News – Election Week in Iraq

Middle East

Voting in Iraq starts at the prisons and hospitals, the sick, prison guards and detainees given their turn to vote.

There is concern amongst Kurdish leaders that their youth might boycott this election to protest corruption, poor services and lack of jobs and housing in their region. Reason? “I will not vote. I want independence for Kurdistan but I am fed up with the dominance of the two parties,” Shirwan Abdul Aziz, a 20-year-old student of English at Sulaimaniya University, said, referring to the main alliance groupings. “They play with our future and make lots of money in Baghdad, but they can’t even provide more than a few hours’ electricity a day for our people.” His view was typical of many young Kurds who spoke to the Guardian. Sounds like they’re getting their first taste of free government corruption. A taste we Americans know all too well.

Another previously unknown group jumps out of the woodwork to claim responsibility for the assassination of Lebanese lawmaker Gebran Tueni. So many of these little groups keep popping up, I wonder if our intelligence folk are managing to keep up.

A group of Israeli intellectuals wants the Nobel Prize for economics to be withdrawn from Robert Aumann of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Thomas Schelling of Maryland University on the grounds that they are warmongers.

Europe

A bomb blows at Greece’s Economy Ministry. The ministry was closed, so none were killed. A bomb threat was phoned in before the blast, and only two people outside a police cordon were injured by flying glass.

North America

The nuclear option rears its retarded head again over Alito. The children in our government continue to tussle over minor things.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois claims that Republican’s practice social Darwinism. Capitalism is a practice of survival of the fittest, so the more we embrace capitalism into every aspect of our society, we do embrace a form of social Darwinism. Social programs go against social Darwinism, so the way I see it the more we cut good social programs, the more we embrace social Darwinism. Is it an exclusively republican thing? I doubt it, but they are the party that more embraces capitalism and so forth. Interesting questions raised.

Bush loves Lieberman, because quoting him gives more clout than when Bush speaks himself. Mind you, Lieberman doesn’t do it for me.

Israel’s general consul in LA lambastes Stephen Spielberg’s new film about the 1972 Olympic massacre in Munich as a “superficial”, “pretentious” and “problematic” work that draws an incorrect moral equation between Mossad agents and Palestinian terrorists. Apparently his film is getting loads of criticism in that vein. Makes me wonder how spot on it might be.

General

A review for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which shows that while anyone can toss whatever sort of allegory they want on the movie, it’s best enjoyed for what it is. An entertaining, touching flick. Leave your ideals at home, people and just enjoy the show.

For Firefox users, here is a guide to must have accessories for it.

Today’s Papers has Paramount buying Dreamworks, Steven Case seeking to destroy his own creation(Time Warner), talk of Iraq’s election and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Mark Fiore: Pokie the Punisher

University of Minnesota sprays skunk scent on holiday trees to prevent theft

Prewar sex education in Britain led to fears of the dreaded toilet seat pregnancy, masturbatory seizures

Man threatens sleeping baby on flight to Honolulu; passengers open cans of whoop ass

Anchorperson, traffic reporter, and a bunch of Indianapolis viewers rather startled to see ‘F**k off’ scrawled across local traffic map during live broadcast

“Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up.” Graffiti from the walls of Pompeii

New York city opens Rodent Control Academy for city workers, which civic officials proudly boast is the Yale of rat-killing schools in the northeast

Navy wife misses her husband so much she carries around a life-sized mannequin of him. Some people think she’s nuts (pics)

A vote for Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is a vote for parents to have extra money to blow on beer and popcorn

Own an iPod? Too farking lazy to put on pants? then you need iPod underwear with special iPod pocket. Dignity sold separately

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: People getting in the way at the most inappropriate times

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Tattoos for babies. LGT example

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: What Frosty the Snowman does during the offseason