her. She’s a remarkable political talent. But there are no “death panels” in the Democratic health-care bills, and to say that there are is to debase the debate. [...]
The labours of Sisyphus
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
Opposition to health-care reform is mounting. Barack Obama must now decide whether to scale back his approach DO THE Republicans scent blood? One sign that they might came this week, in the form of a sharp letter from John Boehner, leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, to the head of the Pharmaceutical [...]
U, V or W for recovery
Posted in Economy and business on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
The world economy has stopped shrinking. That’s the end of the good news IT HAS been deep and nasty. But the worst global recession since the 1930s may be over. Led by China, Asia’s emerging economies have revived fastest, with several expanding at annualised rates of more than 10% in the second quarter. A few [...]
Today in History – August 20
Posted in This day in history, tagged August 20 on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
Today is Thursday, Aug. 20, the 232nd day of 2009. There are 133 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History On Aug. 20, 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive led by Alexander Dubcek. On this date In 1833, Benjamin Harrison, [...]
Today’s papers – August 20, 2009
Posted in Today's Papers, tagged August 20 2009 on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
C.I.A. Sought Blackwater’s Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists The New York Times leads with word that the CIA hired contractors from Blackwater USA to take part in an assassination program that targeted top al-Qaida operatives. Blackwater is a private security contractor, now known as Xe Services LLC, that has come under scrutiny for using [...]
In Government We Trust?
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
The public’s reaction to government health care is proving that Ronald Reagan was right. To explain why the Obama health-care proposal pitched the nation’s politicians into town-hall hell, we would like to call to the stand an expert on how things in life can sometimes go wrong—Mr. Billy Joel. Using a song years ago to [...]
Health Co-ops: Slow Road to Government Care
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
The potential benefits are nil; the potential costs are large. There are hints that the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leadership might be willing to negotiate on the inclusion of a government health insurer as part of health-care reform. The most likely alternative proposal, which has been discussed by the Senate Finance Committee, is to [...]
ObamaCare’s Contradictions
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on August 20, 2009 | Comments Off
The President does both sides now on his health insurance plan. Over the past week, President Obama has held three town-halls to make the case for his health-care plan. While he didn’t say much that he hasn’t said a thousand times before, his remarks did offer another explanation for the public’s skepticism of ObamaCare. Namely, [...]
