Carnival Time!

Be Lambic or Green will be hosting the 14th Skeptic's Circle in a few days.  Consider sending submissions as follows:

The 14th Skeptic’s Circle will be happening in two weeks time, and I have the pleasure of being the 14th host. I have a very special venue planned, but before I can finalize those arrangements I need some skeptical submissions! If you’re having skeptical thoughts and you need to get them off your chest, then blog about them, and send me a link.

Submissions can be sent here. I have heavy-duty spam-filters in place, so if your mail bounces or you don’t get a response from me, leave a comment here and I’ll find another way to contact you. [If you still don't get an acknowledgment, you can send the submissions to Orac, who will forward them on.]

Submission guidelines are here.

Tags: quackery, pseudoscience, skeptic

Pharmaceutical Advice on the Internet

After writing my last serious post, I got to thinking about the issue of Pharmaceutical Advice on the Internet.  Although the issue of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) by pharmaceutical companies is a big issue, too, it seems to be more widely discussed.  I haven't run across much that deals specifically with pharmaceutical sales and advice over the Internet, even though that is a much more serious problem.  At least DTCA is regulated by the FDA, whereas there is absolutely no regulation on the Internet, other than on the sites put up by the drug companies themselves.  

In this post, I cast a skeptical look at Pharmaceutical Advice on the Internet, and conclude with some advice, including pointers on how to spot pseudoscientific nonsense.  Continue reading here.

Categories: Science, medicine
Tags: quackery, pseudoscience, skeptic, medicine

Got That Settled

My pirate name is:

Iron Roger Read

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough matey. That's okay wit' ye, though, since ya' be a tough matey. E'en though many pirates 'ave a rep'tation f'r not bein' t' brightest souls on earth, you defy t' sterotypes. Ye got taste and education. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

I just realized that the format of this post is messed up if viewed with Internet Explorer on Widnows XP. If I cared enough I would try to fix it; but I don't, and won't. You all should be using Firefox, anyway. (Or Safari or Opera, I suppose, or Konqueror.)

The Easy Way or the Right Way?

To a great extent, the success of a Presidency is determined by the quality of the President's advisors.  Equally important, though, is the President's choice when different advisors give different advice.  When it came to the question of the use of torture in military investigation, we learn now that the President received conflicting advice.  His legal advisor, Alberto Gonzales, told him it was OK.  His military advisors told him it was a bad idea.  Specifically, the military advisors told him it was wrong, and that it could put US troops at risk.  

Always unbiased, I give thanks to the Republican Senator who brought us this information: Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-SC).  As reported in the NYT:

Military's Opposition to Harsh Interrogation Is Outlined

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: July 28, 2005

WASHINGTON, July 27 - Senior military lawyers lodged vigorous and detailed dissents in early 2003 as an administration legal task force concluded that President Bush had authority as commander in chief to order harsh interrogations of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, newly disclosed documents show.

Despite the military lawyers' warnings, the task force concluded that military interrogators and their commanders would be immune from prosecution for torture under federal and international law because of the special character of the fight against terrorism.

In memorandums written by several senior uniformed lawyers in each of the military services as the legal review was under way, they had urged a sharply different view and also warned that the position eventually adopted by the task force could endanger American service members.

The memorandums were declassified and released last week in response to a request from Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. Mr. Graham made the request after hearings in which officers representing the military's judge advocates general acknowledged having expressed concerns over interrogation policies. [...]

"These military lawyers were clearly disturbed by the proposed techniques that were deviations from past practices that were being advocated by the Justice Department," said Senator Graham, himself a former military lawyer.

This raises a point: when confronted with a difficult decision, does it make more sense to listen to the people who are saying what you want to hear, or the people who actually know what they are talking about?  We know which is easier.  I would like to think, though, that Mr. Bush was not elected in order to do things the easy way; he was elected to do things the right way.

Categories: rants, politics
Tags: torture, politics, Guantanamo, Lindsey Graham, Bush is an idiot

I'm Glad We Got That Sorted Out...

Sort me!

CNS Update: Riluzole For Depression and OCD?

Occasionally, pharmaceuticals developed for one purpose turn out to have applications that differ from the original use.  This may turn out to be the case with riluzole (Rilutek® - Aventis Pharmaceuticals Products Inc.).  [Package insert (PI)]  I've blogged about this before, but this post has some new information, and presents a different perspective.  In addition, I've concluded with some notes and cautions about the accurate interpretation of blog posts on medical topics.  Continue reading here.

Categories: Science, medicine
Tags: depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, medicine, psychiatry, mental health, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Resolution of Inquiry

House Resolution 375, proposed by the Honorable Barbara Lee (D-CA), calls for Congress to exercise its Constitutional oversight of the executive branch, by investigating the communication that took place between the USA and the UK in the run-up to the Iraq War.  Although this is unlikely to go anywhere, given the yellow-hammerlock that the Republican Party has on Congress, it is a serious matter nonetheless.  

If our President indeed lied to the American people prior to the war, that would be a High Crime, by any definition.  Recall that he stated, on numerous occasions, that the decision for war had not been decided until a few days before hostilities began.  The gravity of the situation was underscored by the nation-wide recognition given to the Downing Street memos.  This is analogous to the situation with the 16 words about "uranium from Africa."  Those words were contained in a State of the Union Address, which is a Constitutionally-mandated official report to Congress.  Knowingly including a lie in report to Congress is no small matter.  Ol' Cranky at The Disenchanted Forest has the latest on that.  Continue reading, here.

Categories: rants, politics
Tags: politics, Downing Street Memo, BBA, impeachment, Valerie Plame

Fossils, Old and New

In 1978, road construction in South Africa resulted up an unexpected find.  Several fossilized dinosaur eggs were found.  Recently, scientists have been studying them.  This provides the first opportunity to study the embryonic development of a dinosaur.

In modern times, similar troves are being established all across the USA.  Smithsonian Magazine reports that we dispose of 100 million electronic gadgets per year.  In the next five years, 136,000 computers will become obsolete every day.  We can be hopeful that some of them will find their way to developing nations, elementary schools, and the like.  Eventually, though, they all will end up as trash.

Better yet, some programs are springing up around the country to recycle those once-beloved machines.  Computertakeback.com offers an easy way to find recyclers for your old electronic stuff.  

Geeks, of course, will reuse the various parts of their computers for as long as possible.  In some instances, manufacturers facilitate this process.  For some computers, especially the low-end ones, most of the essentials (processor, logic chips, sound, and video) are integrated onto the motherboard.  What that means is that many of these machines can be brought up to date with a "simple" motherboard swap, and some new RAM, and possibly a new hard drive.  Today's hard drives are so big, though, that most people won't come close to filling them up.  

What many people don't realize is that, if paleontological or archeological remains are found during the course of construction, the construction has to stop while the scientifically valuable material is preserved.  So the more gadgets we dump into landfills today, the slower new construction projects will be in the future.  

So let's not slow down our progeny's road construction projects.  Instead, let's hang on to those machines as long as possible, upgrade instead of replace, and recycle when there's no other choice.

In related news, American Scientist has released a report about postdoctoral students: Doctors Without Orders (1.8MB PDF).  It seems that many of them end up consigned to various fates, similar to those of the fossilized dinosaur eggs.  

Now I Won't Shop at Wal-Mart, Twice

I know that Wal-Mart is staggering because of my refusal to shop there.  But now they are really going to suffer.  Not only will I not shop there, now I won't shop there twice as often.  

Solomon, writing on For Real Things I Know, informs us that a Wal-Mart in or near Pensacola forced the Pensacola News-Journal to remove their newspaper vending machines from Wal-Mart lots, because their manager was offended by an editorial in one of their editions.  The Wal-Mart manager, Bob Hart, told the senior editor that the News-Journal might be able to replace the machines if he fired the reported who wrote the column.  

Wal-Mart is a company that wraps itself in red, white and blue.

