Excellent post on the spin around Israeli policy and criticism of that policy.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Thing About Israel
Excellent post on the spin around Israeli policy and criticism of that policy.
What's happening in Kyrgystan
Violence
in southern Kyrgyzstan started on Thursday, when armed mobs
attacked Uzbek neighborhoods - called mahallas - in the city of Osh.
Hundreds of people were killed, homes were set on fire, tens of
thousands of ethnic Uzbeks fled towards the border with neighboring
Uzbekistan, and supplies of food and
water are running low.
The scale of the violence makes it the worst to hit Kyrgyzstan in
decades - but tensions between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz have long been a
problem in and around Osh.
Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley
...
The Soviet and post-Soviet periods [History of the Fergana Valley 1924 to present]
In 1924 the new boundaries separating the Uzbek SSR and Kyrgyz SSR cut off the eastern end of the
Ferghana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was
compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR became a fully-fledged republic, and
the area around Khodjend was made a part of it. This blocked the
valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but
none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet
rule lasted. The whole region was part of a single economy geared to
cotton production on a massive scale and the over-arching political
structures meant that crossing borders was not a problem. Since 1991
this has changed, for the worse. Uzbekistan regularly closes its borders
with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing immense difficulties for trade
and for those who live in the region. Travellers from Khodjend to Dushanbe,
unable to take the route through Uzbekistan, have to cross a high
mountain pass between the two cities instead, along a terrible road.
Similarly communications between Bishkek
and Osh pass
through difficult mountainous country and are endangered by the attitude
of President Islom Karimov of
Uzbekistan. Ethnic tensions also flared at one stage, most notably in
the town of Uzgen, near Osh, where were Uzbek-Kyrgyz riots in 1990.
There has been no further ethnic violence, and things appeared to have
quietened down, although the potential for serious conflict remains
palpable.[6]
However, the valley is a religiously conservative region which was
particularly hard-hit by President Karimov's legislation fighting the
taint of Islam in Uzbekistan, together with his decision to close the
borders with Kyrgyzstan in 2003. This devastated the local economy by
preventing the importation of cheap Chinese consumer goods. The
deposition of Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan in April 2005, coupled with the
arrest of a group of prominent local businessmen brought underlying
tensions to a boil in the region around Andijan and Qorasuv
during the May 2005
unrest in Uzbekistan in which hundreds of protestors were killed by
troops.
Hobbit movie news
David Yates, the director of several of the most recent Harry
Potter films, is said to be in the running to take over
direction on The Hobbit, says a report by /Film.
...
Thor movie interview video
Some of the first images from the set of the set of Thor
have debuted online, courtesy of a 4-minute clip that ran on Entertainment
Tonight, featuring interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman
and Kenneth Branagh.
The Marvel adaptation is shooting now just outside Santa Fe, NM where
the character of Thor meets Portman's Jane Foster (and where Clark
Gregg's Agent Coulson was headed at the end of Iron Man 2).
Jack Layton - Ready to govern
... the NDP is the most dynamic party in Canada. In three elections under
Jack Layton, the party has increased its popular vote and seat count in
the Commons. The Tories have flatlined; the Grits have slid; even the
Bloc has slipped.
And the NDP is dead serious about coalitions.
Layton has on his desk a thick binder of successful and failed
coalitions worldwide, including the local example of the Peterson-Rae
coalition that governed Ontario well in 1985-87.
Layton drew on
those examples in his failed bid to win over the Grits in a coalition
that would have toppled the Tories two years ago. His eminence gris,
Brian Topp, wrote a book about it. Read it if you have any doubts the
current NDP caucus is ready to co-govern this country.
...
Mineral riches found in Afghanistan
Another reason America will continue to wage war in Afghanistan.
...
A report in the New York Times said previously unknown reserves of lithium, iron, gold, niobium, cobalt and other minerals could transform the impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centres.
"There is stunning potential here," General David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in an article published on Monday.
"There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
The New York Times was reporting the final results of a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and a Pentagon task force, initiated in 2006.
...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Proposed referendum on funding for seperate schools
Yes! Let's have a referendum on this.
Be it resolved that the Ginger Project believes in democratic
principles; therefore, it endorses a province-wide referendum, to be
held during the next provincial general election, that will ask whether
to continue to financially support separate-school funding, or make all
publicly-funded schools, non-sectarian and fully public.
The Great Dying
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
AT&T iPad security breach could affect all American iPad users
A security breach has exposed iPad owners including dozens of CEOs,
military officials, and top politicians. They—and every other buyer of
the cellular-enabled tablet—could be vulnerable to spam marketing and
malicious hacking.
Conservative senators correct the PMO
Excerpt:
I thank Senator Cowan for the question. I saw the article in La Presse
yesterday and wondered how Mr. Soudas could be so misinformed about the
work of the Senate. I raised the matter with colleagues in cabinet and
in caucus. They acknowledged the great work done in the Senate and that
more government bills have passed the Senate than the House of Commons.
