News and Politics

Saudi women challenge driving ban

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Via BBC:

Members of the Committee of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive Cars plan to deliver a petition to King Abdullah by Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s National Day.

Correspondents say the demand is likely to be rejected, as conservatives argue if women are allowed to drive, they will be able to mix freely with men.

This is our closest ally in the Middle East, a strict, repressive theocracy. A government with close ties to terrorism and one of the chief sources of funds for terrorist organizations. However, their king is a good friend of the Bush family.

Yet another way our middle east policy is completely screwed up.

Byrne on Bush & Iraq

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Best quote ever on Iraq (via David Byrne):

Nothing much could be worse for Iraq than the US presence. Their superstructure has been destroyed, and left unrepaired. There is civil war. Their own oil isn’t bringing in money for them. So how could it be worse if we leave? It can’t, really. Some folks are saying we broke it we should fix it. Tell that to someone who comes into your house and smashes all the furniture. That’s not the repairperson I would call. You might want to sue them, or kill them, or have them thrown in jail, but you don’t want them in your house ever again.

9/11

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Scoble reminds us of the events that happened on this day six years ago, 9/11/2001.

I had slept late that day, since I was laid off from Teaching Network the previous Friday, along with more than half of the company. I awoke when FedEx knocked on my door, delivering my CodeWarrior upgrade. I turned on the TV and was glued to the screen for the rest of the day. I spent much of the day calling & emailing my friends in New York to make sure everyone was OK.

Here’s what I wrote on that day:

What happened on this day was by far the worst thing I’ve seen in my life.

I’ve been through a major earthquake, and while it was scary, it was only a local disaster and didn’t come anywhere close to the destruction caused by this attack.

I was born after Pearl Harbor, so I don’t really know how people felt at the time, but I’m pretty sure this will go down in history as being much worse. Pearl Harbor was a military target and less than 3000 people died. This attack was on a civilian target in the largest city in the US and another attack was on one of our government’s offices. Over 50,000 people worked in the WTC and I’m sure the death toll will be many times higher than Pearl Harbor.

I can’t believe the WTC is gone. I’ve been in those buildings many times and I’m familiar with that area. New York’s skyline is permanently changed and tens of thousands of people are out of work. Many children lost their lives and even more lost their families.

I grew up during the 60s & 70s at the height of the Cold War, and when I turned on the TV and saw the WTC on fire I immediately flashed back to that time and thought “the Russians bombed us”. It was so much easier during that time. We knew exactly who our enemies were. It was like a Western with good guys & bad guys – “Us” & “Them”. Now it isn’t so easy. We don’t know who our enemies are and there isn’t one big “Evil Empire” any more. There are hundreds or thousands of terrorist groups all over the world and we can’t possibly wipe them all out. Even if we do, there’ll be so much resentment that more will spring up. There will be more attacks in retalliation and we’ll be targets of terrorists all over the world.

DNC to Florida: Drop Dead

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Via Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire:

Marc Ambinder has a copy of a letter DNC Chairman Howard Dean sent to each Democratic presidential candidate today, strongly urging “to do
your part and support the action of the Rules and Bylaws Committee” finding Florida’s advanced primary in non-compliance with delegate selection rules last weekend.

They can go f*** themselves. They just lost my vote. I’m planning to not vote in the next election. There’s no way I’d vote for a republican, and the democrats don’t deserve my vote either. Yes, I know I can vote for the Libertarian candidate, but I’d be making a bigger statement by not voting.

Elections 2008

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Despite most people’s enthusiasm and expectation of a Democratic win next year, I’ve been feeling more pessimistic and bitter about politics than ever.

I would like to see Barack Obama as the next president, but it’s starting to look more likely that Hilary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. If that’s the case I won’t vote, since I really hate her (due to her support for video game censorship) and there’s no way I’d vote for a Republican. I would consider voting for a Libertarian candidate, though.

Senate disrupted by jerks

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This really disgusts me.

Senante disrupted by jerks. Three members of anti-abortion group Operation Save America disrupted the daily opening prayers of the Senate yesterday morning, which were being lead that day Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest. This was the first time a Hindu priest lead the opening prayer… Via MetaFilter.

His invocation doesn’t sound anti-Christian to me. He doesn’t mention a specific name of the supreme being so it can apply just as much to any religion.

Jim Naugle is a Jackass

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We can always count on Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle for making a dumb statement or stirring up controversy. Thanks to term limits, he can’t run again, so he’s being more outrageous than ever. His latest pet idea is a $250,000 robotic toilet aimed to prevent the “homosexual activity” that he said plagues other public restrooms by only allowing occupants to stay inside for a short time before the door opens.

“We’re trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom,” he said, “without having to worry about a couple of men in there” says Naugle, even though police say sex in restrooms is no longer a hot crime. He talked about the illicit sex recently in public meetings, in an interview and in e-mails to residents. There’s already a campaign to Flush Naugle by emailing a virtual roll of toilet paper (or they could just TP city hall 😉

Of course gays aren’t Naugle’s only target. Last year rejecting an affordable housing law he said:

people are mistaken if they think they are entitled to an affordable single-family house on a 40-hour-a-week work routine. People need to work more hours and settle for a condo or townhouse.

“I’m supposed to subsidize some schlock sitting on the sofa and drinking a beer, who won’t work more than 40 hours a week?” he asked.

“I deny that there is a problem. You can buy condos all day for $160,000.”

“One person is working two or three jobs to get ahead and one person isn’t,” he said. “Should we tax the person that’s working hard to get ahead to pay for the one who isn’t?”

Thanks to statements like those, Naugle made it to Democratic Underground’s Top 10 Conservative Idiots list.

Hitler or Falwell

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Via Boing Boing: A simple game of Godwin’s Law. Guess whether each of these quotes is by Hitler or Jerry Falwell.

  1. My feelings as a Christian point me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter.
  2. This ‘turn the other cheek’ business is all well and good but it’s not what Jesus fought and died for.
  3. Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith…. We need believing people.
  4. I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
  5. Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.
  6. We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
  7. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press. . .we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess.
  8. This the national government will regard its first and foremost duty to restore the unity of spirit and purpose of our people. It will preserve and defend the foundations upon which the power of our nation rests. It will take Christianity, as the basis of our collective morality, and the family as the nucleus of our people and state, under its firm protection….May God Almighty take our work into his grace, give true form to our will, bless our insight, and endow us with the trust of our people.
  9. Remain strong in your faith, as you were in former years. In this faith, in its close-knit unity our people to-day goes straight forward on its way and no power on earth will avail to stop it.
  10. We’re fighting against humanism, we’re fighting against liberalism … we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today .

Answers below.

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