News – Unproven Assertions

Middle East

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom says that Iran will know how to build a bomb within six months. My response, as it ever has been, is where is your proof. If this is known for certain, we can have some proof shown. I’m tired of hearing “They’re doing this” and “They’re doing that” without people held to the standard of showing why they know this. None of these people have enough trust from me to take any of this without some considerable proof. So cough it up.

At the funeral of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, 150k Lebanese take the chance to vent their anger against Syria. A new question is, what effect will his death ultimately have and who had a hand in his death? The answer to the second will effect the answer to the first, surely. Explainer also explains why Syrian is in control of Lebanon.

Marwan Barghouthi, a jailed Palestinian militant, believes that the Palestinian uprising will persist despite Abbas’ efforts. We can hope he’s completely and totally wrong.

Another potential issue, with Sharon remaining firm on keeping the West Bank settlements. If the Palestinian side fixates on that as well, it will cause us no end of problems.

Information on another work by Einstein has emerged from Israeli archives, his correspondence with Jawaharlal Nehru in attempting to persuade a sceptical India to support the birth of a Jewish state.

Asia

“Baby 81”, the baby rescued during the tsunami, without a link to her parents finally has a name and a family, the DNA tasting finally finished. Little Abilass is now with her family and I’m glad to see it so.

US

A US court of appeals has dictated that Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper must disclose conversations with their confidential sources to a grand jury investigating a leak that exposed the identity of a covert CIA operative.

Bush says that limiting the growth of future retirement benefits for Americans would be an “adjustment to reality.” You can play with semantics all you want, considering how much you play with it to label every other thing a tax cut, I think others can play with it to label things you do as benefit cuts. Maybe now that you’re on the receiving end you’ll stop the bullshit and play it straight.

Federal judge Michael Chertoff has been approved to be head of the DHS. Will he, unlike his predecessor, wield this department has it was meant to? Likely not.

Pat Robinson rumbles at Democrats that they’ll face political damage if they oppose Bush’s judicial nominees. I think he’s still high off the feeling of power from the 2004 election. In time he’ll be taken down a peg.. maybe he and Falwell will say something stupid again like on 9/11. I like when they trip over their own hateful tongues.

Kerry will support Bush’s latest batch of supplemental military spending. I call bullshit on him, cause there’s a lot to dislike in this one, barely half of it actually going to spending related to the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The rest is scattered all over the place in things that should be in the budget, like money for restructuring the military.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, a California man who chickened out in his suicide attempt, leaving his vehicle on the train tracks and thereby causing a deadly train crash, pleads not guilty on 11 counts of murder. At the very least the boy’s guilty of 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter. I don’t know that I’d put it all the way to murder.

General

How about a system that measures excitement, which could allow games to shift and change in mid play to keep the user’s excitement high? Could they make games that adapt to the user to provide the perfect experience?

Today’s Papers has a note of good news from Falluja, the CIA looking to get out of the detention business, a new FDA panel to check up on drug safety after they hit the market and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Scientist invents musical condom that plays music louder as boinking gets more furious

High school senior puts on gorilla mask, climbs to roof of school. School lockdown and criminal charges ensue

Jenna Elfman’s career slump has warped her mind as she tells interviewer that it is her job to “clear the planet” of aliens that inhabit the Earth

Irish police clamp ambulance waiting for injured man at Dublin airport, and force drivers to pay cash before releasing it

White House refusing to pay American POWs tortured by Saddam during the 1991 Gulf War from a $1 billion settlement already awarded from lawsuit filed in 2002. Claims Iraq isn’t bad anymore, therefore they shouldn’t get any money

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop what’s going in and coming out. Difficulty: No sausage

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this freeze

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this Michigan Dairy Queen