27 May 2008
News and Comments 5/27/08
Posted by Roy Bischoff under: What's News .
My weight is perfect for my height…which varies.
15 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
27 May 2008 at 6:28 am.
We only here about these things when the media’s attention is focused on it. We should be supporting democracy around the world and it should be a bigger issue for all of us.
Opposition supporters detained in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar - Already under fire for its handling of cyclone victims, Myanmar’s military regime detained about 20 members of a democracy activist’s opposition party Tuesday.
The junta faced a deadline to extend Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest for another year or release her. Members of her National League for Democracy were marching from the party’s headquarters to her home when riot police shoved the group into a truck.
It was not immediately clear where the truck was headed or exactly how many people were detained.
Some of the detainees wore Suu Kyi T-shirts and others the party uniform, a peach colored jacket, sarong and cone-shaped hat. Thrown into the truck, two members seated by windows unfurled a 2-foot poster of Suu Kyi before being ordered to roll it back up.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_re_as/myanmar
Cameron Says:
27 May 2008 at 8:20 am.
This doesn’t look good.
Nuclear agency accuses Iran of willful lack of cooperation
PARIS: The International Atomic Energy Agency, in an unusually blunt and detailed report, said Monday that Iran’s suspected research into the development of nuclear weapons remains “a matter of serious concern” and continues to need “substantial explanations.”
The nine-page report accused the Iranians of a willful lack of cooperation, particularly in answering allegations that its nuclear program may be pointed less at energy generation than at military use.
Part of the agency’s case hinges on 18 documents listed in the report and presented to Iran that, according to Western intelligence agencies, indicate the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design — activities that ordinarily would be associated with constructing nuclear weapons.
“There are certain parts of their nuclear program where the military seems to have played a role,” said one senior official close to the agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity under normal diplomatic constraints. He added, “We want to understand why.”
Iran has dismissed the documents as “forged” or “fabricated,” claimed that its experiments and projects had nothing to do with a nuclear weapons program and refused to provide documentation and access to its scientists to support its claims.
The report also makes the serious allegation that Iran is learning to make more powerful centrifuges that are operating faster and more efficiently, the product of robust research and development that has not been fully disclosed to the agency.
That means the country may be producing enriched uranium — which can be used to make electricity or fuel bombs — faster than expected with a parallel program that could replace its older generation of less reliable centrifuges. Some of the centrifuge components have been produced by Iran’s military, said the report, prepared by Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the agency.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/africa/27iran.php
Cameron Says:
27 May 2008 at 8:31 am.
This is very shocking and I hope something gets done about it.
Six-year-olds sexually abused by UN peacekeepers
By Mike Pflanz in Man, Ivory Coast
Sexual abuse of children as young as six by aid workers and United Nations peacekeepers has continued unchecked despite repeated promises to stamp it out, according to a 12-month investigation.
More than half of the children interviewed in three countries, Ivory Coast, South Sudan and Haiti, knew of cases of forced sex with aid staff or peacekeepers.
The assaults were often in return for the very food or protection supposed to be provided to the vulnerable in a crisis.
Similar allegations have dogged UN missions since the organisation sent peacekeepers to Cambodia in the 1990s. However, today’s report, from Save The Children, is the first to point the finger at civilian aid staff, including those working for British charities, as well as soldiers.
ts findings suggest a continuing lack of action despite promises to tackle alleged abuse made at a conference of UN officials and aid agencies in December 2006.
Six months after that meeting’s stern commitments, 12-year-old “Elizabeth” claimed that she was walking to tend her mother’s fields past the camp of a battalion of UN peacekeepers in northwestern Ivory Coast.
“There were men there who called my little brother over and gave him biscuits,” she haltingly told The Daily Telegraph last week in a village close to the town of Man.
“I refused to go, but one man came to me and held me by my dress and took me into the bush far from the road. His friends came, there were 10 of them. They held me down and raped me one by one. I could not flee. They were big men.
