Half of Europe's Citizens Know 2 Languages

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Half of European citizens speak a second language, according to a European Union survey released Friday.

The poll, conducted in June across Europe, found that tiny Luxembourg had the highest percentage of bilingual citizens, with 99 percent of those questioned saying they could master a conversation in a second language.

Hungary had the lowest number with 29 percent of its citizens able to speak another language. Britain was second last with 30 percent.

The survey also found that almost eight out of 10 students - ages 15-24 - can have a normal conversation in at least one foreign language.

In the United States, by contrast, 9 percent of Americans speak both their native language and another language fluently, according to a U.S. Senate resolution designating 2005 the ``Year of Foreign Language Study.''

Defiant PM says: I'll face down Iraq protesters

War critics dismissed as 'urban intellectuals'. Most Britons want troops out, poll shows

Tony Blair will signal this week that Labour should abandon "urban intellectuals" who deserted it over the Iraq war. As the party's conference begins in Brighton today he is determined to face down growing pressure for a withdrawal of British troops.

He believes Labour will lose if it seeks to win back middle-class voters who protested against the war at the last election and can rely instead on its heartland to remain in power.

Mr Blair's hardline stance comes as a poll released last night showed that a majority of Britons wanted UK troops to pull out. Senior military, diplomatic and intelligence figures added their voices to the protest last night.

The Prime Minister's determination to ignore the issue was made clear yesterday when party managers stifled a proposed debate on Iraq.

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

First I thought this is a joke, but it seems to be true. Maybe the Bushistas are right, there is no evolution or maybe we are in a phase of devolution - I don't know, but to me we really are missusing nature in every way possible.

Bush plea for cash to rebuild Iraq raises $600

An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600 (£337), The Observer has learnt. Yet since the appeal was launched earlier this month, donations to rebuild New Orleans have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars.

The public's reluctance to contribute much more than the cost of two iPods to the administration's attempt to offer citizens 'a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq' has been seized on by critics as evidence of growing ambivalence over that country.

This coincides with concern over the increasing cost of the war. More than $30 billion has been appropriated for the reconstruction. Initially, America's overseas aid agency, USaid, expected it to cost taxpayers no more than $1.7bn, but it is now asking the public if they want to contribute even more.

Poland's former child stars seek twin poll victory

Four decades ago, the Kaczynski twins were blond scamps trying to steal the moon in a film for Soviet-bloc children. By tonight, Lech and Jaroslaw may be half-way to becoming Poland's two most powerful men.

The child stars became adult Solidarity activists, then split with the movement to become Poland's most daring political deal-makers before emerging as the tough-talking conservative campaigners whose party is fighting for victory in today's general election.

As President Alexander Kwasniewski, a former communist and a friend of George Bush and Tony Blair, sees his allies in the ruling Democratic Left Alliance sunk by a tide of sleaze, Poland's right is set for a landslide victory.

Opinion polls have the Jaroslaw Kaczynski-led Law and Justice party (PiS) vying for victory with the business-orientated Civic Platform (PO) in today's vote, and see Lech Kaczynski closing on the Civic Platform chief Donald Tusk a fortnight ahead of the presidential elections.

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

"The Department of Defense's increased requirements for small- and medium-calibre ammunitions have largely been driven by increased weapons training requirements, dictated by the army's transformation to a more self-sustaining and lethal force - which was accelerated after the attacks of 11 September, 2001 - and by the deployment of forces to conduct recent US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq," said the report by the General Accounting Office (GAO).

Estimating how many bullets US forces have expended for every insurgent killed is not a simple or precisely scientific matter. The former head of US forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, famously claimed that his forces "don't do body counts".

Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming

Damn. Do the politicians have any responsibility?

US in call for reform of IMF voting

The US on Friday called for reform of the International Monetary Fund's weighted voting system and appeared to hint at the need for a single European Union seat on the IMF's board.

Tim Adams, the US Treasury's top international official, said the IMF faced questions about its relevance as an international lender at a time when developing countries were increasingly building up large foreign exchange reserves.

As a result, the financial quotas at the IMF, which determine each country's voting weight, needed to be reformed so that each country had a "rightful stake" in the institution.

"The quotas for many fast-growing emerging markets are much smaller than the IMF's own calculations would suggest they should be," Mr Adams told a conference on IMF reform, organised by the Institute for International Economics, the influential Washington think-tank.

Low-fat vegan diet may spur weight loss

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- A diet free of animal products and low in fat may help trim the waistline without the task of strict calorie watching, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that of 64 postmenopausal, overweight women, those assigned to follow a low-fat vegan diet for 14 weeks lost an average of 13 pounds, compared with a weight loss of about 8 pounds among women who followed a standard low-cholesterol diet.

...
Vegan diets eschew all animal products, including dairy and eggs, in favor of fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts and beans. Although high-protein weight-loss regimens have painted carbohydrates as the enemy, a number of studies have found that vegetarians and vegans, who tend to eat a lot of fiber- and vitamin-rich carbohydrates, are much less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters.

Women in the current study found the vegan diet easy to follow, according to Barnard, because they were not asked to count calories or keep tabs on portion sizes. They were, however, told to avoid added oils, nuts and seeds to keep their fat intake down.

