Iran is not capable of building its own nuclear weapons, the former head of a nuclear power plant and current regional leader in southern Russia said Wednesday.

“In reality, the U.S. is provoking Iran, accusing it of aiming, along with the implementation of its peaceful nuclear programs, to create its own nuclear weapons,” Governor of the Saratov Region Pavel Ipatov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Paris: Why is all this pressure being mounted against Iran when both Washington and Jerusalem unofficially concede that there is nothing to be done to prevent Iran's government from continuing along its present course of nuclear development?

The contradictions in Western official and unofficial discourse about Iran and its nuclear ambitions are so blatant that one might suspect disinformation, but it probably is simply the cacophony of single-minded bureaucracies working at cross purposes, and the effect of the multiple lobbies involved and of US domestic political exploitation, and the paradox of the American policy itself, whose nonproliferation efforts actually provoke nuclear proliferation.

[Editor's note: This story first appeared in 1991 in Leisure Weekly, Keene, NH, USA, where the author was once managing editor.]

A good society is a means to a good life for those who compose it; not something having a kind of excellence on its own account. - Bertrand Russell

In a perfect world, there would be no soldiers, no police, no crime, no hatred, no oil spills. A ritually stabilized world population, structured so each person connected with an actualized family unit, would have behaviorally internalized integrity and civility and this was reflected in friendly social behavior and totally amiable international relations.

It's a dirty job, but we have to do it.

The Senate vote confirming Alito to the Supreme Court shows that those in power know that the outcome is fixed, and that if they wish to share in the power of the new tyranny, they will have to play ball.

So, what next?

There is only one possible meaning of the Senate's cloture vote on Samuel Alito's confirmation. 75% of our senators, and all of our other elected officials, KNOW that this country's elections are rigged, and that the will and voice of the people no longer matter. They KNOW that so long as they "play ball" with the dictates of the new totalitarian government, which will now ensue beyond all previously imagined levels to commit domestic terrorism of the populace and destruction of infrastructure, environment and all else, THEY will have their power, privilege and prestige assured to them regardless. They will keep their positions and all the perquisites thereof in return for providing the appearance of a democracy and of an "opposing" party. That is their sole function now, to deceive both average Americans and especially the other nations of the world, and to discourage, divert and drain away the public's efforts to seek justice and the restoration of our rights. And a few other niceties like luring any effective dissidents out to be identified and corralled later.

That is the real deal, and anyone with two neurons firing now knows a big part of the solution. They've stolen our elections, and it is up to the brightest and best of our patriotic and computer savvy people to steal them back. Every dissident needs to "see the light" and immediately get actively, personally involved in local elections. Wherever there is computerized or mechanical, black box vote scamming machinery in use, we must figure out how to access it and either hack it and stack it or else kill it so it cannot be used again, ever.

What did you do today? What are your plans for tomorrow? Normal stuff? Go to work? Pick up the kids? Preparing dinner? Maybe a drink in the bar with some friends, or stay at home with the latest blockbuster movie? If so, then you are doing pretty much the same thing as billions of other people around the world, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Life goes on after all. Or does it? I mean, will normal life go on indefinitely? You see, I was checking the news today and… well, "oh boy" is the best way I can describe it.

A British doctor suffering from an incurable illness killed herself yesterday in Zurich with the help of Dignitas, the Swiss voluntary organisation.

Anne Turner was the 42nd Briton to seek medical help from Dignitas to end her life. Her case will cause controversy because she was diagnosed only last summer and as yet had relatively few symptoms of the brain disease, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Yesterday the UK organisation Dignity in Dying, which used to be known as the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, said Dr Turner's story showed British law was shortening lives and called for assisted suicide to be legalised.

Washington - The Bush administration cannot stop doctors from helping terminally ill patients end their lives under the nation's only physician-assisted suicide law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

In a stinging defeat for the administration, the high court ruled on a 6-3 vote that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2001 impermissibly interpreted federal law to bar distribution of controlled drugs to assist suicides, regardless of the Oregon law authorizing it.

Great Falls, Montana - A cow that escaped a slaughterhouse dodged vehicles, ran in front of a train, braved the icy Missouri River and took three tranquilizer darts before being recaptured six hours later. News of the heifer's adventures prompted a number of people to offer to buy the animal.

LONDON — Syria has signed a pledge to store Iranian nuclear weapons and missiles.

The London-based Jane's Defence Weekly reported that Iran and Syria signed a strategic accord meant to protect either country from international pressure regarding their weapons programs. The magazine, citing diplomatic sources, said Syria agreed to store Iranian materials and weapons should Teheran come under United Nations sanctions.

Washington - The spending bill approved by the House early on Monday and awaiting a Senate vote could increase the out-of-pocket costs of many of the poor people who rely on the joint federal-state program for their health care.

The legislation also tightens eligibility rules for long-term care. Medicaid pays for roughly half of nursing home bills.

The mostly Republican backers of the bill say the changes are necessary to preserve a financially beleaguered social program that has not been updated to keep up with the changes in U.S. health care.