I might understand it if Wal-Mart said I ought to fire Mark because what he said wasn't accurate. But that isn't the case. Mark accurately reported that there are 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees in a health-care program that is costing Georgia taxpayers nearly $10 million a year.

Shouldn't we talk about that?

Well, yes, we should talk about that.  We should talk about it because it is a tacit endorsement of the concept of universal health coverage.  I wonder: How many managers and CEO's of large corporations have employees who have to resort to government programs because of low wages?  I also wonder: How many of those people would be upset if we had universal health coverage?  Not content to stop wondering, I wonder: how many of those people realize what hypocrites they are?

Categories: rants
Tags: health policy, Wal-Mart

What Health Insurance Is, Really

I had other things to do, did not get anything written for Grand Rounds this week.  But at least I can link to it: Pharyngula is the host this week.  He even managed to find a unique format for the presentation, and to make an observation that must have seemed profound:

Doctors seem to spend a fair amount of time wondering why they became a doctor, and how to train more doctors.

Indeed.  

His use of the percentages of medblogging topics as an indicator of how doctors spend their time fails in two areas: it does not account for time spent sleeping, since hardly anyone blogs about sleeping.  Unless you count dreaming, and doctors rarely reveal their dreams.  And it does not account for time spent doing paperwork, which is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

I know my syntax is lousy tonight but that is because I am listening to my new Patti Smith CD;  Mother Rose is brilliant, by the way.  As is Radio Baghdad: "They're robbing/The cradle/of civil-/-ization."

If I had gotten to it, I would have submitted this.

Skeptic Poseurs

I have a bumper sticker that says "Question Skepticism."  There's a reason for that.  Primary, it's my idea of a joke.  Secondarily, it is a reminder that skepticism can be mean-spirited.  Today I encountered a particularly good example of that.

We all are familiar with those poseurs who pretend to be patriotic, but are not; who pretend to be religious, but really are pressing a personal agenda; who pretend to have a romantic interest, but really have their mind in the gutter.  This is a reminder that there are those who would pretend to take on the prestigious mantle of the Skeptic, but who really are just a pain in the ass.

In the one and a half years of the Corpus Callosum, there has been only one winner of the Yellow Hammer Award: Tom DeLay.  At the end of this post, I will announce the awarding of the second YHA.  In this post, I show why Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Ed Whitfield (R - KY) deserve the 2005 YHA.  Continue reading here.

Prometheus On the Edge of the Rings

You might have to click on this picture to get the full-size view to appreciate it.  Barely visible, near the center, is Prometheus.  Along the bottom, you see the rings of Saturn; arcing from lower right to upper left, Saturn itself.  

Prometheus On the Edge of the Rings

Jul 22, 2005 - In this photograph, Cassini is looking through Saturn's rings to see the planet and one of its shepherd moons, Prometheus. The rings are casting a shadow onto the planet, and you can see the narrow, dense regions which are created by gravitational interaction with the shepherd moons. This picture was taken on June 3, 2005, when Cassini was 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn.

Although you can't tell from this picture, there are no wars on Saturn.

Categories: science, cool stuff
Tags: science, astronomy, Saturn

More on John Conyers

Rep. Conyers hugs Lila Lipscomb.

From coverage of the Town Hall Meeting:

Lila Lipscomb, the mother of a career Army sergeant killed in Iraq and featured in the popular anti-war documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore, added her call for an end to the war.

After thanking Conyers for honoring her son with his courage in taking up this fight, Lipscomb criticized the administration for deceiving the public and for claiming to know what is best for us. She asked the attentive audience, "Aren’t you tired of being treated like you’re stupid and don’t know anything?"

Lipscomb also weighed in on the failure of the administration to reconstruct war-torn Iraq. She said that in her many communications with soldiers currently in Iraq, the main construction seems to be on US military bases. "Is that an exit strategy?" she wondered.

Urging the people to demand the truth about the war, Lipscomb added that it is our responsibility to bring the troops home safely. "I refuse for another child to die over lies and ignorance."

Categories: rants, politics
Tags: John Conyers, Lila Lipscomb, Downing Street Memo

I Want to Feel

Hot, white sand between my toes.

Potter mania could negatively affect kids: psychiatrists

Apparently there is a bit of controversy about Harry Potter, from, among all people, psychiatrists in India.  They interviewed two.  One seems to feel that the stories could have a negative effect on kids.  The other thinks it is no big deal.  I side with the latter view:

However, psychiatrist Sanjay Parekh defends the author saying the book is not necessarily so-called children's literature.

"The book is a progressive series and the youngsters must have grown up along with Harry. Though anything violent is not condoned, but adolescents can easily identify with the boy wizard's emotions, his passing phases," Parekh says.

As for the generous smatterings of romance in the book, he says "romance can never be a matter of concern for children. Violence is. Parents of little children thereby must also themselves read any literature they hand to their kids, to answer their curiosity," he says.

The article does not contain plot spoilers, but there are some hints to the content, so those who have not yet read the sixth book might want to wait before reading the article.

While We Wait

There are some comments about today's Town Hall Meeting with the Honorable John Conyers posted at Michigandem's Livejournal.  We're still waiting for more, both there, at at Conyer's blog.  Michigandem promises pictures, which I would like to see.

A few comments of my own:  

First: Traffic and construction in downtown Detroit is absolutely terrible.  And they don't mark their detours very well.  And my car overheats when it is not moving, which is a problem I'll have to solve later.  Fortunately, I have an adjustable Thermaltake fan on my CPU, so I don't have to worry about heat while blogging.  If only cars were simple, like computers.

Second: There was a lot of positive energy in the room.  There were over 300 people there, many (including us) standing in the back because the auditorium was full.  It was not full of dejected sour-grapes-sore-looser liberals.  It was full of people who still have hope that we can get rid of the crooks and liars in the White House.

Third: The most electric moment occurred during the talk by Robert Sedler, Distinguished Professor of Law, and Gibbs Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, at Wayne State University:

Professor Sedler teaches courses in Constitutional Law and Conflict of Laws. He has published extensively in both fields, and in 1994 published a book, Constitutional Law — United States, in the Constitutional Law series of the International Encyclopedia of Laws for an international audience.

He used the word, "impeachment."  The audience went nuts, respectfully, for a minute or two.  Apparently, he is serious about impeachment.

Fourth: One of the speakers was a former CIA agent, and a classmate of Valerie P.  He was the one guy in the room I wouldn't have wanted to armwrestle with.  Jim Marcinkowski was an "operations specialist," whatever that is, in the Navy, from 1975-1980; he was an operations officer in the CIA from 1985 to 1990; he got his start in politics as President of the Michigan Young Republicans.  It would be difficult for anyone to accuse him of being "politically motivated."  Although composed and steely-eyed, he was one pissed-off dude.  He stated that he knows that worldwide intelligence operations have been damaged by the leak.  It is his opinion that national security continues to suffer every day that the Administration fails to address the issue of the Plame leak.  His comments today were pretty similar to what he said yesterday at the Waxman hearing, which you can find in the Hearing transcript (especially pages 26-28.)

Fifth: The meeting originally was planned to commemorate the anniversary of the Downing Street Memo, but the other topics (Rovegate, impeachment) were included.  They are pertinent because those three topics are the ones that emerge most clearly from the background noise of "politics as usual" that enable us to conclude that our current Administration really is composed of a bunch of crooks and liars.
_____
UPDATE: 3 photos are up at AfterDowningStreet.org, here.
_____

UPDATE: Detroit media appear to have ignored the Meeting. Just in case you want to let them know how you feel about this:

Local News Contacts

Channel 2 (Fox): Feedback / Comments
Channel 4 (WDIV): We Want To Hear From You
Channel 7 (WXYZ): E-mail

Detroit Free Press: City/Metro desk city@freepress.com
Detroit News: Mark Silverman, Publisher & Editor: msilverman@detnews.com
_____

UPDATE: Michigandems photos are up, here. I suggest taking a look, if only to see the faces of the people who may be able to change our lives for the better.

