The British police investigating the alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives have, in the past few days and hours, made two important discoveries. The first was the discovery of a suitcase containing bomb-making materials in a wood near High Wycombe where several of the alleged conspirators were arrested. The second, and much more important, has come in the last few hours: the discovery of martyrdom videos, reported to include some of the accused, in one of the suspect's houses.

So, Tony, I've been thinking about the conversation - if you can call it that - you had with the President. The private conversation, which you were unaware was being picked up by a live microphone and listened to a probably very-stunned American half way around the world. Transcript here

It's not a pleasant job, but somebody has to do it...

I was looking through various right-wing/pro-Bush blogs - the most major ones - and the degree of outright racism, homophobia and utter lack of education is astounding. In effect, these blogs are now almost single-issue - that issue being Islam. There isn't a single story on websites like Free Republic or Little Green Footballs that isn't flooded with comments somehow tied into their perceived global war between Islam and the West. In fact, they've got a word for those, like us, who don't share their paranoid, racist view of Islam. We're 'dims' (from the Islamic word dhimmi, meaning a non-Muslim living in a Muslim state).

For a taste, read on...

The BBC reports:

Reuters is running a story about how a US Army Captain and two sergeants have come forward to Human Rights Watch to tell of frequent, widespread abuse condoned, and possibly on the orders of, superior officers.

The Rt. Hon. Dr. Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam has died, aged 55, at a hospice in Kent. She died after suffering a fall and failing to regain consciousness. She had been struggling for several years with a brain tumour.

Mo Mowlam was a giant of British politics, probably one of the greatest politicians - of either sex - in the latter half of the twentieth century. Her greatest achievement - the Good Friday Agreements, which brought peace to Northern Ireland - is only one of the many dozens of works she will be remembered for. Her ferocious intelligence and independence were an asset to the Labour Party and the country as a whole. She will be sorely missed.

To the casual observer, the global warming debate over the past few years has been just that: a debate, with two sides arguing passionately for their beliefs and no resolution or consensus. In fact, this is a false impression generated by a media which sells print based on the dynamics of controversy and confrontation. Among the scientific community, there is no substantive disagreement on the fact of antropogenic (human-caused) climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 by the UN Environmental Programme and the World Metereological Organisation, is tasked with evaluating the vast body of peer-reviewed and published scientific literature on anthropogenic climate change.

Continued...