flying solo

I had been debating what I was going to write about since Saturday. At first I thought well why not about how we use other peoples opinions of ourselves, drive our actions and behaviors, neat- right? Except that FU stole it. And then I was like well what about my birthday which is coming up and is making feel nauseous, but guess what- Mrs. Cullen took that one too!@ But whatever, you know what they say, great minds think alike :)

So instead of being all deep and reflective, i'm opting for the news update thing that I sometimes infrequently do :D

I'm sure all of you have heard about the bombing the moon thing thats going to take place 7:30 am on Fri. NASA believes that underneath the dust particles lie the molecules to make ice, ergo water. I would like to add that this wouldn't have been possible without the findings from India's space mission a few weeks ago. They were the ones that found the possibility of water on the moon.

An interesting statement was posted on a known Taliban website on the 8th anniversary of the coalition forces in Afghanstan, the millitants' aim to be the "obtainment of independence and establishment of an Islamic system." And, "We did not have any agenda to harm other countries including Europe nor we have such agenda today," finally, "Still, if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war." Does this signal a break with al Qaeda? It'll be interesting to see how the international community reacts to this- if at all.

On Tuesday the President told Congressional leaders that he will not substantially reduce American forces in Afghanistan nor will he switch the mission to simply a counter-strike strategy. But he still remains undecided about major troop buildup. Wanting to reach some middle ground the President said he wanted to, “dispense with the straw man argument that this is about either doubling down or leaving Afghanistan,” what does this mean? we are moving into year nine of our failed war in Afghanistan and we still don't have a clear idea of what "winning" means.

Africa is outsourcing it's work to the Chinese! The African nations have cut deals with China, in  exchange for investments and loans, the Africans would use Chinese labor instead of domestic African laborers. A huge outcry has been issued over this because none of the Africans see the money thats been given to the governments, but what they do see are the Chinese coming in and getting work, over them.

Advocates of marijuana are gathering signatures to put 3 measures on the ballot in 2010. If the measures pass, California will be the first state in the union to legalize pot. At least one poll shows support amongst the people in lifting the ban. The thing to watch here would be the clash between state and Federal drug laws. This could also bring in A LOT of money to the bankrupt state if they started taxing it.

Although its no secret to most that Japan leads the world in robotic technology, it might be news to some that with Japan's slow growth rate and labor shortages aloong with the country's reticence towards immigrants, Japan is very close to developing human-like robots who could perform labor tasks and have the full range of human emotions. The Japanese are a people that believe in animism, the belief that non living objects have souls, so they're totally for the robotic generation of workers. 

Many of you may have heard about the banning of the niqab in Egypt, well a Canadian Muslim group is lobbying the Ottawan government to ban the burka and niqab- calling the garments medieval and misogynistic. A spokeswoman for the group said, "To cover your face is to conceal your identity," she called it a matter of public safety, since concealing one's identity is a common practice for criminals. She also added that the niqab is a Middle Eastern tradition instead of an Islamic tradition, citing the Quran, she said there's no written text telling women to cover their faces, even in the ultra conservative text, Sharia law. Considering the fact that women are in fact forbidden from wearing burkas in the grand mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, it hardly makes sense that the practice should be permitted in Canada, she finished. ......interesting.

Finally, Al Franken, the freshman Senator from Minn, introduced and passed a measure to de-fund military contractors who prevent rape victims from seeking justice. 30 Republicans voted against this, only ten Senate Republicans voted for the measure including all 4 female Republican senators. Hypocrisy anyone? The Republicans were all up in arms when a fake pimp and his ho took down ACORN by seeking their help in the "business" and steam rolled a vote to de-fund them, but when it comes to major companies who won't let their employees go to court to seek justice because they have been violated, many times brutally, this just makes one wonder- are the Republicans for rape when a profit could be made?

Well this ends my scatter brained post on the stories that were percolating in my head.
until next time
snake charmer