News – America the Flat

Americas

Bush decides to issue a regulation that will permit and encourage mountaintop mining. Because we have far too many scenic mountains and all should have their tops blasted off and dumped into nearby valleys to feed our combustible fuel lust. You can read about the process and the dangers in the Wikipedia article that is linked to this one.

Just in time for the upcoming election, we have political gamesmanship disguised as reform.

One of the worst ways to get out of Iraq. Because you qualify for the ‘sole survivor’ rule.

Middle East

Maliki fires back at those US officials who have called for him to be removed from office. Those being Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. He said the Democratic senators were acting as if Iraq was “their property” and that they should “come to their senses” and “respect democracy”. Replacement of leaders who can’t forge progress is at the heart of democracy, so I don’t know what he’s talking about. Unless there are no such strictures in Iraq’s constitution. Of course, on such matters the people are the ones who make the decision.

Shia, Sunni and Kurdish leaders in Iraq sign a unity accord. All I really wonder is if it will have an effect on the current lack of solid inertia when it comes to Iraq’s government getting things done. If so, good. If not, then it’s not worth the paper they wrote it on.

British troops withdraw from a base in Basra, the first step in their full withdrawal from Iraq. Actually, this should prove interesting. If no other foreign force plans to move into the region, it will be a test, of sorts, to see what might happen after the departure of troops. Unfortunately, it looks like confusion is one side effect.

5 year old Maria, a Palestinian girl from Gaza, was paralyzed from the neck down by an Israeli rocket attack on an Islamic Jihad militant leader. Her mother and grandmother will killed in the attack. Though Israeli law denies compensation to victims of what it calls ‘acts of war’, Israel’s Defense Ministry was pressured into paying for her rehabilitation in Jerusalem. However, now they want to deport her back to a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry believes she will fare better in her ‘natural environment’. Which is bull of course, since her ‘natural environment’ is Gaza. Once again, Israel’s military looks to ruin what could be a perfectly humanizing moment of compassion on the part of the country’s government, instead perfectly fine with making themselves look the ogre.

From a more fact based level, they want to send her to the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Center in Ramallah. She has no family there and the clinic in question hasn’t the experience nor the equipment to properly deal with a complex case such as hers. Not only that, but the trip itself could be deadly, were she caught up for too long at one of the checkpoints between Point A and Point B.

The Defense Ministry has offered to send staff from Abu Raya to Jerusalem for training and pay for some of her medical equipment and rent for her father in Ramallah for a year as well, but hers is an ongoing condition. Considering how much money the defense ministry is willing to drop on this, it’s obvious they’re not objecting on a financial basis. They look ready to throw money at this until it goes away. Only, it won’t unless they do the right thing and allow her to stay in Jerusalem where she can get the best care. Instead of doing what could garner them a positive image, Israel’s government seems ready, willing and able to fumble the political football once again.

Despite the US surge, more and more Iraqis are becoming displaced within their own country.

Whistleblowers when it comes to the corruption in Iraqi rebuilding are met with vilification, pink slips and the like rather than just recognition for doing the right thing. Hardly surprising.

Asia/Pacific

In Kyrgyzstan, children work in coal mines, children taken from school to do this hard, dangerous work because the pittance they make is crucial to the survival of their families.

The city of Smarkand is two and three quarters millennia old. It was the capital of the Tamerlane Empire. Kind of humbling to see a city that’s older than most nations of the world. That’s the sort of deep history and culture that nations like the US can only dream of.

Europe

A senior Vatican cardinal starts up a low cost charter flight service aimed at transporting Catholic pilgrims to holy sites. That’s actually a pretty good idea, to tell the truth.

Divers are preparing to record the wreck of the RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued more than 700 survivors of the Titanic disaster. It was sunk six years later by a German Torpedo attack. They hope to recover some items from the sip, including the ship’s bell and the ‘loving cup’, which was given to the captain of the ship by survivors of the Titanic in thank for rescuing them.

General

Scientists discover two blood chemicals that are linked to eczema, providing new possibilities for treatment.

A great void is found in space. One a thousand times larger than your expected gaps between galaxies.

A punk kid hacks the iPhone. Every new device made gets hacked into my some punk kid(s). Makes you wonder what life would be like without them. A bit less interesting at the very least. Mind you, the b ack takes actual soldering to accomplish.

The Blogs look at the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, corporations that tweak their own Wikis and Michael Vick

Today’s Papers has the US military paying out $20k bonuses to recruits who begin basic training before the end of the fiscal year(seems a ploy to inflate their year-end goals), increasing numbers of children fighting with Insurgents against US troops in Iraq(whether coerced or not, I don’t know – stands to reason that not all of them are so coerced and that some of them are at the very least), schools paying cash to get good teachers and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Neurotically Yours: Car Wash

Mark Fiore: Violent Crime

Not news: Dog bites man. News: Man bites dog. Fark: Man bites girlfriend’s snake and tells her it tasted lovely

Animals from Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo will be moved across the harbour to a military-controlled island, so that the wives of APEC summit leaders can view them without all the riff-raff

Bored teen whiles away afternoons making phony maydays to Coast Guard on stolen marine radios. Sailin’, takes him away

Use too much of your cable internet service, that’s a one-year suspension. How much is too much? Well, Comcast still won’t say

Father says he chained 13-year-old son to bed to keep him out of trouble. Son released, father arrested. Son arrested very next day for vandalism, attempted car theft

Man caught with his pants down after stealing porn magazine

Impolite horn honking is $124 ticket in Washington State

Dumb: Thief breaks into car. Dumber: Car belongs to martial arts expert. Fark: Who has 110 of his black belt mates with him

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop theme: Have some fun altering a piece of classical art.

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these men in black (and white)

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: If teenagers ruled the world…