Categories: rants, politics
Tags: John Conyers, Valerie Plame, Downing Street Memo, Karl Rove

If You Think I'm Too Critical...

Just in case anyone thinks I'm too critical of our government, just take a look at the transcript (171KB PDF) from today's House hearing on the Plame incident, chaired by Rep. Waxman.  

HOLT: If you had a message for Congress then, how should we prevent something like this from ever happening again, what would be called for?

JOHNSON: I say this as a currently registered Republican: I wish Howard Baker was back in the Senate. I wish there was a Republican of some courage and conviction that would stand up and call the ugly dog the ugly dog that it is. But instead, you know, I watched last night, John McCain on Chris Matthews' "Hardball," making excuses, being an apologist. Where are these men and women over there with any integrity to stand up and speak out against this? And I don't have great Republican credentials, but I started out in '72 working on the gubernatorial campaign of Kit Bond. Orrin Hatch wrote my recommendation letter. And I'm still a registered Republican. I expect better behavior out of Republicans.

LANG: Look, let me just say something about this. In the past, a junior officer in some setting who broke an intelligence person's operational cover would be punished administratively. The mechanism is there for doing this. This is an unauthorized disclosure of classified information. And if you didn't choose to deal with it yourself, as Marcinkowski said, you could get him punished. But the problem is, when you get to this kind of level, you know, things stop being unauthorized disclosures in reality and become press releases. And that has to -- what has to be stopped. There has to be a way, in fact, to discipline people who are closer to the center of power. Otherwise, I suspect that the temptation to deal with your enemies in ways like this may be overwhelming for a number of people. And it's a really despicable thing to do, really.

[...]

JOHNSON: It would be one thing if he was a freshman member of Congress and never had any exposure whatsoever to national security issues. But we're talking about a member of the Republican leadership in the House and that level of ignorance is frightening. Perhaps that explains why we've gotten into some of the other messes overseas. If they're that ill-informed on an issue so basic about how the intelligence community operates, what other things are they so ill- informed on?

[link, emphasis added]

The whole thing is 53 pages long.  It's absolutely blistering.
_____
UPDATE: see John Conyer's take on the hearing on his blog.

Categories: Rants, politics
Tags: Valerie Plame, Henry Waxman, John Conyers

Medical Research News

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has announced a $3.7 million program for medical education:

Medical Students Win HHMI Research Awards
June 30, 2005

More than 100 medical students from medical schools all over the country are learning what life is like in a research lab.

This year, 66 medical students received HHMI research training fellowships, which they will use at medical research centers nationwide. Another 42 medical and dental students were accepted as HHMI-NIH research scholars. They will live and work on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, where HHMI's research scholars program is based at a historic building informally known as the Cloister.

If those students really want to know what life is like in a research lab, I could show them for a lot less than $3.7 million.  This summer would be a good time, as a matter of fact.  

I have a number of large boulders on my property, as well as a few medium-sized hills.  I figure it would take about 10 medical students a few days to roll all of those boulders up to the top of a hill.  I could push the boulders back down to the bottom, and the next ten could come over.  By the end of the summer, all 108 of them would have a pretty good idea of what it is like to work in a research lab. And it probably would be a lot more realistic than living in "The Cloister."

Speaking of Google Maps...

They've added the Moon.

Welcome to Google Moon

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps  interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing. More about Google Moon.

Town Hall Meeting

Town Hall Meeting

Town Hall Meeting With Congressman John Conyers

Wayne State University Law School Auditorium
471 W. Palmer
Detroit, Michigan 48202

July 23, 2005,02:00 PM

Keynote speakers:

• Congressman John Conyers;
• Lila Lipscomb of Gold Star Families for Peace, who - you will recall - was the most powerful part of "Fahrenheit 9-11";
• Detroit Area Peace and Justice Network coordinator Al Fishman; Bob Sedler, constitutional law expert from Wayne State University;
• moderator Tony Trupiano

So far, 83 people have signed up to attend; with a bit more publicity, perhaps there will be more.  At least one person is offering to carpool from the Ann Arbor area.  A PDF map is here.  The Google map is here.  The satellite view is here (click to enlarge)

In related news, Carl Levin has posted his report regarding his recent "junket" to Iraq.

One purpose of my trip was to gauge the level of the insurgency. I found strong support for the recent assessment of General Abizaid, the regional U.S. Commander, that the insurgency is not weakening and that the flow of foreign jihadists into Iraq has increased. I found no support for Vice President Cheney's view that the insurgency is in its “last throes.”

Categories: politics
Tags:downing street memo , john conyers

On A More Serious Note

Grand Rounds 43 is up at Aggravated DocSurg.  Again, this is a weekly Carnival that is not limited to posts by doctors and nurses.  Anyone with something to say about medicine or health care is welcome.  Submission guidelines are here.

Remember, the target audience here is NOT other medical bloggers, or people in the health care industry. It's the educated but nonmedical readers coming from general-interest blogs. So write for that audience, if only for this one post (even if your blog is about echocardiography). The idea is to introduce the wider world to the growing medical blogosphere -- the doctors, nurses, students, administrators, EMTs, techs, and patients who blog.

Submissions for next week go to Pharyngula.  I've volunteered to host the one after Labor Day.  Hosts between now and then are needed.  All it takes is a blog, a rudimentary knowledge of English, and a willingness to stay up late on Monday night.  Let Izzy know if you are willing.  If you need an inducement: it is guaranteed to bring a new audience, and lots of traffic, to your blog.

Real Money-Making Opportunity

No door-to door sales, no deposed government official in Nigeria, no experience required.  

The Federal government is taking private bids to operate Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Unhappy with the performance of the University of California, and eager to create get-rich-quick-off-taxpayer-resources opportunities, Our government is looking to unload some prime real estate in scenic northern New Mexico.  

Bidders already include the likes of Bechtel and Lockheed-Martin.  It is estimated that profits from the Lab could top $80 million per year, working on things like the W76 nuclear warhead.  

But I have a better idea.  All I need is a little startup capital, and somewhere to store some nuclear waste.  You see, I have a cousin in Alaska, who runs a little florist shop.  She says that there is a tremendous market for fresh plants in Alaska.  And -- get this -- right now, there is absolutely no one importing cactus into Alaska!

The only problem is that cactus do not grow very well in Alaska.  But with all that pristine desert to work with, and a few gamma rays, we could change all that!  Imagine the possibilities!  Cultivating cactus that would grow in Alaska would create business opportunities that would make $80 million look like pocket change.  With all the brilliant minds at Los Alamos working on the problem, it should be a piece of cake.

The scientists remaining at Los Alamos, those who have not quit or retired early, might grumble a little bit at having to shelve their work on bunker-busters, only to cultivate new varietals of tumbleweed, but they would get used to it.  They might even like not having to walk around with lead-lined underwear.  I understand that stuff is nasty when you get all sweaty, anyway.

The fact is, the world already has something like 30,000 nuclear warheads.  The market for those things is getting a little thin.  Besides, they kill people.  Cactus might give you a little poke now and then, but that's no big deal.

If you live in an igloo, imagine how your property values will soar if you have a pair of 8-foot yucca framing your entryway!  Tired of sled dogs painting your outside wall yellow?  Just plant a row of barrel cactus...problem solved!  And the best thing about it: those pesky moose and polar bears won't nibble on it all the time!  

But wait!  There's more!  If we act now, we can get ready for all those Texas oilmen when they come up to make ANWR into the next Love Canal.  Imagine how it'll warm their little hearts to see saguaro all over the oil fields!  Just like home!  Then their little minds won't be so homesick.

I tell you, it's the opportunity of a lifetime!!!

Panda Baby Boom Arrives on Pink Paws

A newborn giant panda is about as big as a stick of butter and lacks the familiar black-and-white markings for its first month or so of life. Successful births in captivity are extremely rare—and extremely prized by conservationists, given the species's dwindling numbers. About 1,600 giant pandas remain in the wild, plus about 160 living in zoos and breeding centers, according to the National Zoo.

