Bush's use of signing statements comes under scrutiny

Today's Boston Globe has two articles covering the Bush administration's unprecedented use of signing statements - declarations which a President can issue when signing bills into law - to modify the scope or effect of laws passed by Congress. Here are a few examples (unfortunately, the Globe requires users to register for articles):

March 9: Justice Department officials must give reports to Congress by certain dates on how the FBI is using the USA Patriot Act to search homes and secretly seize papers.

Bush's signing statement: The president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations.

Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.

Dec. 30: When requested, scientific information ''prepared by government researchers and scientists shall be transmitted [to Congress] uncensored and without delay."

Bush's signing statement: The president can tell researchers to withhold any information from Congress if he decides its disclosure could impair foreign relations, national security, or the workings of the executive branch.

Aug. 8: The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its contractors may not fire or otherwise punish an employee whistle-blower who tells Congress about possible wrongdoing.

Bush's signing statement: The president or his appointees will determine whether employees of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can give information to Congress.

Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self-defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.

Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the executive branch will construe the law ''as advisory in nature."

"Examples of president's signing statements" [Boston Globe]
"Bush challenges hundreds of laws" [Boston Globe]

More on presidential signed statements:
Attorney Glenn Greenwald's take on the Globe coverage [Unclaimed Territory]
Fmr. White House Counsel John Dean on Bush's signed statements [Findlaw]
DOJ memo: The Legal Significance of Presidential Signed Statements [FAS.org]

UPDATED 5/4/06:

"Hearing vowed on Bush's powers" [Boston Globe]

"The War Tapes": citizen soldier journalism

The War Tapes, a documentary shot by soldiers serving in Iraq, debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. A friend of mine saw an early cut of the movie a few months ago, as part of a focus group, and she said that the footage is mind-blowing. Here's an excerpt from Wired News' review of the documentary:

Sgt. Zack Bazzi, another of the film's three main subjects, paid little mind to the camera while on patrol. In an interview with Wired News, he said he'd strap Scranton's Sony PC109 camera onto the dash of his Humvee and then go about his business.

"Sooner or later you forget about it," he said. "Especially in a combat situation, when there are many different things you worry about -- the soldiers I'm in charge of, possible bad guys out there on the road.

"I'd be crossing the ethical boundaries if I acted a certain way in front of the camera instead of focusing my full attention on leading my men and accomplishing my mission. The behavior you see is genuine."

As a result, War Tapes feels far more raw and political than network coverage. One of its main targets is KBR, a Halliburton-owned military contractor that the soldiers suspect of war profiteering.

"Why the fuck am I out here guarding this truck full of cheesecake?" asked Mike Moriarty, another of the film's central subjects. "The priority of KBR making money outweighs the priority of our safety."

But War Tapes is no Michael Moore rant. Scranton said one of her main goals was to deepen and complicate our conception of the war, not politicize it.

Bazzi thinks the film succeeds in providing a more nuanced portrait of Iraq and of the soldiers fighting there.

"Are things rosy? Are there butterflies flying around little squirrels and people hugging us?" he said. "No. But are we killing babies and destroying the whole country? Absolutely not." [Wired News]

"GIs Shoot Footage for New War Doc" [Wired News]

Plame leak update: why Rove testified for a fifth time

"Why Rove Testified for a Fifth Time" [National Journal]

Neil Young releases "Living With War" via streaming audio

Streaming audio of Living With War [hyfntrak.com]
Living With War Lyrics [NeilYoung.com]
Video clip: CNN Interview with Young [livingwithwar.blogspot.com]
Neil Young's Myspace page [Myspace.com]
Recent post on the album [outragedmoderates.org]

Blogger's efforts jumpstarted cell phone privacy issue

"House Passes Bill to Protect Phone Numbers" [Beltway Blogroll]
John Aravosis's blog [AMERICAblog]

Popular Mechanics crunches the numbers on alternative fuels

In this timely article, Popular Mechanics compares the cost and performance of gasoline and its alternative fuel competitors - based on a road trip from New York to California.

"How far can you drive on a bushel of corn" [Popular Mechanics]
PDF: "The Great Alt-Fuel Rally" [Popular Mechanics]

Background on the recent spike of interest in ethanol:
"Ford, GM Make Big Push To Promote 'Flex-Fuel' Vehicles" [Wall Street Journal]

Conflicting views on how much oil is left:
"The End of Cheap Oil" [National Geographic]
A site dedicated to the peak oil problem [Life After the Oil Crash]
A libertarian skeptic's take on peak oil [Reason]

The next green revolution

Wired has an excellent column on the emerging market-based green technology movement. How can I become a card-carrying member?

Green-minded activists failed to move the broader public not because they were wrong about the problems, but because the solutions they offered were unappealing to most people. They called for tightening belts and curbing appetites, turning down the thermostat and living lower on the food chain. They rejected technology, business, and prosperity in favor of returning to a simpler way of life. No wonder the movement got so little traction. Asking people in the world's wealthiest, most advanced societies to turn their backs on the very forces that drove such abundance is naive at best.

With climate change hard upon us, a new green movement is taking shape, one that embraces environmentalism's concerns but rejects its worn-out answers. Technology can be a font of endlessly creative solutions. Business can be a vehicle for change. Prosperity can help us build the kind of world we want. Scientific exploration, innovative design, and cultural evolution are the most powerful tools we have. Entrepreneurial zeal and market forces, guided by sustainable policies, can propel the world into a bright green future.

"The Next Green Revolution" [Wired]
"Noted venture capitalist touts 'greentech' " [MSNBC]

McCarthy denies that she's leak source

Former CIA officer Mary McCarthy, who was fired last week for leaking information to reporters about secret prisons in Eastern Europe, claims she was not the source of the leak.

McCarthy's lawyer, Ty Cobb, told NEWSWEEK this afternooon that contrary to public statements by the CIA late last week, McCarthy never confessed to agency interrogators that she had divulged classified information and "didn't even have access to the information" in The Washington Post story in question.

After being told by agency interrogators that she may have been deceptive on one quesiton during a polygraph, McCarthy did acknowledge that she had failed to report contacts with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest and at least one other reporter, said a source familiar with her account who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities. McCarthy has known Priest for some time, the source said.

"Secrets of the CIA [Newsweek]

Former intel officers respond to CIA firing

The Washington Post gauges former intelligence officials' reactions to the firing of Mary McCarthy for leaking information to reporters - including the Post's Dana Priest - about secret CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe:

A former intelligence official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he knew of CIA officials who had refused to attend meetings related to the rendition -- or capture and transfer -- of suspected terrorists, because of opposition or anxiety about the legality of the practice. "They believe that if one chamber of Congress goes to the other party, there will be investigations, and those involved could be impoverished by legal fees." . . .

. . . Several former intelligence officials said they were particularly alarmed about McCarthy's alleged involvement in any leaks because of where she worked at the CIA. L. Britt Snyder III, who was CIA inspector general from 1997 to 2000, said if McCarthy leaked information while working in the IG office, "we would have considered that a fairly egregious sin." The IG, he said, "gets into everything, including personal things. That makes it a little different than other places."

"CIA Officer's Job Made Any Leaks More Delicate" [Washington Post]

Wal-Mart Flirts With Being Green

An interesting story for Earth Day:

"Wal-Mart Flirts With Being Green" [New York Times]
Interview with Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott [Grist]

Neil Young: "Let's Impeach the President"

As a huge Neil Young fan, I was excited when rumors surfaced last week that his upcoming album would be critical of President Bush and the war in Iraq. An article in today's Los Angeles Times provides more details on the album, Living With War, based on interviews with Young himself. One track, subtly titled "Let's Impeach the President," features a 100-person chorus and audio samples from the President’s speeches. Here is an excerpt of the song's lyrics:

"Let's impeach the president for abusing all the power we gave him and shipping all our money out the door. Let's impeach the president for bending the facts to fit their new story of why we have to send our men to war."

"Neil Young's harsh words" [Los Angeles Times]

UPDATED 4/22/06:

Neil Young has a blog! Or at least the album does:

Neil Young's Living With War Blog [livingwithwar.blogspot.com]
Neil Young Interview with CNN [livingwithwar.blogspot.com]

UPDATED 4/29/06:

Young has released the album via streaming audio. [outragedmoderates.org]

Map showing national gas prices

Another productive use of the recent advances in mapping software:

USA National Gas Temperature Map [GasBuddy.com]

CIA acknowledges the power of blogs

According to the Washington Times, the Central Intelligence Agency is taking advantage of political bloggers' research capabilities:

The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin.

