'Texas would saunter into the global community bigger than Australia, Greece or Bolivia'

From Governor Perry's Tantrum: So What If Texas Secedes? by Nancy Gibbs (TIME)

Happily, it is still possible to visit Texas without a passport — even though the governor seems to be taking the state's tagline more seriously than ever: "Texas: it's like a whole other country."

Governor Rick Perry didn't actually endorse secession when he spoke at an antitax tea party at Austin city hall. But you could forgive people for misunderstanding, since he's been railing against an overreaching Federal Government, rejected stimulus spending and quoted Sam Houston's declaration that "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression." Perry, who faces a tight re-election campaign against that notorious Washington insider "Kay Bailout Hutchinson," observed that he thought the U.S. was still a "great union," but "if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?" (See pictures of tea-party tax protests across the country.)

Credit Lincoln for our visceral revulsion at secessionist movements; he committed such eloquence to the argument for the Union remaining whole that to entertain any other notion, whatever the grievance, seems disrespectful to our bravest President and the rights he fought to defend. But what would happen if, after decades of indulging Texas' need to be the biggest and baddest and enduring all sorts of T shirts ("On the 8th Day, God Created Texas") designed to remind the rump 49 of our general inferiority, we called Perry's Lone Star bluff?

We'd still visit, of course; relations might not be quite as friendly as with Canada, but certainly warmer than with, say, Cuba. NCAA offcials would have to grant an exception for foreign participation in college bowl games, but I'm betting they'd agree. American Airlines might decide to move out of Dallas, but I'd be O.K. with leaving NASA behind and letting Texans decide if they could afford to return to the moon. Border-patrol costs would be steep, but I'm sure Texas' application to join NAFTA would be favorably received. And it would get a vote at the U.N. and the right for its diplomats to park wherever they wanted on the streets of Manhattan. Texas would saunter into the global community bigger than Australia, Greece or Bolivia...

Fires of resistance still burning in Greece

From Resistance bulletin 111, April 2009 by Resistance editors - Anarchist Federation

Despite several months passing since the insurrectionary events of the “Greek December”, social discontent and working class resistance are still very much alive amongst the youth and workers of Greece. March has been characterised by continuing occupations, street battles and clashes with fascist forces.

BREAKDOWN OF EVENTS:

•4th March - In response to a fascist hand grenade attack against an immigrant social centre on the night of February 24th (which fortunately claimed no victims) anti-fascists take to the streets. The march erupts into extended street battles between protesters and provocative riot police forces deployed to attack the demo. During the clashes that spread throughout the city centre several banks and expensive shops are destroyed, while protesters break into the offices of Golden Dawn [Xrysi Avgi] the neonazi parastate organisation responsible for numerous assassination attempts against immigrants, anarchists and the left. The offices are torched to the ground.

•Friday 6th March -The three month anniversary of Alexandros Grigoropoulos' murder. Protesters occupy the metro/ISAP station of Attiki, a central transit station between the two urban rail systems. All ticket machines are disabled so that transport is rendered free of charge. Later that same afternoon a march takes to the streets to protest against the chain of organised fascist attacks against the Pakistani community in the area. Activists gather at the site of Alexandros' murder in the evening. The local riot squad is attacked with molotov cocktails and street battles continue throughout the night.

•Saturday 7th March -The local People's Assembly of Exarcheia occupies the big parking lot between Alexandros Grigoropulos murder site and the heavily guarded PASOK (Socialist Party) HQ in a move to reclaim one of the city's last open spaces and demand its transformation into a park rather than yet another block of offices. The locals set up a day-long collective meal, with wine and dances, hold workshops and smash the asphalt, planting pine and olive trees. In the evening a big painting, given as a gift to the Greek insurgency by the Zapatistas of Chiapas, was placed on the wall of the building opposite the murder site, already thick with hundreds of letters and a marble plaque from the boy's family. The day ended in a big concert.

•Monday 9th March - Members of the Open Assembly for Health occupy the cashiers office of the Red Cross Hospital in Athens demanding free health care for all.

•Wednesday 1th March - Dock workers of the Nautico-construction Zone of Piraeus attack the fences and smash the main entrance of the Ministry of the Commercial Navy in their effort to invade and occupy the building. The workers are driven back by the special-forces of the port police through the use of flash-burst grenades. Meanwhile workers of the Ministry of Culture once again blockade the Acropolis demanding their 4 months' unpaid salaries and re-employment of fired workers. Reluctant to turn the monument into another battleground the President of the Republic pledges to resolve their grievances.

