News in Snippets

I recently added a couple of different RSS feeds to my reader and I thought I'd share them with you. The first is from Big Think, a site with a great collection of articles and videos. They also post short summaries of articles they find throughout the web. Here are some highlights from the Ideafeed I've come across since I started reading:

Seven ‘Til
Scientists and Nobel Laureates have set the Doomsday Clock back by one minute because of positive arms control measures leaving humanity seven minutes from destruction. “The world has inched further away from doom and nuclear disaster, said a group of respected scientists that includes 19 Nobel Laureates. The symbolic Doomsday Clock has been moved back a minute, reflecting the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' more optimistic view of the world's chances of avoiding catastrophic threats such as nuclear attacks. The clock is now set at six minutes to midnight, with midnight representing a nuclear apocalypse, according to the group, which is based in Chicago, Illinois. ‘We are poised to bend the arc of history toward a world free of nuclear weapons. For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are cooperating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material,’ the scientists said in a statement Thursday. The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 and had been adjusted only 18 times before Thursday, the group said.”
READ IT AT CNN

Gitmo Suicides?
Doubts have been raised about the apparent suicides of three Guantanimo Bay detainees who had reportedly been taken to a secret location known as "camp no" just hours before their deaths. Harper’s magazine, which published details on the subject yesterday, “raises serious questions about whether the three detainees actually died by hanging themselves in their cells and suggests the U.S. government is covering up details of what precisely happened in the hours before the deaths on the night of June 9, 2006. In response to the magazine article, the Justice Department said Monday that it had thoroughly reviewed the allegations and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Harper's reported that the deaths of the three detainees, or the events that led directly to their deaths, most likely occurred at a previously undisclosed facility a mile or so from the main Guantanamo Bay prison complex. Harper's based much of its account on interviews with several prison guards who said they knew of the existence of the ‘black’ site and that they saw three detainees removed from Camp Delta several hours before the deaths were reported and said the prisoners were transported in a white van toward the secret site.”
READ IT AT FOX NEWS

Marijuana 101
School authorities face a dilemma now that marijuana is being prescribed to treat ADHD, legitimating its presence in lockers and classrooms across 14 states. “A high school student found to have marijuana in the classroom would seem to be a prime candidate for a little ‘talk’ with the vice principal – and maybe a trip to the police station. But around the country today, hundreds – perhaps thousands – of high schoolers are bringing pot to school, and they’re doing it legally. Not to get stoned, but as part of prescribed medical treatment. And they don’t have to tell school authorities about it. This is putting teachers and principals in a new and challenging position. In many counties and school districts, there are no clear guidelines – for school officials, students, or parents. ‘This is all just kind of starting to happen,’ high school principal Jeff Schlecht told the Ashland Daily Tidings in Oregon. ‘It does place us in an awkward position.’ For many students, the issue comes as no surprise. ‘I’ve known about this for four years,’ Ashland senior Wesley Davis, 17, told the newspaper. ‘Some of them have it for medical reasons, but others are just trying to get free weed and sell it, turn it around.’”
READ IT AT THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Another great source of daily snippets is the Best of the Moment feed from The Browser. Here are some examples:

The “Other” Imbalance And The Financial Crisis
"Brilliant", says Tyler Cowen. Crisis commonly blamed on global imbalances. But main cause was excess world demand for safe debt, met with flood of synthetic, fragile, triple-A paper
http://bit.ly/8R9uJh

US Enabled Chinese Hacking Of Google
Chinese hackers got into Gmail through backdoor created for American authorities to survey email, just as they tap phones. Surveillance a major source of insecurity
http://bit.ly/7ajnYr

Leviathan: The Growth Of The State
Long feature, strong on telling detail about how and why state sector has been growing around the world, weaker on strategies, arguments for reversing trend
http://bit.ly/7YY1GG

A final feed worth checking out is from The Week, a regular digest of news. They have a great collection of political cartoons for each day. Instead of posting a couple here (because that may be copyright infringement), I'll just link to a couple:

• Voters abandon Barack Obama
• If Congress raised children
• The GOP's government self-deception

All of these post a lot, but in small snippets. If they interest you subscribe, if not, stay tuned and I'll post or share the exceptionally interesting ones.