Afterwards I ran to my village, I was crying all night and vomiting. Even today I have medical problems. I can never forget that thing, it is stuck in my mind and I keep seeing it happen over and over like a film.”
Too fearful to leave the security of her village, she has dropped out of school. Even now, almost a year later, she says she freezes with fear whenever she sees a white UN or aid agency vehicle.
Elizabeth’s case is not unique among the 341 children interviewed.
A third claimed that they knew of someone in their community who had been sexually attacked by a peacekeeper or an aid worker.
More than half claimed to know of cases where penniless children, some as young as six, were forced into sexual acts in return for money or food.
The overwhelming majority of those interviewed said that they would not report a case of abuse themselves and had never heard of others doing so, despite commitments from all humanitarian agencies that allegations would be dealt with sensitively but firmly.
Heather Kerr, Save The Children’s country director in Ivory Coast, said: “Even one prosecution would show that local authorities will act, and that would be a big step forward.”
A spokesman for the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York said: “The abuse of children by those who are sent to help is a significant and painful issue and one that we have begun to address. We are doing everything we can to train and monitor our civilian staff.”
Save The Children itself is not immune. There were 15 allegations of misconduct towards children made against its staff in 2007, three of which were proven and led to dismissal. Oxfam reported 12 allegations of exploitation or abuse in 2007, leading to three staff being sacked.
They and other British-based agencies including Plan International, ActionAid and Care said that they supported the Save The Children report’s call for a global watchdog to police sex abuse by aid staff.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2032996/Six-year-olds-sexually-abused-by-UN-peacekeepers.html
Angela Rogin Says:
27 May 2008 at 8:51 am.
Creepy story about the abuse. That is not going to inspire confidence in the UN.
It was strange yesterday coming here and nothing going on. I have gotten use to starting my day on the blog and it felt lonely not finding anything happening. Glad you are back.
Love the Pig!
Mac Says:
27 May 2008 at 8:58 am.
Good morning Angela. I was out of town and away from computers yesterday but I can see there is nothing posted with yesterday’s date. Was the site down?
If something like this sexual abuse allegations happened in the United States then the whole country would be crying bloody murder. I can’t believe this is going on and it is not getting hardly any press. This came from Britain. Why isn’t it getting press in the US?
Benjamin Says:
27 May 2008 at 10:15 am.
Mac, the US press protects the UN. That’s something I’ve noticed and it bugs me.
BTW, I think the pig’s weight is just right…for my breakfast table.
Matt Says:
27 May 2008 at 10:31 am.
S&P: US home prices tumble a record 14.1 pct in 1Q
NEW YORK - U.S. home prices dropped at the sharpest rate in two decades during the first quarter, a closely watched index showed Tuesday, a somber indication that the housing slump continues to deepen.
Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller said its national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since its inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.
Sharon Anderson Says:
27 May 2008 at 11:49 am.
Yes, Mac. The site was down for maintainence yesterday.
Here is some GOOD news. Phyllis Schlafly reports a Stunning Victory Against Judicial Supremacy:
The Second Circuit, which convenes in New York City, shot down the liberals’ longtime dream of achieving gun control by suing gun manufacturers for crimes committed by firearms. In a remarkable decision, this federal appellate court dismissed City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. (pdf) and protected gun corporations against frivolous lawsuits in state and federal courts.
The lawsuit was brought by the City of New York in order to seek control over gun suppliers. At stake was not merely money but also whether the liberals would obtain from judicial activists the gun control which the liberals could not get from legislatures.
This decision provides a roadmap for how Congress should withdraw jurisdiction from judicial supremacists in other fields, too. The Second Circuit decision is a sweeping affirmation of Congress’s power to stop future and pending lawsuits in federal and state courts.
. . .
The misuse of the courts to obtain a result contrary to the will of the American people should not be allowed on other vital issues. Congress should also take away from judges issues such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, the Boy Scouts, and the definition of marriage.
