A Man Of Many Comments

She Can’t Be This Incompetent, Can She?

2005-10-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

Harriet E. Miers, President Bush’s nominee for the Supreme Court has never been a judge. She, from what little we know, is a very good lawyer. She, from what we do know, is a very hard working woman who thinks that Bush, when he was the governor of Texas, was “the best governor ever.” No wonder he nominated her to the Supreme Court.

Robert Bork, who was then President Ronal Reagan’s nominee for the Supreme Court” has called her nomination “slap in the face to the conservatives who've been building up a conservative legal movement for the last 20 years." The other problem is that this woman cannot probably write. Her writings have caused considerable consternation amongst conservatives.

Now, in another show that she cannot respond to questions, comes news that the “Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked her to resubmit parts of her judicial questionnaire, saying various members had found her responses ‘inadequate,’ ‘insufficient’ and ‘insulting.’”

I can’t wait to hear this woman speak in her hearings.

Diplomacy.

2005-10-20T08:15:00.000-04:00

I don’t know if there is anything else that I can write about this story beyond what is already written. Suffice it to say that this will not help the U.S. diplomatic efforts one bit. Of course, some people will say that this is a time of war and these things are to be expected. My response is that these things are to be expected but not tolerated.

The following says it all: “The US military says it will investigate claims that US soldiers publicly burnt the bodies of two Taleban fighters in Afghanistan.”

Drill Away!

2005-10-20T07:45:00.000-04:00

You know that whole thing about America’s natural beauty and how the country has lush greenery and beautiful mountains in unspoiled forests? Not anymore.

“The Senate Energy and Commerce Committee approved a measure on Wednesday to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas production, moving it an important step closer to becoming official.”

Here come the people with their big trucks, drilling equipment and massive pipelines.

Too Much Vodka?

2005-10-19T07:31:00.000-04:00

This is a weird story and I am admitting that right now. Norwegian authorities detained a Russian trawler. They escorted the trawler to the port. As they were escorting said trawler to said port, the trawler broke away and started speeding towards Russia at full speed. Maybe the people on the trawler, trawlers?, did not notice that they had two Norwegian inspectors on board.

The trawler was “speeding toward Russian territorial waters with the Norwegian Coast Guard in pursuit, Russian vessels en route to meet it, and a powerful storm hampering the efforts of both.” Hollywood, buy the rights right now!

My only question: Are the Norwegian inspectors hot chicks … cause that would explain a lot.

What hell is wrong with Africa!

2005-10-19T07:27:00.000-04:00

You and I have heard these stories repeatedly. They are stories of one country or the other facing famine. Other than North Korea, a large majority of countries facing famine are located in Africa. Now, I have been to Africa, it’s a great continent and the people are amazing, which is why its so amazing to me that they always run out of food there.

What the hell’s going on over there? Is it the despots that rule those countries, like that jackass Mugabe? I bring this up because aid agencies have warned that nearly half of Malawi’s “12 million population could starve in the next six months without massive and immediate food donations … [which] so far … has not been forthcoming.”

Everyone feels bad about the people who are starving but there is a time when charity fatigue sets in. With all the horrific events happening in the world today, earthquakes, tornadoes etc., it is easy to see how the world would want to give money to other places and causes. Especially, when the other causes are one-time events whereas the famine in Africa never seems to go away.

Two Gasbags

2005-10-19T07:18:00.000-04:00

Here is a case of two gasbags talking to each other. It looks like the only time this gasbag gets off his radio show is when he gets a chance to talk to another gasbag who agrees with everything the first gasbag says.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Hannity/Limbaugh show on Fox News. What a surprise.

The Pakistani Earthquake

2005-10-18T08:04:00.000-04:00

The big disaster story these days is the massive earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan. We have all seen the tragic pictures and heard the horrific stories. It truly is tragic, primarily because so many of the dead and injured have still not been reached. If one looks at the areas where the earthquake caused the most damage, one can understand why this is the case.

Okay, now that I have gotten the emotional part out of the way, let’s look at this situation objectively. The Pakistani government is not the most honest government in the world. It is not unfamiliar with corruption. Knowing that, can we trust this government to appropriately manage the massive aid that is being sent? Pakistanis are great people and will contribute whatever they can to help. However, we have to make sure that the government, that is managing this massive relief operation, does right by its people.

I write because it was reported today that Pakistan “declared that the reconstruction cost of areas affected by the devastating October 8 earthquake could go well beyond the initial estimate of $5 billion.”

Now, one can understand that the estimates will be off because many of the devastated areas have not yet been reached. However, $5 billion is a huge amount to reconstruct areas that did not have much infrastructure to begin with. I could have bought the $5 billion figure had the government not come out and said that the figure could go “well beyond that.”

Well beyond that! We need some oversight here and not from the Pakistani government. I don’t trust these numbers nor do I trust the bureaucrats running that country.

The Lesson Not Learned

2005-10-18T07:52:00.000-04:00

The one lesson that governments have learned over the years is that one cannot control groups. The U.S. learned that in Afghanistan where they trained the mujahideen and when the U.S. left, the mujahideen leaders created a little movement called Al Qaida. History is filled with such examples but governments rarely learn from their historic mistakes.

The Darfur crisis in the Sudan is well known. The Sudanese government trained Arab militias called the Janjaweed to essentially destroy villages that they did not like. As has happened in the past, this group has now mutated with some members turning on the government itself.

“The conflict has grown even more confused and chaotic in recent months. Now, rebels fight other rebels, the ties between some janjaweed fighters and the government have frayed, and the African Union troops charged with quelling the conflict find themselves targets as well.”

On one hand, this does not bother me. The people who supported these groups need to be taken out and show and if it turns out that these groups are doing the shooting, then so be it. The problem is that there are innocent people caught in the crossfire, as they always are, and these people have gone through that one cannot help but feel that all this should stop for their sake.

The Media Giveth, The Media Taketh

2005-10-18T07:30:00.000-04:00

You probably heard the story of this young girl found wandering the streets of NYC, Queens to be exact, some time back. No one knew anything about her so, in an effort to get more information about her, the authorities put her on the telly. “Within five minutes of the first broadcast, people were calling in tips to help reveal her identity, and the police were led to the man accused of killing her mother and abandoning her.”

Then the whole thing turned. Her grandparents, both Bolivian, started fighting for custody and while the judge has named the kid’s mother’s cousins as her temporary guardians, the media attention is so intense that the kid can’t do anything other than stay inside the house and twiddle her little thumbs.

Is the problem with the media? I mean, it was great that with their help the authorities discovered who the kid was and found the murderer of her mother and the media is greatly responsible for that. However, when should it end? When does the kid go back to being a kid? She has gone through a traumatic time and when does she go back to trying to put the pieces of her life back together?

Where is the off switch? Who controls it and will they please turn it off? I don’t blame the media for this, by the way. I blame the people who are reading the stories about her and want to know more about the kid. It’s their fault. The media is just the messenger.

... and is that wrong?

2005-10-07T07:57:00.000-04:00

In a TV documentary, to be telecast on the BBC, “former Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, says that Mr Bush told a Palestinian delegation in 2003 that God spoke to him and said: ‘George, go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’ and also ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’.”

Of course, the White House (WH) denies these claims but here is my question: We all know Bushie is a religious guy. He loves him some Christ fierce. He is loved by his people i.e. those that vote for him, for loving his Christ fierce. So since we know he is religious and that he loves his Christ fierce, what’s wrong with him believing that what he was about to do was sanctioned by God?

The problem that people will have with this is with the timing. Did God tell him to do that before he had enough evidence justifying the invasion? By the way, this does not work for Iraq since we all know that the evidence for that one was bullshit. Was God telling him that he should invade these countries or was God agreeing with the analysts who said that there were good reasons for him to invade Afghanistan.

As for Iraq, was God just pulling his leg and Bushie mistook that and actually invaded the country? Only God, and maybe Bushie, can answer these questions. Maybe, Christ would know. However, as is always the case, they are never there when you need them.

I Don’t Want You To Appoint Anyone Else

2005-10-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

The Right will love this story. In a new book, coming out soon, and in an accompanying “60 Minutes” interview, “former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has denounced Bill Clinton over the scandals that marred his presidency and for his record on terrorism, saying the level of distrust was so great that he stayed in his post so Clinton could not appoint his successor.”

By now, Bill Clinton, is probably used to people denouncing him over his scandals so that isn’t a big deal. The big deal is when the head of the FBI says that he stayed in his post so that his successor could not be appointed. He did not stay because he wanted to serve the country, protect its people, catch criminals etc. He stayed because he did not want a successor appointed.

