So much finger pointing, no one to point at

It's Saturday, but does that mean the news stops? Nope. It keeps right on rolling.

Condoleeza Rice, our current Secretary of State, has come out and said that Russian central government has too much power. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union 16 years ago, Russia has worked, not always succeeding toward a Democratic government. However, in recent years, President Vladimir Putin has begun to crack down on civil liberties. Certain individuals that oppose his methods or his policies have found themselves imprisoned, broke or dead.

Elections for the Duma, Russia's legislative body, and the President this coming December and March. Putin has pledged to step down but may seek election with a pro-Kremlin party and thereby, gaining the Prime Minister position. With the current shift back towards totalitarian rule, it may not surprising that he would make such a move.

The same time that Secretary Rice visited Moscow and gave her grim assessment of the Democracy in Russia, there is a bit of tension between our two nations regarding Nuclear Missiles. You thought those days were over? Yeah, just like I thought Marvel would never kill Steve Rogers.

The United States wants to create Missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland. The system is an effort to counter any posible long range strikes from Iran. Russia, however, can't help cut see them as a deterrent to their own aresnal. In other words, its like when the USSR parked missiles 90 miles off the coast of Florida: Cuba. Putin had basically told them to think long and hard about doing that. He does not want another Cold War. I can't say we're excited at the prospect either. Putin has threatened to pull out of an intermediate-range missile treaty that the USSR signed with the US.

Both sides agreed to meet again in six months in Washington to review this but it doesn't appear to be promising. This will just give the US time to catch its breath and Russia to hold its elections. Our position on the danger of a rogue state such as Iran possessing nuclear weapons is unlikely to change. Russia's position, that Iran is not lying aobut its nuclear program and poses no threat, is also unlikely to change.

Back in 2003, the leader of the coalition forces in Iraq was a man by the name of Lieutenent General Ricardo Sanchez. He retired in 2003 and only now will come out and speak about his feelings concerning the Iraq War. At the time, he says he was following orders and would have been inappropriate to oppose his Commander-in-chief. He now says the administration was "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic". He also stated that there is no way the military could have achieved the objectives on their own.

In addition to his criticism of the administration, he also levelled some at the National Security Council stating there was "neglect and incompetence". He also railed politicians for having a "lust for power" and "loyalty to their political parties above loyalty to the Constitution". "While the politicians espouse a rhetoric designed to preserve their reputations and their political power, our soldiers die," was one of the most damning statements he made.

What a mess!

Mario Scaramella, the Italian academic who met with the late Alexander Litvinenko on November 1st, has reportedly tested positive for Polonium-210. This is the same highly radioactive element that was discovered in Litvinenko's body. Scaramella had gone into hiding in fear for his life due to the demise of the former Russian spy.

Related to this mess is Yegor Gaidar, a former acting Prime Minister and economist who became severely ill in Ireland. He has since been taken to a Moscow hospital where he has reportedly, been recovering. Also, one of three planes removed form service in the UK, has been cleared of radiation. Despite this, a hotel in Sussex, England, was evacuated to search for Polonium-210.

The British government is demanding cooperation from the Russian government into this case. Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of culpibility in his poisoning and Putin has denied any involvement in the matter. However, Russia has pledged that it will cooperate with the investigation.

Though there are many mysteries - even going back to the October 7th slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya - one of these is where the radioactive materials came from. So far, no nuclear labs are reporting any thefts. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state atomic energy agency Rosatom, has stated that only 8 grams of the substance are made a month. He also said it cannot be "obtained illegally there". A lethal dose would be as little as 6.8 picograms (I really went and looked that up and even found out what a picogram is. 1 pg is 1/1,000,000,000,000 of a kilogram. This makes it awfully minute. I'm such a little investigative reporter!). It is also notoriously dangerous to handle but has a half life of roughly 138 days.

In an article posted in CNN yesterday, the Republican party wants a law outlining when fetuses feel pain. It seems the bill is less about actually creating such language in legislature but is actually an act to shore up Republican loyalty. When the Democrats take leadership of congress next year it is likely that few, if any, abortion restrictive bills make it even to the floor of either house. Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, even called the Democrats "Hardcore pro-abortion loyalists." I think thats a little generalist. There are some Democrats who are not pro-choice. And to call anyone pro-abortion is demeaning. No one is for abortion. They are for the choice. Hitler was pro-abortion.

Other news today: Typhoon Durian has killed 388 people so far. There are also 75 people missing. The Phillipines has been socked by four such storms in four months. At the same time a real whopper of a storm is pummeling the midwest with rain, snow and everything in between. Fortunately, I'm up north in Minnesota where its a balmy 23 today. That's warm for this week!

On this day in 1941, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia signed into action the Civil Air Patrol.

On this day in 1955, Rosa parks was arrested for not getting up and moving to the back of the bus for a white person. It sparked the Montgomery bus boycott which helped catapult Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to his role as Civil Rights Leader.

Back on this day in 1990, while we were gearing up for Gulf War I, The two sides, Anglish and French, met underneath the English Channel to unite both sides of the Chunnel. It would be another 4 years before it actually did business but it made it possible to walk on dry land from England to the mainland for the first time in 8,500 years ago. This was the last ice age.

In 1991, the Ukraine voted to get the hell off the sinking ship known as the USSR. The Soviet Union's days were already numbered.