The Ink Slinger

And the winner is...

2008-10-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

The first and only vice-presidential debate took place last Thursday night between Sen. Joe Biden, D- Del., and Gov. Sarah Palin, R- Alaska. Palin entered Washington University in St. Louis with lots of doubts and low expectations. She did well. OK, she did better than expected.

Since the debate has ended, there has been much criticism on how both candidates answered the tough questions, and how they handled themselves during the most-watched vice-presidential debate in history. Biden denounced the economic policies that have led to the current financial crisis. He cited exccesive dereguation was the cause. In reality, he voted for deregulation acts in 1999 along with many other Democrats. Interestingly, Biden and the Obama campaign trumpet the idea that McCain is giving oil complanies a $4 billion tax cut. McCain is giving a tax break to all corporations, not just the oil industry.

Palin also had a few sneaky tricks up her sleeve during the debate, twisting some facts. One of her big selling points was the Obama "94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction," according to the Hartford Courant. In fact, this includes repetitive votes and votes to cut taxes for the middle class but raise them for the rich. She also bragged about McCain's influence on changing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's dreadful mortgage policies which led to the failing economy today. Palin, however, neglects to admit that the bill was sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R- Neb., and McCain only supported it after 16 months. He did not do much other than add his name to something that was clearly becoming a problem.

So as far as there being a winner or a loser, I think it's up to each viewer to decide for themself. But I do think this was one of the more interesting debates in recent history. For now, this is an interesting take on the debate from 'Saturday Night Live.'

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Palin's rape kit controversy

2008-09-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

As if Gov. Sarah Palin's --the Republican vice presidential candidate -- view on global warming wasn't scary enough, I've come across another story about her putting that to shame. When Palin was mayor of small-town Wasilla, Alaska, she charged rape victims for rape kits, which contains devices to help extract evidence from women after being assaulted.

The kits could have cost up to $1,000 for victims. Sen. Joe Biden drafted the 1994 Violence Against Women Act which would prohibit states charging for rape kits from receiving federal grant money. Interestingly enough, Sen. McCain voted against the initiative.

Gov. Palin's camps has kept mum on the controversy only to say Palin supports the protection of women against sexual assault. While she was mayor of Wasilla, Eric Croft, a Democratic representative at the time proposed a law requiring the state to provide rape kits free of charge to all assault victims. He met extreme resistance from Wasilla's Police Chief Charlie Fannon because of dissatisfaction the extra money for kits would hurt the town's budget.

There is no definite evidence to show that Palin knew this was happening, but considering how vocal Fannon was against free rape kits and that she was the mayor of the town, it's inconceivable to me that she had no idea.

"I find it hard to believe that for six months a small town, a police chief, would lead the fight against a statewide piece of legislation receiving unanimous support and the mayor not know about it," Croft said to CNN.com.

I find it absolutely frightening that Palin would support charging rape victims for help. For a woman who prides herself on morals and values, shouldn't this be at the top of the list? How can a woman in office not fight for other women who have had one of the most horrific experiences? This is completely outrageous. My dislike and fear of Sarah Palin just continues to grow more and more-- and this story certainly does not help.

Economy tanks... again

2008-09-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

I don't think I can ever try to accurately explain economics in any way, shape or form. The market crash of last week is the worst to happen in our country since the Depression, leaving banks like Lehman Brothers scrambling to pick up the pieces. After the massive housing crash of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this summer, it seems like the economy continues to worsen each day.

This is putting our presidential hopefuls, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain on the spot to offer their ideas and potential solutions for the crisis. Here's a short rundown on what they're thinking about the grim future of the market.

Zimbabwe leaders (kind of) reach a resolution

2008-09-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

Months after Zimbabwe faced an election that provoked fear, intimidation and violence, it seems like an agreement between President Mugabe and opposition lead Morgan Tsvangirai has been reached.

Mugabe has offered a Prime Minister position to Tsvangirai in order to work together in an effort to form a peaceful resolution to the many problems facing Zimbabwe's citizens. The new administration will be a 50/50 combination between the president's and the opposition's political views. Zimbabwe has been suffering from severe famine and violence for the last 20 years, which is what inspired Tsvangirai to work toward a newer government. When Prime Minister Tsvangirai decided to run for president in last June's election, President Mugabe threatened voters who supported Tsvangirai with mutilation and murder. Vote tampering also became a crucial issue with the Zimbabwe election, which was instantly condemned by democratic nations.

With mounting international pressure, President Mugabe reached a reconciliation with Tsvangirai who has long been a supporter of making Zimbabwe a democratic nation by offering him a prime minister position. Prime Minister Tsvangirai wanted to receive monetary help from the United States and England as a way to help starving people throughout the country.

President Mugabe has consistently blamed both countries for the colonization of Zimbabwe. He reasons this is the cause of all devastation that has occurred in the country. Asking westernized countries for help will only bring more problems. He has said only Africa can fix Africa's problems.

Much of the deal has not been released yet, but I am hopeful to hear this news. Working with Prime Minister Tsvangirai will be the first step to a peaceful nation for Zimbabwe. While I'm skeptical of the new administration, this is a far better deal than what was happening only a few months ago.

Anthrax case remains a mystery-- in many ways

2008-08-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly it has been a pretty eventful week in news. From Paris Hilton announcing her bid for presidency, thanks to John McCain; to Osama bin Laden's driver being convicted of terror charges; to Brangelina's twins going for $14 million, I've had a lot of choices on what I wanted to write about for this week's post. I think the winner has to be the ever-changing Anthrax case — with more twists and turns than a Telemundo soap opera.

Bruce Ivins, 62, a former Army biowarfare scientist, was about to be indicted with capital murder charges related to the spreading of anthrax in the high-fearing post-9/11 world of 2001 — until he committed suicide. Since then, controversy has surrounded the case over whether the FBI terrorized him or if he legitimately did kill people.

The attacks, during one of the most vulnerable times in U.S. history, were the worst bioterrorism attacks the country has ever. In total, 5 people were killed and 17 injured.

After Ivins' death, pressure mounted against the FBI over how legitimate their evidence really was. After many high-profile slip-ups, the bureau has been facing a lot of doubt, including some from victims' families.

The FBI was forced to open the case this afternoon, in efforts to prove Ivins is the culprit in the seven-year-old case.

But during all this, some insanity has pursued.

For one, the FBI allegedly offers an explanation as to why Ivins would travel from his lab in Bethesda, Maryland to where the virus was mailed in Princeton, New Jersey — sorority girls. Sources say Ivins had an obsession with members of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma since he was dumped by a member of sorority during his days as a student at the University of Cincinnati. Authorities say this is the reasoning for the journey to Princeton, where the letters were mailed less than 100 yards from Kappa Kappa Gamma's center.

But while this does seem to be a rather interesting theory, not many are convinced that Ivins did mastermind the anthrax mailings. They claim the intense investigation drove the former alcoholic to drink again, and later commit suicide with a lethal concoction of Tylenol and codeine.

Ivins apparently had a rapid decline after his children and wife were questioned, and his home searched last November. And skeptics continue to question — how could he have stolen anthrax in front of 10 other colleagues? And why can't investigators pin him to Princeton on the day the disease was mailed?

The FBI's materials will be released this afternoon. I, for one, am very curious about whether Ivins could have done it. Innocent until proven guilty? I'm not sold, yet. I'll update again when information from the case is revealed.

John, who?

2008-07-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

I want to begin by promising not to talk politics too much before November, because let's face it — by the time the election comes along, the vast majority of Americans aren't going to want to even hear the names Barack Obama or John McCain. I think I speak for a lot of people out there who felt the primaries got very tiresome after a couple months.

Anyway, this post is going to be my first in which I address the election, like it or not. A "new" story has been picked up by some news venues about how the media is seemingly biased against Sen. McCain.

As Sen. Obama travels over to Iraq to see what is going on with the war and Middle East, all of the main news anchors from CBS, NBC, and ABC are meeting him over there. Sen. McCain recently traveled overseas, but interestingly no famous journalists made a point to meet him in any foreign countries for some friendly discussion.

Statistics are starting to show that Sen. Obama is a bit of a media darling these days.

"Every week [between June 9 and July 13], Obama played an important role in more than two-thirds of the stories. For July 7-13, for example, Obama was a significant presence in 77 percent of the stories, while McCain was in 48 percent, the PEJ [Project For Excellence in Journalism] said," according to Yahoo! News.

In addition, The New York Times recently published an editorial written by Sen. Obama, titled "My Plan for Iraq." When Sen. McCain wrote a response to this editorial, the Times op-ed editor, David Shipley, rejected it, saying it could not be published because the Obama writing gave new information, while McCain's did not.

Shipley did say he was open to a new editorial from McCain, with a few edits.

"It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq," Shipley was reported saying in The Drudge Report, which also contains Sen. McCain's original piece.

In all honesty, I think anyone can see that the media loves Barack Obama. He's different from your average presidential candidate. He's cool, has a sense of humor, and just seems like a likeable guy. And in the media's defense, I really don't see much that McCain is doing other than town hall meetings, despite the fact that I really would like to see more balanced coverage.

On a side note: If you're looking for good information about where the candidates stand on the issues, check out this website put together by Harvard students. It's very straight-forward and gives a good look at both candidate's histories and goals they would like to achieve in office.

Blogging in Cuba

2008-06-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

So I read about this woman, Yoani Sanchez in Time Magazine's issues of "The World's 100 Most Influential People." Essentially, she is a Cuban citizen who writes a blog about the injustice of living under a communist regime in the country. Considering all that has happened with Fidel Castro as a leader, this is clearly a really brave step for Sanchez. It's pretty rare to hear a first-hand account of communism while it is actually happening. It's definitely worth checking out her blog. And yes, you can translate in English so there's really no excuse for refusing to read through it.

Child soldiers continue to be a problem

2008-06-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

As I was looking around to see what I wanted to write about, I came across something that has fascinated me for a while now-- the subject of child soldiers. A new study by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, released on May 21, had some good and bad news. The number of countries that employ child soldiers in conflict has decreased from 27 to 17 between 2004 and the end of 2007. While this is great to hear that fewer countries are deeming this as an acceptable practice in war, there is a downside.

The study found the decrease was due to conflicts ending, rather than countries implementing a strategy for change against the use of child soldiers. There needs to be more funding and more attention paid to the issue, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

The worst governmental agency in perpetrating the issue of child soldiers is Myanmar. Chad is also very bad because of it's close proximity to Darfur, where children are regularly abducted near the border and forced into combat.

The report, a 400-page document which thoroughly analyzed the use of children in conflicts world-wide said it was disheartening to see what had been down to rehabilitate children, or lack thereof.

In Congo, where a brutal regional war killed more people than any other conflict since World War II, some 30,000 children are believed to have fought, but 11,000 of them received no help as money for the demobilization program ran dry, according to the report, which was covered in The New York Times article, "Fewer conflicts involve child soldiers, report finds."

Also heavily affected in the conflicts are young girls, who are taken as sex slaves, cooks and fighters. This is usually a result of the shame they feel after almost-constant sexual abuse.

One of the quotes used in the study that I found to be particularly disturbing about all this:

"Child soldiers are ideal because they don't complain, they don't expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they kill," according to Senior officer in the Chadian National Army as published in The National Post's article, "Alarm over child soldiers."

Sometimes it really scares me to think that this is 2008, and this can still happen while so many people turn a blind eye.

Earthquake in China causes devastation

2008-05-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the Chinese province of Sichuan was victimized by an earthquake which reached 7.9 on the Richter Scale. There have been over 13,000 deaths, according to news reports released on Tuesday.

One of the most horrific scenes from the tragedy was the destruction caused to a local school. When the quake occurred in the province, which is mainly farming land, rubble and debri collapsed on the school killing as many as 900 children. Parents were seen anxiously waiting outside of the school, hoping their children would eventually resurface. As time went on and a new day dawned, fewer believed any more would survive.

Wang Xiaoni told The New York Times her 56-year-old mother and 5-month-old son were buried in the remains of her apartment building.

“I was outside when the earthquake hit,” Wang Xiaoni, 26, said to The New Tork Times. “I ran back even while the ground was still shaking. Who’s going to help them now?”

In addition to the great devastation of the earthquake, China is also dealing with the difficulties of taking on rescue missions under the country's communist regime. Instead of enforcing strict mandates, Chinese President Hu Jintao is said to be using the response as a way to boost China's image after problems over the last year with Tibet and lead-painted toys.

In a country that is very hesitant to report negative news, China Central Television has been reporting on the quake around the clock, while rescue workers are being sent with cranes to help move concrete and steel. Fortunately, it seems rescuers are easily being allowed to try to recover victims and search for survivors.

"They will use this as a kind of symbol, a demonstration that they can mobilize and respond to tragedies and show a government that is competent and in control," said Adam Segal, an expert on China at the Council on Foreign Relations, to the Associated Press.

Let's hope there are more people found alive in the wreckage during the next coming days.

Welcome!

2008-05-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's the end of another semester. For The Ink Slinger, that means it's time for another blogger to take over for last semester's writer, Elena. And, yes, that's me.

I'm Caitlin, a junior, almost senior, English major with a journalism concentration at UD. I've been a part of The Review staff for a full semester, but have written for them for a full school year now. Next semester in addition to this blog I am also the Editorial Editor, in case you were wondering.

The whole reason I asked to take over The Ink Slinger was because of my fascination for national, but especially international news. I developed a love for it over the last few years as I studied politics, cultural and social issues and economic in countries throughout the world--from China to Uganda to Russia to the U.S. As of now, I'm hoping to become some type of foreign correspondent someday, so I guess this is my start.

