News – How to Meet an Alternate Plan

North America

Hey, look! Someone looking deeply at Mutha’s idea rather than dismissing it out of hand and scaring people from it with well practiced rhetoric and bullshit. Maybe this guy should run for president. What are his issues?

Michael Scanlon, an ex-aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleads guilty to conspiracy under a deal in which he is cooperating with prosecutors probing alleged influence-buying involving the lobbyist and lawmakers.

Cheney denies trying to stifle Iraq war dissent by attacking the administration’s critics, but he said Democratic charges that the president intentionally twisted prewar intelligence crossed the line. Perhaps, but by his own personal attacks, he perpetuates the problem. Thus he’s just as wrong as they are, in making our political process all the more hostile and inefficient. He and Bush and the rest like to claim the high ground, but they get down in the mud with everyone else when a glove is thrown down.

Not to mention that any suggestion of change in the US ‘plan’ for Iraq is usually met with scare tactics and strawmen, rather than real, intellectual investigation. The simple fact is that this administration is set in its ways and not open to suggestions and ideas on far too many things, despite how much republicans call for democrats to come up with ideas(which several have on several issues, despite that republicans continue to pretend like they haven’t). It’s all a load a bull and it makes us all weaker.

Outsourcing to India might give way to outsourcing to rural America. That’s a better idea.

GM cuts jobs and productivity as it struggles to compete with rivals. It is opined that this was an inevitable thing.

Cheney is a little too free of political limits in my opinion. Total freedom is something that people rarely meet and utilize well.

Middle East

Iran just can’t seem to get a good candidate for oil minister. The third choice they’ve picked has seen opposition as well.

Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis returns to Lebanon to finish up his look into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Experts comment on recent developments in politics. It would be nice if we could have a good political shake up in our country. Maybe something good would rise to the surface.

Asia

Bush’s visit to China nets.. nothing. Good use of time and money there. In my opinion, Bush is a master of extremes. When he decides to act, he tends to act beyond what is needed. When he goes softly, he goes too softly and his actions more often than not mean little to nothing ultimately.

Europe

The British government has ordered doctors to restrict flu vaccine to age and health groups vulnerable to the flu, in order to reserve doses. It’s an understandable move, considering the nearness of bird flu.

Australia

Australia is getting the right idea, by staging a simulated outbreak of bird flu. They’re preparing, you see. They’re testing their response to see if it is up to snuff and everyone knows what they’re supposed to do if an outbreak strikes. We need to do that more.

General

Nuts wait in the rain to get an Xbox 360 a month earlier than those saner people who will just wait until the release freakout calms down. I’ve never really understood people like this. No matter the reason they do it, it seems entirely too irrational, considering the faster you get something, the faster you grow bored with it, ultimately.

Microsoft urges users of IE for Mac to switch browsers. Not a bad idea since MS gave up the goat after Apple created Safari.

Today’s Papers has Bush lowering the standards of his No Child Left Behind Act, Iraq’s major political parties getting together at an Arab League confab and asking for “a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces”, the non-news of thousands unaccounted for by slow government record-keeping and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Dumb: Getting busted for drunk driving. Dumber: Your drunk passenger tries to take over and also gets pulled over. Dumbest: His drunk girlfriend makes it a three-for-one night by coming to the rescue

French tourist gets Aussie holiday off to good start by getting drunk on plane, trying to open door mid-flight to have a smoke

Boeing stores 161,000 employees’ Social Security numbers and banking information on a laptop. What could possibly go wrong?

Not wanting to be outdone by markers, tape thwarts Sony’s latest anti-piracy software. Next revision of DMCA to ban office supplies

Atheists will not watch “Chronicles of Narnia” because it is a “Christian movie,” which is totally different from Christian fundies boycotting the Harry Potter movies for promoting witchcraft. Yeah ( I plan to see it because it looks like a fun epic in the vein of Lord of the Rings. Massive battles, massive adventure. All good fun.)

<A HREF="http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=14439″>Sixteen-year-old criminal mastermind charged with stealing a lawnmower after police follow the lawnmower tracks to his home

Man who gets seven years for keeping his mom in a freezer proclaims: “I apologize to Jennifer Garner and her pool boy Ben Affleck for involving them in my fantasies”

Fugitive surprised when the church he ran into to hide was filled with praying police officers, who then verily did smacketh him down

Nursing home resident goes out for a short stroll, is found 1,800 miles away

Environmentalists say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would be “hamstrung” if it had to obey the law and check whether species listed as endangered are actually endangered

If you’re going to accidentally shoot yourself in the hand at a gun show, at least have the decency to pull your pants up first

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: If advertising were 100 percent honest…

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop what someone might find on this road to nowhere

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: If people from the past had the technology we have today…

PS: I’m getting Thursday and Friday off, so I likely won’t be posting until Monday after tomorrow. Though you never know. Something might strike me enough to get a posting. Just don’t plan on one. 😉