Look Upon This, Rumsfeld, and Weep

I had posted too many politically-oriented things lately, so I went to one of my favorite sources of medical news: Medscape.  Medscape almost never publishes anything with political implications, except those pertaining to health policy.  The following article appears to have been so compelling that they made an exception. (Free registration required)

Medical Investigations of Homicides of Prisoners of War in Iraq and Afghanistan
Steven H. Miles, MD
Medscape General Medicine.  2005;7(3) 2005 Medscape
Posted 07/05/2005

Introduction

The publication of the photographs of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib has resulted in a widening circle of disclosures and official investigations of similar abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay. There are reports that some medical personnel neglected detainees' medical needs and collaborated with coercive interrogations.[1,2] Some physicians, medics, nurses, and physician assistants failed to report abuses or injuries caused by the abuses that they witnessed. This article reviews another human rights issue -- the medical evaluation of cases of which prisoners potentially died of because of mistreatment or under suspicious circumstances. [...]

I've posted before on the fact that medical personnel were involved in interrogations, contrary to established medical ethics, and contrary to US military policy.  The Medscape article amplifies and confirms prior allegations of a different sort: medical personnel failed to provide adequate investigation and documentation of the deaths of detainees.  

The article quotes the applicable Geneva Conventions, which apply broadly to "internees."  The significance of this is that it does not matter why the person was being detained.  Thus, the internee's status, whether as prisoner of war, unlawful combatant, or innocent bystander, does not matter.  

The article details many specific examples of incomplete or misleading autopsy reports, mishandled forensic evidence, and obstructed death investigations.  Furthermore, it documents cases in which military personnel wither were not charged with crimes, or were given minor punishments:

Even when investigators found a criminal homicide, the US Department of Defense was reluctant to prosecute those involved or who were aware of the abuse. A soldier who shot a prisoner to death was not prosecuted because he was not informed about the rules for using force against prisoners.[38] At Camp Bucca in September 2003, an International Committee of the Red Cross monitor saw a guard shoot a prisoner in the chest. The monitor said, "The shooting showed a clear disregard for human life and security of the persons deprived of their liberty.[9]" The US Army concluded that the shooting was justifiable. Escaping, nonthreatening detainees were shot on other occasions.[39] The base commander at Tikrit prison used an administrative procedure to preempt the prosecution of the soldier who killed Obeed Hethere Radad (see Table ). Most of the soldiers prosecuted for criminal homicides of prisoners received nonjudicial punishments, such as a reduction in rank, and the record of charges, punishments, and even the name of the victim are sealed.[3]

Dr. Miles concludes with remarkable restraint:

The failures of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology have had diverse adverse consequences. A death monitoring system, which might have led to earlier awareness and prevention of homicides and abuse caused by torture, was never operational. Mishandled evidence and incomplete evaluations allowed alleged perpetrators of lethal torture to go unprosecuted. The failure to integrate the completion of death certificates into a Geneva-mandated system for notifying relatives of deaths compounded the grief, anger, and uncertainty of families. Bodies were administratively buried rather than being interred by relatives with proper ceremonies in the family's chosen place of interment. Our national reputation and interests were harmed by these failures.

Yes, our national reputation and interests were harmed.  The reputation of the medical profession has been harmed.  The reputation of the US and British military forces were harmed.  Somehow, though, the politicians have been given a pass.
_____
Update: as pointed out by Dr. DeFACCto from Cardioblog, there's a pertinent op-ed piece by By Burton J. Lee III, M.D., in the Washington Post, here.

Concrete Horse

We put this concrete horse up near the house.
For some reason, the real horses keep knocking it over.
I think it bothers them.

Republican Presidential Strategy in 2008

No, I don't have any leaked memos.  I'm just making this up.  But I think it is true and I think it illustrates an important point.

A recent essay by John Kenneth White and John Zogby discusses President Bush's declining poll numbers, and delves into the numbers behind the numbers.  What they find is that much of the downturn is due to declining support among independents and moderates.  While both groups trended toward Kerry in 2004, now they have turned overwhelmingly against Bush.  This provides clues about the likely Republican Presidential Strategy in 2008.  In this post, I examine the reasons for the loss of support amongst independents and moderates, and the implications of this shift.  Continue reading here.

Categories: politics
Technorati tags: Karl Rove, downing street memo, John Conyers

Harry Potter Stats

Guaranteed: NO PLOT SPOILERS IN THIS POST

According to Zogby, Hermione Granger would beat Harry and Ron in a Presidential election.  Also, most Harry Potter fans think that both George W. Bush and Hilary R. Clinton belong in Slytherin.  29% of adults say they have read at least one Harry Potter book, and 66% of those say they plan to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  

President Granger

Technorati tag: Harry Potter

Old News Still Relevant

Link-skipping today, I encountered an article at BBC News about an unusual case report, or at least, a case report of an unusual presentation of a common illness:

Loud snoring link to hallucinations
BBC News
January 15, 1999

A sleep disorder that results in loud snoring could also combine with other factors to induce hallucinations, doctors say.

Doctors from Kings Mill Hospital in Nottinghamshire studied the case of a man who was admitted to hospital suffering confusion during the day and hallucinations at night.

Hospital staff originally thought the 65-year-old man, who also suffered bronchitis and was overweight, was suffering from dementia.

But he was referred to a specialist respiratory unit when his wife mentioned that he snored heavily, with periods of choking and breath-holding. [...]

The doctors say sleep apnoea combined with bronchitis could cause progressive carbon dioxide retention, leading to the man's symptoms.

They write: "Obstructive sleep apnoea is common, with prevalence estimates in the adult male population of about 1%.

"The main features of obstructive sleep apnoea are snoring and daytime sleepiness, but its presentation with neuropsychiatric symptoms is well recognised."

My only objection pertains to the last sentence. Patients with obstructive (or central) sleep apnea often do present with psychiatric symptoms, and this is well documented in the medical literature, but that is not the same as being well recognized.  Doctors quite often fail to recognize this presentation.  Patients who come in with main complaints of a psychiatric nature often are not subjected to sufficient medical evaluation.

Categories: medicine, sleep disorders
Technorati tags: medicine

Alternative Treatments?

LAT, among others, reports on a study that investigated congregational prayer, and bedside therapies using music and touch, to see if they could detect an improvement in survival after surgery.  The study was published in The Lancet.  Unfortunately, the Lancet site is down for maintenance so I can't access it now.  I can, however, put on my perpetual sophomore hat, and offer a few uninformed comments.  Continue reading here.

Categories: science, medicine, being nice
Technorati tags: medicine

Friday Blog Blogging

A while back, someone suggested that I submit a picture of our new colt to Modulator's Friday Ark.  I think it was "grrlscientist" AKA Hedwig the Owl,  at Living the Scientific Life.  I never got around to it, though, just as I've not yet gotten around to the Book meme she so graciously tagged me with.  But surprise, surprise, Modulator found yesterday's photo of April and Champie and included it anyway.

I actually happen to have quite a lot of photos that I could put up, but I'm still laboring with a 56K dialup connection, and it really is a pain in the neck to upload all that stuff.  Hedwig has a ton of great bird pictures on her Flickr site.  Another neat nature site is Sunidesus Sees.

And there was another blog surprise this week.  When I first started this blog, I never thought that one of my more popular posts would be about feminine hygiene products.  Surely, it would be something about the CNS drug pipeline, or an advance in sleep disorder research, or an environmental exposé, or maybe an incisive political analysis.  Just goes to show how unpredictable life can be.

Since I often write about medical topics, you might think I would have something to say about the rising possibility of a bird flu epidemic.  But no.  Instead, what I've noticed is that there has been an epidemic of photos from New Mexico.  The latest outbreak is at zap (patriotic).  Other outbreaks have been sighted at Mousemusings (1 2) and Dangerousmeta, and photo-secession.org (which appear to be two sites run by one guy), as well as sergeant's photostream.  

