News – Sharia Law in Canada? Maybe.

Canada

Canada is in quite a pickle. The Canadian government is considering a proposal that would allow certain family law matters—including divorce, custody, and inheritance—to be arbitrated by panels of Muslim clerics. Supporters say that Canada’s commitment to multiculturalism requires that Muslim law(Sharia) be accorded the same respect as other legal systems. Opponets say that Muslim law inherently conflicts with the basic freedoms guaranteed Canadians. The issue, as expected, has prompted protests in Canada and around the world at Canadian embassies. Marion Boyd, Ontario’s former attorney general, is in charge of determining the appropriateness of proposal and thus the one in the hot seat on this issue. Personally, I don’t know.. I’d have to muse the issue a bit more. I think it pretty ballsy that Canada is giving this a fair look. Such a proposal in the US would have been laughed off by everyone.

Iraq

Lawyers representing nine former Iraqi prisoners are asking a SanFrancisco judge to ensure that U.S. defense contractor CACI International trains the interrogators it sends to Iraq in international laws against torture. They’re accused, along with Titan Corp of San Diego, of conspiring with U.S. officials to humiliate, torture and abuse detainees.

A US strike on a suspected meeting between members of Tawhid and Jihad, a militant group linked to al-Qaida and led by international terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has resulted in 16 dead and 12 injured, say doctors and witnesses. Doctors say women and children were among the victims. A statement from the US military about the operation states: “Based on analysis of these reports, Iraqi security forces and multinational forces effectively and accurately targeted these terrorists while protecting the lives of innocent civilians.”

47 were killed in an explosion in a Baghdad market Tuesday, believed to be aimed at the nearby police station. 114 were wounded. Hours later militants killed 12 police in an ambush on their minibus in Baquba.

G2 columnist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was in a crowd of unarmed Iraqis when they were fired upon by US helicopters. 13 were killed, dozens injured, including the columnist. Here is his recounting of events last Sunday.

A chronology of recent major bomb attacks in the country.

More accusations of prisoner abuse surface. Those bad apples seem to be getting around.

Gareth Stansfield, co-author of Future of Iraq: Democracy, Dictatorship or Division, says “I think the only thing preventing a civil war in Iraq is the coalition forces on the ground. If the US withdraws, the interim government is not in a position to control Iraq.” Entirely possible. Many experts on the country are starting to say this.

Three beheaded bodies found in Northern Baghdad. They were in nylon bags, their heads strapped to their backs. There is some description of their features, but no note of positive identification.

Israel/Palestine

Israel’s government seems set to ditch the US made roadmap to peace once they pull out of Gaza. Nor does the disengagement mean they’ll pull forces out of Gaza along with the settlements. Looks like we’ll ultimately be back to square one again. Sharon’s also dropping ambiguous threats against Arafat again.

As well he’s accused extremists Rabbis and settlers of inciting a civil war against his government’s plan to withdraw all Jews from the Gaza Strip. Been a busy few days for him. “We have witnessed in the past few days a fierce campaign of incitement and, I would say, calls that are actually aimed at causing a civil war,” Sharon said.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops killed four gunmen of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a militant of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Later that day Israeli troops clashing with stone-throwers shot dead an 11-year-old girl, witnesses and medics said. In the Gaza village of Mughraq near a Jewish settlement, Israeli troops thrust in and demolished seven houses before withdrawing at dawn.

What do you think? At this rate, things could deteriorate for Palestine and Israel, tossing the whole region into general chaos. Well, maybe not quite that, but it doesn’t seem many things are impossible at this point.

Three British Muslim women(a Cambridge student, a teacher and a lawyer) told of their anger after Israeli police burst into their room in the middle of the night, strip-searched them and arrested them under terrorism laws. They’ve been told to leave Israel despite the charges against them being dropped. “They started ransacking our room. We were each taken to another room and strip-searched by a female officer. Then we were taken and questioned for about 12 hours.The questioning was really silly. It was just over and over: what are you doing here? Where do you teach? At one point one of the arresting officers did mention something about terrorism but he didn’t ask anything specific,” said Samra Ghafoor, a primary school teacher in west London. The Israeli government has been mum on the case, but the women believe they were targeted because they were planning to go to Nablus in the West Bank to help Palestinian children as part of a charity, Project Hope, which receives money from the Canadian government.