I'll wrap this up on one last note-- I hope you enjoy reading this as much I think I'll enjoy writing. Feel free to read, comment and criticize as much as you'd like. And thanks for checking out the Ink Slinger!

Myanmar death toll more than 22,000 people

2008-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Cyclone Nargis left Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, decimated after it tore through the region on Saturday. The state radio said Tuesday that 22,464 people have been confirmed dead so far. More than one million people have also been left homeless and vast areas of rice-growing areas have been wiped out from the storm.

"More or less all the land lines are down and it's extremely difficult to get information from cyclone-affected areas. But from the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge," said Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration office in Yangon, in a statement.

Countries around the world are offering aid to the devastated Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma. United States government officials said they are ready to help as long as the U.S. disaster team is invited into the country.

"Our biggest fear is that the aftermath could be more lethal than the storm itself," said Caryl Stern, who heads the U.N. Children's Fund in the United States.

Bleak economy looks slightly brighter

2008-05-03T11:43:00.001-07:00

Good news for the United States came Friday as the Labor Department reported the number of jobs cut was less than expected last month.

Employers eliminated 20,000 jobs in April — not nearly as many as the 81,000 in March, and the fewest monthly losses so far this year, the Labor Department reported.

With the country nearing a recession, the mortgage crisis, the weak dollar and unemployment rates rising, the news was encouraging.

President George W. Bush discussed the troubled economy Friday at a speech in St. Louis. Bush expressed optimism about the $152 billion economic stimulus package. The first rebate checks were distributed Monday, with additional checks for up to $600 per person, $1200 per couple and $300 per child.

"This money is going to be very helpful in helping people deal with high energy prices and food prices," Mr. Bush told more than 300 employees of World Wide Technology Inc. in St. Louis. "I know it's tough times, and I know you're having to pay more at the fuel pump than you want, but this economy's going to come on, I'm confident it will."

That's right. Let's keep buying things we don't really need to save the glorious economy.

Kids and mom locked in basement for years

2008-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

In what is being described as a "House of Horror," a woman and her three children were held captive for years in hidden cellar.

A retired electrician has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven children with her in a windowless cell sealed by an electronic keyless-entry system, police said Monday.

Josef Fritzl, 73, had kept his daughter Elisabeth hostage since 1984. Three of her children, also held captive in the hidden cellar, had never seen sunlight.

One child died in infancy, so Fritzl burned the body in a furnace to discard of the remains.

Elisabeth and her three children were discovered after the eldest of the secret children, Kerstin, fell ill. She was found unconscious on April 19 and taken to a hospital.

When Kerstin fell ill, Fritzl apparently told his wife and the hospital that his "missing" daughter had dropped off the sick girl on his doorstep.

In an effort to find out about Kerstin's condition, the hospital and police asked the media to put out a bulletin requesting any information about the girl or her missing mother, attorney general Gerhard Sedlacek told NTV.

Sometime later, Fritzl brought Elisabeth out of the cellar, telling his wife that she had returned home with her two children after a 24-year absence, police said.

He took Elisabeth to the hospital to talk with doctors about Kerstin's condition, and at that point, authorities became aware of her situation, Sedlacek said.

Elisabeth's other children were being raised by Fritzl and his wife, Rosemarie. Fritzl told his wife that Elisabeth dropped them off on their doorstep because she was unable to care for them. The couple legally adopted those children.

Is it just me, or should Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, get time in the slammer, too? Wouldn't you be a little suspicious if your husband tells you not to go in a certain part of the basement, brings food to the cellar during the evening and keeps finding children on your doorstep? Hm...

China to hold talks with Dalai Lama

2008-04-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Chinese officials announced Friday that they will meet with a representative of the Dalai Lama within the week.

The state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese official saying that the meeting is hoped to bring an end to pro-Tibetan protests that have disrupted the Olympic torch relay and threaten to spill over into the 2008 Beijing Games.

President George W. Bush has been calling for dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama since the protests began last month.

"We are hopeful that this will be a new direction in their relationship," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

I wonder how much will actually be accomplished at these talks.

Zimbabwe crisis intensifies

2008-04-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

On a day that the United Nations estimated the deaths in Darfur to have topped 300,000 people, Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged the UN to intervene and take control of the deepening elections crisis in his country. [See April 20, 2008 post below.]

He told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he felt African efforts to obtain the release of results had made "no progress", a UN statement says.

However, a Zimbabwe election official said Tuesday that the election recount should be announced by this weekend, four weeks after votes were cast.

Video has been released which shows Movement for Democratic Change members being beaten since the vote.

Human rights groups say they have found camps where people are being tortured for having voted "the wrong way". The government denies such allegations.

Another Zimbabwe crisis was averted Tuesday when Africa's southern countries blocked a shipment of Chinese arms from docking at any ports. The Chinese arms were going to be delivered to Zimbabwe. Chinese officials said Tuesday they might need to order the ship back.

A spokesman for Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai welcomed the development. "It would be pleasing to the people of Zimbabwe to note that there has been solidarity on the continent to stop the arming of the (Mugabe) regime at the expense of the people," said the aide, Nelson Chamisa.

There is hope in this world, after all.

Zimbabwe begins recount

2008-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe's election officials began to partially recount the country's election results on Saturday. The largest opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, seems to have won the majority of seats, but a recount could reverse the margin.

Nonetheless, government officials insist there was vote tampering, and the recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, in which the ruling party lost control of the lower house of Parliament for the first time in 28 years.

The presidential elections were held three weeks ago, but the results have still not been released.

MDC authorities said Sunday that dozens of its members have been detained because they have challenged the election results. If the opposition party wins the election, presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai will take longtime leader Robert Mugabe's position.

I'd be pretty darn suspicious if Mugabe's party wins the recount.

Pope Benedict arrives in U.S.

2008-04-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States on Tuesday for his first-ever visit to the country.

The pope is currently in Washington, D.C., but will be traveling to New York on Friday.

On Wednesday at a prayer service, Benedict told leaders of the Roman Catholic church that the clergy sex abuse scandal has sometimes been "very badly handled" by the church.

No comment.

Finally...

2008-04-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

President George W. Bush is expected to announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming.

"This is an attempt to move the administration and the party closer to the center on global warming. With these steps, it is hoped that the debate over this is over, and it is time to do something," said an administration source close to the White House who is familiar with the planning and who said to expect an announcement this week. The source requested anonymity to be able to speak on a sensitive matter still under debate.

Some lawmakers are opposed to any discussion about global warming regulations. Senior White House officials met with a group of Republican lawmakers last week to gauge their reaction concerning a range of climate change proposals. A GOP operative, who was briefed on the meeting, said the meeting did not go well and that some participants called the meeting "political appeasement."

Although some lawmakers are opposed to climate change talk, all three presidential candidates have said greenhouse gases must be reduced. Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have all proposed to cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Several European nations already have mandatory cap-and-trade regulations.

Opponents to climate change proposals say the rules have hurt their economies with not much environmental change to show from it.

White House press secretary Dana Perino acknowledged Monday that the administration was working on new climate change proposals, but said no decision had been made. "We're having a very robust discussion," said Perino at a White House briefing. "There's a basket of things that we're dealing with."

I never thought I'd see the day. Hallelujah.

Oil prices surge to all-time high

2008-04-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Oil prices reached $112 for the first time in history on Wednesday, after a government report said crude oil supplies have declined.

The EIA report, closely watched by the futures market, also said crude oil supplies fell by a surprising 3.2 million barrels last week; analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected an increase of 2.4 million barrels.

Gasoline prices are expected to continue to rise if more oil is not refined. According to AAA, the average price at the pump also set a new record today at $3.343.

Refining levels are currently at 83.1%, according to the EIA. They should be running at 89% to 90% this time of year, said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures, a California-based commodities trading firm.

"Oil companies need to ramp up ... fast," he said.

I have an even better idea. Why don't we stop driving gas-guzzling SUVs and drive Priuses instead?

China condemns torch disruptions

2008-04-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

China condemned the torch relay disruptions in London and Paris on Tuesday, but said the protests would not impede the Olympic spirit.

Officials in Paris on Monday were forced to extinguish the Olympic flame and carry it by bus when anti-China protesters tried to seize it. During the British leg the day before, activists waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Shame on China" turned the event into an obstacle course.

The Olympic torch will arrive Wednesday in San Francisco. Protests have already begun in the city. Three protesters wearing harnesses and gloves climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables. The banners read "One World One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free Tibet." [Watch a short video of the climb here.]

For some reason, I'm doubtful the protests will work...

Bin Laden Makes (Voice) Appearance

2008-03-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Osama bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping a "new crusade" against Islam Wednesday in an audiotape released to Al-Jazeera. He also spoke out against Palestinian peace negotiations and called for a holy war to liberate the Palestinian lands.

"Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said.

The Vatican rejected the accusation against the pope and said it is not altering security measures during the week leading up to Easter Sunday, when he makes several public appearances.

“These accusations are absolutely unfounded,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the pope’s chief spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “There is nothing new in this, and it doesn’t have any particular significance for us.”

Bin Laden said the pope may have been behind the controversial cartoons printed in 2006 in several newspapers around the world, which depicted the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban drawn as a bomb. In February, several Danish newspapers reprinted the image as a symbol for freedom of speech after police said they had uncovered the beginnings of a plot to kill the artist.

He said the cartoons "came in the framework of a new Crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican has played a large, lengthy role," according to a transcript released by the SITE Institute, a U.S. group that monitors terror messages.

"You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings," he said. "This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and reckoning for it will be more severe."

European officials are taking precautions. Italian antiterrorism officials are meeting on Friday to analyze the tape.

What a mess.

Update on Protests

2008-03-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Dalai Lama on Sunday called China's treatment of Tibetan exiles a "cultural genocide."

The spiritual leader spoke at a news conference two days after violent clashes between Chinese security forces and pro-autonomy demonstrators took place in Dharamsala, India. Dharamsala is where the exiled Tibetan government is now headquartered.

A spokesman for the exiled Tibetan government said at least 80 people were killed on Friday. The protests continued outside the Tibetan government's capital this weekend.

Tibet Watch, a group based in Dharamsala, India, told CNN that 34 people have died in the Nwaga County area of Sichuan province in western China.

The dead include women and children, the group said in an e-mail, adding they were killed by Chinese police attempting to stop the protests.

Xinhua, China's official news agency, said police in Tibet are giving protesters until midnight on Monday to "to stop their criminal activities and offering leniency to those who surrender themselves."

"Those who surrender and provide information on other lawbreakers will be exempt from punishment," Xinhua reported the police notice said.

China's human rights grade: F

Tibetan Protesters Arrested

2008-03-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

More than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested by Indian police on Thursday.

The marchers, mainly Tibetans but including a few foreigners, were arrested one by one after they sat down on a road to protest police barring their march from continuing from Dehra, more than an hour's drive from Dharamsala. (Dharamsala is where the Tibetan government-in-exile is headquartered.)

The Tibetans began marching toward their homeland on Monday to protest China's hosting of the Olympic games, set for Aug. 8 through 24. Indian officials arrested the marchers fearing they would embarrass China. Chinese officials maintain that Tibet is part of China, but Tibetans argue that they have been independent for centuries.

Chief coordinator for the march, Lobsang Yeshi, said the march will continue, even though there is resistance.

"The march will continue and we are determined. Each one us. No one can stop us, we will reach our motherland," said Lobsang Yeshi, chief coordinator for the march.

"The arrests were on the instruction of the central government. The activities are destroying the Beijing Olympics. The Beijing Olympics is a dark bloody Olympics."

How ironic. Indian officials don't want the Tibetans embarrassing China ... but when they arrest more than 100 marchers, the arrests make headlines and now both India and China look bad!

One-Child Policy Sticks

2008-03-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

China's top population official announced Monday that the country's one-child family planning policy will not change for at least another decade.

The official, Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said China would not make any major changes to the overall family planning policy until an anticipated surge in births is expected to end roughly a decade from now.

“The current family planning policy, formed as a result of gradual changes in the past two decades, has proved compatible with national conditions,” Mr. Zhang said in a front-page interview published Monday in China Daily, the country’s official English-language newspaper.

Zhang said more than 200 million people will enter childbearing age in the next 10 years. China currently has a population of 1.3 billion people. Removing the policy would lead to pressure on social and economic development, he said.

Most urban families are only allowed one child, whereas families in rural communities are often allowed to have two. Ethnic minority families are sometimes allowed to have two or more children.

Critics say the policy, which was launched in the 1970s, has led to forced abortions, sterilization and an imbalanced gender ratio.

The one-child family planning policy has been reconsidered in recent months because of concern about the aging population and economic growth.

Beijing's leaders have allowed more open discussion of the issue, particularly as the country continues its path of rapid economic and social change.

Well, I guess we'll see what happens in 10 years.

Arms Dealer Stays in Thailand

2008-03-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Thai police said Friday that Viktor Bout, one of the world's most notorious arms dealers, will be held in Thailand for investigation. The United States is seeking his extradition.

Viktor Bout, 41, was detained Thursday at a hotel in Bangkok, where American officials said he had come to finalize a deal to sell and transport portable surface-to-air missiles and other weapons to men he believed represented the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But the multimillion-dollar deal he allegedly thought he had with Colombian rebels was really the culmination of an elaborate four-month sting operation concocted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bout is under investigation for "procuring weapons for terrorists and conspiring with terrorists." Under Thai law, he could be held for up to 84 days without trial while police investigate the charges, which carry a 10-year prison sentence. Bout is suspected of supplying weapons to Taliban and al Qaeda, and of pouring arms into civil wars in Africa.

Ten years in prison? Please. He should get life in prison.

