That French gal, who had the face transplant? Most reports say she was mauled by a dog, and leave it at that.

But some press reports say that it was her own dog.
Some press reports say that she had taken some drugs, that knocked her out, and that she woke to find the dog chewing away.

I'd like to know what happened to the pooch.

Some press reports say her doctors are upset because she started smoking again. As a transplant receipient her immune system will be compromised by the anti-rejection drugs she takes. Smoking is far more dangerous for her.

What I suspect is that the pooch may have been the real hero of this story. You know how dogs wake people when there is smoke in the house? Some people's dogs can sense when they are going to have an epileptic seizure. I suspect that her dog may have sensed she was having a drug overdose. The dog may have saved her life.

Her return to smoking suggests she wasn't very responsible. There was probably pressure for her to have her dog killed. I hope she resisted that pressure.

Here is a picture.

I asked about this in a Washington Post live online today, about Zacarias Moussaoui's legal proceedings. How can the USA claim both Zacarias Moussaoui and Mohamed Al-Qahtani are the 20th hijacker?

Well, the Post columnist responded that it wasn't a US official who labelled Zacarias Moussaoui the 20th hijacker. Is that true? No US official ever called him the 20th hijacker? What about Mohamed Al-Qahtani? Have any US officials ever called him the 20th hijacker?

In his State of the Union speech President Bush affirmed his support for rehabilitating America's leadership in the fields of Science and Technology. Well, that sounds good.

Except, what does it mean? Did the President announce the expenditure of new funds? After incurring massive debt in a misadvised war, is the President in a position in a position to announce new expenditures? The pundits I listen to suggest he can't credibly announce any new expenditures.

Today I read the most recent post on the bad astronomy site. His most recent post concerns attempts by a Bush appointee to censor NASA.

He directed the NASA web-masters to insert the word "theory" after every instance of the phrase "Big Bang".

Hello! Who is this Bush appointee. What is his background in Science? What was his motivation for this direction?

The Bush appointee is a 24 year old who played a role in Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. It sounds like his motivation was solely Radical Fundamentalist Christian bigotry. If President Bush can't budget any more money to rehabilitate America's leadership in Science and Technology at least he can fire and repudiate Deutsch and any other anti-Science bigots he has appointed.

I find the public acceptance of the anti-science "intelligent design" meme in the USA highly disturbing. In the two years I have been posting on Politics to slashdot I have had a lot of confused Americans denounce me as "anti-American". The USA is Canada's largest trading partner. The Canadian economy is highly dependent on the US economy. America going down the tubes would be highly disruptive to the Canadian economy.

I know not all those who are enthusiastic fans of the "intelligent design" meme are anti-Science bigots. I believe some of the fans, here on slashdot, and elsewhere are fans of Science, who have been sucked in by those who describe "intelligent design" as scientific. It isn't. Testable hypotheses can't be made based on the meme. It isn't Science. I think that teaching a religion based notion, in American Science classes will have a devastating effect on the future competitiveness of American Science.

You read it here first. ...after it was noticed last week that for a year and a half they had been appealing for the public's help in finding him by using a photograph of the wrong man on his wanted poster.

Another sign of the shocking amateurishness of the US Intelligence effort. Presumably these are the same guys who decided to put 80,000 Americans on the "no-fly list", and, who decided which Americans should be subjected to warrantless wiretaps.

I just learned there are 80,000 American terrorism suspects on the no-fly list.

I already knew about Ted Kennedy making the list. He had to personally button-hole Tom Ridge in order to get removed. But I didn't know about the Congressman, or the four year-old kid.

I don't think there is any question that the list shows clear evidence of being very carelessly composed.

The questions it raises for me are (1) what does the surprisingly long length of the no-fly list imply about the number of Americans on President Bush's warrantless wiretap list? (2) Given that the warrantless wiretap list was even more secret than the no-fly list, and was designed so it would never be subject to independent audit, how much care was put into its composition? (3) Could 80,000 Americans have been subjected to warrantless wiretaps?

A year and a half ago a Bush apologist I exchanged about 100 messages with was adamant that the CIA had played no role in abusive interrogations, either in Iraq or Guantanamo. As the evidence mounted he grew increasingly hostile, disingeneous and filled with rage. He finally marked me as a foe when he had backed himself into a rhetorical corner.

I think he owes me apologies.

Secret witness: Carson interrogator broke rules

Another witness, Chief Warrant Officer Todd Sonnek, a Green Beret assigned to interrogations at the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's makeshift prison near the Syrian border, described more violent torture. Sonnek testified that on Nov. 24, 2003, Welshofer invited 10 people, including Iraqis and "civilians," a word used in court to denote CIA operatives, into a room where Mowhoush was being questioned.

The technique Welshofer wanted the group to use was called "fear-up" -- designed to terrify a prisoner like Mowhoush into talking, Sonnek testified. The regiment considered Mowhoush a "facilitator," who gave guidance and cash to insurgents and foreign terrorists sneaking into Iraq from Syria. He was in the top five of their most-wanted list.

