Sunday, July 12, 2009

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

The question of how completely the C.I.A. informed Congress about sensitive programs has been hotly disputed by Democrats and Republicans since May, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of failing to reveal in 2002 that it was waterboarding a terrorism suspect, a claim Mr. Panetta rejected.

The law requires the president to make sure the intelligence committees “are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity.” But the language of the statute, the amended National Security Act of 1947, leaves some leeway for judgment, saying such briefings should be done “to the extent consistent with due regard for the protection from unauthorized disclosure of classified information relating to sensitive intelligence sources and methods or other exceptionally sensitive matters.”

In addition, for covert action programs, a particularly secret category in which the role of the United States is hidden, the law says that briefings can be limited to the so-called Gang of Eight, consisting of the Republican and Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress and of their intelligence committees.

The disclosure about Mr. Cheney’s role in the unidentified C.I.A. program comes a day after an inspector general’s report underscored the central role of the former vice president’s office in restricting to a small circle of officials knowledge of the National Security Agency’s program of eavesdropping without warrants, a degree of secrecy that the report concluded had hurt the effectiveness of the counterterrorism surveillance effort.

An intelligence agency spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, declined on Saturday to comment on the report of Mr. Cheney’s role.

“It’s not agency practice to discuss what may or may not have been said in a classified briefing,” Mr. Gimigliano said. “When a C.I.A. unit brought this matter to Director Panetta’s attention, it was with the recommendation that it be shared appropriately with Congress. That was also his view, and he took swift, decisive action to put it into effect.”

Members of Congress have differed on the significance of the program, whose details remained secret and which even some Democrats have said was properly classified. Most of those interviewed, however, have said that it was an important activity that should have been disclosed to the intelligence committees.

Intelligence and Congressional officials have said the unidentified program did not involve the C.I.A. interrogation program and did not involve domestic intelligence activities. They have said the program was started by the counterterrorism center at the C.I.A. shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but never became fully operational, involving planning and some training that took place off and on from 2001 until this year.

In the tense months after Sept. 11, when Bush administration officials believed new Qaeda attacks could occur at any moment, intelligence officials brainstormed about radical countermeasures. It was in that atmosphere that the unidentified program was devised and deliberately concealed from Congress, officials said.

Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, said last week that he believed Congress would have approved of the program only in the angry and panicky days after 9/11, on 9/12, he said, but not later, after fears and tempers had begun to cool.

One intelligence official, who would speak about the classified program only on condition of anonymity, said there was no resistance inside the C.I.A. to Mr. Panetta’s decision to end the program last month.

“Because this program never went fully operational and hadn’t been briefed as Panetta thought it should have been, his decision to kill it was neither difficult nor controversial,” the official said. “That’s worth remembering amid all the drama.”

Bill Harlow, a spokesman for George J. Tenet, who was the C.I.A. director when the unidentified program began, declined to comment on Saturday, noting that the program remained classified.

In the eight years of his vice presidency, Mr. Cheney was the Bush administration’s most vehement defender of the secrecy of government activities, particularly in the intelligence arena. He went to the Supreme Court to keep secret the advisers to his task force on energy, and won.

A report released on Friday by the inspectors general of five agencies about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program makes clear that Mr. Cheney’s legal adviser, David S. Addington, had to approve personally every government official who was told about the program. The report said “the exceptionally compartmented nature of the program” frustrated F.B.I. agents who were assigned to follow up on tips it had turned up.

Mr. Addington could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Questions over the adequacy and the truthfulness of the C.I.A.’s briefings for Congress date to the creation of the intelligence oversight committees in the 1970s after disclosures of agency assassination and mind-control programs and other abuses. But complaints increased in the Bush years, when the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies took the major role in pursuing Al Qaeda.

The use of harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, for instance, was first described to a handful of lawmakers for the first time in September 2002. Ms. Pelosi and the C.I.A. have disagreed about what she was told, but in any case, the briefing occurred only after a terrorism suspect, Abu Zubaydah, had been waterboarded 83 times.

Democrats in Congress, who contend that the Bush administration improperly limited Congressional briefings on intelligence, are seeking to change the National Security Act to permit the full intelligence committees to be briefed on more matters. President Obama, however, has threatened to veto the intelligence authorization bill if the changes go too far, and the proposal is now being negotiated by the White House and the intelligence committees.

Representative Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat of Illinois on the House committee, wrote on Friday to the chairman, Representative Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat of Texas, to demand an investigation of the unidentified program and why Congress was not told of it. Aides said Mr. Reyes was reviewing the matter.

“There’s been a history of difficulty in getting the C.I.A. to tell us what they should,” said Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat of Washington. “We will absolutely be held accountable for anything the agency does.”

Mr. Hoekstra, the intelligence committee’s ranking Republican, said he would not judge the agency harshly in the case of the unidentified program, because it was not fully operational. But he said that in general, the agency had not been as forthcoming as the law required.

“We have to pull the information out of them to get what we need,” Mr. Hoekstra said.

中國‧評論指為社會穩定保護者‧解放軍須尊重少數民族

(中國‧北京)中國《解放軍日報》週六(7月11日)在一篇評論文章中指出,作為“社會穩定的堅定保護者”,人民解放軍必須教導士兵尊重少數民族。

文章表示,軍官和士兵必須“關注和尊敬少數民族的宗教、習俗和生活作息,同時積極地協助各族人民恢復正常生活和工作形態”。

文章調解放軍維護和保持大局穩定的重要性。

文章說:“無論是在革命還是戰爭時期,或是和平建設時期,維護社會穩定、捍衛人民的和平工作和捍衛國家主權,是人民解放軍的最神聖任務。”

全力維護北京穩定

另據報導,新疆烏魯木齊早前發生的騷亂讓中共當局更加提高警覺,中共北京市委書記劉淇週五(7月10日)主持召開市委常委會擴大會議強調,要全力維護好都的安全與穩定。

中新社報導,會議強調維護北京的安全穩定是當前全市工作的重中之重,“首都的穩定關係著國家的穩定,事關重大,影響重大。”

另一方面,針對外國媒體有關烏魯木齊掀“離疆潮”的報導,港親中的《文匯報》聲稱這是“子虛烏有”。

《文匯報》否認“離疆潮”

此報稱,根據記者在烏魯木齊實地瞭解,除部份外地旅遊團暫時取消或推遲來烏行程外,當地火車站客流穩定,出站旅客中有40%為在疆讀書的外地學生暑假返家。

報導指出,烏市社會生產和市民生活也正快速恢復正常,並未出現所謂人員外流、企業撤離的“離疆潮”。

法新社、聯社等媒體近日媒體,新疆掀起“離疆潮”,數千民眾想法設法離開烏市。

美國‧希拉里:對奧巴馬期望高‧各國提“激進”要求

國‧華盛頓)美國國務卿希拉里週五(7月10日)表示,外國領袖對奧巴馬“提出非常激進的要求”,他們現在有一位儘量滿足他們需要的美國總統。

希拉里向國務院職員表示:“們在過去6個月發現,各國對於美國,尤其是我們的新總統期望真的太高。”

她補充:“這可能不公平,但事情就是這樣。”

她說:“我到全球訪問出席一些會議時,外國政府以及領袖們對我們的國家提出非常激進的要求。”

她表示:“在一個場合上,我說:‘過去8年你們未曾提出如此的要求。´他們回答:‘我們知道我們不會得到回應´。”此話立即引起了笑聲。

希拉里附和奧巴馬調需聆聽其他國家擔憂時指出:“很多人對我們有所期望。”