Palestinian Leader Resumes Peace Talks

2008-03-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli officials were resuming peace talks. Abbas broke off negotiations on Sunday when 120 Palestinians were killed during an offensive.

Although Ms. Rice did not specify when the talks would resume, she said an American general who was overseeing the effort to carry out the “road map” peace plan would hold his first joint meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian sides next week.

“I have been informed by the parties that they intend” to return to peace negotiations, Ms. Rice told reporters after meeting in Jerusalem with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.

The Gaza Strip has been unstable for months. The Hamas militant group, which controls the area, blames Israel for the violence.

"We are in a state of self-defence. When the siege and all forms of aggression come to a stop then we will see," its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday.

I hope the peace talks will at least help to regain a little stability.

Medvedev Wins

2008-03-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin's handpicked successor, won Russia's presidential election on Sunday in a landslide.

Medvedev won 69.6 percent of the vote, trouncing his three rivals, according to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre poll.

Putin is expected to become prime minister, but still have a key role in the country. Many say Putin will use the new president to continue his policies.

Medvedev, 42, the first deputy premier and head of gas monopoly Gazprom, has promised to follow the policies of Putin, who is stepping down after two four-year terms.

Medvedev represents a new generation of post-Soviet politicians and unlike Putin, 55, he has no KGB or other security service background.

But analysts say that Medvedev will make few dramatic changes and could end up being little more than a puppet manipulated by his mentor.

Many opponents said the results were rigged.

Independent observers highlighted a stream of violations, however, saying people were pressured to vote, absentee voting was abused and monitors were refused access to polling stations.

Medvedev's nearest challenger was Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, with 17.2 percent, followed by populist nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky on 11.4 percent, the poll showed. The almost unknown Andrei Bogdanov got just 1.8 percent.

I hope Russia pulls through.

The World Reacts to Fidel's Retirement

2008-02-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

Fidel Castro, Cuba's now-former president, published a column in state-owned newspapers on Friday in response to the world's reaction to his retirement.

American presidential candidates have called for democracy in Cuba. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama argued about how best to push for change during a Thursday night debate. Republican candidate John McCain said Friday that he hopes Castro will die "very soon."

With comments like these flying around the campaign trail and the White House dissing his younger brother Raul as a "dictator lite," Castro said he couldn't hold back.

"I enjoyed observing the embarrassing position of all the presidential candidates in the United States. One by one, they could be seen forced to proclaim their immediate demands of Cuba so as not to alienate a single voter," Castro wrote.

"'Change, change, change!' they shouted in unison. I agree. 'Change!' But in the United States."

On Sunday, parliament is expected to name Raul Castro, Fidel's younger brother, as his successor. Fidel will remain the head of the Communist Party.

Not all countries had negative things to say about the longtime Cuban leader, however.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry praised Fidel as a close ally who did not allow U.S. sanctions and embargo to hinder his leadership.

"The Korean people have regarded Fidel Castro as the closest comrade-in-arms and comrade, and will make positive efforts to steadily consolidate and develop the relations of friendship with the fraternal Cuban people," the North's official Korean Central News Agency cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.

Good riddance.

Serbs Protest Recognition of Kosovo

2008-02-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

Protesters attacked the U.S. Embassy on Thursday in Belgrade, Serbia, storming the building and setting rooms on fire. More than 150,000 demonstrators attended the state-backed rally, which was a response to the United States' recognition of Kosovo as an independent state. The United States declared its decision on Monday, and many other countries have followed suit.

All embassy workers were unharmed, but one demonstrator was killed in the riot. The protest drew condemnation from Washington and the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. State Department said the lack of protection for its mission — riot police were nowhere to be seen when the attack began on Thursday — was intolerable and demanded the Security Council respond.

"The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade, which have resulted in damage to embassy premises and have endangered diplomatic personnel," the Security Council said in a unanimous statement.

Riot police did arrive later during the protest and fired teargas onto the demonstrators, which dispersed the crowd.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic called the acts "absolutely unacceptable, absolutely regrettable."

And so do I.

The Story of Stuff

2008-02-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here is "The Story of Stuff." It's what you need to know about consumption, the United States and climate change. Maybe it'll change your perspective a little bit. I hope it does.

Bush's African Safari

2008-02-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, President George W. Bush began his six-day tour of Africa. Bush is visiting the continent for the second time during his presidency to appeal to Congress, who has questioned his spending levels for his foreign aid programs. The programs help African countries stricken with AIDS and malaria, but only if the countries' politicians agree to embrace democracy and free markets.

In true Bush-like fashion, he chose to skip war-torn countries, like Kenya, Darfur and Chad. Though, at least Bush addressed Africa's crises in Tanzania, where he said he backs mediation efforts in Kenya.

In defense of his decision not to visit Kenya, Darfur and Chad, Bush said he wanted to focus on the success of his programs. (Which, in turn, means not the negative of civil war...)

"When you herald success, it helps others realize what is possible," Bush said. "This is a large place with a lot of nations, and no question not everything is perfect. On the other hand, there's a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories."

Although Bush said he wants to focus on the positive, not all Africans gave him a warm welcome. In a segment on Al Jazeera, a television reporter walked among protesters in Tanzania. They called Bush "evil" and an "oil thief."

But with all the material I read about Bush's six-day African tour, only a few newspapers seemed to think the protests worth mentioning. And most only had one measly paragraph about the riots at the end. So, let's just call his little trip what it really is: a PR campaign to boost his ratings.

Fight Club in Denmark

2008-02-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

Newspapers across Europe reprinted a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday, which sparked worldwide protests in early 2006 and left more than 50 people dead. The reprinting came one day after Danish authorities arrested three people allegedly planning the murder of the Kurt Westergaard, the man behind the drawing.

The cartoon depicted the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse. Islamic law opposes any representation of the prophet for fear of idolatry.

Berlingske Tidende, was one of the newspapers involved in the republication by newspapers in Denmark. It said: "We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper always will defend."

I'm all for freedom of speech, but I'm wondering why these newspapers needed to give the Islamic world another slap in the face when the wounds are still so raw. As the Beatles said, let it be. Let it be.

Just Kidding!

2008-02-11T19:48:00.001-08:00

On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he supported a plan which would pause U.S. troop cuts in Iraq.

This left me confused. Wasn't it just in September that President George W. Bush gave an uplifting speech about how "conditions on the ground in Iraq have improved sufficiently to start bringing some U.S. troops home?" And whatever happened to urging "Americans divided over the war to 'come together?' "

Seems like I'm not the only baffled American.

Democratic nominee hopefuls, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, were fast to criticize Gates' decision.

Obama said the United States should not be expected to fight a war without end in Iraq, while Clinton said it was time to get US forces out of the middle of a "civil war."

Whoever is elected, I hope he or she remains steadfast — unlike those flip-floppers in Washington.

Scarf This

2008-02-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Turkey’s Parliament took a step toward lifting a band against women’s head scarves at universities on Saturday.

Turkish lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure supported by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change Turkey’s Constitution in a way they say would guarantee all citizens the right to go to college regardless of how they dress.

The head scarf ban pits the wealthy middle class of observant Turks against the secular elite, which is backed by the military and judiciary.

Turkish authorities imposed the ban in the late 1990s, arguing that the growing number of covered women in colleges threatened secularism, one of the founding principles of modern Turkey.

Secular Turks peacefully protested on the streets of Turkey’s capital, Ankara, on Saturday. The protesters chanted that secularism and women’s right to resist being forced to wear head scarves was under threat.

"This is a Black Revolution. The head scarf is a political symbol," said lawmaker Canan Aritman of the main opposition Republican People's Party, which said it would appeal the changes. "We will never allow our country to be dragged back into the dark ages."

"You are not opening the door of freedom — you are shutting it forever for the girls," fellow lawmaker Nesrin Baytok said.

"The heads of many girls are shaved by their brothers to force them to wear head scarves."

Erdogan's party argued the university ban invaded individual rights and religious liberty in a country where two-thirds of women still cover their heads.

"We will end the sufferings of our girls at university gates," Erdogan said Thursday, referring to pious female Muslim students who must remove their head scarves as they enter campuses.

Kenyan Crisis

2008-01-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan launched mediation efforts to end the crisis in Kenya. Since Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was reelected in the country’s Dec. 27 election, over 850 people have been killed and 255,000 people displaced.

Opposition argues the election was rigged, and the reelection of Kibaki has spurred mass riots and killings, many being ethnically-driven clashes. If Annan’s peace talks do not work, the death tolls in Kenya could rise significantly.

During his assembly address, Annan called on Kenya's leaders to stop the "downward spiral into chaos that is threatening this beautiful country." "There is only one Kenya, we all have multiple identifies, but I hope you all see yourself as Kenyans first," Annan said. "(We) must stress our common humanity, and uphold respect for human rights and the dignity of others."

A fresh wave of riots began after the early-morning Tuesday murder of Mugabe Were, an opposition politician who was currently organizing a peace march to help stop the crisis and unite the different ethnic groups. Were was shot in his driveway while waiting for the security gate to open. Opposition supporters have called his death a political assassination.

After Were's death, groups of armed youths began gathering in two Nairobi slums after the shooting. Sabat Abdullah, a slum resident, said a gang hefting machetes dragged a doctor from the president's Kikuyu tribe from his clinic "and then cut and cut until his head was off."

Similar scenes have convulsed western Kenya, where police and soldiers in helicopters fired on crowds on Tuesday.

Were’s murder and the violent riots have caused a reaction around the world.

South Africa said it would be disastrous for the continent if the mediation fails. Western donors have urged both sides — who appear far apart — to take the talks seriously or risk losing aid.

Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic presidential hopeful whose father was Kenyan, also spoke out against the violence.

[He] appealed for peace on Nairobi's Capital FM radio station.

"Now is the time for all parties to renounce violence. Now is the time for Kenyan leaders to rise above party affiliations and past ambitions for the sake of peace," Obama said. "Most troubling are new indications that the violence is being organized, planned and coordinated."

Sound like déjà vu? Let’s hope Hotel Kenya isn’t out in theaters next year.

For more information about the crisis, click here.

Want to know what's really going on in Africa?

2008-01-22T23:53:00.000-08:00

Watch this video about Darfur. National Geographic just released it on YouTube.

Some Food For Thought

2008-01-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration declared cloned animals to be safe for consumption. Although the matter got the FDA's approval, some Americans are still wary about eating food from a cloned source. FDA officials insist there is nothing wrong with consuming this type of food.

"We found nothing in the food that could potentially be hazardous. The food in every respect is indistinguishable from food from any other animal," FDA food safety chief Dr. Stephen Sundlof said. "It is beyond our imagination to even find a theory that would cause the food to be unsafe."

The FDA spent six years tracking the safety of cloning, and its decision came after much opposition. Last month, Congress passed legislation which urged further study of the issue. Many members of the public are also protesting the idea of cloned food products.

"If you have moral objections to a particular food, or ethical objections to them, FDA's saying, 'Tough, you've got to eat it,'" said Carol Tucker-Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America, who pledged to push for more food producers to shun clone-derived ingredients.

Sundlof said about half of the 30,500 comments from the public the FDA has received have dealt with labeling.

[Sundlof said] agency regulators cannot require cloned products be labeled as such if ― as they assert ― there is no material difference between them and food produced by conventional methods.

"There's really nothing for us to label," he said.

Consumers won't be able to figure it out for themselves, he said. No test exists that could distinguish meat from a cloned animal from other meat.

While FDA officials insist cloned animals are safe for consumption, they also acknowledge it is not possible to draw conclusions about the long-term health consequences for the animal. In 2003, the first cloned animal, a sheep named Dolly, was euthanized because of a lung disease. She contracted the disease years before her life expectancy.

Even members from the FDA's own focus groups said they were uncomfortable with eating food from cloned animals.

A September 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that 64 percent of Americans were uncomfortable with animal cloning. And when FDA convened its own focus groups, it found a third of consumers would never eat food from cloned animals, while another third weren't worried and the rest fell somewhere in the middle.

Please don't pass me the cloned hamburger.

The Chuck Norris Factor?

2008-01-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

On January 3, the results were in: Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee led the polls in the Iowa caucuses. Before the results were out, I thought Huckabee would be at the bottom of the polls. Boy, was I wrong!

It makes me wonder, did the Oprah Factor and the Chuck Norris Factor actually work?

In the candidates’ last push in New Hampshire, Norris accompanied Huckabee on his campaign. The New Hampshire primary is on Tuesday. The “Huck and Chuck Show” is in full swing.

“If you elect me, what about Chuck Norris for secretary of defense?” Mr. Huckabee said, pledging to build up a military so formidable it would be “Chuck Norris approved.”

Mr. Huckabee’s rally was interrupted periodically by shouts of “Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!” from a group of teenage fans in the crowd.

And what about Obama’s celebrity backer?

In a December rally in Iowa, an audience of more than 15,000 people attended one of Obama’s rallies, during which Oprah made a 17-minute speech.

The intersection of politics and celebrity began the moment that Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, declared, “It is my honor to introduce to you the first lady of television, Oprah Winfrey.” A wave of camera flashes illuminated a downtown convention center here as Ms. Winfrey entered to a thunderous roar.

Intersection of politics and celebrities, indeed. Did the celebrity factor actually work in Iowa? And will the people in New Hampshire vote the same way? I guess we’ll see on Tuesday...

History Repeats Itself

2007-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

A new intelligence report released on Tuesday revealed that Iran stopped working on its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

This new information contradicts the National Intelligence Estimate of 2005, which declared that Iran was a threat to the international community.

The estimate is less severe than a 2005 report that judged the Iranian leadership was "determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure."

Under the new report, it was determined that the country would not have enough highly concentrated uranium to make a nuclear weapon until 2010 to 2015.