They are well aware of this effort. I have not had an opportunity to
speak to Mr. Soudas and I regret that he was so misinformed. When I do
speak to him directly, I intend to report that fact to him.
-------------------
I
am completely floored that any Conservative, let alone the leader in
the senate, would take a run like this at anyone in the PMO. I
particularly like the admission from the PMO that "They acknowledged the
great work done in the Senate and that more government bills have
passed the Senate than the House of Commons." It completely and directly
contradicts the spin and lies from Harper and the PMO on what the
senate is doing/has done.
Coupled with the comments from another
Conservative senator opposing Harper on senator elections and calling
for more independent thinking from senators, the Conservative majority
in the senate they have been desperate for may be more than they wanted.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Liberals vote to support "abuse of power" and support the Conservatives
Liberals = spineless and confused:
Excerpt:
What has me bent out of shape today is a quote I saw in this
CTV article on the Liberal refusal to support an amendment to the
budget bill pulling out all the bits and pieces that don’t belong in the
budget.
Liberal Leader Michael
Ignatieff has criticized the budget legislation as a "dumpster bill" but
says he's not prepared to force an election over what he calls "an
abuse of power."
We all differ on
policy issues, that’s the nature of the game. I can even understand
taking a boot to the groin once in awhile and voting for a bill you
don’t really like for expediency but don’t you dare announce that a bill
is an “abuse of power” and then support it.
There is nothing
more important in our system than standing up against the abuse of power
and to openly label the budget bill an abuse and then support it is
nothing less than legitimatizing abuse.
Be very clear on this,
Michael Ignatieff is now on record as both minimizing the importance of
and supporting the continuation of the abuse of power. Those Liberals
who voted with the government yesterday should be ashamed of themselves;
they are now officially enemies of good government.
It's quite
simple, if you support the abuse of power by others you are no more
worthy to serve Canadians than those who actually abuse power.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Hypocritical law-breaking Conservative party members should be thrown in prison
... It is clear, time and again, that this government has no respect for the
law and the principles of parliament. ...
Google May Offer Alternate Gmail View Without Conversations
Well, it's about time!
For certain uses of email, the conversation mode makes Gmail almost unusable. The forced Conversation Mode is one big reason why I've been using it through Thunderbird all these years, instead of accessing it on the web site.
Conservatives continue to show their contempt for parliament and democracy in Canada
The Conservative contempt for Parliament continued unabated yesterday
with a showdown at the Government Operations committee that nearly erupted in a fistfight. Four
Conservative cabinet ministers showed up at committee, uninvited, rather
than their staffers, and proceeded to run roughshod over the
proceedings – and at the centre of it was John Baird, who just a few
hours later would be named “Parliamentarian of the Year.”
Liberal MP Siobhan Coady was having none of it, and she called out Baird
for being a bully and warned him against trying to intimidate her. But
Baird’s behaviour
For the Conservatives to send ministers to committee when their staff
have been called – and curiously not have those very same ministers show
up when they’ve been summoned – and yet call it ministerial
accountability is an insult to the basic tenets of Parliamentary
democracy. They are not responsible in the traditional manner, and their
only purpose is to obfuscate and claim they appeared, therefore they
have been responsible. It’s nothing short of doublespeak and the
undermining of our system of government, and Canadians shouldn’t stand
for it.
was completely shameful, as he tried to
bully the chair and run roughshod over the established rules of the
committee to suit his purposes. (I later heard Baird say that he sent
Coady a note that said, “Damn, you’re good.” Not that it excuses his
behaviour in the slightest).
Read the link for more.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Maclean's magazine selects the worst parliamentarian as the Parliamentarian of the Year
...
"Balanced journalism isn't letting one side spout its bullshit, and then
letting the other side spout its bullshit, and patting yourself on the
back for being so balanced. Journalism means when someone spouts
bullshit, you say no, that's bullshit, so please don't piss on my leg
and tell me it's raining.
We seem to have forgotten that. "
Canadian beaten by Israelis
Excerpts:
“The Israeli soldiers beat me on the ship,” said Audeh in a telephone
interview with CBC from Jordan.
“They had us bound, handcuffed
... and we were detained for an extensive period of time and were not
allowed to go to the washrooms ... or sleep. It's been a rough 24 to 48
hours, let's put it that way.”
Audeh said the attack began in the early hours of Monday morning when
Israeli naval ships began firing live rounds, rubber bullets and sound
bombs at the flotilla.
Troops then boarded the ships via
helicopter and began shooting at the passengers, Audeh said, adding that
dozens were injured in the attack.
Audeh denied Israeli reports
that the flotilla passengers responded to the raid with violence and
resistance, calling such accusations “ridiculous.”
“The question
is, why were they coming after us in international waters and attacking
us? It was a humanitarian aid ship. We were all civilians, we were
unarmed and we did not attack them.”
