News – Election Hassle

Iraq

Talks are being held on the future of Iraq’s government between the US and UN. I’ve heard on the radio that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani would be willing to back down from his position if a UN and/or Iraqi study group showed that elections weren’t feasible and came up with an alternate plan.

A look at Bush’s approval rating and the status after the ‘Saddam Bounce’. Loads of recent polls that shed doubt.

Israel/Palestine

Sharon is facing mounting pressure to resign if he gets charged in the rising bribery scandal. His approval rating has diminished to 33 percent with over half of this polled believing he is involved in corruption. Could we hope he’ll be ousted? So how do we get Arafat out of there now? We might be on the way to a fertile situation for peace.

Another child dies in the conflict. 11 year old Mohsan Daur was out hunting birds with friends, according to family. They strayed near The Fence and Israeli solders shot toward them, seeing seven figures with a ladder. Israeli medics treated the two boys hit and were transfered to an Israeli hospital for surgery. Four others ran home. Mohsan’s body was found after Palestinian Medics were allowed to the sight of the shooting. He suffered a single shot to the back of the head.

US

Explainer gives the skinny on the National Endowment for Democracy, the organization Bush plans to increase funds for. Don’t let the name fool you.

THe Mars Rover has run into some manner of trouble. Spirit has been giving back garbled transmissions for the last 24 hours, but is sending back pings that confirm it is receiving from Earth. This has to be a hard, scary thing for the folks at NASA after such elation in how things went so far.

Bush is gunna stick another 9.7 percent into the Homeland Security budget, but maintains that the main focus in our war on terrorism will remain overseas.

Ex Representative Janklow has been sentenced to 100 days in jail after speeding through a stop sign, taking out a guy on a motorcycle. He could have gotten ten years, so he’s damn lucky.

The democrats final debate in Manchester, N.H is reported as a good one.

So just what is compassionate conservatism? Does anyone have a clear sense of it after four years of experiencing it?

The US Flu epidemic this year seems to have peaked. A good thing, enough have passed away because of it this year.

Lots of people are harping on Dean’s ‘scream’. It doesn’t matter and no it isn’t fatal.

The FBI joins the hunt for the missing Half Life 2 code. I hope they catch the bastards and make them pay.

General

Kofi Annan believes that terrorism and the war against it threatens the worlds order.

Today’s Papers has a debunked rumor that Osama was captured, the appropriations bill passed, and Halliburton getting kickbacks for dealing with a Kuwait company among other tidbits.

Amusements

Bush eats ribs in Roswell, NM. An amusing subset of transcript. 😉

As happened with Steve Ballmer and his antics, the Dean Scream gets the multimedia treatment.

Henry Earl – Does this guy do anything but drink? I’ve never seen a record like this one.

Fark Photoshop Challenge: t off the old prawnograph and photoshop new uses for shrimp

Newgrounds: Howard Dean Alarm System

Newgrounds: The Rules