News – Justifiable Impatience

Middle East

Zalmay Khalilzad, US ambassador to Iraq, tells Iraqi leaders that the US public is getting impatient. Personally, I think we’ve been very patient, all considered. And we could get more patient if there were some signs of real progress when it comes to stability. But for all the ‘milestones’ crossed, very little has changed where it counts. With no appreciable end in sight and several other hot points warming up on the map, I think we can be excused for getting a bit antsy at having a significant portion of our military might firmly lodged in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

Don’t you?

Kanan Makiya, a former exile from Iraq and intellectual involved with the US policy for regime change, admits he didn’t see things getting this bad as a result of ousting Saddam. Good to see some people that can admit they screwed up big. Sadly, we need to get the mess under control regardless.

According to the US special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, $21 billion later Iraq’s infrastructure is, on the whole, worse than before the invasion.

Egyptians are voting on constitutional changes, including a ban on creating religion based political parties and security powers for the government. Hosni Mubarak is just another dictator hiding behind the last shreds of a democracy.

Where does Israel go for more PR with the rest of the world? MySpace.

Done laughing yet? No? Ok, I’ll wait.

…

Alright, resume news.

Condi flies around the Middle East to meet with various leaders yet again. Is she actually doing some work this time, or is she still just talking pipedreams without lending any real support or aid or real pressure to get these things done?

The outgoing US ambassador to Iraq says the US had some talks last year with insurgent groups, trying to bring them into the fold. Really now?

Iran further limits access to its nuclear facilities in response to sanctions levied against it by the UN. The sanctions block Iranian arms exports and freeze assets of anyone involved in nuclear and missile work. Would that include the Russian firms that were working with Iran on their nuclear plant?

Iraqi kids fight to learn amid the instability in their country. It’s a hard thing when you could be killed just getting to the classroom, not to mention the dangers of lingering there as well.

Africa

Somalia is steadily getting worse. Recently a plane was brought down by rocket fire. The time for getting things under control continues to wane.

Sudanese soldiers in Darfur keep the UN’s new emergency relief coordinator John Holmes from visiting a camp for refugees. One wonders what they’re hiding this time.

Asia/Pacific

Australia’s rising obesity problem has led the government to replace ambulances and medical copters with larger models to accommodate overweight patients

Australian David Hicks will be the first Gitmo detainee to be tried under the new structure of secret, military tribunals.

Europe

According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England is deciding whether or not it should pay reparations for its part in the slave trade. Personally, I don’t think so. This occurred over 150 years ago. The people harmed by it are long dead. Acknowledgement and repentance are enough for now. The idea of getting reparations for things that don’t impact your life much at all is bogus.

Americas

Actress Denise Richards is being sued by two photographers who said she assaulted them when they tried to take her picture. They’re also suing Pamela Anderson, who they say lied about the incident. Considering they were likely paparazzi scum(like Richards is alleged to have called them), they likely deserved it. Seriously, I can understand the frustration of having photographers stalking you, just hoping to get a compromising picture.

Mel runs at the mouth again and gets into more trouble. For serious, if he can’t take a little criticism about his movies, he needs to get out of the business or stop making public appearances.

An interesting turn in the pending 2008 season, the revelation that Elizabeth Edwards has seen a return of the cancer she was treated for three years ago. What’s this mean for her personally? Read and see. Personal matters aside, this sort of thing could work for or against Edwards in his run. In a way, it’s a bit of a shield against heavy criticism(leave him alone, his wife is sick) that could backfire easily(what happens if she gets worse, will he be distracted from being prez?). How it lands on the whole, we’ll have to wait and see.

The latest doping scandal in sports centers around Human Growth Hormone. But does it help or hurt at all? And if not, why make it illegal?

General

A dipstick test to see if food is spoiling? A useful invention, especially if you can make it cheap and accessible for the general public to use. Since it isn’t always clear when a food isn’t safe to eat, this could do much to prevent some food poisoning.

Scientists believe that a chemical in blueberries could help prevent bowel cancer.

Scientists discover how mosquitoes zero in on their targets. They detect your breathing. Find a way to inhibit their receptors and it could help prevent them from biting, which would be a boon to areas plagued by malaria.

Not everyone is enjoying Vista.

The Blogs look at Iran’s capture of 15 british sailors, a Manhattan couple forgoing toilet paper for a year and peremptory Englishmen in New York.

Today’s Papers has note that Sunni neighborhoods are faring worse than Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad, a schism within the Justice Department over the firing of those US attorneys, a look at how Congress might cut some payments to a Medicare program that is popular with senior citizens in order to afford its efforts to provide health insurance to uninsured children and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Man tells people that he’d sell them his kid and SUV for $3,000. Jailarity ensues

Big Dig lawyers want documents in tunnel collapse lawsuit sealed because it affects national security, not becuase it makes them look like incompetent asshats. National security, yea, that’s the ticket

The creepest version of “Close to You” you’ll ever see. From Mirrormask. Pleasant dreams

There are those that drink deeply from The Cup of Human Kindness, and share it freely with others. And then there’s Helen Pretty

Dad comes home from Iraq on vacation, but kids won’t be excused from school to see him

How spontaneous combustion works; drummers beware

Tom Delay (R-imjob) apologizes for corrupting government. Just kidding, he tags Democrats as “scoundrel…Hitler(s)”, auto-Godwins

Woman accuses random stranger of rape in a vain attempt to win back her ex

Man gets wasted, drives car, jumps curb, flees accident, strips naked, fights cop, gets tasered, winds up in hospital. Or as submitter calls it, “Saturday night”

Palestinian woman caught trying to smuggle three crocodiles taped to her upper body from Egypt into the Gaza Strip via Rafah Border Crossing

Old drivers find a “a four-way intersection’s cacophony of signs and lights particularly confusing”

Bank gives 25-year mortgage to 102-year old man

Man breaks into police station to steal back stolen property police had taken from him

Articles in the school newspaper on teen pregnancy, teen motherhood and sexually transmitted diseases, A-OK. Column about tolerance towards homosexuals, you’re fired

How many news reporters does it take the change a lightbulb? Thats right… they can’t

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Today’s Iron Photoshop ingredient: Hats

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this fella and his patriotic suspenders

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Parallel universe versions of things we’ve gotten used to