The group showered the general with questions, insults and slaps, Sonnek testified. The group got rage rather than answers from Mowhoush, who broke his plastic handcuffs, Sonnek said.

The Green Beret said he tackled the general as the rest of the people in the room flew into a fury of fists and feet in a beating that lasted two to three minutes. Mowhoush was covered in bruises when he died, autopsy photos entered as evidence showed.

CNN is reporting a senior al Qaeda bomb-maker was killed in the CIA airstrike last weekend.

Initially the US claimed that the airstrike killed al Zawahiri, the number 2 guy in al Qaeda. They have backed away from that claim. They say that half a dozen of those killed were members of al Qaeda.

Now CNN has picked up an assertion from some right-wing blogs that Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar AKA Abu Khabab al-Masri was one of the dead. They say he was the director of Al Qaeda's derunta training camp. He is claimed to have written Al Qaeda bomb-making manuals. Derunta is claimed to have been the camp where Al Qaeda experimented with poison gas.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer was calling this guy Abu al-Masri. That is a problem, because there are at least two other alleged al Qaeda operatives or associates who are also known as Abu al-Masri. The other famous one was, for a long time, the notorious iman of the Finsbury Mosque in Britain. He is a plump guy, missing both hands and blinded in one eye, from his time as a fighter.

CNN can be so careless. Their policy seems to be to put up any old shit, in order to avoid being scooped. Compare the photo on the blog site, and compare it with a photos of the iman of the Finsbury mosque. I think the photo said to have been of the bomber is a photo of the Finsbury iman, prior to his injury.

The new york times reports on a study of the fatal wounds of GIs in Iraq. That study concluded that 80% of the fatal wounds could have been eliminated if the pentagon had issued better body armor, body armor that it had in stock.

One estimate says the Iraq war may cost trillions of dollars.

This estimate takes into account the long term cost of the lost productivity of injured GIs and ruined infrastructure.

FBI Special Agent Gregory Hughes accused Abdullah Khadr of possessing and trading in Weapons of Mass Destruction. This is a remarkable assertion. More so when you learn that the unspecified WMD were just part of a $20,000 purchase that also included AK47 bullets, C4, gallons of hydrogen peroxide, anti-tank missiles and 80 mm and 122 mm mortar rounds.

Puzzling.

Then I figured out an explanation. White Phosphorus. Prior to the invasion of Iraq the Bush administration was accusing Saddam of possessing a vast arsenal of WMD. American official called Saddam's artillery rounds that contained the incendiary white phosphorus "chemical weapons".

Usually the phrase "chemical weapons" is confined to gas warfare. However, during the War in Vietnam the Americans argued that the use of tear gas did not qualify as chemical warfare, as it wasn't lethal.

The CIA toyed with the idea of poisoning enemy reservoirs with hallucegens, like LSD. I have heard that called chemical warfare.

During the leadup to the invasion of Iraq the Americans listed Iraq's White Phosphorus munitions as chemical warfare munitions. It was a controversial move. And one that was to backfire on them when they turned around and used White Phosphorus munitions on Iraqi cities like Fallujah. Some journalists, like the Italian Sgrena, accused the Americans of using chemical weapons in Fallujah, because of the nature of the burns survivors were scarred with.

Anyhow, the explanation I came up with for how Special Agent Hughes can claim that Abdullah Khadr was trading in WMD is that some of the mortar rounds Khadr sold were White Phosphorus mortar rounds, and Hughes didn't get the memo where the US reversed itself on whether White Phosphorus munitions were chemical weapons.

I attended the extradition hearing for Abdullah Khadr this morning. FBI agent Gregory Hughes, where ever he is, needs a refresher course,He wasted an hour of the court's time because he did a truly incompetent job preparing the extradition paperwork.

The first page of the package of documents had the US charges against Khadr. Unfortunately Agent Hughes didn't bother noticing that the court seal obscured the charges, making them illegible. Duh!

Later pages of the package contained allegations against Khadr. But extradition is only based on charges, not allegations. Everyone was ready to acknowledge that if those allegations had been framed as charges the US claim for extradition would have been a lot clearer.

The defense counsel argued that the US charges should be translated into their closest Canadian equivalents. While those charges counted as terrorism charges in the US, their closest Canadian equivalents were merely weapons charges.

The Crown Attorney argued strongly that the extradition could be based on the supporting allegations, but the judge wouldn't swallow it.

But the real winner among Agent Hughes's allegation was that Khadr had been in possession of WMD. WMD! The rest of the affadavit said that he had sold AK47 bullets, Russian PK machine gun bullets, Russian anti-tank missiles, and 80 and 120 mm mortar rounds to al Qaeda. Yes, these are deadly weapons. If true, this is a serious charge. But, for crying out loud, bazooka rockets and mortar rounds are not WMD!

