News – Pledge Issues

North America

Here we go again. A U.S. district court concludes that forcing kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance, with ‘under god’ is unconstitutional. Yup, Michael Newdow at it again. Mind you, I agree somewhat with this and maintain that the pledge should be returned to its original version before theistic politicians stuck in those two little words. The pledge is about America, not god. Young Christians and other such religious sorts already declare their allegiance to god through various services and the like which they are free to do as much as they want. Taking god out of the pledge won’t cause a mass retreat from Christianity, as some seem to think. So lets just put this issue to rest and restore the pledge to what it was originally written to be.

Bush has a new plan for New Orleans that will have people there in two weeks. Other local leaders are similarly focusing on repopulating the area. I still think that flood bowl needs to be abandoned to the land, but it seems the good ole American stubbornness just won’t listen to reason. I wonder how many billions we’ll pump into New Orleans before another storm and flood comes through to waste it all again.

Musing Robert’s responses to the Senate. Interesting considerations, though I still have to consider them for a bit before I draw a full opinion on them.

Ophelia is finally doing her dirty work on the east coast, smacking around North Carolina. I expect we’ll have some rain up around my area, but little more.. hopefully.

Arnie is planning to try for a second term. I wonder if he’ll get the same response as he did the first time in the polls. I have a feeling it might be close, if he does manage it over whoever might run against him.

The Catholic church is investigating US seminaries for “evidence of homosexuality”, as well as ‘professors who dissent from Church teaching’.

Delta and Northwest file for Chapter 11.

The winners of the suggest what Bush will say in his next speech’ contest. Quite amusing.

Looking at the poor morale at the DHS.

Slate investigates where to live if you want the minimal chance of having Mother Nature beat you down. The verdict? The area in and around Storrs, Conn., home to the University of Connecticut, is as safe as it gets.

Middle East

Israel’s high court declares the West Bank barrier legal. Though they said Israel only had the right to build sections of the barrier where the army had established security reasons for its construction. Which wouldn’t be hard to fake, really, with such loose wording. I’m sure the IDF could think up all kinds of security issues.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists criticizes the US military for consistently failing to investigate the killing of journalists in Iraq by its forces. I dunno, I’d think that if you were killing the wrong people, you’d want to investigate to find out what caused it, see if there is any directive or training that can be used to reduce the chance of another improper death. Maybe that’s just me.

Asia

A migrant worker in China snaps after one too many instances of abuse, bringing attention to the problems of Migrant workers in the country.

Bush will be visiting during the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. I wonder if he’ll mentioned the above noted worker while there.

General

Shades designed to fight heatstroke and look good. Making science cool again?

What’s next in cell phones? Using the cameras to scan documents!

Microsoft gloms onto P2P technology to add to Windows.

A study looks at the effects of obesity on the employers bottom line.

Well, no reform for the UN today, with the US being one of the member states that helped to block it. Of course, Bush ignores that and pimps his vision of the UN’s future.

Explainer notes why bodies usually float face down. Morbid, but still sciency.

Today’s Papers has an interview with Michael Brown(who insists 1) Louisiana didn’t have its act together; 2) he really really impressed upon the White House urgency of the situation; 3) he’s a take-control kinda guy.), some good news on the water that flooded New Orleans, more bombs in Baghdad and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Mark Fiore: Petrotheism

Japanese cigarette filmmaker to show 150 smokers “Sin City” for free, under the condition that they all smoke during the film

Family Dollar fires woman for taking time off to rescue her siblings from Mississippi before Hurricane Katrina</A>

England sporting hero has sausage named after him

Kanye West notes the pitfalls of hiring family as staff. Specifically, his mother discovering how much he spends on porn

Relief workers sent to clean up MGM Mirage in Biloxi are told that if they quit, they will be shot

Man mows 30-foot-long expletive into his front lawn to protest city’s warning for him to cut his grass. Expletive exempt from cutting since it’s now shorter than 10 inches. First Amendment flips everyone the bird

Say it ain’t so: Russell Crowe might lose his right to work in the United States

Detective: “I see this guy riding up the street with what looked like a big old bush under his arm. It didn’t click right away that it was marijuana. Then I smelled it”

Woman sues Rolex because their watch gave her a rash

Woman complains to cops after the hitman she hired didn’t get the job done

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this afraid-of-heights skydiver

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this guy’s stunning leap

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these live Japanese Greek statues