Thursday News Bucket

15 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on August 17, 2006 at 8:33 am

   A roaring success in Ohio, wouldn’t you say? NBC

   An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school’s female students were pregnant last year.

   There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.

   The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district’s health curriculum in line with national standards.

   The board made the changes in a vote at its regular meeting Monday.

   The Rev. David Morgan served on a committee that developed the lesson plans. He said the new curriculum moves beyond the “Just Say No” approach…

   • 

     Alice on August 17, 2006 at 8:42 am

     Stop the presses!  Common Sense  Prevails!

     Thank you, Cabin, for this good news of reasonableness.  I have cleared a space around my computer for dancing.

     • 

       CabinGirl on August 17, 2006 at 8:45 am

       It’s so nice to post some good news for a change – I’ll dance too!  🙂

2. 

   CabinGirl on August 17, 2006 at 8:40 am

   take note: NYT

   As the man approached the airport security checkpoint here on Wednesday, he kept picking up and putting down his backpack, touching his fingers to his chin, rubbing some object in his hands and finally reaching for his pack of cigarettes, even though smoking was not allowed.

   Two Transportation Security Administration officers stood nearby, nearly motionless and silent, gazing straight at him. Then, with a nod, they moved in, chatting briefly with the man, and then swiftly pulled him aside for an intense search.

   Another airline passenger had just made the acquaintance of the transportation agency’s “behavior detection officers.”

   Taking a page from Israeli airport security, the transportation agency has been experimenting with this new squad, whose members do not look for bombs, guns or knives. Instead, the assignment is to find anyone with evil intent…

   I can see it now, eventually everyone will be intensely searched and interrogated, just like there are quotas for adding more names to the no-fly list…

   • 

     Alice on August 17, 2006 at 8:49 am

     Whoops – afraid I’m too ready to celebrate this morning.  Don’t the behavior analysts know that the desire for a smoke is an evil intent?  Poor guy – I know just how he feels (quitting smoking, I mean.)

     • 

       CabinGirl on August 17, 2006 at 8:55 am

       And of course, the lack of nicotine for those 3 hours you stood in line checking your bags and being nearly strip searched on your way to the gate wouldn’t have anything to do with making people feel evil, would it??

       My mischievous older son would be the first to set off their “evil intent’ alert sensors.  Sigh.

3. 

   CabinGirl on August 17, 2006 at 8:52 am

   someone in the UK noticed what we’ve known about BushCo for years: Times online

   John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush’s administration in a single word: crap.

   The Deputy Prime Minister’s condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair’s backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.

   The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott’s Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.

   Too bad Tony won’t ever wise up…

4. 

   ask on August 17, 2006 at 9:08 am

   Information Cleansing, Canadian Style

   OAKLAND, California, Aug 16 (IPS) – If you’re a teacher, student, journalist or just a plain concerned citizen interested in finding well-researched documentation about climate change, you can no longer depend on the Canadian government to supply that information.

   According to Canada’s Liberal Party, since early July, the country’s government — under conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper — has been systematically scrubbing its websites of information regarding global warming and the Kyoto Protocol treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

   (As of Wednesday, Aug. 16, when you visit the government of Canada’s Climate Change website, http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/, you find the following message: “The Government of Canada Climate Change site is currently unavailable.”)

5. 

   rba on August 17, 2006 at 10:02 am

   Hitting the news just about everywhere:

   Rocky Mountain News:  E-mail first step on trail

   “The investigation that led law enforcement to John Mark Karr can be traced to a single e-mail, sent some four years ago.. . . . Karr sent the correspondence to University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey after viewing the first of three Tracey-produced documentaries on the JonBenet Ramsey case.“

   Strikes me as the difference between the crush of daily public demands for, well, just about anything; and the slow, careful study and research involved in getting to the facts.  An exercise in reporting the right way.  Long, deep, and continuous.

   Much more this morning @ Romensko

6. 

   Oui on August 17, 2006 at 10:52 am

   .
   OK, a bit of wishful thinking on the part of Israel’s MSM or official Knesset report.

   However the latest report by Centre Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) in Amsterdam —

   Anti-Semitism Cut in Half in the Netherlands in 2005 (pdf file)

   The number of registered anti-semitic incidents in the Netherlands in 2005, showed a sharp decline compared to the previous year: from 327 to 159. This data is reported in the Annual Report of CIDI on anti-semitism (pdf file). The downward trend is a continuation, started in the year 2003.

   Report will also be published in English.

   The official headline of the press release is however:
   War In Lebanon Causes Sharp Rise in anti-Semitism

   CIDI registered in the period July-August 9 2006, 105 anti-semitic incidents. This involved threats by telephone, emails, chalking slogan ‘Juden raus‘ and damaging a synagogue.

     «« click on pic to enlarge
Crisis in Middle East

   ≈ Cross-posted from my diary —
   ‘Bush Is Crap’ says UK’s Deputy PM John Prescott ≈

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

   ▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY

7. 

   Chris on August 17, 2006 at 1:08 pm

   I was going to do a front page thing on this, but Steven posted right when I was about to. Anyway, good news.

   DETROIT — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

   U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

   “Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution,” Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.

   The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which involves secretly listening to conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries.

8. 

   idredit on August 17, 2006 at 1:17 pm

   AP reports:

   Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit declares warrantless Wiretaps unsconsitutional. Ordered immediate halt.

   “Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution,” Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.”

   Merde.  shrub: “I need some d.-block, everything’s becoming a crapper. Thought she’d rule on the pig.”  

9. 

   ask on August 17, 2006 at 1:28 pm

   A little update to my recent entry on Somalia – part of the 10 UN stories.

   U.N. Warning on Somalia

   UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 16 (Reuters) — The Security Council warned Somalia’s neighbors on Wednesday against interfering in Somalia and threatened sanctions against violators of a United Nations arms embargo on the country.

   The Council also urged the Islamists ruling the capital, Mogadishu, to join Somalia’s transitional government at talks in Sudan, to air their differences and try to resolve them.

   The talks, which are being brokered by the Arab League, were put on hold on Tuesday when the Islamists asked for a two-week delay.

   The Islamists accuse the United Nations-backed interim government of being a puppet of Ethiopia, saying that Ethiopian troops are in Baidoa, where the government is based. Ethiopia has denied accusations that it has troops in Somalia.

10. 

    Man Eegee on August 17, 2006 at 1:57 pm

    Immigration activists around the country are taking up the cause of a single mother who invoked the medieval principle of sanctuary and took refuge in a Chicago church rather than submit to deportation to Mexico.

    Elvira Arellano, 31, was holed up for a second day Wednesday at Aldalberto United Methodist Church with the support of the congregation’s pastor. With her was her 7-year-old son, Saul, an American citizen.

    Federal officials said there is no right to sanctuary in a church under U.S. law and nothing to prevent them from arresting her. But they would not say exactly what they planned to do, or when.

    The protest raised the spectacle of agents barging into a church and dragging her out.

      linkage

11. 

    Oui on August 17, 2006 at 6:01 pm

    .

    Bluetongue

    disease is transmitted by mosquitos, normally in a subtropical climate. These are the first cases above the Alps in Europe.

    Orbivirus infections are common in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates. Areas with year- round vector activity could easily maintain the virus by a continuous vector-host cycle. Virus persistence in areas with severe winters is not understood.

    "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

    ▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY