The Devil you say!

Yesterday, at the United Nations, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, spoeke out against the United States and its hegemonic political policies. In fact, here is the juicy bits where Chavez refered to President George W. Bush as the devil.

I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house.

"The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world."

A transcript of the speech can be found on this site. Want to watch it?

The book he refers to is Noam Chomsky's book Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States which has jumped to the top of Amazon's sales rankings after being somewhere in the very obscure. He encouraged Americans to read it and evidently, they are taking him up on it.

Also, Anderson Cooper interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his show last night. Cooper only got 20 minutes with the leader so there wasn't time to get into the most meaty questions such Iran's plans for world domination and the spread of Islam. He did however ask him if the President does indeed believe the holocaust did not occur. Ahmadinejad circtitiously answered the question with evasion and repetition. He did make sure that we know that the Iranian people love Americans and peace. At one point he accused Cooper of asking him similar questions and that his questions were given to him. Anderson Cooper retorted that they were his and we have free press in this country unlike Iran. In defense of Anderson, what could he do? Ahmadinejad never came out and answered a question and Cooper wanted --WANTED -- those answers so he fought for them but eventually moved on.

Which is what I'm doing now. The military coup in Thailand was apparently a bloodless coup. However, the political machinations of the country such as the ability to speak out and assemble have been banned. Radio and Television operatrions are under the control of the military. Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in London after arriveing there from New York. He was in the US for the opening if the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations. Four of the Prime Ministe's government are being detained by the militray which has declared martial law. The man in charge now is General Sonthi Boonyaratglin who has stated that he intends to return Thailand to Democracy as soon as possible. The King evidently approves of the coup and its likely it wouldn't have occured if he hadn't given prior blessings. Lukman B. Lima, exiled leader of Muslim rebels, hailed the coup d'etat as a move in the right direction. The Army Cheif is a Muslim and could help end the conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim factions within Thailand.

The woman who stole the baby in Missouri is allegedly Shannon Torrez. She claims to have miscarried a baby the morning of the abduction. She arrived at her hearing today and kept her head down. The hearing lasted about 20 minutes and the woman never spoke above a whisper. She was seen to be wiping tears away. One can only wonder what is going through her mind during this time. As for the baby, she has been returned to her mother and father. The baby was spotted by Torrez' sister-in-law when they went to take the baby to the doctor. She noticed makeup and the baby's forehead that was no doubt there ot cover the baby's distintive and well pubilcized birth mark. After rubbing it off, she confronted Torrez and then took the baby and handed her over to authorities. Good on ya, lady!

One last comment regarding Bill O'Reilly whom I don't hate because he's fiercely conservative. In fact, I don't hate him. My serious issues with O'Reilly are his tendency to believe he knows everything and his desire to try and convict people on his show despite his being ill qualified for both. My other large problem with the talking head is his propensity to yell down others and disrespect those of different opinions. Unless you're a conservative lapdog (or as they were called back in the early 90's, populist) or Ann Coulter, you're going to crucified if you go on his show. To add to my list of peeves against the "No Spin" guy is his apparent gloating about being on al-Qaeda's death list while being interviewed by Barbara Walters for ABC's 20/20. "With the controversy comes death threats on a daily basis," O'Reilly said on Wednesday night's show. "Not only from kooks. But the FBI came in and warned me and a few other people at Fox News that al Qaeda had us on a death list. That's a little disconcerting." But who goes about telling people about that? Apparently, O'Reilly who lives on the edge, keeping alive by doing whatever it is he does.... On RADAR online, people at FOX and the FBI both denied the claim. An angent for the FBI even went so far as to say "I'm not aware of any FBI agents warning anyone at Fox News of their presence on any list....For that matter, I'm not aware of any al-Qaeda hit list targeting journalists. Agents from the D.C. field office, FBI headquarters, and an agent from the kidnapping unit went to Fox's offices in New York last month to advise them specifically on the Gaza kidnapping [of Fox employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig]. But they only talked to management, they didn't talk to any individual journalists".

Crikey!

