Z News January 18 2007

"Z News" is end of time news, like Z, or Zed, at the end of an alphabetic sequence. It is not a funny rendition of Parisian news, "Leesten to zee News at 11:00!", instead of Les Nouvelles or Les Informations. My humor is not necessarily above a little Pepe LePew, but not this time. And , come to think of it, it really isn't "new" at all. I mean, all these things are going to be tedious repetitions of things we've seen before; nihil novi sub sole ( nothing new under the sun) and semper ubi sub-ubi (always wear under-wear). (1) An administration official, Charles Stimson, displays arrogance, even though they know by now that arrogance should not be worn after a catastrophe. "A Pentagon official who criticised US law firms for representing detainees at the Guantanamo Bay US base in Cuba has apologised for his remarks. " He also tacitly threatened them, but read it all at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6270783.stm (2) Israel vs Palestine, Round 4,567: Although Israel withdrew from Gaza more than a year ago, its control over the lives of Palestinians there is in some ways even tighter than before, a new report by an Israeli human rights organisation says http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6270331.stm and the Israeli HR organization: Gisha: Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement is an Israeli not-for-profit organization that seeks to protect the fundamental rights of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories by imposing human rights law as a limitation on the behavior of Israel’s military. http://www.gisha.org/english/index_eng.htm (3) Doomsday Clock The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has "added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6270871.stm Therefore, they have pushed the minute hand on the good old Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight. Now, there is considerable controversy about climate change and whether it may be remedied. My own approach- which I frequently tell people and which has given me a well-deserved staus as a crank-is to advise people: "Ask those who have died from it!" ( whether 'it' is climate change, or the Iraq war, or homelessness, fill in the blanks.) (4) Nouri Al-Maliki, the present PM of Iraq, wants more weaponry. Hitherto, the US has feared the extra weaponry would just fall into the hands of the insurgents. The previous ruler of Iraq also requested and received numerous weapons from the USA. Maliki wants the same. Maliki probably is the same. The only thing I know about Al-Maliki is that the President thinks he's the boy. Excellent. Nouri Al-Maliki will go the same way as Saddam Hussein within 8 years.