中國‧美國2華裔部長‧駱家輝、朱棣文月中訪華

(中國‧北京)國商務部透露,美國商務部長駱家輝和能源部長朱棣文將於7月14至17日聯袂訪華,尋求清潔能源的合作。

《21世紀經濟報導》引述外交人士指出,此次訪問期間,中國科技部和美國能源部有望簽署2份合作備忘錄,分別是建築節能合作備忘錄和清潔能源開發合作備忘錄。

訪華期間,朱棣文有意參觀中國自行開發的天津煤氣化燃氣-蒸汽聯合循環(IGCC)發電站。2位部長還將與國家發改委、商務部、國家能源局、科技部和建設部等部門官員見面。

駱家輝早前表示,中美在清潔能源方面合作,既能為美國創造就業,又可解決中國污染問題,兩全其美。

中國‧新疆捕企圖暴亂策劃人

(中國‧北京)中國新疆伊犁州官方說,烏魯木齊“7‧5”事件發生次日晚,拘捕一批企圖暴亂的組織策劃人員,粉碎了一系列陰謀。

伊犁哈薩克州府所在地伊寧,是中國西北邊陲一座城市,距西北第一大公路口岸——霍爾果斯口岸60多公里,離烏魯木齊近700公里。

12年前,也就是1997年,發生過與烏魯木齊“7‧5”事件性質相同的“2‧5”事件。這次事件擾亂了人們的正常生活秩序,嚴重影響了當地的經濟和社會發展。

中國民吁封殺疆獨群組

中國《環球時報》報導,社交網站Facebook出現新疆獨立群組,引起中國網民烈反應,指應立即關閉群組。

Facebook最近出現一個稱為“全世界範圍的抗議支持追求獨立的維吾爾人”群組。這個群組呼吁“全世界的‘維吾爾人’將聯合起來,在同一時刻發起大規模的全球抗議。”

中國網民對此極為不滿。在環球網所做的“您認為Facebook是否應立即關閉‘疆獨’群組”的調查中,截至9日18時,有94.2%的網民表示“應該關閉”,投票票數達5207票。

與此同時,有中國網民認為,Facebook作“疆獨”的傳播媒介,應當受到懲罰。

中國‧局勢趨緩之際引關注‧新疆油缸爆炸‧排除襲擊

(中國‧北京)新疆烏魯木齊緊張局勢趨緩之際,市內一家化學工廠今日(週日,7月12日)卻發生油缸爆炸事故,引發關注,但警方已排除是恐怖或蓄意襲擊。

週日上午10時許,位於烏魯木齊市米東區的化工廠一個1萬立方米的儲油缸爆炸,引發火警所幸沒有造成人員傷亡,肇事原因還在調查中。

新疆烏魯木齊一間化工廠今日(週日,7月12日)發生油缸爆炸,引發火警,消防局出動多輛消防車,在1小時內撲滅了火勢,當局基本排除人為破壞的可能。(圖:美聯社)
新疆烏魯木齊一間化工廠今日(週日,7月12日)發生油缸爆炸,引發火警,消防局出動多輛消防車,在1小時內撲滅了火勢,當局基本排除人為破壞的可能。(圖:美聯社)

爆炸的油缸,位在中國石油烏魯木齊石化總的煉油廠內。

當天上午,煉油廠罐區工作人員發現一輕油罐出現輕煙並起明火,車間人員立即報警,火被在半小時後撲滅,消防隊已對這個油罐進行了持續降溫。

調查爆炸原因

這間公司副總經理指出,這間工廠其他裝置全部安全,可正常生產,這間工廠成立的應急指揮部正在調查爆炸原因。

調,這起爆炸並非是恐怖行動所引起,當局已經排除是恐怖主義所為。

一名不願透露姓名的消防人員向路透社,“事件是一宗自然爆炸。”

英文新華社引述當地官員的話說,油槽發生爆炸後引發熊熊大火,但隨後被消防人員撲滅。

由於烏魯木齊種族暴動近來鬧得沸沸揚揚,因此,外界格外關注化工廠爆炸案,但當地警方強調,這起爆炸事件已排除是人為蓄意攻擊事件,但並未說明發生爆炸的原因。

據悉,烏石化地處烏魯木齊東北,是中國石油惟一同時具有煉油、化肥、化纖生產能力的一體化聯合型企業。

維族和漢族仍互相猜疑

烏魯木齊市面週日大致恢復平靜,市內許多商店已恢復營業,但漢族和維族之間仍存在深刻的猜疑。

一名姓林的漢族超市老闆被問及會否涉足維族聚居區時說:“不,不,不!這還是很危險。”

的一些朋友週六(7月11日)晚上去了那裡,結果被維族恐嚇,還得跑著離開。”

一名維族學院畢業生說,維族也感到害怕,他們現在都避免在漢族人聚集的地方出現,例如火車站。

他說:“我想,局勢還是會持續緊張一段日子,你將發現更多人選擇留在家裡看電視渡日。”

新疆其他主要城鎮,例如第二大城喀什,週日也出現大批武警駐守,一些商店提早關門。

喀什市一名漢族店主通過電話向法新社說:“接道上有很多警察在巡邏。許多商店比平時早1、2個小時關門。”

波蘭‧匪夷所思‧泳池游水女童懷孕?“游離精子”作怪父母怒告酒店

(波蘭‧華沙)13歲童懷孕,經手人是泳池的“游離精子”?

波蘭一名13歲女童懷孕,媽媽克維亞特夫基斯堅稱女兒沒有偷食禁果,一切問題源自她們早前到埃及旅遊,下榻酒店的泳池水不乾淨,裡面有“游離精子”游弋。

克維亞特夫基斯一家早前到埃及度假數週,回家後,女兒竟證實懷孕。

女兒聲稱這段期間並沒有性行為,克維亞特夫基斯亦深信女兒在埃及沒有跟任何男性接觸,於是入稟法院控告埃及的酒店,指酒店方面容許泳池內有“游離精子”,令她的女兒在泳池游水時授孕,並要求索償。

女人在泳池游水時遭“游離精子”偷襲授孕,非常匪夷所思,法庭是否受理仍是未知數。華沙的旅遊當局證實接有關投訴,但傳媒未有公佈的是那一間埃及酒店。

中國‧國學大師季羨林逝世‧溫家寶慨嘆來不及祝壽

(中國‧北京)中國著名國學大師季羨林上週六(7月11日)因心臟病突發辭逝,消息傳出後,中國國務院總理溫家寶即時趕到醫院,向老先生做最後的告別。

有“國寶”之稱的季老一生成就斐然,著作等身,大師走了,溫家寶不禁感慨萬千,並當下透露:“原準備在8月6日為您祝賀生日,還準備了幾個問題準備和您討論啊。”

季羨林愛貓在北大是出了名的,每天早晨,小貓陪季羨林散步曾是著名的“朗潤園一景”。在妻女相繼去世後,貓成了老人最大的安慰。季羨林曾在散文《幽徑悲劇》裡寫道:“我是一個沒有出息的人,我的感情太多,總是供過於求,經常為一些小貓小狗小花小草惹起萬斛閒愁。真正偉大的人是不會這樣的……我注定是一個渺小的人,也甘於如此,我甘於為一些小貓小狗小花小草流淚歎息。”(圖:互聯網)
季羨林愛貓在北大是出了名的,每天早晨,小貓陪季羨林散步曾是著名的“朗潤園一景”。在妻女相繼去世後,貓成了老人最大的安慰。季羨林曾在散文《幽徑悲 劇》裡寫道:“我是一個沒有出息的人,我的感情太多,總是供過於求,經常為一些小貓小狗小花小草惹起萬斛閒愁。真正偉大的人是不會這樣的……我注定是一個 渺小的人,也甘於如此,我甘於為一些小貓小狗小花小草流淚歎息。”(圖:互聯網)

