Politics

This is a little essay I wrote for my school's humble literary journal which is publishing a special issue on Constitution Day next week. (As many of you know if you're working or attending a US learning institution, the government passed a special law mandating recognition of Constitution Day in all schools.) I'd appreciate any feedback. I have to turn this thing in over the weekend. You're helping me with my homework, you might say. ------------- Finding Middle Ground On this Constitution Day we will hear about all of the amazing powers of the Constitution. We’ll be told about the separation of powers and establishment of the three branches, the ch…

I came across this:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cavendishcaninecamp.com/images/kitty_litter_cake.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cavendishcaninecamp.com/humor3.htm&h=246&w=330&sz=20&tbnid=-l7O44f4KzSbcM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkitty%2Blitter%2Bcake&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1 this morning. it got me wondering that IF you were to walk about in the streets say in town and sit on a public bench eating this, say at Noon Lunch hour. obviously there would be several complaints, some may even react by Loosing their lunch. Are you breaking any Laws? this is a perfectly legit a…

comment? especially from UK people who have been following the situation. I just heard on radio that 6 junior members of Blair's Labor government have resigned. and that a move is on within the Labor party to get rid of him pronto---force him to step down before he has a chance to organize his supporters. The next one in line would probably be Gordon Brown, chancellor of exchequer (i.e. Treasury Secretary in our US terms) Blair has already said he would not seek another turn as PM but that is in future after elections-----if I understand correctly----and many of his party want him out of there ASAP anybody want to offer corrections, clarification? e…

I stumbled onto this link Israel Since many do not have much background on Israel I thought this would be of interest.

a new World Record has been broken that I thought some of you may be interested in (it`s certainly a topic dear to my heart). as a Chili grower myself, I`ve always regarded the Habenero chili to be the king of Fire Power (closely followed by the Tiawan "Tiny Terrors") non of which now comes even Close to the Dorset Naga Chili! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2113507,00.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2006/04/03/chilli_feature.shtml

I've been a self described Libertarian for years, since my views seem to line up with that particular ideology more than the others. But there are some fundamental issues I have with it and I wondered if others are the same. And, just for fun, I advise anyone to take this quickie quiz. Everyone I know that's tried this found they were more libertarian than they thought. http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html The problems I see about libertarianism, so far, is this idea of a privatized police force. I don't even see why I would have to formulate an argument to explain why that one sounds bad. Also, I'm not cool with the complete abolition of welfar…

If the goal of Radical Islam is to destroy or enslave the no Muslim world why does the Shiite Badr Brigade militia kill Sunni Muslims?

Bush wants to eliminate Republican War Crimes Act Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes ActSays it was voted in by a Republican congress. How will they blame this on the libs?

Inspired by this:

Partly intended as amusement, but certainly of political note, I thought I'd pass along a Katherine Harris update. Most of you will remember her as the Florida election official who was in charge during the 2000 Presidential Election fiasco. Anyway, she's been a House rep from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area (where Blike, the owner of this board, originates -- it's all his fault, not mine!!). But this year she's been running for the Senate. Today she won the Republican Primary. She's unlikely to win in November, however, since she faces a strong incumbent in popular moderate Democrat Bill "146 Hours in Space" Nelson.

Is Iran's president (Ahmadinejad) mentally ill? ================================================ ==> The Iranian president recalled being told about it by one of his delegation: "When you began with the words ‘in the name of Allah,' I saw a light coming, surrounding you and protecting you to the end." Ahmadinejad agreed that he sensed the same thing. "On the last day when I was speaking, one of our group told me that when I started to say 'Bismillah Muhammad,' he saw a green light come from around me, and I was placed inside this aura," he says. "I felt it myself. I felt that the atmosphere suddenly changed, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders …

Anybody else hear about this 'documentary' detailing the future documentary about President Bush's assisination? It premiers at the Toronto film festival, Sept. 10. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-death01sep1,1,5071840.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&track=crosspromo I'm certainly not a Bush lover, but as an American, I have to say that I'm not pleased by this movie. Especially since they are using George Bush's face digitally attached to an actors body during the 'assisination.' I may be wrong, but to me it sounds like a cheap shot by the liberal propagandists trying to pass themselves off as art.