And to top it all off, here's a photo by a guy I once spent a summer with in Wyoming...

Photo in the News: Whale Found in Egypt Desert
Photograph courtesy Philip D. Gingerich/University of Michigan

The first of the truly gigantic whales, Basilosaurus had the serpentine shape of a sea monster and short, sharp teeth for hunting sharks and other prey. Unlike today's whales, it had no blowhole—the ancient behemoth had to raise its head above water to breathe. What's more, Basilosaurus still had the feet it inherited from its land-dwelling ancestors, according to Gingerich, who works for the University of Michigan and is a National Geographic Society grantee.

BBA Members

The list of Big Brass Alliance members has gotten so long, that it is not practical to use the scrolling list I have in the sidebar. Therefore, I am putting the whole thing here. I'll update it every few weeks, as the list grows.

1. 07-23-2002 - The DSM...is Bush's Watergate!
2. DaBugg
3. Democracy Central
4. V l o g ~ F l u x
5. # theRootForce #
6. #nanobubble
7. (...Parenthetically Speaking)
8. .::The Soldier of Fortune.::
9. 1031 Productions
10. 103reasons
11. 12thharmonic Blog
12. 1776 Dead Americans
13. 1: Jane's Web Log
14. 2 Political Junkies
15. 42
16. A Better World
17. A Bigger Tent
18. A Brooklyn Bridge
19. A Cat Named Pi
20. A Freeway in Hell
21. A Liberal Dose
22. A Lie a Day
23. A Little Leeway
24. A Little Left of Centrist
25. A Logical Voice
26. A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
27. A Mockingbird's Medley
28. A People So Bold!
29. A Political Misery
30. A Progressive Christian
31. A Sandy Beach Almanac
32. A Sense of Urgency
33. A Tiny Revolution
34. A True Jersey Girl
35. A Vietnam Vet's R & R (Rant's and Raps)
36. abbey lane
37. Abloganation
38. Accinge
39. Acoustic Dad's Place
40. Adgitadiaries
41. Adventures of the Smart Patrol
42. Advice For Lefty
43. Afarensis
44. After School Snack
45. Against the Madness
46. Agitprop
47. Air America Radio IRC
48. Alas, a Blog
49. Albion's Alchemist
50. Alexis's Blog
51. All Facts and Opinions
52. all the fun of the fair...
53. All This
54. Also Also
55. Alternate Brain
56. Alternative Truth
57. AlterNet: Peek
58. Aman Yala
59. AMERICA the blog
60. America's Promise: John Kerry
61. America's Work Stories
62. America, God's Gift to Humanity
63. American Agenda
64. American Entropy
65. American Ex
66. American Imperium
67. American Regression
68. American Sedition
69. AmeriPundit
70. Amy's Head
71. An Angry Old Broad
72. An Army of Y
73. An Atheist Soldier
74. An Etherealgirl's Adventures in Cyberland
75. An Old Soul...
76. Anbruch
77. Ancient Eyes For Current Times
78. And, Yes, I DO Take It Personally
79. Ang's Weird Ideas
80. anonyMoses
81. AntiChimp
82. Any Which Way
83. Aquarian Conspirators
84. Archaeopteryx
85. archy
86. Are You Effin' Kidding Me?
87. Armchair Generalist
88. Arse Poetica
89. Article of Faith
90. Arvin Hill's Carnival of Horror
91. As Pretentious As I Wanna Be
92. Ask MamaLiz
93. Atlantanonian
94. Autumn of the Fall
95. Awaking Thoughts
96. Axe Grinding
97. AZ-VOTE
98. BabyFight
99. Bad Ass
100. Badtux the Snarky Penguin
101. Baja Canada, Seattle
102. Banana Slug
103. Barbara's Tchatzkah's
104. Bark Bark Woof Woof
105. Barking Dingo
106. Barrington Girl
107. Be Happy And Free
108. Bearcastle Blog
109. Beat That Drum!
110. beatnik politics
111. BedlamNews
112. Belisarius Blogs!
113. big bloo sky
114. Big Brass Balls
115. Big Brass Blog
116. BigGenerator
117. Binary Blonde
118. Biomes Blog
119. birdhaus---posts from the aviary
120. Bitch Ph.D.
121. Bitch | Lab
122. bizzle
123. Black & Blue Heart
124. BlackWhite
125. Blah Blah Freaking Blah
126. Blah3
127. Blank Out Times
128. Blanton's and Ashton's
129. BlatherWatch
130. Blog A-Boo
131. blog de la resistance
132. Blog For Arizona
133. Blog with a View
134. blogAmY
135. Blogenlust
136. BloggerRadio.com
137. Bloggy Bayou
138. Blognonymous
139. Blogtemps - An Enigma America Blog
140. BlondeSense
141. Blony
142. Blue Collar
143. Blue Dot Blog
144. Blue Fist of Freedom
145. Blue Gal in a Red State
146. blue girl in a red state
147. Blue In VA
148. Blue Oasis
149. Bluebus
150. Bob Harris
151. Book of Voices
152. Booman Tribune
153. Boulder Blog
154. Brad's Brain
155. BradBlog
156. Brains and Eggs
157. Bravo411 - Operation Information Freedom
158. Brian Patton
159. Brilliant at Breakfast
160. Bring It On
161. Broken Windows
162. Brother Kenya's Paradigm
163. Bruin Design -Dedicated to Regime Change at Home
164. BTC News
165. buddenblog
166. Burma Watch.com
167. Bush Killed Us
168. Bush Out (by Gandhi)
169. Bush Spy Victims
170. Bush Tracker
171. By the Bayou
172. byin-rlab
173. Byzantium's Shores
174. Cab Drollery
175. Cactus Blog
176. Cafe Politico
177. Cafe Politico Blog
178. Cairo's Place
179. Call For A Summer of Truth
180. Can't Keep Quiet!
181. CanadianPerspective
182. Capitol Banter
183. Captain Oblivious
184. Carnival of the Liberals
185. CHATTER
186. Chepooka
187. Chew Toys
188. Choosing Hope
189. Christopher's Journal
190. Christopher's Partner
191. Church of the Front Porch
192. Citizen's Rent
193. Class War Notes
194. Clear Thinkers For Truth
195. Cloudbuster LIBERAL News
196. Club Lefty
197. CMoore.com
198. CocoTralla
199. Coffee Studio House
200. Collin Kelley, The Other Official Website
201. Colman's recent web finds
202. Combat Philosophy
203. Comments From Left Field
204. Commeo
205. Common Ground Common Sense
206. Common Sense
207. CommonSenseDesk
208. Commuterrant
209. Complete Control
210. concerto for blunt instrument
211. Confessions of a Liberal Yankee
212. Confesstions of a First-Time Mother
213. connecting*the*dots
214. Constantly Amazed, Yet Never Surprised
215. Constitutional Crisis
216. contemplation worldwide
217. Contested Terrain
218. CoolAqua
219. Corked Bats
220. Corpus Callosum
221. Corrente
222. Cosmic Iguana - Voice of the Evil-Doers
223. Counterbias
224. Counternarratives
225. Courting Destiny
226. Cow Chips and the Compost Pile
227. Crackpot Press
228. Crashpoint - Politics
229. Crawford's Take
230. Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order News
231. Crooks and Liars
232. Culture Kitchen
233. Culture of Life or Culture of Lies?
234. Cupie Spew!
235. Current Era Blog
236. Cut to the Chase
237. cyberpols
238. Dada's Daily Dally
239. Daffodillane
240. Daily Dissent
241. Daily Pepper
242. Daily Revolution
243. Daily Spectacle
244. Daily Speech
245. Damage Control with Philip Racuel
246. Damned Empire
247. Dancing with Myself
248. Daughter of Liberty
249. DAYS
250. De-Center
251. Dead Guy
252. Debsweb
253. Deep End News
254. Deep Green Perspective
255. DefendUSA