"A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information on there that doesn't exist anywhere else," Mr. Naquin told The Washington Times.

Eliot A. Jardines, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for open source, said the amount of unclassified intelligence reaching Mr. Bush and senior policy-makers has increased as a result of the center's creation in November. [Washington Times]

I think that the CIA's recognition of the citizen journalists' contributions represents an important development in intelligence gathering. At the same time, one has to wonder whether there is any overlap between the CIA's gathering of unclassified intelligence and classified programs involving the profiling of American citizens, such as the NSA's domestic spying program and the FBI's monitoring of political activists.

Another interesting question is which blogs the CIA is reading for "social perspectives . . . and what the general feeling is" about White House policies. If the Bush administration has been using the leading far-right conservative blogs to gauge public opinion - like Michelle Malkin or Little Green Footballs - then President Bush's continual slide in the polls should come as no surprise.

"CIA mines 'rich' content from blogs" [Washington Times]

New satellite images of Iran's nuclear sites on Google Earth

Ogle Earth, a blog about Google Earth (an incredible mapping program that could be described as Google Maps on steroids) has overlaid recent images of Iran's nuclear enrichment weapons sites over Google Earth's historical images. By comparing the images, "we can see the progress in the construction at both sites over the past few years." [Ogle Earth]

"New satellite imagery of Iran's nuclear sites - now on Google Earth" [Ogle Earth]
"Eyeing Iran nuclear site history with Google Earth" [Boing Boing]
Institute for Science and International Security Imagery Brief: "New Activities at the Eshafan and Natanz Nuclear Sites in Iran" (PDF) [ISIS]
Google Earth KMZ File (must have Google Earth installed) [Google Earth]

NY Sun obtains State Dep't Plame memo

The New York Sun obtained has obtained a declassified copy of a State Department memo, dated July 7, 2003, which plays a central role in the Valerie Plame leak case. The document has been cited in a number of articles as providing details about who knew that Plame's identity was secret, and when they knew it. The Sun's interpretation of the memo's classification markings is that it would not have been clear to readers of the document that Plame's identity was secret.

Not noted in the previous press reports was the fact that six of the seven paragraphs in the memo are marked "secret," while only one appears to mention Ms. Plame. In addition, virtually every paragraph in the attached supporting documents from the State Department about alleged Iraqi uranium procurement in Niger carries the "secret" designation.

With most, if not all, of the Niger-related documents marked "secret" in a host of places, there is no particular reason a reader would think the classification was derived from Ms. Plame's status or involvement. [NY Sun]

The argument the Sun is making, essentially, is that the fact that most of the document was marked "secret" somehow makes the part that discusses Valerie Plame less secret. This logic is questionable, because the issue is not whether the document's classification was derived from Plame's involvement, but instead, whether it made it clear that Plame's status is secret. It would appear that there is some room for debate on this issue, but at least under a literal reading, the part of the document which discusses Plame is clearly designated as "secret."

State Department Memo: "Niger/Iraq Uranium Story and Joe Wilson" [NY Sun]
"No Hint Seen in Memo that Plame's Role Was Secret" [NY Sun]

UPDATED 4/18/06:

Talking Points Memo's Muckraker blog came to roughly the same conclusion I did about the Sun's coverage of the State Department's Plame Memo. They spoke with a former senior intelligence official who said that "[s]ince the memo's classified secret, that's hard to understand," he said. "The paragraph [Valerie Plame] is mentioned in is classified secret."

"Plame Wasn't Covert? NY Sun Gives It One Last Try" [TPM Muckraker]

Animated Simulation of Nuclear Bunker Buster

The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a must-see animated simulation depicting the explosion of a nuclear bunker buster missile, with a narrator explaining the possible consequences.

