From IMDb...

Quote:

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Live Aid 2 Planned for Tsunami Victims



Bosses of a major British stadium are calling on bands like U2, Coldplay and The Darkness to help raise millions for the victims of the Asian tsunami - by performing at a Live Aid-style extravaganza. Chiefs at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, are frantically trying to gain the support of their country's politicians in their quest to stage a fundraising concert for the men, women and children left homeless, starving and at risk from disease in the aftermath of the December 26 disaster. Organizers are hoping an "event of international proportions" will take place on January 22 - before the stadium is used for sporting events - but bosses appreciate they are working against an almost impossible deadline. Stadium manager Paul Sergeant says, "It's going to be tight. The pitch comes back into the stadium on the 24th (of January). We won't be able to stage anything after that until the summer." Sergeant insists talks are currently in place with a host of "A-list acts", reportedly including Bono and U2, Coldplay, The Darkness and Franz Ferdinand.

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Firefox: One Browser To Rule Them All.

Death toll now passed 124,000.



story.news.yahoo.com/news...ake_dc&e=1



Of course, this was 4 days ago.



I'm finding it difficult to sleep.

This has been a message brought to you by SmeeCorp.

This disaster brings out the best and the worst in people. I read in the newspaper about insane bureaucracy in some of the stricken countries hindering relief efforts and that there have been false emails trolling for money and people have even abducted orphans to sell them. Sickening, truly sickening.

http://www.sfgate.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bush contributes $10,000 in personal funds for tsunami relief

-

Wednesday, January 5, 2005





(01-05) 10:40 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --



President Bush, who has pledged $350 million in U.S. aid to help victims of Asian countries ravaged by the tsunami, has contributed $10,000 from his personal funds to the relief effort, his spokesman said Wednesday.



Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, told reporters traveling with Bush to Illinois that the president -- himself a multimillionaire -- has written checks to several organizations listed on a Web site set up to direct Americans to various reputable charities collecting private contributions for tsunami relief. McClellan would not identify the organizations to which Bush contributed.



Bush has been criticized for not acting quickly enough to provide U.S. funds and other federal assistance to countries hit by the catastrophic Dec. 26 tsunami that killed nearly 150,000 people and devastated Indian ocean communities across southern Asia.



Earlier this week Bush announced that his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton would spearhead a nationwide drive for private donations for the tsunami relief effort.

--------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but woo f***ing hoo. $10,000?????????????????????

I've gotten so jaded about "Chimp" that I'm not impressed about the donation. I really feel badly that I'm not impressed 'cause at least it's a donation. BUT, I've gotten so cynical about this idiot that everything he does seems either dumb, insensitive, stupid, or illegal.

With all Bush's talk about democracy in Iraq, I wondered what, exactly, the US would do if the elections turned Iraq into something the Taliban and their ilk would admire.

Quote:

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Women fear losing rights in new Iraq



Fri Mar 4, 9:40 AM ET

       

Top Stories - Chicago Tribune



By Liz Sly Tribune foreign correspondent



The women at Nasar's beauty salon were Christian and Muslim, Sunni and Shiite, but they spoke with one voice on an issue that worries them all.



"I'm sure they will form an Islamic government and our freedom will be gone," Suzan Sarkon, 30, said as she settled in to get her long black hair trimmed. "We've never lived freely in Iraq, and now I think we never will."



"I will commit suicide if that happens," vowed Karama Saeed, 27, who said she cried when she heard that the group led by the secularist interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi won only 14 percent of the vote in Iraq's landmark election. "No," she said, reconsidering. "I will leave the country."



As Iraq embarks on its uncertain journey toward crafting a new constitution, Iraqi women have perhaps more to win or lose in the process than anyone.



Since the election results were confirmed, many women have expressed deep concerns about the direction in which they see their country headed. A coalition of Islamist Shiite parties won the largest share of the seats in Iraq's new National Assembly. The parties have nominated an Islamic scholar to be prime minister, and though they insist they do not want to impose a religious government on Iraq, they have made it clear they expect Islam to feature in the new constitution.



Yanar Mohammed, a women's rights campaigner, has no doubt that the parties represented in the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, intend to use their majority to introduce Shariah, or Islamic law, into the constitution that the assembly will write.



Fearing marginalization



"This was their mandate. It's their policy. If you are an Islamist party, it's the priority on your agenda," she said. "Ibrahim al-Jaafari is well-decorated to look like a Western man, but he has this 100 percent Islamic agenda, and women will be inferior if he takes over."



Though al-Jaafari, the Shiite candidate for prime minister, and other Shiite leaders have said they do not want an Iranian-style Islamic government, they have said repeatedly that they will not allow laws that "contradict Islam" and that the "Islamic identity" of Iraq should be preserved--wording that, if included in the constitution, would open the door to the application of Islamic law in many areas of life that mostly affect women, experts say.



At a minimum, that likely will mean applying Shariah to civil and family laws, according fewer rights to women than men in areas such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, said Joyce Wiley, an authority on Iraqi Shiites at the University of South Carolina. "I'm afraid it's not going to be very good for women," she said.



Salama Khafaji, a newly elected Shiite legislator, says women have no reason to fear Shariah. Many women who voted for the Shiite coalition support the idea of Islamic laws, which does not mean they want to impose their views on other women, she said.



"Many women choose to wear hijab," said Khafaji, who always wears a black head-to-toe abaya. "It will be voluntary."



But a climate in which religious values are being asserted by the country's government may make it difficult for women who don't want to cover themselves to resist social pressures to conform, said Mohammed, who plans to organize a march demanding a secular constitution on March 8.



The marked increase in the number of women wearing head scarves these days is only the most outwardly visible sign of the creeping Islamization of society that has already taken place since the U.S. invasion, leaving many women living under a de facto form of Islamic rule, she said.



"There are armed men everywhere. If you go without the protection of the scarf, they can stop you and you may get assaulted," Mohammed said. "And there's pressure from husbands and fathers. Being good and chaste means you put a veil on. They tell you it's voluntary, but how can it be voluntary when there's that much pressure on you?"



The liberation promised by the U.S. invasion has so far eluded most Iraqi women. With gunmen roaming the streets and kidnappings a daily occurrence, protective fathers and anxious husbands keep their daughters and wives at home. Women have been targeted for failing to cover their heads and for expressing views such as those of Mohammed, who has received several death threats.



These days a trip to the beauty salon is one of the few escapes for women who no longer feel safe going out on the streets. At Nasar's, in one of Baghdad's safer neighborhoods, customers linger after their beauty treatments, smoking cigarettes, sipping sweet black coffee and talking about their increasingly restricted lives.



"Everyone I know stays home. It's been two years since I went out with my friends," said Tara Husham, 22, whose Muslim father and Christian mother say she must be home by 5 p.m.



`Destroying us'



"Our lives have been devastated," said customer Saeed, a Christian and mother of two who barely dares to go out since she was chased last month by gunmen she believes were trying to kidnap her. "It's destroying us psychologically."



"If there is Islamic law, it will be worse," Husham said. "Islamic law is very traditional--women must obey everything men say. It means democracy will be denied to us."



As she spoke, a figure cloaked in black entered the salon, striking a stark contrast with the other women dressed in jeans and tight sweaters.



Tearing off her head scarf and shaking loose her blond-streaked hair, Anwar Sobhi, 30, explained that she traveled from a neighborhood overrun by radical Sunni insurgents, where graffiti on the walls threatens death to women who don't cover their hair and where the beauty salons were forced to close months ago because they are deemed un-Islamic.



"Of course, I don't want to dress like this. ... I want to wear what I like," said Sobhi, who is Shiite. "When I was a child, my parents used to try to make me wear hijab to school, and when I got around the corner I would take it off. It was just like suffocation."



She only began covering up last month, after she was threatened by armed men.



"Where I live, not even one lady can go out without completely covering her hair," she said. "It's just too dangerous."



The other women listened with sympathy and alarm.



"If George Bush thinks this is liberation, then he should make his own wife and daughters wear hijab," said Hanan Azzawi, 36, one of the salon's stylists.



A strong streak of secularism runs through Iraqi society, the legacy of decades of rule by the quasi-socialist Baath Party. And it is by no means guaranteed that the Islamists, who hold a slim majority of the seats in the National Assembly, will be able to enforce their demands.



Allawi has mounted a challenge to al-Jaafari's candidacy, and he is wooing women legislators, who have been given a third of the seats under Iraq's election rules. Approval of the new constitution requires a two-thirds majority, and the secularist Kurds, who hold more than a quarter of the seats, also are opposed to Islamic law.



The women at Nasar's say they hope Allawi prevails, and if he doesn't, they are counting on help from another source.



"If America lets the Shiites rule Iraq, they will make a union with Iran and it will create a very big power in the Middle East," said Husham, who finds it hard to believe U.S. forces invaded Iraq to install an Islamic government. "I'm sure America doesn't want that. I'm sure they have a plan."



If not, Azzawi, the stylist, says she expects Bush to help out.



"He will have to issue visas for America with this new constitution, because we will all be leaving," she said. "Do they need hairdressers in America?"

---

---

don't make me come up there - satan

I want to scream right now... scream & cry...



check for updates at CNN or any news site.

Quote:

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Official: Student kills 5 at school and grandparents

Shooter also believed dead at Minnesota high school



Monday, March 21, 2005 Posted: 7:33 PM EST (0033 GMT)



(CNN) -- A student killed his grandparents before going on a shooting rampage, killing five and wounding as many as 12 at his northern Minnesota high school Monday, a fire official said.



Killed at Red Lake High School were four students, a teacher and a security guard, said Roman Stately, with the Red Lake Fire Department. The shooter is believed to be among the four dead.



"Apparently, he walked down the hallway shooting and then he entered a classroom, he shot several students and a teacher, then himself," said Stately, who arrived at the high school moments after the shots rang out.



Authorities discovered an hour later that the boy had shot and killed his grandparents, taking the service weapon of his grandfather, a policeman, Stately told KARE-TV.



"Everything is shut down," said Chief Deputy Tom Lyons of the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office.



The shootings occurred about 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), in Red Lake High School, a school of 300 student that is on a sovereign Indian reservation within Beltrami County, about 25 miles north of Bemidji, a town of about 25,000 residents, many of them Ojibway Indians, he said.



The school is about 240 miles north of the Twin Cities, near the Canadian border.

---

skittles



"The problem with political jokes is how often they get elected."



"Closed minds always seem to be connected to open mouths"

Edited by: skittles at: 3/21/05 5:09 pm

Yay!

Quote:

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Justices Expand Discrimination Protections Under Title IX Law

By DAVID STOUT

Published: March 29, 2005



ASHINGTON, March 29 - A sharply divided Supreme Court expanded the reach of the landmark Title IX anti-discrimination law today, ruling that it protects people from retaliation when they complain about sex bias against others.



"Reporting incidents of discrimination is integral to Title IX enforcement and would be discouraged if retaliation against those who report went unpunished," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for a 5-4 majority.



The ruling, in the case brought by the coach of a girls' basketball team at a high school in Birmingham, Ala., had been eagerly awaited by many civil rights groups that had sided with the coach, Roderick Jackson, as well as many school boards, which had expressed fears that a finding in favor of Mr. Jackson would bring a wave of new lawsuits.



Since its enactment in 1972, Title IX has been widely credited with expanding opportunities for women and girls in sports and other activities by banning sex discrimination in schools and colleges that receive federal money.



But a crucial question that had been unanswered, until today, was whether by extension Title IX protected people who complained about sex discrimination against others, then suffered retaliation for their complaints. Since 1975, the federal government has interpreted Title IX as providing protection against retaliation - even though the statute itself does not mention retaliation, unlike some other civil rights laws.



Justice O'Connor concluded that if the law were found not to protect retaliation, its very purpose would be undermined because "individuals who witness discrimination would be loathe to report it, and all manner of Title IX violations might go unremedied as a result."



Joining her in the majority were Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.



Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent that was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. JFK. Asserting that "retaliatory conduct is not discrimination on the basis of sex," the dissenters said the majority was going against the court's own precedents.



"We require Congress to speak unambiguously in imposing conditions on funding recipients through its spending power," Justice Thomas wrote.



Mr. Jackson began complaining in 2000 that the high school gave the boys' team better conditions for playing and practiced. Eventually, he lost his coaching position, and the extra pay it carried, even though he retained his tenured position as a gym teacher. He sued under Title IX, accusing the school board of wrongly retaliating against him.



His suit was dismissed by a federal district court in Birmingham and the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, with both courts concluding that the statute did not encompass the right to bring such a lawsuit.



It was clear from the spirited back-and-forth on Nov. 30 at the Supreme Court argument of the case, Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, No. 02-1672, that the decision would be a close one.



"It is people like Coach Jackson who make Title IX work," a lawyer for the plaintiff, Walter Dellinger, told the justices.



Alabama's solicitor general, Kevin C. Newsom, countered that Mr. Jackson could take his complaint to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights if he wanted, and that "Title IX's remedial apparatus is ticking along just fine."



Justice Ginsburg asked just how often the Office of Civil Rights had investigated complaints in Birmingham.



Twice in 20 years, a lawyer for the Birmingham school board replied.



"Two in 20 years?" Justice Ginsburg replied, perhaps tellingly.



Today's ruling is not an automatic victory for Mr. Jackson. His suit is now remanded to the lower courts, where to prevail he will have to prove that the school board in fact did retaliate against him because he had complained of sex discrimination.

