Posts from — May 2008

I really can’t advise people to click on any of the links I’m providing because they go to instances of insanity for the most part. What I had always assumed were informed, intelligent people have completely and totally lost their minds.

The least of the offenses is committed by my favorite Middle Eastern expert, Dr. Juan Cole, in his post, Clinton Touches off National PTSD. Dr. Cole recognizes that people went around the bend, but at the end brings up the picture of Obama in tribal clothing as an example of a Clinton dirty trick‽

The individual who is the source for the claim about the Clinton involvement is Matt Drudge, one of the few people on the planet with less reliability than Ahmed Chalabi. When you have people like Dr. Cole giving credence to statements on the Drudge Report, the world is definitely out of kilter.

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Dr. Cole looks that the rumors circulating in Iraq and addresses the question: Will Sistani Declare Jihad on US?

The thing to remember is that if the Grand Ayatollah Sistani officially issues a fatwa that Shi’ites have a religious duty to oppose the US forces in Iraq, even the current Iraqi army will feel compelled to respond. Iraq becomes untenable.

Sistani is the major reason that the situation hasn’t been a lot worse than it is. If he issues an opinion against the US presence, the “insurrection” will become all out war.

Jonathan Head, South East Asia correspondent, BBC News wonders – Will Burma keep its word on aid?

For nearly three weeks the Burmese government has insisted that, while it will take relief supplies from overseas, foreign personnel are not welcome.

Hundreds of disaster experts have been left stranded outside the country, waiting for visas, and most of those foreigners already inside have been confined to Rangoon – military checkpoints preventing them from reaching the stricken Irrawaddy Delta.

So the offer by senior General Than Shwe to UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon to allow in “all foreign aid workers, regardless of nationality”, appears to be a breakthrough.

My guess is that this is the standard stall by the junta, something they have done many times before. When it comes time for people to get to work, they will find out that they are so restricted by the military that accomplishing anything significant is impossible. The Burmese military fails to understand the giant boost the Chinese government received internationally and domestically with its reaction to the earthquake.

The BBC publishes an update on the casualties figures for the earthquake and highlights yet another problem in the region: China earthquake toll jumps again

The death toll from the massive earthquake in south-west China rose again, as an official said more than five million buildings had collapsed.

Vice-Governor of Sichuan province Li Chengyun said 55,239 people were now know to have died in the 12 May quake.

He appealed for more tents and set a three-year goal to rebuild towns and infrastructure in the region.

Meanwhile, concern is growing over a number of new lakes formed by the force of the earthquake.

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Dirty Picture

Want to see my scar?

[Editor: Actually it has been in the upper 80s lately, and I avoid turning on the AC until the computer starts kicking in the main fan, so Property was just trying to cool off. She was so distracted she forgot to close her eyes.]

Friday Ark

The Associated Press reports that the Mouse has a problem: Disney recalls sleeping bag, toy wand

LOS ANGELES – Thousands of sleeping bags and magic wands contaminated by excessive levels of lead paint are being recalled by The Walt Disney Co., federal inspectors said Thursday.

The recall targets 4,100 Pirates of the Caribbean sleeping bags and 8,000 Tinker Bell wands sold at Disney Stores nationwide between April and October of 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

When do marketing people get it – if it is cheap, painted, and Chinese, you should assume it has lead. There is nothing cheap about anything from a Disney Store, so there is no reason for this other than corporate greed.

The good news is that with the dollar in the tank and the high cost of fuel, people may actually start building things in the US to save money.

but it can still cause floods.

The Associated Press reports on the “repaired” Katrina-Battered New Orleans Levee Leaking

(AP) Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city’s flood defenses.

Outside engineering experts who have studied the project told The Associated Press that the type of seepage spotted at the 17th Street Canal in the Lakeview neighborhood afflicts other New Orleans levees, too, and could cause some of them to collapse during a storm.
…

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The BBC has an example of the lengths to which some people apparently feel they must go to comply with RIAA insanity: Exam papers had answers on back

Thousands of teenagers are facing uncertainty over their exams after a GCSE music paper was found to have some of the answers on the back.

