THE TENSION: The Decline and Fall of Western Civ for 20 Oct.

The Decline and Fall of Western Civ.: Barbarians are Crashing the Gates

After reading: wash, rinse and repeat.

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of White House hopeful John Edwards, says her choices in life have made her happier than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- a possible Edwards' rival for the Democratic nomination, according to AP.

"She and I are from the same generation. We both went to law school and married other lawyers, but after that we made other choices. I think my choices have made me happier. I think I'm more joyful than she is," Elizabeth Edwards said Thursday.

KIRO TV reports investigators said 26-year-old, Michael Patrick McPhail may be the first person to face prosecution in Washington State under a new law protecting animals from sexual abuse. According to charging documents, McPhail’s wife told Pierce County sheriff’s investigators she saw him engage in a sex act with the family pet. Sherriff’s investigators said she took two photographs with a cell phone camera, then contacted police.

For fans of the fictional Harry Potter, US and British scientists have demonstrated a working "invisibility cloak" that could, in time, make wearers disappear, reports AFP.

A photo of the 'metamaterial' cloak, released to Reuters on October 19, 2006, which deflects microwave beams so they flow around a 'hidden' object inside with little distortion, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all.

A few days ago I posted that The Washington Post reported on a recent study by epidemiologists (folks who study factors affecting the health and illness of populations) who claim 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred. At the time I said, "Economists joke about conclusions drawn from studies performed in data-free environments." Today, Pajamas Media posted an interview with Gilbert Burnham, one of the authors of the death case study. When asked to respond to critics of the study, Burnham replied:

"The numbers are large, and they surprised us. Yet it is only through population-based [questionares] that information such as the impact of conflict can be assessed. From isolated numbers taken from morgues and hospitals one can not arrive at a national figure. Not possible."
I'll repeat what I said before, "Economists joke about conclusions drawn from studies performed in data-free environments." The number of deaths identified and counted is data. Passing around questionnaires on war deaths to folks who would say just about anything does not not really result in numerical "count" data, unless you are counting questionaires. (If I am not mistaken, I seem to recall some rather controversial misinformation Iraqis passed to U.S. intelligence about WMDs. In fact the U.S. went to war based on that misinformation.) Oh. Yeah, hmmm. Case closed on this study. Period.

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month, according to AP.

The unidentified staff member, a Democrat, was suspended this week by Chairman Peter Hoekstra and is being denied access to classified information pending the outcome of a review. In an interview on Friday, Hoekstra said the step was the least aggressive he could take while the committee investigates.

In more political fallout, tension abounded when Harold Ford Jr. showed up uninvited at a campaign event for rival Republican Bob Corker at a private charter airstrip in Memphis this morning. Corker had scheduled the media event earlier this week, reports WMCTV.

News reporters were surprised when Ford's tour bus pulled up at the event and, apparently staff at Wilson Air were surprised as well, as they tried to steer media inside the property for the Corker news conference. Video.

AP reports New York City said Friday that it will search parts of the World Trade Center site again for remains of the Sept. 11 dead after several bones were pulled out of an abandoned manhole -- a discovery that renewed anger among victims' families.

One of Oklahoma's nominees for state superintendent of education has proposed a unique idea for protecting students from outbreaks of violence, reports local6. Bill Crozier, a Union City Republican going against incumbent Democrat Sandy Garrett, said he believes old textbooks could be used to stop bullets shot from weapons wielded by school intruders. If elected, he said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense.