Tuesday News Bucket

12 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on June 19, 2007 at 8:20 am

   with a highway just for the Olympic torch relay: AP/Yahoo

   China will build a $20 million blacktop highway on Mount Everest as part of the route for the Olympic torch relay, state media reported Tuesday.

   Xinhua News Agency said the construction would turn a rough, 67-mile road stretching from the foot of the mountain to a base camp at 17,060 feet, into a paved “highway fenced by undulating guardrails.”

   Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, is 29,035 feet tall.

   It said construction would start next week and would take about four months and the new highway would become a major route for tourists and mountaineers.

   It’ll be just lovely, don’t you think?

2. 

   ask on June 19, 2007 at 8:36 am

   Iraq, ‘Sinking Fast,’ Is Ranked No. 2 on List of Unstable States

   Iraq now ranks as the world’s second most unstable country, ahead of war-ravaged or poverty-stricken nations such as Somalia, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Congo, Afghanistan, Haiti and North Korea, according to the 2007 Failed States Index, issued yesterday by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine.

   Despite billions of dollars in foreign aid and the presence of more than 150,000 U.S. troops, Iraq has declined steadily over the past three years, according to the index. It ranked fourth last year, but its score dropped in almost all of the 12 political, economic, security and social indicators on which the index is based.

   “The report tells us that Iraq is sinking fast,” said Fund for Peace President Pauline Baker. “We believe it’s reached the point of no return. We have recommended — based on studies done every six months since the U.S. invasion — that the administration face up to the reality that the only choices for Iraq are how and how violently it will break up.”

   Link to Index

   • 

     CabinGirl on June 19, 2007 at 8:49 am

     And they didn’t even include Israel, did they?

     I wish them luck with getting the administration to face reality.

     • 

       ask on June 19, 2007 at 10:09 am

       75th.

       • 

         CabinGirl on June 19, 2007 at 11:28 am

         Hmmm…I wonder if they’ll move it up (down?) in the rankings based on recent events…

       • 

         BooMan on June 19, 2007 at 2:08 pm

         you’re just boasting because Norway came in last.

         • 

           ask on June 19, 2007 at 4:35 pm

           Yea, anyone who actually scrolled all the way down in the link would see this dismal placing…

3. 

   cruz del sur on June 19, 2007 at 8:49 am

   Former Nazi, Erich Priebke, was initially sentenced to life in prison, then to house arrest, and now allowed to work on day release

4. 

   Man Eegee on June 19, 2007 at 2:47 pm

   Ugh

   The bodies of four suspected illegal immigrants were found in the Arizona desert over the weekend.

   The first discovery was made at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter spotted skeletal remains on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, said Richard DeWitt, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol’s busy Tucson sector.

5. 

   Man Eegee on June 19, 2007 at 3:18 pm

   They set fire to their house, killing their dog in the process.

   A $750,000 claim was filed with the Town of Gilbert on behalf of an elderly Phoenix couple whose house was destroyed and dog killed in a fire started by Gilbert police during a December raid.

   Phoenix Attorney Daniel Ortega said he sent the claim to the town on Friday.

   “I’m basing this off of the (Phoenix) Fire Department’s report that said they did not follow the manufacturer’s safety precautions for the flash bang (grenade),” Ortega said. – linkage

6. 

   Man Eegee on June 19, 2007 at 3:28 pm

   Legend has it that Yale University’s ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an Army outpost in Oklahoma.

   Now, Geronimo’s great-grandson wants the remains returned.

   Harlyn Geronimo, the great-grandson of the warrior Geronimo, poses for a photo in June 2007, in Ruidoso, N.M. Legend has it that Yale University’s ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an army outpost in Oklahoma, and now Geronimo’s great-grandson wants the remains returned.

   Harlyn Geronimo, 59, of Mescalero, N.M., wants to prove the skull and bones purportedly taken from a burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., are indeed those of his great-grandfather. They’re now said to be in a stone tomb that serves as the club’s headquarters. – linkage

7. 

   rba on June 19, 2007 at 5:26 pm

   Anne Flaherty/AP:  Army considers longer combat tours again:

   “Who was talking for the well being and the health of the soldiers when this requirement was put down?” asked Webb, referring to the 15-month combat tours. After four years of combat, the strategy in Iraq cannot “justify doing this to the soldiers in the Army and the families back here,” he said.
   = = = = = =
   Sen. Joseph Lieberman disagreed and said the Army should do more to add soldiers to its payroll.

   Sen. Webb’s son served in Iraq.  Contributions to the cause by any of the four Lieberman children remains a mystery.