Tuesday - February 20, 2007
Jackass
“Crossroads" -by- Cox & Forkum
on 02/20/2007 at 01:48 PM
Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Humor • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink
Criminals With Guns?
The editors at the NY SLIMES are deeply concerned. They are worried that you and I are being protected by criminals ... with guns ... in the military. They make out like the Army is just grabbing every murderer, rapist and bank robber off the street, handing them a gun, throwing them in the front lines and forgetting about them.
WRONG! Anyone who has served in the military knows better. To listen to the editors here, you’d think the Army is going to hell thanks to extended tours during the current conflict. I’m so glad the TIMES is looking out for our brave troops but it’s obvious none of them ever served. If they had they’d know that in the military the first thing you learn is discipline. Next is cooperation. Finally, comes responsibility.
Over the course of the last few centuries there have been millions of “bad boys” who redeemed themselves by serving in the military. The ones who don’t shape up are quickly sent packing.
The TIMES seems to think the Army needs to do a better job of selling itself to our young people. That would be the same young people the TIMES and their Liberal readers encourage to hate the military. The TIMES also wants the Army to treat the troops better and ignore logistical needs. Aren’t you glad we have these wonderful military experts at the TIMES to help us straighten out the military? GRRRRRR ....
I have a better solution that is a win-win situation for everyone. Why don’t we establish four-year mandatory service period for all high school graduates. When you graduate from high school you have a choice: (1) enlist in any of the armed services for four years, or (2) sign up for service in the Peace Corps for four years. When your four years of service are complete ... BINGO! ... you are entitled to four years of fully paid college education -or- an equivalent lump sum payment to be used to start a business.
It’ll work, I tell you. The kids who love this country and like the idea of military service get to do what they want and get rewarded for it. The Leftist peaceniks who hate America and despise the military get to help the poor, downtrodden people of the world and get rewarded for it too. Either way, we build generations of individuals who have learned to endure hardship and understand what it means to be of service to our country and the world.
Forget the whining editors at the TIMES, let’s do the right thing by our kids. Teach them to be real ... and reward them for it. This country will be a much better place for it.
Moral Waivers and the Military
(NY TIMES) - February 20, 2007
The Iraq war has plunged the Army into a vicious cycle of declining standards. Multiple, extended tours of duty have sapped morale and blighted recruiting. New plans for a larger overall force could reduce pressures but would also mean that recruiters would have to meet higher quotas.
To keep filling the ranks, the Army has had to keep lowering its expectations. Diluting educational, aptitude and medical standards has not been enough. Nor have larger enlistment bonuses plugged the gap. So the Army has found itself recklessly expanding the granting of “moral waivers,” which let people convicted of serious misdemeanors and even some felonies enlist in its ranks.
Last year, such waivers were granted to 8,129 men and women — or more than one out of every 10 new Army recruits. That number is up 65 percent since 2003, the year President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. In the last three years, more than 125,000 moral waivers have been granted by America’s four military services.
Most of last year’s Army waivers were for serious misdemeanors, like aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and vehicular homicide. But around 900 — double the number in 2003 — were for felonies. Worse, the Army does no systematic tracking of recruits with waivers once it signs them up, and it does not always pay enough attention to any adjustment problems. Without adequate monitoring and counseling, handing out guns to people who have already committed crimes poses a danger to the other soldiers they serve with and to the innocent civilians they are supposed to protect.
There is a long and honorable history of young people who have had minor scrapes with the law joining the military and successfully turning their lives around. But those who have committed more serious crimes, especially those involving weapons, vehicular homicide or sexual abuse, should generally be denied moral waivers. And those who do qualify for waivers should be monitored, counseled and carefully supervised.
The fastest way to drop the rate of moral waivers would be for the Army to rebuild its recently tarnished reputation among less problematic young Americans. That will require an end to involuntarily extended tours of duty and accelerated, multiple redeployments into combat. The military is America’s face to much of the world. It ought to present the best face of American youth.
Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day (so far)
In case you haven’t noticed, Kim Jung Il is seriously mentally ill - or as my cousin Leroy would put it, he is batshiat crazy. And he is in charge of an entire country. And he has nukes. Today he is pissed at Toyota and Nissan and any other Japanese car. Who knows what will irritate him tomorrow - perhaps jelly beans or flavored condoms. It’s anybody’s guess. Stay tuned ...
Kim Jong-il Orders Japanese Cars Confiscated
(KOREA TIMES) - February 19, 2007
“After he paid tribute to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace on Jan. 1, he saw a Japanese car that wasn’t working blocking the road and gave a National Defense Committee edict to seize Japanese cars,” Yonhap quoted a source familiar with the North Korean situation as saying, asking to remain anonymous.
In North Korea, senior government officials have German-made Mercedes-Benzes, while midlevel officials and Japanese North Koreans drive Japanese cars. Most North Korean institutions also operate Japanese cars for official purposes.
Under Kim’s order, all Japanese cars are to be seized or banned from the streets, except for ones given as gifts to secret service agencies, prestigious movie stars and athletes, Yonhap reported quoting the sources.
“Since the measures took effect, the discontent of car owners in Pyongyang has been growing. It remains to be seen whether the authorities will be able to implement them fully, because most of the cars operating in North Korea are Japanese,” another source was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Kim’s sudden order might be connected with Japan’s push for sanctions against North Korea since the country staged its first-ever nuclear weapon test in October.
Japan’s sanctions included banning the Mangyongbong-92, a North Korean ferry that served as a major trade conduit between the two countries, from entering Japanese waters.
It has also adopted a series of measures against a pro-North Korean residents’ association in response to its suspected role in North Korea’s nuclear and other weapons programs.
The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, better known as Chongryon, the group’s official Korean name, acts as North Korea’s de facto representation in Japan, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with the communist country.
Nuke Iran!
Democrats here in the US started this bullshit and now the insanity has spread to Britain. First, Democratic Congressmen and Senators started mouthing off to the media that “Bush better not invade Iran”. They specified no penalty to be applied to Dubya if he did but I can only surmise that their plans would include impeachment and torture followed by a public hanging.
Then the madness spread across the pond and Britain’s Guardian picked up the “Iran Conspiracy” story and ran with it. Now, finally the BBC piles on and gives the whole plan away in today’s news. Hell, if Hitler had this much notice and details about D-Day, most Frenchmen would be speaking German today.
Actually, the plans to invade Iran were worked out years ago and have just been laying on a shelf at the Pentagon ... waiting. No, I’m not kidding. That’s the military’s job - plan for the worst and hope for the best.
When the President rings up the SecDef and says “I need a plan to invade Iran”, he doesn’t want to wait months for the logistics to be worked out. That is why there are entire teams at the Pentagon whose sole job is to play “what-if” scenarios and develop plans for all contingencies.
Come to think of it, I seem to recall the military drawing up something called War Plan Red in the 1920’s to be used in the event war broke out between the US and Britain. The BBC might want to keep that in mind if they continue to reveal our secrets.
As for Iran, they should pay no attention to the two carrier battle groups steaming toward the Persian Gulf. Or the stockpiling of heavy bombs at Diego Garcia. Or the unusual increase in military aircraft redeploying to bases in Iraq. There’s nothing for them to worry about. Not yet ...
US ‘Iran Attack Plans’ Revealed
(BBC) Monday, 19 February 2007, 23:26 GMT
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.
Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called “bunker-busting” bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.
The BBC’s Tehran correspondent France Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians. Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.
Maggots Return
The only problem with being civilized is that we’re not allowed to beat the living crap out of maggots like Phelps or pop a cap in their ass and be done with it. Back in the “good ol’ days” if Phelps and his crew showed up at a soldier’s funeral, a bunch of good ol’ boys would be waiting with tar and feathers. Isn’t it a shame we have to endure these pests in the name of Freedom Of Speech?