---

www.nytimes.com/2005/03/2...cotus.html (must register to view)



GG "Uncle Clarence" Thomas can bite me. Fight on, Coach Jackson! Out

While I have no particular interest in the Grokster software, the MGM v Grokster case has my attention riveted. This Supreme Court case could overturn the Betamax (Sony v Universal) ruling, giving the entertainment industry the power to suppress future inventions similar to VCRs, TiVo, CD burners, and the Internet Fortunately, the justices seem to have some idea of what's at stake, but the decision's still up in the air.

At least some of the Justices, Scalia in particular, seemed troubled by how an inventor would know, at the time of inventing, how its invention might be marketed in the future. How, some of the Justices asked MGM, could the inventors of the iPod (or the VCR, or the photocopier, or even the printing press) know whether they could go ahead with developing their invention? It surely would not be difficult for them to imagine that somebody might hit upon the idea of marketing their device as a tool for infringement.



MGM's answer to this was pretty unsatisfying. They said that at the time the iPod was invented, it was clear that there were many perfectly lawful uses for it, such as ripping one's own CD and storing it in the iPod. This was a very interesting point for them to make, not least because I would wager that there are a substantial number of people on MGM's side of the case who don't think that example is one bit legal.

--

"Omnia mutantur, nihil interit." -- "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."

In Indonesia, the case of Schapelle Corby has been going on for months. She's an Australian accused of importing marijuana into Bali on a holiday. When she arrived in Bali they found marijuana in her bags which she denied was hers. Later they found many drug syndicates happening in Australian airports, so she could have just been used by a smuggler.

The evidence against her had many holes in it, but the defense's case was also very weak. We've been waiting for the verdict to come today: normally the sentense would be the death penalty in Indonesian courts (death by firing squad) but there's been a lot of political pressure from Australia in this case, especially since we've given so much money to Indonesia.

The verdict came in just minutes ago and she's been given 20 years. People here are devastated. I guess it's a relief that she hasn't been given the death penalty, but considering that the evidence is so doubtful, it's very sad. She's 27 and will be losing so many years for something she may not have done.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/GUILTY ... 70467.html

_________________
.......We are the weirdest person in the world.......

L'absence est à l'amour ce qu'est au feu le vent; il éteint le petit, il allume
le grand.

Hi Vix84,

I too am in Australia and was pretty shattered emotionally by the verdict. Although, to be honest, it wasn't that surprising given all the signs from Indonesia and the courtroom during the past 6 mths.

It's very very sad, I mean nobody but she knows what happened for certain but her version of events seems very plausible especially given all the recent drug smuggling and security breaches around the airports :(

I just wish some of the things, like comparing the weight of her bags when she checked in v's what they were when she arrived in Bali, video tapes from the Qantas baggage area, actually fingerprinting the marijuana bag before it was contaminated..argghhh I could go on and on..sorry it just seems like every possible chance she had to prove that it wasn't her that put it in there was taken from her.

Heya,

Thanks for replying. I'm also from Sydney! Whereabouts are you located? I've never come across a kitten from Sydney, other than my gf

Yes, it's very frustrating. To think that a person can be imprisoned not for guilt but for lost/ignored evidence is very worrying. I totally agree with what you said (and it's a long list). Everyone I've spoken to is so upset about this. Also, I heard someone ranting on the radio that we should all boycott Bali. Gosh, this is going to screw things up for that country even more. Ergh.

Cheers,
Roz

_________________
.......We are the weirdest person in the world.......

L'absence est à l'amour ce qu'est au feu le vent; il éteint le petit, il allume
le grand.

I just heard a blurb about this case on CNN.

I think that what's so particularly outrageous is that, apart from the question of her innocence or guilt, is the sentence: by contrast, someone also convicted in Indonesia of assisting in the Bali (nightclub) bombing got 30 months in prison! (and for pot, she got 20 years)

GG 30 months for killing 200 people, or 20 years for a drug that's unlikely to kill anyone: yeah, that's fair. Not. Out

I've been meaning to post this for a few days.

The IRA have declared an end to their campaign of violence. In a statement they said they will now persue their aims through purely political means.

You can read about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm



Already plans are being made to start withdrawing troops from Northern Ireland.

Well it all sounds good, it just remains to be seen how well they live up to it.

As for reasons I suspect this is down to Al Qaeda's activities. The growing anti terrorist feeling following from Al Qaeda's attacks has probably seen a drop in support for the IRA, particularly in America which provides a lot of the IRA's funding.

Whatever the reasons this definitely is of the good.