I'd like to know what you think and how you see this. what I see is people getting excited around a nexus of issues where two or more of these overlap and interact. there is a kind of energizing triangle of topics and issues. the big issues in Science that people are most eager to address seem also issues the major religions have something to say about what is space and time made of how did life happen is there life on other planets and is there another technological culture somewhere and what's the history and future of the universe when people ask scientific questions (e.g. on a message board like here) it often seems to be because they are trying to co…

http://www.stopthewarnow.net/ It seems to me that groups like these ^, suffer from a serious lack of foresight. They would, understandably, stop conflict, but that would just mean we'd start back from the beggining. If a cease fire is drawn up, Hezbollah would be allowed to endure. Iran and Syria would see that they can get away with backing this group, and the whole mess will start all over again. I understand the desire to preserve civilian life, but calling for a cease fire today, is just condeming more people to death tommorow. Why don't they see that?

"Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch's hot new book The Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at: avnery-at-counterpunch-dot-org." Someone I've known for 50 years, himself a writer, who has for most of his life taken an active interest in Israel and the Jewish experience, sent me this a few days ago. I find it controversial and provocative. Do you have any reactions? Parts you would agree or disagree with? ===quote=== "Every Generation of Arabs Hates Israel More Than the Last" America's Rottweil…

This is inspired by that libertarian quiz from the other thread, and pertains specifically to the United States. Um, what's the problem with a national ID card? What exactly are the staunch opponents to such a plan (and apparently there are some) afraid of?

As I read this article by my hero, Victor Davis Hanson, I felt the warm glow that only comes when someone extremely smart, knowledgable and articulate encapuslates what I've already been thinking. Wow. This is my position in a nutshell. I wanted to stand up and applaud when I read:

Who won the Israel-Hezbollah conflict?

The Problem Plan B Over the Counter This is a tough one for me. I fall on the side of allowing younger girls access to the drug. If they are old enough and unsupervised enough to get pregnant, then they should be allowed to take Plan-B unsupervised.

Don Chipp founded the Australian Democrats in 1977. He was previously a member of the Liberal party, which forms a conservative coalition with the National party in the federal parliament. He had been active in removing censorship during the sixties. During the seventies he became disillusioned and around him formed a grassroots movement that led to the Democrats being formed as a roughly centrist party. Chipp dubbed the role of the party as to "keep the bastards honest". The Democrats never became a major party in their own right but often held the balance of power in the Senate. He handed over the reigns in 1988 and the party moved more to the left. There competed with …

Refer to: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/science/24stem.html?hp&ex=1156478400&en=297c7c19068ae597&ei=5094&partner=homepage Now I can't wait to see the backlash from hypocritical conservatives who will further broaden their views of the "sanctity of life" while they continue to support the death penalty. What do you all think of this new breakthrough? I think it's pretty hilarious myself and ironic in the sense that it (to me) is more disturbing than harvesting fetuses.

At the "Vicious Momma" blog http://viciousmomma.blogspot.com/2006/08/location-location-location-new.html Rae Ann, a 38 year old Tennessee woman who is mother of 3 kids, has been discussing her idea for Middle East peace.

I thought this was kind of an ironic twist on the whole Lieberman deal from a couple of weeks ago. Those who thought that Lieberman's loss in the Democratic primary was signallying a national trend towards the left due to the unpopularity of the war may want to take a look at this one. Granted Rhode Island is a much smaller state, but Lincoln Chaffee is as moderate as Joe Lieberman, if not more so (Chaffee, unlike Lieberman, was a member of the famous "Gang of 14" moderates who ironed out a bipartisan deal on nominations). Chaffee is a Republican that the Michael Moore and MoveOn.org crowd should like, because he's one of the few who actually voted against the war in I…

Fidel Castro seems to be recovering from his surgery, but even if he does, he is 80 years old and won't be around forever. It is also important to note that he has not specifically mentioned any plans to reassume power from his brother, and the rumors are that there are plans for a permanent transition. However you look at it, a new era for Cuba is close at hand. Or is it? Despite seemingly everyone's predictions, there are no signs of unusual unrest in Cuba whatsoever. Everything appears to be running smoothly, which seems to disprove the theory that American policy towards Cuba is based on, namely, that the regime is fragile and will die with its leader. So wha…

BEIRUT (AFP) - Nasrallah is a bad surname to have in Lebanon, as Israel tries to break the militant group Hezbollah. Fourteen-year-old Mohammed Hassan Nasrallah found out the hard way when Israeli airborne commandos seized his father and four other men in eastern Lebanon, even though they are unrelated to Hassan Nasrallah, the firebrand head of the Shiite Muslim movement. Mohammed was asleep, together with his father, mother, brothers and sisters, when Israeli elite troops broke into his home on August 2, breaking the doors and shattering the windows of their home in Hay al-Osseira near the eastern city of Baalbek. "They started shouting, they took us o…