Convert now or forever hold your sins. A man calling himself Assam the American called on the US and many non-muslims to convert. As long as Americans are ignorant to Islam, they will accept and even applaud wars and conflicts in Palestine and Lebanon by Israel, according to Assam. He also stated "To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent [your] misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself", according to the BBC. Assam the Americans' real name is believed to be Adam Gadahn and he is wanted by the FBI for questioning.

Not only does Sudan reject the UN resolution to put Peacekeeping troops on the ground, it also told the African Union, which does have troops there, to leave. Since 2003, fighting between the pro-government military and rebel factions has caused thousands to die, millions to go homeless and suffer hellish conditions. This may indicate that Sudan plans to handle the rebels with military strikes. The AU has reported that rebel held villages in Darfur are already being attacked by troops. Sudan has given the 7,000 strong AU troops till the end of September to leave.

Qatar is sending up to 300 troops to help in Lebanon.

Fresh fighting in the Phillipines between Abu Sayyaf rebels and Filipino troops, has claimed five Filipino soldiers and several rebels. The Abu Sayyaf are a militant Muslim terrorists with alleged links to al-Qaeda. According to the BBC, "Troops have been fighting Abu Sayyaf rebels on the remote southern island of Jolo since late July in a bid to flush out leader Khadaffy Janjalani."

India is dealing with floods in two of the strangest places: Rajasthan and Kashmir. Neither know floods intimately. Rajasthan is the Thar Desert, in fact, and usually knows drought. But it was recently flooded by immense monsoon rains and 135 people lost their lives. In Kashmir, 1 person has died after being swept away while 200,000 are effected by the flooding. As many as 200 villages have been "marooned". Villagers are reluctant to leave their homes despite the water. Southern Kashmir and Jammu are the worst effected.

A fire at a chemical plant in the Galicia region in Spain last week, resulted in a highly toxic petroleum spill that is slowy creeping down the Umia river to the Atlantic ocean. Water supplies to residents have been cut off form the river and shell fishing industries have been closed for the interim. In the meantime, the government is trying to prevent the pollution of the Ocean by rigging dams to stop the spill.

Sri Lankan troops have taken control of an area near Trincomalee, a town held by Tamil Tiger rebels. A cease-fire had been declared in 2002 but conflict was sparked earlier this year and continues to excalate.

Two hostages have been taken by inmates in a Russian prison in Moscow. THe prison is a pre-trial center. The head of the center is believed to be one of the hostages. The inmates have not made any demands yet

A bomb has gone off at a bar in Bujumbura, Burundi, on the eve of talks reconvening. The National Liberation Forces (FNL) has not signed the peace deal and is the last group. Four people were killed and twelve injured in the explosion.

In Somalia, the provisional government took control of the Baidoa from clan militias. The clans were exacting taxes of $20 on every passenger and $100 on every plane using the airport. After some policement were trying to leave for Kenya for training, conflict broke out. Six died while seven more were left wounded.

In Hyderabad, India, a 60-year-old woman was allegedly killed by her daughter-in-law. Laxmi, the daughter-in-law, supposedly smashed H. Ramabai, the mother-in-law, in the head with a boulder while she slapt. THe woman admitted to the Saroornagar police that she had done the deed over criticsm on trivial matters. There may have been another motive. Laxmi apparently was having an affiar and the older owman discovered it. Desperate Housewives: India?

Gene Therpay has cured two men of skin cancer and may be a highly feasible method of conquering cancer. The method uses T-cells from patients, modifies them and retransfuses them. The cells attack tumor cells rather than ignore them.

Today, Steve Irwin, better known as the Crocodile Hunter, died after being stung by a Sting ray in the shallow waters off Port Douglas, Australia. Reportedly, a barb from the sting ray punctured his heart. Paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to do anything for the wildlife enthusiast. He is survived by his wife Terri and their two children, Bindi Sue and Robert "Bob" Clarence. He was 44.

On this day back in 1781, Los Angeles was founded by the Spanish.

On this day in 1888, George Eastman registered his Kodak camera that used rolls. It would be 100 years and then some before the next big innovation in cameras: Digital.

34 years ago, Mark Spitz won his seventh gold medal in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. He set a record that still stands today. Many a male swimmer contends to break this record. In 2008, will it be Phelps or Thorpe?