Many have said the Bush administration has been positioning itself for a conflict with Iran.

The revised U.S. conclusions come after months of accusations that the Bush administration was attempting to maneuver the United States into a conflict with Iran, which it also accuses of meddling in the nearly 5-year-old war in Iraq. In October, the United States designated elements of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as supporters of terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the new review is a “declaration of victory.”

"This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

"This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons," Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

Once again, the United States is losing valuable support from its key allies, such as China and the European Union. The Bush administration’s stance on Iran is also being questioned by policy makers from the United States.

Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the fact that Iran was several years away from nuclear weapons capability meant "the international community has a significant window of opportunity in which to act to avoid the stark choice between going to war or accepting a nuclear Iran."

"But the Bush administration has long lacked a comprehensive strategy to take advantage of this window," the Delaware Democrat and Democratic presidential hopeful said in a statement. "Instead of continuing its obsession with regime change and irresponsible talk of 'World War III,' we need a policy that focuses on conduct change."

The Bush administration said it still considers Iran a threat, despite the new report.

Déjà vu?

Democracy Schmemocracy

2007-11-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

President of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf declared Thursday that he will remove the country’s state of emergency on Dec. 16. He made the proclamation hours after being sworn in for a third term. On Wednesday, he stepped down from his position as head of the military.

On Nov. 3, Musharraf used his emergency decree to purge the Supreme Court, which was about to rule on the constitutionality of him winning October's presidential election by legislators while still holding a military post. A retooled high court, with justices appointed by Musharraf, gave its stamp of approval last week.

Although Musharraf declared a deadline for the emergency rule, he did not mention removing the detention of former judges and advocates of the Supreme Court, or the suspension of several radio stations and television channels.

After Musharaff’s announcement, there was a flurry of opposition from various groups in Pakistan, including the All Pakistan Democratic Movement, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The group leaders said they were going to boycott the upcoming elections because Musharaff had not reinstated democratic norms under the emergency rule. Many said the elections would be fixed by Musharaff.

Lawyers also protested the elections:

Lawyers protesting Mr. Musharraf’s swearing-in clashed with the police in the city of Lahore, and threw bricks, glasses and sticks at the police who blocked their demonstration. Several lawyers and police officers were injured.

However, Musharaff was adamant that nothing would stop the forthcoming elections.

“Elections, God willing, will be held on Jan. 8 according to the Constitution and no one should create any hurdles.”

At the official ceremony to commence his new term as president, Musharraf told an assembly of foreign diplomats to not impose their political views on the country.

“There is an unrealistic or even impractical obsession with your form of democracy, human rights and civil liberties, which you have taken centuries to acquire and which you expect us to adopt in a few years, in a few months,” Mr. Musharraf said, addressing the diplomats.

“We want democracy; I am for democracy,” he said. “We want human rights, we want civil liberties, but we will do it our way, as we understand our society, our environment, better than anyone in the West.”

Musharraf defended his decision to go to a state of emergency, saying he was always going to lead the country toward democracy and stability.

If Musharraf keeps his word to end the state of emergency, he will have addressed the United States’ main concerns.

The White House welcomed Musharraf’s decision to end the state of emergency and to step down as military leader.

"We hope that he follows through on that," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "I think you have to give President Musharraf some credit here, because while he made the decision to establish the emergency order — which we believed was a mistake, and we counseled against — he did take the step" to lift it.

We should give credit to Musharraf for lifting the state of emergency, but let’s not bend over backward. There are judges and lawyers still under house arrest, and the media continues to be heavily restricted. Release your mandates, I say. Until then, let’s not talk about democracy.

Extending an Olive Branch

2007-11-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

President Bush met with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as well as delegations from 46 countries and international organizations, on Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. to continue a series of peace talks between the two conflicting countries.

The negotiations began on Monday, when Bush met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Tuesday, the leaders set a time line for the resolution, which would lead the way for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel:

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders committed themselves today to negotiate a peace treaty by the end of 2008, setting themselves a deadline for ending a conflict that has endured for six decades.

The document from the negotiations would include a formal announcement of the renewal of peace talks and would commit the two countries to resolve the conflicts which divide them.

Although Bush said he is optimistic about the resolution, some have expressed other opinions:

Stirring televised speeches from Annapolis on Tuesday about the need for peace had limited resonance among Israelis and Palestinians with memories of failed summits that led to more bloodshed. Though it was hardliners on both sides who came out against Tuesday's resolution by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to renew negotiations, reservations were not far from the minds of moderates. "What we need is less talk and more action. Only history can judge whether this conference will bring peace," said Dedi Cohen, 32, a lawyer in Israel's coastal metropolis Tel Aviv.

The resolution faces resistance from the Islamic militant group, Hamas, which labeled Abbas a traitor for attending the meeting. The group leaders vowed to reject any decisions which come from the negotiations.

In Jerusalem on Monday, more than 20,000 Israelis protested against the talks. Protests continued into Tuesday. Violence also clouded the Middle East on Monday as Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in two separate incidents.

The peace talks also confronted skepticism closer to home:

Some in Bush's administration doubt that a settlement is possible in such a short time frame and have reservations about whether the Palestinians, in particular, are ready to make necessary concessions.

Others critics compared Bush to his predecessor, President Clinton, for negotiating peace talks at the eleventh hour. Some saw the peace talks as Bush's attempt to redeem himself after the Iraq war.

“The mother of all photo ops,” an Israeli official called it on Monday, underscoring the fact that when it comes to Middle East peace, skepticism is always in order.

Amen.

Introductions

2007-11-22T20:39:00.001-08:00

Well, hello there.

I’m Elena, the new blogger. Since the current Ink Slinger is graduating this semester, I’m taking over — and I have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Let me introduce myself. Here are a few things you should know about me. (These are the reasons I'm writing in this blog.)
1) I have the travel bug. Exactly one year ago, I was eating my (sushi) Thanksgiving dinner in Tokyo, Japan. Other notable experiences: backpacking across China to the border of Kazakhstan; drinking yak butter tea in a village on the Tibetan plateau; climbing the Great Wall of China; and camping in the Gobi desert. I will be studying in Paris throughout June, and hope to visit London in July. My experiences abroad have made me interested in foreign cultures and international politics.
2) I am currently enrolled in Journalism of Genocide, and it is the most influential class I have taken at the university. (If you’re still an undergraduate, take it.) It is another reason why I became passionate about international politics.
3) I do have some journalism experience. I started writing during my sophomore year as a staff reporter at The Review. (While I was abroad during the Fall semester of my junior year, I took a break from journalism and concentrated on my experiences abroad.) I continued to write for The Review during the Spring semester, when I returned from my trip. Over the summer, I worked at Philadelphia magazine as an online editorial intern. This semester, I again worked for The Review. But this time, I was the Student Affairs Editor.

Also, I love getting feedback on my work. (So feel free to comment.)

Happy reading.

An Omen?

2007-11-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

Quite the visual metaphor.

Iran Reaches Target for Nuclear Program

2007-11-07T13:51:00.001-08:00

Iran

continues to taunt the Unites States and over their “atomic energy” program, saying today they reached an important goal in their efforts to enrich uranium:

Iran has reached a key target of 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday, vowing to ignore UN resolutions calling for a halt to Tehran's sensitive nuclear work.

"We have now reached 3,000 machines," a defiant Ahmadinejad told a rally in the northeastern city of Birjand.

Scientists say that in ideal conditions 3,000 centrifuges can make enough highly enriched uranium in a year's time for an atom bomb.

The one-year projection would be soon enough to allow the Bush administration to launch an attack against Iran, which has been a major worry for many bloggers over the past few months.

The location of Iran’s underground nuclear facility is no secret, and if Iran has its way, the facility in Natanz is slated to house up to 54,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium at an industrial scale.

Ahmadinejad’s assertion that the program is “irreversible” seems like a particularly blatant challenge to the United States’ efforts to halt production.

Last month, Congress received a request for $88 million to speed up the production of the MOP, or Massive Ordinance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bunker buster that was first tested last March. The Air Force is currently capable of deploying the weapon on its B-2 bomber. The bomb is capable of damaging targets up to 200 feet underground – plenty deep to strike the Natanz facility, which is reported to be just 100 feet below the surface. If there is no future plans to attack Iran, why the sudden funding spike?

Attack scenarios have sprung up across the Web, with Iran warning of an 11,000-missle counterattack. Regardless of Iran’s muscle-flexing, most experts agree Iran would be a “walkover” militarily. It’s what comes after the airstrikes that has defense analysts worried.

Iran could send oil prices skyrocketing (even faster than they currently are, if you can believe it), further destabilize Afghanistan and Iraq (if that’s even possible, with Turkey-Kurd crisis), and strike other U.S. interests in the region using hit-and-run tactics.

It looks like diplomacy might be the better option.

Colbert Calls It Quits

2007-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted 13-3 to keep Comedy Central talk-show host Stephen Colbert off the presidential ballot. Today, Colbert announced that he was officially withdrawing from the race:

In a statement today, Colbert said, "Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history — only 10 votes — I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle. It is time for the nation to heal."

Colbert, who was raised on James Island in Charleston, S.C., filed his application last week with the state Democrats and paid the $2,500 filing fee before the noon deadline. After 30 to 45 minutes of debate and discussion, the council decided to reject his application. His check will be refunded.

Colbert's bid drew both strong negative and positive reactions from different media outlets across the country. Those who supported his run point out that the effort brought out the more ridiculous aspects of a White House bid and laid bare the processes behind getting one's name on the ballot that many people wouldn't know had Colbert chosen not to run. While the bid did bring the problems behind campaign finance issues to a larger audience, it's hard to not feel relief at Colbert's withdraw.

The coverage of Colbert's run was just another unneeded distraction in a presidential race that is shaping up to be one of the most important in recent history. Despite an abundance of serious issues and crises the country is facing, many newspapers and networks have opted to cover issues like Colbert's stunt, Hillary Clinton's cackle, John Edwards' hair, which candidate would be the scariest Halloween costume and Dennis Kucinich's UFO encounter.

The support for Colbert was especially high among college students, who, conditioned by late-night viewings of The Daily Show and Colbert's own report, have a tendency to view all things political with cynicism and apathy. Now that Colbert is temporarily off the air and out of the campaign picture, there should be a concentration on the real issues and legitimate problems that the country is currently facing.

Democrats Discuss Undocumented Intergalactic Space Travelers

2007-10-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

Forget about Iraq. Forget terrorism, civil liberties, health care, education or the environment. What’s the most important topic in the upcoming presidential election? Aliens – and it looks like the Democratic Party has a jump on the issue.

In the most recent democratic debate, Tim Russert asked Ohio democrat Dennis Kucinich about allegations that he had seen a UFO:

In the weird last minutes of the debate (the period, by the way, when The Fix made it onto the basketball court in high school) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) gave us a highlight.

Asked about the statement by actress Shirley MacLaine that Kucinich had seen a UFO at her house, Kucinich said that he had. He quickly sought to clarify -- an "unidentified flying object" he said holding up his hand -- but man oh man.

What makes Kucinich's UFO tale particularly rewarding is that he recently questioned President Bush's mental health:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich questioned President Bush's mental health in light of comments he made about a nuclear Iran precipitating World War III.

"I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health," Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board on Tuesday.

Kucinich isn't the only candidate who has alluded to a paranormal experience. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said the government hasn't released important information about Rosewell:

Seriously, Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, called on the government to declassify all Roswell documents. He brought it up himself when Chris Matthews was joking about Kucinich's UFO answer. He said the government hasn't "come clean" on the issue. His campaign will surely say he was joking, he has a sense of humor. But even though he was laughing in some parts of that answer, he wasn't joking about THAT.

While Kucinich and Richardson may have a head start on the alien issue, they aren’t being endorsed by the UFO lobby yet. It looks like Hillary Clinton has this honor:

According to Stephen Bassett, Executive Director of the Paradigm Research Group and chief lobbyist of the Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee, Kucinich isn't even the preferred Democratic vice presidential candidate. That honor goes to Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. As for Bassett's choice for president, Sen. Hillary Clinton inhabits the mothership.

"Hillary has a connection there because there is no way she and John Podesta [Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, who has advocated declassifying relevant government records] weren't fully aware of it. She knows this issue is not trivial," said Bassett. "Of the 20 candidates the two who have clearly identifiable connections to the issue are those two [Clinton and Richardson]. Kucinich is number three.”

So is Kucinich crazy? Maybe not – he could be channeling past presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan, who both had their own close encounters.

Unholy Trinity Causes California Fires

2007-10-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wildfires are raging in southern California. Nearly 1,000,000 people have fled their homes as 16 separate brush fires engulf more than 600 square miles of land. Something is to blame for the disaster – but what? Why, it's President Bush, global warming and terrorists, oh my!

In 2003, the Associated Press detailed an FBI memo that said an al-Qaeda detainee talked of a plan to set wildfires in the western United States:

PHOENIX (AP) — The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

The alleged plan, which had three to four terrorists setting separate fires in different states, was never confirmed true. But if a handful of fires can be attributed to terrorism, what about the other dozen? According to Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), it's global warming:

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, stressing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Moments later, when asked by a reporter if he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

That explains the causes, but why can't we put them out? Obviously it doesn't have anything to do with stronger-than-usual Santa Ana winds. There must be another target at which we can point our fingers – how about President Bush, and the War in Iraq?

President Bush isn’t doing a heck of a job balancing National Guard call-ups to Iraq with states’ needs back home – and that’s crimping the government response to the California wildfires, according to the man who took the blame for the botched federal reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

Michael D. Brown, former chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told WJLA-TV reporter Rebecca Cooper in an exclusive interview Wednesday that the administration has not recognized how much of a “problem” it has with disaster response since so many National Guard troops are in war zones.

