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September 13, 2006
Moe Most
In the golden sunny days that were Los Angeles in the 1930s, there was a place called Muscle Beach.
A place that still exists, Muscle Beach was a monument to health and fitness. It was the seed of an American movement that still lives today.
A fellow named Moe Most was one of the guys who dreamed it all up. He’s an American story.
Seattle Times; 10 September, 2006; page B4; ‘Moe Most was “ambassador” of Muscle Beach’
Posted by williamfrick at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
animal liberation
Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a Los Angeles trauma surgeon, believes that killing scientists in order to stop scientific research that harms animals, is morally justified:
"No strictly peaceful movement has succeeded in liberation, John Brown dragged slave owners out of their beds and shot them in the street."
Seattle Times; 10 September, 2006 p. D1; 'Surgeon speaks for animal-rights extremists'
Posted by williamfrick at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
oil and water
Israeli airstrikes on fuel tanks at a power station 20 miles south of Beirut caused the largest oil spill ever seen in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
"And to be clear, drawing the conclusion that this environmental disaster was intentional is not taking sides in the conflict. It doesn't matter if the missiles that hit Jiyyeh were fired by Israel, Hezbollah or the pope. It was wrong. The attack reflects a malicious intent to inflict large-scale environmental damage with no strategic military value whatsoever. This seems more like warfare straight out of the Middle Ages, when hot oil was poured on the enemy beneath the castle walls."
Professor of Ocean Ecology, University of Alaska at Fairbanks and Co-director of the environmental NGO The Coastal Coalition.Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10 September, 2006; p, J6; 'After the bombs, environmental calamity'
Richard Steiner,
Posted by williamfrick at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)
yeah . . .but can they play football?
American and European societies face a growing lack of ambition among their children.
An annual study by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that the number of 2005 college graduates in China was more than the number of college graduates in the entire European Union.
More than a quarter of 15-year-olds in the United States, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Turkey performed at (or below) the lowest levels in mathematics.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 13 September, 2006; page A7; 'China, India schools outperform U.S., Europe'
Posted by williamfrick at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)