除了溫家寶,國務委員劉延東當天也第一時間趕到醫院看望季老親屬。

弔唁人龍長

北京大學已成立高規格的治喪工作組,在校內百年講堂設置靈堂,今日(週日,7月12日)開始對外開放弔唁。據報導,前來拜祭的各界人士就已排起長長的隊伍。

季羨林的兒子季承透露,父親因心臟病突發而辭世,走時未來得及留下任何遺言。

季承說:“父親走得很平靜,應該沒有遺憾,但總覺得他還應該多享受享受天倫之樂。”

季老晚年長期住院,溫家寶曾5次探望,以表達對這位學貫中西、筆耕一生、在海內外享有盛譽的學者表示敬意。

在一次探望中,溫家寶曾對季老說:“您寫的幾本書,不僅是個人一生的寫照,也是近百年來中國知識份子歷程的反映。”

中國領導人高度肯定季羨林的貢獻,並對大師的辭世致上深切哀悼。

北京大學季羨林先生治喪辦公室透露,溫家寶、賈慶林、李長春、習近平、李克、王岐山等中央領導人週日已通過不同方式向北大轉達對季羨林先生辭世的深切哀悼,委託北大向季老親屬表示慰問並敬獻花圈。

季老的逝世
被形容為“一個時代的結束”

季羨林的逝世被形容為“一個時代的結束”。

身兼著名的古文字學家、歷史學家、東方學家、翻譯家、佛學家的季羨林,精通多種語言,被認為是繼王國維、錢穆、陳寅恪之後中國國學的代表人物。

北師大教授趙仁珪形容,“季老過世是一個時代結束”。

有北大學生表示“心中的精神支柱彷彿突然倒塌”,認為季老代表了人文和治學的精神,已經影響了好幾代北大學生。

留德返國後,季羨林在北大擔任東方語言文學系主任。

文革是一生中最大災難

他一生中的最大災難莫過於文革期間,時年近花甲的他被打成“黑幫”,每日被北大的工人和學生“批鬥”、“審訊”,遊街示眾,被迫從事搬磚、運煤等體力勞動,住在校內的“監改大院”(俗稱“牛棚”)中。

他在1992年寫的《牛棚雜憶》中,曾感歎造化弄人,當時堂堂一個教授,每日灰頭土臉、衣衫襤褸,被紅衛兵肆意毆打、污辱、呼喝,受傷、生病亦無人理,惶惶不可終日。

他自己曾說,自己寫《牛棚雜憶》是為了教育後人不要再做蠢事,書稿1998年出版,被譽為“一本用血淚換來的、和血淚寫成的文字”。

文革後他返回北大,曾任副校長。

中國總理溫家寶曾對季老說:“在最困難的時候,包括在‘牛棚’挨整的時候,也沒有丟掉自己的信仰。那時,您利用在傳達室看大門的時間,翻譯了280萬字的梵文作品。這不僅是個人毅力決定的,也反映出中國知識份子對真理的追求,對國家充滿信心。”

國學泰斗自稱雜家
季羨林拒當“國寶”

季羨林學貫中西、享譽中外、德高望重,是名副其實的學術巨擘、國學大師,被譽為“國寶”。

但他還多次公開表示拒絕“國學大師”、“國寶”等稱號。

他在自傳中曾寫道:“我這一生是翻譯與創作並舉,語言、歷史與文藝理論齊抓,對比較文學、民間文學等等也有濃厚的興趣,是一個典型的地地道道的“雜家”。”

生命中最重要
從3人身上悟出真理

季羨林生前曾坦言生命中有3位最為重要的女人,分別是母親、妻子和異國紅顏。

他從這3位女性身上悟出生活真理:“最大幸福是守在母親身邊、糟糠之妻才是得愜意生活的根本、純情不能違背道義和良心。”

季老的家境清貧,只在6歲前跟母親朝夕相處,及後便到濟南投靠叔父,此後只曾與母親有兩次短暫相聚。他曾發誓要在大學畢業後,讓母親享福,不料大學二年級時,他的母去世。

季老多年後回憶道,當年趕回奔喪時看到母親的棺木時“真想一頭撞死在棺材上!”,“子欲養而親不在”的椎心之痛,叫季老難以釋懷。

另一名對他影響至深的女性,則是妻子彭德華,他於18歲那年,奉叔父之命娶了比他年長4歲的妻子彭氏,彭只唸過小學,後來季離家求學,她也沒有給丈夫寫過一封信,終其一生,她都不知季研究的是甚麼。

雖然兩人無共同語言,但生活恩愛,育有一子一女。文革期間,妻子也對季老不離不棄。彭1994年去世後,季表示“德華永遠活在我的記憶裡”。

至於異國紅顏是季在德國留學期間邂逅的女子伊姆加德,季曾在2006年出版的作品《此情猶思──季羨林回憶文集》中,披露了這段鮮為人知的異國戀情,但由於季已有家室,戀情並未開花結果。

一起工作滋長愛苗
德國美女為季終身未嫁

1935到1945年,季羨林在德國哥廷根大學學習梵文、巴利文和吐火羅文等古代語言。

季羨林在寫博士論文期間,由於他沒有打字機,也不會打字,恰好鄰居伊姆加德小姐能打字,又有自己的打字機,而且她很願意幫助季羨林打字,在很長一段時間裡,兩人經常一起工作到深夜,愛苗因而悄悄滋長。

然而,季羨林深知自己已有家室之人,在很長一段時間裡,幸福與痛苦、歡樂與自責的矛盾心理一直折磨著他。最後,他決定離開德國。

1983年,季羨林回到哥廷根時曾打聽過伊姆加德,當然是杳如黃鶴。他無可奈何地說:“如果她還留在人間的話,恐怕也將近古稀之年了,而今我已垂垂老矣。世界上還能想到她的人恐怕不會太多。等到我不能想到她的時候,世界上能想到她的人,恐怕就沒有了。”

2000年,港記者終於找到了伊姆加德,她已是滿頭銀發的老人,出人意料的是,伊姆加德終身未婚,而那台老式的打字機依然靜靜地放在桌子。

不過,後來在朋友的幫助下,季羨林在90歲的時候終於收到了伊姆加德從哥廷根寄來的賀年片和她80歲的照片,多少得到一些慰藉。但由於伊姆加德年事已高,已經不能乘飛機來北京與季羨林見面了,令人感到十分惋惜。

心境開朗最重要
季羨林養生“三不主義”

曾有人問季羨林的養生之道,他回答說並沒秘訣,只有“三不主義”,即不鍛煉、不挑食、不嘀咕”。

季老一向認為心境開朗最重要,“三不”也正體現這種想法。

“不鍛煉”並非反對體育鍛煉,而是不刻意追求鍛煉,體育運動不能佔用太多時間。季老年輕時喜歡打乒乓球及游泳,但並不擅長。他還主張不停用腦,“利用時間的邊角廢料”來思考,在工作中體現人的價值。

“不挑食”指不對食物過於計較,他反對仔細計算熱量、膽固醇等,“講究到這個份上就沒有人生的樂趣了”。季羨林平時以素食為主,偶爾點牛羊肉,出外赴宴則從不挑食。

“不嘀咕”(即不囉嗦、不抱怨)是指沒有甚麼想不開的事,對生老病死都看透,“活著就得有工作,就得有煩惱,不圓滿才是人生,畢竟我們活著的地方不是天堂”。

新加坡‧穿校服迎親‧廣告設計師婚禮留佳話

(新加坡)情長跑12年,廣告設計師與工程師共結連理,兄弟姐妹穿校服迎親留回憶!

