Politics

Just curious if anyone has looked at this yet. I've caught a little about it on the news but not much as yet. The biggest changes appear to be the enlargement of the Security Council (weaken the US?) and the creation of a Human Rights Council (replacing the much-lamented Commission). There's also a bit in there about all nations contributing 0.7% of GDP for poor countries (welfare?). Here in the US the timing of the changes is the main news. The Volcker investigation into the oil-for-food scandal found some pretty nasty involvement by Annan and his son. Some background info can be found here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7238697/ List of proposed c…

I know that this may very well be seen as in the wrong place, so make whatever change you feel needed. I have to do an I-Search paper (for any of those who are familiar with them, you know my pain) on Affirmative Action. I know that there are very harsh views on either side of the spectrum, and I'd like to see both before making my personal decision (which has been forming from what I've heard from my parents and the news) In any case, does anyone have any good arguements in terms of supporting or opposing an Affirmative Action topic. Keep in mind that Affirmative Action is not exclusive for African Americans. In any case, thanks for everything, keep an open mind a…

Thomas Friedman's column in today's New York Times is worth a read, and is refreshingly not about Terri Schiavo. (chuckle) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/opinion/27friedman.html Requires subscription, but I believe you can get login info from this URL without having to register: http://www.bugmenot.com/ The most interesting bit: Well put. Lawmakers in this country are completely focused on divisiveness and distraction, because that's what the lobbyists want them to be focused on, and the voters simply don't care enough to knock them out of office when they vote that way.

The US Congress has been debating this issue in subcommittee and on the floor of the House and Senate for weeks, taking up a huge amount of time. Basically the issue is whether or not to allow broadcasters to shut down their old over-the-air antennas -- the ones that are NOT broadcasting digital TV. You know, the stuff you used to jerk around the rabbit ears, or have to hold onto at arms' length to improve the picture. Allowing broadcasters to do this will accomplish two things: 1) Let your local network affiliates save some money. 2) Free up a LOT of bandwith in the spectrum. The second feature above is really what has the lawmakers salivating at the mome…

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/03/08/mount.saint.helens/index.html Tuesday evening a coloumn of smoke 6 miles high appeared over Moun Saint Helens, and lava is visible in the inside of the volcano. Will the volcano erupt again? What do you think?

each year, the president of the United States of America has to renew the classified status of Area 51. If he were to not renew it and were to tell the whole world what secret crap they were working on (or make easily available through freedom of info), would that make him more or less likely to get reelected? note: this thread is not to debate what goes on in area 51

Well? why are or were conservatives called what they are? The only thing they effectively conserve is brain power. Not as in valuing it, as in using very little of it.

I can't claim to be an expert in Middle East religions, but seems to me Saudi Arabi and wahhabism is the heart of the current terrorist threat. Most of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia after all. They continue to teach hate. Seems like this would be easier to tackle then invading all the countries over there. Don't you think?

I kinda waited a bit because I didn't want to start a shooting match over this. Not that anyone here is really inclined toward such, but it couldn't hurt to let the dust settle a bit and see if any more info came out, and give people a chance to think about it a bit. It even has a bit of a "science" link, in terms of the real-world issue of guard post procedures in occupied lands. So I'm curious what you guys thought of that mess. I guess my own feeling is that we need to see if any investigation produces any evidence of wrongdoing by the troops (coming from someone other than the journalist). Barring any major revelations, however, it seems to me that the onus is…

Matt Drudge might not be the most likable person in the world, but he's usually accurate: http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3rc.htm

On Saturday, 15th January, at 2:00 GMT, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens space probe will land on Saturn's moon Titan. Previously, NASA's Cassini probe flew by Titan, getting a faint glimps of the planets surface, in which geologists believe to be similar to a young Earth. Cassini, carrying Huygens, will drop it's important cargo down to Titan's mysterious surface. For more information on the landing, visit NASA.gov. If you would like to view the landing as it happens, the Science Channel will be showing it live on Saturday a 2:00A.M. GMT.