256. Delusions of Grandeur
257. DemiOrator
258. Democracy for New Mexico
259. Democrappy
260. Democrat Taylor Marsh blogs politics and Iraq
261. Democratic Left Infoasis
262. Democrats.com
263. Denis DeKat's Symposium
264. Dependable Renegade
265. Desert Island Boy
266. Desert Rat Democrat
267. Devizes Melting Pot
268. Dharma Bums
269. Die Wachen
270. Dirty Liberal Words
271. Dirty Tricks
272. Discuss It
273. Discussion about 09/11/2001
274. Dodecahedron
275. DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA
276. Donkey O.D.
277. DonRene
278. Doucheblog
279. Downing Street Dossier
280. DOWNING STREET MINUTES
281. Dr. C
282. Dr. Forbush Thinks
283. Draft Zinni!
284. DrXyzzy
285. DubiousProfundity
286. dumbmonkey
287. DWK's Notes On Life
288. Dying to Preserve the Lies
289. E PLURIBUS RELUCTOR
290. E Street Blog
291. Earl Bockenfeld's Radio Weblog
292. eBeefs
293. Echidne of the Snakes
294. ed fitzgerald's unfutz
295. EditorMom
296. Educational Whisper
297. Egotistical Whining
298. Electronic Darwinism
299. Ellen's Illinois Tenth Congressional District Blog
300. End Poverty Now
301. Entropy Pile
302. Eponymous
303. Erratum
304. etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah
305. Everybody Knows
306. evolgen
307. Excuse Me, I Can't Find My Head
308. Exposing Secrecy In Government
309. Expostulation
310. Eyes On The Street
311. Fact-eqsue
312. Faggots on the Third Floor
313. Fair and Balanced Blogger
314. Faithful Progressive
315. Fallenmonk
316. Family Values
317. Fancy Pants Elitists
318. Fantasy Life
319. Fat Old Jerwish Guy Who Lives In The Projects
320. Father Jake Stops the World
321. Fatshadow
322. fc's BBA BlogRoll
323. fc's Indy 500 BlogRoll
324. FC's Political Links
325. Fear Bush
326. Feminista
327. Fiat Blog!
328. Fight the ReichWing
329. FireDogLake
330. First Draft
331. Florida Blues
332. Follow Me Here
333. Forward America
334. Founding Freedoms
335. Francesca's Liberal Wingnut Corner
336. Frederick Queers for Beers
337. Freedom's Gate Blog
338. freeman, libertarian critter
339. Freiheit und Wissen
340. Freshman 44
341. Frogs and Ravens
342. From Here: Sex, Politics, and Power
343. Froth Slosh B'Gosh
344. Fruits of Our Labour
345. funcentral
346. Fundamentalist Ideology May Cause Global Nuclear W
347. Fuzzy and Blue
348. Gatheroo
349. Genius of Insanity
350. GentleBreezes
351. Global Dialogue Center PERSPECTIVES
352. God & Consequences
353. God Dem!
354. God On Trial
355. Gothamimage
356. gotMilch.com
357. Gr8gol4
358. grannyinsanity-on the edge in Montana
359. Graphictruth
360. Great Minnesota Progressive Newswire
361. Great White Bear Speaks
362. GreatScat!
363. Green Dog Democrat
364. Greg Hartnett
365. Grendel's Kitchen
366. Grumpy Old Man
367. Guerilla Science
368. Half of the Sky
369. hammer & nail
370. Hartsongs
371. Headline Update
372. Hell's Handmaiden
373. Hellblazer
374. Helzerman's Odd Bits
375. Herding Blue Cats
376. Heretic Spire
377. Hillary Now
378. hippiegrrl redux
379. historymike's musings
380. Holocaust Now
381. Homer's Thoughts
382. HorsesAss.org
383. House Of Zaid
384. How This Old Brit Sees It
385. How We Got to Downing Street
386. Howard Labs
387. Hugo Zoom
388. humorlessbitch an online journal
389. Hydrogen & Stupidity
390. Hypersonic Beams
391. Hypnocrites
392. I Just Have To Say
393. I Miei Pensieri
394. I Shall Wear Purple
395. I Want My Country Back Dammit
396. I'm Pissed !,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and someones going to
397. I'm Standing With Cindy Sheehan
398. icbleu: Soliloquoy Wisdom
399. Iconoplastic
400. Iddybud
401. Idealistlefty
402. Idyllopus Press
403. Imagine A World Of Peace, Understanding, Tolerance
404. Impeach Bush
405. Impeach Bush!
406. impeachster's pseudo-blog
407. imtalkinghere
408. In an Alternate Universe
409. In Cold Blog
410. In Search of Utopia
411. In the Dark
412. Incertus
413. incurable hippie's musings and rants
414. Independent Muse
415. IndepentReport.org
416. IndyNewsDaily
417. iNoodle.com
418. Institue for Creative Though Crime
419. Intellectual con Fusion
420. Intous
421. IntoxiNation
422. Iraq War News and Comment
423. Irregular Joe
424. Is A Dark Future Emerging?
425. It's A Wonderful Lie
426. It's Morning Somewhere
427. itinerant thinker
428. Its my right to be left of the center
429. IWantMyCountryBack.org
430. Jackie's Place
431. jade gurss: the blog
432. James Altman
433. Jason Buckley
434. Jeebas.com
435. Jeri Smith-Ready
436. Jesus Was Not a Republican
437. JoanSinbad ©
438. John Kerry for President 2008
439. Journalists Against Bush's B.S.
440. JoyceSmiles
441. Julien's List
442. Just Ain't Right
443. Just Hillary
444. just the truth
445. Justice Now
446. K7KBW
447. Kankakee Kindling
448. Kankakee Voices II
449. Karen's Place
450. karmalised
451. Ken Sain: Greens, Gays & Government
452. Kenny's Bunk Port
453. King of Zembla
454. Kitchen Sink Collective
455. Knappster
456. la'ikoa
457. Lab Kat
458. Lady Broadoak
459. Lance Mannion
460. LardBucket
461. Lassiter Space
462. Last Day of My Life
463. Last Left Turn Before Hooterville
464. Laughdream
465. Laughing Wild
466. Laughter and Light
467. Le Revue Gauche
468. Left At The Altar
469. Left at the Gate
470. Left Behind Child
471. Left Behinds
472. Left Handed Compliment
473. Left I on the News
474. Left in Aboite
475. Left in Lowell
476. Left is Right
477. left Of Center
478. Left Out In America
479. left turn
480. LEFTIST GRANDPA
481. Leftside Annie
482. legal redux
483. Leonards Digest
484. LesbienCestMoi
485. Lest All The Rebels Die
486. LIAR PARADOX
487. Liberal Common Sense
488. Liberal Patriots
489. Liberal Rage (tm)
490. Liberal Reason
491. Liberal Revolt!
492. LiberateAmerica
493. Liberty Mule
494. Liberty or Tyranny
495. Liberty Street
496. Life Like Weeds
497. Life...According to Ziggy
498. Light Up The Darkness
499. Limerick Savant
500. Lingual Tremors
501. linkingthoughts
502. Linkmeister
503. Listening to Clifford Geertz
504. Lo-Fi Tribe
505. Loaded Mouth
506. Local Tint
507. Logic and Orgasm
508. Lose the Noose
509. Lost Chord
510. Lots and Lots of Nonsense
511. LoveLiberty2004
512. Lying Liars
513. lynnsrants
514. Macdonald's Animal Farm
515. Mad as Hell
516. Mad Kane
517. Mad Melancholic Feminista
518. MaddogsandLiberal
519. Making conservatives cringe since 1977
520. Mandate, My Ass
521. Mankind Minus One
522. Marble Composition
523. Marceau Marceau
524. Marching Orders
525. Mary Schneider, Federal Whistleblower
526. Matt Gill
527. Me4President2008
528. Meanderthal
529. Medbh Sings
530. Media Girl
531. Media in Trouble
532. medulla noodle
533. Mementos
534. Messenger Puppet
535. Middle Earth Journal
536. middlemostpost