If our politicians are so smart, why can’t they draw up a law to make asshats like the Phelps family STFU and go away? Nowadays people get so righteous and offended over the slightest little thing. Why must we all be subjected to this insanity from Phelps & Co.? Accidents happen every day. Why can’t one happen to them? I’m just sayin’ ....
Westboro Church Protesters Show Up at Soldier’s Funeral in Maryland
(FOX NEWS) - Monday, February 19, 2007
The strangers were from a nationally known protest group that deplores homosexuality — Fred Phelps, Jr., his wife, Betty Phelps, his sister, Abigail Phelps, and fellow church member Lauren Drain — and they carried signs bearing mottoes like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “You will eat your children,” and “Soldiers Die, God Laughs.”
The protesters gave ample notice that they were coming and were “very organized. We never had any problems with them at all,” said Lt. John Krass of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. The group has disrupted soldiers’ funerals before, and notice of their possible attendance brought out the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of veterans, soldiers and civilians who often ride flag-bearing motorcycles accompanying funeral processions of soldiers killed in combat to shield the family from unwanted attention. The Guard Riders created a human shield at Oak Grove Baptist Church’s entrances so that the Parcell family could come and go.
Friday Fred Phelps Jr. carried signs saying “America is Doomed,” “Fags Doom-nation,” and his wife carried one that read, “God Hates Fag Enablers.” “The U.S. military is a fag-nation,” Abigail Phelps said by phone following the funeral service. “When you go and sign up to serve in a military for a nation that says it’s OK to be gay, you are serving, by the nature of it, you are in blatant defiance of God. You have declared War on God . . . I don’t see how that’s a hard connection to make. . . .All it would take is a few people to say ‘We refuse.’”
America’s soldiers and children are dying, Phelps said, because of a U.S. tolerance of homosexuality and other behaviors she sees as immoral. “They say God bless America. They acknowledge that God has the power to bless a nation. He also has the power to curse a nation.” Asked why she had flown from Kansas to Maryland to protest at Parcell’s funeral, Phelps said: “You know, there was a lot of media about that girl. And you know, the parents touted the fact that she was a gift, not a sacrifice . . . Those parents sent that child out to die. They sacrificed that child for a country that has turned its back on God, kicked God in the shin.”
Abigail Phelps said that the protesters plan another event at 10 a.m. Saturday in Cambridge outside the funeral of Jerome Robinson, 8, and Aaron Robinson, 12, who drowned in a pond Sunday after falling through ice.
The Guard Riders were indifferent to the protesters, they said. “They’re insignificant,” said Russell Burks, a Harford County Patriot Guard Ride Captain and chaplain, about the protesters. “We don’t pay any attention to them. It’s mind over matter. We don’t mind. So they don’t matter. We don’t argue with them. We don’t talk to them. This young lady perished to give them the right to do what they’re doing.”
Late Night Silliness
There are two things you need to keep in mind as you read this: (1) Vince McMahon is about the most full of shit person in the entertainment industry, and (2) the match takes place on April Fools Day. Now, if McMahon could schedule a real match between The Donald and Lezbo Rosie, I’d pay good cash to watch that.
Trump’s Hair on the Line at Wrestlemania
It’ll Be Trump vs. McMahon in Hairy Battle at Wrestlemania in Detroit, Reports Say
DETROIT Feb 19, 2007 (AP)
Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon will pick a wrestler to represent them in the ring April 1 at Wrestlemania 23 at Detroit’s Ford Field, The Detroit News reported last week.
If their pick is beaten in the “Battle of the Billionaires,” the loser will get his head shaved after the match, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.
WWE spokesman Gary Davis said the date of the event had prompted speculation that it was a hoax. But it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke, he said.
“If Trump loses, he shaves his head,” he said.
The announcement of the match was made on a WWE television program that aired over the weekend.
on 02/20/2007 at 12:35 AM
Celebrities • Fun-Stuff • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink
Monday - February 19, 2007
Snowed Under
I’m sorry posting has been light today but I’ve been snowed under at work and work comes first. In addition, I’ve been working on a technical project for the last few days at the other blog, The Argoknot. I’ve been working on some tutorials for a group of kids who are starting out as database administrators and I want to make sure they’re well-informed. Take a look if you are into computers as a professional. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
I’m gradually catching up on everything though. I spent the weekend organizing and cleaning up my office here at home. It is mucho better now. I can actually find a pen when I need one now. Cool! I think I’ll knock off early today since none of you goobers can seem to finger out where our fearless “Lost!” pilot is today. Besides, I just got in a bunch of new DVD’s from Amazon, including Clint Eastwood’s ”Flags Of Our Fathers” and Will Ferrell’s ”Talladega Nights”. What’ll it be tonight? Bombs over Iwo Jima or Redneck Racing ... ? I’ll let ya know tomorrow. Later, Gator.
Lost!
I’ve gone and done it real good this time! I have no clue where I am other than the fact that I’m over the largest continent and there ain’t squat below me but this durned USAF base. I ain’t kidding you. There ain’t a dadburn thing in sight around here. I sure hope those zoomies down there are friendly because it’ll sure be a long walk out of this god-forsaken place. The only other clue I can give you is that this base don’t appear on any of my maps - but that might be because they’re all dated prior to 9/11/2001. I see some C-130’s and a couple of KC-135’s and what looks like civilian jets too. Lordy, help me out of this mess. I promise to buy a better GPS (as soon as I win the lottery). Quick! Tell me where I am ....
(Click image for larger 1070x930 in popup window)
(Photo from Google Earth Desktop)
Motivational Poster Of The Day
A Non-Binding Cartoon
Mike Lester - Rome (GA) News-Tribune
Islam Divided
Every once in a while I run across an editorial that really deserves to be shared, if for no other reason than the educational value it provides. This is one of those and deserves your time in order to better understand the mess we have gotten ourselves dragged into in the Middle East.
Let me make clear to all the BDS sufferers and liberal conspiracy theorists out there that the current administration didn’t drag us into this. That was done by Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Without a doubt, President Bush would probably have been much happier finishing the reading of “My Pet Goat” on 9/11. If you think otherwise, you really need to get a grip.
No, put aside for a minute how we got here and let’s examine what we’re caught in the middle of. Ralph Peters of Real Clear Politics does an excellent job of explaining the complexities of Islam that should serve to enlighten all of us as to the nature of our enemies - and our friends. What Mr. Peters describes below is the schism between the Sunni and Shi’a branches of Islam and the motivations of each in the current conflict.
I want you to read this because Iraq is a microcosm of this division, trapped between the Sunni nations to the West and South and the major Shi’a nation to the East. What is playing out in Iraq now really has nothing to do with us. It’s about them vs. them. Our troops are just trying to keep the noise down and so far we haven’t been doing a very good job of it.
To understand why we have failed so far, we need to understand the deep rift between the two sects struggling for control of Iraq and we also need to acknowledge what worked in the past. This editorial below will serve to give you a better understanding of the two opposing sides in Iraq. As for what worked in the past, all we need to do is look at Saddam Hussein.
Hussein used every trick in the book to control the two groups. Being Sunni, he and his followers brutally oppressed the Shi’a (and the Kurds). He gassed his own people, tortured and slaughtered hundreds of thousands in frequent purges. When that failed, he distracted the internal factions by waging wars with Iran and occupying Kuwait.
Can we use the same tactics to control the factions in Iraq? Of course not. So what do we do? The Democrats here in the US seem to think the best thing to do is throw up our hands, bail out and let them slaughter each other in the bloodbath that surely would follow our withdrawal. I don’t believe that is a viable option either, if for no other reason than the fact that we would suffer incredible damage in the eyes of the world and be seen as impotent and vacillating.
