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.