Thursday News Bucket

10 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on April 5, 2007 at 8:25 am

   the new NSA? Reuters/AOL

   A fired Wal-Mart  technician alleged the world’s largest retailer has been spying on its workers, critics, vendors and consultants. The company defended its security practices…

   … Gabbard told the newspaper that Wal-Mart sent an employee to infiltrate an anti-Wal-Mart group to learn if it was going to protest at the annual shareholders’ meeting and investigated McKinsey & Co. employees it believed leaked a memo about Wal-Mart’s health care plans.

   The company also used software programs to read e-mails sent by workers using private e-mail accounts whenever they were hooked up to the Wal-Mart computer network, he said.

   Gabbard told the Journal he recorded the calls to the New York Times reporter on his own, but added many of his activities were approved by Wal-Mart. The Journal said other employees and security firms confirmed parts of his account.

   Next, they’ll be infiltrating Quaker peace groups and eating all their cookies…

2. 

   CabinGirl on April 5, 2007 at 8:31 am

   criticised Pelosi’s trip to Syria, but kept quiet about the 3 GOPers that went right before she did.

   Maybe this is why: Seattle PI

   Three Republican congressmen who parted with President Bush by meeting with Syrian leaders said Wednesday it is important to maintain a dialogue with a country the White House says sponsors terrorism.

   “I don’t care what the administration says on this. You’ve got to do what you think is in the best interest of your country,” said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. “I want us to be successful in Iraq. I want us to clamp down on Hezbollah.”…

   …”This is an area where we would disagree with the administration,” Aderholt (ed. note: another GOPer who went on the trip) said. “None of us in the Congress work for the president. We have to cast our own votes and ultimately answer to our own constituents. … I think there’s room that we can try to work with them as long as they know where we draw the line.”

   “None of us in the Congress work for the president.”  I like the sound of that, don’t you?

3. 

   CabinGirl on April 5, 2007 at 8:39 am

   sexual attraction to children is considered a ‘natural impulse’, and related crimes are merely ‘poor impulse control’…stright from the judge’s mouth: Nevada Appeal

   “These kinds of offenses are problems with impulse control,” said Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox prior to sentencing. “When I say that, it’s my understanding that most men are sexually attracted to young women. When I say young women I don’t just mean women that … you should be attracted to. I mean women from the time they’re 1 all the way up until they’re 100.”

   Maddox noted the legal terms malum in se, a Latin phrase meaning an act that is “inherently evil,” and malum prohibitum, which means acts that are not necessarily inherently immoral or hurtful, only wrong by statute.

   He said child pornography could be considered malum prohibitum because in some countries and cultures it is acceptable to engage in sexual conduct with young girls.

   “As an example, having sex with a girl between 12 and 16 is prohibited because we say it’s prohibited. It’s because we decided as a civilized society you do not want adults engaging in sexual conduct with children below 16 years of age, which flies in the face of our, I guess for lack of a better description, our normal impulses,” he said.

   “I guess we could just ignore them, say it’s just like a traffic ticket, it’s malum prohibitum, it’s only against the law because it’s prohibited. Or we could say that because we’re trying to control what’s an otherwise natural impulse there has to be consequences.

   “The bottom line on it all is the way we’re going to control it in my opinion is to ensure that everybody understands what the consequences are if you engage in … a lack of impulse control. It’s likely that most people would find young girls sexually attractive. But we’re civilized to the point that we’re taught to control our impulses. When you don’t, there has to be consequences.”

   Excuse me, I have to go vomit now.

   • 

     ask on April 5, 2007 at 9:10 am

     You’re right to do that.  Nauseating drivel – it is not a ‘normal impulse’ for adults to want sex with children 12-16.

   • 

     chocolate ink on April 6, 2007 at 3:52 pm

     Women are now women at the age of ONE? I wonder if he considers incest a ‘normal impulse’ also..hopefully with this sick/twisted thinking he gets kicked off the bench.  He probably also thinks one year old ‘women’ entice men into these ‘impulses’….It might be a good idea for someone to check into this guys personal life and see if he maybe gave in to some of those ‘natural impulses’.

4. 

   ask on April 5, 2007 at 1:17 pm

   Kosovo’s parliament endorses UN plan on province’s future

   PRISTINA, SERBIA — Kosovo’s parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a UN plan Thursday that proposes internationally supervised independence for the disputed province.

   The resolution was approved 100-1 in the overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian 120-seat assembly, drawing a thunderous applaud and a standing ovation. Nineteen lawmakers were absent from the vote.

   The UN plan needs to be approved by the UN Security Council to take effect.

   Kosovo’s parliament welcomed the plan drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari “believing that his recommendations present a balanced and right solution, that is in accordance with the will of people of Kosovo,” the resolution said.

5. 

   ask on April 5, 2007 at 1:22 pm

   Eritrea bans female circumcision

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Eritrea has abolished the arcane custom of female circumcision, the government said, describing it as threatening the lives of women.

   Anyone who requests, incites, promotes or witnesses female circumcision is subject to a fine and imprisonment, Eritrea’s information ministry said late Wednesday.

   The ban was imposed on March 31.

   “Female circumcision is a procedure that seriously endangers the health of women, causes them considerable pain and suffering besides threatening their lives,” the government proclamation said.

   With age-old cultural roots, female circumcision, or genital mutilation as it is known, is practiced today in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt and other parts of the Arab world such as Yemen and Oman.

   While welcome news, I fear that this heinous practice will continue for a long time to come.

6. 

   dada on April 5, 2007 at 3:28 pm

   and make sure it wasn’t april 1st still…

   Kim Jong II ate my bunny

    

   

   The offspring of the 12 giant rabbits were supposed to help to feed starving North Koreans. Now doubts about their fate have brought an abrupt halt to one of the more unlikely hunger-alleviating projects.

   Karl Szmolinsky sold the rabbits to Pyongyang so that they could be used to set up a breeding programme to boost meat production in the Hermit Kingdom.

   However, amid concerns that they have been eaten by the country’s leaders, Mr Szmolinsky will not be sending any more.

   The 68-year-old breeder had been due to travel to North Korea after Easter to provide advice on setting up a rabbit farm. A North Korean official rang him last week to say that the trip had been cancelled. Mr Szmolinsky said he suspected that his rabbits, which grow to the size of dogs and can weigh over 10kg (22lb), were eaten at a birthday banquet for Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, although he emphasised that he had no evidence of this.

   “It’s an assumption, not an assertion,” Mr Szmolinsky said. “But I don’t think the animals are alive anymore, I think they’ve been eaten.”

   He added: “North Korea won’t be getting any more rabbits from me, they don’t even need to bother asking. I was looking forward to going on such a trip while I’m still fit enough.”

   […]

   Meanwhile, Mr Szmolinsky, a prominent member of the Brandenburg Rabbit Breeders’ Association, said he has been in talks with potential rabbit buyers in several countries including Russia, which wants 400, the United States and Cameroon.

   […]

   via Times UK

   can giant guinea pigs be far behind….chris…whataya think?

   tags: truth stranger than fiction

   

   • 

     Chris on April 5, 2007 at 4:41 pm

     Funny you should mention it, but I have a team of surgically altered, steroid addled, octogenarian giant guinea pigs who do my bidding and guard my compound. I’ve only eaten one of them, however. A little stringy to be honest.

7. 

   on April 5, 2007 at 8:50 pm

   http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_gwot_democrats_070403w/

   Due to the unpopularity of the concept the memo was circulated to not call it the global war on terror and makes the point to not say it is a “long” war.

   This does not mean the concept goes away but like Harry Potter, “he who shall not be named”.