News – Complicating the Issue

Middle East

Ever prepared to muddy the waters of diplomacy, the US accuses Iran of being one of the worlds worst offenders when it comes to trafficking of women. What does this accomplish? Little to help the plight of trafficked women, plenty to complicate the nuclear issue. “We are concerned about human rights in Iran. We always have been and we are going to be concerned about human rights in Iran no matter what happens on the nuclear issue,” says John Miller, head of the State Department trafficking office. All well and good, but w hat does your little report do to help trafficked women? Nothing. Be concerned, but be effective as well, without stepping on the toes of others.

The incident in Haditha has been compared to My Lai. But some don’t think the comparison matches. Personally, I don’t like to compare present to past in that way.

Europe

Putin looks to smooth over relations between Russia and the US by playing down our differences.

North America

Prodded by Bush, the issue of canonizing discrimination into the US constitution comes to the forefront. Yet this obvious attempt to play to the conservative base won’t result in anything and I suspect the base will be even more irate should this attempt fail. After all, trying counts for something, but constant failure can get annoying. It’s amusing. I heard some congress person talking about marriage and its various bonds of love and so forth. I was agreeing with him, up until the point man/woman only started to bleed into his descriptions. A family has nothing to do with the people involved, it has to do with the bonds of love and willingness to make sacrifices for one another that makes a true family and a lasting marriage. You need only look at the massive divorce rates in this country to see that just because you get a man and woman together, you can’t make them form a perfect family.

A short documentary that focuses on what it feels like to lose a son in Iraq.

General

The Blogs look at the new push for a Federal Marriage Amendment, if the Pentagon is pulling away from the Geneva Conventions and the 25th anniversary of AIDS.

Today’s Papers has US backed warlords getting kicked out of Somalia’s capital by an Islamic militia, a vague Pentagon report about the optimism of Iraqis, a piece with military officials saying the number of Iraqis mistakenly shot at checkpoints is down to one a week, from seven a year ago and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Woman has affair with man, tells her pastor, who tells the whole congregation. Woman sues and tries to leave church. Church won’t let woman leave church because she signed “care and correction” contract when joining

New book teaches how not to commit office faux pas. Topics include “Offensive office odors? Do we just have to suck it up?” and “Co-workers who keep bringing baked goods into the office. Can we beg them to stop?”

Economics eludes Michigan citizens as they wait in line for TWO DAYS to get $100 worth of free stuff

Radio survey asks Hong Kong teens which celebrity they’d most like to sexually assault

Man steals from convenience store, loses fight and shirt to clerk, runs out of store, gets run over by a pickup, gets up again and is creamed by a minivan. Guy jumps up more than the Pop-Tarts he was stealing

Florida airport can’t afford to fix its control tower, so they do the next best thing: Put all the tower equipment in a trailer perched on top of cargo containers. (With pic)

Alleged check counterfeiter tells judge he’s an innocent pawn. Prosecutors introduce his autobiography “Birth of a Criminal”, where he calls check counterfeiting “the sweetest hustle in the world.”

Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by inmates claiming that being held two to a cell and having to smell the other guy’s farts amounts to “wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain”

Not news: A couple gets in a fight. News: …immediately before their wedding. Fark: which then had to be postponed due to bail conditions

Darth Vader fights against gay rights in Washington

Women lowering pitch of their voices to get ahead in the workplace

English soccer fan ordered to take down team flags because they make the street he lives on, where the buildings are to be demolished shortly, look “messy”

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this mask

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this Google employee

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Bush looks like he’s hiding from something. Photoshop what scared him into hiding