News from Around the World

Tony Juniper began by putting the demonstration in context, noting Blair's recent change of heart, away from international emissions targets and towards voluntary technology uptake, revealed in comments to Condoleeza Rice at the Clinton Global Initiative two months ago (this contradicts my post of Tuesday, but I think Juniper is right on this). You can get more of Tony Juniper's view in his piece in the Guardian yesterday.

According to Braverman, who held a number of positions at the World Bank, Israel needs to adopt the social democratic outlook of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, the American concepts of the Constitution and free enterprise, and the socio-economic policies of Sweden and Finland.

Quick post while Dave’s in the shower: I survived the flight. I got a job. (More details on that later.) We’ve managed to eat some pretty awesome food - some cooked by my sister, some cooked by chefs in a fancy-shmancy restaurant. I got a great early birthday gift from my sister - a pair of jeans that make my ass look fantastic. (How rare a find is THAT?) We’ve been to the Museum of Modern Art and Central Park. We (meaning Dave and I - and probably my siblings, but definitely NOT my parents) got way too tipsy last night at dinner. I’ve managed to only get into one fight with my dad so far. (I’m doing well. Trust me.) And today we’re going to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty before we head back to T’s apartment and eat way too much food for Thanksgiving. I’m wearing my fat jeans in anticipation. Hope everyone has a good holiday.

While Vietnam is remembered as the television war, Iraq has been the television-crawl war: a scrolling feed of bad-news bits, pushed to the margins by Brad and Jen, Robert Blake, Jacko and two and a half years of other anesthetizing fare. Americans could go days on end without engaging with the war, on TV or in print.

Congresswoman Pelosi’s “traps and smears” stemmed not from the legitimate vote, but from the MSM’s peevish misrepresentation of Congressman Murtha’s stunt. And while I don’t think he’s a coward, I’m offended by Democrats playing politics with troops that include my son.

He said he had resisted prior offers from Peretz to enter politics, believing that his work in the Negev was of greater importance. "But the turnabout, the big bang that has occured, Amir Peretz' entry as the leader of the Labor Party, changed my decision."

Bill Dembski has made the point that Intelligent Design is a search for intelligence in the history of life, not unlike SETI’s search for intelligence in the universe. In that regard, I came across this interesting article by Michael Crichton [HT: Thinking Christian]. Chricton argues that SETI is not science and that it led to a brand of politically driven science including the scientifically dubious “Nuclear Winter” and “Global Warming”.

The Bush Administration has launched a full-frontal assault these past several weeks attempting to staunch the bleed-out of its credibility concerning the Iraq war. As accusations of misused intelligence information continue to surface, Bush Administration officials like Condoleeza Rice have begun to push back against their critics by once again asserting that "everyone" believed Hussein was an imminent threat and had WMD's. "Everyone" being defined as the Bush Administration, Congress and foreign leaders.

Richard M. Doerflinger — Deputy Director, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — testified on November 15 before a Virginia legislative stem cell research subcommittee regarding the Catholic Church’s perspective on stem cell research. A copy of his testimony is available stemcellresearch.org

WHEN IT COMES to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics.

("The General," Wes Clark, has a plan up at his Securing America site, too.) There seems to be a consensus among military experts on this. We need to begin drawing down forces, and we need to leave a much smaller "rapid reaction" force behind, partly in Iraq, mostly in Kuwait. Even the wildest winger surely knows we will be pulling significant numbers of troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later, mostly because of the politics.

I actually attended this talk and stayed for the whole time and saw that the liberal audience was respectful — certainly not the “unhinged” portrayal that Malkin presents. If anything, the double standard becomes apparent in the unhinged conservative movements, not only do they call everything a “liberal bias” or “anti-Bush” but the comparable extremes to Malkin’s case studies are norms such as war-mongering ego-driven profiteers and the extreme cases of ignorant conservatism ranging from intolerance of scientific progress (again, ranging from stem cell research to intelligent design) to the KKK.

You can view the two ads online by clicking here. One 30 second ad features former Senator Jack Danforth arguing that you can be "pro-lfe" and pro-stem cell. The other 60 second ad explains the value of stem cell research and encourages Missourians to sign the iniative.

“Can’t too much go wrong next to a big statue of Jesus.” Before you read any further, to spark some genuine interest in this post, take a quick glance at this article from the New York Times, more specifically the picture. Yes, that is a 60 foot tall Jesus in the middle of nowhere Ohio (well, that would cover all of Ohio, but my contempt and hatred for Ohio will have to wait for some other time). I bring this up because I first discovered this completely tasteful icon while driving up to Ann Arbor from Atlanta for the weekend. With the exception of Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio is pretty much a whole lot of nothing for the stretch of I-75 that we drove on. It was approaching around 1 AM, after not seeing a pair of head or breaklights in about 20 minutes, when my friend who was driving while I was in the passenger seat reading exclaimed “Jesus Christ!” Yup, that was about right. Keep in mind it is about 1 in the morning, very dark, and I guess you could say that we “saw the light” because this thing errupted out of the darkness to the bewilderment of us all. Was it a magnificent, holy and humbling scene? Not quite. To be very honest, it scared the living crap out of me. At first we couldn’t tell was it was and the spotlights that light up during the night cast shadows around his eyes, which have the effect shining a flashlight under the face while telling a ghost story. And it is 60 feet tall. And his hands look close enough to the road to flatten your car if he decided to become animated like the Statue of Liberty in “Ghost Busters.” I prefer my giants to be either jolly green or carry and axe, wear flannel and have a blue ox as a pet. On the way back, the well lit Christ was far less breathtaking and simply prompted an “Oh come on” from our crew.

You’re so screwed you don’t even know it. Congratulations on being the agent that precipitated the final political collapse of George W. Bush’s disastrous administration. You’re not so much the straw that broke the camel’s back as the white, conservative, Yale-educated circuit court judge that broke the camel’s back.

What is of great wonder (maybe, to some) is why Al-Jazeera’s most hopeless but vocal opponent has been the United States who prides itself on spreading freedom to the region. Throughout Miles’ history the US stops at no moral expense to bring an end to this new free voice in the Arab world. Public condemnations belch forth from the usual suspects such as Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and others only to be supplemented by the harassment of Al-Jazeera staff in the field including their incarceration at Abu Ghraib, the targeting of Al-Jazeera bureau by gun, missile, and bomb, and the continued dismissal of accountability for any violence directed at the organization. Miles is masterful at indicting the United States’ clearly murderous military response to the network that is the most far-reaching medium of political communication throughout the Middle East. Of particular interest here is his later chapter, “Free Speech and the Domino Effect” that illuminates the complicated relationship this new freedom works on US foreign policy.

In fact, looking at the thoughtful Republicans who happen to be black (e.g., Lt. Gov. Steele, Condoleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell), and comparing that to the blind groupthink of the Maryland Demoncrats, causes me to wonder if the determining factor isn’t the ability to think for one’s self.

I remember as if it was yesterday that Bill Clinton told us all how he remembered in his teenage years of black church burnings in Arkansas.

Detective Stella Bonasera is half Greek, half Italian and all New York. She speaks her mind and does not back away from confrontation. Stella’s unmatched desire to find answers for the victims of violent crime is due in part to questions about her own past. Stella is an orphan who lived a hard-knock life in “the system.” Everything she knows of Greek culture, language and community, she learned in a book. Her parents and background remain a mystery. Stella’s fierce independence and unflinching character led her to join the NYPD. To fellow officers, she is the Statue of Liberty, a woman standing tall with her head held high. These qualities, along with her intelligence, brashness and determination, earned her a coveted spot as a CSI alongside Mac Taylor.

6. Equality, Liberty, Fraternity: Or whatever the statue of liberty ever meant to imply. Whereas there is 5% overall unemployment for university graduates in France, there is 26.5% unemployment for “North African” university graduates. This is indicative of biases in the field of employment for the Muslims and Blacks. This is 21st century slave-owners mindset afflicting the racist France. Everything must be done to ensure affirmative actions to reserve quotas in employment for minorities so that they are at least represented well and compensated well in lieu of all tortures that mainland France has caused and benefited from the Muslims and Blacks so far.

THE words of Pope John Paul II helped me gain many a confession from guilt-ridden IRA men.

In the field of foreign affairs, the leading race traitor, hands down, is Condoleeza Rice, Bush’s National Security Adviser…

Over 1,000 individuals voted in the NH Insider Presidential polls and they put former Vice President Al Gore and Arizona Senator John McCain in the lead. In second place for the Democrats is Gen. Wesley Clark at 23 % with all others in the single digits. For the Republicans Virginia Senator George Allen, at 12%, comes in third to "Other."

But perhaps the one aspect of global warming research that nearly everyone agrees on is that more has to be done. NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise is involved in a number of projects that aim to monitor and analyze climate change. A number of Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite missions have either already been launched or are slated to be launched over the next several years. Instruments aboard these satellites will take unprecedented measurements of the Earth and the sun that are relevant to climate change. The EOS Terra satellite, launched in December 1999, retrieves global readings of land surface temperatures, snow cover, atmospheric aerosol levels, cloud properties, methane, vegetation density, and a host of other variables that influence climate on a global scale. The measurements are taken over the entire globe once a day, often taken at resolutions of 1 km or less. Taking measurements by satellite is much more efficient, consistent, and timely than taking measurements in situ on the planet’s surface.

If Steele were a Democrat and this was happening, the cries of racism, and the lawsuits, would be springing up from all quarters. Since he is a Republican, however, he is as much persona non grata as Clarence Thomas and Condoleeza Rice, and even the most vicious and vile attacks are fare game.

Keep in mind, this is the time when William Jefferson Clinton was in office. The entire western world watched and did nothing while over 800,000 people died. With this and Black Hawk Down, its easy to see why I do not like Bill Clinton. The only question left is why?

Commenting on the November 17 Presidential polls Armitage said the main concern of the US and the international community was how free and fair the election would be.

A leading new media voice from the left, Rachael will join us to discuss the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito, the ongoing debate over pre-war intelligence and the impact of the citizen journalist movement on politics today. Should be a great show.

Senior aides are shown cursing and shouting at reporters. One shot shows Hillary Clinton rolling her eyes after Kerry slips up during a TV debate against George Bush.

The casket finally had to be carried to Woodlawn Cemetary in an antique hearse [will check for more photos] as the guests just kept pouring in to pay respects. Among the unexpected were Senator John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. The route to the final resting place was packed with people on the streets waiting to pay respects as Rosa went by, cheering, clapping, and releasing white balloons.

My gut feeling is Democrats are now fired up, and Republicans are on the defensive. Continued attacks on Arnold’s mendacity and double-dealing here in California, coupled with a nationwide campaign of exposing them as the party of hypocrisy, corruption lies and double-dealing may just bring us a year from tonight to the point where George W. Bush can look forward to the Bill of Impeachment he so richly deserves being voted on him in February 2007.

At least this president is consistent. Iraq War and the subsequent occupation has been grossly mismanaged with deadly results; no changes in the management, i.e. Rumsfeld remains at the helm and previous occupation czar Paul Bremer is awarded the Medal of Freedom. Intelligence leading up to the war proves to be unfounded (thus making the justifications for the war no longer supported); then-CIA Director Tenet is also awarded the Medal of Freedom, then-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice is promoted to Secretary of State, and chief war architect Paul Wolfowitz is promoted to the World Bank. Alberto Gonzales helped justify torture of "enemy combatants" in violation of federal and international laws, yet he was promoted to Attorney General, the nation's top law enforcement officer. John Bolton is promoted to UN Ambassador, despite the fact that he doesn't work well with others and tries to get rid of people who disagree with him even when the intelligence supports that opposing position.

Dick Morris, former political advisor to former President Bill Clinton, is making the rounds of major media markets hawking his new book, Condi vs. Hillary : The Next Great Presidential Race. His thesis, as he explained on Steve Gill’s radio talk show this morning in Nashville, is (1) that Hillary Clinton has a lock on the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination unless she inexplicably decides not to run, and (2) there is no potential Republican candidate who can beat Hillary except Condoleeza Rice.

I recall something less than a brouhaha (I like the world brouhaha) when Candidate Kerry, also thinking himself off-mike, used the F word concerning his rivals, or when his wife told a reporter to “shove it” and passed out buttons identifying Bush, Cheney and Condoleeza Rice as the “asses of evil.”

Ex-president Bill Clinton is predicting that the U.S. will lose the war in Iraq, saying “the odds are not great of our prevailing there.”

Newsmax reports on former President Bill Clinton's thought's on immigration and America.

From the above referenced article: “With the White House shrouded in scandal, the biggest obstacle to George W. Bush’s political comeback is that he’s no Bill Clinton.” I find this amusing in light of the fact that part of his campaign presentation in 2000 was that he wasn’t Bill Clinton.

Saturday morning, my friend Kim called me and asked if I wanted a ticket to see Bill Clinton speak at the U, but I declined saying that given the choice between Clinton and reviewing some educational materials, I would prefer the latter (which I really planned on doing). Kim then asked me if I wanted to go for a drive to Stillwater (about .5 hour from Minneapolis), so I responded that given the choice between reviewing some educational materials and hanging out with her…well, you can imagine that I got ready in no time to leave the apartment. Kim picked me and Rosalie up, and on the way a fried of Kim’s invited us to a puppet show held by an organization called “In the Heart of the Beast (www.hobt.org)” which focuses on using puppets to illustrate stories related to social justice. This show focused on forced internment of Japanese during WWII, and incorporated live music, puppets, and shadow puppets pretty effectively and successfully. The seats were packed with adults and children alike, which was very impressive to me for a Saturday afternoon.