_________________
02/28/2007

I think you may be right about that. Maybe it also provided a mirror for them that shows how ugly, disgusting, cowardly and senseless terrorism is. No matter who commits the act and for what cause it may be, it is utterly reprehensible. Maybe they finally saw what kind of people they are, not that they´ll ever admit to it judging from this declaration.

_________________
Cartman: Mom--Kitty is being a dildo.

Mrs. Cartman: Well, I know a little kitty who is sleeping with Mommy tonight.

The other possibility is that they finally woke up to the fact that they've been using violence to reach their goals for thirty years now and they're no closer to an independant Ireland than they were when they started. Whereas Scotland and Wales have made definite progress towards independance, by using political means. So maybe the heads of the IRA have finally started taking deliveries from the clue train, or something.

_________________
02/28/2007

I would LOVE to believe that this was true.

However having grown up in Birmingham, witnessing the aftermath of IRA "work" and having only just missed (by at most 30 seconds) being blown up by an IRA bomb in London and then observing the "celebrations" of that bombing by my G/F and her friends, I guess I'm kinda cynical about the IRA's attitude.

I think personally this declaration has a lot more to do with the decline in popularity of terrorist activity since 911. The IRA got an awfull lot of support in America and a lot of money. That then became rather an hypocritical situation when there was an outpouring of anti terrorist feeling.

They (the IRA) have lost a lot of money in the past 4 years and a lot of support in America. I personally believe this has had more of a significant effect on IRA activity than any so called re think of ethics.

I was reading my school new paper the other day and came across this story:

Ottawa- On Wednesday hunderds will rally on Parliament Hill to call on the Canadian government to take immediate action to stop a state run secret extermination camp, "SuJiaTun," reminiscent of Auschwitz in Nazi Germany. The camp was recently discovered in shenyang city, Liaoning province in china where Falun Gong detainees are being killed and their organs harvested and sold for profit by the state. The camp is equipped with a crematorium to burn the bodies and eliminate evidence, and no detainee is known to have out alive."The kind of mass killing is a challenge to the basic human nature of us all. if we were aware of this extent of evil and we choose to do nothing we all hold responsibility in these crimes by acception them through our silence. We know clearly what happend at the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. We can understand what is happening now in chin", said Xun Li, President of the Falun Dafa Assocation of Canada. The Falun Dafa association of Canada urgently calls on teh Canadian government to demand that China cease the atrcities being comited at Sujiatun concentarion camp and to summon the Chinese Ambassador to raise this concern and to send an investigation team to Shenyang to investiage this concentarion camp." -the meliorist, march 23, 2006

some back ground information that I have gathered:
-there are around 6000 people there at any one point
-SuJiaTun was built in 2000
-The Falun Dafa are Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of the Buddha School, consisting of meditation and exercises, with teachings that emphasise living by three principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Originating in China, Falun Gong is now practised in over 70 countries countries. With Chinese government estimates of 100 million China practising Falun Gong in China, in July 1999 the Chinese Communist Party-state launched a nationwide, violent campaign to eradicate the practice. The Irish Falun Gong Information Centre has verified details of 2,840 deaths and over 44,000 cases of torture (Reports / Sources). Millions have been detained or sent to forced labour camps.
-On March 10th this information about the camp and organ harvesting leaked by a CCP member.

Other very good links that i recommend you all take the time to look at:
http://ntdtv.com/xtr/eng/aReadArticle.jsp?id=41335

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74819?print_page=true

http://english.epochtimes.com/category.asp?id=92

http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200603/31921.html

Please help spread the word about this, it is very important that the world (the people not just the goverments) know about this!

Trish

Anyone want to discuss this Israel-Hezbollah thing going on? The news is increasingly difficult to watch. I cannot imagine what it is like to be in the thick of it. I hope I never find out.

Interestingly, I have found many people do not want to talk about what's going on. I'm a news junkie and I want to talk about it, if someone would care to join.

Since I'm raising the issue, I'll go ahead and give my own opinion. Israel's actions are an overreaction, approaching unconscionable, especially the supposedly accidental bombing recently of the UN observers post and today's airstrike against a building full of refugees in Qana. Should Hezbollah have kidnapped the two Israeli soldiers? No, of course not. Should Hezbollah be firing rockets into Israel? No, absolutely not. But Israel should not be responding with such overwhelming force. This is how terrorists are created.

Isn't there enough war already? It's so frustrating. The US has turned Iraq upside down and I don't think anyone who reads any real news from there doesn't believe there is a civil war going on in Iraq now. The US abandoned Afghanistan. The US is in a perpetual pissing contest with Ahmedinejad and now he's snuggling up to Chavez, who is talking about arming Bolivia from the shiny new Kalashnikov factory....