So how do we keep the peace between two factions who have hated each other for over a thousand years? Do we divide the country, as some have suggested? Maybe. The borders in the Middle East are a complete fabrication anyway, arbitrarily drawn up by the British and French after WWI. Perhaps a federal system with three semi-independent “states” for Sunni, Shi’a and Kurds?
That would be my solution. Let them build walls and fences if they want - just keep them apart ... but keep a central government to share oil money equally between the three and deal with the outside world. Let each “state” have their own “national guard” and a “governor” to manage each.
It’s obvious that our current plan to enforce democratic solidarity on these people is going nowhere. Maybe it’s time to let natural forces prevail and divide the country up and everybody go to their own “state” in a manner similar to the division of the Indian subcontinent after WWII.
The worst option would be to let the surrounding countries take bites out of Iraq, with Iran annexing the Shi’a region in the south, Saudi Arabia or Syria annexing the central Sunni region and Turkey annexing the northern Kurdish region. Iraq, as a nation, would effectively disappear.
No matter which option we choose, the decision we make will impact the region for decades to come - for better or worse. Regardless, the administration and Congress needs to look at all the alternatives, decide on a course and stick with it. No more of this partisan bickering and jockeying for position in the next election.
We need statesman who understand the problem and are willing to put aside our internal political divisions and work on a solution that allows us to get out without leaving chaos and murder behind. That is the real lesson we should have taken from Vietnam. We do not want our leaders to once again throw a region to the wolves and watch millions die after we leave. Let’s do the right thing this time ... before time runs out ...
Sunni vs. Shi’a: It’s Not All Islam
-- By Ralph Peters
(FOX NEWS) - Sunday , February 18, 2007
Among the worst members of the it’s-all-a-conspiracy pack are those who insist that every Muslim is in on a vast Jihadi conspiracy to make Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks wear a chador (not a bad idea, aesthetically speaking).
But those most anxious to condemn Islam in its entirety skip over annoying facts: Overwhelmingly, the victims of Islamist terror have been other Muslims; even the Taliban or the Khomeinist regime never rivaled the Inquistion’s ferocity; and Europeans, not Muslims, long have been the heavyweight champions of genocide. All monotheist religions have been really good haters. We just take turns.
But the biggest obstacle to establishing the Caliphate in California is that Shi’a “Islam” never bought into the Caliphate at all. At bottom, it’s a different religion from Sunni Islam. They’re not just different branches of a faith, as with Protestantism and Catholicism, but separate faiths whose core differences are more-pronounced than those between Christians and Jews.
Technically, Sunni militants are correct when they label the Shi’a “heretics.” Persians and their closest neighbors, with long memories of great civilizations, were never comfortable with the crudeness of Arabian Islam, which the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss aptly called “a barracks religion.”
The struggle has never ended between the ascetic, intolerant Bedouin faith of Arabia, with its fascist obsession on behavior, and the profound theologies of Persian civilization that absorbed and transformed Islam. While Shi’ism only prevailed in Persia within the last millennium (nudging out Sunni Islam at last), “Aryan” Islam had long been shaped by Zoroastrianism and other ineradicable pre-Islamic legacies.
Persians made the new faith their own, incorporating cherished traditions — just as northern Europeans made Christianity their own through Protestantism. It’s illuminating to hear Iran’s president rumor the return of the Twelfth Imam, since the coming of that messiah figure is pure Zoroastrianism with no connection to the Koran or the Hadiths.
Even the rhetoric of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, condemning the United States as the “Great Satan” divided the world into forces of light and darkness — Zoroaster again, as well as Mani, the dualist whose followers we know as “Manicheans.” Iranians excitedly deny such pre-Islamic influences — then worship at the ancient shrines of re-invented saints, celebrate the Zoroastrian New Year, and incorporate fire rites into social events.