Nuclear Bunker Buster (RNEP) Animation [Union of Concerned Scientists]

Salon obtains torture report under FOIA

Salon has obtained a Dec. 20, 2005 Army inspector general's report on interrogations conducted at Guantanamo. The report shows that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was well aware of what army inspectors termed as "degrading and abusive" treatment of prisoners.

In a sworn statement to the inspector general, Schmidt described Rumsfeld as "personally involved" in the interrogation and said that the defense secretary was "talking weekly" with Miller. Schmidt said he concluded that Rumsfeld did not specifically prescribe the more "creative" interrogation methods used on Kahtani. But he added that the open-ended policies Rumsfeld approved, and that the apparent lack of supervision of day-to-day interrogations permitted the abusive conduct to take place. "Where is the throttle on this stuff?" asked Schmidt, an Air Force fighter pilot, who said in his interview under oath with the inspector general that he had concerns about the length and repetition of the harsh interrogation methods. "There were no limits."

"What Rumsfeld Knew" [Salon]

UPDATED 4/15/06:

The Pentagon calls the report "fiction," even though Salon has a hard copy of the document. [MSNBC]

82nd Airborne Commander: Rumsfeld should resign

Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, called for Secretary General Rumsfeld's resignation on Thursday. The 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the largest parachute force in the world, and one of the US military's elite divisions.

"Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces there," Swannack said in the telephone interview. "And I believe he has culpability associated with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and, so, rather than admitting these mistakes, he continually justifies them to the press ... and that really disallows him from moving our strategy forward." [CNN]

"Another general joins ranks opposing Rumsfeld" [CNN]
82nd Airborne Division [Global Security]

9/11-related evidence released in Moussaoui trial

The transcript of United Flight 93, and numerous other important pieces of 9/11-related evidence, were presented by federal prosecutors at the Moussaoui trial today. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has posted the evidence on its website.

Warning: the RCFP.org page contains highly disturbing images, including photos of victims' bodies in the wreckage at the WTC, Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA sites.

Moussaoui Trail Exhibits and Documents page [RCFP.org]
Transcript of United Flight 93 Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript [RCFP.org]
Photograph of the Pentagon after Flight 77 crashed into the building [RCFP.org]

Raleigh ranked third best-educated city in the US

A new study ranks Raleigh, North Carolina the third best-educated city in the US. If I could only get every New Yorker who acts like Southerners are stupid to read this article . . .

Seattle, Washington, was the best-educated city in 2004 with just over half the adults having bachelor's degrees. Following closely were San Francisco; Raleigh, North Carolina; Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas. [ABC News]

"College grads chase jobs, culture to big cities" [ABC News]

Hersh: White House considering "nuclear option" against Iran

In a story in next week's New Yorker, Seymour Hersh interviews a number of military and intelligence officials about the Bush administration's preparations for a possible strike against Iran's nuclear development sites. According to Hersh, one of the most controversial aspects of the planning process is over the use of tactical nuclear weapons, which would be more effective than conventional weapons in penetrating underground bunkers. The following is an excerpt:

The lack of reliable intelligence leaves military planners, given the goal of totally destroying the sites, little choice but to consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “Every other option, in the view of the nuclear weaponeers, would leave a gap,” the former senior intelligence official said. “ ‘Decisive’ is the key word of the Air Force’s planning. It’s a tough decision. But we made it in Japan.”

He went on, “Nuclear planners go through extensive training and learn the technical details of damage and fallout—we’re talking about mushroom clouds, radiation, mass casualties, and contamination over years. This is not an underground nuclear test, where all you see is the earth raised a little bit. These politicians don’t have a clue, and whenever anybody tries to get it out”—remove the nuclear option—“they’re shouted down.”

The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning. Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran—without success, the former intelligence official said. “The White House said, ‘Why are you challenging this? The option came from you.’ ”

The Pentagon adviser on the war on terror confirmed that some in the Administration were looking seriously at this option, which he linked to a resurgence of interest in tactical nuclear weapons among Pentagon civilians and in policy circles. He called it “a juggernaut that has to be stopped.” He also confirmed that some senior officers and officials were considering resigning over the issue. “There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries,” the adviser told me. “This goes to high levels.” The matter may soon reach a decisive point, he said, because the Joint Chiefs had agreed to give President Bush a formal recommendation stating that they are strongly opposed to considering the nuclear option for Iran. “The internal debate on this has hardened in recent weeks,” the adviser said. “And, if senior Pentagon officers express their opposition to the use of offensive nuclear weapons, then it will never happen.” [The New Yorker]

