Floatingbadger Political Community Site

    Representative Robert Wexler has decided to hand in his 190,000 signature petition to impeach Cheney and ask the Judiciary Comittee to begin impeachment hearings.  The Chariman Representative Conyers is a friend of his, so this might actually go somewhere, but I'm not very hopeful.  I guess we'll see.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/33439ADB-D41E-45B1-AEAA-3A20997D52EA.htm

   About four years late and not much chance of changing the minds of those who desperately need it, but it's nice to know that eventually they can learn a lesson.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080113/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_joint_chiefs

   The Joint Chiefs Chairman wants to close Gitmo, yet they still wont do it.  The mind boggles.  I can't believe it's doing its job much less helping out rep any.  We've kept it open mostly because the Cubans would like it closed.  What's it going to take?

   So.... The NIE report said that Iran was no closer than 5 years from building a nuclear weapon if they resumed work right now.  The United States Intelligence community believes, correctly or incorrectly that Iran canceled their nuclear weapons program back in 2003.  When Mr. Bush heard this report, he said (and those in his administration said) that the report proves that Iran is still a threat.  He doesn't dispute the findings, but he downplays the bit about the nuclear weapon program being snuffed out.

  Until he visits Israel and the Isralies tell him that they believe that Iran IS building a nuclear weapon and is close to completing it.  Faced with this news, do Bush say "Well our intelligence says he isn't, so lets talk" ??  Nope..  He says that he can't control what our intelligence community thinks and that HE believes as the Israelis do.

   Then please stay in Israel, since you like them so much, Mr Bush.  Either agree with your own people or not.  Don't just go along with something until someone you like disputes it and then come out of the closet.

   I guess someone out there is still paying attention.  The internal investigation by the UN uncovered fraud and corruption... *yawn*  $600 million of UN funds was apparently at risk because of this fraud.  Most of the cases were about peacekeeping missions and many were based on allegations of sexual exploitation.

   Now I'm no turnip truck, but maybe now that they've found all this corruption, this could be an opportunity by the UN to get something of their old reputation back.... Eh.. well, they never had a good reputation.  How about an opportunity to get a good reputation?  This could be the year that the UN turns the world around and begins doing the right things for the right reasons....

   Yeah... and Britney Spears is a good singer.

   The head of the investigation, Robert Appleton said that most of the allegations were false or could not be supported with evidence.  Nevertheless, Ban Ki-moon, who's name sounds like a game show has pushed for greater powers for the UN investigative team ever since he was accused of improperly awarding a Lockeed Martin contract without allowing competitors to bid on the contract....

Wait... what?

   Oh yeah... He said that was a legitimate move.  Apparently, it's okay to skip the bidding round when the company in question can deliver product on short notice.  That begs the question though:  Did Lockeed deliver on time... or did they just SAY they could.  Oh well... maybe I'm being unfairly critical.

   Two of the Lakota tribes have so far announced that the Lakota Freedom Delegation does not speak for them and the tribes are not withdrawing from the treaties they have with the United States.  The group apparently did not consult with any of the tribal leadership before they made their declaration to the State Department.

So much for the Revolution.  Maybe next year.

More Info

 http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801060602

"The incidence of violent crime in Michigan in the six years since the law went into effect has been, on average, below the rate of the previous six years. The overall incidence of death from firearms, including suicide and accidents, also has declined."

This is after a SIX FOLD INCREASE in the availability of firearms.

Where are the statistics from the other side?  Are there any places where gun laws were relaxed and crime and handgun deaths went UP?  Just asking.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22954249-1702,00.html

The Lakota have finally formed their own nation.  I'm not sure what odds to give them, but I wish them luck.

“We seek your leadership. But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.” - Kevin Conrad at the Bali conference when speaking to the US deligation.

That is awesome.  So much for respect from abroad.  Do the Republicans even have a plan for getting back the reputation of the US?  So far they have been acting like our reputation isn't important.  It's only important for us to be able to do what we want.  Public approval (or even acceptance) is not required.  For the international community, the US has become everything that it used to stand against: intolerance, aggression, arrogance, and an uncaring attitude that states quite clearly that if you aren't with the United States, you are against the United States.

I hope this will be a wake-up call to our leaders, but I don't think it will be.  If they haven't been able to get the message up to this point, merely pointing out that the rest of the world thinks the US is bonkers isn't going to matter much.

  Okay, the NIE report is out.  The intelligence communities OFFICIAL line is that Iran is NOT pursuing a nuclear weapons program.  Now everyone has latched onto this as vindication that Bush is full of crap about the need to attack Iran.

  Now... I don't like Bush.  I think he's full of crap and I don't need the NIE report to prove it.  My problem is that the NIE report on Iraq before the war said that Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction and he WAS in bed with terrorists, both of which turned out to be false.  My problem is that we're using an agency who's credibility is currently suspect to attack someone who's credibility is already destroyed.  Does anyone else see the danger here?

     Good ole Rupert has done it again, this time aquiring Beliefnet, a staggeringly strong Christian network, but from everything I've seen, rather moderate and unfundamentalist.  On the other hand, there is WAY too much media power being concentrated in one hand.  That by itself would not be cause for concern, but for a man that worships the almighty dollar, I can't see this ending very well for anyone invloved, least of all us poor consumers.

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/media/10392835.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

  Okay, so the NIE report finally came out and after being picked over by Bush goons for "language issues" it STILL says that Iran has given up their nuclear weapons program as early as 2003 and shows no signs of returning to it.

Why does the National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley say that the NIE report “confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons.” ?