•Friday 13th March -Riots break out in Athens and Salonica in relation to the coming trial of an anarchist, Yorgos Voutsis- Vogiatzis, who was arrested 18 months ago and is accused of bank robbery. In Athens, the down-town market area and residential area of Kolonaki is gutted by protesters who smash dozens of expensive shops, luxury cars and banks. Journalists talk of the greatest damage in the capital since the December insurgency.

•Sunday 22nd March -The death of Katerina Goulioni, a female prison activist known for her struggle against the vaginal inspection of inmates sparks a violent uprising in the Women's Prison of Thebes. Inmates refuse to return to their cells, and burn and smash the jail premises, while a protest march in solidarity with Goulioni clashes with riot police forces outside the prison. One section of the prison is said to be seriously burned.

•The job losses in Greece continue with the GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) claiming 4,000 losses amongst its members for February alone. With the severity of the damage caused by the economic crisis still unknown the Greek state has been keen to bring in repressive measures against the growing anti-capitalist movement. In the capital the government has announced the introduction of a “rapid reaction” armed police force, the introduction of police dogs on pedestrian patrols and a “zero-tolerance” policy towards political violence. The Minister of Justice has also announced the introduction of a new law that will severely punish hoods, masks and other distorting clothing in protest marches. This is while the right-wing press has been pushing for the government to reopen the issue of university asylum (universities in Greece have asylum status from the police thanks to the historic place that student protesters played in toppling the military junta). These measures are likely to only escalate rather than dampen social tensions as Greek workers continue to be hit hard by the economic crisis.

CIA fears torture prosecutions

Sarah Baxter reports in The Sunday Times :

Only some of the secrets of US 'ghost' prisons have been revealed

The CIA fears some of its operatives could face prosecution for torturing high-level terrorist suspects, despite President Barack Obama's promise of legal immunity.

The confidential US Department of Justice guidelines on interrogating high-level detainees, which were made public last week, provide only a small window into the secret prisons or “black sites” run by the CIA.

“These are the first dominoes,” said Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit that forced the release of the memos. “It will be difficult for the new administration to argue now that other documents can be lawfully withheld.”

The memos, drawn up by Bush administration officials and lawyers, detailed what was permissible, such as placing detainees in a cramped box, “walling” them by slamming them against a wall, dousing them with a hose, depriving them of sleep, confining them with insects and simulating drowning - “waterboarding”.

[ ... ]

It is clear that some operatives exceeded the guidelines. One memo from December 2004 said waterboarding was used “with far greater frequency than initially indicated . . . with large volumes of water”, rather than those specified by the rules.

The lawyers and officials responsible for drawing up the “torture” memos also faced calls for their prosecution from some members of Congress.

John Conyers, chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, said: “If our leaders are found to have violated the strict laws against torture, either by ordering these techniques without proper authority, or by knowingly crafting legal fictions to justify torture, they should be criminally prosecuted.”

Those at risk include Alberto Gonzales, the attorney-general under Bush, who convened a crucial meeting of justice department and defence department officials in 2002. America was at war, he said, and it was necessary to “lean forward”.

John Yoo, the deputy assistant attorney-general, drafted a memo stating that physical torture “must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death”.

Yoo and fellow officials Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, who issued the memos, are already subjects of an ethics investigation by the justice department.

The former senior CIA official said: “We knew this was going to come back and bite us . . . These people weren't judges, they were just lawyers in the justice department. It was kind of like us telling ourselves it was okay to do it.”

The official recalled the atmosphere at the time of the 9/11 attacks. “A colleague of mine said, 'I know this is all wrong but I keep picturing these people jumping out of windows and falling out of buildings'.”

The meticulous description of harsh interrogation techniques in the memos seemed chilling enough, but the reality was far worse, the official said.

It was one thing to describe a “facial slap . . . with fingers slightly spread” or pouring cold water “from a container or a hose without a nozzle”, as in the memos. When done continuously for an hour at a time, it was “something you want to stop”.

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Victorian diseases: Back from the dead

Charles Dickens knew more than he would have wished about scarlet fever. His son, Charley, was afflicted by it, causing the family to leave Paris hurriedly and return to London in 1847, and it featured in several of his novels. It was a much-feared disease that caused devastating epidemics through the 19th and early 20th centuries, resulting in thousands of deaths.

Now, 160 years later, it is making a comeback. Almost 3,000 cases were recorded in 2008, the highest total for a decade, and doctors fear a dangerous strain of the infection is becoming more widespread.

It is not the only 19th century disease to make a comeback. Mumps and measles are on the rise, whooping cough notifications are up and cases of typhoid are increasing. Justine Greening, shadow minister for London, last week claimed London was experiencing a surge in Victorian diseases more closely associated with the world of Dickens than the modern era of health clubs and fitness regimes.

