Month: July 2004

Dave Winer claims,

Key point about the Senate report on the CIA. They should disclose that they did a deal with the White House that the investigation would not look at them. In other words, everything they’re saying about the CIA probably fully applies to the President. If so, then the solution is clear, vote him out of office in November

This is simply not true. As the New York Times notes, the deal between Senate Democrats and Republicans simply puts the investigation of the White House into a later stage of the investigation,

Under a deal reached this year between Republicans and Democrats, the Bush administration’s role will not be addressed until the Senate Intelligence Committee completes a further stage of its inquiry, but probably not until after the November election. As a result, said the officials, both Democratic and Republican, the committee’s initial, unanimous report will focus solely on misjudgments by intelligence agencies, not the White House, in the assessments about Iraq, illicit weapons and Al Qaeda that the administration used as a rationale for the war.

Source:

Senate Iraq Report Said to Skirt White House Use of Intelligence. Douglas Jehl, New York Times, July 8, 2004.

A study by Health Grades Inc. reports that the number of elective cesarean sections increased by 25 percent from 2000 to 2002, and that as many as 1 in 50 live births in the United States are now performed by elective cesarian sections.

The study examined births at 1,684 hospitals and found that 2.21 percent of live births during the study period were performed by elective cesarian sections.

There are also preliminary indications that elective cesarean section births may be more cost effective and have fewer complications than vaginal births. The Health Grades Inc. study found that there were complications in 8.4 percent of elective cesareans as compared to complications in 12 percent of vaginal births.

That figure is in line with a University of Texas study that found elective cesarean births were more cost effective over the long term than vaginal births. Elective cesareans cost $920 compared to only $780 for vaginal births, but the costs of treating complications from vaginal births more than outweighed the slightly higher costs for the cesarean.

Sources:

Study finds Caesarean births more popular. Austin Business Journal, June 28, 2004.

Number of ‘Patient Choice’ C-Sections Rises by 25 Percent, HealthGrades Study Finds. Press Release, Health Grades Inc., June 29, 2004.

After demonstrators took to the streets in the capitol of Bangladesh, authorities there cancelled that country’s first scheduled female wrestling tournament.

The state-run wrestling federation hoped to have women from across the country participate in the event, but gave in after protesters complained that wrestling was “indecent and vulgar for Muslim women.”

The BBC reported, however, that the protesters misunderstood the nature of the wrestling match — the women would wrestle fully clothed, rather than wearing WWF-style uniforms or, Allah forbid, shorts.

The BBC quoted wrestling federation director Tabiur Rhaman as saying,

There is a misunderstanding. They might have thought that it would be a tournament like WWF, but we can assure them there will be nothing like that because we are fully aware of our religious sentiments.

Perhaps it is Rhaman, however, who misunderstands the opposition to women wrestling. Take Islamic reactionary Moulana Mohiuddin Khan who the BBC quotes as saying,

We are even ready to sacrifice our lives, if necessary, to protect our country from any kind of indecent sports.

Please, Khan, feel free to make that sacrifice any time.

Source:

Women’s wrestling called off. The BBC, July 4, 2004.