    Lying to the public I can understand.  Trying to spin things in their favor I can understand, but asking us to believe that denying Iran has a nuclear weapon program really means they are in danger of getting nuclear weapons is so far away from reality that I have got to believe that the Whitehouse has legalized drug use...... but only inside the Whitehouse.  Iran is now a threat simply because SOMEDAY MAYBE they MIGHT have nuclear weapons.

   But wait.... wasn't it the NIE report that said that Hussein had biological and chemical weapons and was running flat out with a nuclear development program???  I see what they're doing.  The Whitehouse is taking using a different strategy.  On the assumption that the NIE is a bunch of incompetent dingbats, they have decided to simply assume the opposite of whatever the NIE report says, making the NSA's statement technically correct.  If the NIE report is wrong, we have no idea what Iran is doing.  They could be juggling live chickens, or painting coconuts to look like George Bush.  Obviously we need to get those bastards before they do something really dastardly.

  Oh, what a world we live in.

Well THAT sucks... I had a huge rant against Fundamentalism planned and the Sudan government had to go ahead and be mature about the whole thing.... Now what am I going to do???

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/12/03/sudan.teachers

    This is awesome.  Geothermal energy that doesn't depend of vulcanism and can be found without spending gobs of money?  If we can get the attention of the Ethanol and clean-coal crowd, slap them in the face a couple times, maybe we can get some yardage on this.


   Yeah.. and maybe pigs are metal and powered by rocket fuel....

       Well, since the Christian Fundies can always be counted on to be childish and confrontational, I suppose it was inevitable that the response to the asinine sentence handed down from the Sudanese court to Miss Gibbons would be both classy and appropriate......

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58996

      For all their stupidity, however... the Christians seem to have arrived at a conclusion that continues to escape the Islamic Fundies; namely that when people make fun of you (either on purpose or, as in this case, totally unknowingly) and you try to punish them and call for their execution, or even just get upset, it does NOT encourage anyone to stop making fun of you.  In fact, it usually makes them more prone to do it, either because they resent what they see as you getting all upset over something trivial or that they revel in the fact that you are upset by it and wish to upset you more.  Most fifth-grade students have already figured this out.  How this basic truth keeps evading the scrutiny of the Imams is beyond me.

      Yes, I understand you believe in your God.  Yes, I understand that your faith is your life.  But punishing people who poke fun at you makes YOU seem like the bad guy and makes people look at the faith that compelled you to do it as something distasteful.

 Ripped from Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/29/iraqi-lawmakers-protest-humiliating-treatment-by-us/#comment-4171513

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

Iraqi lawmakers protest ‘humiliating’ treatment by U.S.

The LA Times reports that “[d]ozens of Iraqi lawmakers walked out of parliament Wednesday to protest what they view as overly aggressive and humiliating treatment by U.S. soldiers when representatives enter Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, where the legislature is located:

“I and many of my colleagues who live outside the Green Zone face a lot of problems,” said Feryad Rawandozi, a high-ranking official with the Kurdish parliamentary bloc. U.S. soldiers “are very arrogant and impolite when they talk to us, especially with those who don’t speak English.”

Legislators, like everyone else entering the Green Zone, must submit to a gauntlet of physical searches, and allow their vehicles to be inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. They must line up with the throngs of other residents and employees seeking to enter the area, which is also headquarters to U.S. operations in Iraq. The process can take up to two hours.

“If we come off as aggressive, it might be a cultural thing,” claimed Army Maj. Anton Alston, a spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq.  November 29, 2007 3:32 pm

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

First of all: What the Fuck?  It MIGHT be a cultural thing?  Don't you think that if you're going to invade a country and then rebuild it to be more tolerant of the western world, you should take a LITTLE time out to study the damned culture?  It's a miracle the war isn't a total disaster..... oh wait...

Second of all:  I think this is such a good idea that it should be done with United States Senators, Representatives and even the President everytime they come to work.  We should go further than that.  They should be followed and every conversation they have with anyone should be recorded.  If they go to a resturant, meet someone on the street, talk to their mothers on the phone, a recording should be made.  Everything they do or say should be avaliable for public scrutiny.  Might teach them to be better people.. might not, but at least they wont be able to say anything that would get them into trouble.  Well, they could... but then they would... you know.... get into trouble.

In Reply To: http://community.livejournal.com/floatingbadger/13913.html -- I suppose that I could write something pithy, but I think that the article speaks louder than I ever could.....

I absolutely DETEST washing up in the same camp as Ann Coulter...


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/17/saudi.rape.victim/index.html

(CNN) -- A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.

The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

The victim's attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the rapists' sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the punishment should be death.

"After a year, the preliminary court changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the defendants," al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday. "However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim's sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes."

The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.....

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/786DE218-7868-4CCB-B34E-B854501332FE.htm

A British teacher in Sudan takes a poll from her students and the vote is to name a stuffed bear "Mohammed"  The parents complain and the teacher is arrested.  If convicted of charges of Blasphemy and "inciting racial hatred" she faces jail time and lashes.  The Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas said:

"What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam," 

This is what keeps me from taking these fundamentalist Muslim nations seriously, when a group effort to name a stuffed bear after a great religious leader can be construed as a "Plot against Islam"  someone seriously needs to get a grip.  This has got nothing to do with human rights, religious tolerance, or allowing countries to conduct their own affairs.  This is fucking nuts.  The brain power it takes to put on your underwear without getting two legs in one hole should be enough to see this for what it is and just go "Oops.. haha" and get on with your life.  That anyone wastes their time with this and thinks for one moment that this teacher is in league with the enemies of Islam is astonishing.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/27/cheney/

  >sigh<