Where is it all going to end? Whose fault is it? It's scary.

Couple news links here for anyone who's interested and is thinking what the hell is she talking about

Dozens killed, wounded in Israeli airstrike

Iran's Ahmedinejad meets 'brother' Chavez

_________________

Oh yes, I would like to discuss this very much so. What I find so very repulsive about this situation is (besides Israel's overreactions, on which I agree with you) is flagrant disregard for humanitarian policies Bush has displayed throughout this entire conflict. I mean this disregard has almost become a policy for him. Darfur anyone?

I cannot believe that even Bush would ignore the suffering of so many people so that he could stick with policy. With a policy that got our country into a whole other mess, a mess whose beginnings and ends can be put up for question altogether. And the arrogance with which he calls this conflict as an "expansion of the war on terrorism" is frightening. Is this what he strives for?

His romantic notions of being able to separate terrorists from innocent civilians have clearly been disproved by how many civilians have died or been injured in both this conflict and the war in Iraq. Yet he pushes forward with Israel's attacks, "urging" for restraint on Israel's part while doing anything but showing restraint on his front. He knows the suffering and the pain allt hose civilians are facing. He knows how Lebanon is dying economically with the withdrawal of so many tourists and the destruction of their rich cultural scene yet he still believes that this war on terrorism can be compartmentalized, separated from the everyday lives of the citizens.

Perhaps, Bush should take his own advice and exercise some restraint. His original intention of destroying terrorist factions is undoubtedly an honestly good goal, but the way he tries to go about it could use some more reflection. Not just Bush of course but his entire administration. Sometimes, it is good, heroic almost to act in ways no matter how other people may view you, but this isn't on a small-scale. It isn't specified to one isolated universe. Because we are the country that we are, it affects everyone, and really the administration should take more time to deal with the delicacy of this situation.

Okay, so my opinions are much more of an America-centric view on the situation, but he just pisses me off. In terms of just the conflict itself, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Lebanon at least want to sit down and talk about a compromise while Israel just keeps firing crap into towns? But then again, doesn't Israel always do that? Israel has really just worn out the "they started it" excuse; they just need to start taking responsbility for their actions (which a couple other countries should also do. cough, us, cough). Aren't other European countries urging these negotiating talks? Isn't pretty much everyone except US and Israel? Coincidence, I think not. I may not be very well-versed in terms of politics and maybe I feel too much instead of think too much but shouldn't someone start taking responsibility for what they do? Will anyone?

_________________
sheep go to heaven. goats go to hell

Holley,

I am beyond words with the whole Mid-East situation. We don't belong in Iraq. Hezbollah has gone against what they were elected to do. Israel is over reacting, but they were attacked first. ( I still say that the whole area should be redivided & borders set in stone without further settlements constructed in non-settlement areas. Jewish settlements in Israel & Christian and Muslim homes in Palestinian homelands & yes, I know it is more complicated than that, but I cannot articulate the complexity.)

I think the US gov't (shrub-led) has dug itself into a sewer pit of a hole with a "D'd if you do & d'd if you don't" ending... with all of us "dead if we do" ...

it isn't right, but I feel like burying my head in the sand (or a pillow) until this is all over... the problem is that my head would be buried for decades!!

I want to cry hysterically at the stupidity & the audacity and arrogance of the leaderships in most of the world governments involved. (stupid gits)

_________________
skittles

Life without coffee isn't worth living!
"People don't relate to you as the person you are, but to a myth they believe you are, and the myth is always wrong."

Well, it looks like Israel is going to hold back airstrikes for a couple days. It acknowledges the Qana thing was a "tragic mistake." Maybe, maybe, maybe this will be a turning point. I suppose it depends on what happens there over the next two days.

I agree with you, beanie, about the disregard for humanitarian policies. Unfortunately, I do believe Bush would ignore suffering to stick with policy. I just don't think Bush cares about people. The US would never have abandoned the people of Afghanistan if Bush actually cared about humanitarian issues. And, yes, the US would have been on the ground in Sudan if Bush actually cared about people. It's not even just all Bush, either. It goes back further than that (and probably all the way back to the beginning of US history...and maybe all of human history, truth be told). One of Africa's longest running conflicts has been occurring just south of Sudan in Northern Uganda and the things that have happened there are enough to make any reasonable person lose all faith in the goodness of humanity. The US ignored the situation in Rwanda. Basically, anything that happens anywhere in Africa might as well happen in another galaxy as far as the US and much of the world is concerned. Why? Is it cynical of me to believe the fact that so much of Africa is so poor might have a little something to do with it? Compared to the US obsession with the oil-rich Middle East, it seems plausible.