這對以與眾不同方式來讓自己的婚姻留下難忘回憶的新人是胡清淮(29歲,廣告設計師)及黃鳳紳(29歲,工程師),他們於週六(7月11日)上午在家完成傳統的出嫁儀式,並在週六晚上舉辦婚宴。

新郎與新娘由一群“學生哥”和“學生妹”打扮的兄弟姐妹包圍,留下難忘的一刻。(圖:星洲日報)
新郎與新娘由一群“學生哥”和“學生妹”打扮的兄弟姐妹包圍,留下難忘的一刻。(圖:星洲日報)

黃鳳紳甜滋滋地說,她與丈夫是在中四那年由同學成情侶,展開愛情長跑至今已12年。為了紀念他們求學時期的戀情,因此便想出這個別出心裁的點子。

的姐妹團有11人,新郎的兄弟團則有6人,我們要求他們全部都以校服打扮,讓這個特別的日子更加難忘。”

她說,新郎是於去年8月2日在東海岸海邊向她求婚。當時當廣告設計師的他借著要拍攝夜景為由,結果在擺好了攝影機後卻讓兩人自己成了主角,取出鑽戒求婚。

“雖然我們兩人早已認定對方是自己的真命天子,但是他的求婚仍讓我感動。”

他們的婚宴,也以紅和黑為宴會的主題。紅色代表愛,黑色則代表堅固,所有賓客都穿著紅和黑的配搭出席,代表他們的愛是堅固永久的。

中國‧烏魯木齊禁遊行示威‧武警駐守搜查維人

(中國‧烏魯木齊)烏魯木齊公安局表示,為維持公眾秩序,警方禁止非法集會、遊行和示威,並有權驅散,任何人違抗警令會被帶走。

市內維族人聚居區氣氛仍然緊繃,今日(週日,7月12日)大批軍警繼續封鎖騷亂重災區,武警通宵駐守市中心人民廣場,並有車輛沿途以維吾爾語廣播,呼吁民眾冷靜,不要生事。

數以千計武警百步一崗,分組列隊巡邏,不時截停手挽大袋和行李的維族人搜查,紅白藍袋、背囊、手推車,甚至連鞋盒也不放過。

國際大巴扎附近的街頭巷尾同樣氣氛緊張,有漢族記者訪問時遭維族大罵驅趕;部份維人暗示,政府公佈的維人死傷數字太少,不可信,但不敢多談。

日落漸近,漢人逐漸從街上撤離回家。有回族人緊張地問《明報》記者:“你是漢族人?這裡天黑後很危險,很可能會亂,你們漢人不要到處亂走,快回去吧,生命是偉大的!”

漢維族仍互猜疑

烏魯木齊市面週日大致恢復平靜,市內許多商店已恢復營業,但漢族和維族之間仍存在深刻的猜疑。

一名姓林的漢族超市老闆被問及會否涉足維族聚居區時說:“不,不,不!這還是很危險。”

的一些朋友週六(7月11日)晚上去了那裡,結果被維族恐嚇,還得跑著離開。”

一名維族學院畢業生說,維族也感到害怕,他們現在都避免在漢族人聚集的地方出現,例如火車站。

他說:“我想,局勢還是會持續緊張一段日子,你將發現更多人選擇留在家裡看電視渡日。”

新疆其他主要城鎮,例如第二大城喀什,週日也出現大批武警駐守,一些商店提早關門。

喀什市一名漢族店主通過電話向法新社說:“街道上有很多警察在巡邏。許多商店比平時早一兩個小時關門。”

Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance

WASHINGTON – Not enough relevant officials were aware of the size and depth of an unprecedented surveillance program started under President George W. Bush, let alone signed off on it, a team of federal inspectors general found.

The Bush White House pulled in a great quantity of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, the IGs reported. They questioned the legal basis for the effort but shielded almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal.

The report, mandated by Congress last year and delivered to lawmakers Friday, also says it's unclear how much valuable intelligence the program has yielded.

On the subject of oversight, the report particularly criticizes John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos defending the policy. His boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was not aware until March 2004 of the exact nature of the intelligence operations beyond wiretapping that he had been approving for the previous two and a half years, the report says.

The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the IGs pointedly say that any continued use of the secret programs must be "carefully monitored."

Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the "President's Surveillance Program" did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said. But FBI agents told the authors that the "mere possibility of the leads producing useful information made investigating the leads worthwhile."

The inspectors general interviewed more than 200 people inside and outside the government, but five former Bush administration officials refused to be questioned. They were Ashcroft, Yoo, former CIA Director George Tenet, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and David Addington, an aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

According to the report, Addington could personally decide who in the administration was "read into" — allowed access to — the classified program.

The only piece of the intelligence-gathering operation acknowledged by the Bush White House was the wiretapping-without-warrants effort. The administration acknowledged in 2005 that it had allowed the National Security Agency to intercept international communications that passed through U.S. cables without seeking court orders.

Although the report documents Bush administration policies, its fallout could be a problem for the Obama administration if it inherited any or all of the still-classified operations.

Bush brought the warrantless wiretapping program under the authority of a secret court in 2006, and Congress authorized most of the intercepts in a 2008 electronic surveillance law. The fate of the remaining and still classified aspects of the wider surveillance program is not clear from the report.

The report's revelations came the same day that House Democrats said that CIA Director Leon Panetta had ordered one 8-year-old classified program shut down after learning lawmakers had never been apprised of its existence.

The IG report said that Bush signed off on both the warrantless wiretapping and other top-secret operations shortly after Sept. 11 in a single presidential authorization. All the programs were periodically reauthorized, but except for the acknowledged wiretapping, they "remain highly classified."

Former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made a terse reference to other classified programs in an August 2007 letter to Congress. But Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said that when she had asked Gonzales two years earlier if the government was conducting any other undisclosed intelligence activities, he denied it.

Robert Bork Jr., Gonzales' spokesman, said, "It has clearly been determined that he did not intend to mislead anyone."

In the wake of the new report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt, renewed his call Friday for a formal nonpartisan inquiry into the government's information-gathering programs.

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden — the primary architect of the program — told the report's authors that the surveillance was "extremely valuable" in preventing further al-Qaida attacks. Hayden said the operations amounted to an "early warning system" allowing top officials to make critical judgments and carefully allocate national security resources to counter threats.

Information gathered by the secret program played a limited role in the FBI's overall counterterrorism efforts, according to the report. Very few CIA analysts even knew about the program and therefore were unable to fully exploit it in their counterterrorism work, the report said.

The report questioned the legal advice used by Bush to set up the program, pinpointing omissions and questionable legal memos written by Yoo, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Justice Department withdrew the memos years ago.

The report says Yoo's analysis approving the program ignored a law designed to restrict the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance during wartime, and did so without fully notifying Congress. And it said flaws in Yoo's memos later presented "a serious impediment" to recertifying the program.

Yoo insisted that the president's wiretapping program had only to comply with Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure — but the report said Yoo ignored the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which had previously overseen federal national security surveillance.

House Democrats are pressing for legislation that would expand congressional access to secret intelligence briefings, but the White House has threatened to veto it.

By PAMELA HESS

Crude Impact: Oil, The Earth and Humanity

Check this link .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU4F_fVjUq8&feature=player_embedded

NYSE Error Keeps Goldman Off Weekly Program-Trading List

NEW YORK -- An error by the New York Stock Exchange caused Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to be left out of the exchange's weekly program trading data last week.

Goldman Sachs is regularly near the top of the NYSE's list, if not at the top. In the weekly report released last Thursday, however, even when program trading amounted to an all-time high of 48.6% of NYSE average daily volume, Goldman was absent from the NYSE's list.

