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Katherine Harris' Kabbala Moment

By Jim Stratton | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 5, 2005

Four years ago, as the state labored to eradicate citrus canker by destroying trees, officials rejected other disease-fighting techniques, saying unproven methods would waste precious time and resources.

But for more than six months, the state, at the behest of then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris, did pursue one alternative method -- a very alternative method.

Researchers worked with a rabbi and a cardiologist to test "Celestial Drops," promoted as a canker inhibitor because of its "improved fractal design," "infinite levels of order" and "high energy and low entropy."

But the cure proved useless against canker. That's because it was water -- possibly, mystically blessed water.

The "product is a hoax and not based on any credible known science," the state's chief of entomology, nematology and plant pathology wrote to agriculture officials and fellow scientists after testing Celestial Drops in October 2001.

Oy.

Hmm.

From Atrios:

When I lived in London I lived about 6-8 minutes from Edgware Road tube station, one of the stations impacted by today's terrorist attack. It wasn't the station I normally used for my commute, but it was probably the closest one to me. The neighborhood is as Garance describes it - heavily Middle Eastern, and the center of wealthy Middle Eastern immigrants in London, the ethnic community having been formed when people were getting rich off high 1970s oil prices and buying London property with their petrodollars. While it's a bit much to try to divine the precise intent of thus unknown terrorists, and I can't say if Garance's analysis is precisely correct, it is true that the choice of subway lines/targets is quite interesting - it did follow a path, roughly, from one center of Muslim London, the poor one, to the other center of Muslim London, the rich one.



...since it isn't clear, I'm not suggesting that the main point, the final sentence, provides evidence that Muslims were a primary target, or that this provides evidence that conventional wisdom about the perps is incorrect. It's just that, as Garance wrote, it's rather odd that they didn't target trains going around the circle line the other way - into Westminster - rather than those heading towards "little Lebanon," or some other line entirely. There are lots of potential explanations for this, including Garance's suggestion that it was to some degree designed to target Western Muslims. I don't have any opinion on that. I just think that this observation - "It certainly isn't the set of targets someone would choose if they were going out of their way to minimize the deaths of London's Muslim population" - is probably correct and somewhat interesting, though not necessarily ultimately significant.

Fox Shows Some True Colors

The London bombings seem to have brought out some of the worst, as of late:

During Fox News' coverage of the July 7 London bombings, Washington managing editor Brit Hume told host Shepard Smith that his "first thought," when he "heard there had been this attack" and saw the low futures market, was "Hmmm, time to buy." Smith had asked Hume to comment on the lack of a negative U.S. stock market reaction to the London attacks.

What do you think Fox News would've made of a British newsreader if, right after 911, they had said "time to short airline stocks?"

Or this:

"These people are, If necessary, prepared to spill Arab blood in addition to the blood of regular -- of nonarab people living in London."

That's classy.

Maybe The'll Use A Ouiji Board To Pick The Jury

Astrologist sues NASA over comet crash

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday.

NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.

"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.

A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.

Back

Been a while but let's get back to it.

Question: Shouldn't any war be a last resort? And, if that's true, shouldn't the reasons for such a war be obvious to anyone in the country forced to fight? If so, why does our president need to traverse the country to reassure citizens that the fight in Iraq is worth it? If you have to sell a war to a reluctant public, something's wrong.

How To Help

From A Mass Email

Here is a short list of relief and development agencies that I know well and
recommend.

Oxfam America and Oxfam UK. International NGOs working in several of the
affected countries. Oxfam UK has had a field office in eastern Sri Lanka for
many
years. You can contribute on-line at www.Oxfam.org.uk. If you wish a US tax
deduction, contribute to Oxfam America at www.oxfamamerica.org.

Doctors Without Borders. International NGO working in Indonesia and may
extend
operations to other countries. You can contribute on-line at www.msf.org/

Sarvodaya. Sri Lankan NGO with a vast network in the affected communities.
We
have just set up an internet site for donations. Go to www.sarvodaya.org. Of
all Sri
Lankan organizations, I highly recommend Sarvodaya.

Mennonite Central Committee. US NGO working in Sri Lanka. You can contribute
on-line at www.mcc.org/

Other reputable organizations include CARE and Catholic Relief Services.

Five Questions to Ask Before you Give

Here are five simple questions to ask any aid organization before you give.
Since
aid agencies are inundated with phone calls, I have included above a much
abbreviated list of organizations that I trust.

1. Has the organization worked in the affected countries before? Hundreds of
organizations in the US collect funds after major disasters. Many do not
have the
on-the-ground experience that is critical for timely and wise utilization of
the funds.
Many show up in devastated nations and are not familiar with local
organizations,
customs or terrain. They will flounder. The best organizations to which to
contribute are those who were operational in the country before the disaster.
The
exception to this would be specialized organizations like Doctors Without
Borders.

2. Will the organization merely contribute your funds to another aid group?
Constituencies often contribute funds through their own channels which
collect and
transfer the funds to operational organizations. If you use such channels,
be sure
that no overheads are deducted for such pass-through grants. Overheads are
legitimate when an organization is directly involved in fielding staff or
materials.

3. Will the organization stay in the affected country after the emergency
period?
Believe it or not, most private aid organizations leave about the same time
the
cameras do. The emergency period is short, but the period for reconstruction
is
very long and much more costly. It will be years before the millions of
people made
homeless will be housed decently and their communities and livelihoods made
whole again.

4. What experience does your organization have in development? Many
organizations can provide building materials. But the aim is not to rebuild
poverty,
but to work with local communities to attain a higher standard of living.
Expatriate
organizations need to be able to work with local government and communities
alike, speak their languages, understand their cultures, and patiently help
them
plan. The best organizations to which to contribute are those with an
understanding of the causes of vulnerability and poverty.

5. Will your organization permit you to earmark your contribution? No matter
how
small your contribution may be, it is important that you earmark it for
long-term
development in the affected communities of one or more of the countries.
Despite
what they say now about the need, the capacity of local institutions to
absorb all aid
funds quickly is quite limited. Earmarking encourages the aid organization
to
begin now to make long-range plans. It also lets the organization know that
you
prefer that your funds are wisely spent over a longer period than hastily
spent on
efforts that may be duplicating those of others.
--

Tsunami

Horrible. It's time for this country to step up and show the world that we can be proficeint in something other than destruction. $15 million? Fuck that -it's much less than the president's upcoming inaguration will cost us (not to mention what 4 more years of these idiots will cost us). How many billions went from our pockets into Haliburton's coffers? We should be sending billions to Southeast Asia right now. While we're at it, let's help them get a tsunami warning network online. We buy it and they use it. It's about time we started acting like the genrous Americans we claim we are, dammit.

Netaid, oxfam, Doctors Without Borders- send cash now. If George Bush can't be bothered to do anything other than make grand claims of aid and then forget about it (rememebr all that money for AIDS? What happened to that?), we'll have to do it ourselves.