During a recess I tried to join in a discussion these two young guys were having. They were reporters, as it turned out. I pointed out that mortar rounds are not WMD, that this was a court of law, and we should be able to count on documents filed with it to be truthful. Their response? "Yeah, but look who he gave them to."

I have a google news alert on Jessica Lynch, because I want to try to track the lies told about her rescue. That news alert turned up this story about Pat Tillman. Tillman was a highly paid football player, who walked away from a multi-million dollar football contract to sign on to the US Army, following 9-11.

Well, I knew about the contract, and signing on to the Army. I knew he died in Afghanistan. I knew he was called a hero. I knew he was awarded a Silver Star. I knew that, long after the height of the media excitement over his sacrifice, it became known that he was killed by friendly fire.

There has been bad news for Bush apologists in the Iraq and Afghanistan. I have written about that bad news. And that has triggered a lot of accusations. I have been accused of hating George Bush, of hating freedom, of hating America, of hating American soldiers. I have been accused of trying to leave American soldiers disarmed. I have been accused of being un-American, and of being a traitor.

Those accusations are all nonsense, of course. In particular, every GI who behaves honorably has my respect. Every soldier, of any nation, who altruisticly volunteered to defend his fellow citizens, and who behaves honorably, has my respect. The death of every honorable soldier is a tragedy, whether they fall to enemy fire, friendly fire, disease, or they slip and crack their head open in the barracks shower. The death of innocent civilians is tragic too, FWIW.

Now what the blog said, that I didn't know, was that Tillman:
* was working on a Masters in history...
* supported the invasion of Afghanistan, opposed the invasion of Iraq...
* was a correspondent of Noam Chomsky, and had a meeting scheduled with him at the time of his death.

I opposed the invasion of Iraq, but I thought Tillman was a hero before I heard that Tillman also opposed it. I'd like to know if the blogger has the true scoop.

Canada has lost a couple of dozen soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly through land mines. The original jeep like vehicles Canadians drove were underpowered vehicles modified from Audis. Recently these have been replaced with another German vehicle, the G-Wagon. The G-Wagon's have up-armor kits, and can mount a small turret. But they aren't any better than the up-armored humvees.

From my reading I gather that the underside of the Humvee is too enclosed to ever really be able to provide true anti-land-mine protection. Its undercarraige is flat. More modern vehicles, with superior mineproofing, use techniques like V-shaped hulls, wheels isolated from the undercarraige, areas that blow away, so the expanding gases can be released safely. None of these techniques are practical withing the design of the humvees.

I just learned that the Canadian Forces are going to acquire additional vehicles with better anti-mine protection than that on a humvee. An armored humvee kit costs about $150,000. Presumably that is on top of whatever the original 20-year old humvee is worth.

The Canadian program will supply 50 vehicles for $100 million -- a lot more than the cost of a humvee. But that will include option for another 25 vehicles. And they will all include a remote controlled machine gun turret.

Should the Americans have replaced some or all of their humvees with something similar. How many humvees do they have in Iraq and Afghanistan now? Something like 2-3,000? $3 billion would be a huge expense. But it would be about 1% of the cost of the Iraq war -- so far. This war will probably cost at least $50 billion per year. It could easily last another ten years.

Casualties are ramping up. I read a scary stat. It took the first four years of American involvement for 2,000 GIs to die there.

The number of US casualties from land mines is on its way up too. A year of so ago the estimate was that 50% of casualties was due to land mines and IEDs. Now the estimate stands at 70%.

How many lives would have been saved, How many limbs would have been saved, if the Bush administration had okayed the purchase of better mine protected vehicles? 500 lives? I bet a large percentage of the US electorate would have been prepared to pay $6 billion in order to save 500 lives and 15,000 limbs.

Update: December 16, 2005, 7pm EST A sharp-eyed viewer noticed an incomplete paragraph.

American pundit Ann Coulter has repeatedly recommended that the US response to the presence of fundamentalistic terrorism should:
1. Kill their leaders
2. Invade their countries
3. Convert them all the Christianity

Well, one Guantanamo Bay detainee requested his lawyers send him a copy of the King James edition of the Christian bible. Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Sues U.S. to Get a Bible

His package was withheld on the grounds it could incite detainees.

Who remembers Easson Jordan?

Jordan was a senior CNN official who made a comment about the Bush administration targeting Journalists. This triggered a blogstorm, and a fair amount of coverage in the mainstream media.

I had forgotten him myself. But I had a google news alert on him. And it turned up a new news story that mentioned him:

They Kill Journalists, Don't They?
Bush Targets Al Jazeera? CNN Head Should Get Job Back

I am sure many slashdotters won't consider that Bush might have considered bombing Al Jazeera HQ in Qatar. I believe the Daily Mirror is not a highbrow paper. Let's see if any other papers can substantiate this story.

But the really weird thing is that, other than a couple of hundred right-wing blog-sites, everyone seems to have forgotten this story