I think it's usually ultimately about money, not about people.

With the Israel-Hezbollah thing, yeah, pretty much the whole world except the US wants Israel to knock it off. I wonder what Bush would have to say about most other countries doing what Israel has been doing. If he believes Israel has a right to defend itself (which I agree with, within reason), why don't the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves? Israel has not been kind to the Palestinians, yet when Palestinians defend themselves, they are labeled terrorists. It all reminds me of when The Troubles were going on in Ireland and everything the IRA did was "terrorism" even while the other side was doing the exact same things. And, too, now in Iraq. The so-called insurgents there, so-called terrorists...what would you do if a foreign nation invaded your own, drove tanks down your streets, and bombed your wedding parties? What is any reasonable person supposed to do in the face of aggression like that? I honestly don't know the right answer, but I am pretty sure I know what I would do if I looked out my window in the morning to foreign soldiers patrolling my street with guns. All that only to say that I think it is always worth considering all points of view in any conflict, for things are rarely as simple and black-and-white as they might seem on the surface.

Oh, sigh. It's so depressing, the state of the world.

(beanie, by the way, I like your sig. I like both the Cake song and The Sheep and the Goats story from Matthew, whichever you're referring to, if it's even one of those.)

Hey, skittles. Yep, I think one of the big problems involving Israel is that whole settlement business. That seems to have created a great deal of animosity. It's so complicated, though. What land should belong to whom? And based on what - who was there first, who won a battle for it, who has lived there the longest, who God says should get it? Who gets to decide all that?

Nations, borders...I hate the way we separate ourselves from each other. I hate that maybe we have to separate ourselves if we cannot get along with one another because we are so preoccupied with the ways we are different instead of focusing on the ways we are the same.

(I like your sigs, too, skittles! Mmm...coffeeeeeeee....)

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It is all about the money, maudmac (I have no other way of referring to you). For the US, any time we are presented with a genocide or a conflict (especially in the Middle East) we weigh the costs and benefits. Even domestically. Why do you think Bush sided with Israel in the first place? To be in American Jews' favor (not to say that all American Jews support what Israel is doing. So no offense.). American Jews who have a lot of money and influence especially in metropolitan areas. It's not a Bush administration policy like you said maudmac, it's an American policy. We are not a moral country in terms of foreign policy, we are a greedy one.

And so it seems that Condoleezza Rice is making progress on the terms for the cease-fire package between Israel and Lebanon. Negotiations for these terms were supposed to take place during a 48-hour halt in Israel's bombings. I guess halt to them means "continue bombing not even Hezbollah targets but civilians too." I can see how they were confused. We cannot continue accepting Israel's "oopsies" for all of the civilian deaths.

This is what America said about these unneeded deaths:



Yes we should allow Israel to continue attacks on militants during a halt because we know how good Israel's intelligence and aim has been throughout this entire conflict. Let's look at an example shall we?

About 1,900 rockets have fallen on Israel. Nineteen civilians have been killed and over 400 wounded. Thirty-three soldiers have been killed and 88 wounded. I'm going to squeeze by the facts and say Israel dropped around the same number on Lebanon. Nearly 550 Lebanese have been killed in airstrikes, with as many as 200 missing, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Almost 2,000 have been wounded.

Call me crazy but I can see a large gaping hole in those two facts. It's the gaping hole where the Lebanese people lived.

But oh ho, it's okay because this is an important fight. Means to an end we say.



Get over yourself Bush. This isn't about freedom or terror. This is about land. Israel wants more land. "Oops, we've accidentally destroyed apartment buildings where civilians lived. We swear we thought there were Hezbollah militants there. Oh shucks. But really it's the Hezbollah's fault. We warned them several days in advance so they could leave their homes so we could demolish every thing they have ever owned. Well, I guess we can use the extra space to move in tanks so we can reinforce our land troops, you know, so we can kill the Hezbollah evil people."

My question is where are all the Israeli refugees. We hear so much about the Lebanese civilians escaping the airstrikes. So if those two countries are in a clash, why is it that only the Lebanese are hauling ass? And also, in terms of the airstrike in Qana which was gross, inhumane, and not a mistake (get over yourself Israel), why does the US say Israel should "further investigate" if there were Hezbollah munitions in the apartment people that THEY blew up. If we're saying Hezbollah and Lebanese civilians are separate entities because we DON'T want Israel to hit the wrong targets (God forbid), shouldn't the Lebanese be investigating? If we trust Lebanese troops enough to encourage them to disarm the Hezbollah shouldn't the LEBANESE be investigating the airstrikes done on LEBANESE land to LEBANESE people? Maybe.

This is why genocides and "terrorists" pop up. They see the impunity US gives to other countries like Israel which are obviously doing very wrong things and think that this impunity will extend to them. "Nothing will happen as long as we don't touch US oil and money."

And hey look! They're right.

(Oh and yes my sig is from the cake song. I love cake. And your avatar reminds me of something. I can't put my finger on it though.)

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sheep go to heaven. goats go to hell

For ACM, a few selected few whom this policy has been life changing, and all whom thinks that the government needs to stay out of our love lives.

Gays plan to take on 'don't ask, don't tell' military policy

by Patrick Condon
Associated Press

Eden Prairie, Minn.---On paper, Haven Herrin seems to be an ideal candidate for military recruiters.

She can easily run five miles and was valedictorian of her college class. "Frankly, I'm exactly the kind of person the military says it wants," she said.

But when Herrin tried recently to sign yo for the Minnesota National Guard, she was turned down because she told the recruiter she is a lesbian-a revelation that tripped the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay service persons.

Her admission was the opening round od a nationwide campaign against the 13-year-old policy by a group of young activists. In the next few months, gay men and women in their late teens and early 20s will attempt to enlist at recruiting offices in 30 cities. They will also disclose their sexual orientation.

If they are rebuffed, the activists plan to stage sit-ins at the offices, hoping to attract media coverage and support from the public they believe increasingly opposes the ban. Organizers have dubbed the campaign Right to Serve. It was conceived by Herrin and Jacob Reitan, the 24-year-old young adult coordinator for the Virginia-based gay rights group Soulforce.

The Pentagon's policy on gays is "as clear-cut an example of discrimination that you could find," Reitan said. "No one can deny it, and it's happening every day."

...11,000 gay service members have been discharged since President Clinton bent to pressure and signed "don't ask, don't tell" into law.

...The military is prohibited from asking recruits about their sexual orientation, and commanders are limited in their ability to investigate rumors or allegations of homosexuality in the ranks.

...Critics argue that in many cases military officials have violated its spirit, pursuing service members based on rumors or innuendo.

...Reitan states, that if accepted, all gay activists will serve. Most have wanted to join for years.
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I spent twenty years in the US Army. I have never seen any reason that Gays and Lesbians cannot serve. COMMA

Everyone ready for WWIII?

Stupid UN...

Sorry I’m a little late with this, and I’m not 100% sure this is the correct thread. However:

“Lucy Lawless occupies arctic drilling ship

Auckland, 24 February 2012. At 7am this morning actor Lucy Lawless joined Greenpeace New Zealand activists in stopping a Shell-contracted drillship from departing the port of Taranaki for the remote Arctic, where its exploratory oil drilling programme threatens to devastate the Alaskan coastline.”

Lucy showing the accommodation:
http://www.ausxip.com/video/archives/4985

You can follow Lucy Lawless on twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/reallucylawless

Here is the Save the Artic Protest support page:
http://www.lucylawless.info/eco-warrior ... index.html

This is to send an e-mail to Shell:
http://act.greenpeace.org.uk/ea-action/ ... n.id=13413

They are now safely off the ship.

I'd never heard of Joseph Kony before last night. Anyone that doesn't know who he is should find out. He is a sickening man leading an army and committing horrible crimes in Africa. However, I have been going around today retracting my support of a campaign called Kony 2012, cause I learned more about it today and it's... not the saving grace I thought it was. It did get some things right though, and one of those things is that people need to know about what's happening, and try to fight against it.

Maybe this belongs in “The Politics Thread”; however, it is a current issue.

Another can of worms in the world.

The majority of the population of The Falkland Islands want to the islands to remain under the U.K. umbrella.
http://www.falklands.gov.fk/

It seems some of the population would appreciate followers of their tweet accounts as a show of support.
http://twitter.com/#!/falklands_utd

http://twitter.com/#!/falklandsgov

Editor of the local newspaper
https://twitter.com/#!/Lisafalklands

http://penguin-news.com/

http://www.falklandislands.com/

Due to rating, a film called “Bully” cannot be shown in schools
http://thebullyproject.com/

Here is the petition asking to change the rating of the film
http://www.change.org/petitions/mpaa-do ... n-r-rating

Maybe this should go in the apps thread.

Although this is being addressed, kittens be cautious with personal information
http://www.cultofmac.com/157641/this-cr ... k-privacy/

Ban Religious Slaughter in the UK.

This is for animal welfare.

If you want to sign the petition:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8324