Lazy linking

A few links to interesting stuff on the internet.

The Opt-Out Myth (via feministe)

In Washington Post there is an article about a true hero receiving her just rewards.

Group Honors Doctor Who Exposed China AIDS Scandal

Gao, a diminutive woman with feet tiny from having been bound when she was a child, has been credited with saving a million lives, if not more, according to public health specialists here. In the mid-1990s, she single-handedly led a crusade that exposed a catastrophic blood plasma donor business that had triggered an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Henan province.

I guess that to the Hiv/AIDS-denial crowd, she is another member of the great conspiracy trying to convince everyone that Hiv causes AIDS. In the reality-based crowd, she is a hero for her work in exposing the scandal.

The Mind of Mr. D’Souza (via Readerville) - a Conservative shreds D’Souza.

Wired has an article about how some people are pushing for open access to government funded research, and how the traditional publishers are fighting it.
Open Access Launches Journal Wars
I'm sure this is not the last we have heard of this story.

Time has an article on the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Why KSM's Confession Rings False (via Andrew Sullivan)

It's hard to tell what the Pentagon's objective really is in releasing the transcript of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession. It certainly suggests the Administration is trying to blame KSM for al-Qaeda terrorism, leading us to believe we've caught the master terrorist and that al-Qaeda, and especially the ever-elusive bin Laden, is no longer a threat to the U.S.

But there is a major flaw in that marketing strategy. On the face of it, KSM, as he is known inside the government, comes across as boasting, at times mentally unstable. It's also clear he is making things up. I'm told by people involved in the investigation that KSM was present during Wall Street Journal correspondent Danny Pearl's execution but was in fact not the person who killed him. There exists videotape footage of the execution that minimizes KSM's role. And if KSM did indeed exaggerate his role in the Pearl murder, it raises the question of just what else he has exaggerated, or outright fabricated.

Sullivan puts it well when he says "The fruit of torture is bad intelligence. The point of torture is always and only torture". I might disagree with Sullivan on most issues, but he is right when it comes to these things.

The Nation writes about the US use of contractors: Bush's Shadow Army

Edited to add: U.S. failed its commitment to Iraqi women (SF Chronicle op-ed)