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
How the Israeli government and it's supporters are harming Israel
"...and you pray for its destruction, you should:
* Support the blockade of Gaza and the methods used to sustain it unreservedly and uncritically.
* Support Netanyahu and his far right coalition of Likudniks, racist supporters of ethnic cleansing and petty grafters.
* Denounce anyone offering even the mildest criticism as antisemites.
* Describe those who attack foreign flagged vessels in international waters as victims when those on those vessels resist.
* Oppose any compromise on settlements, Jerusalem or water rights.
* Support and sustain the current government of Israel and any tactics it uses to maintain the current status quo.
If your goal is the isolation, abandonment and ultimate destruction of the state of Israel, these tactics will drastically accelerate your goals."
Israel's attack on the aid flotilla was "an act of illegal warfare"
...
A word on the legal position, which is very plain. To attack a
foreign flagged vessel in international waters is illegal. It is not
piracy, as the Israeli vessels carried a military commission. It is
rather an act of illegal warfare.
Because the incident took place on the high seas does not mean
however that international law is the only applicable law. The Law of
the Sea is quite plain that, when an incident takes place
on a ship on the high seas (outside anybody’s territorial waters) the
applicable law is that of the flag state of the ship on which the
incident occurred. In legal terms, the Turkish ship was Turkish
territory.
There are therefore two clear legal possibilities.
Possibility one is that the Israeli commandos were acting on behalf
of the government of Israel in killing the activists on the ships. In
that case Israel is in a position of war with Turkey, and the act falls
under international jurisdiction as a war crime.
Possibility two is that, if the killings were not authorised Israeli
military action, they were acts of murder under Turkish jurisdiction. If
Israel does not consider itself in a position of war with Turkey, then
it must hand over the commandos involved for trial in Turkey under
Turkish law.
In brief, if Israel and Turkey are not at war, then it is Turkish law
which is applicable to what happened on the ship. It is for Turkey, not
Israel, to carry out any inquiry or investigation into events and to
initiate any prosecutions. Israel is obliged to hand over indicted
personnel for prosecution.
...
Israeli raid on humanitarian aid flotilla condemned by the UN Security Council
The UN Security
Council has condemned acts leading to the deaths of civilians during
Monday's Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid convoy that was headed to
the Gaza Strip.
In a formal statement adopted after more than 10 hours of closed-door
negotiations, the council requested the immediate release of ships and
civilians held by Israel and called for an impartial investigation.
...
See also:
Previous Activists Killed By Israel
One of the ships in the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy is named Rachel Corrie, in honour of an American peace activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer.
US Middle East policy in spotlight
... among some quarters in Washington, questions over unqualified US support for Israel remain.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Mr. Mulroney acted inappropriately
OTTAWA – A two-year inquiry into Brian Mulroney’s dealings with
German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber has concluded that the
former prime minister acted in an “inappropriate” way when he accepted
large amounts of cash from Schreiber.
The report by Justice Jeffrey Oliphant said Mulroney “failed to
live up to the standard of conduct that he himself adopted in the 1985
ethics code.”
The judge said he could not accept Mulroney’s testimony that his
acceptance of at least $225,000 in cash was an error in judgment.
Rather, it was an attempt to hide the transactions, Oliphant said.
...
Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet
Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country's siege on Gaza.
At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops
intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on
Monday, Israeli radio reported.
Read the link above for more information.
More related news:
Turks rally against Israeli Attack
Gaza's real humanitarian crisis
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Curing obsessive-compulsive mice with bone marrow transplants
...
It took months, but the effects were obvious and enormous. All of the
mice displayed far more normal grooming habits; four of the mice were
completely cured, while the other six healed a lot of their wounds and
regrew substantial portions of their hair. The team also tried all the
other possible combinations - normal mice given mutant marrow started
showing obsessive-compulsive data, normal mice given normal marrow
showed no change, and mutant mice given mutant marrow exhibited extreme
self-mutilation and sometimes died from their self-inflicted wounds.
Previous studies have managed to link the immune system with mental
illness, but this is the first time a clear cause-and-effect link has
been demonstrated in which a problem in the immune system directly
affects the proper functioning of the mind. Still, while Capecchi and
his colleagues think similar treatments work for humans, they don't
expect to see bone marrow transplants become a common way to treat
psychiatric disorders. They are among the most painful types of medical
procedures and are typically only used to help treat life-threatening
illnesses.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Cardinal Ouellet lobbying the government to reduce choice for women.
From the Ayatollah's
media conference yesterday:
"With my colleague, the Archbishop...
of Ottawa, who like me has close ties to governments, I am appealing to
the conscience of my fellow Canadians, women and men, so that together
we may one day call for a change in this unjust situation in our
country – the current legal void in abortion matters."
Harper throws away out money on what?
Price tag for security in 2009 at the G20 in Pittsburgh - $18 million US.
Price tag for security in 2010 at the G20/G8 in Toronto/Huntsville - Now, as of May 27, 2010 - at least $1.093 billion (and may go higher). Harper, please explain the excess.