Afghanistan

Jonathan “Jack” Idema, a former U.S. Green Beret, another ex-serviceman, Brent Bennett, and documentary film-maker Edward Carabello have been found guilty by an Afghan court of charges including torture, running a private prison and illegal detention. They denied the charges levied against them, saying the operated with U.S. and Afghan government sanction.

Africa

Rebels say the talks have collapsed in Darfur, but will resume in a month. Sudanese government delegates deny this and say a meeting has been scheduled for later on Wednesday. African Union officials were unavailable for comment.

Russia

Colin Powell backs criticism of Russia’s new reforms in the wake of their latest incident of terrorism and the US government in general is requesting transparency rather than secrecy over fighting terrorism. The EU is expressing it’s concern as well. Meanwhile Russia’s government rejects such criticism, more or less telling us to stay out of it’s business. The last thing I want to see in Russia is a police state.

US

Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are under threat by Hurricane Ivan, residents of those states advised to prepare for the worst. Better than no preparation at all. New Orleans, resting below sea level, is in for a time if they get enough of Ivan.

Authorities have intercepted a piece of mail rigged to ignite before it found it’s way to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This added to the recent spate of these bobby-trapped letters, 20 of which the FBI has in their custody. They appear to have been sent by an inmate(s) in Nevada’s Ely State Prison, as that was the return address.

Porter Goss, the republican congressman picked by Bush to head the CIA says he won’t bring politics to the job, as many have charged he would. I don’t know him well enough to fully decide if I trust him or not.

Breaking with the recent surge of opposition to gun control, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill banning .50-caliber BMG rifles. That’s a serious hunk of firepower.

Marion Barry is in it to win it in DC. Despite his checkered past, Barry claimed the Democratic nomination for a City Council Tuesday.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has returned to duty at a Noeth Carolina base as investigations continue to probe his kidnapping in Iraq.

The 1,776 foot tall Freedom Tower will be a green building in so much as it’s environmental impact is concerned. With a wind farm, solar panels and advanced, energy-efficient technology it is said that it will be an icon of environmentally friendly architecture.

Librarians will be the first to stand up for free speech. They’re seeking to make sure the Patriot Act won’t infringe pon our freedoms.

The latest focus on Bush’s service record has broken up amid mass, frenzied speculation over the veracity of documents used by CBS. The level of depth to which people are plumbing to prove the documents fake or real is insane. I’ve casually monitored a thread on Gaia that pretty much matches the stuff in the article on debating the typwwriters of the age and whether the Air National Guard would have one. Timothy Noah says, details aside, we should have known from the start.

A dispatch from the first ever Republican film festival.

Bush’s supporters certainly seem to think he was heaven sent. What do you think? Is Bush sent by God? Personally I don’t, but part of that comes along with the agnostic thing and not having a real belief in God at the moment. By the sound of it, Bush was inspired by a good public speaker and little more. Slate’s Fray tears into the topic with some interesting reads.

Lynne Gobbell of Moulton, Ala was fired form her job at Enviromate on Sept 9th. Why? The Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker in the back of her windshield. Phil Geddes, who owns the company and is an enthusiastic Bush supporter, fired her for that despite his own spate of distributing a flyer to all Enviromate employees explaining why they should vote for Bush. After the press got wind, the pressure led to Geddes offering her job back, but a call from Kerry himself came along with a better offer to work for him. Interesting story.

General

Does torture work? Personally, I don’t care if it does in many cases. There are some things we simply shouldn’t do, just as there are some means of solving problems that, though logically efficent and efective, we simply don’t do for moral reasons.

Today’s Papers has questions of what Bush might do in response to Russia’s backslide, report that the CIA unit on Bin Laden is understaffed, dubts on the US and Iraqi governemnt claims that elections will go off as planned and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Gambling linked to good health in elderly; new Vegas promotion coming

My husband likes hiding naked around the house and masturbating while watching me, and I’m not sure I like it

Researchers find that using the F-word at work can be good for office morale. I guess that will be out on the memo for the next f***ing TPS report

Aussie politician praises Ninja turtle

New worm with sound talks to users, deletes critical windows files. Then tells users: “You must come to Turkey.”

Fark Phothosp Challenge: Theme: a Charley, a Frances, and an Ivan. Difficulty: no hurricanes

Fark Phothosp Challenge: Photoshop this skateboarder

Fark Phothosp Challenge: Photoshop your first act as our new president

Fark Phothosp Challenge: Photoshop Team Theme: As Redneck as you wanna be. Difficulty: Collaborative Efforts strongly encouraged