News – Prosecute Saddam’s Cronies Properly

Middle East

Ali Hassan al-Majidm, AKA “Chemical Ali”, will be the first of Saddam’s cronies to be tried with trials starting next week. Layers for them say that they don’t recognize the interim Iraqi government plans to clients calling the preparations illegal. Ziad Khasawneh, spokesman for the defense team, has said Since our defense team was not given any legal documents on the trial and since we were denied access to any of our clients then we do not recognize these procedures and we consider them illegal and illegitimate.” I would call that a reasonable concern. If the Interim government screws up these trials, these people are likely to go free. IF they’re going to do it, do it right.

Mahmoud Abbas is saying what we’ve wanted a Palestinian leader to say for a long time now. That the Intifada was a mistake and it should end. As well it should, but does the Palestinian Authority have the resources to end it? The US keeps parroting the line that they need to end it, but I have yet to see them offer any backing to that effect. The will seems to be there now, all it awaits is a way.

Gunmen went after two police stations in Mosul, but failed to capture them, repelled by Iraqi police and national guard. Good.

Laborers digging on a construction project in northern Iraq have hit upon a mass grave, estimated to hold 500 bodies.

A June 16 U.S. Navy document reveals 10 “substantiated” incidents of US prisoner abuse in Iraq, including a US Marine firing a pistol in a mock execution involving four Iraqi looters and hocked another Iraqi detainee with an electric transformer until he “danced”.

France has banned broadcasts by a Paris based satellite TV channel run by the militant Hizbullah organization on the grounds of anti-semitism

Asia

North Korea has warned Japan that it would treat economic sanctions as a declaration of war and threatened to exclude Tokyo from future six-party talks.

Europe

Two foreign gunmen have hijacked a Greek bus with 26 passengers. Apparently, they want to go to Russia. A map of where the hijacking happened.

Italy will be quitting the Kyoto Protocol at the end of the treaty’s initial period in 2012.

North America

The test of the US missile defense system has failed. The interceptor missile shut itself down as it prepared to launch, due to an anomaly of unknown origin. So the missile didn’t even get fired. Are we yet seeing the folly of having this defunct system deployed?

Washington’s State Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit brought by democrats to review all disqualified ballots. In their gubernatorial election recount.

Bush as awarded the Medal of Freedom, our highest civilian award, to Former CIA Director George Tenet, retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks and former Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer. “These three men symbolize the nobility of public service, the good character of our country, and the good influence of America on the world,” Bush said.

Bush will be having an economic forum that will, for the most part, be focused on introducing his planned economic reforms. Perhaps we’ll finally find out what he wants to try with regard to reforming the tax structure and details on his view of social security.

Pentagon auditors have found more irregularities in a no-competition deal given to Halliburton, according to the International Advisory and Monitoring Board. Highlighted shortcomings include noncompletion of the required technical evaluations, unsupported costs and overstated costs.

The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have filed suit against a Pennsylvania school over it’s plan to teach “intelligent design“, called a Trojan horse for bringing creationism into the classroom.

A well known red tailed hawk will regain it’s perch after being evicted from its nest on a ritzy apartment building.

Prosecutors are seeking to admit evidence of Michael Jackson’s “prior sexual offenses” in his current trial, but the nature of the material is being kept secret by the judge for now. Likely until it can be evaluated.

General

Magnetospheres, the magnetic fields around planets, are extraordinarily good at trapping plasma. MIT scientists have built a miniature one in an effort to study them for insights into producing fusion power.

Was the sequal to Knights of the Old Republic rushed? Some think so. Personally, I’ll likely buy it regardless should they port this one to Mac as they did the first.

Could the Red Cross be a casualty of the current war in Iraq? They work by their neutrality, what will become of them if that neutrality is ruined fully?

Explainer shows how lasers can take down planes, after a warning from the FBI and the DHS.

Today’s Papers has the Inuit planning to file claims that the US is threatening their existence by contributing to and ignoring global warming, the military planning to ramp up airlifting operations in Iraq, skeletons in Bernard Kerik’s closet and more in the one page news.

Amusements

<A HREF="http://www.ncbuy.com/news/2004-12-15/1011323.html”>Prestigious Oxford English Dictionary decides to keep it real, adds ‘crack ho’, ‘thugged out’, ‘hoochie’ to listed words

Scottish gangs turn to stealing peat-moss to fund crime, in other news there’s a black-market for peat-moss

If you’re planning on dealing drugs, pick a better spot than the sheriff’s front lawn

Man puts on Osama Bin Laden mask, grabs pellet gun and jumps out at drivers to scare them as a joke. What could possibly go wrong?

Store owner amazed that people find his “Save a Hunter, Shoot a Hmong” bumper sticker offensive

Tom Wolfe wins bad sex award: “But the hand that was what she tried to concentrate on, the hand, since it has the entire terrain of her torso to explore and not just the otorhinolaryngological caverns.”

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this girl running on water

Fark Photoshop Challenge: For a prize: Photoshop this old guy and his spiffy ladder. Submit your image to this site, winner gets a spiffy ladder

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop Farker’s friend rubbing a rod. Difficulty: No phallic… oh, never mind