Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

It would be a good start for a relaxation and would take a lot of tension out of the whole situation, if Israel would finally cut back on their ruthless settling policy. It's overdue.
Indeed it is. Every settlement Israel builds on occupied land makes it harder to reconcile with the Palestinian people, and the longer Israel takes doing that, the higher the chance Israel will perish. And I don't want that.

So it's in Israel's interest to kill off settlement building. And more importantly, it's the right thing to do. But that won't persuade anyone important, so I try to stick to it being in Israel's interest. And it is, it really is.
 
I didn't listen to much on the radio today, or watch much on television, but I did catch a snippet on NPR about the memorial towers that were put up in Paris for the 10th anniversary.
Speaking of memorials, it turns out that every New Yorker I know has said they absolutely do not want a huge memorial or new towers built.

They all pretty much have the same reasoning, too. To create a huge memorial would probably be gaudy and commemorate the attacks rather than mourn them, and new towers would probably be equally as gaudy and have some tacky American jingoistic symbolism to them.

Most of them are offended by what one called all the commemoration last week, too. It was called a morbid pseudo-patriotic celebration of something that deeply impacted their lives, and it dug up old trauma of walking through the streets tripping over body parts and walking around with masks on for weeks. The consensus was that unless you knew someone who lost their lives in the attacks or you lived in New York at the time, you have no real idea just how awful it truly was.
 
I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was just a little kid but my parents woke me up to come out and watch the news because they knew that history was happening before our eyes.

The problem I have with 9/11 is that the attacks succeeded in their intended purpose: to attack the western way of life. The towers were the first dominoes to fall, but we made sure that the rest happened. I hate what happened on 9/11 and I hate the fact that so many people died, but what I hate even more is that their deaths have been used as political tools by politicians and bureaucrats ever since. How much more dishonor is there than that?

If I had a loved one die in the 9/11 attacks, at this point I would be more pissed off at our own government for how they have used those attacks to justify the destruction of our way of life, our stated values and our rights.

Ok, rant over for the time being. If I talk about this too long I just get more and more pissed off.

I completely agree with this. It makes me sad to know that it is true.
 
It coulde be a terrorist target for the future too.

Do you suggest to check every plan to construct a new building, whether it might become a terrorist target or not?

Talking about terrorists having won...
 
Yes, indeed. I just wanted to clarify.
 
Hmmm.

I was attempting to make a serious point.

Go on keeping making fun - just re-inforce our opinion of the German (lack) of sense of humour why don't you?
 
On 9/11 I was still asleep when the first plane hit. My Asian politics class didn't start till 10:15 I think and I hated that class anyway so I tended to skip it anyway. The prof and me just did not get along. I think it pissed her off that I never went to class but still aced all the tests and I never bought any of the overpriced books she assigned.

Anyway so we had gone out drinking the night before and I woke up just after the first plane hit but before the second. I heard something on the TV about a fire or something in my just woken haze then went to the bathroom. I figured there was an earthquake or some really bad fire somewhere. I came out a few minutes later as the second plane hit.

WTF was going on.

I drove my roommate to his class a few minutes away with the radio on and I can't remember if I was back in the apartment before or after the plane hit the pentagon.

Cable and radio was all garbage at that point so I signed onto the main forum I belonged to which had lots of people from New York on it including on person who up until a month or two before had worked at the WTC.

The rest of the day was a haze but eventually it seemed like no one I knew in NY or DC had been hurt which was a relief but the rest of the day was just a blur. Classes were canceled but I did go to work that night. A guy I worked with had a gf who went to some college in NJ just across from the City and they could see the whole thing from the classrooms.

That was about all I could remember from that day though I remember my boss telling us that he overheard a lot of crazy stuff from people in the building and to keep an eye out. There were a ton of international students at the school and he was worried about some of the local rednecks doing something.

The worst we ever had was a couple of scuffles and some guys calling one of the few Skihs we had one campus a turban head plus a bunch of other BS. The guy was huge and a former member of the Indian military here to study engineering. He just ignored what they said but he could have completely demolished the three rednecks taunting him.

Later on we had a whole rash of Anthrax hoaxes in the building from people dumping chalk dust or crushed up candies on the ground or spreading them on the glass.
 
On a different note, local elections just finished in Norway. The long and short is as follows: Ruling Labor Party did okay, around 33 %. Oposition party Progress Party did fucking disasterous, polling 11.5 %, that's down 8-9 %. The conservative party is the undoubted victor, adding about 8-9 % to their last election result.