The craziest part? The Bush administration believes that a massive tactical nuclear bombing strike will help bring about regime change resulting in a more US-friendly Iranian government:

One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ” [The New Yorker]

"The Iran Plans" [The New Yorker]
"Bunker-Busters Readied; Iran Attack Near?" [Defense Tech]
Graphic: B61-11 Nuclear Bunker Buster [Telegraph]

Documents: Cheney told Libby that Bush okayed leak

According to documents filed yesterday by federal prosecutors, 'Scooter' Libby allegedly told prosecutors that Cheney told him "that . . . President [Bush] specifically had authorized [Libby] to disclose certain [intelligence] information" about the war in Iraq. [Findlaw]

Note that the President has the authority to declassify any piece of classified information; this allegation is relevant mostly to the debate over pre-war intelligence. [CNN] In general, the legal status of leaks is a complicated area of the law which is far from settled. For more information on the legal controversy, see the recent post "White House willl attempt to prosecute leaks."

US vs. I. Lewis Libby case documents [Findlaw]
Wilson-Plame-Novak-Rove Blame Game Timeline [Factcheck.org]
Legal analysis: "Ensor: Lowdown on documents in CIA leak case" [CNN]

UPDATED 4/7/06:

I had titled this post "Documents: Cheney told Libby that Bush okayed Plame leak," but reader JM corrects me. There is no evidence that the identity of Valerie Plame was part of the classified information President Bush authorized for leaking. Page 20 of the prosecutors' response in the Libby case, which discusses the President's authorization, says that the President "had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE." [Findlaw]

While the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) did caution that claims about Iraq purchasing African uranium were "highly dubious," it did not - as far as I can tell - mention Plame, or even her husband Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger (which helped fuel the doubts about the uranium deal) specifically. [White House Briefing on NIE from FAS.org; National Security Archive's NIE coverage] In other words, if Bush's authorization to leak classified information extended only to "certain information in the NIE," then he could not have authorized the leak of Plame's identity. Of course, he could have also authorized the leak of Plame's identity separately, but at this point, there is no evidence of that. The National Security Archive actually released an article today titled "What the President Leaked: Authorized Leak or Declassification?" [National Security Archive]

Beating sleep apnea: we have the technology

This past week, March 27 - April 2, was National Sleep Awareness Week. [National Sleep Foundation] In addition to reminding people that getting a good night's sleep is essential to good health, the event serves to raise awareness about sleep disorders.

Last year, at age 28, I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Since it is hard to explain, I'll use the National Sleep Foundation definition:

"Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder in which breathing is briefly and repeatedly interrupted during sleep. The word 'apnea' literally means 'without breath.' Apnea is defined as a cessation of breath that lasts at least ten seconds. Obstructive apneas occur when the muscles in the back of the throat are not able to keep the throat open, despite efforts to breathe. This causes blockages in the airway and breathing interruptions, or apneas. Obstructive apneas can result in two problems: fragmented sleep and lowered levels of oxygen in the blood. The combination of sleep disturbance and oxygen starvation can result in multiple problems, including automobile accidents, hypertension, heart disease, and mood and memory problems . . . Although the connection between sleep apnea and heart disease is not entirely clear, we know that people with cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrythmia and stroke have a high prevalence of sleep apnea." [National Sleep Foundation]

One recent study found that sleep apnea actually enlarges the heart, and makes it pump blood less effectively:

"Compared to the control subjects, the hearts of the sleep apnea patients were significantly enlarged on the right side and had thickened walls between the pumping chambers. The hearts of sleep apnea patients also pumped less blood per beat, and the velocity of wall motion was slower for both the left and right compared to the control subjects. The sleep apnea patients also had higher blood pressure and faster heart rates than the control subjects. The severity of the heart abnormalities was correlated with the severity of obstructive sleep apnea." [Science Daily]

I began experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea at around age fourteen or fifteen. I knew something was wrong, because I started having concentration and memory problems, and would get extremely tired all of a sudden at inappropriate times. It got worse as a got older, and eventually, sleep became a completely unpredictable aspect of my life. It became extremely hard to get up in the morning, and I would often oversleep, despite setting several alarms. And I would wake up with a sharp pain in my temples - similar to a really bad hangover - even when all I had drunk before going to bed was a glass of water.