Even if this fire eventually comes under control, the only thing Californians have to look forward to is a century of suffering and eternal torment in raging hellfire:

Although [CNN’s Anderson] Cooper admitted that, “no one really knows for sure,” the broadcast still took the time to predict the future with CNN’s Tom Foreman who warned of a possible “century of fires, just like what we're seeing now” as a result of global warming.

"Climatologists say, while we can't blame on fire on climate change, we can say that these factors are combining in that area [Southern California] to set up what could be a century of fires just like what we're seeing now," said Foreman.

No wonder 7-11 year olds have a "pervasive anxiety" about their lives and the world they live in:

Primary-aged children worry daily about global warming and terrorism as well as their friendships and passing the next exam, according to a report based on 700 in-depth interviews with children, their teachers and parents, which will feed into the biggest independent review of primary education in 40 years.

Give me a break.

What Turkey in Iraq Could Mean for Iran

2007-10-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Turkey's response to attacks by the Kurdistan Worker's Party could be a preview of what could come with Iran, who is involved in a startlingly similar battle with the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK. The PJAK has been involved in an ongoing effort to push the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps out of the Kurdistan province in Iran, and their efforts are no less violent than the PKK's.

Last week, Front Page Magazine reported intense fighting between the PJAK and Iranian troops starting in August 2007:

Kurdish rebels based in the rugged mountains along Iraq’s northeastern border with Iran told Newsmax in exclusive interviews at secret guerilla bases that they have killed 200 Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops during clashes over the past two months.

Guerilla leaders of the Party of the Free Life of Kurdistan, PJAK, said they have clashed with Iranian forces 21 times during this time.

According to Washington think-tank The Jamestown Foundation, Iran has entered Iraq territory in response to PJAK attacks:

PJAK has adopted hit-and-run assault tactics against Iranian forces, carrying them out with "small arms and grenades," according to Zagros. Afterward, PJAK fighters may either melt back into Iranian society or re-cross the border into Iraqi Kurdistan.

In May 2006, al-Jazeera reported Iran had pursued PJAK rebels five kilometers into Iraq before withdrawing. Iran has also accused the United States of supporting the PJAK, accusations the United States denies. There are rumors that the PJAK has connections to the PKK, which is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States.

A Turkish movement into Iraq due to PKK attacks could be used as a yardstick for Iran to gage their reaction to future PJAK attacks. The last thing the United States – or the world for that matter – needs is two more countries fighting in Iraq.

Turkey Throws Monkey Wrench

2007-10-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Just as (surprise) good news comes out of Iraq – reports from Iraq's Interior Ministry claim a drastic 70 percent decrease in violence since June 2007 – a looming Turkish invasion stands to disrupt the current period of decreased attacks and improved security:

Dozens of Turkish military vehicles loaded with soldiers and heavy weapons rumbled toward the Iraqi border on Monday after an ambush by rebel Kurds that left eight soldiers missing and 12 dead.

Turkey has reported they will exhaust all diplomatic options before entering Iraq, but the string of attacks by PKK rebels aren't doing much to help the situation:

Tensions are high after a bloody day of fighting on the border between Turkey and Iraq.

Turkey's defense minister says 17 Turkish soldiers were killed after Kurdish separatist rebels ambushed a Turkish military convoy, and then clashed with Turkish troops throughout the day.

The Turkish army is the second largest in NATO, with approximately 600,000 troops. Compare this to the PKK's estimated 3,000 rebels, and it's not hard to see where this conflict is heading – there isn't much hope for a favorable outcome for the Kurdish rebels.

There continues to be back-and-forth reports about either diplomatic or military resolutions to the situation. Turkey's prime minister told the UK newspaper The Times that Turkey will attack northern Iraq:

Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato, its Prime Minister has told The Times.

Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish Workers’ Party, killed at least 17 more Turkish soldiers yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey had urged the US and Iraqi governments repeatedly to expel the separatists but they had done nothing. Turkey’s patience was running out and the country had every right to defend itself, he said. “Whatever is necessary will be done,” he declared in an interview. “We don’t have to get permission from anybody.”

In contrast to these reports, the Kurdish rebels have offered a conditional ceasefire (as if they are in a position to ask for terms):

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (Thomson Financial) - The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said it was offering a ceasefire provided Turkey stops attacking the rebels and abandons plans for an incursion into Iraq, according to a rebel website.

The ceasefire came with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening an imminent incursion into Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on the PKK and hands over its leaders.

And what is the United States doing to help remedy the situation? A full-court press.

Terrorist-Hunting Vigilantes In California

2007-10-17T20:52:00.001-07:00

Last July, the San Diego Union-Tribune broke the story of Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz, who was court marshaled for stealing military intelligence documents and sharing them with several people that included a Los Angeles police detective and a sheriff's deputy:

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz said patriotism motivated him to join a spy ring, smuggle secret files from Camp Pendleton and give them to law enforcement officers for anti-terrorism work in Southern California.

He knew his group was violating national security laws. But he said bureaucratic walls erected by the military and civilian agencies were hampering intelligence sharing and coordination, making the nation more vulnerable to terrorists.

In a plea deal, Maziarz was sentenced to a 26 months in prison in exchange for information and testimony against those he passed files. According to TCS Daily, the group of people who received the documents are an interesting bunch:

Among the alleged conspirators are two colonels in the Marine Corps Reserve, one a detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the other a veteran in the LAPD. A commander in the Naval Reserve who worked as an intelligence analyst at U.S. Northern Command headquarters is also an alleged conspirator.

The conspirators are allegedly part of a vigilante group of comprised of soldiers and law enforcement officers, which begs the question: Why do they feel they need to steal documents in order to help their country?

The case of Sgt. Maziarz is interesting enough in its own right, but his 26 month prison sentence further highlights the soft treatment another government official received for stealing classified documents – former U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.

Berger was charged with stealing classified documents in 2003:

The charging document states that between September 2 and October 2, 2003, Berger "knowingly removed classified documents from the National Archives and Records Administration and stored and retained such documents at places ... including his place of employment."

Berger's plea deal got him a $10,000 fine (around what quarterback Tom Brady received for not buckling his chin-strap) and a three-year suspension of his security clearance. Now, he is an adviser to Hillary Clinton, and still hasn't taken the lie-detector test that was a condition of his probation.

Al Gore Won A Nobel Prize!

2007-10-17T14:39:00.001-07:00

Then again, so did this idiot.

Israel's September Raid

2007-10-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last month's feud over an Israeli violation of Syrian airspace cause a rash of theories that encompassed everything from an accidental violation, to a test of Syrian air defenses, to an airstrike on a nuclear facility that was under construction. Last week, Syria told journalists that the raid never occurred.

Today, more reports came in that support the theory that Israel struck a nuclear reactor:

ISRAEL'S attack on Syria last month was directed at a site that Israeli and US intelligence judged was a partly built nuclear reactor.

It was believed to be modelled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials.

This wouldn't be the first time Israel attacked another country in the Middle East to prevent the construction of a nuclear reactor. In 1981, Israel launched an attack on a near-finished reactor in Iraq. Although the Syrian reactor was reportedly years away from being finished, a strike this early in its construction sends a clear message to other countries in the Middle East about obtaining nuclear materials. The New York Times quoted an Israeli intelligence official of saying just that:

A senior Israeli official, while declining to speak about the specific nature of the target, said the strike was intended to “re-establish the credibility of our deterrent power,” signaling that Israel meant to send a message to the Syrians that even the potential for a nuclear weapons program would not be permitted.

The International Atomic Energy Association was unaware of the reactor, and is still waiting for official reports from Syria about their undeclared nuclear program:

VIENNA (AFP) — The UN nuclear watchdog said Monday it had no information about any "undeclared nuclear facility in Syria" and it was investigating media reports that such a site had been the target of a recent Israeli air strike.

The International Atomic Energy Agency "has no information about any undeclared nuclear facility in Syria and no information about recent reports," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

"We would obviously investigate any relevant information coming our way. The IAEA Secretariat expects any country having information about nuclear-related activities in another country to provide that information to the IAEA."

According to the Times, Syria is not required to declare the existence of the reactor in early construction stages, which might be why the IAEA is in the dark about it.

Most Syrian news outlets haven't denied the construction efforts, but www.syriatruth.org has spoken against the report of a strike:

Syrian newspapers doesn’t even bothered to answer, surprisingly the answer came from the Syrian opposition.

They said:

The question which no media asked until now, if these claims are true and that the target was a nuclear reactor, why the American administration or Israel didn’t publish photographs of the site before and after the bombing.

There is one answer, they can’t show these images because there are no images to prove these claims, all what they did was the bombing of empty buildings or missiles stores.

The issue continues to bounce back-and-forth between Syrian, U.S. and Israeli media reports, and until the IAEA makes a definitive statement about the existence of a facility, it seems the conflicting news will continue to pile up.

As If Iraq Wasn't Complicated Enough...

2007-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

The recent strain on U.S.-Turkey relations due to the House Foreign Affairs Committee's approval of the Armenian genocide resolution Wednesday is causing a whole new set of problems for the United States in Iraq. Turkey recalled their ambassador and warned of consequences for the United States if the resolution is passed:

Turkey, which is a key supply route to U.S. troops in Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Thursday and warned of serious repercussions if Congress labels the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide.

Turkey has warned the genocide bill could jeopardize the United States' ability to use their country as a staging area for Iraq-bound supplies. Approximately 70 percent of U.S. air cargo and 30 percent of fuel used by the U.S. military is sent through Turkey.

While this alone would be a terrible blow to U.S. efforts in the region, it isn't the end of shaky relations with Turkey – relations that will only become more complicated in the coming months. This week, Turkey deployed troops along their border with Iraq in response to attacks on Turkish civilians by Kurdish rebels. Today, there are reports that Turkey plans to invade Iraq in November and stay for the long run:

ANKARA — Turkey has placed its military on the highest state of alert in preparation for a major invasion of neighboring Iraq that could take place by the end of November.

Officials said the Turkish military has deployed tens of thousands of troops, backed by attack helicopters, main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery, in forward positions along the Iraqi border. They said the Turkish force could cross the Iraqi border and attack the Kurdish Workers Party within hours of any order.

"There is a very tense situation along the Iraqi border, and the military is waiting for the green light," an official said.

It is imperative that the House looks at the full consequences that passing the bill could have on American soldiers and interests overseas. Turkey has been one of the United States' strongest allies in the Middle East, and passing the resolution would be detrimental to U.S. efforts in the region. The issue is obviously a complicated one, but it is important that the House carefully examines the situation and does what is in the best interest of the United States. Right now, it looks like defeating the resolution might be the best course of action.

Warning: Biohazard

2007-10-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

If you're a NASCAR fan or just happen to pass through Dover on the way to the Delaware beaches this summer, you might want to take precautions before coming within a few hundred yards of the Monster Mile:

WASHINGTON -- Being around NASCAR fans requires no inoculation.

That was the word Thursday from Republican officials after they learned that a congressional committee's Democratic staffers had advised aides to get vaccinated for hepatitis and other diseases before visiting NASCAR events in Concord, N.C., and Talladega, Ala.

The shots would be reasonable if the suggested vaccines were for common airborne ailments like the flu, but according to The Charlotte Observer, aids were advised to get immunized for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus and diphtheria.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., reportedly said, "If anything, it's the NASCAR fans who should get immunized against Washington officials, not the other way around." McHenry makes a valid point. If the politicians in Washington haven't caught anything from the amount of crap they shovel on a daily basis, NASCAR fans shouldn't pose much of a risk.

Noose Hung at Columbia

2007-10-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

Police are searching for the suspect who hung a noose on the door of a black professor at Columbia University Teachers College yesterday, and investigators aren't just looking at angry students:

NEW YORK (AP) — Investigators on Wednesday were looking into whether a noose hanging from the door of a black professor at Columbia University was the work of disgruntled students or even a fellow professor.

A police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the investigation have not been made public, stressed that investigators were looking into a variety of possibilities. One is that the noose was placed on Madonna Constantine's door by another professor with whom she was having a dispute at the university's Teacher's College, the police official said.

If one examines recent trends, it is reasonable to assume that after catching the person who hung the noose, Columbia will invite them to give a speech at the university.

What's More Ironic than American Businesses Making Money off Che’s Image?

2007-10-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

The man in one of the most reproduced photographs of the 20th century was camera shy.

Who was Ernesto "Che" Guevara?

2007-10-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of Argentinean guerilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara's execution at the hands of the Bolivian armed forces, and opinions about the revolutionary are just as divided today as they were four decades ago.

Since his death, the photograph of Che that the Maryland Institute of Art called, "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century" has appeared on T-shirts, hats and posters across the country and has become one of the most identifiable images ever reproduced.

Next year, it seems the popularity of the figure will only increase as two films chronicling the life of the revolutionary are released, with Benicio Del Toro starring as Guevara. As memorial celebrations start today in Cuba and other South American countries, many people are examining Che’s legacy and the lasting influence of the man behind the photograph. In Cuba, Castro and many citizens still embrace the revolutionary figure:

HAVANA: Fidel Castro paid homage to Ernesto "Che" Guevara as an "exceptional combatant" as many of the Argentine guerrilla's relatives and former comrades gathered in central Cuba on Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of his capture and killing in Bolivia.

"I halt in my daily combat to bow my head, with respect and gratitude, to the exceptional combatant who fell on the 8th of October 40 years ago," Castro wrote in the essay, which was also published Monday in the Communist Party daily Granma. "I give him thanks for what he tried to do, and for what he could not do in his country of birth because he was like a flower yanked prematurely from its stem."