Ms Greening, Tory MP for Putney, said there were 393 cases of mumps in the capital in 2008, up by 214 per cent in a year, whooping cough cases had quadrupled in five years to 252, there were 501 cases of scarlet fever (a rise of 153 per cent since 2005) and 127 cases of typhoid. She accused the Government of failing to invest enough in public health or to appoint enough school nurses.

"The rise of these highly infectious and potentially fatal diseases in our cities is truly alarming, the Government must do more to ensure the public health of Londoners," she said.

Is she right? Greening's charge is accurately targeted and hits Labour where it hurts most – on health. After a decade in which record sums have been spent on the NHS and living standards have risen, why should diseases associated with poverty and pestilence be on the rise?

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Does Ikaria hold the key to longevity?

From CNN Health - Commentary: How to outlive your doctor

Editor's note: Dan Buettner is the best-selling author of "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest."

 Ikaria, GREECE (CNN) -- In 1970, when doctors diagnosed Greek-American Yiannis Karimalis with stomach cancer and only gave him a few months to live, he decided to move back to Ikaria, his birth island. There, he reasoned, he could be buried more inexpensively among his fellow Greeks.

But when he moved back to the island he didn't die. He has lived nearly 40 years more. And when he returned to America on a recent visit, he discovered that his doctors were all dead.

The people on this 99-square-mile Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea smugly tell this story as yet anther example of what they've always known and scientists are now discovering: People in Ikaria live longer than in just about another other place in the world. A recent study of 90-year-old siblings, conducted by the National Hellenic Research Foundation, discovered 10 times more 90-year-old brothers and sisters here than the European average.

Why is this important?

Most scientists agree that the average human should live to age 90. (You have to have won the genetic lottery to live to 100.) But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says life expectancy in America is 78.

[ ... ]

 For the next two weeks, I'm leading "The Blue Zones" expedition, an AARP and National Geographic sponsored team of the world's best demographers, physicians, medical researchers and media specialists, to explore Ikarian longevity.

We already have a few clues. Since at least the sixth century B.C., Icaria was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as a health destination -- largely for its hot springs believed to relieve pain, joint problems and skin ailments. Our team has reviewed reports of high levels of radon in these baths and will be exploring a theory that chronic exposure to low-level radiation may help protect DNA against the ravages of aging.

 For much of the ensuing two millenniums, people here lived in relative isolation. The people here evolved a unique diet that we believe is a more heart-protective version of the Mediterranean diet. We're doing pharmacological analyses of dozens of herbal teas and unique honey produced by bees that draw pollen of thyme, fir and erica. We think we'll find anti-cancer, anti-oxidant and probiotic properties in these locally produced products.

We also know that people here have a vastly different character than the rest of the Mediterranean. They have volcanic tempers that quickly subside. Despite living on harsh, steep terrain, they're known for relentless optimism and three-day parties. They don't get stressed by deadlines. They go to bed well after midnight, sleep late and take naps. Anecdotally, we know that most people over 90 are sexually active.

Do these people possess the true secret to longevity? We're not sure yet, but we'll certainly distill a few clues about living longer, better. Ikarian wisdom may not help you live to 100. But at least they may help you outlive your doctor.

Follow and vote to direct Dan's expedition at aarp.org/bluezones

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dan Buettner.


From What would you give to look younger, feel younger, add good years to your life and literally turn back your biological clock?

Myth #4: Longevity is all genes.

Actually, research shows that less than 20% of how long the average person lives—within biological limits—is dictated by genes. The other 80% is determined by lifestyle.

So, if we stick with the facts, the most responsible way to find a formula for living longer and feeling younger is to look among the people who are actually living the longest. If we can find a culture where many people live extraordinarily long lives, we have the potential of finding a formula for longevity.

That's why we've come to Ikaria, this small Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, where people are reaching age 90 at perhaps the highest rate in the world. They're getting the years that we're missing.

I've assembled a team of some of the very best experts to help tease out the ingredients in this special longevity recipe. Over the next two weeks, we'll let you vote to direct our team as we sift through dozens of possible factors—from islanders' diets, to how they shed stress, to their attitudes towards older people. Then we'll distill some clear lessons to bring home. One of first of our leads involves, well, sex.

A local doctor related to us the story of an 84-year-old man who was bragging about his sexual prowess. His friends, as a challenge, arranged a “date” for the man with a woman 40 years his junior to see if they would get together. An hour later, his friends looked through the window and, shall we say, made visual confirmation of the man's abilities.

As flippant as it may sound, it actually illustrates the findings of Dr. Demosthenes Panagiotakos, a professor at Harakopio University in Athens. He interviewed 68 Greek men, average age 95, and 70% of them reported that they were still sexually active. Of course, we're not sure whether having sex helps them live longer or if they live longer to have sex. Either way, they can't lose.

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