“The breakdown of the Carolingian Empire in the later 9th century, combined with the relative stabilization of local European borders after the Christianization of the Vikings, Slavs, and Magyars, meant that there was an entire class of warriors who now had very little to do but fight amongst themselves and terrorize the peasant population. A plea for help from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I in opposing Muslim attacks thus fell on ready ears.”

Las Cruzadas@wikipedia
Historia de Las Cruzadas@UW-Madison
World-Historic Crimes@The Nation

Los dos partidos predominantes en EUA, republicanos y demócratas, normalmente acostumbran hacer la guerra y sufrir de paronoia crónica que, a veces , es auto inducida. Sinembargo, la hipocresía de los repúblicanos me asombra. Cuestión de ver los datos de algúnos prominentes políticos de ambos partidos.

Democrats:

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971
as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with
Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star,Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star,
Vietnam. Paraplegic from war injuries. Served in Congress.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and
seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76;Vietnam, DFCs,
Bronze Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart,
Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant,! 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBr ide: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam;
Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments.
Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII andKorea; six DFCs and Air Medal
with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII.
Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.”
The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did n! ot serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year
National Guard; got assigned to Alabamaso he could
campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate;
failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a
non-combat role making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting
was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain:Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star,
Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem, ” although
continued in NFL for 8 years as quarterback.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Lleno de referencias culturales, humor negro, un toque de realismo mágico y un “soundtrack” fenomenal, este programa definitivamente no estaba diseñado para los niños promedio que perdían su tiempo con basura televisiva. Su corta duración (tres temporadas) lo comprueba. Una lástima, pues pocos programas han tenido el honor (y la visión) de tener entre sus actores a Iggy Pop, Julianna Hatfield y Micheal Stipe, entre otros.

The Prisoner es una de las pocas series de televisión que me han gustado. Totalmente adelantada a su epoca, una serie tan bizarra como interesante. 17 episodios, un solo final.
Prisoner: Where am I?
Voice: In the Village
Prisoner: What do you want?
Voice: Information
Prisoner: Whose side are you on?
Voice: That would be telling… We want Information
Prisoner: You won’t get it
Voice: By hook or by crook… We will
Prisoner: Who are you?
Voice: The new Number Two
Prisoner: Who is Number One?
Voice: You are Number Six
Prisoner: I am not a number… I’m a free man!
Voice: [Mocking laughter]
The Prisoner

The 2005 Nobel prizes will be announced between Oct. 3 and 14, the Nobel Foundation said on Thursday, with Irish U2 rock star Bono or nuclear watchdogs such as IAEA seen as possible winners of the prestigious Peace Prize.

The Peace Prize, the most celebrated of the Nobel honors, will be announced on Oct. 14 in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Bono has made headlines this year with his global push to tackle African poverty, while the nuclear issue has been in focus with Iran and North Korea stubbornly pursuing their nuclear programs as the world this year marks the 60th anniversary of thenuking of Hiroshima.

Other potential winners include Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, humanitarian organizations that assisted in the Dec. 26 tsunami crisis, and the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels, who recently signed apeace accord ending almost 30 years of fighting.

Last year’s Peace Prize went to Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the award.

The Nobel season will kick off with the announcement in Stockholm of the Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Oct. 3, to be followed by the Physics Prize on Oct. 4, the Chemistry prize on Oct. 5 and the prize for Economics on Oct. 10.

In keeping with tradition, the Swedish Academy will set the date for its announcement of the Literature Prize later. It is traditionally awarded on a Thursday, and could likely be announced on Oct. 6.

Each Nobel Prize this year will carry a prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (US$1.31 million dollars), to be shared if the prize is awarded to more than one laureate.

© AFP, 2005.

A los amantes del cosmos, les parecerá una imagen fascinante. Para los demás sigue siendo asombroso que estas imágenes sean reales!

En directo, desde el messenger:

MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

Los esperamos a todos y todas!!!!!!!

“From 4-11 February, 1945 the Big Three – Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt – met at Yalta, a resort in the Crimea. . . . . . . . they put the seal on what became the division of Europe for almost 50 years. Yalta put the Iron in the Iron Curtain – the Cold in the Cold War. What happened here settled the fate of tens of millions of people in Eastern Europe until the fall of Communism – though it did keep Greece, Turkey and Iran out of Stalin’s reach.”

Big Three@bbc.co.uk