Monday News Bucket – PLEASE UNRECOMMEND

22 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on September 24, 2007 at 7:25 am

   want the car keys: WashPo

   For the first time since a demonstration in 1990, a group of Saudi women is campaigning for the right to drive in this conservative kingdom, the only country in the world that prohibits female drivers.

   After spreading the idea through text messages and e-mails, the group’s leaders said they collected more than 1,100 signatures online and at shopping malls for a petition sent to King Abdullah on Sunday.

   “We don’t expect an answer right away,” said Wajeha al-Huwaider, 45, an education analyst who co-founded the group. “But we will not stop campaigning until we get the right to drive.”

   The kingdom follows one of the world’s strictest interpretations of Islam. Women in Saudi Arabia, a deeply patriarchal society, cannot travel, marry or rent lodging without permission from a male guardian.

   Remind me again why the Saudis aren’t part of the ‘axis of evil’?

   • 

     chocolate ink on September 24, 2007 at 4:53 pm

     I read somewhere also that SA women are not allowed to have their pictures in the newspapers.

     Our foreign policy is so ‘fair and balanced’ ain’t it.

2. 

   ask on September 24, 2007 at 7:32 am

   U.N. Summit to Push Climate Talks

   Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore and the leaders of some 80 nations converge on the U.N. on Monday for a summit on the warming Earth and what to do about it.

   The unprecedented meeting comes just days after U.S. scientists reported that melting temperatures this summer shrank the Arctic Ocean’s ice cap to a record-low size.

   “I expect the meeting on Monday to express a sense of urgency in terms of negotiating progress that needs to be made,” said the U.N. climate chief, Yvo de Boer.

   Since I have a UN ground pass, I’m heading there now to see if I can get in to the event.

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 24, 2007 at 7:41 am

     We’ll need a report if you get in.  🙂

     Apparently Bush won’t be there: NYT

     Dozens of world leaders are to gather at the United Nations on Monday for a full agenda of talks on how to fight global warming, and President Bush is skipping all the day’s events but the dinner.

     His focus instead is on his own gathering of leaders in Washington later this week, a meeting with the same stated goal, a reduction in the emissions blamed for climate change, but a fundamentally different idea of how to achieve it.

     Mr. Bush’s aides say that the parallel meeting does not compete against the United Nations’ process — hijacking it, as his critics charge. They say that Mr. Bush hopes to persuade the nations that produce 90 percent of the world’s emissions to come to a consensus that would allow each, including the United States, to set its own policies rather than having limits imposed by binding international treaty.

     The hubris of this jackass.

     • 

       ask on September 24, 2007 at 4:10 pm

       OK – I made a diary entry.

     • 

       chocolate ink on September 24, 2007 at 5:10 pm

       Bush is probably having his own little summit because no one going to the UN wants to talk to him-what’s the point really. And whose going to be at his confab…leaders from Exxon?

       Better he didn’t go, he’d just do something extra stupid and embarrassing to let the world know once again we have an idiot for our president. Of course by refusing to go he’s also showing how much he distains what the rest of the world thinks.

   • 

     idredit on September 24, 2007 at 9:51 am

     Just in time for debate, there’s this report out that

     Rapeseed biofuel `produces more greenhouse gas than oil or petrol’
     

     “A renewable energy source designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contributing more to global warming than fossil fuels, a study suggests.

     Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from rapeseed and maize have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.”

     There’s also the question of choice and utility: do we feed ourselves or divert world food staples to abet us being able to keep 3-4 cars per family? and when the fossil fuels peak and decline,  how do we produce ethanol?

     If your name begins with B, your ration card is good for odd days once per week.

     • 

       Gaianne on September 24, 2007 at 6:51 pm

       beyond that it is a boondoggle.  

       It takes 10 calories of oil to grow one calorie of corn, under the industrial methods of agriculture that we use, so ethanol is a dead loss.  

       But other crops–such as palm oil or rapeseed oil–are no better, for they divert land away from food–and people begin to starve, as is happening in Mexico–or they result in clear-cutting of forest, as is happening in Brazil and in Southeast Asia, further reducing CO2 uptake and upsetting the water cycle.  

       Our way of life is unsustainable.  That means it cannot be sustained.  It won’t be.  Our way of life will collapse.  

       At this point the  only questions that matter involve navigating collapse to whatever might exist on the far side.  Human survival may well be possible.  

       Industrial civilization will not.  

3. 

   CabinGirl on September 24, 2007 at 8:34 am

   appears to lie in increasing STD rates: Press-Register

   Last year in Mobile County, 4,629 new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported — enough instances of the sexually transmitted diseases to account for one out of every 87 people, according to a Press-Register review of state and federal statistics.

   That was about three times the rate in New York City and more than twice as high as Washington, D.C.

   While the numbers seem shocking, they’re not at epidemic levels, according to health officials.

   “If you don’t do this for a living or you’re not an OB specialist or you’re not an infectious disease specialist, and you look at the numbers, you go, ‘Oh my God,'” said Paul Piepho, disease intervention program manager at the Mobile County Health Department. “We’re not at that point.”

   Statewide, syphilis cases were up 60 percent last year, compared with 2005 (from 583 cases to 931).

   Chlamydia has also been on the rise, increasing 44-fold from 509 cases in 1994 to 22,560 in 2006. “And I think we’re seeing just the tip of the iceberg,” Piepho said.

   Eight counties — poor and sparsely populated except for No. 2-ranked Montgomery County — had higher STD rates in 2006 than Mobile County, statistics showed.

   A lack of education weighs heavily on a county’s rate, health officials said.

   In Alabama public schools, students are taught abstinence-based sex education as part of a half credit of health education in high school. Students learn that “abstinence is the only protection against pregnancy, HIV/AIDs and STDs,” said state Department of Education spokeswoman Edith Parten.

   So, a few more years of these policies, and maybe they’ll reach epidemic levels there in Alabama?  Is that the goal?

4. 

   on September 24, 2007 at 8:52 am

   HR 2640 Let’s take the guns away from those Veterans.
   http://republicanmichigander.blogspot.com/2007/06/gun-bill-passes-house-hr2640.html
   With government like this, I want a gun.

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 24, 2007 at 9:58 am

     Michigan has some pretty screwed up ideas about who should and should not have guns, don’t they?

5. 

   dada on September 24, 2007 at 12:24 pm

   CONdi’s still upset with pm malarki:

   UNITED NATIONS – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki kept a polite distance Saturday as they attended a group meeting and avoided discussion of a deadly Baghdad shootout involving guards from a U.S. company protecting American diplomats.

   […]

   The presence of Rice and al-Maliki at the same meeting here was the closest high-level encounter between the governments since the incident and since Rice on Friday announced a full review of State Department security in Iraq.

   link

   you go girl…really smooth…kind of difficult to resolve problems when your puppets start to cut the strings…especially when you won’t talk to them.

   it seems that everyone associated with BushCo™ thinks they’re in junior high school still.  bet she won’t even be in the same room with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

   …speaking of Ahmadinejad… he had a very interesting exchange with scott pelley of 60 minutes regarding his request to visit the world trade center site:

   “Sir, what were you thinking? The World Trade Center site is the most sensitive place in the American heart, and you must have known that visiting there would be insulting to many, many Americans,” Pelley says.

   “Why should it be insulting?” Ahmadinejad asks.

   “Well, sir, you’re the head of government of an Islamist state that the United States government says is a major exporter of terrorism around the world,” Pelley says.

   “Well, I wouldn’t say that what American government says is is the prerequisite here. Something happened there which led to other events. Many innocent people were killed there. Some of those people were American citizens obviously. We obviously are very much against any terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of discord among nations,” Ahmadinejad replies. “Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects. And also to perhaps to air your views about the root causes of such incidents. I think that when I do that, I will be paying, as I said earlier, my respect to the American nation.”

   “But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world,” Pelley says. “You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans.“

   “Well, I’m amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?” Ahmadinejad says. “You are representing a media and you’re a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.”

   link

   touche…so much for objective journalism. 60 minutes has declined to the point that on the rare occasions that l see it, l no longer recognize it.

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 24, 2007 at 3:12 pm

     I guess she wasn’t prepared for the part of the job that doesn’t involve shoe shopping or wearing lace-up dominatrix boots.  You know, where you actually have to behave with some diplomacy…

6. 

   dada on September 24, 2007 at 12:26 pm

   …and since we’re on the subject of iran

   it’s been an interesting weekend on the let’s bomb’em back to the stoneage front.

   let’s start with this gem of an concept: Secret US air force team to perfect

   plan

   storm for Iran strike:

   The United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran.

   Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.

   […]

   Checkmate’s job is to add a dash of brilliance [har!] to Air Force thinking by countering the military’s tendency to “fight the last war” and by providing innovative strategies for warfighting and assessing future needs for air, space and cyberwarfare.

   It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence “Stutz” Stutzriem, who is considered one of the brightest air force generals. He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a former Israeli military officer and expert on cyberwarfare.

   [editors note: this part is priceless]

   …retired air force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney of the Iran policy committee.

   “There is no question that we can take out Iran. The problem is the follow-on, the velvet revolution that needs to be created so the Iranian people know it’s not aimed at them, but at the Iranian regime.”

