"Over 5,500 Deserters: We Won't Go To Iraq"

CBSNews.com

The Pentagon says more than 5,500 servicemen have
deserted since the war started in Iraq.

The CBS TV news program "60 Minutes" Wednesday found several of these deserters
who left the Army or Marine Corps rather than go to
Iraq. Like a generation of deserters before them, they
fled to Canada.

What do these men, who have violated orders and oaths,
have to say for themselves? They told Correspondent
Scott Pelley that conscience, not cowardice, made them
American deserters.

Doctor Says Yushchenko Poisoned With Dioxin

Susanna Loof, Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria — Dioxin poisoning caused the mysterious illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, a doctor said Saturday, adding that the poison could have been put in his soup.

Yushchenko is now in satisfactory condition and dioxin levels in his liver have returned to normal, Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic, said at a news conference.

A series of tests run over the past 24 hours provided conclusive evidence of the poisoning, Zimpfer said.

Gabriel writes:

"Angels Disrupt Nanotech Conference and Present 'Can of Worms' Award to Former Monsanto Man"

Buckinghamshire, UK, 9th Dec 2004 — A host of heavenly angels from THRONG (The Heavenly Righteous Opposed to Nanotech Greed) appeared today unto a nanotechnology business conference in order to bestow a "Can of Worms" Award on a representative of the Nanotechnology Industry. Chosen to receive the award was Mr Harry Swan, formerly of Monsanto, who is Nanotechnology manager of Britain's leading producer of carbon nanotubes, Thomas Swan & Co.

New York State Votes to Reduce Drug Sentences

Michael Cooper, The New York Times

ALBANY, Dec. 7 — After years of false starts, state
lawmakers voted Tuesday evening to reduce the steep
mandatory prison sentences given to people convicted of
drug crimes in New York State, sanctions considered
among the most severe in the nation. The push to soften the so-called Rockefeller drug laws
came after a nearly decade-long campaign to ease the
drug penalties instituted in the 1970's that put some
low-level first-time drug offenders behind bars for
sentences ranging from 15 years to life.