"It was an error on our part in the program trading report. The program trading report will be revised with a corrected version coming out later this week," said Ray Pellecchia, a spokesman for NYSE Euronext.

Mr. Pellecchia noted the firm will re-run all of the information compiled from its member firms, with both the rankings and total percentage likely to be changed. But given the annual reconstitution of Russell Indexes, the total% of program trading's reach is likely to remain a record, say program trading experts.

NYSE, a unit of NYSE Euronext, publishes figures on program trading -- the act of using computer models to engage in purchases or sales -- of its member firms once a week. Program trading has picked up significantly this year as high-frequency trading desks have grown.

The absence of Goldman Sachs on NYSE's weekly list raised eyebrows. Speculation surrounding the matter increased over the weekend after the U.S. Justice Department arrested a former Goldman Sachs employee and charged him with stealing computer codes related to the firm's high-speed trading platform.

Reuters, which broke the news of Sergey Aleynikov's arrest and criminal charges, said Sunday in a column that Goldman may have "asked the NYSE to alter some of its reporting methodology after the firm discovered that someone may have infiltrated the proprietary computer codes it uses."

Representatives for both Goldman Sachs and NYSE on Monday denied the speculation, with Goldman noting it had submitted weekly data just as it always does and was surprised not to be on NYSE's list.

"According to the data Goldman Sachs submitted, we are certain we were among the top firms in terms of program trading volume for the week ended June 26," said Michael DuVally, a spokesman for the Wall Street firm.

The faulty weekly program trading report is the latest in a string of snafus for the NYSE over the past week.

Mr. Pellecchia noted the NYSE error is in no way connected with a connectivity problem on Thursday that forced the exchange to extend the U.S. equity markets close to 4:15 p.m. EDT. Nor was it tied to the technical issues that caused an erroneous notice of suspension and delisting for American International Group Inc. that was posted on the Web site of the NYSE for three hours Wednesday.

NYSE Program Trading Included Goldman Trades

NYSE Euronext said its previously reported program-trading percentage of 48.6% for the week of June 22 to June 26 was correct because it included trades by Goldman Sachs & Co. even though the firm was left off the list of most active firms.

The absence of Goldman Sachs on NYSE's weekly list raised eyebrows. Speculation surrounding the matter increased over the weekend after the U.S. Justice Department arrested a former Goldman Sachs employee and charged him with stealing computer codes related to the firm's high-speed trading platform.

The snafu also fueled concerns about the exchange itself, which suffered a rash of technical problems last week after implementing a new trade-execution system. On Thursday, it even extended equity-market trading by 15 minutes because of a connectivity problem.

On Tuesday, the NYSE revised its list of most active firms in program trading, placing Goldman at the top ahead of Credit Suisse Group's securities unit.

The exchange also revised volume to 1.676 million program-traded shares per day from 1.678 million. NYSE also changed the figure for program trading in all markets by member firms to 4.896 billion from 4.899 billion.

The NYSE publishes figures on program trading -- the act of using computer models to engage in purchases or sales -- of its member firms once a week. Program trading has picked up significantly this year as high-frequency trading desks have grown.

30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits.

Ah, sex. Birds do it, bees do it. Wait a minute! How exactly do they do it? The mating rituals of some animals are wonderfully bizarre. For example: did you know that some insects’ genitals explode during sex? Or that some fish can change gender?

Intrigued? Read on for 30 of the most bizarre animal mating habits.

Honey Bee: Exploding Testicles.



The reproductive cycle of bees is fascinating - and complex. But here’s the short story: a queen is selectively bred in a special "queen cell" in the hive and fed royal jelly by worker bees to induce her to become sexually mature.

A virgin queen that survives to adulthood without being killed by her rivals will take a mating flight with a dozen or so male drones (out of tens of thousands eligible bachelors in the colony). But don’t call these drones lucky because during mating, their genitals explode and snap off inside the queen!

Strange as it is, this actually makes evolutionary sense: the snapped-off penis acts as a genital plug to prevent other drones from fertilizing the queen. But tell that to the dead drone whose penis just exploded.

[Note: this strategy is so successful that it is apparently employed by other species of animals, such as the male wasp spider]


Bonobo: Make Love Not War


Bonobo, striking a pose (Image Credit: Kabirdas [Flickr])

Who said that violence is the only way to solve fights over food or territory? Instead of fighting, bonobos [wiki] have sex! Actually, their whole societal structure seems to revolve around sex.

Bonobos use sex as greetings, a mean of solving disputes, making up for fights, and as a favors in exchange for food. They tongue kiss, engage in oral sex, mutual masturbations, have face-to-face genital sex and even have a strange "penis fencing" ritual!

In their 1996 book titled Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson wrote:

"Chimpanzees and Bonobos both evolved from the same ancestor that gave rise to humans, and yet the Bonobo is one of the most peaceful, unaggressive species of mammals living on the earth today. They have evolved ways to reduce violence that permeate their entire society. They show us that the evolutionary dance of violence is not inexorable".

Flatworm: Make Love AND War.


Penis fencing flatworms. (Image Credit: PBS/The Shape of Life)

If bonobos "penis fence" as foreplay, flatworms do it for real.

For flatworms, sex is more like war than love. Like all sea slugs, flatworms are hermaphrodites (they have both male and female sexual organs). In this case, the male organ turns out to be two dagger-like penises that they use to hunt as well as mate. During mating, two flatworms fight (i.e. "penis fence") to stab each other, while avoiding getting stabed.

The "loser" who gets stabbed will absorb the sperm through its skin and then scoots off to bear the burden of motherhood! (Source, with a cool video you shouldn’t miss.)

Frigatebird: Fanciful Big Red Balloon.


Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Those fanciful male peacocks have nothing on frigatebirds! A male frigatebird has a throat sac that it can inflate with hard work - it takes over a period of twenty minutes - into a giant red, heart-shaped balloon. He then waggles his head from side to side, shakes his wings and calls the females to check him out.

A female frigatebird will mate with the male with the biggest and shiniest balloon. During sex, the male bird will sweetly put his wings over her eyes to make sure she doesn’t get distracted by other males with even nicer balloons! (Source)

Red-Sided Garter Snake: An Annual Mating Ball Orgy


Red-sided garter snake mating ball (Image Credit: Robert Mason, professor of Zoology at the Oregon State University, from News and Communications Service at OSU)

Strange Fact 1. The annual mating of red-sided garter snakes is a tourist attraction in Manitoba, Canada. That’s because when a female garter snake emerges from hibernation, she releases a pheromone that attracts hundreds of male snakes in the vicinity to rush her and create a large squirming "mating ball."

Strange Fact 2. Like many snakes, the male garter snake has two penises, called "hemipenes," on each side of its body. The male will try to use the best-positioned penis to mate with the female in the center of the mating ball.

Strange Fact 3. As if the two facts above aren’t strange enough, turns out there is a "she-male" snake who releases pheromones just like the females do (and fools hundreds of other males to pile up on him/her). Why? Scientists think that this gives the she-male warmth and protection (and attention, too, I’m sure). (Source)

Bonus: From Current Science:

The annual red-garter mating balls are a big tourist attraction in Manitoba—and a source of many tales. One unsuspecting couple built a house on top of an empty snake pit one summer, only to find their property swarmed by thousands of red-sided garters returning to their traditional hibernation den in the fall. The couple quickly relocated their new house. (Source)

Hyena: The Females Got Balls!


Spotted hyena. (Image credit: LA Dawson, Wikipedia)

Female hyenas wear the pants in the family. They’re bigger and stronger than the males. And definitely much more aggressive. Heck, they even got balls. Really.

