News – The Latest Big Thing
Middle East
US forces capture who they believe to be the second in command of alQueda in Iraq. OF course, they’re heralding this as a big step. I will to.. if it causes some measurable effect when it comes to the fight against terrorists in Iraq. Which I don’t believe it will, just as every so called ‘severe blow’ before has yet to quell the violence. The more they use it to describe things that cause no noticeable effect, the more the term loses meaning. Like calling everyone in the world a hero. The term gets passed out like it means nothing. Fatal blow? Umm.. unlikely.
Hezbollah and Israel agree to allow the UN to mediate in the lingering dispute over the soldiers that Hezbollah holds prisoner. Mind you, Israel wants the soldiers released unconditionally and believes that the UN will assist them toward this end, whereas Hezbollah wants a prisoner exchange.
Looks like Hamas is getting the other Palestinian factions to back it in a power sharing deal. Of course, I doubt that will force Israel to recognize them as the government of Palestine, but you never know.
The US and UK are fueling their own disorder in Afghanistan by militarily seeking to destroy poppy production. The poor raise poppies to live. They need money to feed their families. The military effort on this issue needs to take a backseat to poverty relief and gently turning these farmers toward legal crops that they can sell. I’m sure most don’t care what they raise, so long as they can feed their families.
So who do you believe when it comes to Iraq? Bush or the Pentagon? See, Bush says there is no civil war in Iraq and their won’t be. The Pentagon, however, has some nasty info to release on that issue. Personally, I don’t think it’s official civil war yet, not enough of the country is involved in it, yet the possibility is lingering on the fringe and the longer the sectarian violence continues, the more likely the rest of the country will fall into it. No matter how Bush tries to minimize the chance.
The official handover of Iraq’s military to its own department of defense is delayed again due to a ‘miscommunication’. For another one of those important type events, it has hit a lot of snags.. you’d think they’d want that to get done as soon as possible. Of course, considering how weak the Iraqi armed forces are, even after these long years, perhaps the government doesn’t want to take ownership of it just yet.
Africa
The AU wants the UN to take over the mission in Darfur, but Sudan’s government rejects this. However, this won’t stop the AI from pulling out of Darfur when it’s mandate expires at the end of September.
Europe
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov wants to change the republic’s name in a bid to clean up its image. Of course, if the current disorder continues, the new name won’t do a thing against that.
South/Central America
Looks like Castro is on the mend. Sorry folks, just ain’t his time yet.
North America
Slate’s Election Scorecard. Can’t tell the status of the midterm elections without a scorecard!
Our government says it has had its first successful test of the questionable missile defense system. One wonders about how ‘real’ the test was. The goal of the test was only to have the interceptor maneuver close to the dummy missile, that the interception was a bonus. With those lowered expectations, how gimped was the dummy missile? No mention of that, but I wonder.
General
Steven Irwin, otherwise known as the “Crocodile Hunter”, was killed by a stingray a few days ago. He was in the middle of filming a TV documentary at the time, when the stingray’s tail stabbed him in the chest, piercing his heart. Details are sketchy, but one thing that is certain is death by stingray is a rare occurrence, as they only use their spined(and poisonous) tails in defense, when they feel threatened. To be honest, I always knew that his luck would run out one day. He’s a guy who took some pretty big risks and, until now, had always manages to come out of mishaps with his skin largely intact. All the same, it’s too bad, while a bit nutty he did seem like a good guy. For those interested, more about his life.
The worthless inconsistency of the movie ratings board. Sex = bad, violence = good.
A study suggests that children with older fathers have a higher risk of having autism. Perhaps our genetic material doesn’t age well.
A UK study suggests that having all twelve year old girls vaccinated against the virus that causes most cervical cancers should cut deaths by 75%.
Toshiba plans to launch HD-DVD players in Europe on November 15. Not much use until you get an HDTV(I don’t have one), but nice to know the technology is starting up.
Explainer tells us what ‘secret holds’ are in congress.
The Blogs look at a new Pentagon plan to monitor bad news out of Iraq, a BBC docudrama that depicts the future assassination of George W. Bush and the nicotine rise in major cigarette brands.
Today’s Papers has an article laying out what’s going wrong in Afghanistan, the death in Iraq, Congress returning to Capital Hill today and more in the one page news.
Amusements
Loud, obnoxious, rude, lousy tipping cell-phone using douchebag walks out on restaurant bill after telling bartender he was staying at hotel across the street. Instant karma ensues
Stephen Colbert totally loses it
Nothing spells fun on Christmas day more than racing to BestBuy for a $40 HDMI cable after shelling out $600 for a PS3
Chinese government bans Lonely Planet’s China guidebook for showing Taiwan in different color on map. Apparently had no problem with its warnings against pickpockets, kidnapping, repression of political dissidents, horrific squat toilets
<A HREF="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006410150,00.html”>Woman has her CD players confiscated and gets court order forbidding her to play loud music for 18 months after neighbours repeatedly complained of her blasting crap like EuropeÂ’s The Final Countdown in the middle of the night
Undercover DEA agent infiltrates medical marijuana facility wearing a wire, only to be surrounded and held by employees who saw his gun and assumed he was there to rob them. Busted
Interesting: Men busted for illegally selling large quantities of weapons. Weird: The weapons were high-level weapons for an online game
Woman drives 30 miles drunk to turn herself in on previous drunk driving charges
Taigate must-haves: satellite tv, grill, blender, breathalyzer, lawyer’s business cards
ITunes might not be the best place to share your child porn collection
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these acolytes
Fark Photoshop Challenge: The Muslims have made Pinocchio their No. 1 draft pick. Photoshop the next selections in the draft, open to all religions
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Rewrite Superman’s beginnings in Action Comics. (Link goes to blank comic)