   […]

   “War planning is not just about bombs, airplanes and sailing boats.”

   sunday times uk

   “velvet revolutions“…”more than bombs, airplanes and sailing boats“…who writes this tripe for these bozos?

   and an ex israeli military officer is the #2 in the process?  wtf?!  gives a lot of credence to the influence of AIPAC, and this little tidbit: Cheney mulled Israeli strike on Iran

   these freaks are dellusional.  l’m running out of expletives.

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     chocolate ink on September 24, 2007 at 5:23 pm

     WTF indeed dada.  That ‘dash of brilliance’ seems to be hugely lacking in this whole report.  Yeah will bomb the shit out of your country killing maybe thousands in the initial shock/awe but hey you Iranians we love you we really really love you it’s just your leader we don’t like.  Oh by the way, sorry about your sailboats.

     This craziness just keeps escalating doesn’t it.

7. 

   dada on September 24, 2007 at 12:30 pm

   but…but…butt…it seems adm fallon, commander of military forces in the ME….a BushCo™ appointment btw…has a somewhat divergent opinion of the issue:

   ‘No war’ with Iran’

   “This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful.,”….

   [ed: ruh roh]

   Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, wraps up a seven-nation tour of the region on Tuesday that included stops in Persian Gulf countries, Afghanistan and Iraq.

   Many of the talks with military and political leaders were dominated by worries about expanding Iranian influence and U.S. accusations that Iran is supplying arms and training to Shiite militiamen in Iraq.

   “/I expect that there will be no war and that is what we ought to be working for,” said Fallon during the Friday interview at Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Qatar. “We should find ways through which we can bring countries to work together for the benefit of all …. It is not a good idea to be in a state of war. We ought to try and to do our utmost to create different conditions.

   “

   link

   MY DOG!  the man’s recommending diplomacy!

   talk about off the reservation.  fallon isn’t even on the same planet as BushCo™.

   unfortunately, this is from an interview with al jazeera so it is not likely to see the light of day in the msm in the good old ussa.

   wonder what the odds are of his remaining in his position. these kinds of statements, along with his comment in may about no war in iran: “not on my watch“, don’t bode well for his future.

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     chocolate ink on September 24, 2007 at 5:26 pm

     That was my thought too.  If he doesn’t change his tune he’ll soon be replaced and forced into early retirement.

8. 

   dada on September 24, 2007 at 12:32 pm

   commentary on the chimperor from the gwn…

   

   or:

   How George Bush became the new Saddam

   When Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, appeared before Congress with Ambassador Crocker to testify about the results of President Bush’s “surge” strategy, he talked a lot about these tribal militias and the success of Anbar. It is the only progress the U.S. has made in Iraq for years. It’s unclear whether the additional 30,000 troops that make up the surge have had much effect on the Anbar Awakening. But watching Gen. Petraeus, I was struck by how familiar his words sounded. The general talked like every Sunni I’ve ever met in Iraq–hell, he sounded a bit like Saddam. The old tyrant would have had one of his characteristic chest-heaving guffaws watching Petraeus as he intoned the old Baathist mantra about the dangers to Iraq: Iran, Iran, Iran. Bush took up Gen. Petraeus’s views a few days later in a nationally televised speech about Iraq, in which he talked about the threat Tehran posed. It seems that Petraeus and Bush have come to the same conclusion as Saddam: the main enemy is Iran, and you can’t govern Iraq without the Sunni Arab tribes, even as you encourage anti-Iranian nationalism among the Shia. This is what Saddam did during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and what Washington is trying to do now. One of the main problems with this strategy is that both the Sunni tribes and Shia nationalists are profoundly anti-American and don’t trust each other–a potential recipe for further disaster.

   […]

   lots more here

   recommended reading it offers some insight why 83% of canadians think the us has acted recklessly and unilaterally.

   h/t to olivia

   lTMF’sA

   

9. 

   Man Eegee on September 24, 2007 at 5:31 pm

   more nooses…

   HIGH POINT, N.C. — Police are investigating an incident in which students and faculty said four nooses were hung from a tree at the school.

   The finding occurred Friday morning at Andrews High School. – linkage

   • 

     Man Eegee on September 25, 2007 at 12:46 am

     yet even more nooses, this time at the Coast Guard Academy

     The U.S. Coast Guard Academy said on Monday it was expanding training on race relations after two hangman’s nooses were found on campus, the first in the bag of a black cadet and the second in a trainer’s office. – linkage

     h/t to Craig

     • 

       CabinGirl on September 25, 2007 at 7:45 am

       Racism has certainly flourished during the Bush administration, hasn’t it?

10. 

    Man Eegee on September 24, 2007 at 6:47 pm

    Iowa teacher fired for refusing to teach creationism

    A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.

    Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.

    “I’m just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master’s degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job,” Bitterman said. – linkage