News – New Unity

Middle East

Rival Palestinian factions agree to form a unity government. While Hamas itself sticks to it’s non-recognition of Israel, it has handed negotiation authority over to Abbas, which could open the way to peace negotiations again, since the PLO does recognize Israel. Question is, will this be enough to satisfy Israel and the US?

Looking at the details of the agreement, it looks pretty good. It would be best to have Hamas bend over the subject of recognition, but if their unwillingness to do so can be set aside, more symbolic than anything else, progress can be made, I think.

The head prosecutor in Saddam’s genocide trial charges the judge is favoring the defendant, allowing too much room for witness harassment and political speeches. HE wants the judge to stand down. Judge Abdullah al-Amiri denies this and says his conduct is based on fairness and 25 years experience.

Condi Rice badgers other nations about not failing Afghanistan. Hah, that’s a laugh, considering the US has done poorly in eliminating poppies while giving those who farm them some new crop with which to earn their living. She and the rest of the Bush administration are in no position to badger others about failure.

An Israeli military court orders the release of several Hamas officials and MPs on bail while their trials continue. But they’re not out yet, as military authorities are appealing the decision, so for now they remain behind bars. In the ruling, the judge questioned the timing of the arrests, noting they were allowed to run free while campaigning for office and for several months after entering office. Both true.

An Israeli court convicts Asher Weisgan of shooting four Palestinians in the West Bank as Israel was withdrawing from the Gaza Strip in 2005. It’s thought he did this to stop the pullout by provoking unrest in the West Bank to divert resources from Gaza. Just another extremist, it seems, giving a bad name to the masses. More so as he says he has no regrets for what he did, two of those he killed being people he actually got to know over a number of years. He also expressed a hope that someone would have killed Ariel Sharon. This is the scary side of some Israelis that worries me.

More bodies in Iraq. What more can be said?

Asia/Pacific

South Korean officials say that senior negotiator Christopher Hill offered North Korea bilateral talks and was turned down. More precisely, there was no response to the offer.

China gets more control over the media by tightening controls on how info is released to them. Of course, who would expect anything else when the media itself is state run?

Africa

Zimbabwe police seal off the capital to stave off demonstrations by trade unions, called illegal by the government. Said protestors are upset over the country’s economic crisis, which has led to massive inflation.

Meanwhile oil unions in Nigeria stage a strike, protesting the insecurity of the Niger Delta where they work.

Europe

Back into shock mode, Madonna sings on the cross in Russia. Disturbance was minimal, likely because of the 7,000 police present to watch over the event.

Americas

Opinion time: Take a look at this photo, then check the article below and riddle me this: What’s your take on the image and what those people are doing?

Everyone talks about the firemen and police and others who were dubbed heroes for their actions during and after 9/11, but few mention the financial heroes who helped get downtown New York back up and running.

Bush makes the expected 9/11 unity behind the war on terror speech. Sure, I will. When he gives me something to get behind. Only reason I support staying in Iraq for now is because I know if we leave, it will be like pulling a pillar from under an unstable roof. However, I also favor getting crap done in there as fast as possible so we can get our people out. Sadly, the Bush administration has screwed up time and again, the progress made after years still in jeopardy of being erased as the violence in Iraq continues unabated and Afghanistan slips toward having a resurgent Taliban cruising around.

So no, I’m not going to back Bush’s incompetence. I’m going to call it like I see it and hope that somehow we manage to muddle through again, like we have before.

A film made by Gabriel Range, in which Bush is assassinated, gets applause at the Toronto Film Festival. Obviously, this movie has drawn much criticism, mostly centering around the use of Bush, rather than some generic guy. The creator says he used Bush to add a sense of realism to the film. The simple fact that people are up in arms about it attests to some validity in using Bush. Like him or hate him, most Americans have a connection with the guy, thus seeing him buy it, rather than some generic face, adds to the emotional effect of the rest of the movie. Will this movie make someone more likely to try and off Bush. I doubt it. Those who would shoot Bush won’t need some movie to convince them.

And, as usual, the uproar only calls more attention to the movie itself, thereby defeating the purpose of the protestors as more people will go to see it when they can.

General

Save the Children launches a global campaign aimed at pressuring world leaders to help deprived youths get into school. After all, with all these wars around the world, lots of kids don’t have the chance to go to school. This is a steady drain of a country’s future, since those children will be more likely to become unskilled adults, suited to few jobs.

A Japanese study finds that green tea can help ward off a range of illnesses.

Apple continues it’s bid to be the dominant player in entertainment media. With.. a device that would stream music and video seamlessly between televisions and computers. That sounds interesting. They’ll also have a service to allow customers to download movies. Depending on the set up, that could be great or horrible.

A survey on recycling finds that more want to do it, but it’s too complex to divide up all the various recyclables as needed.

The Blogs peeks back at some of the blogging back in Sept of 2001. They also check news that Hewlett-Packard’s chairwoman will be stepping down, look at Dick Cheney’s remarks on Meet the Press and a recent stingray killing spree.

Today’s Papers has confirmation that the mysterious Lonelygirl15 on Youtube is fake and appears to be a promotion for a movie, info on airport security and lines through checkpoints, an interview with Pfc. Justin Watt, the soldier who alerted authorities to the four soldiers now charged and being tried for raping and killing an Iraqi girl and killing her family(no case info, his own dilemma in deciding to come forward) and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Bush 9/11/06(YouTube ~9 mins)

How not to steal a bar’s CCTV camera: Step 1) Get caught on its video feed stealing it. Step 2) Well… there is no No. 2. But look at the lifelike quality of the pictures of this halfwit

Church sign reads: “Muslims can convert to Christianity here.” What could possibly go wrong?

Harvard ends its early admissions program because it puts poor and minority students at a disadvantage. The college still doesn’t have a problem with the $100K tuition because that certainly isn’t unfair to the poor

News: Man charged with intimidation, assault with a weapon. Fark: Weapon was a corn cob

News: City official under FBI investigation mugged. Fark: By naked attackers. Bonus: He claims he was going to the all-male strip club “to pick up chicks”

“I’ll pay you ten bucks if you hit Mr. Gene on the back of the head.” “Durr, okay”

Tennessee man writes of launching ‘feline jihad’, gets investigated by local police

Things are getting so bad in Indiana that you can’t even put down 350 pounds of raw pork without having some guy steal it

Boston University bans all racist and sexist chants from football games. “That’s terrible and an infringement on our freedom of speech,” whines one sophmore. “Sports won’t be fun anymore.” Duke still sucks

“If the day ever comes when I have to choose between losing my law license and listening to a song about proper courtroom demeanor to the tune of “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”, I’d have to think long and hard”

Behold the absolute horror of Halloween costumes for pets. Your dog wants dignity

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these ceramic bears. Difficulty: Mr. Ranger says no picnic baskets, Yogi

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this S.W.A.T. team in action

Fark Photoshop Challenge: In honor of the ABC docu-drama “Path to 9/11,” create an ad for another TV movie that plays fast and loose with the truth