News – Prison Nation

Americas

Guess what, we have more people in prison than any other nation. The US has a bad prison problem. In part because of the fact that we do so little to reform and decrease recidivism as well as impose mandatory minimums for drug crimes when counseling and aid in finding a job would likely do more to keep them clean and return them to being productive members of society.

Cuba signs two legally binding human rights agreements at the UN. Perhaps now Bush will get off his ass and talk with Raul as a show of good faith for these moves.

Obama’s growing talent at debating.

Another Mediacurves video. Comparing male and female voters during the Hillay, Obama debate. Its interesting to watch the bars drop when she starts talking, especially toward the end when she did some attacking.

Middle East

One would think it in poor taste for an Israeli governmental figure to use the term ‘holocaust’ in a threat toward Gaza, but I suppose the scars of the past aren’t so deep for some. Regardless, insert another note of how throwing violence at Gaza has done little to nothing to discourage attacks, even though it seems no prominent Israeli figures seem to realize this.

And things continue to slip downward in Gaza and the young continue to be caught in the middle. That won’t cause any further resentment at all, will it?

Conflicting reports on whether Turkey is pulling out of northern Iraq. Hopefully they’ll be out soon.

Africa

Manufactured or not by the opposition, violence is hot in Cameroon. There’s more than enough going on there to believe the outbreak is spontaneous or, at the very least, that it was easy to nudge toward fruition.

Kenyans are pleased to have a new power sharing agreement between opposing political sides in the country. Prime minister-designate Raila Odinga says he’s looking to rebuild what was damaged by the unrest that come along with the crisis.

Asia/Pacific

China is rethinking their ‘one-child’ rule.

Europe

Putin urges the Russian people to vote. After all, the more who vote for his chosen candidate, the more legitimate the results will seem. Nah, I’m not at all cynical.

The EU and US say Kosovo won’t be split between the two ethnic groups in the country.

General

It’s held on for a while, but support for Netscape is going away March 1st. Pity that it ended up in the hands of AOL, who are hardly the sort I’d expect to bring such a product into the future.

Microsoft will be cutting the price of Vista. I don’t care if it was free, I don’t want it on any machine I use.

Those who invested in HD-DvD are left to mourn the passing of their chosen format. What’s why I don’t early adopt.

The Blogs look at John McCain’s constitutional fitness to be president and whether or not Obama’s anti-NAFTA stance is provably bogus.

Today’s Papers has a nice little history of how it is that we came about adding an extra day every four years, the revelation that Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, the approved execution of Ali Hassan Majid and more in the one page news.

Amusements

There is only one problem with the new, state-of-the-art baseball stadium D.C. has spent millions on building for the Washington Nationals: No parking spaces

Man trying to shoplift suit by wearing it out of store caught after he forgets to take the hangar off first. “Only a sign saying ‘stop me, I’m a thief,’ would have made the thief look more unprofessional,” police remark

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) hates NAFTA and free trade. Guess which state led in export growth last year, with 49 percent of its export business going to Canada? Hint: It rhymes with Dorth Bakota

Sales team leader describes waterboarding of employee as “a team-building exercise, everybody was… involved and enthusiastic.”

Woman uses the internet to fund her boob job (w/fist of an angry God pic)

Krispy Kreme driver eats all the donuts, stages his own kidnapping. Mmmmm Krispy Kreme, nom nom nom

Fishing Expedition (noun) – When education administrators make those caught drinking underage fill out forms detailing their sexual histories, preferences, partners, and disease exposure

Dude crying about Obama’s lack of lapel pin shows up on Dan Abram’s show without a lapel pin. Self-pwning ensues

Truck carrying oversized crane takes on entrance to tunnel. With video and pics of spectacular falarity

Dear innocent random man: we’re sorry we accidentally put your picture on the front page and called you a murderer. Here’s a picture of the actual murderer. We I apologize for any embarrassment or inconvenience that this may have caused

Man drinks gasoline and screams at passing cars. Then it gets weird

Twin gay porn actors arrested for rooftop burglary. Additional charge of smuggling bones is pending

Not news, guy attempts armed robbery. News, gun is actually a bottle of cheap cologne. Fark, man being robbed is martial arts expert who pummels the criminal mastermind. With mugshot sweetness

Fark Photoshop Challenge: <A HREF="http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3418410″>Photoshop this shiny, metallic bug

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this classy cockpit

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this robot about to bust a move