Dear Kitty. Some blog

Hello everyone! My blog at ModBlog is working again.

So, as long as it continues working there, you won’t see new messages here at Blogsome.

Only if there is trouble at ModBlog preventing me from posting there, you will find me here.

UPDATE 16 October 2006: ModBlog seems to be gone forever.

From Common Dreams:

Thursday, December 1, 2005

War Profiteer Knows How to Party

by Sarah Anderson

Over the past few months, I’ve gotten all kinds of flak from CEOs who were the subject of a report I co-authored about executive pay among defense contractors.

Jack London of CACI International, whose employees interrogated prisoners at Abu Ghraib, denounced what I wrote as “shameful” and “ignorant.”

A United Technologies official accused me (falsely) of slander.

But the man who got the worst skewering was silent.

David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in 2004, 13,349 percent more than his pre-9/11 compensation, according to “Executive Excess,” co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

On top of that, Brooks sold company stock worth about $186 million last year, spooking investors who drove DHB’s share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50.

See also here.

And here.

From RedOrbit:

Earliest Known Bird Fossil Had Dinosaur Feet

WASHINGTON — A new analysis of Archaeopteryx, the earliest known birdlike animal, shows it had feet like dinosaurs - a finding that adds weight to the belief that the birds frequenting backyard feeders today are descendants of mighty ancient carnivores.

While not all scientists agree, many consider Archaeopteryx the first bird, since it had wings and was the first fossil found with feathers.

Details have been lacking on the animals, however, since only a few fossil specimens have been found.

The new one, reported in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, is the 10th known and one of the most complete.

Contrary to what had been thought, the new fossil shows that the first toe was not reversed in Archaeopteryx, as is the case on current birds, according to a team led by Gerald Mayr of Research Institute Schenkenberg in Frankfurt, Germany.

Lack of the reversed toe would hamper the animal’s ability to perch like current birds, the researchers said.

On the other hand, it’s second toe could be extended, like those of theropod - beast-footed - dinosaurs, a group that included such well known examples as T. rex.

Archaeopteryx was considerably smaller, however, close to the size of a magpie. The new example lived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria.

There is also an Archaeopteryx fossil in Teyler’s museum in The Netherlands.

2006 fossil claw found in Brazil, and discussion on birds-dinosaurs relationship: here.

Relative of Archaeopteryx found in China? See here.

Cretaceous fossil bird Gansus from China: here.

Asiahesperornis, fossil bird from Kazakhstan: here.

From British daily The Guardian:

Stephen Grey and Luke Harding in Berlin

Thursday December 1, 2005

The transatlantic row over the secret transfer of terror suspects by the Bush administration took a new twist yesterday when it emerged that more than 300 flights operated by the CIA had landed at European airports.

According to flight logs seen by the Guardian, Britain was second only to Germany as a transit hub for the CIA, which stands accused of operating a covert network of interrogation centres in eastern Europe.

Several European governments have launched urgent investigations into whether clandestine CIA flights were used in the aftermath of September 11 to transfer Islamist prisoners to third countries where they could be interrogated beyond the reach of international law.

The allegations have provoked a furore in Europe.

See also here.

From The Times in London:

By Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent

THE official general election artist claimed yesterday that he had been the victim of a “sinister” attempt within parliamentary circles to censor and delay an exhibition of his satirical drawings from the campaign trail.

David Godbold, 44, was commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art. …

Godbold’s work, inspired by the 18th and 19th-century satirists Rowlandson, Gillray and Daumier, includes some scathing attacks, particularly on Tony Blair and Labour’s handling of the NHS, Iraq and postal voting.

Although he comes from a staunch Socialist background and was “delighted” when new Labour got into power, his treatment by the party during the campaign soured his view of the Government.

He said yesterday that, whereas the other parties had welcomed him, Labour officials had repeatedly tried to refuse him entry to events.

On one occasion he had found himself locked in a room for 20 minutes while checks were made.

There is a new animation by Mark Fiore on the Internet; it is called Slumberland.

It is here.

It is on the policies of the Republican party in the USA: cutbacks on social services.

While there are tax cuts for the rich.

See on that, also here.

See also here.

US Democrats bow to Wall Street, saving tax break for billionaires: here.

This video from the USA is called Anderson Cooper: Torture and President Bush.

From London daily News Line:

Thursday, 1 December 2005

Yesterday human rights group Liberty called on Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to seek assurances in the next 14 days from the USA that it is not using UK airports to transport alleged terror suspects to secret torture centres in other countries.

Liberty has written to Straw and to police chiefs saying it fears that the UK is in breach of domestic and international law by allowing CIA ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights to land and re-fuel in Britain.

Liberty requested that the Police Chief Constables of Bedfordshire, Cambridge, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, the Metropolitan Police, the Ministry of Defence Police, Sussex, Thames Valley and West Midlands investigate suspected ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights at their local airports.

They too have been asked to respond within 14 days.

Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti said: ‘It is troubling that our Government chases Algeria for anti-torture assurances but cowers from confronting the USA on the same issue.’

Liberty’s call to action against ‘extraordinary rendition’ marks the launch of its ‘No torture, no compromise’ campaign which seeks to make the UK government honour its positive obligation to stop torture and ill-treatment.

In its letter to Straw, Liberty states: ‘It is strongly believed that the CIA engages in the practice in the full knowledge, indeed expectation, that the people it transports will be subjected to torture in the country to which they are delivered.