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Chlorine Restrictions Due To Security Concerns Help Fuel Spread Of Cholera In Iraq
On Sept. 16, Dr. Mohammed, a dentist in Baghdad and author of the blog Last Of Iraqis, wrote about the possibility of cholera in the city as he described and photographed the changes in water coming from the tap in his home:This week the World Health Organization confirmed Dr. Mohammed’s fears, with cases confirmed in [...]

Romney, Advised By Blackwater’s Vice Chairman, Stays Silent On Blackwater Shootings
Several presidential candidates have spoken out in support of tighter regulations governing private security contractors in Iraq after the recent shooting involving Blackwater USA.Former Republican Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has remained silent though. Not only has his campaign not issued a statement, but as the Politico reports, it has refused to even answer any [...]

Anti-climate change paper rejected by journal.
A “paper claiming to show that the scientific consensus on climate change is not in fact a consensus has been rejected by the journal Energy & Environment.” The journal is run by a “climate change skeptic” and “known for publishing work that denies a link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.” Brandon Keim at [...]

Cranky Novak Rips Greenspan ‘As A Democrat,’ Calls Mukasey ‘Totally Unqualified’
This weekend on Bloomberg Television, right-wing pundit Robert Novak ripped former Fed chief Alan Greenspan because he criticizes Bush’s economic policies while hailing those of President Clinton. Novak said that Greenspan revealed himself “as a Democrat”:[Greenspan] suddenly emerges from the sea, naked like Venus, as a Democrat. He loves Bill Clinton, he loves tax increases, [...]

Blackwater allegedly involved in smuggling weapons.
Federal investigations are now investigating whether Blackwater USA employees smuggled weapons into Iraq. The employees allegedly “sent over unlicensed weapons and equipment, that could have been used by a group labelled as terrorist by the US.” Iraqi officials are also probing “allegations about the security firm’s involvement in six other violent episodes this year that [...]

$500,000:
Amount the war in Iraq costs per minute, according to a new analysis by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard’s Linda Bilmes, put out by the American Friends Service Committee. The study finds that this $720 million a day could buy homes for 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children.

Extensive collection on ‘travel habits’ of Americans.
The Washington Post reports:The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according [...]