The sentiment of Cuban citizens stands in stark contrast to the opinions of many people in Miami, including Cuban-born CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, who helped capture Guevera. It seems that aside from Cubans and other countries that typically have anti-American policies, most hold the opinion that Che was a bloodthirsty killer:

So who is this man New Yorkers by the thousands are canonizing and celebrating? He is an anti-democratic demagogue at best - and a murderous thug at worst.

Other critics of Che and those who idolize him are a little harsher with their comments:

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the execution in Bolivia of Argentine-born Ernesto “Che” Guevara while trying to foment a Cuban-style revolution among the peasants of Bolivia. The peasants turned on him.

For some inexplicable reason he is now a hero to Hollywood leftists and countless numbers of spoiled rich, white kids. At least some capitalist is profiting on his image printed on t-shirts. I wonder if the terrorist would have grasped the irony there.

So, was Che a hero or villain? It depends who you ask, but it seems most informed opinions point toward the latter.

Kim Jong Il Declares Internet Expertise

2007-10-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

There must be something about running an Axis of Evil country that causes a leader to make outrageous statements. In September, there was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claiming he is a master in calculation and tabulation. Now, it's North Korea leader Kim Jong Il proclaiming he is an "Internet expert:"

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il called himself an "Internet expert" during summit talks with South Korea's president this week, a news report said Friday.

The reclusive leader made the remark after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun asked that South Korean companies operating at an industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong be allowed to use the Internet, Yonhap news agency reported, without citing any source.

"I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired," Kim told Roh, according to Yonhap.

Kim's statement has technology bloggers wondering just what the problems could be. Some have suggested Kim has been hanging out with Al Gore for a little too long, while others say it is state-imposed Internet restrictions that are keeping the country disconnected.

While censorship may be part of the problem, a Networkworld.com post gives an interesting look into why Koreans are still in an Internet dark age – they don't have electricity:

Look at that picture (one of the most remarkable I've ever seen). Yes, it's been around for a few years, but there certainly would appear to be problems "if other regions of the North are wired," primary among them being that so much of the North looks to lack an essential element of networking: electricity.

It certainly doesn't take an expert to see what's wrong with this picture.

Vet Cuts Down Mexican Flag

2007-10-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

A U.S. Army veteran climbed on the roof of a Reno, Nevada bar and cut down a Mexican flag that was flying above the American flag:

After hearing a Reno bar was flying a Mexican flag above a U.S. flag, an angered U.S. Army veteran took matters into his own hands, drove to the site and cut down the banners in front of a stunned group of Hispanic patrons.

Reno television station KRNV, which was there to document Jim Broussard's act of defiance, noted the U.S. code prohibits raising the flag of any other nations above Old Glory.

Broussard pulled up in his truck to the Cantina El Jaripeo near downtown Reno yesterday, cut the rope that anchored the flags and pulled them down from a makeshift flagpole.

Broussard, along with many news organizations, have reported the act was a violation of United States law. The American Civil Liberties Union has stated otherwise:

The ACLU of Nevada is concerned about recent media reports that it is "illegal" to fly foreign flags over the U.S. flag.

While there is indeed a federal law regulating the display of the U.S. flag, that law is merely advisory and simply codifies standard government practice in displaying the American flag.

Several federal courts have examined this law and held that the flag rules are not mandatory and cannot be enforced. Indeed, if the federal flag rules were mandatory, they would clearly violate the First Amendment, which protects every American's right to speak and express themselves, including their choice of flag to display.

While flying the Mexican flag above the American flag may not have been in violation of any laws, it was a blatant insult to American citizens. So far, there have been few questions about whether the gesture itself was disrespectful – that much is obvious. The arguments concern Broussard's method of flag removal.

Local Reno news station KNRV's message board is active with debate from both sides. Here is a typical argument from the non-confrontational side:

While a law was broken and needed to be corrected, I believe a less forceful means may have helped to build a bridge of understanding rather than the forceful act of destruction of private property that was exacted.

Perhaps a boycott and picketing of the establishment would have impacted this business owners operation, or a verbal discussion of the fact that he had broken the law would have been better.

And from the other side:

I support the veteran who removed the American flag with his knife.

They don't deserve to get it back after illegally placing the Mexican flag above ours. If charges are brought against the veteran for theft, I anticipate a firestorm of protest.

This is disgraceful!

It seems that if Broussard acted in a less-confrontational manner, the issue would die at the local level. The direct manner in which he acted allowed the situation to receive national attention that it wouldn't have gained had he simply asked for the flag to be removed. It looks like his actions could be beneficial as a way to educate ignorant Americans, both documented and undocumented, about what it means to disrespect our flag.

A Global Warning

2007-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

A United Kingdom court has ruled that frequent private-jet flyer and global-warming activist Al Gore's Oscar-winning film, "An Inconvenient Truth," must bear a warning message when it is shown in UK schools:

Schools will have to issue a warning before they show pupils Al Gore's controversial film about global warming, a judge indicated yesterday.

The move follows a High Court action by a father who accused the Government of 'brainwashing' children with propaganda by showing it in the classroom.

Stewart Dimmock said the former U.S. Vice-President's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, is unfit for schools because it is politically biased and contains serious scientific inaccuracies and 'sentimental mush'.

Is it excusable to stretch facts and use biased data if it raises awareness about an important issue?

It's Not Even November...

2007-10-02T00:43:00.001-07:00

Let the jolly ol' Christmas crises begin:

There was some heated discussion between parents outside Columbus Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn on Friday. The thought of no more traditional holiday celebrations has many parents really upset.

For now, children in Ridgeland School District 122 will celebrate fall festival instead of Halloween and winter festival instead of Christmas.

Here we go. Again.

Stallone Witnesses "Hellhole" in Burma

2007-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

The hope that technology and international pressure could have prevented a large-scale massacre in Burma seems to have been wishful thinking as reports of mass-murder have starting to become more frequent. In the six months while filming John Rambo along the Thailand-Burma border, Sylvester Stallone said he saw "...a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams:"

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sylvester Stallone says he and his "Rambo" sequel movie crew recently witnessed the human toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Myanmar border.

"I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off," Stallone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific."

The film deals with John Rambo of “First Blood” fame and his trip to Burma to take on soldiers who have kidnapped human rights workers. Stallone returned from the region a week ago, before the large-scale crackdown that has occurred during the past few days. Today, reports from a Burmese intelligence officer put the toll in the thousands:

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

In addition to the rising death toll, empty monasteries have led many to infer that thousands more monks have been imprisoned:

"We do believe the death toll is higher than acknowledged by the government," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, told The Associated Press Monday. "We are doing our best to get more precise, more detailed information, not only in terms of deaths but also arrests."

Villarosa said her staff had visited up to 15 monasteries around Yangon and every single one was empty. She put the number of arrested demonstrators — monks and civilians — in the thousands.

"I know the monks are not in their monasteries," she said. "Where are they? How many are dead? How many are arrested?"

There are reports that an accurate number may never be attainable because of the strict security within the country and the practice of cremation in which the Buddhist monks engage.

The United Nations was scheduled to meet with Burmese leaders today, but the trip was rescheduled when UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari was sent on a scenic tour:

Gambari made his second trip in two days to the country's new and remote capital Naypyidaw, hoping to see the reclusive general.

But officials said he was instead taken to another distant corner of the country for a helicopter tour, in a move that puzzled analysts and highlighted the unpredictable nature of the regime.

The UN is supposed to “express outrage” and “urge calm” to the Burmese junta over the crackdowns, but it seems just a little more might needed to prevent further violence.

Burma or Myanmar?

2007-09-28T14:22:00.001-07:00

Which is it called? Here is why Time magazine uses Burma:

[NOTE: The junta that runs the country imposed a systematic name change several years ago, decreeing that Burma was to be called Myanmar and the capital Rangoon was to be Yangon. The opposition has never accepted these changes; neither has the U.S. government. TIME continues to use Burma and Rangoon.]

Burma it is.

Did Technology Help Prevent a Massacre?

2007-09-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

The crackdown on protesters in Burma could have been much worse. Although the event is far from over and the junta hasn't finished its violence agaisnt citizens, those who marched in the streets gave the world an unprecedented look into a country that has lived behind the censorship of a repressive military government for more than two decades. The use of modern technology gives the monks the ability to show the world their protest:

The military junta rules and the press is government controlled and heavily censored. Yet as images of the monks' protests are splashed around the world's media it is apparent technology in the form of blogs, digital photos, and text messaging has become the chink in the regime's armor.

"The technology is making a huge difference. Now everyone in the world can know what is happening in Burma (Myanmar) via the Internet," said Sein Win, managing editor of Mizzima News, an India-based news group run by exiled dissidents, "It is a reality of globalization. Whether the junta likes it or not, the government cannot isolate itself from the international community," Sein Win said.

Technology is playing a vital role in helping the world see exactly what is going on inside the country. Now that the Burmese government is in the international spotlight, a violent repression could be instantly broadcast to the entire world. While this probably isn't the sole reason a massacre didn't occur, it may have had a hand in preventing a brutal crackdown on the scale of the 1988 massacre. If the junta didn't care about public opinion, it wouldn't have one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world according to reporters without borders.

Today, there are reports that the Burmese government has shut down the Internet in attempts to quell the unrest and reports leaving the country:

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — As soldiers in Myanmar intensified their crackdown on pro-democracy protesters Friday, authorities also went after the Internet and mobile phones that have proven so vital and powerful in documenting the dramatic confrontations.

The Internet has played a crucial role in the flow of information out of the reclusive Southeast Asian nation where few foreign journalists are permitted to operate and media freedom is severely restricted.

It is important that the world keeps its attention focused on the situation in Burma. While reports from inside the country may decrease, exiles in Thailand and India are still posting blogs, video and pictures that give at least some idea about the situation:

Restrictions on Internet use imposed by the military's State Peace and Development Council sharply reduced the flow of information. As a result, Thailand-based exile groups and outside observers had only a sketchy picture of what was going on in Rangoon, Burma's main city, and the dozen other places where anti-government protesters led by Buddhist monks have mounted the strongest challenge to the junta since 1988.

In addition to exiles, satellite imaging has provided a look into the destruction the Burmese government is causing. The world needs to continue to see these images.

Bill is Bored

2007-09-26T13:54:00.001-07:00

Wandering aimlessly around the streets of New York City, former president Bill Clinton was on a mission. Coming fresh off of a victory over GQ and looking to continue his streak of dominating suppression, he spotted an image in a Manhattan restaurant window that immediately grabbed his attention.

As he closed in on the photo, the reality of the situation became horribly clear. It was his daughter Chelsea, smiling, in a faded photograph prominently displayed in Osso Buco, a Greenwich Village restaurant.

If displaying the picture wasn't terrible enough, she was in the company of mugshots of other notorious New Yorkers including Regis Philbin, Derek Jeter and Rudolph Giuliani. The cruelty!

So Bill did what any proud father would do – he instructed his counselor Douglas Band to send the restaurant owner a threatening letter:

In a September 18 letter to Osso Buco, an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village, the ex-president demands the removal of the five-year-old photo of his daughter and Nino Selimaj, the eatery's owner.

If Selimaj fails to comply with the removal request, the letter notes, "We reserve the right to exercise any and all options available to us."

Reports say Bill doesn't want Chelsea's photo displayed in the restaurant because she is a private citizen. So private, in fact, that she does not have the ability to come out and request the picture be removed herself.

According to the New York Post, Bill's swift action might have cost Hillary a vote in the upcoming election:

"I am really heartbroken," Selimaj told us. "Until this morning, I would have voted for Hillary. Bill was my favorite president of all time . . . I really hope they will reconsider."

Somebody needs to give Bill a Rubik's Cube or Etch A Sketch to keep him busy.

Protesters Defiant in Burma

2007-09-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

With the drama involving Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the crises in the Middle East, it's easy to focus on news that addresses this region alone. But there is another situation that is becoming increasingly more tense in Burma, where more than 100,000 monks have taken the streets in protest against the military government that has ruled the country for the past two decades:

The march, cheered and applauded by thousands of bystanders, is the latest and largest in a series of protests by Burma's monks and dissidents. Diplomats fear that the country has now reached a turning point, with the generals who have ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century facing the biggest challenge to their power for 20 years.

While a protest could be seen by many in the United States as a peaceful exercise in free speech, the Burmese government sees it as a threat to their power. They have repeatedly asked the monks to cease the protests, and many fear if they continue, there could be a repeat of the 1988 massacre, where approximately 3,000 demonstrators were killed when the government stepped in. Today, the junta brought out the guns:

YANGON (Reuters) - The Myanmar junta poured troops and police armed with rifles into central Yangon on Tuesday in an attempt to end the biggest demonstrations against military rule in nearly 20 years.

Hundreds of them surrounded the Sule Pagoda, focus of two days of mass protests led by thousands of maroon-robed monks, and appeared to be preparing to seal off the area, witnesses said.

President Bush has ordered new sanctions against the military government, and has voiced support for the protesters. China, Burma's chief ally, has also warned against the use of force:

At the start of the year, China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution directing the Secretary-General to open negotiations with the Burmese regime, in part because of China's longstanding opposition to international interference in "domestic affairs".

Now, on the same principle, it is declining to offer public backing for the generals.

Hopefully the international pressure prevents the use of force to quell the dissent.

Ahmadinejad Speech a Waste of Time

2007-09-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the column here.

When students at Columbia show undeserved respect to Ahmadinejad, this is how it is interpreted by the Iranian news wire:

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

Great job challenging the leader.

Bill Clinton – Hillary's Henchman?

2007-09-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

It looks like President Bush has been warming up to Hillary Clinton. An Examiner.com report says Bush has been giving behind-the-scenes advice to Hillary and other democrats:

Washington, D.C. - President Bush is quietly providing back-channel advice to Hillary Rodham Clinton, urging her to modulate her rhetoric so she can effectively prosecute the war in Iraq if elected president.