The Prophet’s attempt to discipline Arabian hillbillies produced a faith ill-fitted to Persia’s complex civilization — or to Mesopotamian Arabs, who despised the illiterate desert nomads. Islam was bound to change as it occupied this haunted real estate.
What we’ve gotten ourselves involved in today is an old and endless struggle between the desert and the city, between civilization and barbarism. Long oppression may have made Shi’ism appear backward, but it’s inherently a richer faith than Sunni Islam. With its End-of-Times vision, founding martyrs and radiant angels, its mysticism and wariness of the flesh, Shi’ism is closer to Christianity than check-list Sunni Islam ever could be.
Further confounding the strategic situation, there are other, parallel struggles within Shi’ism and Sunni Islam. Over the centuries, both faiths developed sophisticated urban classes that are now under assault, as they periodically have been, by intolerant simplifiers preaching the reform-school Islam of seventh-century Arabia.
Simultaneously, there’s been some bizarre cross-fertilization: Usama bin Laden, a Sunni who hates the Shi’a more fiercely than he does Americans, has grafted a Shi’a End-Of-Days vision onto Sunni Islam. Meanwhile, the mullahs who locked down Iran obsess about behavior — a Sunni approach to faith — at the expense of Shi’ism’s tradition of inner luminosity (in the Sunni world, the persecuted Sufis were the mystics).
We’re a fringe player in multiple zero-sum struggles: Persian Zoroastrianism in Muslim garb vs. Bedouin fascism; multiple insurgencies within the Sunni global campaign to re-establish the Caliphate; an interfaith competition to jump-start an apocalypse; an old ethnic struggle between Persians and Arabs; and a distinctly Zoroastrian struggle between good and evil (alert the White House).
Many will reflexively reject this interpretation of Shi’ism and Sunni Islam as two separate faiths with profoundly different inheritances. Blog Bedouins and “scholars” alike will feel threatened. That’s part of our problem: We’re often as close-minded as our enemies. The greatest power in history thinks small.
As I remarked to an Arab-American friend last week, faiths are like bad neighbors — they borrow a great deal, then deny it. There is no such thing as a pure faith today. All have been influenced by their predecessors and peers, by internal evolutions and their historical environments. But even individuals who reject such a view when it comes to their own faith do themselves no favors by refusing to contemplate Islam’s complexity.
What does all this mean to us? First, wherever there are irreconcilable differences, there are strategic opportunities. Second, our insistence on seeing the Middle East through the eyes of yesteryear’s failed statesmen has been disastrous — we need to reinterpret the Muslim world.
Third, we’ve entered a new age when all the great faiths are struggling over their identities. As the religions most-immediately besieged, Shi’ism and Sunni Islam are the noisiest and, for now, the most-violent. But all faiths are in crisis — even as every major faith undergoes a powerful renewal.
In my years as an intelligence analyst, I consistently made my best calls when I trusted my instincts, and I was less likely to get it right when I heeded the arguments around me. Today, those surrounding arguments damn Iran.
My instincts tell me our long-term problem is with Arab Sunnis, whose global aspirations have veered into madness. We have a problem with the junta currently ruling Iran, but not with Persian civilization. Meanwhile, the Bedouin fanaticism gripping so much of the Middle East has no civilization.
on 02/19/2007 at 05:10 AM
Editorials • Iraq • RoPMA • Trackbacks (1) • Permalink
Happy New Year!
Sunday - February 18, 2007
Who Cares?
(PEOPLE) - SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2007 07:00 AM EST
Britney Spears checked into a rehab facility and then abruptly checked out, a source confirms to PEOPLE. And then on Friday, she returned to Southern California – and she shaved her head completely bald.
The pop star checked herself into Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Centre in Antigua “two or three days ago” but left after just one day and headed to Florida, the source tells PEOPLE.
TV’s Extra first reported that the singer had entered a treatment facility. TMZ.com later reported that she checked out less than 24 hours later. Spears has been a nightlife fixture ever since filing for divorce from Kevin Federline in November.