There is nothing wrong with people not getting along, even when they work at such high level posts but when people stay in positions for reasons that have nothing to do with their jobs, that is when the problem starts, stops, starts again and ends.

People, for the longest time, were wondering why the FBI had so many problems and what was causing all these miscues … well now you know. The guy leading the damn agency wasn’t interested in doing his job, just saving it.

Inventor Arrested

2005-10-07T07:45:00.000-04:00

Police arrested a teenager in a midnight raid for making illegal moonshine. The kid, who is a minor, said he learned about making the stuff from his science class and the Internet.

My problems with this action are:
1. The kid learned something from his science class! Instead of arresting him, the government should be awarding him things.
2. The kid researched something scientific on the Internet. Scientific and not porn. This kid should really be given a scholarship.
3. “What he was making, it wasn't really consumable at all. It was actually very toxic.” So then, how was it moonshine? Shouldn’t we be helping this inventor learn how to correctly make things?

A government spokesman, upon learning about this, said: “It's amazing what you can learn on the Internet.” If getting directions to make moonshine on the Internet is what amazes you about the Internet, man you really need to get out more.

No More State Rights

2005-10-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

Whenever some liberal gasbag asked me to name the one thing that made Republicans better than Democrats, I would always point to the Republican party’s policy on state rights: They believed in state rights.

This argument has been harder and harder to make over the last seven years and George Bush and this new Republican party has waged war on states that do not agree with their policies. One perfect example is the whole Oregon and the state’s marijuana law issue.

So hearing President Bush saying that “he would consider using the military to ‘effect a quarantine’ in the event of an outbreak of pandemic influenza in the United States.” He did say that some governors may object to their state’s National Guard being taken over by the federal but dismissed that thought by saying, “Listen, I can do anything I want. Didn’t you just see me nominate a woman who has never been a judge to the Supreme Court?” Karl Rove was seen shaking his head vigorously in agreement to that statement.

Well, he actually didn’t say that and Rove didn’t actually do that but can’t you just that scene playing out?

Rats Better Than Humans

2005-10-04T10:38:00.000-04:00

Yes ladies and gentlemen, rats are better than humans. Not only are they better at sniffing out landmines, they are also better at “diagnosing tuberculosis in HIV patients and catching smugglers bringing drugs or guns across borders.”

Of course, the argument that some make is that humans are smarter than rats because they control the rats. Notice, I did not say smarter but better.

Not only are the rats better at these tasks but they also have better personalities than other animals. “Their sense of smell is as powerful as that of a dog but they are happier performing repetitive tasks without becoming bored.”

God love them.

Ok, You Are Welcome Now

2005-10-04T10:07:00.000-04:00

Austria withdrew its objections and formal talks opened yesterday between the EU and Turkey. This is not well known but Turkey had first applied for EU membership 40 years ago. 40 years! That country has sure been patient.

Obviously, this is politics and this issue is not yet over. Only talks about letting Turkey joining the EU have begun and there is a long road ahead but for a country that waited 40 years for this day, this must feel very sweet indeed.

Kick Ass

2005-10-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

I usually don’t focus on local stories but this one is so good that I cannot let it pass. Its a local Washington, DC story and reported in the Washington Post.

On Monday, October 3, a masked man entered a townhouse to rob the place. Before he did that, he decided to tie up the residents. His first choice was the “weakest” of the family, twin 10 year old girls.

Unfortunately, and stupidly on the robbers part, the girls were blue belts in Karate and kicked the guys ass. Then they shouted for their parents who kicked the guy’s ass some more.

The guy ran out and then was arrested hours later … and who was the moron.

He was the twins’ Karate instructor. He knew they could kick ass and ignored it. Talk about your students kicking their masters’ ass.

Death Won’t Stop Us Anymore

2005-10-03T14:50:00.000-04:00

Directly, this is a story about the Notorious B.I.G., the overweight rapper, who was shot and killed some years ago. Indirectly, this is a story about anyone who has died, seen his/her value increase and had his/her relatives start producing material under the dead person’s name.

You know it used to be that when someone died their value increased because people assumed that the dead person would not be producing any more material. Well, not anymore. In a classic case of two dead musicians meeting in the beyond and making a song, if you are smoking weed then you are also probably seeing it happen, Notorious B.I.G. and Bob Marley got together and made a song. B.I.G., as always a hard working man, then left Marley and went and made a CD of duets with some other artists. What a slut.

Diddy/P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Combs, the guy who hung with B.I.G., is releasing the album. The man doesn’t have any new music so he is going to back, and back and back, to the well.

Concert News

2005-10-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

11 people were killed in South Korea when “fans trying to enter a stadium for a music concert … sparked a stampede.” This is obviously tragic but what is even more impressive is that “those of the dead whose names were released were all either in their 50s or older, or children younger than 14.”

This concert really spanned the demographic, old and young, everyone wanted to come to this festival.

The European Union: No Muslims Allowed

2005-10-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

Europe bills itself as an inclusive community. The continent’s representatives like to brag that Europe does not discriminate, that everyone is welcome and as examples point to the large immigrant communities that can be found in places like England, Holland, France etc. Items such as the genocide of the Jewish populations, race riots across England, and discrimination against those that speak with accents, etc. are swept aside as exceptions.

In yet another example of such an exception the EU indefinitely postponed the start “of negotiations on Turkey joining” the union. The reason for this indefinite postponement was “Austria's opposition to full Turkish membership.” Britain warned that this move could break the union. While Austria is the only country currently opposing Turkey’s membership, I find it hard to believe that it would take this step without any implicit support from other nations.

Regardless, the outcome seems clear: No Muslims Allowed.

No Experience, No Problem

2005-10-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

You have to love Bushie. He doesn’t care if you are qualified or not. Doesn’t care how important the post is. Doesn’t care about anything but how loyal you are to him and/or how much money you have raised for him or his party.

To the long list of candidates/appointees that knew nothing about the jobs that they were posted to, we now add Harriet Miers. Ms. Miers, who currently serves as the White House counsel, has just been nominated by Bushie to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.

Ms. Miers who, undoubtedly, is a very good lawyer is not a judge, has never been a judge and will, if approved, become in, one fell swoop, one of the most powerful judges IN THE COUNTRY!

There’s logic. There’s the Bush selection process. Never the twain shall meet.

She Forgot The Skirt, He Forgot The Heels

2005-08-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

The Market Will Collapse

2005-08-29T16:27:00.000-04:00

The BBC reports that "The Malaysian government has ordered police to randomly check mobile phones for pornographic images."

In case this isn't completely clear, the government does not want pornographic images on the phones.

What is the use of these phones then? I think the phone companies should get involved and get the government to remove this law from the books. This is just a market killer.

The Stupid Headline Of The Day ...

2005-08-29T16:13:00.000-04:00

... is this one from the Washington Post. You can read the whole article, if interested, by clicking the link.

The headline is: Roberts Pushed for Reagan Policies.

This is a stupid headline because at the time Supreme Court nominee, John Roberts, pushed for these policies, he was working FOR Ronald Reagan. Since he was working for Reagan, it makes sense that he would push for Regan's policies, as opposed to those proposed by Michael Dukakis.

Morons.

Be Careful Who You Criticize

2005-08-29T15:54:00.000-04:00

If someone asked me about government employees I would have said that the last thing that they are afraid of is private companies, especially procurement officers. These are the people who buy stuff for the U.S. Government and since everyone wants to sell to this government, they wield enormous power.

However, today I learned in the Washington Post, that there is one company that wields more power than the U.S. Government. That company is Halliburton, which used to be run by the current V.P. of the U.S., Mr. Dick “Saddam Was Responsible For 9/11” Cheney.

The name of the official was Bunnatine H, Greenhouse. Sure, she had a funny name but that’s not why she was fired. She had “been a vocal critic of the Pentagon's decision to give Halliburton Co. a multibillion-dollar, no-bid contract for work in Iraq.”

The official reason for her removal was poor performance. There could be something to this. There could also be something to the Yeti that everyone keeps seeing in Nepal.

My Wretched Iraq

2005-08-21T15:31:00.000-04:00

The BBC reports that Jordanian newspapers have printed a letter from the former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. In the letter he describes himself as a sacrifice for a dear Palestine and our steadfast, beloved, and wretched Iraq."

Even in translation he can't hide his feelings about the country.

"Lost" Found on DVD Shelf

2005-08-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

Nothing But Exploitation

2005-08-17T13:13:00.000-04:00

CNN on its web site has the headline “Coroner: Boy died after air crash.” If you read the story you find that the 5-year-old boy, traveling on the Cypriot airliner that crashed in Greece, alive for only “for a second … after the plane slammed into a mountainous area north of Athens.”

First of all, how do they know the boy only lived for a second. Second, what the hell does telling us, in a headline, that the boy died after the crash accomplish? That not everyone died when the plane crashed but that on kid survived for a second?

This is just a bad headline. Its exploitative and ignorant and something Fox should put up. Wait a second, does CNN want to become the new Fox News?

Men Cannot Resist Pakistani Women

2005-08-17T12:34:00.000-04:00

The BBC reports that Britain has removed its military attaché from his post in Pakistan. Why? This is not confirmed but apparently he had “‘inappropriate relationship’” with a suspected female Pakistani spy.

As anyone who has seen any Pakistani woman knows that it is impossible for any heterosexual, and many gay, man to resist the allure that is the Pakistani female. So its no surprise that Brig. Andrew Durcan was “tricked into a close friendship by the attractive woman.”

I think the word “attractive woman” is redundant. As we all know, men cannot resist Pakistani women.

Stay Calm Everyone

2005-08-17T11:49:00.000-04:00

I wasn’t going to post anything on the whole Gaza settler thing. Its being covered enough all over the place, hell sometimes it feels that it’s the only thing being covered these days, and from most angles.

However, Fox News just reported that an Israeli settler just opened fire on the Palestinians and killed three of them, innocent bystanders and passersby. This was not a gunman, I disagree with the Fox News headline, but just a normal guy who was frustrated and “grabbed a gun from a security man at the Shiloh industrial zone and opened fire on Palestinians, who may have been workers or passersby.”

The reason for my posting this is to show that emotions run high on both ends and the possibility of violence is very strong on both ends. Hamas is saying that Israel is taking these steps because of its actions and that it won’t stop until it gets back all of the “Palestinian land.”

This is a powder-keg folks. Stay Calm.

Pampered Kids

2005-08-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

People who have kids will not like my take on this story. Well, some of them might but I bet a majority won’t.

The NY Times has an interesting story on how parents are spending their hard earned money to make sure that their kids don’t get into trouble. What’s new about this story is that the parents are spending this money on counseling and educational programs.

Huh? These are apparently “difficult” kids. So they are being counseled. I don’t get this. If a kid does something wrong such as take drugs or join a gang the parent should WHUP THEIR ASS. Take away their computers etc. and lock them up inside their room.

The argument goes, and not in this article but in general, that if you do what I suggest then the kid will only hurt themselves through shit like trying to commit suicide. To that I say, so?

You spend your life savings on sending the kid to counseling, which is not a guaranteed solution, and all that happens is that the kids gets on drugs again and you have lost your money. The special program industry disagrees with me.

One of quotes in this article is: "If you've got a child with problems, this is your most precious asset, and I don't think any parent would ever cut corners if they thought there was a way to help their child through the problem they're experiencing."

In other words, we got more programs to “help” your kid, they just cost more money but if you don’t spend your money on your “most precious asset” what will you spend the money on. I have an answer: Me. I will spend the money on myself because I am my “most precious asset.”

Book Sales

2005-08-17T10:20:00.000-04:00

In news that wouldn’t surprise anyone, the NY Times reports that books sales for Bob Woodward’s book, The Secret Man, have been very lackluster. For anyone not in the know, and going by the sales, that’s most of the country, the book deals with story of Deep Throat, not the porno but the secret Watergate source.

This shows you how people in the Washington area think the whole world is interested in what’s going on “inside the beltway.” No one cares about Deep Throat, the source. The porno is, of course, another matter.

The surprising thing to me is not that the sales of book outside the DC area suck, its that the sales inside the Beltway suck as well. Man, this is one dead story.

Farrakhan To The Rescue

2005-08-15T15:16:00.000-04:00

This was pretty funny when it first happened. Mexican President, Vincente Fox, some months ago said that Mexican immigrants who come across the border take jobs "that not even blacks want."

Black leaders weren’t too happy when they heard him say that and Jesse Jackson even went to Mexico to protest. I think he went for the beaches, free Mexican food and the hot Mami’s but then who wouldn’t go for those things.

Fox apologized and said that something was lost in the translation, he meant no disrespect, etc. Now, Louis Farrakhan just came out and said that Fox was right. He said, "Why are you so foolishly sensitive when somebody is telling you the truth?"

The thing with Louis is that no one can disagree with him. If they do then the Nation’s people will come and open a can of whup ass on their … ass.

Go Louis. Full story at Yahoo.com.

Troop Morale

2005-08-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

The smartest thing that the Bush Team (BT) has done is to merge any questions about its international, specifically Iraq, policies as unpatriotic. The argument goes that if you question anything that the BT has done in Iraq then you are unpatriotic because you are hurting troop morale.

Since most of these guys have never served in the armed forces and wouldn’t know what to do in a war setting, they don’t realize that the army morale is pretty damn low. The actions of some anti-war protestors, who by the way repeatedly say that they are against the war and not against the troops, don’t make a difference to the level of troop morale.

The BT is very focused and has never let facts get in its way and this situation is no different. You may have heard of Cindy Sheehan (NY Times link here), her son died in the Iraq war and she is camped outside President Bush’s ranch, he is on a 5 week vacation, waiting to speak with him.

Ignoring the fact that the man is on 5 week vacation, nice job if you can get it, I focused on whether President Bush will ever meet this woman. I don’t think he will but this isn’t about that issue. Its about how “250 Bush supporters waved American flags in a counter rally across the street, holding signs that said Sheehan was unpatriotic and was hurting troop morale.”

The woman’s son died in the war and she is being unpatriotic. Troop morale is already at an all-time low and this one lady is hurting it. The best thing in this story is the following:

“While about 60 in Sheehan's group held a religious service Sunday morning, a nearby landowner, Larry Mattlage, fired his shotgun twice into the air. Sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents rushed to his house but did not arrest him.

‘I ain't threatening nobody, and I ain't pointing a gun at nobody,’ Mattlage said. ‘This is Texas.’”

Only in Texas folks. Only in Texas.

The Camera Man

2005-08-15T13:24:00.000-04:00

An interesting article on the man of people, as long as the people have a camera with them, Sen. Chuck Schumer in the Washington Post today.

Schumer, if you were not aware, is a Democrat and is still hated by the conservation movement. Why? He is a tree killer. He issues so many press releases that he is singularly responsible for the murder of all the trees on the west coast.

Nothing too new in this article that follower of politics weren’t aware of but it still makes for interesting reading.

Wisdom

2005-08-15T13:21:00.000-04:00

… and then there is the wisdom of the evangelicals. Those radical Christians that we all know and love, they who make radical Muslims look like religious pussies.

“Justice Sunday II”, A New Can Of Justice, was held over the weekend in Nashville, TN. The main goal of this “rally” was to rally against the judges. Especially, against those judges who are “anti-Christian” i.e. anyone who dares to disagree with anything that James Dobson says.

Who is James Dobson? He is possibly the biggest horse’s ass in the country and you can go to http://www.family.org/ to learn about this moron. That’s his web site so everything there is positive about this horse’s ass.

There you will find answers to all the relevant questions of our time. Questions such as: “Is it a sin to drop a Christian friend because he or she doesn't act ‘Christian’?”

Anyway, this post is about what that lovable Congressman, Tom “The Hammer” Delay said at “Justice Sunday II.” He railed against “activist judges.” The Hammer, by the way, is under investigation for accepting bribes and as soon as he was indicted he discovered all these “activist judges.”

Before then, he didn’t know a judge from a used car, he was a used car salesman before he got elected.

Full story in today’s Washington Post.

How Do You Miss That.

2005-08-13T06:52:00.000-04:00

This is an amazing story that hs no impact on any of our lives but is interesting anyway.

Dick McDermott, a 92 year old man, found a nearly 400-foot waterfall in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Its a national park and no one knew the place had a waterfall. Don't they map these things out, trails and shit.

Anyway, they found this waterfall. Its a beautiful thing and we all love this development. Woohoo.

Full story in the LA Times.

Be Careful Who You Invite

2005-08-13T06:47:00.000-04:00

I have always wondered, when hearing of or attending parties where everyone shows up, why no one steals things from the houses. Apparently, other people thought the same thing and then ended up doing it. Nice way to take initiative fellas.

Of course, these guys were actually theives and they pulled out knives and shit but the basic theory is the same and the pot a little larger. The full story in The Telegraph.

He's An Idiot

2005-08-13T06:43:00.000-04:00

That's the defense. The lawyer of the Morrocan accused of compliance in the 9/11 terrorist attacks said his client was "'naive, fumbling, contradictory' and lacked the cleverness required of an accomplice."

Would anyone say that a person who works with anyone who does anything like the 9/11 attacks is NOT an idiot? This is not a defense. Its the truth. The man is an idiot and should be prosecuted twice. Once for supporting terrorists and then for being an idiot.

Full story in AlJazeera.

Just Don't Show Up

2005-08-13T06:35:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how political parties think they can get away with these things. "An outlawed Basque separatist party said ... it plans to go ahead with a weekend rally banned by authorities."

Let's read that again. The party is banned. The rally is banned. They will hold it anyway and don't want the police to show up. If the police show up, there will be trouble and the police will be responsible for it.

Is it just me or are these guys idiots. Full story in the The Gulf Today.

Baghdad’s Mayor, Mayor No More

2005-08-10T13:42:00.000-04:00

This is an interesting and confusing story from Baghdad, Iraq. The New York Times, and other sources, report that the Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was appointed by the U.S. was deposed on Monday, during the sandstorm that hit the city.

Deposed by whom? Well, that’s not clear. The NY Times says that “armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia.”

Mr. Tamimi was in hiding while the group that threw him out of the office said that it had the power to install anyone they wanted and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. Yeah right, till he shows his face and then, all of a sudden, no one will be able to find his head. Hide, Tamimi, hide.

Yes, this is a disturbing story. What is more disturbing, however, is what the hell is going on in that country, in general, and in that city, in particular. If the U.S. is in control of that city, which is THE CAPITAL of the country, how the hell does one group throw the Mayor of the city out of his office and install, INSTALL, someone else? How the hell does that happen?

As you can tell, I am little upset about this. The U.S. is totally messing things up there.

They May Not Get The Irony

2005-08-10T13:32:00.000-04:00

The Dawn newspaper reports on a demonstration that took place in the small town of Toba Tek Singh in Pakistan. Shopkeepers in the town were unhappy with the local police’s inability to fight crime and so started a demonstration march. Well, the demonstration got out of hand and the demonstrators blocked a bridge and set fire to the tires, a common tactic. Of course, the police retaliated.

Of course.

Bikinis Out, Swimsuits In

2005-08-10T13:13:00.000-04:00

You Go Girl

2005-08-10T11:47:00.000-04:00

I don’t know if this is true for the entire Sudan or just for southern Sudan but it sure is an interesting story. Reported in today’s Washington Post, it says that women in the southern Sudan region are committing adultery to get divorces. When I read the story the immortal words “Huh?” and “Wha?” escaped my lips. Then I thought of all those women waiting to have an affair and immediately wanted to move to Sudan. Then I realized that it was the Sudan we were talking about and just read this story.

Okay, getting back on track, the story says that in Sudan the law says that only men are allowed to divorce their spouses. So, no matter how horrible the man is, for example the husband of the woman profiled in this story, the woman get a divorce from him.

However, “the one legal loophole for Sudanese women is to commit adultery, a crime that is instant grounds for divorce.” So that’s what a lot of women do. They commit adultery, maybe even get pregnant as a result of the adultery, and their husbands grant them divorce, in theory.

In reality, that does not always happen. As told in the report, if a husband wants to give his wife a divorce he has to give her back the dowry she brought with her. Sometimes, because the dowry is so big, comparatively, that the husband does not want to do that and the woman is stuck in jail, for committing adultery and still married.

Things are looking up though. Sudan wants international aid and one of the ways to get new funding is to give equal rights to women so women, may, in the 21st century get the right to divorce their abusive husbands.

The only consolation, that I can think of for these woman, is for the men that they are sleeping around with to be just savants in the sack.

I Love This Game

2005-08-09T20:24:00.000-04:00

This Might Be Worth Watching

2005-08-09T20:19:00.000-04:00

Google Everyone But Me

2005-08-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

Who among us hasn’t googled those that we are interested in. Hell, I am googling someone right now. Its quick, its easy and its thorough. Private information? What is that? It’s all public baby.

So, I am sure that it came as a surprise to the folks at Cnet News.com when Google did not like Cnet’s googling one of their founders. Apparently, Cnet was doing a story which aimed to show that privacy doesn’t really exist anymore and that you can find anything about anyone by googling them.

Google did not like that Cnet used one of Google’s founders, Eric Schmidt, as their test subject. So the company has banned Cnet. What does this mean? It means that “it will not speak with Cnet reporters until August 2006.”

Sounds childish to me. The whole story, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

North Korea Is On Line Two

2005-08-09T13:25:00.000-04:00

Once there was a poor South African farmer. His family had invested their life savings and also had taken on some debt to buy the farm from the government. He did not have electricity or running water. He found Uranium on his land. Now he is a millionaire.

Full story reported by the BBC.

Bangladeshi Terror Camps

2005-08-09T10:23:00.000-04:00

I am sure that everyone, anyone, reading this knows about the tensions between India and Pakistan. One of the sources of this tension is India’s contention that Pakistan supports terrorists within its territory that enter India and cause chaos within that country. What India calls terrorists, Pakistan calls freedom fighters. This is not a new story and has been covered on multiple fronts by multiple sources.

The new news, to me anyway, is that India says that there are terrorist camps in Bangladesh. For anyone not in the know, Bangladesh is a very, very poor country. Its also located in an area that floods every year and whenever that happens, Bangladesh asks for international help in dealing with the crisis.

So it was with some surprise that I read on the All India Newspapers web site that the provincial Tripura government in the country is asking the Central government to force “Bangladesh to take urgent steps in dismantling ‘sixty seven terrorist camps’ situated in that country.” We all know that Indians are very good with math so I wasn’t surprised that they were able to pinpoint the exact number, not 68 or 66 but 67, of terrorist camps.

The last paragraph is quite funny and shows the respect that the current government holds for the former government. It’s pasted below.

To a question on how the Manmohan Singh government was handling Pakistan and Kashmir, the Rajya Sabha member said it was "certainly better than the previous NDA government which had failed on all fronts." "I hope that efforts in this regard are successful," she added.

The GM Model

2005-08-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

There are two things in this story in today’s New York Times that caught my interest.

The first thing was the development of the $5,000 minivans that GM is manufacturing and selling in China. Called Wuling Sunshine, these minivans give 43 miles to the gallon in city driving. Not too shabby. Of course, they aren’t as comfortable as the cars GM sells in this country so Americans may not go for these cars here.

However, could GM build small cars that give 43 miles to the gallon but are a little more comfortable and sell for $15,000? Probably. Will They? Probably not.

The second item of interest in this story is that of the man who actually discovered the market for these cars and his fate. Philip F. Murtaugh who is a native of Ohio and currently lives in a small town in Kentucky. He realized that the growing affluence in China presented an opportunity for small and inexpensive cars. Since production costs in the country are very low, he was able to develop these cars and they have now become a big hit.

Here’s the thing though. Like any other maverick and successful executive, he does not toe the line. So GM, being the big behemoth that it is and not caring about the success that this guy brought to the company, decided to limit his autonomy. So he resigned and now lives in Kentucky.

Wither innovation, long live the status quo.

A Catfight

2005-08-09T06:22:00.000-04:00

This should be an interesting catfight and should be more interesting than the last election. Jeanine Piro, described in the NY Daily News as a “hard-charging prosecutor”, announced yesterday that she was going to run against Hillary Clinton for her Senate seat.

Ms. Piro is apparently well loved in Republican circles and so this means that this will be a nasty and expensive fight. Ladies, start your engines.

Run Bitch Run

2005-08-08T19:42:00.000-04:00

This is definitely good news. I just hope that they catch the bastard.

As reported in The Telegraph, Omar Bakri, the spiritual leader of the banned radical group, al-Muhajiroun, the man who said that “he would not inform police if he knew Muslims were planning a bomb attack on a train in the UK and supported Muslims who attacked British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq” has fled the United Kingdom.

This is what a former head of the group said: "He left on Saturday and I received confirmation of that yesterday. He is considering his Islamic duties in Lebanon and he is currently looking to go on to one of the Emirate countries and I think you should be hearing from him soon.”

Yeah right. The bitch ran with his tails between his legs and has now disappeared in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see how the Middle East countries react to the almost certain demand for his extradition when he surfaces.

Run, bitch, run.

A Good Sign.

2005-08-08T19:36:00.000-04:00

Among the many problems that Saudi Arabia has is its history of brutally stifling dissent … and not just of women either. So it was with pleasure that I read, on the AlJazeera web site, that the new Saudi king, King Abdullah, pardoned “five activists, including three reformists serving jail sentences for seeking a constitutional monarchy.”

King Abdullah has always been known as a reformer and while the pace of the reform may not be as fast as some, myself included, would hope, I think this development is a definite positive sign for the prospects of liberty in the Kingdom’s future.

Very Interesting

2005-08-08T16:54:00.000-04:00

It isn’t usual for me to not make comments on certain stories but to just let the stories take the spotlight. However, this story, reported in the New York Times, is an exception.

It’s a story on how children in Gaza are coping with what’s going in that area. Nothing needs to be added here. The story says it all.

Enjoy.

Why Not Just Give Them Away

2005-08-08T16:38:00.000-04:00

The problem underscored in this story, published in Friday’s Globe and Mail, is not that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating “allegations that DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes unit paid bribes in at least a dozen countries and that senior executives may have been aware of the practice.” Although, that is an important story and something that businesses shouldn’t do.

The big story here is whether multinational companies responsible for changing the way societies do business and if those societies are corrupt should these companies be prosecuted in the home countries, where the corruption may be a little lower.

Let’s take the case that we are talking about in this story. The Justice Department is investigating DaimlerChrysler’s operations in Latin America and Africa only. These aren’t the most transparent of societies. Corruption is rampant in these societies and if a company is to do business in these regions then it either needs to play the game or get out of these markets.

Prior to merging with Chrysler, and especially prior to 1997, this would not have been an issue. Why? Because prior to passage of the “Economic Co-operation and Development Anti-Bribery Convention in 1997” Germany, where Daimler Benz was based, allowed tax deductions for overseas bribery.

Okay, so at that time it was legal in the country and in the company. Then the convention passed. The company merged with Chrysler and became an American company. The U.S. has never shared this understanding on bribery so the company should have known better.

The problem is how should it have handled this change? Gotten out of the market? Something to think about.

No Postal Reform, New Elections

2005-08-08T16:32:00.000-04:00

Could this only happen in Japan? I know that they are serious about honor and tradition but this is taking things a little too far.

Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, wanted to reform the country’s postal system. It’s a big system, $3 trillion in total, so it’s obviously not a small project. However, some members of his own party voted against his proposal so Mr. Koizumi did what any honorable Japanese would do. He called an early election.

Huh? I mean, it’s just a postal system. It’s not about going to war or anything but that’s the Japanese for you. Of course in their defense the Prime Minister has been facing problems within his party for sometime so this could just have been the straw that broke the camels back.

Anyway, the full story is in today’s New York Times.

The Hip Factor

2005-08-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

You would think that WalMart would be happy being the most powerful company on the planet. The company has achieved its success by focusing on a population that was ignored till WalMart showed up.

We all love WalMart for its low prices, its medium quality merchandise and its middle of the road fashions. If you wanted hip and trendy products then you would go to Target or your neighborhood shops.

Well, WalMart is sitting on the sidelines no more. The mega-company is now planning on upgrading its products and get on the frontlines of the hip and trendy. I think this is a direct reaction to the success of Target, which has grown like crazy with its exclusive designers and its trendy products.

It will be interesting to see the market's reaction to this latest WalMart’s development, as reported in the Washington Post.

Mother Of The Year

2005-08-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

This is a freaky story. This woman, a mother, went to Turkey with her eldest daughter on vacation. There she met a guy, as did her daughter. So they come back and start dreaming of a new life in the sun. This is a divorced woman with two daughters. So, what is a love struck mother and daughter to do.

As reported in The Guardian, they say the hell with it, tell the landlord that no more rent will be coming, leave 15 pounds for the other daughter and move to Turkey.

Yes, folks, this is a true story. They actually did that. This definitely is the mother of the year.

I Know How You Feel Pardner.

2005-08-05T10:36:00.000-04:00

About Time

2005-08-05T10:32:00.000-04:00

Sometime ago, I had posted a … post … about how it was inconceivable that someone, anyone, who advocates violence against a country, is allowed to immigrate to that country. Not only allowed to immigrate but is also allowed to live there.

Well, in the wake of the 7/7 blasts, the Great Britain has changed its asylum rules. As reported in The Telegraph, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair has said that coming to Britain is not a right. I am shocked that he even has to say this. Right away, if a person who is applying to move to Britain says that it’s their right to move to Britain, they should be immediately deported.

Other than speeding up the deportation process, the other thing that they are doing, which I think is very cool, is to extend the law that “strip(s) people of their British nationality if they act against the interests of this country … to apply to naturalised citizens involved in extremism.”

This is a good move and a just move. My only concern would be with its implementation but I am sure that given what that country has just gone through, we will cut them a little slack.

Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That

2005-08-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

John Corzine, the Democratic Senator from New Jersey, is just starting his run for the governorship of that state. Apparently, about three years ago he lent $470,000 to the “president of New Jersey's largest state workers union”, who he was sleeping with, as a mortgage debt and then last year he forgave the debt.

Here is a picture of Corzine with the union president. He is the guy on the left. She is in the middle. What, you thought it was the guy on the right? If that were the case then no one would be talking about the $470,000.

Corzine says its no bid deal. His opponent says it is. Blah, blah, blah. Politics as usual. Nothing new here folks but the folks at the Washington Post do report it.

Don't Swallow The Water

2005-08-05T09:30:00.000-04:00

How much cocaine do these people do? A study published in the journal European Health and reported by the BBC says that Italian scientists found ‘found large quantities of a cocaine by-product in a river in northern Italy.”

This means that the river Po, which follows through the aptly named Po Valley, home to about five million people, “was found to be carrying the equivalent of nearly 4kg (8.8lb) of cocaine daily.” Daily!

The chemical that they tested got into the system through the “urine of drug users.” This is a lot of urine and a lot more drug users.

Do You Need A Hand?

2005-08-04T20:45:00.000-04:00

Serious Postings ... Must Relax

2005-08-04T16:57:00.000-04:00

Justice or Justice?

2005-08-04T16:50:00.000-04:00

Reported in The Telegraph.

There was an argument. It was in Gaza. It was on a bus. One of the people involved in the argument was a 19 year old Israeli man in military uniform. The argument was about the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. The israeli man started shooting. He shot dead three passengers, the bus driver and two women. The mob in and around the bus killed him after the shooting.

Justice or Justice?

Profit Falls … or Does It?

2005-08-04T16:34:00.000-04:00

Toyota Motor Corp., or as I like to call The Big Japanese Monster, announced today that their “fiscal first-quarter profit dropped 7% as soaring global research and expansion costs and a strong yen offset higher sales.”

Now, if I was an investor i.e. if I had any money, I would see if their stock fell following this news and then immediately buy their stock. Of course, their stock closed at $76.13 so it’s a pretty expensive stock to begin with.

The point of this long-winded post is to say that if you are an investor and are looking to invest in a company then its better to invest in one who’s profits have fallen due to higher R&D costs than in one who’s profits have fallen due to a SEC investigation.

The full story, as reported in the LA Times.

Tragic … and Joyful(?)

2005-08-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

You may have heard of this story, I like to call it the Anti-Schiavo case. This young lady, a researcher at NIH, got melanoma and suffered a stroke due to it. She was pregnant at that time and was kept alive on life support so that her fetus could develop. It essentially became a race between the developing fetus and the cancer that was spreading through her body. Hey, maybe I could pitch this as a movie.

Anyway, she gave birth to a healthy daughter on Tuesday and was removed from the life support system yesterday. Now, obviously this is a tragic story and there are people on both sides of it. There are those that this is a miracle baby and there are those that she was just used as a harvester for the child.

For me it comes down to the person’s wishes. I supported, essentially by arguing with anyone who disagreed with me, Michael Shiavo’s right to take his wife off life support because that is what she wanted. Now, I support Susan Torres’ wish to be kept alive so that she could give birth to her child.

That is what each side needs to know. It is about choices, it is a relatively free, less every day though, country and that even if we don’t agree with the other person’s choices we should have enough respect and freedom to let them make their choice … within certain parameters of course.

No doubt, it is these parameters that get us all in trouble. Full story in the LA Times.

You Have The Wrong Patel

2005-08-04T12:50:00.000-04:00

Cultural differences were never more obvious than in this story, published in the NY Times today. Georgia prosecutors originally charged “49 convenience store clerks and owners in rural northwest Georgia with selling materials used to make methamphetamine.”

To gather evidence they used hidden microphones and cameras showing how these clerks and owners sold the “illicit” substances to the wrong individuals. By the way, this was a sting operation so the wrong individuals were either undercover FBI agents or former meth addicts.

Anyway, so they charge these guys and then they realized that “forty-four of the defendants are Indian immigrants - 32, mostly unrelated, are named Patel - and many spoke little more than the kind of transactional English mocked in sitcoms.” Essentially, they found all the Apu’s, that’s a Simpsons reference, in Georgia and charged them with selling precuts that could be used to make meth.

Obviously this is not funny to the people who were charged, in one case they accidentally charged the wrong Patel, and it will be interesting to follow this case and see how many of those charged are actually prosecuted and found guilty.

The Fallacy and The Death

2005-08-04T12:25:00.000-04:00

Usually, you can look to the past or you can look to the future but it is very rare when you can look at both the past and the future. However, these are unusual times and the war in Iraq gives us an opportunity to look to the past and to the future. As you may have heard, yesterday was a very deadly day for the U.S. forces in Iraq. 14 marines from the same battalion were killed when a roadside bomb hit their lightly armored troop carrier in one of the deadliest attacks in the war’s history.

These guys are real heroes. They go to a strange land to fight for what they believe is right. They are doing their job. Our job is not to make sure that they are safe when they are there and that they get back home as soon as possible.

Therein lies the problem. On par, par being most people that I have spoken with, it looks like that the people who initially supported this war now want to bring the troops back immediately while the people who did not support this war want our troops there till the job is finished. Of course, this is a massive generalization since there are people of all different thoughts in both camps.

Here is the problem that we face. To paraphrase Colin Powell, we broke it so now we own it and until we can fix it, we cannot leave it. So, how do we fix it? Well, we are fixing it but it is taking its time, slowed down by attacks on our troops and the Iraqi civilian population. That is what we should not forget. We have lost around 180,000 troops but the Iraqis are, on average, losing 800 people a month. While Saddam Hussein killed many Iraqis during his reign, this number obliterates his work.

Of course, Iraqis civilians are being killed by U.S. troops but the fact is that they are dying because we invaded that country, overthrew its ruler and then could not contain the law and order situation. This is what most people that I speak with do not understand. They say, we aren’t killing them, its the terrorists. Yes it’s the terrorists but they are there because of us. Before us, Saddam hated them as much as they hated him and he was brutal guy so they could not get into the country. Since we took over, they have inundated Iraq and are killing both the troops and innocent civilians.

There is another thing to talk about and it’s the thought that a lot of Americans believe: It’s the “We're either going to have to fight the terrorists over there, or fight them over here." This is completely wrong and false. However, this post is already too long so I will leave it for a later posting.

Me and Mini Me: Cloning Goes To The Dogs

2005-08-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

A Head Shot

2005-08-04T08:49:00.000-04:00

This is sad, has the possibility of ending up tragically, but is something that a lot of people think is necessary. The “International Association of Chiefs of Police … has issued new guidelines saying that officers who confront a suicide bomber should shoot the suspect in the head.”

The problem is that how do you know someone is a suicide bomber. Since you are going for a shot to the head, which is the most effective way to stop someone, you had better be sure about the intentions of the individual. No more London subway, Brazilian immigrant, thing.

So, is this is a good idea or a bad idea and how did Israel deal with this for so long?

Full story in the Washington Post.

This Is Not About ...

2005-08-03T13:08:00.000-04:00

... how we should not talk about certain things like GI’s torturing prisoners because it hurts morale. The fact is that if we left the government do whatever it wanted without holding it accountable for anything we would be back in the times of trials being done on blacks, or Muslims in today’s world, to test out new drugs … and it would all be justified under national security.

This is about how we need to have an open society. How the government needs to be accountable to us instead of us being accountable to the government. It is about knowing whether the government is engaging in “extraordinary rendition” or if an Iraqi Major General died of a beating from his American captor.

A long time ago I saw a not so good movie called “A Time To Kill.” It’s a manipulative movie that’s directed by Joel Shumacher. Its about a little black girl who is raped and beaten by two white guys and the trial of her father who shoots and kills the rapists in the courtroom. In the summation of the trial the defense attorney says something that stuck with me and is very relevant here.

He said something to the effect that think about everything that the little girl went through, the pain, the suffering and the humiliation. Think of her tears, think of her shame, think of how she will live the rest of her life. Now imagine she’s white.

That is the key. At the end of the day this is a racist country and it is also a patriotic country. Its racist because we don’t think that an Iraqi general or a man accused of a crime deserve protection from torture. It’s a patriotic country because we think that our soldiers, regardless of their actions, deserve our support.

This is not it should be. That one soldier who commits that one act hurts all the other good soldiers. I have friends in the military, I know soldiers in Iraq and while they many understand the stress and pressure that forces their fellow soldier to commit such heinous acts, they are also smart enough to know that such acts hurt the entire country. Such acts make their job overseas a lot harder. Such acts give even more ammunition to the “bad guys” that are killing the members of the U.S. armed forces.

These acts cannot be, should not be, under any circumstances defended. To Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and those non-serving holier than thou individuals that would take away our right to know what our military is doing, I have to say first go serve and then talk.

This Is Her Week

2005-08-02T19:10:00.000-04:00

Be Careful. Be Very Careful.

2005-08-02T11:51:00.000-04:00

There is criticism and there is criticism. Muslim countries, and I swear I didn’t intend to post two items about Pakistan today, are allowed to bash non-Muslim countries as hard as they can but they cannot under any circumstances say anything bad about another Muslim country.

For example, Muslim leader will cry and wail and protest about the alleged inhumane treatment of Muslims by non-Muslim governments but they will not say anything negative when Arabs go into the Sudan and rape, pillage and murder scores of innocent men, women and children.

So what happens when a religious and political leader from Pakistan goes to the UAE, legally with a visa, and then is denied entry into the country? Treated like a common person, perhaps an infidel? Why, nothing.

“It was presumed … that the … leader might have been denied entry into the UAE’s port city due to the worldwide alert following the London blasts and because of his past relations with Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime.” A common terrorist no less.

Anyway, they need someone to blame. So, who do they pick on? Their own government of course. The “acting secretary-general … attributed the incident to what he called the failure of the Foreign Office to keep national leaders informed about the treatment they were expected to meet on foreign shores.”

Funny and about time these guys are treated like the criminals that they are. Full story in the Dawn newspaper linked here.

The Subversive Teapot

2005-08-02T11:37:00.000-04:00

Once there was a commune in Malaysia. The commune had a giant teapot. The teapot poured water into a giant vase. People drank water from the giant vase and “supposedly” felt better. Hell, I would feel better after drinking water from a giant vase.

The commune wasn’t all bad though. The people who lived there followed the religion of “Ariffin Mohammed, 65, better known as Ayah ("Master") Pin” who believes that every religion is valid and that “anyone can find his or her own path to God.”

Not a bad thought in today’s world. Of course, Muslims believe that apostasy is illegal and Malaysia’s Muslim population is becoming more and more popular, hence this commune was destroyed.

I think it’s a stupid move, I mean the guy is a cuckoo but at least he isn’t feeding people poison like Jim Jones. The full story is in The Telegraph.

A Truly Shocking Story

2005-08-02T10:23:00.000-04:00

I am of the belief that most western journalists don’t understand eastern societies. That means that when they report on things such as human rights, news, events, etc. they do so from a western POV.

Having said that, there are certain things that cross cultural boundaries. Violence against women is one such issue. We all know that while there may not be more violence against women in eastern societies, there are a whole lot fewer avenues for justice available to women in eastern societies.

The reasons for this are numerous and would take a whole book to explain, so we won’t go into them here. Let’s focus on one exceptional case, which is fully covered in this NY Times piece.

In summary, a female doctor was raped by a Pakistani army captain and when the local population found out about this, there were large scale riots. The President of Pakistan is from the army so he tried to hush up the matter by first putting the VICTIM in a psychiatric hospital, then under house arrest and then having the local government spread rumors that she was a prostitute. Her husband’s father, the idiot grandfather, tried to have her killed because she had been raped and was no longer “pure.”

Finally, when they ran out of options, they forced the couple to leave her child behind and fly out of the country. They were also told that if they brought this matter up in the international press, her family would be killed. She applied for asylum to Canada but was turned down and so now she lives in a small apartment in London.

This woman was a doctor, her life is now in shambles, she lives in a small apartment with her husband, with no knowledge if she will ever be able to go back to her country or see her child. The one good person in this story is her husband, who has stood by her and supported her at every turn.

Meanwhile, the guy who raped her has probably been promoted. Mushrraf, the President of Pakistan, YOU ARE A FUCKING ASSHOLE!

Egypt and Israel

2005-08-02T09:35:00.000-04:00

I have talked about how Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s President for life, does not care for criticism and how he does not allow his people to have any freedoms i.e. he is not so good a guy.

However, if there is one thing he is good for, it’s for forging peaceful ties with his neighbors, even Israel. Aljazeera is reporting that “Egypt and Israel will officially sign a new protocol that will authorize the deployment of 750 Egyptian security guards along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.”

Egypt had wanted Israel to remover its troops from this security corridor and Israel had said that the only way for them to do this would be for Egypt to take responsibility for the area’s security. Egypt has done that so Israel is removing her troops.

The important point here is not that the troops are being removed, although that is an important development. The important development is that Israel trusts Egypt enough to work with it to place its troops on the border.

That is a good and interesting development indeed.

This Is Truly Weird

2005-08-02T08:59:00.000-04:00

As we all know suicide bombings have become increasingly popular throughout the world. In fact these things are happenings in more diverse locations than ever before. Who would have thought that London would be the victim of suicide bombings … by Londoners themselves. Very shocking.

The one constant thing that the law enforcement officials rely on is the knowledge that local citizens will keep their eyes open and if, when, they see something extraordinary or off kilter, call the authorities. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Israel. Israel is a country that is constantly under threat from suicide bombers.

While the Palestinians live under the threat of an attack by the Israeli army, which is clearly defined by its uniforms and tanks, the Israelis live with the threat that the person standing next to them may be a suicide bomber and may kill them and everyone around them.

Therefore, the Israeli population and its law enforcement officials, depend on a large extent on its civilian population to point out any threats. That’s why this story, reported by the BBC, is so troubling. According to it, “an Israeli Jew has been charged with helping a Palestinian suicide bomber enter Israel, where he blew himself up last month, killing five people.”

Apparently, he is not the first Israeli Jew to be charged with such a crime. “Last year, an Israeli taxi driver was sentenced to six months' community service for driving a suicide bomber to Geha, near Tel Aviv, where he killed four people, in 2003.”

This is shocking because it throws all defenses off track. Of course, the main question should be: Why would someone do that?

Surrounded By Sharks

2005-08-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

I am sure this wasn't funny when it was actually happening but it sure is now.

This woman was at an aquarium in Australia. She was admiring a tank full of sharks when it suddenly exploded. She got a cut on her leg from the glass, found herself in chest high water and surrounded by sharks floating around her legs. All very shocking and I am sure she screamed her head off.

While that is all good, what I cannot understand is how that incident would give someone post-traumatic stress disorder. Not just any disorder but a disorder that people who fight in wars go through. Strong enough so that she had to quit her high stress job as a sales assistant.

Of course, she is now suing and wants damages. At the start of this story I felt a little sorry for the woman, now I wish the sharks had eaten her.

Full story from the BBC linked here.

Michael Jackson Has Lost His Mind.

2005-08-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

Michael Jackson is a complete nut job. He molests children, gets lucky and gets off (snicker, snicker) and then loses his mind.

You can argue that he lost his mind about a decade ago but I propose to you madam (I think only hot looking women read this blog) that it is just now that Michael Jackson has lost his mind.

I say that because, get ready for this, "Pop superstar Michael Jackson has brought a luxury property in ... Bahrain." Bahrain. In the Middle East. Where they cut your hand for stealing an apple. Where they stone you for adultery. With those that are legal. You can only imagine what they will do to you when you are doing that with someone who is illegal ... like CHILDREN!

A part of me wishes that he would do that so they would cut his almost non-existant dick off! Anyway, Jackson has definately lost his mind.

Full story in the Khaleej Times here.

The Movie May Suck But ...

2005-08-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

Criticize Me, I Dare You.

2005-08-01T15:40:00.000-04:00

Speaking of brutal regimes, there are few that match the immense brutality of the Uzbekistan government. Led by the moron Islam Karimov, the government has an awful everything. An awful human rights record, an awful economy, an awful first lady, you name it, it’s awful.

The one thing that the this moron did right is to take the U.S.’ side in the “war against terrorism.” The U.S. has a military base in the country that is used to fight “the bad guys” in Afghanistan and the surrounding areas.

This whole thing came to head when Uzbek soldiers fired on demonstrators, many of them unarmed. The official Uzbek government toll is that 200 demonstrators. Now you know when the Uzbek official number is 200 the actual number must be much higher. According to human rights groups, over 700 people were killed.

The U.S. and England didn’t say anything in the beginning, they had bases in the country, but then started to call for an independent investigation, which pissed the moron Islam off and now he has given the U.S. government 180 days to take their forces out of the country.

This may be a good thing. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are ready to welcome the U.S. forces and all the money that they would bring so the U.S. will have a presence in the area. Uzbekistan will lose the protection of the U.S. and England and then Islam can go and fuck himself and no one will raise one finger in protest.

Full story in The Telegraph is linked here.

We Want Horny Women

2005-08-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

Viagra took six months. This thing has taken a year and there are no signs of it being done.

What am I talking about? Horny women, gentlemen and some ladies, horny women. What it is, is a “a medication shown to recharge the stalled sex drive of some women.” I am ignoring the word “some” because some is better than none and even if some is 2%, that’s 3 million women.

While Viagra took six months to get approved, this Intrinsa patch is no closer to getting approved. The article says that women’s sexuality is a lot more complicated than men’s and driven by “ mood, self-esteem and relationship issues.”

As if we didn’t know that. Hell, anyone who has paid for a date and ended up with blue balls, most men out there, can bear witness to that. That’s why this pill is so important. Hell, it is absolutely necessary.

As always, I digress. Full story from the Los Angeles Times here.

An Internet Porn Tax

2005-08-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

I had always thought that the Democrats would always be the party that would support freedom and liberty. To have been disappointed by them today, it’s more than I can take. Yes, I cannot take it.

What did they do? Well they did two things. One is not so bad and the other just beyond horrible.

The first is to propose legislation that “would require adult for-profit Web sites to use software to verify the age of their visitors.” How they would do that I don’t know. Credit card numbers perhaps? If so, and if the card isn’t charged, then how would you check to see if little Tina isn’t using her mommy’s card? Anyway, this is the not so bad part.

The second part “would slap a 25 percent tax on Internet sexual material transactions to pay for a new Internet Safety and Child Protection Trust Fund.” Now, as we all know, there is nothing wrong with porn. Who amongst us hasn’t partaken a generous helping of Jenna every now and then?

However, I am against paying for those enormously enjoyable sights and sounds. Yeah, I am a cheap bastard but then so is everyone, which is why Wal Mart is so profitable. I can’t blame the lawmakers from going after the industry though. The thing generates a boat load of money and no one admits to partaking in it, hence no one comes out to defend it. It’s like a sitting duck.

It is a sitting duck. Although a nice, tasty, voluptuous, big breasted sitting duck wearing nothing but a smile. Mmmm.

When reading this story, linked below, make a quick note of who is sponsoring this bill and then ask yourself why they would be doing that. Could it be to tap into the conservative vote? I could write about that but it’s a serious subject and not at all pornographic, so I won’t.

Alright, enough of that. Full story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune here.

Congress. We don't need no Congress.

2005-08-01T10:25:00.000-04:00

I don’t know how closely you guys have been following the Bolton nomination, hell I don’t know now many of you are interested in the Bolton nomination, but there was some development on this front that shows two things:
1. It shows that President Bush is very loyal to his people.
2. It shows that President Bush does not care about what Congress thinks.

What do I mean? Well, Bushie just bypassed Congress and will, today, appoint Bolton as the U.N. ambassador.

The main problem with this nomination, according to the anti-Bushies was that Bolton had a bad “demeanor and attitude toward lower-level government officials.” No one could prove anything though and the anti-Bushies asked for more information from the Bushies e.g. papers, documents etc. but never got them.

So being the loyal Bushie that Bush is, he appointed Bolton during the Congressional recess, which by the way he is fully allowed to do. So here goes Bolton and there go the anti-Bushies and the U.N. goes nowhere.

Full story at Yahoo linked here.

Have Some More Bread.

2005-08-01T10:17:00.000-04:00

How the mighty have fallen. Actually, this may not be a good way to start this post considering that the founder of the Atkins diet died in a fall. What the hell, I have never been known for good taste.

Alright, on with the post. Did you know that the company that started the whole Atkins craze, the company appropriately named “Atkins Nutritionals” has applied for bankruptcy protection?

The reason for this change in fortunes? People wanted to eat bread and other companies started to supply more tasty products.

Here is the full story from the BBC.

Only 54 Years!

2005-08-01T09:37:00.000-04:00

Ego is a wonderful thing. Just like fatty foods. They make you feel good for a short time but destroy everything in the long run.

If you have every eaten South Asian food, and who amongst us doesn’t like good curry, you know that South Asian food is usually full of fat and other good things. Just like that food, there is nothing like South Asian egos.

The South Asian men kill their women if they think that the women are interested in anything that the men don’t approve of. Actually, they RAPE the women and then KILL them. Well, to be perfectly honest, strangers rape the women and the family members overcome by the shame of their women being raped KILL THE WOMEN!

No one worries about the rapist, they usually get off, in more ways than one. But I digress. This started off as a paean to the ego of the South Asians. Let’s get back to that.

Pakistan, if you don’t know anything about the country, is located in South Asia and was named by a man named Chaudhry Rehmat Ali. No one in Pakistan knows this man, they love their history over there, and the man didn’t even die in Pakistan. He died in England in 1951.

The government, not the people because they have no idea who this man is, wants him to be buried in Pakistan. That’s understandable, you don’t want his plaque to say: The man who named Pakistan lies buried in another country.

So they have been trying to get his body shipped to Pakistan for a burial for 54 YEARS! Why did it take so long? According to a Pakistani Senator, Senator Azeem, “the matter got delayed because a lot of time was consumed in completing procedural formalities.”

Procedural formalities. Could this be code word for: His family did not want him buried in Pakistan but we didn’t give up and not that all his heirs are dead or have been bought off we are going to dig up his body and bring it back to Pakistan on the country’s Independence Day.

No, no propaganda involved here.

Story in the Dawn newspaper linked here.

Them Chinese Pirates

2005-07-31T15:44:00.000-04:00

With more than a billion people and boatload of impatience, the Chinese don't wait for things to come to them. They go and get the things.

Since they have not received the translation of the latest Harry Potter book, they translated the novel. Some people who did not like the ending of the book, made their own endings.

Damn you Chinese. Damn you for pirating everything.

Of couse, this is all in jest since the issue of piracy is a serious issue. The whole story is here.

Have A Great Weekend Everyone

2005-07-29T15:52:00.000-04:00

Frist Indirectly Declares Candidacy For President

2005-07-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

Its about time. After stupidly intervening in the Terry Schiavo case, based on his viewing of a videotape mind you, and then lying to everyone about his intervention, Mr. Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader and all around conservative poobah announced his candidacy for the President today.

Okay, he didn't really announce his candidacy. What he did was to break with the President's policy and come out, no pun intended (okay, maybe some pun intended), in support of the legislation to remove some of the limits imposed by the Administration on embryonic stem cell research.

Knowing that the man switches positions based on political expediency, it should come as no surprise that Monsieur Frist "last month said he did not support expanding federal financing of research on embryos" and that "his decision was consistent with both his experience as a physician and his anti-abortion stance."

If this isn't an announcement for a run at the Presidency, I don't know what is.

The full story is linked here.

Weekend Movies

2005-07-29T08:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend pretty much sucks ... movie wise.

I have heard some good things about "Sky High" but let's face it, if Kelly Preston isn't showing her tits, I ain't interested.

"Must Love Dogs." Well, the name says it all.

We also have "Stealth." If you like garbage, you'll love this movie. The only good thing about this movie is below and since you just saw it, why go see the movie?

Dumbest Headline Ever.

2005-07-28T09:32:00.000-04:00

"Survey: Teens more wired than ever."

You needed a survey for this!!!

Only In India

2005-07-28T09:03:00.000-04:00

This could probably only happen in India. What? The following:

Workers from Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd. protested over something. What, I don't know. India's press has no concept of "whole story", they just tell you what happened without any information on the background of why it happened.

Anyway, they protested, police retaliated and approximately 1,000 workers were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. The evening of this protest, the Civil Hospital said that 550 people were admitted there. The next morning the hospital said only 29 people were admitted. You have to admit, that's a pretty significant different.

When the workers, who had not been sent to the hospital, found this out, they again went crazy. The sisters of one of the missing people went to the police, was treated badly and the workers started protesting again.

The political leaders "alleged that the local administration had lost all credibility and were not providing proper succour to the patients." Alledged! Not providing proper care!

What are they drinking over there in India! Here's the full story.

The Shipping Costs Alone Are Staggering.

2005-07-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

Apparently, South American drug cartels are not using West Africa as a hub for smuggling cheap, affordable and illegal drugs into Europe. Accoring to the head of the "UN Office on Drugs and Crime in West and Central Africa ... 40 tonnes of cocaine had recently been seized in the region." Someone's having a party and I want an invitation.

Full story here.

The Worst Jamboree Ever!

2005-07-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

The 2005 National Scout Jamboree has to be the worst jamboree evah! This year the boys have had to deal with unprecedented heat, the death of 4 staffers and then President Bush cancelled his arrival.

On July 27, 2005 over 300 Boy Scouts fell ill in the high heat and humidity of the Washington, DC area. The sad, and a little amusing, thing is that they fell sick while waiting for President Bush's motorcade. He was arriving for a memorial service for the four Scout leaders who were pinched while pitching a dinner tent UNDER A POWER LINE. Of course, due to the threat of storms the President never showed up and the event looks like its been delayed.

I hope the Scouts don't have to stand out in the heat again, waiting for the Bush, and for the President to cancel the thing again. I know that over 40,000 are attending this event, but at this rather by the time this thing ends most people will be either sick or dead.

Who will pitch dinner tents under power lines then.

There is obviously a lot more to this and Fox News is kind enough to supply the story.

Take My Wife, Please.

2005-07-27T09:35:00.000-04:00

This guy in Ethopia has 11 wives and 77 children. Most men would think that's great because he has gotten laid a minimum of 77 times with 11 different women. However, he has a different story to tell.

He was rich, now he's poor. He had land, now he does not. He had money, now his children cannot go to school, etc. etc. etc.

So now he is advising everyone, well anyone that isn't laughing at hearing his story, on family planning and contraception. He is also telling people not to get married. Of course, not getting married hasn't prevented anyone from not having sex and/or kids.

Also, speaking of the apple not falling far from the tree, his eldest son, who does not have a job, has seven children and is about to marry his fourth wife.

Here's my question: How many more women does Ethopia have? Gadzooks.

Anyway, here's the full story.

So Let's Attack Her

2005-07-27T07:57:00.000-04:00

This is the oldest trick in the book, its usually pretty effective and the current Administration is very very good at it. What is it? Its a technique I like to call ... attacking the victim.

Valerie Plame was exposed as a CIA agent in retaliation for her husband's, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, criticism of the Administration's reasoning behind the war in Iraq. Her name was first reported in an article written by the conservative commentator Robert Novak.

As you can imagine, the names of current CIA operatives are kept secret because if everyone knows a CIA agents identity then the agents can't be very effective. Anyway, her name was released, her career was effectively over and the lives of the people that she worked with in covert operations put in jeopardy.

It has taken almost three years to find out who in the Administration leaked her identity and, about two weeks ago, it came out that of the people responsible for this stupid act, two were people very close to the Administration, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

Now that the two names out and the calls for the firing have started, what do we read in the Administration friendly New York Post and Administration friendlier Fox News? We learn that while she was a CIA agent, Ms. Plame "gave a campaign contribution to go toward an anti-Bush fund-raising concert."

I suppose since she did that it is okay for her secret information to be released because we don't live in the U.S. anymore, we live in freaking Bush Country.

Its The System

2005-07-26T13:01:00.000-04:00

The poor system. Anytime, anything goes wrong people blame the system. From Adam to Arroyo. Whooyo, you say? Arroyo, I say.

She is the President of the Philippines who is accused of rigging the presidential election. She fired her whole cabinet, has she appointed a new one?, and still the controversy would not die. So, now she is proposing changing the constitution because "perhaps we politicians have done our best. But maybe our best is not enough given the present system."

If this doesn't work, she'll blame her period. Anyway, here's the full story.

Face Off

2005-07-26T12:39:00.000-04:00

In yet another example of science fiction preceding science fact, scientists at the Cleveland Clinic are looking for their first patient to do a FACE TRANSPLANT.

This is not a joke. They really are going to do it. This is amazing, shocking, scary and a little freaky. I mean its good for the ugly people, they can all look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. The bad news is that if this will become a reality then everyone will look like each other.

First cloning and now this. Yeesh.

Full story here.

Godspeed

2005-07-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

Israel Vs. Da Poppa

2005-07-25T19:30:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, July 24, 2005 Pope Benedict XVI made a speech where he talked against the terrorism attacks in many countries. He left Israel out. Israel is pissed about that.

I think that they are way too sensitive. This is what they said: "We expected that the new Pope, who on taking office emphasised the importance he places on relations between the Church and the Jewish people, would behave differently."

Here's the link to the BBC story.