Creativity is sexually alluring, according to a study which shows that artists and poets have more sexual partners than ordinary mortals.

A survey of creative professionals found that on average they had about twice the number of sexual liaisons as non-artists, scientists said.

"Creative people are often considered to be attractive and get lots of attention as a result. They tend to be charismatic and produce art and poetry that grabs people's interests," Dr Nettle said.

"It could also be that very creative types lead a Bohemian lifestyle and tend to act on more sexual impulses and opportunities, often purely for experience's sake, than the average person would.

"Moreover, it's common to find that this sexual behaviour is tolerated in creative people. Partners, even long-term ones, are less likely to expect loyalty and fidelity from them."   more »

The complete demonization of Saddam Hussein threatens to determine every decision and action affecting not only his future but that of Iraq as well. With U.S. mass media and U.S. government propaganda stripping Saddam Hussein of every redeeming human quality, any act against him or Iraq is ipso facto justified.

This successful demonization made the U.S. unilateral war of aggression against Iraq politically possible. It now makes a fair trial for Saddam Hussein impossible.

The debate about intelligence failures is itself a cover-up of the obvious. Saddam Hussein was demonized to justify regime change in Iraq.

It rendered him an evil madman threatening the civilized world. He possessed weapons of mass destruction. He supported 9/11. He aided al-Qaeda. WMDs could be launched within minutes of his order.

That Saddam Hussein would use them was clear. He used them “against his own people.” Ignored were the facts that under devastating attacks by the U.S. in 1991 and 2003, Iraq did not use any illegal weapons.

In 1991, Iraq was the victim of 88,500 tons of explosives (almost seven Hiroshimas) delivered by the Pentagon in 42 days that destroyed its infrastructure: water systems, power, transportation, communications, manufacturing, commercial properties, housing, mosques, churches, synagogues.   more »

I do ache for these guys, but if you send too many (soldiers) home, the risk is that mental health will be seen as a ticket out of country.

The Wall Street Journal has a new article on the role of mental health professionals in treating war trauma in Iraq [Therapists take on soldiers' trauma in Iraq]. The military has caught on to how these workers can aid the war effort and has increased their per capita numbers.

Rather than seeking the best treatment to help traumatized soldiers recover from their stressful and horrific experiences, these professionals attempt to patch soldiers in order to return them to combat. As the article illustrates in its lead paragraph:

Lt. Maria Kimble, an Army mental-health worker, runs a two-person counseling team out of a small plywood office here. As part of a "combat stress detachment," her job is to help soldiers cope with the horror of the battlefield -- so that they can return to it as soon as possible.

Ethical questions are raised, and then ignored by these workers, who after all, are primarily involved in serving the war effort:

"There are a lot of ethical questions about it," says Col. Levandowski. "The oath I take as a physician is to do no harm," he says. But "ultimately, we are in the business of prosecuting a war."   more »

* This is the eighth speech Bush has given in 2005 to try to bolster public support for this war with his main message to the American people can be summed up in a one-word request: Patience. Can you take a hint, Mr. Bush? We overwhelmingly don't believe in you and we're out of patience.

* The president signaled a new GOP talking point by using the phrase "artificial timetables" no fewer than 10 times in the speech. But isn't a timetable only artificial if you make it so?

* Joe Lieberman must go. Any time Bush uses your name and quotes you in a speech of this magnitude to build support for a policy that two-thirds of the country is against, you've seriously lost your way. Can we please come up with a strong Connecticut Democrat to challenge Lieberman when his term expires?

* Bush ended by doing what he does best (or worst): Using the troops for his own political agenda by reading a heartfelt letter of a soldier killed in Iraq to advance his stay-the-course mentality. Once again, Bush's bizarre mantra is that the only way to honor those who have been killed is to have more people die.

* None of this rhetoric matters. Even if Iraqi troops were being trained at the breathtaking pace claimed by Team Bush – which they're not – they will need intelligence and logistics support from the U.S. for years to come.

* Why? Because we destroyed their military infrastructure – which means they either need to buy a new military or, more likely, Americans will be paying for it by robbing from our children and their children.   more »

Watch the video: Quicktime...Windows Media...Real Media

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

The road has acquired the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the world because of the number of suicide attacks and ambushes carried out by insurgents against coalition troops. In one four-month period earlier this year it was the scene of 150 attacks.   more »

There has been talk of a "homosexual subculture" in the priesthood, and a "Lavender Mafia" that operates within the American church. This hidden network, it is claimed, promotes a gay agenda and seeks to cover up scandals.

Concern has been expressed that this subculture may deter young men from training for the priesthood, at a time when there is a serious shortage of new recruits for the ministry in the United States and Western Europe.

Michael Rose, the author of a study of American seminary life called "Goodbye, Good Men", believes the teachings of the Church are being undermined.

"One aspect of this gay subculture of both priests and seminarians is that too many men who want to be chaste, whether gay or straight, are propositioned, harassed or even molested," he wrote in a recent article for the Dallas Morning News.

"This is not simply about homosexuality or homosexual acts. It is about an agenda and subculture that systematically undermine celibacy."   more »

expected to proclaim, in a major speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, that the Iraqi security forces—which only a few months ago were said to have just one battalion capable of fighting on its own—have suddenly made uncanny progress in combat readiness.

Expect soon after (if not during the speech itself) the thing that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have, just this month, denounced as near-treason—a timetable for withdrawal of American troops.

And so it appears (assuming the forecasts about the speech are true) that the White House is as cynical about this war as its cynical critics have charged it with being.

For several months now, many of these critics have predicted that, once the Iraqis passed their constitution and elected a new government, President Bush would declare his mission complete and begin to pull out—this, despite his public pledge to "stay the course" until the insurgents were defeated.

This theory explains Bush's insistence that the Iraqis draft and ratify the constitution on schedule—even though the rush resulted in a seriously flawed document that's more likely to fracture the country than to unite it.   more »

29 NOVEMBER

White Lines: Cocaine & the BourgeoisieImpeach Bush For Fucking Up Iraq!George Best: The Public Gorges on GriefWhat Is Neoliberalism? A Brief Definition for the Radical Left

Western 'Aid' for Disasters & Poverty: A Confidence Trick

"Democracy", "Freedom", "Peace": America's Propaganda Tools

Defiant Saddam Confronts Judge

Muslim Women's Dress: Differences between 'Hijab', 'Niqab' & 'Jilbab'