A female hyena has a pseudopenis, basically an enlarged clitoris, that they can erect at will. To mate, the meeker male has to insert his penis into her pseudopenis. That’s difficult for the males, but still nothing compared to the female having to give birth through a penis!

Biologist Laurence Frank describes something else that is strange about hyenas - the way they say hello to each other:

After being separated for a few hours, spotted hyenas engage in "greeting" displays that entail lifting their legs and exposing their erect pseudopenises for inspection. Subordinate females often initiate greetings and this is the only known case of an erection being a submissive gesture. "This unusual display is not without its risks [because] each hyena puts its reproductive organs in immediate proximity to very powerful jaws," says Frank. "On the rare occasions when the aggression escalates to fighting, the resulting damage may be severe enough to destroy or seriously compromise the reproductive competence of the injured party." (Source)

Manakin: Moonwalking to Impress the Ladies

There’s dancing and there’s dancing - like the moonwalk that the male Manakin does to impress the ladies! Michael Jackson has nothing on them manakins!

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks Xopl and Kamilf!

Giraffe: Not in Estrus? No Thanks!


Male giraffe nudging the female’s rump to induce urination. (Image credit: Liz Leyden)

With that ridiculously long neck of theirs, mating is hard work for male giraffes. So, when a male happens upon a female giraffe, he will perform a procedure known as the "fleshmen sequence" to see if she is in estrus. First, he nudges her rump to induce urination. He then takes a mouthful of urine. If it tastes good to him, then he begins to court her.

Actually, "court" may be too strong a word: the male giraffe basically follows her around until she gives in and lets him have her! (Source)

Emperor Penguin: Starvin’ for Love


Emperor penguins and chicks (Image Credit: BrynJ [Flickr])

Emperor Penguins, the subject of the popular 2005 documentary March of the Penguins, have a strange “marriage”. Penguin couples spend their lives apart from each other and meet once a year in late March, after traveling as far as 70 miles (112 km) inland - on foot or sliding on their bellies! - to reach the breeding site.

Once there, penguins look for their mates by making a bugling call. Male penguins generally stay in one place, lower their head to their chest and call out to the females. Once they find one another, they would stand breast to breast, repeatedly bow to each other and sing (okay, “bugle”).

Now, onto the mating itself: Like in most birds, penguins have no external genitalia. That’s right, male penguins don’t have penises and the females don’t have vaginas. The male’s sperm is produced in the testes and stored in his cloaca (kind of an all purpose orifice for defecating, urinating, and reproduction). The female also has a cloaca that leads to the ovaries. The female penguin lies flat on the ground and the male penguin presses his cloaca onto hers and passes the sperms through.

Once the egg is laid, the female Emperor Penguin transfers it very carefully to her mate (if the egg touches the ice, it would freeze and die), who then keeps the egg warm by tucking it under a large fold of skin until it hatches. The female penguin immediately returns to the sea to feed, leaving the male without food for about two months. The male penguins would huddle together in large groups to conserve body heat in the cold and harsh environment, where winds can reach up to 120 mph (200 km per hour). When the female returns, she finds her mate (and chick) by listening to one particular bugle over thousands other.

When it was released, March of the Penguins sparked a controversy when the Christian right claimed it as a parable of monogamy amongst other things. Turns out, Emperor Penguins are serially monogamous – meaning that for that breeding season, they only have one mate. However, if they can’t find one another the next season (and most can’t – only about 15% of pairs find each other in subsequent year, and just 5% in the third year) they will choose new mates.

Dolphin: That’s Not His Hand.


A pair of dolphins mating (left), while a friend swims nearby without a hint of embarassment (Image Credit: Carmelo Aquilina [Flickr])

Here’s something you probably don’t know about Flipper: he has retractable penis. And if that’s not cool enough, here’s something else: his penis is prehensile. And it swivels. In fact, a male dolphin can use his penis to explore objects just like a hand.

Male dolphins also have a very strong sex drive. It can mate many, many times in a day. Now here’s the bad news: male dolphins aren’t that much of a stud. The average time to ejaculation? 12 seconds.

Another hushed-up fact is that male dolphins have a ravenous sexual appetite: they often try to hump inanimate objects and even other animals like sea turtles. When a pack of male dolphins happen upon a female, often times they will attempt to force her to mate.

Percula Clownfish: Your Mommy Was Your Daddy.


Clownfish in Kayauchi Banta, Okinawa (Image Credit: Nemo’s great uncle [Flickr])

In Disney’s animated movie Finding Nemo, the animators forgot to tell you one thing about clownfish: they can change gender!

Clownfish live in a group consisting of a breeding pair of male and female, as well as some non-breeding males. There is strict hierarchy based on size: the largest is the female, next largest is the male, and then the non-breeding males.

If the female dies (or gets fished, I suppose), the male will change sex and become the female! Then the largest of the non-breeding males will get a promotion to become the breeding male.

Giant Panda: X-Rated Panda Porn!


Who cares about sex? Let’s eat! (Image Credit: peiqianlong [Flickr])

For a while, zookeepers had trouble getting pandas raised in captivity to breed. In fact, male and female pandas showed little interest in sex - that is until someone at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Sichuan Province, China, had the bright idea of showing them panda porn!

Now, when pandas reach adulthood, zookeepers there show them steamy videos of panda sex as part of their initiation rites.

Galapagos Giant Tortoise: The Longest Neck Wins.


Link [YouTube].

To determine who gets to mate, male Galapagos giant tortoises will rise on their legs and stretch their necks. The shorter tortoise will cry uncle and leave the taller, larger tortoise to mate.

The victor then proceeds to attract a female by bellowing and bobbing his head furiously. When he has found a mate, the male rams the female and nips her legs until she draws them in, thereby immobilizing her. He then proceeds to mount her.

Mating can last for hours, during which the male grunts and roars loudly (see video clip). If he seems terribly excited about the whole deal, that’s probably because he’s been waiting a long time for sex. See, it takes 40 years for Galapagos giant tortoises to reach sexual maturity.

So what happened to the short "loser" male tortoises? Frustrated males have been observed humping rocks and even other frustrated males (why, there’s even a YouTube clip).

Garden Snail: Love Darts


Roman snails mating: the gallery (Image Credit: Robert Nordsieck)

Snails’ genitals are on their necks, right behind their eye-stalks. Not weird enough? Read on.

Snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sexual organs, but they do not self-fertilize.

Before two snails mate, they shoot "love darts" made of calcium at each other. People used to think that these sharp darts are nutritional gifts, like you give someone you love a box of chocolate.


Snail love dart (Image Credit: Prof. Ronald Chase)

Scientists now think, however, that these darts serve a more sinister purpose. The mucus on the darts allow more sperms to be stored in the snail’s uterus (and thus helped it gain an edge in reproduction).

There’s no advantage to the target snail (getting hit may even be dangerous as snails are really, really bad shots). Indeed, snails jostle each other not only to get into a better position to fire their darts, but also to avoid getting hit themselves! (Source)

Bedbug: Traumatic Insemination

Here’s chivalry for you: the male bedbugs don’t even bother with the female’s sex organs. Instead, a male bedbug uses its scimitar-like sexual organ to impale the female bedbug’s body and deposit his sperm!

Scientists even have a cute name for this sort of thing: "traumatic insemination." Ouch!

Porcupine: Wee Marks the Spot.

Quick: how do porcupines mate? If you answer: "carefully," you’d only be half right - it’s also "bizarrely." Indeed, porcupines have a very bizarre mating habit:

First of all, female porcupines are interested in sex only about 8 to 12 hours in a year! Second, to court a female during the short mating season, a male porcupine stands up on his hind legs, waddles up to her, and then sprays her with a huge stream of urine from as far as 6 feet away, and drench his would-be paramour from head to foot!

