News – The Eternal Question

Americas

The ever-present question of Why do ‘They’ Hate Us. Of course, the question is one that can never have a single answer, simply because ‘they’ is never defined beyond a nebulous group which, within itself has those with varying reasons for why they strike out at the US and other nations. The why of it is multifaceted and to try and assume a small subset of reasons as the real why for them all is foolish and arrogant. I doubt a book will ever bring real information on that subject.

The real problem is that no one seems intent to actually investigate the why and to find the real root causes for some of these whys. Rather than take some time to really understand the enemy and thus find better ways to defeat them, we’d rather.. oh, say.. invade Iraq. Yeah, I said it. Invading Iraq was never going to solve the problem or really impact it positively at all. Iraq has nothing to do with why ‘they’ hate us. And no matter what happens there, that core problem won’t be solved.

Not until some true visionary leader decides to look for some of the real reasons and look to fix those.

The presidential candidates keep talking and talking hoping to win your vote.

Bush whittles away at Due Process. Yeah, tiny bites for the moment. But who is ever satisfied with just that?

US Navy and FBI divers join in the recovery efforts at the fallen Minneapolis bridge.

Life ain’t easy for sex offenders. I mean, seriously.. how does a person live when told they can’t be within 30 feet of a child ever? Basic necessities are pretty much out of reach unless one would flirt with disaster. There need to be limits, yes, but reasonable ones. Hard for someone to rehabilitate when they’re shunned to the point of total isolation. Such a situation rarely leads to a change of heart for anyone.

Middle East

Looks like Iraq and Turkey have come to an agreement on jointly trying to oust the PKK from Iraq. Mind you, I doubt Iraq itself has much to bring to the table when it comes to dealing with the north.

Jordan allows child refugees from Iraq to enter into their government schools. Even those in the country illegally.

The US would prefer the UK to stay in Iraq as long as they do. We don’t always get what we want. But they will be giving much attention to Afghanistan.

More hardline Jewish settlers are evicted from Hebron. At times I can see many of these folks going militant should an actual two state solution be enacted which returns a good deal of land to the Palestinians. Some of them seem just that radical.

Africa

The UN releases details on the troops that have been pledged by many countries to go into Darfur. The force is mostly African, but with troops from several Asian countries as well. The force needs some help on the gear front, however.

Kenyan women sign a petition to have 50 MP seats in their parliament reserved for women. I’m all for women in government, but that’s not the best way to go about promoting it.

Asia/Pacific

The Koreas are to hold a summit. A face to face between both higher ups, if the report is right. Question is, will the outcome be worth a damn. Personally I hope so.

A team of scientists concludes that a species of freshwater dolphin that exists in China is now extinct. They conducted a six week survey of the habitat without finding sign of any at all. I never knew there was such an animal until now. There’s something too sad about that.

Mohammed Haneef, the Indian doctor once held under questionable means by Australia’s government, is looking to get his visa back. According to Kevin Andrews, Australia’s immigration minister, Haneef failed some obscure ‘character test’ because of his association with alleged criminals. You’ll excuse me if I don’t find that excuse to be very convincing. He’d better have some solid evidence to back that up.

Europe

Georgia accuses Russia of carrying out an air raid on their territory with the intent to cause panic. Which is denied, obviously.

General

Research suggests caffeine may protect the female mind from mental decline. A little coffee might be good for you.

Various media companies continue to gang up on YouTube. Personally, I find their crusade against the site ludicrous. Youtube and services like it have led me to buy things I probably wouldn’t have before. All of this hate is just making me want to boycott the lot of them.

A photo tool that could fix images by searching online image galleries. Very interesting indeed.

The blogs look at the battle between the Weekly Standard vs. New Republic battle over the “Baghdad Diarist” and bad news from Basra as UK troops pull out.

Today’s Papers has Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s homerun record to cheers and jeers, the continuing search for the two U.S. soldiers who were captured in May, the United Nations willing to increase the number of personnel stationed in Iraq and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Feeling a bit out of it at the moment, so no large Amusements section. But I think this will suffice to start or continue your day with a smile. Attack of the Killer Tortoise.

Have a good one folks.