News – Discouraging Working Conditions

Americas

Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, defends forcing US diplomats to work in Iraq. “It’s not for us to decide if we like the policy or if the policy is rightly implemented,” he said. “It’s for us to go and serve, not to debate the policy, not to agree with it.” Now perhaps we can understand why Ren will never work directly for the government. I prefer to question and debate things. Thus I would have a hard time with such a job.

An independent panel that’s looking into how the Army handles private contracts finds a load of corruption and waste. But then we should know this already as the waste in contracts in Iraq has been outlined multiple times over the last few years.

A pay dispute with the screenwriter’s guild has led to the threat of a strike that could leave many popular shows without writers to keep them going.

More on topic, I think forcing government workers to work in the embassy in Iraq is a bad idea. I can see, if a loved one is killed in Iraq because they were forced to work there, that their family may try to sue the government over the death.

Karen Hughes leaves her position as ‘public diplomat’. It remains unclear why she was given the post she had and now why she’s suddenly leaving it.

Ron Paul’s new add. It just seems so fake. Even more so than is usual for adds such as this. More amusing is his campaign spent $30k for that tripe(including hiring a producer). Looks like something you could shoot with a handheld camcorder for $1000.

The winners of Slate’s comedy news contest. Some good jokes to be found imo.

Middle East

The rate of death amongst civilians and military in Iraq continue to fall. This is good. Hopefully the trend will continue. The real test will be when we start to draw down our troop levels.

Iraq’s government dismisses US concerns over the Mosul Dam. If it does give out, that would be a hard blow against the current government with such a dismissal.

Some in Israel are musing tightening up the requirements for citizenship. As of now, you just need to be Jewish.

Turkey may take a page from Israel and impose sanctions on Northern Iraq.

Fatah conducts an anti-Hamas campaign in the West Bank. Will it yield positive results? Who can say. But I don’t have a great feeling about it. Given the continued slow strangle of the people in Gaza, I can’t see matters ending positively. And the blame will be thick enough to ladle a heaping helping onto every plate.

Africa

Amnesty International has warned against suspects of the 1994 Rwandan genocide being transferred to Rwanda for trial as their legal system may not provide them a fair and impartial trial.

Asia/Pacific

Burma releases a few more of the people they arrested during the protests last month. One is free to wonder if this is a positive sign or merely a means to ward off some of the condemnation they’ve gotten.

Scary looking Maori activist Tame Iti is among those that have been arrested under the auspices of New Zealand’s Terrorism Suppression Act. Of course, their claims of a terrorist threat are countered by those who see no such threat.

An Australian judge rejects the defense of a man who says the bite of a toxic spider compelled him to rape a woman.

Europe

Condi is in Turkey to try and keep the government from sending troops into northern Iraq.

General

Cinnamon, a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, is the first feline to have its DNA decoded. This being a rough sequencing that will be refined next year.

Mac Users be aware, installing Leopard(OSX 10.4) could leave your software firewall turned off. I don’t have designs on investing in the OS yetYes, I use Macs at home), but my firewall is on my router, so I should be fine when I do. Looks like the time to be concerned is here as well.

Wired’s Saddest Cubicle contest winners. Those are some sad looking workspaces.

Reviewing a movie about Jacques Vergès, a lawyer who has represented many terrorists and despots in court. Most surprisingly is how non-judgmental the movie is. Makes me kinda curious to check it out and see what is uncovered about the man.

The Blogs look at Hillary Clinton playing the gender card, Karen Hughes announced departure and if Dog(Duane Chapman) the Bounty hunter is racist.

Today’s Papers has note that Stephen Colbert has been denied a spot on the ballot by South Carolina’s Democratic Party, a note that no reliable evidence exists that daylight savings time saves any energy, an interview with Sen. Barack Obama where he emphasized that, if elected, he would not put forward preconditions before sitting down to talk with the highest levels of the Iranian government and more in the one page news.

Amusements

A court summons was ordered for a woman who refused to return a sex education book to the library, claiming the book was pornographic

Actual headline: Neither Taser, baton nor cops can quickly subdue Naked Man

Nashville denied federal grant money for sidewalks because: A) The streets are too narrow, B) The population density is too low, or C) The mayor forgot to sign the application

Man ultimately pays $82,000 for “revolutionary” hair treatment. “The so-called revolutionary treatment, however, turned out to be a toupee glued to his head. The ‘laser’ was a hair dryer.”

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Bystanders detain DUI suspect after accident. Mug shot looks like they did a little more than just hold him down

If you dropped of a 3 foot live alligator at the Westchester County water department in a box labeled, “Do not open. Live Gator.”, officials would like to have a word with you

Not news: Man arrested in sex sting after showing up to meet what he thought was a 15-year old girl he met online. News: At the Ohio Statehouse

News: offender jailed for assaulting fisherman. Fark: offender is an 8 ft. crocodile

Sort of okay: Cops put a scare into a 14-year-old boy they caught tossing eggs on Halloween. Not okay: They do it by stripping off his clothes and dumping him in a desolate area

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this out-of-this-world machine

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop your favorite celebrity carrying this fabulous handbag

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this TFer’s daughter in her first Halloween costume