Ann v. Bill: round 1. FIGHT!

Hey, new blogger. Let's see what this looks like and if its worth the hype.

I do however, want to comment on something.

Well, Somethings!

First, I really let myself get away from doing this.... again. My apologies.

Second, I do not like Ann Coulter. And its not because I'm liberal and she ain't. I have no problems with people who completely oppose me politically. I have a quite a few close friends who do. My problem with Ann is she is way smarter than what she uses. But she relies on swagger and elitist shananigans to get her point across. Very rarely (if ever) have I seen her use the proper debate skills in an argument. I suppose her education in law included how to win a fight without proving anything. She also has a hard time being able to look into the camera when replying to people. She can stare arrows into it when she's waiting to be called on but when speaking she tends to look up randomly and frequently. She also tends to use extraneous information against people that have little to no bearing on the argument in question. I suppose this is also the trick snarky lawyers learn in Sleeze 101.

My qualm of late with Ms. Connecticut and never had to work for anything I have is her "joke" against Edwards. My qualm isn't use of the word faggot or the connection to Isaiah Washington. Its how she could connect it to John Edwards. She says that is the joke; that he is a married man with kids so it doesn't apply. That doesn't make it ironic... or any form of humor actually, that I know of. In other words, it was stupid. She says it was a joke, but honestly, I think it was an insinuation she is not willing to stand by.

Now, Bill Maher made comment about the VP and how he'd be happy (?) if he were dead. That a lot of people would be happier. That certainly makes Ann Coulter seem like a bad day at the circus. Bill! Come on!!!! Save that for the playground. To wish that the second in line dead is pretty serious and I wouldn't be surprised if men with guns weren't following your every move. Ya know, secret service agents waiting for you to prove them right. Watch yourself!!! In this day and age with a Patriot act and unchecked powers, who knows where you could end up. Guantanamo?

Coup!

There's a lot of news today

President Bush spoke at the opening day of the United Nation's 61st General Assembly. By the way, The President this year is Sheika Haya Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain. Shie is the first woman from the Middle East ot hold such a position. (w00t) Kofi Annan gave his Annual Report, the the President of Brazil spoke. President Bush finally got up to speak about Weapons of Mass Destruction and laid out our issues with Iran. Later today, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will also address the UN General Assembly. One can only believe that the Iranian president plans to reply to President Bush's demands for Iran to UN resolutions.

In Thailand, while the Prime Minister is in New York attending the UN General Assembly, a military coup was staged. This is a current event. CNN is reporting that all external news channels are blocked so residents are not getting CNN, the BBC or other international broadcasters.

According to CNN, there is space debris in the same orbit as Space Shuttle Atlantis. It is unclear whether it is merely debris or a piece of the shuttle itself that has broken off. Astronauts will likely need to do another spacewalk to inspect the ship again before reentry. Obviously, the reentry itself will have to be delayed until the necessary precautions can be taken.

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri, the jurist who was hearing the trial of Saddam Hussein and his cronies, has been replaced under the direction of the Primie Minister of Iraq. He was soft on the ousted dictator and even had said to Hussein during the trial that he was not a dictator. It can safely be assumed that moments like these were what led to the change of judges.

Unless you've been living under a rock, in cave in Tennessee or wherever news is not printed or broadcast, the US has enemy combatant detainees. We are holding them in Guantanomo Bay, Cuba. As long as we are a nation held ot the standards of the Geneva Convention which outlines treatment of Prisoners of War, we have to label these individuals as such. If not, we'd be in severe violation. So on a technicality, we hold these people in prison indefinitely. President Bush proposes that we amend Article 3 of the Geneva Convention to make trying these individuals easier and less recrimination on the CIA for questionable interrogation techniques. In fact, persons could be tried without access to the very evidence that the prosecution will use against them. This violates the due process we hold dearly in this country. ]They've already violated habeas corpus so this isn't a stretch. Senator John McCain, a Republican form Arizona, is leading two other Republican rebels, John Warner of Virginia and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the senate who are opposed to this proposal. In addition, General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under President Bush, has also voiced his opinion against the amendment. Several questions remain" If we amend Article 3, do we negate the very convention? Will other nations amend theirs, leave it alone, or disregard it as blatantly as our government has? Can we amend it? Will our service people be treated as bad or worse than we do?

More People walking Free

If you don't follow the news and are unaware of two journalists that were kidnapped in Gaza two weeks ago, you have now been informed. Fox News journalists Steve Centanni, of the US, and Olaf Wiig, of New Zealand, have been released just after the deadline their captors set for releasing detainess in Guantanamo Bay (or as we in the Navy called it, Gitmo). They were dropped off at Beach-Front hotel in Gaza after being held by the relatively unknown Holy Jihad Brigades (I'd link them but there isn't a good link about them to be found). The two were forced to convert to Islam and gunpoint but were unharmed during their captivity. They're happy to be free and American Steve Centanni stated "I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kind hearted". I'm glad that turned out all right since so often things in the Middle East do not.

Latvia: Making snacking safe for schoolkids one school at a time. Well, not really one school at a time but you get the picture. Latvia's government made the decision earlier this week to ban the nutritionally poor snacks from schools because they set bad examples. It may imply that junk food is endorsed by authorities which it is not. Elsewhere, reports in Britain estimate the 1/3 of all British men will be obese by 2010. Here in the US Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State, has been pleading with fizzy liquid maker Coca-Cola over regulation. Even Bill Clinton is in one this with his Healthier Generation. All I can say is I could've used them when I had to sit around after school for activities and all to be gotten were zebra cakes and Dr. Pepper.

Local news for me: We had tornadoes in this here state! On thursday a line of very intense storms wreaked havoc in the Southern portion of the state affecting places like Cleveland, Nicollett and Northfield. There was one fatality: Thomas O'Brien, 90, passed away after a tree struck his home at Lake Emily. Several tornadoes were sighted including a multi-vortex tornado. Hail was reported at grapefruit size. I've even heard there may have been softball sized hail. Local Weather guy and geek Paul Douglas runs a blog (look for August 25) on TV station WCCO. It must be read. We have had little severe weather, let alone rain, this summer so I guess this made up for it. We got hammered here!

Video to the above story can be found here and here.

A plane crashed in Kentucky at 0619 EDT today. There were 46 passengers, an off-duty crew member and three crew members. At this time there is one survivor. Delta flight 5191 crashed a mile from the runway just after taking off at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington and currently there is some speculation that it took off from the wrong runway which would have been too short. The lone survivor is crew member and first officer James M. Polehinke. Please pray for his survival as he remains in surgery and in critical condition. Please pray for the souls of the 49 aboard who perished in the crash. Turn to CNN, the BBC, MSNBC, CBS or even the Scotsman for more on this developing story.