The paper – taken across England – involved pupils listening to pieces of music and then identifying composers and styles of music.

The music clips are identified by copyright notices on the back of the exam papers, as in:

Question 6: Who wrote this piece [listen to music].

And on the back:

Q6 Sound clip Chaikovski Waltz from Swan Lake from Sony Classical

I really think that inclusion in a test would constitute “fair use”, especially since the entire piece will not be played. It would also have been easier to have had an exam CD created by testing authorities with one of the many local orchestras in Britain that do not have recording contracts but could use some extra funding.

The Democratic leadership would be out of step in a one-man parade: Mixup negates House override of farm bill veto

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly rejected President Bush’s veto of a $290 billion farm bill Wednesday, but what was to have been a stinging defeat for the president became an embarrassing episode for Democrats.

Only hours before the House’s 316-108 vote, Bush had vetoed the five-year measure, saying it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly.

Action stalled, however, after the discovery that Congress had omitted a 34-page section of the bill when lawmakers sent the massive measure to the White House. That means Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, leaving leaders scrambling to figure out whether it could become law.

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With all of the other problems associated with a dodgy election and the tribal turmoil that followed, the BBC reports that Kenyans burn alive 11 ‘witches’

Eleven women accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya, police say.

A security operation has been launched to hunt down villagers suspected of killing the women in Kisii District.

The area has witnessed similar attacks in the past when people suspected of engaging in witchcraft have been killed or ostracised.

Where do they think they are, Massachusetts?

I’m sure the security people will be just as diligent as those officers investigating “honor” killings in Iraq and India. It makes you wonder why we bother with relief agencies when too much of the world think it is perfectly rational and right to kill others over mythology.

The Associated Press reports that Myanmar Turns Away U.S. Cyclone Aid

(AP) Myanmar shunned a U.S. proposal for naval ships to deliver aid to cyclone victims on Wednesday, according to state-run media, dimming hopes that the vessels could provide a major boost to relief efforts.

The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece for Myanmar’s ruling junta, said that such assistance “comes with strings attached” that are “not acceptable to the people of Myanmar.” It cited fears that Washington wants to overthrow the country’s government and seize its oil.

The actions of the Hedgemony make US assistance toxic in much of the world. The invasion of Iraq lends credence to what would have once been viewed as sheer paranoia. Nations that never would have considered nuclear weapons are now thinking about them to protect themselves from the US.

We are no longer the solution – we have become the problem.

The BBC has article on the efforts of ordinary citizens to help the cyclone victims: Burmese dodge junta to supply aid

Driving through a watery wasteland handing out food to desolate storm survivors is something Win will never forget.

Local Burmese people were the first on the scene after Cyclone Nargis brought destruction to the fertile landscape of the Irrawaddy Delta.

Win was one of those who filled up a car with food and blankets and made the journey down south.

“People in that area need everything. They have no shelter. They stand by the road like beggars asking for food,” Win told the BBC News website. “I’ll go down there again,” he said. “But there are many difficulties.”

It was not just the lashing rain but a fear of the ruling junta that impeded his progress.

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PZ Myers has a notice up for Australian blog readers.

Essentially, an Australian graduate student is looking for people who read blogs, but don’t have blogs of their own, for a research project. She needs adult Australian blog readers.

Check Pharyngula for the details and contact information.

Jams O’Donnell writes about a new law being proposed in Ireland: Detonation of nuclear weapon to carry 12 month sentence (or a fine).

A €5,000 fine is not a traffic ticket, but I would think eliminating a city might call for a little more. Actually this is in line with a Class A misdemeanor in New York, not even a felony. After the completion of the sentence you could still vote in every state, own a gun, and have a professional license.