News – The Cabinet Shuffle

US

So Bush went and made Condi his pick for Secretary of State. Is this a good thing to you? Do you think Condi has the skill and personal poise to be an effective Secretary of State? Some see this appointment as nothing more than packing in a loyalist, rather than the most capable person for the position. Someone on Gaia posted a topic wondering what the world would think of Condi in charge of the State Department. Well, we have some world leader type quotes right here. Mostly just the typical thumbs up or neutral commentary, however.

Stephen Hadley will be taking over as National Security Advisor, a man known to be low key. Notable by the fact that his his nomination was part of a White House ceremony announcing Rice’s nomination in which he didn’t speak. Another unremarkable person taking his place in a place that should be reserved for remarkable people.

Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, director of the NSA, is considered a candidate for the #2 spot at the CIA.

As goes Powell, so goes Armitage, who has tendered his resignation as deputy secretary of state.

A continued dialogue over Welfare reform. The truth and consequences.

John Snow says cutting the deficit is a top priority this term. Sure, ok. Then he goes on to challenge Europe to play its part in helping trim the U.S. trade gap by boosting its own economic growth.

Did the military secretly doctor its anthrax vaccine to negative effect? A fully satisfying argument that it has hasn’t been given yet.

Iraq

French President Jacques Chirac opines that the war in Iraq has, if anything, made the world more dangerous. I agree, unfortunately. Note, I don’t comment on the generic War on Terror, I’m not aware enough of what that has done to judge it. But the Iraq war, while it has dealt with Saddam(ultimately good), has had more negative fallout than good thus far.

As can be expected, Arabs are quite upset by the possibility that a US soldier wrongly(Thus far, in my opinion) shot a wounded Iraqi. The cusp of the situation is here:

Viewers said images, which Arab televisions aired repeatedly of a Marine killing a severely injured Iraqi, fueled growing hatred against America and helped create more “terrorists.”

“I am not a jihadist, I am just a normal Muslim but such scenes are pushing me to Jihad,” said Dubai-based engineer Abdallah. “We don’t expect this from the representative of democracy in the world.”

“This is one of the things we saw on TV. God knows how many crimes they have committed which we have not seen,” he added.”

We’re dealing with a people who are already lacking in trust of us and our motives. The invasion didn’t help that overall and each incident like this only adds to it. Sure, it seems they ignore the good, but that should have been expected. Mistrustful people aren’t ‘fair’ and it takes a concerted effort to change their opinions. That should have been expected. If it wasn’t, it was an obvious miscalculation by the administration.

Sure, soldiers are trained to take things with care, but that this particular soldier had enough time to shout explicative doesn’t make this seem like a life or death situation. There are reports the soldier in question had had previous experience with militants playing dead and booby trapped corpses, which is a consideration as well. Though I suppose we’ll see with the results of the investigation as his comrades rally around him and the investigators poke and prod.

A video tape found about a week ago makes it likely that Margaret Hassan has been killed.

It appears the Falluja assault is getting new breath as militants attempt to return to the city? As well, violence continues in several other cities. Mosul seems calmer, but at this point I doubt anything can be assured.

The 18 soldiers who refused to go on the fuel convoy, and about a half dozen other members of their unit will be facing disciplinary punishment for refusing orders to deliver fuel along a dangerous convoy route. They did so over concerns that their unarmored fuel tankers weren’t getting adequate protection. Many ways to consider that, but overall it doesn’t sit well with me.

Israel/Palestine

Israeli settlers from Gaza will be ale to use the compensation they get to move into the West Bank, says the director of the agency that will be evacuating them. Not unexpected, but not necessarily heartening.

So would you classify Blair’s faith in Bush as inspiringly positive or grossly naïve? I lean toward naïve.

Afghanistan

PBS has a new one hour documentary about the women of Afghanistan in the current day. It looks to be good, I’ll have to look and see if I can catch it.

Iran

An Iranian exile group says that Iran has secret nuclear stuff it hides from the UN. Considering the experiences we’ve had with exile groups before, I have to wonder. This group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has given good into in the past, but I wonder just how they know this secret and if they have any clear evidence, such as location.

The US reacts guardedly to the Iran-EU agreement on enrichment.. rightly, I think. Iran will assuage doubts when they implement the agreement and it is verified.

General

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers says that child soldiers are still being used, even when fighting is done and they are largely neglected in the peace process.

J. Marc Schaffel, a former business associate of Michael Jackson is <A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6834470″>suing him for three million in unpaid loans, cash advances and producing fees.

Halo 2 is the latest must have game, though this reviewer seems to consider the end of the single play experience less than climactic and the multiplayer grand.. when you can finally play a match.

As can be guessed, extended computer use can put one at grater risk for eye ailments. I’m sure that, by the time I’m fifty, my eyes will be burned right out of their sockets. 😉

Deep study of the armor plating on some dinosaurs reveals that their strength could be on par with the sort of modern bulletproof fabrics we have today.

The Pill(you know which one) may well help protect a woman’s knees as well as her womb. This due to the effects of female hormones on ligament composition.

Explainer considers the many discoveries of Atlantis.

Today’s Papers has Porter Goss sending out an email encouraging the backing of administration policy(“As agency employees we do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies….We provide the intelligence as we see it—and let the facts alone speak to the policymaker.” – Take the quote as you will), republicans proposing a change to the House rules that would allow an indicted legislators to keep leadership roles(DeLay may well need it soon), 80% of Mosul’s police not showing up to work since the insurgent offensive there began and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Who ya gonna call? Dan Aykroyd has been appointed a Hollywood consultant for Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) network

AOL admits 40 percent of subscribers don’t even have computers. Other 60 percent still looking for the “on” switch

PETA: Eating fish hurts their feelings

Ex-student pleads guilty to acting like she had cancer to get free stuff. With pic of miraculously cured asshat

Man living in Porta-Potty to raise money for charity attacked by teenager who apparently really had to go

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Lady Liberty’s lost her head. Photoshop her Swan makeover

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this man and his giant guitar

Fark Photoshop Challenge: What would Fark’s logo look like if it existed in the 60s?