If the female wasn’t impressed, she’ll scream and shake off the urine. But, if she is ready, then she’ll rear up to expose her quill-less underbelly and let the male mount her from the behind (that’s the only safe position for porcupines!). Once mating begins, the female is insatiable: she forces the male to mate many times until he is thoroughly exhausted. If he gets tired too quickly, she will leave him for another male! (Source)

Red Velvet Mite: The Love Gardener


Red Velvet Mite (Image Credit: erica_naturegirl [Flickr])

Red velvet mite, which is as big as one of the letters in this sentence, has a peculiar mating habit.

The male releases its sperms on small twigs or stalks in what scientists call the "love garden", then lays down an intricate silken trail to the spot. When a female stumbles upon this trail, she will follow it to seek out the "artist". If she likes his work, then she will sit on the sperm.

However, if another male spots the garden, he will trash it and lay his own instead! (Source)

Bowerbird: Obsessive Decorator of Bachelor Pad


Satin Bowerbird in front of his bower (Image Credit: bdonald [Flickr])

To attract a mate, the male bowerbird [wiki] builds an amazingly complex structure called a bower. It is made of twigs and often shaped like a small hut.

The male bird then decorates his "bachelor pad" bower with a variety of objects as gifts: flowers, feathers, stones, and even bits of discarded plastics and glass. Hundreds of pieces are carefully arranged in monochromatic themes (i.e. all blue items). The bird is so anal that it will get really angry if you mess up its pile (say, by putting one differently colored pebble in its pile).

The male bowerbird spends hours sorting and arranging things. In fact, it will break its focus only to go to a different males’ bowers to steal stuff and mess the place up!

Don’t miss: David Attenborough on Bowerbird [YouTube]

Macaque: Sneaky Attackers


Is it time to attack yet? (Image Credit: Hunda [Flickr])

Male macaques will pay (in form of fruits) to get a peek at the hind quarters of a female macaque.

Actually, that’s not all: they will also pay to gaze at pictures of dominant "celebrity" monkeys (i.e. the high-ranking males) in their pack. Huh.

Anyways, if that isn’t enough bad behavior for you, think about this: macaque males will attack their enemy when he is at his weakest: during orgasm.

Attackers often use considerable cunning to get near their victim without arousing any suspicion. They may feign indifference by barely glancing at him, digging casually in the sand or pretending to collect handfuls of pebbles. But the moment their victim ejaculates, they jump him, hitting, biting and tugging at his fur. (Source)

Fire Ant: Queen and Workers "Negotiate" the Colony’s Sex Ratio

Ants have a complex social structure. Case in point: some scientists used to think that worker ants are all females who control the queen (a simple egg-laying machine) and kill their brothers while still larvae.

It turns out the queen has more say than this: she controls the number of females and male eggs she lays.

But why does a colony’s sex ratio matter? A queen wants to propagate her line by producing another queen, which needs male drones to mate and produce a colony. Worker ants, on the other hand, have no use for males (which die after mating).

So, the queen and her daughters negotiate a rather violent solution: when she needs male drones, the queen will "overwhelm" the colony with male eggs. The female workers will kill many of their brothers, but they can’t kill them all! (Source)

Sea Hare: Mating Chain


Aplysia dactylomela, a genus of sea hares, in a mating chain
(Image Credit: Anne DuPont)

Sea hares, like all sea slugs (see flatworm above), are hermaphrodites. But that’s not all - they’re efficient hermaphorodites! When sea hares mate, they form a mating chain of several animals!

The sea hare in front acts as the female to the one directly behind it. Sometimes, they even form a giant circle, with everyone inside happily mating the day away. (Source)

Argonaut: Detachable Penis

Argonaut or paper nautilus is a weird species of octopus. First, they have a highly divergent sexual dimorphism. That’s science-speak for the difference in body sizes between males and females. A female argonaut grows up to 10 cm (~ 4 in.) with shells as large as 45 cm (~ 18 in.) The male, however, is only 2 cm (3/4 in) long!

But that’s not why argonaut is on this list. The male argonaut produces a ball of spermatozoa in a special tentacle called a hectocotylus [wiki]. When meeting a female it fancies, the male then detaches its penis to swim by itself to the female!


Hectocotylus (Image Credit: Julian Finn, Macalogist)

This detachable swimming penis was actually first noted by an Italian naturalist back in the 1800s, who mistook it for a parasitic worm!

Whiptail Lizard: Sex? No Thanks! We’ll Clone Ourselves Instead.


Whiptail Lizard in pseudocopulation (Image Credit: Tino Mauricio, Daily Texan)

How does a whiptail lizard have sex? Trick question! There are no males - all whiptail lizards are females, so they can’t have sex at all. Wait a minute - so how do they reproduce? By cloning themselves:

In the bizarre life of a whiptail lizard, reproduction is preceeded by pseudocopulation, where two females act out the roles of a male mounting a female (they switch roles later on).

Apparently, this is required to stimulate egg production in both lizards. When the eggs hatch, they will be all-female clones of the mother lizard. (Source)

Straw Itch Mite: Incestuous Brothers

After they are born, the male straw itch mites (pyemotes) hang around their mom, stinging her to suck out her body fluids.

The male mites are born sexually mature. In fact, they will immediately grab and mate with their sister within minutes of her birth!

(Image Source: Ronald Ochoa, Systematic Entomology Laboratory)

Banana Slug: Penis Stuck? Chew It Off!


Banana slugs checking each other out for size (Image Credit: Husond, Wikipedia)

Banana slug, the beloved mascot of UC Santa Cruz, has a weird mating habit. First of all, they have an enormous penis. (In fact, their latin name dolichyphallus translates to "giant penis.") The average size of a banana slug penis is 6 to 8 inches. This is incredibly impressive, considering their entire body length is 6 to 8 inches as well!

Banana slugs are hermaphrodites, so two slugs will try to fertilize each other. To mate properly, a slug must choose a mate roughly its own size - if it miscalculates, its penis will get stuck during copulation.

This isn’t just an embarrassing faux pas, the other slug will actually bite off the stuck penis, a term scientists euphemistically called "apophallation." (Source)

Anglerfish: Let’s Me Be A Part of You. Literally.


The Prickly Deep Sea Anglerfish males becoming one with their female (Image Credit: David Paul/Mark Norman, Australian Conservation Foundation)

Anglerfish, a deep sea fish named for the spiny appendage on its head that it uses as bait to "fish" its prey, has an unusual mating habit. As it spends its time in the bottom of the ocean, finding a mate is a problem - but the species solved this evolutionary challenge beautifully.

At first, scientists were perplexed because they’ve never caught a male anglerfish. Also, all female anglerfish have a lump on their body that looks like a parasite. Only later did scientists discover that the lump is the remain of the male fish.

The tiny male anglerfish are born without any digestive system, so once they hatch, they have to find a female quickly. When a male finds a female, he quickly bites her body and releases an enzyme that digests his skin and her body to fuse the two in an eternal embrace. The male then wastes away, becoming nothing but a lump on the female anglerfish’s body!

When the female is ready to spawn, her "male appendage" is there, ready to release sperms to fertilize her egg.

Barnacle: Inflatable Penis


Yes, that long thing is a barnacle penis mating with its neighbor (Image Credit: Sue Scott, MarLIN)

Barnacles, those crustaceans that stick themselves to the bottom of boats (much to the consternation of sailors everywhere), are stuck in one position all their lives.

So, how do they mate? The solution, turns out, is brilliantly simple: the barnacle has an inflatable penis that is up to 50 times as long as its body. In fact, it has the longest penis in the animal kingdom, relative to body length!

Fruit Fly: World’s Longest Sperm

The title of world’s longest sperm actually belongs to a tiny fruit fly called Drosophila bifurca. When the coiled sperm is straightened out, it measures about 2 inches which is over 1,000 times longer than a human sperm. In fact, the testes of a fruit fly makes up 11 percent of the body mass of the male!

Turns out the very long sperm is evolutionarily driven by the just-as-long female reproductive tract, which is like an obstacle course, complete with harsh chemicals to weed out weak sperms. (Source)

Argentine Lake Duck: Very Well-Endowed, Can Even Lasso a Female.


The very well-endowed Argentine Lake Duck (Image Credit: K. McCracken [pdf])

The Argentine lake duck may be small, but don’t take pity on it. See, the drake (male duck) of the lowly fowl has the longest penis of any bird species in the world.

From head to tail, the Argentine lake duck measures about 17 inches. That also happens to be the length of its corkscrew-shaped penis when stretched out. The tip of the penis is soft and brush-like, which the drake uses to brush away sperms deposited by a previous suitor.

University of Alaska Kevin McCracken explains that the ducks are promiscuous, and the long penis may be an evolutionary adaptation for the males to become more attractive to the females. That, and the drake also uses his penis to "lasso" a female who tries to escape from it. (Source)

Gorilla: Big, But Not So Big.


Silverback (a male gorilla): size ain’t everything! (Image Credit: dbarronoss [Flickr])

Let’s end this lengthy article with the gorillas, the largest of all living primates.

Upside: Mature male gorillas, called silverbacks, are huge (up to 425 lb., sometimes even more). A silverback lives in a troop of 5 up to 30 females, with which he mates all year long. There is little competition for females, since a large silverback is scary and can easily protect its group from challengers.

Downside: 1 1/2 inch (~ 4 cm) penis. (Yeah, no competition for females remember?). So, remember that next time someone say you’re an "800-lb gorilla" - it may just be an insult!

Global warming alarmism enriches Gore, bankrupts the rest of us

Let us begin today with full disclosure: For those who don't know my position on global warming alarmism and its insidious uses, it is that this phenomenon is the greatest hoax in modern times and is being used to achieve things - bad things - quite apart from its ostensible goal of "saving the planet." Al Gore wanders the spheroid he is determined to save, spouting increasingly inane observations as his bank account grows and his "carbon footprint" becomes ever more Godzilla-like, considering all the jet fuel burned as he hurtles from appearance to appearance. I have read that his speaking fee is now $175,000 a pop, a fee for which his audiences are fed what seems to me to be an amazing concoction of lies, distortions and flights of fancy.

The other day, in a speech given in Oxford before the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, the former American vice president, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Oscar winner likened the battle against what he now calls climate change (perhaps because the globe is no longer warming and lots of people are aware of that) to the fight decades ago against the Nazis.

No, I'm not kidding: The man stood there and said his cause is one that can rightly be compared to fighting Nazism and its systematic extermination of Europe's Jews and other untermenschen. He urged British leaders to heed the example of Winston Churchill, who "aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War Two."

Ah, to fight so heroically for all of humanity is such an admirable thing, eh? Think about it. Here's a man who is founder and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, which is so devoted to its mission that it is spending a reported $300 million in advertising to pressure politicians into doing right by the greenies. At the same time, Mr. Gore is also chairman of something called Generation Investment Management, which stands to profit mightily from the actions of governments that succumb to the pressure from the other group he heads. Nice work there. One hand washes the other, and those in the in-crowd divvy up lots of money.

Overseas, climate change was the top issue at the opening of the Group of 8 summit in Italy this week, while here at home the Obama administration, the Democratic Congress and their news media propagandists are prepping us for a huge and regressive tax increase masquerading as an environmental measure. It's the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, aka the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which passed the House late last month. If we're lucky, the miserable legislation will be killed in the Senate, but it's more likely that some version of it will spring into life to do its damage to us under the guise of saving the planet and making us energy independent - which, in case you don't know, isn't possible in the real world.

On Tuesday, I talked with California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, who stood on the floor of the House June 26 and warned us all of what lies ahead if this measure makes it into law. "I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I watched the self-congratulatory rhetoric on the house floor tonight," he said. "Three years ago, I stood on the floor of the California Senate and watched a similar celebration over a similar bill. ... And I have spent the last three years watching as the law has dangerously deepened California's recession." (To get the details of his warning from the left coast, you can listen to my interview with Mr. McClintock by going to my page at wbal.com.)

I mentioned that the ostensible purposes of climate change alarmism are quite apart from the actual goals, which are increasing the power of global government over the masses by implementing international socialism, resulting in what writer Brendan O'Neill calls "the new Green-Industrial Complex," which would control the world economy. This is power beyond compare - and we all know what happens when an elite seizes total power, don't we?

Global warming alarmism enriches Gore, bankrupts the rest of us

Let us begin today with full disclosure: For those who don't know my position on global warming alarmism and its insidious uses, it is that this phenomenon is the greatest hoax in modern times and is being used to achieve things - bad things - quite apart from its ostensible goal of "saving the planet." Al Gore wanders the spheroid he is determined to save, spouting increasingly inane observations as his bank account grows and his "carbon footprint" becomes ever more Godzilla-like, considering all the jet fuel burned as he hurtles from appearance to appearance. I have read that his speaking fee is now $175,000 a pop, a fee for which his audiences are fed what seems to me to be an amazing concoction of lies, distortions and flights of fancy.

The other day, in a speech given in Oxford before the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, the former American vice president, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Oscar winner likened the battle against what he now calls climate change (perhaps because the globe is no longer warming and lots of people are aware of that) to the fight decades ago against the Nazis.

No, I'm not kidding: The man stood there and said his cause is one that can rightly be compared to fighting Nazism and its systematic extermination of Europe's Jews and other untermenschen. He urged British leaders to heed the example of Winston Churchill, who "aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War Two."

Ah, to fight so heroically for all of humanity is such an admirable thing, eh? Think about it. Here's a man who is founder and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, which is so devoted to its mission that it is spending a reported $300 million in advertising to pressure politicians into doing right by the greenies. At the same time, Mr. Gore is also chairman of something called Generation Investment Management, which stands to profit mightily from the actions of governments that succumb to the pressure from the other group he heads. Nice work there. One hand washes the other, and those in the in-crowd divvy up lots of money.

Overseas, climate change was the top issue at the opening of the Group of 8 summit in Italy this week, while here at home the Obama administration, the Democratic Congress and their news media propagandists are prepping us for a huge and regressive tax increase masquerading as an environmental measure. It's the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, aka the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which passed the House late last month. If we're lucky, the miserable legislation will be killed in the Senate, but it's more likely that some version of it will spring into life to do its damage to us under the guise of saving the planet and making us energy independent - which, in case you don't know, isn't possible in the real world.

On Tuesday, I talked with California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, who stood on the floor of the House June 26 and warned us all of what lies ahead if this measure makes it into law. "I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I watched the self-congratulatory rhetoric on the house floor tonight," he said. "Three years ago, I stood on the floor of the California Senate and watched a similar celebration over a similar bill. ... And I have spent the last three years watching as the law has dangerously deepened California's recession." (To get the details of his warning from the left coast, you can listen to my interview with Mr. McClintock by going to my page at wbal.com.)

I mentioned that the ostensible purposes of climate change alarmism are quite apart from the actual goals, which are increasing the power of global government over the masses by implementing international socialism, resulting in what writer Brendan O'Neill calls "the new Green-Industrial Complex," which would control the world economy. This is power beyond compare - and we all know what happens when an elite seizes total power, don't we?