Wednesday News Bucket

16 Comments

1. 

   ask on October 3, 2007 at 8:01 am

   Clergy won’t wait on homosexual marriage

   Several Norwegian clergymen say they will defy the church and begin to carry out homosexual marriage ceremonies already this autumn.

   Sluggish church bureaucracy could mean a wait of several years before the emergence of an approved gender-neutral wedding service.

   Nils Jøran Riedl, chaplain at the Norwegian School of Management, told newspaper Dagsavisen that many ministers will defy the church by beginning to carry out gay marriages now.

   “There will be a certain amount of civil disobedience. I want to start wedding homosexuals as soon as a new Marriage Act is in place,” Riedl told the newspaper.

   My compatriots are getting something right (note: Norway has a State Church [lutheran]).

2. 

   ask on October 3, 2007 at 8:04 am

   Interesting technology:

   Statkraft tries ‘salt power’

   State energy producer Statkraft has decided to build the world’s first osmotic power plant prototype in Hurum in Norway’s Buskerud County.

   Osmotic power is a pure renewable energy source and according to calculations the technology can contribute about 1,600 terawatt hours a year on a global basis.

   […]

   The plant uses seawater and fresh water separated by a membrane. The fresh water creates pressure as it enters the seawater via the membrane and this pressure is converted to energy.

   “We take the task of providing pure energy seriously, and osmotic power is a very promising technology in which we are global leaders. It is clean and emission-free, and could become competitive within a few years,” said Statkraft CEO Bård Mikkelsen.

   The prototype will be built at the facility of paper pulp producer Södra Cell Tofte.

3. 

   CabinGirl on October 3, 2007 at 9:12 am

   wasting millions flying first-class: AP/Yahoo

   Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.
   ADVERTISEMENT

   A draft report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, is the first to examine compliance with travel rules across the federal government following reports of extensive abuse of premium-class travel by Pentagon and State Department employees.

   The review of travel spending by more than a dozen agencies from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, found 67 percent of premium-class travel by executives or their employees, worth at least $146 million, was unauthorized or otherwise unjustified.

   Among the worst offenders: the State Department, whose employees typically fly abroad on official business.

   Nothing conservative about this bunch…

   • 

     idredit on October 3, 2007 at 10:19 am

     lots of money for that and $190 billion for war profits but none for children. On the backs of the children Bush just penned his veto: only $35 billion over 5 years.  we need the money for this illegal war.

     BREAKING NEWS

     Bush vetoes bill on children’s health care

     • 

       CabinGirl on October 3, 2007 at 11:33 am

       That guy is such an asshole.  Let’s take away his health insurance and drop him in Baghdad.

       • 

         idredit on October 3, 2007 at 5:50 pm

         would he know he had been dropped off in Baghdad?

         since he’s so brainless and heartless, living in the land of the Wizard of Oz with the Pet goats that he’ll most likely think it’s his Crawford ranch.

         No shame spending a trillion dollars in Baghdad….remember those 2 tonnes of cash that got airlifted to Iraq and Haliburton’s billion in no bid contracts?

         How about the children?  the No children left behind program. Guess that went bye bye too.

         let’s see if the Cowardly Congress over-rides this veto.

4. 

   idredit on October 3, 2007 at 10:12 am

   Go read the Federal Register issued September 5, 2007 the TSA notified hearings on September 20 of their Secure Flight Plan. Alerted in a post at Dailykos
   American citizens will have to obtain permission from the government before they can travel by air in the U.S.

   This new rule, to become effective February 2008 appears to be expansion of the 48 hr pre-flight notice known as APIS -Advance Passenger Information System – for air passengers coming into the US.

   bottom line:

   “The travel companies will not be able to issue a boarding pass until you are cleared by DHS. This applies to ALL passengers, US citizens and visitors alike.”

   Your papers please

   • 

     chocolate ink on October 3, 2007 at 6:35 pm

     Freedoms just another word..for well just another word isn’t it Bobby McGee…guess Americans can look up the word in the dictionary if they want to know what it’s supposed to mean.(that’s if dictionaries haven’t been  banned for having dirty words in them)

5. 

   BooMan on October 3, 2007 at 12:37 pm

   What’s an example of speaking more clearly than you can think?

   Perhaps the drunken backseat passenger and manages to blurt out his desire for a late-night snack by enunciating, “Waaah-Waaah” over and over again?

   • 

     Man Eegee on October 3, 2007 at 12:39 pm

     was this comment sponsored in part by Drinking Liberally?

     • 

       BooMan on October 3, 2007 at 1:51 pm

       Heh.

       • 

         Man Eegee on October 3, 2007 at 1:58 pm

         gotcha.  where i come from, it would be illegal to refuse the person his/her waa-waa.

6. 

   dada on October 3, 2007 at 2:19 pm

   dimsons’ trip down under last month bears some bitter fruit; seems the aussies aren’t keen to be so willingly involved if chimpy desides to kick the can into iran:

   FM: Australia not to be involved in any military action on Iran

       CANBERRA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday said Australia won’t follow the United States to take any possible military action against Iran.

       Downer’s comments came as U.S. President George W Bush is now allegedly focusing on getting support from allies, including Australia.

       Downer said that he will not believe the United States is planning to invade Iran, but if the United States did pursue that path, Australia would not follow.

       “The American position is that they just don’t rule in or rule out the military option,” he was quoted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation as saying.

       “That’s particularly in the context of Iran’s nuclear program, which the whole of the international community is concerned about,” he said, adding “we are not planning to get involved in any military action against anybody.”

   china view

   it’s lonely at the

   top

   bottom.

    lTMF’sA

   

7. 

   dada on October 3, 2007 at 2:21 pm

   one of the original members of the coalition of the

   willing

   coerced, they still have a small presence in iraq…but l wouldn’t count on it lasting much longer:

   Bomb Wounds Polish Ambassador to Iraq

   BAGHDAD — The Polish ambassador to Iraq was slightly wounded and two civilians, including a bodyguard, were killed in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday in downtown Baghdad, according to Polish government officials.

   Gen. Edward Pietrzyk was being treated for burns and “is going to be fine,” said Deputy Ambassador Waldemar Figaj, who spoke to The Associated Press from the hospital in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

   […]

   Poland, a staunch U.S. ally, contributed combat troops to the 2003 U.S.-led war in Iraq, and has since led a multinational division south Baghdad. About 900 Polish troops are stationed there training Iraqi personnel; 21 have died during the conflict.

   Last year, the Polish government extended its mission in Iraq until the end of 2007, leaving a decision on further extensions for later this year.

   […]

   U.S. authorities confiscated an AP Television News videotape that contained scenes of the wounded being evacuated. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl told AP the government of Iraq had made it illegal to photograph or videotape the aftermath of bombings or other attacks.

   lat

   it’s nice to see the military holding up the freedom of the press too…wouldn’t want to spoil all the good news with pictures of an attack on a diplomat…people might think it bodes ill for the situation.

   lTMF’sA

   

8. 

   on October 3, 2007 at 7:38 pm

   Second Iran War confirmation story.
   http://www.nysun.com/article/63561
   From a more “reputable” source, if such a thing still exists.

9. 

   on October 3, 2007 at 8:15 pm

   Another one.  More important than global warming.
   http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2007/Moret-Aishah-Ali1aug07.htm