News – Do as Bush says, Not as he Does
US
Bush’s thoughts on anti-proliferation start out pretty descent. But his follow through leaves much to be desired. Part of non-proliferation is erasing the desire of nations to want their own arsenals for protection. Bush’s deal doesn’t handle that well and he doesn’t lead by example.
Now that the euphoria of returning to the moon and heading to Mars has passed, one has to wonder. Is 150 billion over the next ten years enough for NASA to maintain its property, maintain the ISS and then do all of the rest of what is wanted?
Attorney General John Ashcroft defends his seeking of records on women who had late term abortions. It won’t effect their privacy, having these confidential records poured over. See, Ashy is sensitive to the issue and that no records would be subject to publicity.
A third attempt at defining marriage as between a man and woman while leaving a palce for civil unions has failed in Mass. A gathering of over 100 gays and lesbians cheered when lawmakers voted down the amendment 103-96. Of course, the mess is hardly over. Personally, though I think that civil unions should be accepted at first. Social change doesn’t come quickly or easily. Usually It requires intermediate steps to ease into what is new and strange to some. Even small wins are still wins.
U.S. National Guardsman Ryan Anderson, a tank crewman who was slated for deployment to Iraq this summer, was arrested on Thursday for “aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to give information to the al Qaeda terrorist network.”/A> There isn’t a lot of info on details just yet, but I’m sure more will surface.
A warning is out to not register at http://www.unsub.us. It promises to reduce unsolicited email, but is a scam says the FTC.
Why did South Korea beat us to the therapeutic cloning punch? Cause of the government of course. Or its lack of support more precisely. There are also differences in how the Koreans went about their work. Detailed inside.
Congress slams CAPSS 2 as behind schedule and flawed.
Ten ways to rationalize publicizing infidelity rumors. Looks like we’ll have one for the 2004 election. Joy.
Iraq
It appears that the UN is hesitant to have early elections as well. Easy to see why, but I don’t see why they can be had after a handover of power. The security situation will likely be the same overall unless some serious changes are made. The UN has indicated that elections are unlikely until 2005 in their opinion. Sistani remains against the US picked governing council picking the legislature that will make Iraq’s constitution.
A convoy carrying the US’ most senior general in Iraq, General John Abizaid, was attacked.No injuries were taken, but the question is.. was it a random attack or a direct attempt to go for the prominent general?
Leaked documents reveal the British government lobbying the US as it seems no British companies may get Iraq contracts. That would be an embarrassment apparently.
Israel/Palestine
US envoys will be heading to Israel for talks on Sharon’s plan to retreat from Gaza. They’ll also push him to make alteration to the path of his big wall.
Korea
South Korea’s Parliament approved a plan to send 3,000 troops to Iraq. A little over half of them will be engineers and medics with the rest being sent to defend them. They’ll be headed to Kirkuk.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s religious authority have urged Muslims to shun the pagan holiday of Valentines day, lest they incur the wrath of God. Ren remains amused and considers finding some email addresses of prominent Saudis to send them valentines e-cards.
General
Microsoft source code for Win NT and 2000 leaks onto the net. It is said to just be a little bit, not enough for hackers to start getting into such machines. But when it comes to MS, you never can tell when they’re fibbing.
Today’s Papers has more on Bush’s military record with document disclosures and the interview of retired officers. There’s a confidential US report claiming security in Iraq is deteriorating. It may well be, I doubt the Bush administration would admit to it until it became too obvious to gloss over if it did. And more, always more in the one page news.
Amusements
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Superpowers used in everyday life. Difficulty: Unobvious
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Unlikely Drudge reports
German teachers get trippy after noshing a donated cake. Laced with hashish.
Man calls the cops after seeing video of his wife having sex on the Internet
Paraskevidekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th
Have a lucky friday. 🙂