The coalition parties in the government did good and bad, Socialist Left leader Kristin Halvorsen has already stated she'll resign as the leader of her party once her successor is elected (looks like Audun Lysbakken, part of the party's left wing), she's the current Education Minister, and there's nothing to indicate she'll resign from the government, but she's not standing for parliament at the next general election.

The Liberals did decent, but some spikes have happened locally. They're poised to boot the progress party out of Oslo council, and they might be the key party in my home commune, in fact. My old man hopes he doesn't have to do four more years as a liberal councilman..

That's about it.
 
BBC News - Kenya hunt for kidnapped UK widow after husband killed

BBC News said:
Police in Kenya are hunting a gang who killed a British man and kidnapped his wife at a resort in the country.

The couple, believed to be David and Judith Tebbutt, aged 58 and 56, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, were staying at Kiwayu Safari Village.

Kenyan police said the motive was unknown but it was being treated as a "bandit attack".

The Foreign Office called for the release of the woman, who is said to have been taken away by speedboat.

more via link

The latest reports on this are that the woman was taken to Somalia. It is still not clear who were the people who did this kidnap & murder. The press are speculating that it may have been bandits, Somali pirates or AQAP Al Shabaab terrorists.

Some UK newspapers are reporting that British "Special Forces" have joined the Kenyan security forces in the search for the woman. If that is true, how the heck did they get deployed there so quickly? There is something strange about this story, which has not yet emerged.
 
Hmmm.

I was attempting to make a serious point.

Go on keeping making fun - just re-inforce our opinion of the German (lack) of sense of humour why don't you?

I don't understand, were you being serious or not?
 
Some UK newspapers are reporting that British "Special Forces" have joined the Kenyan security forces in the search for the woman. If that is true, how the heck did they get deployed there so quickly? There is something strange about this story, which has not yet emerged.
Won't be hard to put some specialists on a flight to Kenya, perhaps from other operation areas, Somalia perhaps? That, and Britain does have the ability to put specialist troops on the ground anywhere in the world in not too many hours. I don't know, I don't know the time scheme.
 
Go on keeping making fun - just re-inforce our opinion of the German (lack) of sense of humour why don't you?
WTF? How does one misunderstanding between two people tell you much about the state of mind of an entire people? :wall:
 
In other news...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/1...thousands-of-female-prisoners-home/?hpt=hp_t2
California may send thousands of female prisoners home

Thousands of women inmates from California prisons could soon be released to be reunited with their families under a program the state began implementing on Monday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said offenders whose crimes were nonviolent, nonserious and not sexual, with less than two years remaining on their sentences, are eligible for the Alternative Custody Program, which was signed into law in 2010 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Is this the first step to a reasonable incarceration system I've been waiting for? Sure seems like that.
 
Is the program specific to females? I don't see why it should be, a man can have children to care for too, though probably less common....
 
Is the program specific to females? I don't see why it should be, a man can have children to care for too, though probably less common....
And less politically expedient.. I think that's the main truth. But the Law&Order-block will use this as a pilot program, if there's indications it fails in any slight way, they'll hammer it.
 
They said it was Police on the Beeb. Er, no I bet it was the SAS myself. And yes there could be more to this than meets the eye.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14892504

Yes, them too, though not Murder Squad cops nor Forensics, but the Counter Terrorism mob.

This makes sense I suppose, given the possibility of Al Shabaab group being involved.

(The Daily Fail was one of the papers that mentioned the Special Forces, strange it didnt say SAS, it usually would or is that the Daily Express I'm thinking about.)

BBC News - UK police in Kenya to aid Briton's murder investigation

BBC News said:
UK counter terrorism detectives have arrived in Kenya to help investigate the murder of a British holidaymaker, the Metropolitan police has said.

It is feared the shot man's kidnapped wife may have been taken to Somalia.

The couple, believed to be David and Judith Tebbutt from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, were staying at the luxury Kiwayu Safari Village.

There are reports Kenyan police have arrested a local man on suspicion of helping to co-ordinate the attack.

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said there were now two investigations under way in Kenya - a murder investigation by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, and a second wide-scale manhunt by the Kenyan authorities. The Kenyan authorities remain the lead investigators.

more via link

* * *

In other news:

BBC News - Afghan gunfight: Kabul police battle insurgents

BBC News said:
Afghan and international security forces have been battling a multi-pronged attack by insurgents targeting the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul.

Police are still exchanging fire with at least one gunman holed up in an unfinished high-rise building overlooking the diplomatic quarter.

Six people have been killed and 16 injured, Kabul's police chief said.

The Taliban said they were behind the violence.

I am surprised this wasn't posted earlier.

OK, it is not the Tet Offensive, but it may be seen as politically important, as it shows a lack of competance of the Afghan security forces and that the Talaban does have some capability.
 
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