News – How to Go About Energy Independence

General

British engineers are working to harness the power wasted in the vibrations caused by a step. This is the sort of creative, innovative way we Americans should be approaching the question of power. Not finding more ways to make questionable technologies ‘better’, but finding clean, renewable sources and making them work. Sadly, our leaders are content to cling to the old rather than boldly pushing into the new, as we were once known for.

Looks like Yahoo, Amazon, Ebay and AOL are falling behind.

Explainer explains how much one will weigh after being cremated. Depends on the bones, since that’s what’s left after the process.

The Blogs look at Floyd Landis being charged with doping, wonder if marriage-minded gays will ever catch a break and if there’s any gung-ho left in America’s armed forces.

Today’s Papers has House and Senate leaders agreed on “vastly scaled-back versions” of earlier congressional ethics proposals, the construction of a children’s hospital in Basra that has been celebrated by Laura Bush a year behind schedule, a sergeant telling investigators that soldiers in his unit did indeed murder three Iraqi detainees in May and more in the one page news.

Middle East

Israel sends aircraft after homes owned by suspected militants and a metal working shop in Gaza, wounding seven. Their tanks pull back from an operation, with no met goals noted. One wonders what the aim was, besides the thirty dead Palestinians.

Israel’s generals shy away from a full on ground invasion of Lebanon, content to think that bombing and brief insertions of troops will take out Hamas. It won’t. Little, short of genocide or tyranny will quiet Hizbullah. They might weaken it slightly, but the resentment left in the wake of their present attacks will make for a quick regeneration as disgruntled Lebanese, many who have likely lost their families and livelihoods due to Israel’s actions, swell the terrorist ranks. And so it will end with no movement at all.

After all, how would you feel if Israel called to tell you, in an hour, they were going to blow up your house? And don’t expect that they’ll offer to help you rebuild or relocate. Oh no, they face no consequences for the damage they do.

The blithely assume that, without direct action to stop them, the world gives them a green light for their actions. The sort of expected reaction you’d expect after a lifetime of being coddled and protected by the US, allowed to go unilateral with no more than a possible slap on the wrist. Usually not even that. They’re leaders are like children never given boundaries, feeling entitled to act out however they please.

Seems Tony Blair will be pushing Bush for a ceasefire. Will he manage to shed his image as a toady and act more like a partner?

Ayman al-Zawahiri sends out a video with the same tired bull. More instigation and posturing to add to that of the west.

North America

Condi is out of the Middle East and says she’ll go back when ‘the time is right’. Really? You mean now, when the shit has fully hit the fan and people are dying constantly isn’t the right time to be down there, doing something? Will it be the right time when Israel or Iran starts waving nukes around maybe? Or when one side or the other starts lining up people in the street for public executions? A bit too far, perhaps, but the time most certainly is right. Israel is accomplishing nothing and will accomplish nothing, no matter how many weeks or months they’re given to ‘take care of’ Hiz. All they’re doing is ensuring the next generation of terrorists will be there.

Personally, I hope Bolton gets kicked off his post and someone more acquainted with diplomacy and compromise gets put in his place. Someone that can bridge gaps and bring people together behind real progress.

This article quotes Bolton in two ways that convince me he isn’t the right man for the job. Firstly, we have a quote from 1999: “It’s a big mistake for us to grant any validation to international law, even when it may seem in our short-term interests to do sobecause, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrain the United States.” Second is a note from his most recent confirmation hearing, in which he was asked if he had changed any of his views on the UN, to which he replied in the negative.

Republican Michael Steele shows how one shouldn’t react when caught telling the truth.

The House warns that, five years after 9/11, our intelligence still sucks. Not surprising, but certainly disappointing.

So, did the White House write Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s address before a joint session of Congress? Who can say. At the very least, he was back on message with the administration, after his outbursts over Israel’s incursion into Lebanon. After all, who needs to look at the complexity of the real issues when you can bask in the simplicity of being one of the good guys in a mindlessly simple struggle against the bad guys. Thinking any deeper than that seems to hurt the brains of the majority.

Amusements

Dumb: Man sexing up his girlfriend in an elementary school bathroom. Dumber: Man gets spooked, runs out of school naked and gets locked out. Fark.com: Man busted after trying to break back into school and falling through ceiling

Army dismisses gay Arabic linguist, which is okay because they really had too many of those anyway

The penis mightier than the sword when used as a paintbrush. Man who makes art with his organ is a modern-day Pricasso (with buttocks photo)

An Amish popcorn company with five employees is listed by Homeland Security as a possible terrorist target. Meanwhile, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge or the Statue of Liberty didn’t make the list

Your tax dollars at work: USDA researchers complete study to prove that ice-cold watermelon less nutritious than room-temperature watermelon

Zoo fights heatwave with meat ice cream…mmmmm meat ice cream

“Something told me it was him when I saw his car flying”

Regular news: man appears in court for sexual harassment and sexual assault. Fark: just minutes after being released on bail, he re-offends by groping a female and attempts to steal a purse all while still in the courthouse

Not News: Prostitute solicits man. News: Man is police officer. Fark.com: Officer is in full uniform. WTF?: She didn’t realize he was a cop

Broadcasters spending $300 million on ad campaign to teach parents how to shield their children from objectionable TV shows. Boy, that OFF button sure is hard to find on some remotes isn’t it?

Cover of breastfeeding magazine shows baby nursing on a *gasp* bare breast. American Talibanarity ensues: “A breast is a breast – it’s a sexual thing.” In other news, a hundred simulated murders will be on network TV tonight

Female student pilot attempts to take off with a tailwind. Hilarity ensues (w/pic)

There aren’t too many stories about “dead chicken hearses,” but hey, that’s why you come to Fark

Homeland security officials tell Indiana county to stop using its electronic emergency signs to advertise local fish fries and spaghetti dinners

If you want to make a successful escape from jail, make sure you don’t try to flag down an undercover cop car

The House has passed a bill, 410-15, that will ban libraries and schools from letting people access “social networking sites”

Police tell woman she can’t hang a sign on her fence reading, “Our dogs are fed on Jehovah’s Witnesses” despite the fact it’s been there for 31 years

Candidate’s campaign staffer charged with fraud after elections committee discovers that some signatures were dead people’s. Staffer’s defense is that he used strippers to collect the last-minute signatures

When working undercover to infiltrate anti-war protest group, try not to get elected as their leader

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop the homecoming decorating committee

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this store – yes really

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these dudes and their bad-ass pets