Women in the comparison group followed a diet based on National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines, which meant restricting fat to less than 30 percent of calories and protein to about 15 percent of calories.

...
Based on dietary records the women kept, both groups ended up reducing their calorie intake by almost 400 calories per day, on average. But those on the vegan diet lost more weight. Despite the restrictions of going vegan, Barnard maintained that it's easy to take on the lifestyle. "Just eat fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains," he said. "Everything you're eating is good for you."

Good to know that allopathic medicine is finally noticing what has been basic knowledge to the 'natural health' approach and that these findings will be published in the American Journal of Medicine.

US oil industry relief after Rita

It appears that Hurricane Rita caused minimal disruption to the Houston oil industry while the fate of other US Gulf Coast refineries is less clear.

The energy department in Washington said it was "cautiously optimistic" about Houston after the giant storm made less inland impact than feared.

But a refinery in Port Arthur seemed to have been seriously damaged and two in Louisiana may also have been hit.

Rita shut all Gulf crude oil production and much natural gas output.

However, it seems to have caused much less damage to the industry than last month's storm.

Antiwar Fervor Fills the Streets - Demonstration Is Largest in Capital Since U.S. Military Invaded Iraq

Tens of thousands of people packed downtown Washington yesterday and marched past the White House in the largest show of antiwar sentiment in the nation's capital since the conflict in Iraq began.

The demonstration drew grandmothers in wheelchairs and babies in strollers, military veterans in fatigues and protest veterans in tie-dye. It was the first time in a decade that protest groups had a permit to march in front of the executive mansion, and, even though President Bush was not there, the setting seemed to electrify the crowd.

Signs, T-shirts, slogans and speeches outlined the cost of the Iraq conflict in human as well as economic terms. They memorialized dead U.S. troops and Iraqis, and contrasted the price of war with the price of recovery for areas battered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Riffs on Vietnam-era protests were plentiful, with messages declaring, "Make Levees, Not War," "I never thought I'd miss Nixon" and "Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam." Many in the crowd had protested in the 1960s; others weren't even born during those tumultuous years.

Protest organizers estimated that 300,000 people participated, triple their original target. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, who walked the march route, said the protesters achieved the goal of 100,000 and probably exceeded it. Asked whether at least 150,000 showed up, the chief said, "That's as good a guess as any.

Pope's guards have been loyal for 500 years

The first of the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the Papal Swiss Guard has taken place in Lucerne with ceremonial pomp.

Justice Minister Christoph Blocher made the keynote speech, commending the guards - who are responsible for the pope's safety - on their loyalty and for being true to their word.

Blocher added that the men were exemplary, saying that they typified Christian values.

The very fact that the Swiss Guard was celebrating 500 years in business showed that they had withstood the test of time, Blocher said.

The security force came into being on June 21, 1505, when the then Pope Julius II asked the neighbouring region to quickly send 200 food soldiers to protect the Vatican Palace.

The first 150 guards set off that autumn for Rome, arriving in January 1506.

This arrival date is regarded as the institution's birthday.

Good morning, Fran. You are the early bird this morning! I saw that CNN headline yesterday about today's Swiss vote (which is SUPER important)...something like: "Swiss to vote on cheaper labor"...and I thought they had been paid off by the SVP (the Nationalist, hard-right, anti-immigrant party...among other things). It is not about cheap labor, its about the right of movement of EU members and the Swiss, (and even more about the Swiss aligning to the EU more, though not about joining).

Also, yesterday was gorgeous here, and got to see the Swiss juvenile (age 8-12) baseball championship yesterday, between Wittenbach Vikings and the Thur Hunters, won by the Vikings 5-2. Great game...and fun for an American to see the Swiss picking up baseball as a sport. Then went and saw the Cirque d'Soleil in Zurich, ("Dralion") which was styled after the chinese acrobatic show...lots of fun!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

Just saw this from soj. What a shame!

So Long and Thanks for the Fish  de soj

Hey folks, you may have noticed I've been gone for most of a week now. I've been right here at home, just not online. And yes I've been busy, but not that busy.

The truth is that someone decided to ruin all the fun for all of us and butt their nose into my private business. I've always had my two lives separated - my offline world and my online one. That's the way I wanted it and that's the way I set it up and I've got my own reasons for it. And someone decided to ruin all the fun and be a smug ass about it and go to incredibly great lengths to find out where I "live" online. And they managed to do it, and now they're all snide about it.

This happened on Tuesday I think, and I've been sitting here all week trying to figure out what to do about it. I love writing, I really do - it's not even about the money or the "job" of it, it's part of who I am. But I can't do it if I can't write in peace. Everyone else in my offline world knows this and respects this. But it just takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel I guess, right?

So what does this mean? It means it's over. It means it's finished. Kaput. FTS and everything I've worked on for the past two years is gone. I've spent all week trying to figure out a way I can do keep this place but I don't see how I can do it.

So effectively immediately, this blog is no more. And you won't find me writing on the frontpage anywhere else either. I've written emails to them and explained it as best as I could because it's not their fault. Not at all. I asked people in my offline life to stay out of my online world and everyone did it except for one person who supposedly "cares about me" and everything else. Well fuck that.

The last one for today, but I think Antifa's diary at dKos is worth reading.

Smoke O'er The Water