15 'Elul 5766 * 8 September 2006: International Literacy Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: The petition “ABC Must Not Air Partisan Propaganda on 9/11”. Please sign and fight the forces of whitewashing.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “No Cheese - I'm A Mouse”
  
• “ICE arrests 15 aliens in Roswell working for U.S. military contractor” (Great title, article not quite as exciting.)
  
• “Middle East Minorities Unite!”
  
• “The Death of Privacy”
  
• “US Army shuns Israeli system to combat RPGs”
  
• “ESPYING THE JEW”
  
• “Planetary Politics: Protecting Pluto” (As if California did not have anything better to worry about.)
  
• “CBC Portrays Terrorist as Victim”
  
• “Employees in Abbas' office striking”
  
• “Visa applicants asked about sex-trade” (Apparently an attempt to take bureaucratic insensitivity to a new level.)
  
• “House votes to ban horse slaughter for food” (I know a lot of people like horses, but the outrage is morally absurd. Horses are no more sentient than cows, which we eat with impunity.)
  
• “Washing Hands Reduces Moral Taint” (Barry, please comment on what may be going on.)

Today’s weird thing is “Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions: Astrology”, which is an excellent read on one of humanity’s longest-standing errors. Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron