News – Monument Issues (1/2)

It seems that religious themed monuments are often a source of strife in the US. More often than not, those related to Christianity. It seems odd to be how much stress is given over them, while many other religions quietly thrive in this country without the same sort of social angst.

US

Rev. Fred Phelps wants to put up a six foot tall monument in the central part of Casper, Wyoming. The plaque would read: Matthew Shepard Entered Hell October 12, 1998, at age 21 in Defiance of God’s Warning: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem dismissing, but the part already has another monument in it. Of the Ten Commandments. That makes denying this one a sticky matter, and the attempts by the leadership of Casper to shield their monument while making an end run around Phelps’s own admittedly monstrous monument is a matter for thought and concern.

Anti-smoking groups are getting annoyed at states for their lackluster spending on anti-smoking issues. Only a fraction of the cash that was obtained in the big 1998 tobacco settlement is going into anti-smoking programs. And the programs that are there have been receiving cuts. Of course, states have been strapped for cash more often than not, which would show a likely reason money isn’t being funneled into those programs.

Dean gets a boost by a dual announcement of support from the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The senate has approved of the bill to sanction Syria. It still has to go through the House, though they’ve added a portion that lets Bush call the whole thing off at the drop of a hat if he deems it necessary.

The US postal service is refusing to trace every piece of mail, which was urged by Washington bureaucrats. Anthrax worries are getting everyone all excited.

The do-not-call list is going to court again. One interesting things I noted on the radio yesterday.. with the do-not-call list likely to do some damage to the telemarketing biz, an old trend might be revived to circumvent it.. door to door salesmen.

The general battle of opinion and potential fact over Jessica Lynch and the details of her time in Iraq remain contested. The focus now, if she was sexually assaulted at some time before she was brought to the hospital.

The Right declares victory in the culture war. Does that mean that they’ll drop the victim routine against the nasty liberal media? Probably not. Both sides disgust me at times

Veteran Day brings up the myth of the spitting Vietnam protestor. Did that ever truly happen? And, for veterans day, some particulars on Bush’s spate in the military.

Iraq

An Italian police base in Nassiriya is bombed. 12 Italians and 8 Iraqis killed. Raise that to 14 Italians, with the possibility that some are still trapped in the rubble. Another US soldier was killed yesterday by a bomb. Though twenty rebels were seized yesterday. They’re suspected members of alQueda.

A CIA report says the rebels have their support growing. A prospect that, if true, doesn’t bode well for reconstruction efforts.

The head of the Iraqi Council things that a provision al government should be installed post haste to offset the perception that Iraq is occupied and run by America. It might work, though that depends entirely on if the US gives the government free reign or has a tight leash.

The Iraqi police force had its first solo ‘raid’ in Tikrit, taking a more polite approach to things. One might argue about their effectiveness in this softer approach, but right now I think fostering good will would be more effective than rounding up a few more weapons. As we have seen, the US rounds up cache after cache, yet there is always more and never a shortage when its time to attack. Better to attack at the source, the desire to fight, I would say.

Bush says that some of the rebels in Iraq might want to try and establish a Taliban-like government in Iraq. Uhmm.. duh. Tell us something we can’t guess for ourselves? I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the relevance. Most likely most who think that way aren’t Iraqis, so wouldn’t have that much influence on such matters anyway. Even if the US pulled out of Iraq tomorrow.

The international health charity Medact is concerned at the lack of information when it comes to the health of Iraqis, warning of the longevity of health issues resulting from the second Iraq war.

A view of why the last minute peace offering from Iraq was a sham.

Israel/Palestine

Arafat and his PM put forward talk of peace, but Arafat also had a lot of condemnation for Israel. It remains to be seen if the circle of violence can be broken, though with Arafat clinging to power I don’t see it as very likely.

The novice Israelis and Palestinians are putting their new climbing skills to the test on their ‘extreme peace mission’. It might not have much to do with the direct conflict between their nations, but it does illustrate that the two peoples can work together and puts the agitators on both sides of the conflict to shame. They’re headed back to the real world now, though in late December they head out for their real adventure, after the week of training.