In an interview for the new book “The Evangelical President,” White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten said Bush has “been urging candidates: ‘Don’t get yourself too locked in where you stand right now. If you end up sitting where I sit, things could change dramatically.’ ”

And this isn't the only exclusive treatment democrats have been receiving. Bush has also broken his silence about the 2008 presidential candidates, saying Hillary could win the primary:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Breaking a self-imposed gag rule, President George W. Bush is predicting Democrat Hillary Clinton will win her party's presidential nomination but lose to the Republican nominee in the November 2008 election.

"I think our candidate can beat her, but it's going to be a tough race," Bush said in an interview for "The Evangelical President," a book by a reporter for The Examiner newspaper of Washington, Bill Sammon.

While Hillary might be thankful the president has faith in her campaign, a lot can happen to her image between now and next year's elections if negative articles about the former first lady ever see the light of day. A Politico report says Bill flexed some ex-presidential muscle and was successful in getting GQ to kill an article that would detail trouble in the Clinton campaign:

Early this summer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president learned that the men’s magazine GQ was working on a story the campaign was sure to hate: an account of infighting in Hillaryland.

So Clinton’s aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity coverboy Bill Clinton.

Thank goodness the journalistic world has courageous people like GQ editor Jim Nelson.

While the suppression of this article would be bad enough, it might not be the first time Bill has helped bury a story. According to WorldNetDaily, he meddled with the release of "The Path to 9/11," an Emmy-nominated ABC miniseries that might never see DVD release:

The DVD of the ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11," which underwent edits under pressure from former President Bill Clinton before its original network airing in 2006, is months past due for release, and one of its writers believes it's because of pressure from the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Even though it's likely this kind of behavior happens on both sides of the political spectrum, most candidates aren't married to a Bill Clinton, whose influence reaches a little further than an Ann Romney or Michelle Obama.

In such a calculated attack on unfavorable press, the Clintons must have considered how killing the reports would make them look. It's tempting to think about what could have been in the GQ piece or the unedited miniseries had that was so damaging to their campaign.

Great Philosophical Mind to Visit United States

2007-09-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

One of the world's greatest analytical minds is scheduled to visit the United States Sunday to address the United Nations General Assembly. He is Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he is the "Socrates of the third millenium:"

TEHRAN - A research centre run by the office of the president of Iran has released a 15-page document in which they define President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the "Socrates of the Third Millenium".

In the document, various speeches and letters written by the Iranian president are analysed and it concludes that "Ahmadinejad reasons and discusses exactly as Socrates did in ancient Greece, by disarming other speakers and through his sharp reasoning."

While Americans should feel lucky that we are being graced with one of the world's brilliant thinkers, the U.S. government has taken irresponsible steps to deny Ahmadinejad a visit to Ground Zero:

A remark by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly that the Police Department was considering a request by Iran that its president visit ground zero set off complaints yesterday before the department corrected itself.

Late in the day, it said, the request had already been turned down.

Good thing he has the courage to overcome the biased rejection and go anyway. What's even worse than being denied the visit is the amount of unfounded criticism being levied at the master of reasoning:

Face it, Mr. "I'm-a-Jihad" just wants to tick you off, and rub your nose in his taunts. I don't have to go through the list of his offenses, do I?

Even if you set aside the Holocaust denials and his wishes to wipe Israel off the map, there is the little matter of his nation's efforts to kill and maim Americans in Iraq, and his recent statement that when the American troops pull out he might send Iranians troops into Iraq. But none of his offenses could compare to his desire to come to Ground Zero to survey the destruction.

What blatant disregard for such an exalted figure! What utter disrespect! Is there anyone in this country that will show this forward-thinking, peaceful, civil and human rights championing world leader compassion and give him a forum to share his enlightened ideas? Yes – our American institutes of higher education will:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an offer to speak next week at Columbia’s World Leaders Forum, the University announced Wednesday.

The appearance of Ahmadinejad—widely criticized for espousing anti-Semitic views and condemned for apparent human rights abuses—will mark the head of state’s first-ever public engagement at a U.S. university and seems certain to fuel heated protest on and beyond Columbia’s campus.

And if the speech at Colombia isn't a large enough crowd to spread a message of hope, the intellectual minds of Hollywood can help:

Iran has invited American director Oliver Stone to visit the country to discuss production of his documentary about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after initially rejecting the project.

U.S. citizens should be thankful that we live in a country where our universities aren't afraid to help spread the wisdom of other world views. More universities should take steps to reserve speeches by progressive thinkers of today. Central Connecticut State University could lead the way, as it seems one lucky student has found wisdom through Osama bin Laden:

As of late, if you were to bring up the president in a discussion you would find that many Americans disapprove of the decisions he has made. At the same time, Osama bin Laden presents many good arguments against the president and many of his reasons for disapproving of Bush are similar to those of anti-Bush Americans. Would it be wrong to assume that there is some kind of connection between feelings of the American people and those of Osama bin Laden?

Hopefully, the rest of America can follow their tolerant example and we all can move forward – America, Ahmadinejad and bin Laden – hand-in-hand, toward a new, open-minded world.

Wear Black Tomorrow

2007-09-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, thousands of Americans will make the trip to the small town of Jena, La., to show both support for the Jena Six and disgust at a criminal justice system that has shown obvious racial bias toward six students who acted out against a series of race-related threats and attacks from their white classmates.

If you aren't familiar with the Jena Six, a well-documented timeline of events can be found here.

The charges have raised concerns over a different kind of racism emerging in the South –

Three rope nooses hanging from a tree in the courtyard of a school in a small Southern town in Louisiana have sparked fears of a new kind of "stealth" racism spreading through America's deep south.

The bad old days of the "Mississippi Burning" 60s, civil liberties and race riots, lynchings, the KKK and police with billy clubs beating up blacks might have ended.

But in the year that the first serious black candidate for the White House, Barak Obama, is helping unite the races in the north, the developments in the tiny town of Jena are disturbing.

Support for the Jena Six has been pouring out since their arrest, and an organized march is scheduled to occur tomorrow, the day the first student was to face sentencing. Even though his conviction has since been overturned, buses and caravans are leaving dozens of American cities tonight and tomorrow morning, making their way to the small town of approximately 3,500 to show their support for the Six.

More than 300 Facebook groups have been created to show support for the Six, and an Internet petition has gathered more than 300,000 signatures. The case has received so much international attention that English rocker David Bowie has donated $10,000 to the students' defense. Initial predictions place tomorrow's rally attendance at 30,000, while higher estimates reach more than 60,000. Those who can't attend are urged to wear black to show their support.

What's troubling is that many Americans have never even heard about the case. Hopefully, tomorrow serves as a wake-up call.

"A Lot of Hype"

2007-09-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

The United Nations atomic energy chief Mohamed ElBaradei has spoken out against earlier French comments concerning war with Iran:

The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief has warned against the hasty use of force over Iran's nuclear programme after the French foreign minister said the world needs to prepare for the possibility of war.

Bernard Kouchner said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."

Mohammed ElBaradei dismissed Kouchner's comments as "a lot of hype" at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference on Monday. "We need always to remember that use of force could only be resorted to when ... every other option has been exhausted," he said.

"There is a UN charter and there are rules for the international use of force."

Even if military action turns out to be all hype, sanctions could be a reality soon enough. And if the UN decides to get soft on Iran, France and much of the Western world might just deal with it themselves:

France is leading the calls for the European Union to consider new sanctions against Iran, outside of United Nations action.

French pressure has grown since President Nicolas Sarkozy took power in May. But Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that European countries should prepare their own non-UN sanctions.

If the European Union and United States can do whatever they want outside of the UN, what does it say about the organization's effectiveness?

Fightin' Words

2007-09-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

The sabers are rattling and the noise is coming from the most unexpected of places – France:

THE world should "prepare for war" with Iran, the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Sunday, escalating tensions over the country's nuclear program.

Mr Kouchner said that while "we must negotiate right to the end" with Iran, if Tehran possessed an atomic weapon it would represent "a real danger for the whole world" and the world should "prepare for the worst … which is war".

While United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates has maintained diplomacy is the preferred way to deal with Iran, there continues to be a number of reports that say the United States has drawn up plans for an attack:

Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.

Looking at the past few weeks' headlines, it seems that the "carefully calibrated programme of escalation" is well underway. Between today's comments from France, Syria-North Korea nuclear connections and last week's Israeli airstrike in Syria, the region has continued to contribute to a surge in international confrontations.

While the United States hasn't been completely straightforward on its intent to attack, Iranian news sources have made the country's intentions a little less ambiguous:

Six hundred Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel, and will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian website affiliated with the regime reported on Monday.

"Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked," the Iranian news website, Assar Iran, reported. "600 missiles will only be the first reaction."

And if the missiles weren't enough to send a message to the West, Iran banned Google.

In the (hopefully) unwanted event that the French go to war with the United States, will they get their fries back?

Pop-Up Ads – A Thing of the Future?

2007-09-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

The days of pop-up free Internet browsing may be numbered if advertising companies decide to file a lawsuit against third party ad-blocking programs. According to a New York Times article, pop-up blockers may be illegal:

Tomorrow's legal fight may be over Web browser add-ons that let people avoid advertisements. These add-ons are growing in functionality and popularity, which has led legal experts surveyed this week by CNET News.com to speculate about when the first lawsuit will be filed.

If ad-blockers become so common that they slice away at publishers' revenues, "I absolutely would expect to see litigation in this area," said John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

As if this isn't enough to anger people who are tired of seeing advertising invade every aspect of their lives, cell phones may be the next target for marketing companies:

Your cell phone may be one of the last spots around that's relatively free of advertising -- but not for long. Media and advertising companies have found a way of latching on to people's handsets by beaming ads to them via Bluetooth, the same technology used in some hands-free headsets.

Here's how it works: When you're standing less than 10 meters away from a Bluetooth interactive billboard, window display or concert hall booth, you'll be asked if you want to switch on your Bluetooth function and accept a file. That file could be a video, a song or an offer of rebate coupons.

Is there an escape? Doubt it.

News Flash! Mark Fuhrman Plants Sports Memorabilia in Vegas Hotel Room

2007-09-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police Department detective who gained notoriety for his role in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has made another attempt to frame the former football star:

Las Vegas police questioned O.J. Simpson after a memorabilia dealer told them the former football star and murder defendant robbed him at gunpoint in a Las Vegas casino hotel room, police and other sources said on Friday.

Simpson was questioned about Thursday night's hotel room confrontation but was not taken into custody, a Las Vegas police spokeswoman said.

Just kidding. But check out what's number one in books today at www.amazon.com.

Oil Up, Weight Down?

2007-09-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

Oil prices reached a record high yesterday as Hurricane Humberto pounded Texas refineries and caused production problems:

Oil first traded over $80 a barrel on Wednesday after the Energy Department reported declines in crude and gasoline inventories and refinery activity last week.

While at first, this might seem like more bad news for the oil industry and your wallet, the increase in gas prices might just do what thousands of fitness experts have been trying to do for years – trim the fat from American asses:

Higher US gasoline prices may slim more than just wallets, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Entitled "A Silver Lining? The Connection between Gas Prices and Obesity," the study found that an additional $1 per gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce US obesity by 15 percent after five years.

The report, written by Charles Courtemanche for his doctoral dissertation in health economics, found that 13 percent of the rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to falling pump prices. Gas hit a low of less than $1.50 per gallon in 2000 before moving back to a record high of $3.22 in May 2007.

Good news, right? Maybe not. The study claims the fat-loss will come with an increase in walking and bicycling, and the idea that more Americans will eat out less and cook healthier meals at home. What they failed to take into account is a service that many people will gladly take advantage of: Home delivery. How many obese Americans who sit in front of the television or the computer screen gorging on chips and dumping two-liters of Mountain Dew down their throats will stop and think, "Hey, why don't I walk to the grocery store, walk home, then cook a healthy meal?" Not many. When food is just a phone call away, there is hardly any reason to pay the toll of increasing gasoline prices and sacrifice the convenience of prepared food.

But then again, the obesity epidemic could have a bright side, too – fewer babies:

Soaring levels of obesity in the western world are expected to trigger a major new infertility crisis among women, doctors warn today. The Lancet reports that the obesity epidemic will leave more couples struggling to conceive as women suffer more fertility-related problems.

And fewer babies means less carbon emissions:

Instead of burning down our numbers with oil and gas, we might follow the advice of the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, who tells Weisman that everyone in the world should stop having kids all at once. Weisman isn't up for quite so drastic a measure, but he makes his own pitch, moderate in comparison: Let's cut the birth rate to one child per couple, for a few generations at least. The population would dwindle by about 5 billion people over the next century, he says, ensuring the habitability of the Earth for the 1.6 billion who remained. At that point, they could all reap the rewards of a more spacious planet, sharing in "the growing joy of watching the world daily become more wonderful." It seems like a notion from the fringe, but Weisman's book has become a mainstream best seller. Could population control be the next big thing in green culture?

So let's eat ourselves to extinction – the world depends on it.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

2007-09-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

And Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran... Oh my.

Getting Syrias

2007-09-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last week's incident involving Israeli airplanes violating Syrian airspace seems to be the beginning of a larger dilemma. If you thought relations with the region couldn't get any more strained:

Israel believes that North Korea has been supplying Syria and Iran with nuclear materials, a Washington defense official told the New York Times. “The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” he said.

The official added that recent Israeli reconnaissance flights over Syria revealed possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials estimate might have been supplied with material from North Korea.