Take another example. Federal courts should not entertain lawsuits by illegal aliens against local ordinances that enforce our immigration laws.
This refreshing gun decision by the Second Circuit signals the way for Congress to return the judiciary to its proper place in our constitutional separation of powers system. In the previous Congress, the House did pass bills to curb court mischief about the Pledge of Allegiance and the definition of marriage, and now it’s time for the Senate to step up to the plate and take action against judicial supremacists.
Hank Says:
27 May 2008 at 1:30 pm.
Sharon, great news. Gun control is one of the biggest threats to freedom going on.
Cameron Says:
27 May 2008 at 3:21 pm.
This kind of thing will scare a lot of republicans into thinking they have to move more to the left to compete and it is just the opposite. They need to be against big government and stand up for old fashioned values or we are going to die as a party.
Early polls suggest Dems can take many GOP Senate seats
By Aaron Blake
A flood of recent polls supports Democratic arguments that the party will win a larger majority in the Senate in the next election.
Democrats have now polled ahead or within the margin of error in 11 Republican-held seats, as polls conducted in recent weeks show openings in second-tier targets including Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.
There are 23 Republican seats up for grabs this election cycle — including five open seats. Democrats have only 12 members up for reelection and no open seats.
The only Democratic-held seat that is polling close is in Louisiana, where Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) and state Treasurer John Kennedy (R) will face each other. The majority of races that are polling close are in Republican-held seats.
Whether the polls illustrate reality or simply create perception, both sides are taking notice. While the results have provided liberal bloggers and Democratic operatives with cause for enthusiasm, Republicans and some experts urge caution at taking the polls — many of them automated — at face value.
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/early-polls-suggest-dems-can-take-many-gop-senate-seats-2008-05-27.html
Jan W. Says:
27 May 2008 at 3:39 pm.
Cameron, the republican apathy that I am seeing and sensing with all my friends and hearing about on the news is getting worse in my opinion. I think a lot of people are feeling hopeless because McCain got forced on us and we don’t feel empowered or interested in the election. I am trying to stay interested and especially stay involved but it takes hard work. These luke warm republicans are going to get spewed out the mouth for sure.
Sharon Anderson Says:
27 May 2008 at 3:50 pm.
We have a lot of discussion around here about who we are going to vote for in November. Here is a friends take on the candidates:
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain were flying to a debate.
Barack looked at Hillary, chuckled and said, ‘You know I could throw a $1,000 bill out of the window right now and make somebody very happy.’
Hillary shrugged her shoulders and replied, ‘I could throw ten $100 bills out of the window and make ten people very happy.’
John added, ‘That being the case, I could throw one hundred $10 bills out of the window and make a hundred people very happy.’
Hearing their exchange, the pilot rolled his eyes and said to his copilot, ‘Such big-shots back
there. I could throw all three of them out of the window and make 156 million
people very happy!’
I’m voting for the Pilot!
The Realist Says:
27 May 2008 at 5:07 pm.
LOL
E.E. Says:
27 May 2008 at 5:14 pm.
Red Cross warns of food riots over soaring prices
GENEVA - The Red Cross warned Tuesday of a possible surge in “food-related violence” because of soaring prices that are increasing hunger around the world.
Most of the debate surrounding the global food crisis has focused on boosting aid to poorer countries, but there is also concern about the potential for violence as people become desperate for food, said Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Kellenberger, whose agency serves as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions on the rules of war, said fallout from rising prices has already sparked violence, alluding to food riots that erupted in Haiti, Egypt and Somalia.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_re_eu/red_cross_food_violence
Bryon Says:
27 May 2008 at 10:01 pm.
I love the joke.
I think these candidates are jokes. I was looking forward to voting this year but now not so much. I’m sure history will look at this election year fondly as the competition between a black man a white man and a white woman, but all I see is a circus with three bad clowns.
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