537. Mightcan
538. Mike's Well Hidden Genius
539. milfuegos
540. milkriverblog
541. MissionNOTAccomplished
542. Mixter's Mix
543. Mollten [dot] com
544. Moments in Time
545. Morrigan's Web
546. Mostly Muppet Dot Com
547. Mousemusings
548. MoxieGrrrl.com
549. MudHoler
550. Musings and Migraines
551. Musings from Myopia
552. My Brain Droppings
553. My Left Wing
554. My Sad Little World
555. My Two Cents
556. Myriad Musings
557. Mythos of a Sorority Geek
558. Naked Voodoo Chicken Dance
559. Nanovirus
560. Nasty Letters To Crooked Politicians
561. NastyBoy
562. National Debunker
563. NativeAlien
564. Neal2028
565. Nebraskan Liberation Front
566. Neo-Hippie Ramblings
567. NeoAlertz
568. Neoliberal
569. Neural Gourmet | Feed Your Brain
570. Neurath's Boat
571. Neuvocat
572. New Concept Now
573. New Democracy Rising
574. News From Davison, Michigan
575. News2u Global News
576. Newshog
577. NEWSTRIKE
578. Next Left
579. nick's blog and news archive
580. Night Bird's Fountain
581. Night Light
582. Niobium
583. nite swimming
584. No Blood for Hubris
585. No Bu**sh** Zone
586. no contact politics
587. No Fancy Name
588. No More Apples
589. NO TEN DOWNING DOCS
590. no-memory-hole
591. Noblesse Oblog
592. Northwest Progressive Institute
593. Norwegianity
594. Not the Country Club
595. NoTenDowningDocs
596. Notes From a Life in Progress
597. Notes from the Real World
598. Nothing
599. Nothing But Love
600. Now more than ever
601. Now That It's Now
602. NYBri
603. Official Reality Check
604. OfficialWire
605. Oh Well: A Commentary on News and Politics
606. ok...Ok...OK ALREADY
607. Okanogan Civilization
608. Ole Blue The Heretic
609. Olson Online
610. Omega-News
611. One Caveat
612. One More Voice
613. One Pissed Off Veteran
614. One Tenacious Baby Mama
615. One Woman Wrecking Crew
616. OneGlobalCommunity.com
617. Operation Conflict Resolution
618. Ordinary Morality is only for Ordinary People
619. Orwell's Grave
620. Otherworld
621. Otimaster
622. Our Father's Call Across the Years
623. Out of the Mountains
624. Outside the Camp
625. Outside the Tent
626. ozymandias21century
627. P!
628. PA Liberal
629. Pacific Views
630. Pam's House Blend
631. Pansypoo's Personal Rant Page
632. Paperwight's Fair Shot
633. paradox1x - just a plain spoken guy from Philly
634. Party of the Purple
635. pdxleft
636. Peevish
637. Pell-Mell
638. Pen-Elayne on the Web
639. Pensito Review
640. People Not Profit
641. perpetual state of bliss
642. personanongratis
643. Perspective of Pete
644. Phantom Scribbler
645. Pharyngula
646. Philadelphia Freedom Watch
647. Phillybits
648. Piercing Wit
649. Pilgrim/Heretic
650. Pime Forest Collective
651. Pinko Feminist Hellcat
652. Pissed on Politics
653. Planet Grenada
654. Planet Holistic
655. Poetic Leanings
656. Poetry in Life
657. Point Progression
658. Policy Wonk
659. Political Forecast
660. Political Gal
661. Political Moose
662. Political Sapphire
663. Political Sports
664. Politically Outspoken
665. politickybitch
666. Politics Coming Out Your Ears
667. Politics in the Zeros
668. Politics International
669. pony rides and monkey pictures
670. Poor Impulse Control
671. Potter's Musings
672. Pourquoi Pas?
673. Poverty Barn
674. Prairie Weather
675. Praxxus
676. Prayerforce Blog - Christianity and Modern Life
677. Preemptive Karma
678. Present Tense
679. Progressive Action Center
680. Progressive Blogger Union
681. Progressive Ink!
682. Progressive Insight
683. Progressive Justice
684. Progressive Society
685. Progressive U
686. prolix
687. Propaganda 101
688. Protect America Now
689. Pseudo-Adrienne's Liberal Feminist Bias
690. PSoTD
691. psychoguantanamo
692. Public Domain Progress
693. Public Flogger
694. Quantum World Shift
695. Quiddities
696. Quiet Flows the Don
697. Quietly Making Noise
698. Radical Goddess Thealogy
699. Radical Russ
700. Radimisto
701. Radio Left
702. Radio News America
703. Radioactive Quill
704. Rage Against the Right
705. Ramblings from My Mind
706. Random Thoughts: Unfair and Unbalanced
707. RandomConnections
708. RatBoy
709. ratboy's anvil
710. Ratiocination
711. Rational Reasons
712. Ravynstone Abbey
713. Ray Garraud
714. Reading A1
715. Real News Online International
716. Real Values
717. Realitique
718. Reality Frame
719. ReBelle Nation
720. Recovering Liberal
721. Red Harvest
722. Red Scandal
723. Red Statement
724. Reflections of A Bitter Skank
725. Relentlessly Optimistic
726. Republic of T
727. Republican Vet
728. Return of the Nubian Princess
729. Revenge of a Liberal
730. Revolution Times
731. Revolutionary Paradigm
732. RFK Democrats
733. Richmond to Freemont and across the bay bridge
734. Ridin' Herd on the Blogosphere
735. Right of Center Ice
736. Rising Hegemon
737. Rob McBean's Five Of Five
738. Rob's Blog
739. RobbDogg'sBlog
740. robert@
741. Robinik
742. Robust McManlyPants
743. RogerART.com
744. romablog
745. Rook's Rant
746. rousing the rabble
747. Rowhouse Logic
748. Rox Populi
749. Rubber Hose
750. Rummy's Diaries
751. Running Scared
752. sabrebutt.com
753. sacar una foto
754. Sad Parade
755. Samm Simpson's Blog
756. Santa Clara COunty Democratic Party blog
757. Sassafrass
758. Science And Politics
759. Science and Sarcasm
760. Scoobie Davis Online
761. Scout Prime
762. Scrivener's Lament
763. Scrivenings
764. Scrutiny Hooligans
765. Seajane
766. Secede from the Union
767. Second Civil War
768. Section 15
769. Seeing the Forest
770. Seen by a Different Light
771. Semidi
772. Shades of Grey
773. Shakespeare's Sister
774. She Flies With Her Own Wings
775. Shining Light In Dark Corners
776. SimianBrain
777. Simply Appalling
778. Simply Left Behind
779. sinequanon
780. Singularity
781. Sinister
782. Skaroff Blog
783. SkipperStyle
784. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
785. Sleepy Kid
786. snow-moon
787. So May It Secretly Begin
788. Societas
789. Somesuch Whatnots
790. Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane
791. Spazzzdic Musings
792. Speak Your Mind And Read Mine
793. SpidelBlog
794. SpidelBlog - A Progressive Organizer
795. Spindrift
796. Spittle & Ink
797. Spontaneous Arising
798. Spoof News
799. Spurious George
800. Squeeze - A Personal View
801. StallNine: Spirit of the Blog
802. Startle the Echoes
803. State Of The Qusan
804. Stayin' Alive
805. StealthBadger.net
806. Stephen's Peace and Human Rights Blog
807. SteveAudio
808. Still Fighting
809. Stogies & Politics Lounge
810. Stone Bridge
811. Stone Cupid Real (Digest)
812. Stranger in a Strange Land
813. stroll-thither
814. Stupid Country
815. Suburban Guerrilla
816. Summer Evening's Post
817. Summer Of Protest
818. Sumo Merriment
819. Sunshine's Blah Blah Blogger
820. Supreme Irony
