News – Moving Out of Gaza
Middle East
The Gaza pullout begins today. AS expected, not all settlers are going quietly. Articles noted on Cspan radio make it clear that many young Israelis are looking to stymie authorities with acts of vandalism. The plan is to have the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank cleared in three weeks. Fortunately it will include removal of Israeli fortifications.
The one major gripe I have is that we, the US, will be shelling out billions for this withdrawal. So that is added on to us originally footing money to settle the area. I don’t think we should be sending them taxpayer money for this, especially since the withdrawal, at it’s heart, is more a decision of convenience, since it will be better for Israel from a monetary and logistical lean to pull back. Sure, it is a positive step toward, hopefully, making a peace, but I don’t ignore the pure pragmatism in it either.
Today’s the due date for the draft of Iraq’s constitution as well, though there is potential it might be missed. With one possible remedy being a draft could be presented despite objections by the Sunni’s who are part of the process. Likely the worst option, as the last thing we need is to further alienate them. Better an extension than that.
Ultimately, it might turn out that women in the new Iraq will be back to square one in terms of rights. It hinges on just how much of sharia law is in it.
Sens. Joseph Biden and John McCain still want more troops in Iraq.
North America
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay rails on the left during ‘Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and This Honorable Court’. More talk of activist judges and all that, but you can bet(just look at the Terri Schiavo incident) that if conservatives flooded the court, we’d have activism in the other direction. People like Delay talk a good line about the limited role of the courts, until the court can do something for them. Then it’s all alright. Bad enough having people who don’t do their jobs right, but hypocrites like him are worse.
“We have a moral obligation to stand up and protect Social Security for the next 70 years and beyond — that means stopping privatization and dropping partisan demands for private accounts,” says Rep. John Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, responding to Bush’s weekly radio address. Democrats say they’re ready to progress on Social Security, though they warn against stripping away benefits to retirees and relying on private accounts for funding.
The DHS is quietly pushing for less oversight of the planned Secure Flight passenger-screening program and use of private databases.
In the war over abortion, doctors and judges get hit with a lot.
General
Proof that erotic pictures will make you blind.. just for a moment, though. The new study by US psychologists found that people shown erotic or gory images frequently fail to process images they see immediately afterwards. And the researchers say some personality types appear to be affected more than others by the phenomenon, known as “emotion-induced blindness”.
Podcasts of Slate’s articles. Another step in the latest fad.
Explainer notes the taste of fat.
Slate looks at jihadist video games. See, they know how to do things. Games are a great means of teaching, which we too need to take advantage of.
Todays Papers has a history of the radicalization of the suspects in London’s failed bombings, Laura Bush naming the White House’s first female executive chef, the worst plane crash in Greece’s history and more in the one page news.
Amusements
Governor staff’s grandkid flashes honorary badge to cops to get out of DUI, later same cops get promotion. Chicken Inspector badges still useless
North Carolina town forgets its own 150th birthday
Canadian newspaper expected to be a lot more fun to read as Canadian reporters can now use the F-word
Paris Hilton dumps her chihuahua Tinkerbell for another because it was growing into a bigger bitch than she is
The music industry sets its sights on ripping and burning again. Calls it looting and raping like a pack of vikings after me lucky charms. .
County evicting homeless man from 250-square foot underground house, complete with patio, that he dug in the desert
Army officer rents out his soldiers as cheap labor – What could possibly go wrong?
Police hard at work check strip clubs more frequently than other bars. To uhh, you know, get tips on crime, and uhh you know, check for illegal gambling, and uhh you know, “other violations”. Yeah, yeah, that’s it
Designers of a man-portable water cannon to knock down rioters apparently unaware that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, they must have been napping during freshman physics
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Take a break from the heatwave with this wintry crew
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Unusual things showing up on the baggage scanner
Fark Photoshop Challenge: <A HREF=”http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1614068″>Photoshop this anti-terrorism poster