News – New Year, Same Issues

Middle East

I come back from vacation and what do I find? Little changes. I maintain that this state of unrest is helped by the minimal involvement of the US and continued incursions of Israel. Are those the whole cause? Hell no, but they make things harder to control for a fledgling government authority with questionable resources. All considered, Palestine’s current authority is being held to a standard far higher than Iraq’s, considering how much help Iraq gets in comparison to Palestine. They try and deal with problems, but don’t have the support they need, I’d say.

What do Palestinians get from Bush? Hope for success. Yup, that’ll give the government more legitimacy and quell unrest. He even thinks Palestinians in East Jerusalem should be able to vote. That’ll soften the hearts of Israel’s government alright. And I’m sure if Hamas makes significant gains, Bush might hope Israel will deal with them, but they won’t.

A report leaked from an unnamed European intelligence agency says Iran seeks knowledge on getting the bomb. What we need is for the US to release its info on this and stop all of this uncertainty BS. If the US has the goods on Iran, they need to make sure all of their critics in other country governments know the score. If they don’t have to goods on Iran, any better than circumstantial evidence and conjecture, they need to get off it until they can prove it. All this pussyfooting does is make us all look like a bunch of stooges.

US warplanes blow up an Iraqi house and kill much of a family who lived there. The US military says that several men were observed doing terroristy things and followed back to the house, which was then blown up. Without seeing what sort of structure it was and who might be there. This is the sort of bullshit that gets us in trouble. It is entirely possible those men were terrorists. That still doesn’t excuse the US military from blowing up a house without first seeing if it is chock full of innocents.

Now it seems Bush is done with reconstructing Iraq, as no more funds will be asked for that aim. Another promise Bush goes back on, after promising Iraq the best infrastructure in the region. This is, in effect, a won battle by the insurgents in Iraq, since now the burden of reconstruction falls to the fledgling government and it is highly doubtful(with as much as their oil capacity is attacked), that they’ll be able to do a great deal for a good many years. The lack of improvement in infrastructure will likely slow down economic development and cause a lingering strain on the populace.

US military troops will be assigned to Iraqi police units to monitor them. This in response to recent issues with abuse from them and concerns over militia infiltration of their ranks. This goes to show, in my opinion, how unready the majority of Iraqi forces are to take control and why we’ll likely be there for a few more years at least.

Suspected Taliban behead a teacher in southern Afghanistan. Just goes to show, forces like this aren’t easily silenced and dismantled by force. They linger, with potential to grow and rise again so long as they root causes of their existence remain. Just like the roots of a weed. Pull them up by hand all you want, but they’ll come back.

Asia

Cambodia cracks down on rights activists, drawing condemnation.

Europe

Russia and Ukraine seal a deal to keep gas going to a quarter of the European content, though the EU remains a bit wary on the prior scare. That’s the problem when you get a significant amount of your fuel from a single source.

North America

Bush pushes for the renewal of the Patriot Act. Expected. Of course, the partisan messages that are sent flying in that push are counterproductive to his aim. Then again, it’s a rare day that Bush doesn’t use the partisan in seeking to get what he wants. I still wonder why more needs to be added to an act that has been so successful already.

Bush continues to defend his secret eavesdropping as note is made that the Justice Department officials initially resisted the idea. An interesting tidbit that changes nothing. Bush should have gone through official channels to get changes made that he wanted rather than doing it secretly. Do it in closed hearings, so long as there is some oversight beyond a few people being told, who somehow forgot to mention it to everyone else.

The Justice department seeks to have dismissed more than 180 cases involving Guantanimo detainees who are challenging their detention. After all, they might prove they’re being held for reasons without merit, just as I’m sure many are being held with minimal merit to their detentions. As many of these ‘dangerous’ people as they release, one wonders. And one sees why these detentions might be turned down now.. looks like there was a part of the anti-torture law that curbs the ability of detainees to challenge their detentions. Lovely. Now we know why it could pass as easily as it did.

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleads guilty to charges of fraud. He’s deal making to get a softer penalty, which should be making a lot of high muckity mucks sweat. Good times.

Looks like the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has had its settlementoffer rejected by those suing it over sexual abuse. They call the settlement demeaning, cruel and immoral(it being average payments of $75,000 per person, over claims of about 100 people). Lawyers say the deal was bad because it excludes those abused by priests ordained outside of Boston. That’s pretty foul, since as long as the priests were under their jurisdiction, they’re responsible for their behavior. Regardless of if they personally churned them out. If they want justice from those who allowed such miscreants into the faith, they can seek it after paying out. I’d say more power to them in that.

A United airlines computer glitch led to mass delays in flights. It was a bitch and I know that because I was on one of the delayed flights and sat around the airport another three hours before my last flight home before finally getting on it. Believe me I was pissed. I’ll have to reevaluate my choice of flight carrier when next December rolls around.

General

Switching from film to digital projection will give you better visuals at the theater, but it could also make camcording all the harder. A damn good idea, I’d say. Anything that makes the pirate’s lives harder and makes my experience better is ok in my book. This is how we should go about fighting pirates.

Some advice for anyone ever trapped in a mine, from Explainer.

The Blogs discuss Abramoff, the accusation by journalist Franklin Foer that liberal bloggers have undermined the credibility of the printed press at great political cost and the decision of Carole Keeton Strayhorn to run for governor of Texas as an independent rather than a Republican.

Today’s Papers has sad word on the trapped miners in Virginia, a note of how Abramoff got into politics, the NSA expanding its ‘domestic surveillance’ powers secretly without formal directive from Bush and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Neurotically Yours: Exotic Chocolates

Mark Fiore: The Twelve Days of Whoopsmas

Italian judge orders priest to prove that Jesus exists

When driving drunk on New Year’s Day, and you’re trying to avoid a drunk-driving checkpoint, don’t drunkenly drive straight into totally sober police officer

Burglar forgets to hang up a phone he had just stolen, allowing police to listen to his getaway. Jailarity ensues

Club promoters surprised that 850 teens at a dance club staging a “Hot Girls” contest could get out of hand

Nothing says Christmas like being held in a headlock by a naked man covered in beer

Seattle fashion industry all about pushing the envelope. Their latest? Horizontal corduroy

Man divorces wife, continues to share household without notifying her of her new “single” status

Man straps self to board, ties board to kite. Is surprised when he flies himself into a building

Are you an alien abductee? 58 common indicators of UFO encounters or abductions by alien beings. “Ass pain” must be #59

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Secrets of the deep

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Today’s Iron Photoshop ingredient: Biblical characters

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this cool ’59 concept car