821. Suspect Device
822. Sweet Liberty News
823. Swerve Left
824. Synaptic Junction
825. T. Rex's Guide to Life
826. Taking Back Our Country
827. Taking on Goliath
828. Talk Humanism
829. Tallitsch for Congress
830. Tami - The One True
831. Tammany on the Hudson
832. Tangible Contempt
833. Tannishblog
834. Tarbaby's Briarpatch
835. Tennessee Guerilla Women
836. TenthMile
837. Texas Civil Rights Review
838. texas yankee
839. that black lesbian jew
840. That Black Lesbian Jew
841. That Colored Fellas Weblog
842. That Crazy Kid, That Okcitykid, He said WHAT!
843. That's Going Too Far!
844. The 800lbs Gorilla
845. The All Spin Zone
846. The American Street
847. The Anti-Corporate Patriot
848. The Ape Man
849. The Big Red Blog
850. The Biggest Media
851. The Blaghdad Café
852. The Blooog
853. The Blue Republic
854. The Blue Voice
855. The BM Rant
856. The Broad View
857. The Buffalo Party .com
858. The Bulldog Manifesto
859. The Bulldog Says...
860. The Burned Over District
861. The Bush Diaries
862. The Catharine Chronicles
863. The Center of NJ Life
864. The Command T.O.C.
865. The Cranky Liberal Pages
866. The Crazy Years
867. The Culture Ghost
868. The Curmudgeonly Crab
869. The Cyberactivist
870. The Daily Blatt
871. The Daily Pulse
872. The Dark Stuff
873. the defeatists!
874. The Democracy Cell Project
875. The Democratic Daily
876. The Dirty Northwest
877. The Disenchanted Forest
878. The Disgruntled Chemist
879. The Dishpan Chronicles
880. The Dissident
881. The Emmaus Theory
882. The Fat Lady Sings
883. The Fifth Horseman
884. The First Church of Free Speech
885. The Flickertail Journal
886. The Four Reasons
887. The Funny Farm
888. The Georgetown Reporter
889. The Good Human
890. The Great Society
891. The Great Union
892. The Green Knight
893. The Green Lantern
894. The Gypsy's Caravan
895. The Hapless Toad
896. The Heretik
897. The Higher Pie
898. The Hungry Blogger
899. The Immoral Minority
900. The Impolitic
901. The Incurable Insomniac
902. the JK experience
903. The John Blog
904. The Kendallian
905. The Knitting Curmudgeon
906. The Lantern
907. The Left Coaster
908. The Left End of the Dial
909. The Liberal
910. The Liberal Avenger
911. The Liberal Observer
912. The Liberal San Diego Community
913. The Life of a Liberal Teenager
914. The Light of Reason
915. The Lobby
916. The Mahablog
917. The Modern Guy
918. The Moon's Favors
919. The Naked Truth
920. The Nevada City Free Press
921. The New Oklahoma Democrat
922. The News Writer
923. the O nest
924. The OCD Gen X Liberal
925. The Oil Drum
926. The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!
927. the only official blog of clayton littlejohn
928. The Open Mind
929. The Opinion Mill
930. The Pepper Farm
931. The Phnom Penh
932. The Pickwick Pecker
933. The PO'd Liberal
934. The Poor Man
935. The Price is Left
936. The Prissy Patriot
937. The Progressive Line
938. The Proud Liberal Bitch
939. The Reaction -- by Michael J.W. Stickings
940. The Republic Newswire
941. The Richmond Democrat
942. The Right Left Story
943. The Roaring Hamster
944. The Ruth Group
945. The Sappho Manifesto
946. The Sarchasm
947. The Side Street
948. The Smedley Log
949. The Snarky Cat
950. The Southern Dem
951. The Surging Waves
952. The Talking Lion
953. The Tattered Coat
954. The TLW Leftblog
955. The United Peoples
956. The Unknown Candidate
957. The Wertz Generation
958. The Word of Todd
959. The Working Families Party Man
960. The World Monitor
961. The Worst Bush Presidency (Solid Kerry!)
962. The Wrex Files
963. The Young Liberals
964. The Zen Cabin
965. The Zombie Process
966. The-Goddess
967. thedirtysouth
968. Thetip.org
969. They Get Letters
970. Thick, Meaty Slices of Brain
971. Thinkin' Dem
972. Thinking Blue
973. Thinking Rocks
974. This Far and No Further
975. this woman's work
976. ThomasMc.com
977. Thou Shall Not Suck
978. Thoughts From An Empty Head
979. Thoughts from Kansas
980. Thoughts from the kitchen
981. Thoughts From Up Here
982. Thoughts of an Average Woman
983. Thoughts on the Eve of the Apocalypse
984. Tild ~
985. To The Barricades
986. To the Left of the Dial
987. Today in Iraq
988. Torgerson's Blog
989. Tracy And Matt's Blog
990. Transcendental Floss
991. Traumatized by Truth
992. Trillion Dollar Man
993. True Blue Liberal
994. Trust Me, You Have No Idea...
995. Truth Be Told
996. Truth For America
997. Truth Serum
998. Tsuredzuregusa
999. Twins Mom Whoa's
1000. Two Feet In
1001. Two Glasses
1002. Ujjayi
1003. Uncivil Discourse
1004. Under The Lobsterscope
1005. Unitarian Jihad
1006. unnamed
1007. Unofficial Kerry For President Blog
1008. UnspunBlog
1009. UpbeatBlogs - Free blogs for Liberals
1010. UpbeatDefiance
1011. Upon Further Review...
1012. Urania Thoughts
1013. US News & World News Digest
1014. USS John F Kennedy
1015. veiled4allah
1016. Very Pissed Off Combat Veterans
1017. Vestal Vespa
1018. Videography Blog
1019. View From A Lefty
1020. Virtual Pus
1021. Virtual|Matter
1022. Visions of Peace: A Combat Vet's Dream
1023. Voices of Reason
1024. Voodoo Knickers
1025. Wake Up America !!!
1026. Wally Whateley's House of Horrors
1027. Wally's Diary and Political Comment
1028. WARNING!! You Can't Handle the TRUTH!!!!! But here
1029. washingtonrox
1030. Waveflux
1031. We Are All Volunteers in This Army
1032. We Care Without Borders - The Global Citizen
1033. We have failed our duty as Americans...
1034. We Move To Canada
1035. Weapons of Mass Distraction
1036. Welcome to Gilead
1037. What Do I Know?
1038. What It Is Today
1039. What She Said!
1040. What The Futch?
1041. What we know so far
1042. What's in Scott's head?
1043. What's the Matter With Michael Moore?
1044. whatz dat wojto?
1045. When Truth Matters Most
1046. While we still have time
1047. Whirled Peas
1048. Who Hijacked Our Country
1049. Why Are We Back in Iraq?
1050. Wilson's Blogmanac
1051. Winding Road in Urban Area
1052. Winter Patriot
1053. Winterline
1054. With Fingernails That Shine Like Justice
1055. withinsight
1056. Women's Autonomy&Sexual Sovereignty Movements
1057. Wonderland or Not
1058. wonkabout
1059. wonky muse
1060. word of mouth
1061. Words Have Power
1062. Words Light Fires
1063. Words on a Page
1064. WordWhammy
1065. World Musings Ltd.
1066. World Patroit
1067. writeorwrong2
1068. Wrong Side of the Tracks
1069. Xenox News
1070. Xpatriated Texan
1071. Yankee Transplant
1072. Yaw and Mog
1073. Yelladog
1074. Yellow Dog Blog
1075. Yellow Doggerel Democrat
1076. Yep, another Goddamned blog
1077. Yoga Korunta
1078. You Forgot Poland!
1079. Yowling from the Fencepost
1080. Zaphod's Heads
1081. Zeebahtronic
1082. Zen Comix
1083. [libcat]
1084. || Stuff ||