What’s with Blackwater these days? Do you recall how Blackwater was involved in a shoot-out last September on the 17th at a Baghdad intersection that left 17 Iraqis dead? Do you recall how Iraq’s outrage and how American public outrage called for Blackwater’s dismissal from Iraq?

Background: I selected some items for a brief recap on Blackwater in Iraq from my original article, “Tell Me Blackwater Ain’t So, Ma,” posted October 25th, 2007 on b4b and from my other related comments.

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Snipped from Scotsman.com.

I have had a strong curiosity about dolphins for a very long time. It started after I watched a special on them when I was a kid about how they could tell colors, shapes, sizes and solve problems. They could do all kinds of amazing things that no other comparable animal could do. Then, my curiosity peaked a decade later when I read an article about how the dolphin “language” was more complex than any of the human languages. I started thinking to myself, “what if dolphins were as smart or smarter than us, but they just lack an opposable thumb to show off their ‘intelligence’.”

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Snipped from HeraldNews.com.

We all know about this new report coming out about Iran, right? How it reports that Iran put a halt on the nuclear research four years ago. Well, we have Bush saying that the report doesn’t matter, and how “Nothing Has Changed With Iran.” Then on the other end of the spectrum you have Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying that the “new intelligence review [is] a victory for Iran’s nuclear program, suggesting it shows the success of his hard-line stance rejecting compromise.”

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Snipped from SciAm.com.

Well if this isn’t the most interesting way to treat mosquito born illnesses. Here is the premise: Instead of killing off all the mosquitos — a portion of food chain, and a necessary organism for agriculture — trying to stave off illnesses, just treat them with antibiotics. Now, I am not normally a fan of the use of pharmaceuticals, especially on animals, but I like it over its alternative — killing them all.

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Is Brian unique?

She and I walk into a pet shop. “Go chat with the birds; I want to talk to this dog in the window.” First though, while I’m checking out the other dogs in their cages while laughter comes from the birds’ section, I know she’s telling bird jokes. She laughs at a joke a bird just told her. None of the dogs in the cages appeal to me. No one says a word.

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Snipped from News.Yahoo.com.

Well, hell has … well, gotten hotter. The dragon has reared its ugly head, and the shit has hit the fan. There. If you are a liberal, don’t read this as it will make your appendix burst. If you are a neo-conservative then get out the champagne. And if you are with me, the few middle grounder’s (or libertarians), we just need a second to morn the loss of our governments sanity.

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Snipped from the uk.Reuters.com.

This is hilarious and should be done by all countries that allow the US to have military bases in their own country.

The US is wanting Ecuador to renew the lease for the only military base that the US has in South America. This lease is set to expire in 2009, but problems are already starting to surface. “Washington must let [me] open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador’s Pacific coast,” said Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s leftist President. Since the US is still fighting the ‘War on Drugs’ that has lasted decades and shows no sign of quitting, US ambassadors are trying to persuade Correa because the base is an important part of controlling drug trafficking.

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Snipped from DailyMail.co.uk.

Some of the arguers against evolution ask, “Well, if evolution exists, where are the species that are evolving themselves? Or middle-species?” Well, although there doesn’t need to be a middle species, this story may give a debater of evolution some ammunition. If a middle species is what you want then a killfish (among many more, but let’s stick with this one) is what you get. Here is a fish that is adapting has adapted to surviving outside of water for longer than thought possible.

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Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq.

Will you please tell me what’s going on? I want to see if you’re holding out, or what, because maybe I missed it. But, I think this is between the lines of the blogs and the media news stories. A coverup of a coverup. Then a smooth-it-out job.

I’m talking about the disgusting Blackwater mess. You might be as confused as I am whether they are leaving or are not leaving Iraq. The U.S. is supposed to be into arranging departure terms, so to speak, and they’re to leave within six months. It takes that long to find replacements, I believe. But in the meantime, Blackwater is back on the job, and Eric Prince, head of Blackwater is on TV this weekend trying to drum up moral support for his civilian Blackwater employees.

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