News – Israeli Legal Wrangling Continues

Middle East

A respected Israeli human rights group comes out saying that Israel has effectively annexed the Jordan Valley through a system of permits and checkpoints that has expanded over recent months to keep most Palestinians out of the valley. This would be the sort of action that causes parallels between Israel and apartheid South Africa. Creative legislation bent toward taking land and pushing out the undesirables. They keep the workers outside of the valley from coming in to work on the farms there and they restrict produce from getting out(though not from the Israeli settlements in the area), pushing Palestinian farms into debt, all of which forces the Palestinians to choose between poverty or departure.

Not to forget that this land grab would be another step toward a Palestine surrounded by Israel, cut off from the rest of the Middle East. With every action by Israel’s government, I grow less and less sympathetic to them. There is only so much that one can take before it becomes obvious that the leaders of a people seem set and determined to make themselves reviled by all save those of the most slavish loyalty, often for religious reasons, which are often blind to logic. The way this is going, I won’t have a tear to shed if Israel does end up being destroyed, either by active war or by bleeding out economically as it’s attacked from all sides, simply because their leaders brought this upon their own people and the people allowed it to happen by supporting said government.

Israel is pushing hard for donor countries to cut off support for Palestine, the moment Hamas officially come to power. With rumor that the US and Israel are actively plotting means to destabilize Palestine and force Hamas to fail, leading Abbas to call for new elections, guess who will get the blame of Hamas fails? The US and Israel. And what will that reap?

More resentment, more suspicion and more violence. Good job, guys. Doesn’t even matter if you both are going to actively try and destabilize Hamas. At some point, it will be assumed that any failure and subsequent chaos is because of the US and Israel. And thus the terrorists are handed more fodder for their recruiting drives. Hard to believe these so called ‘smart’ people running the government are as smart as some give them credit for.

Basra cuts off relations with the British after revelation of the abuse of Basra teens by British soldiers. A British corporal from the 1st Battalion Light Infantry was arrested , thought to have been the one egging on the beating.

A Taliban commander says that the group is gaining strength and will be stepping up attacks when spring comes next month. I wouldn’t be surprised, though I doubt they will do any great damage. Of course, a new stalemate is sure to be a further slow drain on our resources. The simple fact is, despite out best efforts, we cannot throw down these groups decisively.

Saddam revels in rabblerousing, using old political slogans as he enters court and shaking things up further by saying he’s on a hunger strike. The fledgling court simply isn’t ready for Saddam. And obviously, any accounts of him being a broken man were vastly exaggerated. Add to that, further into the article, another witness saying he was forces to testify and you can see this trial is rapidly going the wrong way.

Africa

The US Navy rescues a 3,000 ton cargo ship from pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Rummy opines that it is unlikely alQaeda will get a foothold in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. We’ll see, I suppose.

North America

The UN has a report, it seems, that says Guantanimo has broken the conventions on torture and must be shut down. This should be interesting.

The ABA makes a firm request that Bush either stop domestic eavesdropping without a warrant or get the law changed to make what they’re doing legal.

In another fat giveaway to the oil and gas companies, the federal government way waive nearly $7 billion on royalties. Why? The companies are making record profits and don’t need a handout.

About 12,000 families lost federally paid for hotel rooms on Monday, leaving their future uncertain again.

A Harvard study shows that Bush’s education policy has, in some cases, benefited white middle-class children over blacks and other minorities in poorer regions. Namely, some states have made political compromises with the federal government, which has allowed schools in some predominantly white districts to dodge penalties faced by regions with larger ethnic minority populations. So the so called uniform standards of NCLB are not so uniform.

The White House is under fire again, this time because they waited a day before coming out with an incident in which Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner while hunting quail. Personally, I don’t see a problem with that and I don’t see a reason for the uproar. There are more important things than this to question. A little bit of amusement is that Cheney will be getting a warning for not having a proper stamp on his hunting license. One would think that sort of detail wouldn’t escape him.

General

New tech buffs up the microchip. It tosses transistors in favor of magnetic patterning, which could lead to computers that boot up almost instantly, stay cool and are impervious to electronic interruption. That would be sweet.

<A HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2136145/">The Blogs have a field day with Cheney’s hunting mishap, watching for leaked info on the coming Katrina report and musing Michel Kwan’s withdrawal from the winter games.

The uncertain science of penile measurement. Ahem..

Explainer looks at if Cheney was in violation of hunting etiquette at his fateful hunt last weekend.

Today’s Papers has Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak postponing local elections for two years(lovely democratic partner we have there, while Hamas gets smacked for wining a fair election), the administration launching a Katrina “lessons learned” offensive in the face of congressional hammering, the U.S. giving more and more Iraqi forces responsibility for securing territory and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Drunk teenager borrows child’s electric play car, drives a few yards, falls off. Police give him breathalyzer test on the spot, arrest him for drunk driving

Bad: Losing your cellphone down a pipe. Worse: Getting your arm stuck while trying to get it out. Florida: Wasting the time of 20 firefighters to get you unstuck

Justin Timberlake dismayed to discover that his Chinese-character tattoo actually reads, “ice skating”

Men’s college soccer team takes pictures of its hazing of new players. Hilarity ensues as the pictures end up on a gay porn site. (SFW)

Dentist caught trading oxycodone prescriptions for oral sex, billed to insurance as “tooth-whitening treatment”

Republicans were very concerned with abuses of the FISA court and warrantless wiretapping… when Clinton was president, that is

Citing the “just take a look around you” argument, South Carolina education-standards committee rejects evolution

Sarah and Jim Brady waste a whole press release explaining that Dick Cheney is an idiot, so guns are bad

Senior-citizen causes autobahn shut down after driving 30 miles in the wrong direction, the whole time flashing his headlights at all the morons driving the wrong way

Only in Florida can you lose two inmates inside the prison

Jeb Bush wears bright orange sticker to state fair, explains “I’m a little concerned that Dick Cheney is going to walk in”

Valentine’s Day cards that aren’t quite as friendly as a Hallmark (Some not safe for work)

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Sitcom situations for Mohammed

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this shower head

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop a new meaning to “Threat Operations Center”