But there are some real issues coming up during this legislative session and this election cycle. I would like nothing more than to have a real, frank, honest and intelligent discussion about these issues, without getting caught up in personal politics or the ever famous “politics of personal destruction.”

I listened to the Nov. 8 installment this morning with coffee — in addition to being informational, it’s also wryly funny and urbane. I go forth into the day better acquainted with the politics of French literary prizes and with the comforting knowledge that Scooter Libby does not, as it turns out, sign his books “Scooter.” Check it out.

The ceremony was outdoors at the English square of a local park, and as soon as Sara, Grag, and I arrived at the park entrance, the organizers led us to a cart where they shuttled us to the square. As we stepped off the cart, the woman in charge directed her helpers to swarm all around us and escort us to the front row seat. In addition to a few plaque presentations to people that had something to do with the English Festival (I have no idea what they did as the explanation was all in Chinese) the ceremony consisted of several song-and-dance performances. I particularly enjoyed a hip-hop dance by two middle-school guys, one of whom seemed to channeling Michael Jackson! Another one of the teachers in our program who teachers at a different school was also there, and a few of his students seemed to be aiming their words to him when they sang a love song. To end the ceremony with a bang, the staff members set off confetti explosions, and the director invited all of the foreign English teachers up on stage to sing for the crowd. Chinese people always seem to expect Americans to be able to sing beautifully on cue at any time, but we had no idea what to sing. Since there were a lot of young students in the audience, we decided to lead the crowd in a dazzling rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”! I think that it went well, but the Chinese seem to think that everything we do is wonderful, so it could have been terrible and yet they loved it nonetheless.

(click to enlarge)L also had Ana and David ‘carve’ pumpkins. Barring any sharp, protuberant objects what the actually did was color pumpkins with a black marker. The idea was simply to do eyes, nose, mouth, etc., but as you can see some pumpkins had their ethnicity changed and others look like either something Wes Craven would have dreamt up or the in between stage of ‘Thriller’ Michael Jackson and the current Michael Jackson! It’s quite humorous, actually. :)

John Kerry would be President, the Senate and/or the House would likely be under Democratic control, and the current Supreme Court nominee most certainly would not be a Fascist.

John Kerry sees America as an occupier, not a liberator. Critics pounce on that, “aren’t you aware,” they sneer, that President Bush has used the term “occupiers”?

Hillary Clinton boosters will be watching tomorrow’s race for governor in Virginia as the outcome could boost the fortunes of a potential opponent in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, outgoing Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

I gotta say however, I love this little spark set to flame up in New York concerning 2006. It seems that the Conservative Party may be set to give GOP candidate John Spencer their endorsement and their line, thus snubbing Jeanine Pirro the candidate tapped by Bush and Pataki to take on Senator Hillary Clinton next year.

On October 28, 1958, Pope John XXIII was elected by the College of Cardinals as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Speaking of someone who didn't stay still and allowed changes! He doubled the number of cardinals, promoted diversity within the Catholic Church, launched a council for ecumenical dialogue and instituted Vatican II. He was beatified (mini-sainted) by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. But don't forget, and Pope John XXIII would be the first to tell you this, you don't have to be Pope to change the world!

This memory was brought back by a small section on the relationship of peace and justice in Alice Camille’s “Invitation to Catholicism: Beliefs + Teaching + Practices” Camille credited Pope John Paul II with the following two statements:

In doing my research for an article I am writing on global warming, I, too, saw Leonardo DiCaprio on Oprah last week and happened upon your raping of our first ammendment on your blog.

Via the redoubtable TalkLeft, I ran across an LA Times article discussing the Robert Blake civil trial. The judge is letting jurors pose questions to witnesses by submitting them in writing.

Wow, tell us your true feelings, Mr. Poswall! What’s next, a comparison of Pope John Paul to Osama Bin Laden?

I heard on the news just now that the late Pope John Paul just may be in line for Sainthood. Well, just shooting from the hip here, part of the process leading to sainthood involves proving that miracles occured following prayers to the dead candidate.

Michael Jackson is close to completing his charity single for Hurricane Katrina relief and hopes to release the song sometime this month, his spokeswoman said Thursday.