One morning, when I was working in Midtown Manhattan, my chest started pounding, and I thought I was having some kind of heart problem. I told my boss I was sick, hopped in a cab, and told him to take me to the nearest emergency room. The triage doctor told me my heart was beating a little irregularly, but that he couldn't tell me what was causing it. "And you said you don't have any serious medical problems, right?" "Not that I know of."

It never occurred to me until recently that a sleep disorder could cause everything from memory and concentration problems to an irregular heartbeat. After all, if I had a problem with sleeping, it seemed like I slept too much, rather than not enough. Over the years, several doctors asked if I woke up a lot during the night, and I would respond that I didn't. What I didn't realize is that the "waking up" that occurs with sleep apnea is not necessarily the kind of conscious waking up which you would remember the next day (like waking up and staring at the clock, trying to get back to sleep). Instead, an apnea is often an unconscious cessation of breathing, which your body adjusts to by gasping for air, or by rolling over. Therefore, the best way to gauge whether someone should be checked out for sleep disorders is probably not whether they think they wake up a lot, but by how awake and rested they feel in the morning.

While sleep apnea doesn't always involve conscious waking, it definitely can. Another symptom of sleep apnea is suddenly waking up with your heart beating rapidly, as if it is about to jump out of your chest. I'm sure that nightmares, Porterhouse steaks, and other sleep disturbances may cause this occasionally. But if you find yourself consciously waking up with your heart pounding on a regular basis, or even a fairly regular basis, you probably have obstructive sleep apnea. This used to happen to me now and then, and when it did, it would happen just 15 to 20 minutes after I had fallen asleep.

Another misunderstanding people often have is that sleep apnea is something that only extremely overweight people get. When I started experiencing sleep apnea, I was not overweight at all, and was actually in the best shape of my life, playing basketball for a couple hours every day (nowadays, I don't get around to playing basketball as much, and I could afford to lose a little weight, but I'm still far from what you would call obese). Having a wide neck (size 16 1/2 or larger), and/or having a narrow throat (one of the top sleep apnea doctors in NYC looked into my throat and said "wow, it's definitely tight in there") are risk factors which are right up there with being overweight.

The good news is that obstructive sleep apnea can almost always be treated with a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine, which pumps air into your throat to keep it from closing up. The mask definitely bears some resemblance to Darth Vader's, but my CPAP has changed my life completely.

The moral of the story is that if you aren't getting good sleep, don't make the mistake I made, and spend fourteen years saying "oh well, I guess I just don't sleep well." Read up on sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, and talk to your doctor.

National Sleep Awareness Week page [National Sleep Foundation]
Sleep Apnea - The Basics [National Sleep Foundation]
"Sleep Apnea Treatment Benefits the Heart" [Science Daily]
"Dream Machine" [Calgary Herald]
"Air Mask Therapy Best for Sleep Apnea: Experts" [Forbes]

UPDATED 4/4/06:

Reader KB from Georgia writes to point out that custom-made oral appliances are another option for sleep apnea sufferers who do not like wearing a CPAP mask (and given their claustrophic nature and other drawbacks, there are a lot of people in this category).

Dental Sleep Medicine Program [Sleep Health Centers]

Telegraph: British gov't holding secret talks on Iran strike

Today, the London Daily Telegraph reported that the British government will be holding secret talks tomorrow on the possibility of a US-led military strike against Iran. [Telegraph] The report came the same day as Iran's announcement that it had sucessfully tested a "very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines." [CNN]

Missiles launched by US submarines in the Persian Gulf would almost certainly be a key element of any strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, as shown in the Telegraph's "How the US could destroy Iran's nuclear programme" graphic. [Telegraph]

"Government in secret talks about strike against Iran" [Telegraph]
Graphic: "How the US could destroy Iran's nuclear programme" [Telegraph]
"Iran: high-speed underwater missile test-fired" [CNN]