On Tuesday, her former personal assistant, Felicia Culotta, wrote in a letter to Hollywood.com’s That Other Blog that Spears’s friends and family were trying to get her help, but were not having much luck.
“There’s just so much you can do to help a person,” Culotta wrote. “I cannot convince her in ANY way to love herself. ... I cannot save her from herself, nor can I commit her to any type of treatment program against her wishes and will. I am throwing my hands up and realizing that I am helpless over another.”
That was not the first sign that those around her were concerned. In January, Rudolph told USA Today that Spears realized her behavior had been harming her image. “She understands what’s going on right now, and she calls it her ‘rocky moment,’ “ he said. “Britney knows exactly what she needs to do.”
Spears herself later wrote in a letter to fans on her Web site, “If I were you I’d be unhappy too if I had to read what I’ve been reading every day. But trust me, I get it. I know I’ve been far from perfect and the media has had a lot of fun exaggerating my every move.”
on 02/18/2007 at 11:44 PM
Celebrities • Stoopid-People • Trackbacks (1) • Permalink
Closing Out The Weekend
I Told You So …
All along President Bush has repeatedly said that he opposes embryonic stem cell research because (a) there is no proven benefit being demonstrated to this point, and (2) there is too much room for unethical harvesting of human eggs for research. Meanwhile, adult stem cells are providing cures in several areas. Embryonic stem cells have so far proven to be good for not much more than creating cancer.
Now, welcome to the President’s worst fears: women being encouraged to become nurseries for scientists to harvest crops of human eggs to be used in embryonic stem cell research. This is the slippery slope the President was afraid of and sure enough, he was right - again. Not that that will matter to the research scientists out there who are dreaming of all the grant money they can grab if they just continue to pressure governments to free up public funding for their bullshit research.
The sad part is that there are many poor women who will look at this as an opportunity to make a few bucks to get by in exchange for a tiny body part - even though the procedure to “harvest” eggs is extremely dangerous. You can’t say we didn’t tell you so. The greed of research scientists trumps womens’ health once again. I wonder how women will react to being forced by financial hardship into a life of being nothing more than a cash crop.
Women Will Be Paid To Donate Eggs For Science
(GUARDIAN-UK) - Sunday February 18, 2007
The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the government regulator of this highly sensitive area, is expected to approve the policy when it meets on Wednesday. At present, clinics are not allowed to accept eggs donated for scientific research unless they are a byproduct of either IVF treatment or sterilisation. Campaigners for change say that this has led to a chronic shortage of eggs for scientific use.
The HFEA’s influential Ethics and Law Committee has already privately recommended the controversial switch, and the authority is expected to follow this recommendation. The committee based its opinion on a 64-page report, seen by The Observer, summarising the arguments. ‘The potential scientific gains outweigh the objections,’ said one source closely involved in the decision.
The authority will argue that allowing women to donate eggs more generally for scientific use may help stem cell researchers to find cures for heart problems, infertility, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Women who go through the medical procedure to harvest the eggs from their ovaries, which doctors describe as ‘invasive’ and possibly dangerous, will be paid £250 plus travel expenses, the existing maximum compensation for any egg or sperm donor. Anyone agreeing to donate will have to show that they are acting for altruistic reasons, for example because they have a close relative suffering with one of the conditions scientists are trying to develop new treatments for with the aid of human eggs.
But scientists from the University of Padua in Italy have warned that women who donate their eggs for research could be at risk from life-threatening side effects induced by the powerful drugs administered to them. The drugs help to increase the number of eggs produced and were found by the scientists to cause paralysis and could lead to limb amputation and even death.
There were also warnings last night that poor women could be tempted or coerced into taking part for the money. ‘The HFEA could be unwittingly opening the door to barter or sale of eggs, including women in Britain as well as abroad, even though it is saying that women doing this would do so for purely altruistic reasons,’ said Donna Dickenson, emeritus professor of medical ethics and humanities at the University of London and one of Britain’s leading experts on the issue.
