Psyche, Science, and Society

Police assassination for being gay in Iraq

The Independent is reporting the murder by police of a 14-year old Iraqi boy for the crime of being gay. [Iraqi police 'killed 14-year-old boy for being homosexual'] Perhaps this is what the US training President Bush brags about so much teaches them?

May 4th, 2006

Les Roberts, of Lancet fame, running for Congress

I’m not sure what to make of this, but Les Roberts is running for Congress as a Democrat in New York’s 24th Congressional District. Roberts is known to many of us for his pioneering work on civilian casualties in conflict situation, most notably, the so-called Lancet study of Iraqi civilian casualties.

Roberts seems to have a fairly antiwar platform, including trying to allay Iraqi fears that the US is there for the oil:

“1) We must undermine the perception that our troops are in Iraq to get oil by passing legislation to prohibit any for-profit U.S. company from operating in Iraq for five years.

2) We must set a timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq.

3) We must set a date to rescind the President’s authority to conduct war in Iraq.”

May 4th, 2006

Avian flu now more popular than Bush

From Andy Borowitz:

AVIAN FLU NOW MORE POPULAR THAN BUSH
Bird Pandemic Surges Ahead of President in Latest Poll

In a seemingly ominous development for the White House, a new survey released today indicates that the avian flu is now more popular than President George W. Bush.

The poll, which was taken by the University of Minnesota’s Opinion Research Institute, puts the President’s approval rating at 34 percent, well behind the avian flu at 46 percent.

While the President’s numbers have been trending downward for the last several weeks, the White House was reportedly stunned to learn that the President is now significantly less popular than a deadly bird-borne pandemic.

“There’s no way for the White House to spin these numbers,” said the University of Minnesota’s Davis Logsdon, who supervised the survey. “When a pandemic that threatens the world’s bird population is more popular than you are, you’re in serious political trouble.”

According to Mr. Logsdon, the avian flu gets higher marks for honesty than President Bush does: “The bird pandemic at least comes out and says it is a bird pandemic, and voters find that refreshing.”

Mr. Logsdon said that the one way for the President to increase his popularity vis-à-vis the avian flu would be to eradicate the avian flu, possibly by having Vice President Dick Cheney take out his shotgun and shoot at the world’s birds.

But even this strategy carries with it certain risks: “Thousands of people could wind up getting shot in the face.”

Elsewhere, the Penguin Group paid a reported $8.5 million for former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s memoirs, hoping to appeal to the millions of Americans who currently use Ambien.

1 comment May 4th, 2006