According to the New York Times, last week's airspace violation wasn't just a little mistake:

A Defense Department official said Israeli jets had struck at least one target in northeastern Syria last Thursday, but the official said it was still unclear exactly what the jets hit and the extent of the bombing damage.

While the Times says the target remains unknown, Ynet news reported a Middle Eastern newspaper uncovered evidence that the strike hit something much more sensitive than empty desert:

Meanwhile on Wednesday the Nazareth-based Israeli Arab newspaper The Assennara cited anonymous Israeli sources as saying that Israeli jets "bombed a Syrian-Iranian missile base in northern Syria that was financed by Iran... It appears that the base was completely destroyed."

And just in case anyone had doubts about Syria's intent to retaliate, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Shara told Italian newspaper Le Repubblica, "Damascus will retaliate:"

Following IDF's reported violation of Syrian airspace, Farouk al-Shara tells Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 'All I can say is that the military and political echelon is looking into a series of responses as we speak. Results are forthcoming'

And what does the United States plan to do concerning the new tension in the region? Draw up plans to bomb Iran, of course:

A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime, FOX News confirmed Tuesday.

In addition to these United States plans, the UK has sent soldiers to the Iraq-Iran border to monitor crossing of equiment and personnel into Iraq. While this may seem like a reasonable precaution necessary for security in Iraq, it could bring (hopefully unwanted) consequences:

The operation is regarded as a high-risk strategy which could lead to clashes with Iranian-backed Shia militias or even Iranian forces and also leaves open the possibility of Iranian retaliation in the form of attacks against British forces at the Basra air base or inciting violence to draw them back into Basra city.

And then there's the Russian and Chinese connections to the region, as if relations with the Middle East weren't complicated enough.

How Do We Remember?

2007-09-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

It’s been six years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and a question that has been dominating discussions this year might come as a surprise: Is it time to get over 9/11?

The Review’s Sarah Lipman addressed the idea in this week’s column:

Now is the time to really simplify tributes to 9/11, especially when not commemorating a five or 10-year landmark, and let families cope with their losses privately - no matter what stage they are in the grieving process.

Lipman's view is shared by an increasing amount of Americans across the country, many of whom feel politicians have turned the loss of more than 3,000 American lives into a political tool. The Philadelphia Daily News blogger Will Bunch made a case for this position nine days ago:

Because the problem is this: If we become consumed -- almost to the point of irrationality -- with national grief over 9/11 some six years now after the fact -- than our grief is too easily manipulated by the unscrupulous among our alleged leaders.

He went on to write:

Politics and 9/11 should not mix.

Except they already have -- every time that President refers to 9/11 in a speech about why our overburdened troops should stay in Iraq (where more more have died than in the 2001 attacks), or every time the tragic events of that day are cited as a reason to further rip our constitutional protections to shred, to spy on innocent Americas, or every time that a real world issue like the lack of health care for all U.S. children is ignored because no issue is allowed to trump our response to one lethal attack. Each anniversary, we have been looking back at the tragedy and the disastrous impact it continues to have on thousands of American families.

But foreign policy issues and the War in Iraq have served to lessen the impact of 9/11 in recent years. Democratic presidential candidate and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich made clear the extent to which the War in Iraq has diminished many people's capacity to commemorate the more than 3,000 lives that were lost less than a decade ago:

"I believe the best way to honor the memory of those who died on September 11 is to tell the truth of what the Administration did in the wake of September 11. The Bush Administration launched a war against Iraq, conflating the true tragedy of September 11 with lies about weapons of mass destruction."

While these views do outline valid points concerning what exactly 9/11 has become in the years since 2001, it is important to realize the continued suffering that many people affected by the attack are still experiencing.

Here’s a piece by Thomas J. Meehan III, who was confronted with this issue when he was honoring his daughter who was killed on 9/11:

We placed objects in the display cases Aug. 31. As we were completing the process, two women were viewing the display. One expressed how she felt about the display. The other responded, “Why don't they get over it?”

I am not sure if she realized we were in earshot. If I had responded I would say the exhibit is there for people exactly like her because the lives of almost 3,000 Americans lost that day should not be forgotten. The outreach to the families of Sept. 11 should not be forgotten. The sacrifices of those who worked at Ground Zero, and paid the price in so many ways, should not be forgotten. Those who have worn the uniform in the war on terrorism should not be forgotten.

While the event was tragic, it shouldn't be remembered as solely a tragedy. The goodwill of so many Americans who rushed to help those affected by the attacks is often overlooked due to the focus on the lives lost and political feuds. But this still leaves the question: How should it be remembered?

Here is what some Americans are doing:

On Sept. 11, Jacob Sundberg of San Antonio has pledged to make eye contact and smile at everyone he meets. Kaitlin Ulrich will bring goody baskets to the police and fire departments in and around Philadelphia. And 100 volunteers from New York – 9/11 firefighters and family members among them – are going to Groesbeck, Texas, to rebuild a house destroyed by a tornado last December.

This is a minute sampling of the hundreds of thousands of people who have pledged to memorialize those killed on 9/11 by doing something good for others.

The heroic acts of all those killed trying to save others that September morning has spawned a growing grass-roots movement. The goal is to ensure that future generations remember not just the horror of the attacks, but also the extraordinary outpouring of humanity during the days, weeks, and months that followed.

The best way? Maybe so.

Red Brain, Blue Brain

2007-09-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

A New York University study was released yesterday that found the difference between Democrats and Republicans may be more than feelings about a few core issues – it’s in the brain:

The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough choices, suggesting that some political divides may be hard-wired, according a study released Sunday.

The study gives a scientific explanation for everything from John Kerry’s flip-flops to President Bush’s persistence in Iraq:

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits "despite signals that this ... should be changed."

Whether that is good or bad, of course, depends on one's perspective: one could interpret the results to mean that liberals are nimble-minded and conservatives rigid and stubborn.

Or one could, with equal justice, conclude that wishy-washy liberals don't stick to their guns, while conservatives and steadfast and loyal.

Hopefully, medicine can be developed that can serve as a temporary cure for certain "conditions."

Did Diplomacy Work?

2007-09-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

President Bush said today there is hope for a peace treaty if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, potentially ending conflicts with a country that the U.S. has been technically at war with for more than 50 years.

Reuters reports Bush as saying:

"We're looking forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably dismantles his weapons programme," said Bush.

This comes as good news for North Korea, who agreed five days ago to disable their nuclear program by the end of the year:

We had very good, very substantive talks," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill told reporters. "One thing that we agreed on is that (North Korea) will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007."

Things could be looking up for the volatile region that is often overlooked due to conflicts in the Middle East. While South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun didn't seem too thrilled with what the president had to say, the peace-for-disarmament agreement seems to be a step in the right direction.

Blackbeard bin Laden

2007-09-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

A new video of Osama bin Laden has surfaced, and initial reports say it could have been filmed as recently as this summer. This video is the first since October 2004, when Osama's sickly-looking face raised theories that he was gravely ill – fueling rumors about the al-Qaeda leader's death.

The new tape reportedly urges suicide bombers to carry out their missions against the West, but "no overt threat" against the United States is mentioned.

The good news is, the secret to finding his location may be in the beard:

"It does look oddly like he is wearing a false beard," Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official and now ABC News consultant, said. "If we go back to the tape three years, he had a very white beard. This looks like a phony beard that has been passed on."

The "phony beard" may be an important clue as to where bin Laden is hiding, according to Clarke.

"One place where a beard would stand out would be southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia," Clarke told ABC News. "No one's thought he was there, but that is an environment where most men, Muslim men don't have beards."

Or he could have used Just for Men – all ideas are on the table.

False Alarm!

2007-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Overlooked evidence against reports of a U.S. airstrike on Iran came from the unlikeliest of sources three days ago – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Straight from the "master in calculation and tabulation."

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sought to justify his confidence the United States will not attack Iran, saying the proof comes from his mathematical skills as an engineer and faith in God, the press reported on Monday."

Coincidentally, the event where Ahmadinejad made the speech was a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM. How fitting.

The Feces Hath Been Flung...

2007-09-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

And it looks like it could hit the fan:

"Syria has said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes after they violated its airspace in the north of the country."

If this isn't enough to raise tension in an already-taut region, Iran has offered aid to Syria in the event it is required.

Before jumping to any conclusions about immediate U.S. involvement and an attack on Syria or Iran, it would be nice to have a statement from Washington about the situation. Regardless, there has been increasing reports across the globe concerning a series of U.S. airstrikes on targets in Iran:

"THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for 'pinprick strikes' against Iran’s nuclear facilities. 'They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,' he said."

In addition to this report, a former CIA official told Harper's magazine that a troop and equipment build-up has been taking place. Syrian officials have said they will not be dragged into war, but this statement seems hardly enough to dispel rumors about military action.

At least "we're kicking ass" in Iraq, apparently.

As if the Middle East activity wasn't enough for today's dose of war scares, Russia and the UK have decided to get global with the air-space violation allegations:

"The UK's Royal Air Force has launched fighter jets to intercept eight Russian military planes flying in airspace patrolled by Nato, UK officials say."

Paranoia? We can only hope.

Nukes on a Plane

2007-09-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

Oops:

"Six nuclear warheads on cruise missiles were mistakenly carried on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week, prompting a major investigation, military officials have confirmed."

Here is one theory that has generated some discussion fueled by the we're-going-to-bomb-Iran paranoia that is gripping many people across the country.

China Plot Revealed

2007-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

In the midst of a third toy recall due to high levels of lead in Mattel Inc.'s China-made toys, another class of defective products has been discovered: condoms. The Washington Post reports:

"Tens of thousands of condoms provided free by the District to curb HIV-AIDS have been returned to the health department because of complaints that their paper packaging is easily damaged and could render the condoms ineffective."

It seems that in order to make up for profit losses due to toy recalls, China has cunningly instituted a plan to trick Americans into producing more offspring, which in turn will drive up toy sales – a quiet way to make up for lost revenue.

In all seriousness, the growing amount of recalls and the scare over Chinese imports is evidence of a larger problem. As China's economy continues to grow 10.5 percent this year and a United Nations report suggests the U.S. economy has slowed from 3.3 to 2 percent, it seems that the issue has to do with our fear of fighting for a piece of the global economic pie.

A Wall Street Journal piece explains that the problem isn't with safety standards, it is a problem with the United States not wanting to face global competition for the first time in recent history:

"It is a problem with the very fact of China as an emerging force on the global economic stage, and it underscores a profound and worrying trend in American political and economic life. For half a century we fought for the creation of a global capitalist system. Now that we have one, we seem to have forgotten one little thing: Capitalism means competition, and we are acting like we can't handle it."

Whoopi!

2007-09-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy of http://www.buddytv.com

Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell's replacement on ABC's "The View," wasted no time to start controversy. According to Reuters, in her debut, Goldberg attempted to justify football star Michael Vick's dogfighting as part of Southern Culture:

" 'He's from the South, from the Deep South ... This is part of his cultural upbringing,' Goldberg said of the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, whose recent fall from grace has been one of the most stunning in the history of U.S. sports."

Too bad Jeffrey Dahmer wasn't from Papua New Guinea, he might have had a better defense for cannibalism.

Not only did Goldberg manage to become a Vick apologist, she managed to stereotype Southern culture and make claims about Chinese people eating cats:

Further, how dare Whoopi Goldberg claim that dog-fighting and torture are a part of the common culture of the south. How dare none of her ABC co-hosts challenge such a maliciously bigoted falsehood. The vast majority of southerners that I know hate dogfighting and look down on the thugs who do it. Are ABC and The View endorsing negative stereotypes about the south?

Y'all listen up. We southerners are tired of being lumped together into one mindless mire. We are sick and tired of being openly portrayed as stupid, backward, ignorant, racist, sexist, hot blooded, lazy, inarticulate, corrupt, violent and unable to take responsibility for our own actions. Such talk toward any other group would be called hateful and intolerant. Shame on the View for allowing such blatant bias to go unchallenged.

Vick is guilty – he admitted it. Enough with the excuses.

Gen. Patraeus to Suggest Troop Reductions in March

2007-09-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

In an ABC News article, General David Patraeus has shed a little more light on what we might (hopefully) be able to expect in the coming months:

" 'It's a crucial recognition, and we have to acknowledge that — however, you don't have to stay at the level of forces during that time, and I think the question in everyone's mind, frankly, is 'OK, so, there does need to be a long-term strategy. What's the level of our commitment during that time?' And the answer is, certainly, a good bit less than what we have committed right now,' Petraeus said."

More updates as the situation develops...

Good News from the Desert?

2007-09-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday on his way to Australia for the 21-Asian nation summit that will be held later this week. Turns out Bush said if things continue on this path, some soldiers might be able to make the trip home, The New York Times reported:

"After talks with Gen. David H. Patraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Bush said that they 'tell me that if the kind of success we are now seeing here continues it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces.' "

The Chicago Tribune even noted that United States troop deaths have been cut in half over the three months since the nearly 30,000-troop surge began.

Is it early to start regarding the new strategy with optimism? Taking a look at the face of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (above) might answer this question.

While it might be easy to get excited about news that a pullout may be on the horizon, it shouldn't be viewed as a victory just yet. According to statistics provided at http://www.icasualties.org/ there may not be anything to celebrate. The Chicago Tribune states there is disagreement on what caused the drop in troop deaths. Regardless, total casualties for the 2007 summer months are still noticeably higher than last year:

And while deaths for United States soldiers have been decreasing since May 2007, the situation is still grim, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office:

" 'Violence remains high, the number of Iraqi security forces capable of conducting independent operations has declined, and militias are not disarmed,' the GAO, the investigating arm of Congress, said."

Note to the president: There's hardly a more telling sign that you've screwed up than when nuns come after you.