‘The sum of £250 would still be enough of an inducement for women from eastern Europe, for example, to come to Britain to sell their eggs. That’s clearly turning eggs into an object of trade and that’s disturbing. Once the principle of egg donation for research is established, it will become harder to prohibit paid egg donation.’
Some leading scientists have welcomed the HFEA’s expected decision. Professor Peter Braude, head of the department of women’s health at King’s College London, said the medical dangers involved in the process of collecting the eggs should not deter women from offering to help medical science make potentially significant breakthroughs. There is a low but well-recognised risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can occur during the extraction of eggs and can damage a woman’s fertility and even cause death.
‘Women are intelligent enough to make decisions for themselves about whether they want to donate eggs for research,’ said Braude. ‘Why should they be prevented from doing this? They shouldn’t be, as long as they are told about the risks. Women have been donating eggs for more than 20 years, usually those undergoing sterilisation, so the principle isn’t new. This is different because it’s volunteering.’
- More ...
on 02/18/2007 at 11:59 AM
Health-Medicine • Science-Technology • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink
Senate Slime And Media Morons
All the NY TIMES can see in this story is the defection of seven RINO’s. Their sister Liberal publication The Washington Post saw the same thing (“Iraq Vote In Senate Blocked By GOP”). Both seem obsessed with the phrase “blocked by the GOP” and insist on calling it a “debate on Iraq”. They make it out to be an effort by Republicans to avoid debating the war.
Now, what’s wrong with that picture, other than the fact that it shows a one-sided, biased agenda? Where was this Liberal media when the Bush Administration tried to work out a bill to reform Social Security in the face of shortfalls in the near future or a bill to give tax breaks that would help provide health care coverage for more Americans? You know where they were. They were dead set against both proposals - even though both are Liberal “causes”.
Why? Because it was Bush’s ideas not theirs. So those measures effectively died due to obstruction by Democrats and the Liberal media. Did they call it obstruction? Of course not. They just buried it and hurried along to find something else to hogtie the administration. Now, their obstructionism has come back to haunt them and they’re crying “foul” ... and we sit back and let them get away with it?
As for the seven RINO’s who jumped the fence and kissed up to the Democrats in this blatant attempt to usurp the power of the Executive Branch of our government, their day will come - in 2008. The fact is the House has already sent the wrong message overseas and to our troops in the current fight against Islamofascists who would kill us. There weren’t enough votes in the House to stop the Democrats from making asses of themselves. The Senate is another matter. All I can say is that we can be thankful there were 34 Senators who decided that micromanaging the war from the sidelines and raising the morale of Al-Qaeda was a bad idea.
(For the record, 9 Republicans and 1 Democrat failed to show up to vote on this bullshit resolution. No-shows included Republicans McCain, Kyl, Murkowski, Cochran, Bond, Corker, Bennett, Hatch, Ensign and Democrat Johnson.)
Senate Rejects Renewed Effort to Debate Iraq
WASHINGTON (NY TIMES) - February 18, 2007
The 56-to-34 vote in a rare Saturday session was the second time Republicans were able to deny opponents of the troop increase a debate on a resolution challenging Mr. Bush, and it came just a day after the House formally opposed his plan to increase the military presence in Iraq.
But the outcome, four votes short of the 60 needed to break a procedural stalemate, suggested that Democrats were slowly drawing support from Senate Republicans for what was shaping up to be a drawn-out fight between the Democrat-controlled Congress and Mr. Bush over his execution of the war.
Seven Republicans split from their party and joined 48 Democrats and one Independent in calling for a debate — five more Republicans than during a similar showdown earlier this month. All but two of the seven face re-election next year.
The Republicans who broke ranks were Senators John W. Warner of Virginia, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, and Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine.
on 02/18/2007 at 11:20 AM
Iraq • Media-Bias • Politics • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink
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