There's just something really great about this story. For those who haven't heard, the basic story is that some IRA men got into a fight with a couple of men (also Catholic) in a bar. One of the non-IRA men was killed. The IRA men told the 70-odd bar patrons that it was IRA business and they'd better keep their mouths shut. But it turns out the dead man was a father of two kids and a respected member of the community (or at least had a lot of friends). Next thing you know, there's a massive hue and cry from the guy's family, mad at the IRA for killing the guy, and now there's a media frenzy about it. According to the story I saw on ABC News last night, the IRA …

For those interested here is a good link: http://democracyrising.us/content/blogcategory/3/71/

Bernie Ebbers convicted. http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/15/news/newsmakers/ebbers/index.htm?cnn=yes I said before that the thing Ashcroft OUGHT to be remembered for is not the Patriot Act (which half the Democrats in congress, including both Kerry and Kennedy, voted for), but for attacking the corporate corruption beast. I read somewhere that there were over 600 convictions, compared with NONE from the Janet Reno Justice Department (a reign known more for its pandering to corporate political donors than for any kind of "justice"). One more Big One to go. Ken Lay was on 60 Minutes, which was screaming about his connections to the Bush White House (neve…

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html Oh. My. God. We can no longer trust our government at all.

Do the citizens of the free world have a duty to aid the people under the thumb of dictators and tyrants gain their freedom? If so, does this apply equally to all countries? How does a country manage this without throwing its weight around?

Last night on ABC News, Peter Jennings claimed that Americans consume 13 billion barrels of oil per day. Yes, he actually said that. Okay, it was obviously just a mis-speak. But I think it's interesting the way the press latches on to the oil story, but only when prices are going up. For most of the last half of 2004, prices were actually coming down. Now that they're on the rise again, it's the hottest story in news. So it ends up going something like this: Headline / Price of Oil per Barrel "Oil hits a new all-time high!" / $48 "Biggest one-day increase in decades!" / $46 "Oil gains huge amidst fears of terrorism!" / $44 "Production shortage d…

Here is an account of one of Bush's faith based initiatives. http://slate.msn.com/id/2086617/ To sum up, it is a program to evangelize prison inmates in the hopes that it will lead to them "straighten out", but it seems the decision is ultimately the prisoner's. A couple questions: What if the prisoners refuse to be indoctrinated? Are their rights on hold becasue they are prisoners? Is this constitutional? If it was found to be inneffective, why were the statistics lied about to seem positive? Isn't the goal to find a program to help prisoners?

What is a Capitalist? Is the USA a Capitalist country? Can someone try and strip away all the verbosity and tell me straight.

Who is the leader of the free world and when did this happen? Who elected BUsh? The Pope and Bill Gates can have a audience with the president but he will not return my e-mails. How can I respect him if he does not respect me? Paul

From those I know and see most work about 8 hours, 5 days a week. But I read on the internet that alot of americans work 50 hours or more a week. Is this really true or is it only a small portion of the population? Thanks for any real life data!

I guess the states that were victims of the sniper attacks can no longer seek the death penalty for Malvo.

As many of you know, I wasn't a fan of the invasion of Iraq. But it's interesting to look at some of the changes that have taken place since that invasion. - Elections in Palestine - (Local/Limited) Elections in Saudi Arabia for the first time - Elections in Iraq - Syria opens a dialog with Israel for the first time since... the 1973 war (?) - A massive democracy movement breaks out in Lebanon Obviously our invasion of Iraq was not the direct cause of all of these events. But you can just as easily make an argument that none of them might have happened were it not for that invasion and the pressure it's brought to bear on Middle Eastern governments. I'…

I was thinking about how the US upholds it's "reputation" around the world, as the world police, or as a world power. The US seems to have a reluctance to change certain things for fear the they would apear different, or apear less moral. The dollar is used all around the world, not just in America. Lots of countries have change their currency so it is less easy to counterfit. Like Aultralia, they have plastic bills, they pretty cool, they are dang hard to counterfit. But the American currency has had the same look for a very long time. They change a little bit to combat counterfitting, but not much. It seems they have relunctance to change it much becuase if the…

(Please note that this is not intended as a judgement or a proponement of Saudi society. I'm not saying it's better than other societies, or that it's "good" (in fact there's a great deal to dislike about it). I just happen to find their social structure fascinating.) A Saudi minister was asked by a western reporter once when he thought Saudi Arabia would become a democracy. The minister answered "we feel that we are one today". Incredible as it may seem, these people may actually have a valid reason to think they have a democracy. How is this possible? Because they have the two things that often constitute the definition of democracy in many people's eyes: S…