Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

[tigger]

Trump is not amused :lol:

Yep, I was laughing my ass off when the cameramen cut to him while Obama and Meyers were after him. Trump could've at least pretended to be laughing. :lol:

 

[Cold Fussion]

Trump got absolutely roasted, I also loved the jokes about the nytimes and the huffington post.

 

[jetsetter]

Hamas condemns killing of al-Qa?ida leader
Reuters
Monday, 2 May 2011

Hamas condemned on Monday the US killing of Osama bin Laden as the assassination of an Arab holy warrior, differing sharply with the Palestinian Authority, the Islamist group's partner in a new unity deal.

"We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

In the occupied West Bank, the Western-backed Palestinian Authority welcomed the death in a US raid in Pakistan of the al-Qa?ida leader and mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods - the violent methods - that were created and encouraged by bin Laden and others in the world," PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.

In the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, Haniyeh accused the United States of pursuing a policy based on "oppression and the shedding of Arab and Muslim blood".

"We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior," he said.

Hamas, classified by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group over its violence against Israel, is due to sign a unity deal this week in Cairo with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah movement.

Israel has condemned the agreement, saying it could sabotage any efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians. The deal envisages an interim unity government comprised of independents and Palestinian elections later in the year.

Haniyeh's comments on bin Laden's death underscored the deep Palestinian divide the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation efforts were meant to close and seemed likely to help drive an Israeli diplomatic campaign against the unity accord.

Political analysts in the Gaza Strip said Haniyeh was attempting through his remarks to cool tensions in the territory with al-Qa?ida-inspired Salafi groups. They consider Hamas too moderate and waged gun battles recently with its forces.

"Haniyeh took in his consideration the situation in Gaza and the strong presence of Salafi groups. It was an attempt to reconcile with them after the fighting," said analyst Hani Habib.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-killing-of-alqarsquoida-leader-2277963.html

Hmmmm.

 

[mooglebunny]

This was an interesting article to read- nothing totally new, but still interesting none-the-less.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange touched on the subject of social networking in an interview with Russia Today, calling Facebook ?the most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented.?

Assange said he believes Facebook is a giant database of names and records about people, maintained voluntarily by its users but developed for U.S. intelligence to use.

?Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies, and building this database for them,? Assange said.

While Assange doesn?t claim that Facebook is actually run by U.S. intelligence agencies, the fact that they have access to its records is ? in his view ? dangerous enough.

http://mashable.com/2011/05/02/julian-assange-facebook-spy-machine/

 

[Blind_Io]

At the risk of sounding like that crazy guy who lives in the highway median and wears a foil helmet, I don't think Assange is wrong on that point.

 

[calvinhobbes]

If he is, I think most people are so boring to intelligence agencies that they don't have anything to fear from that transparency.

 

[MacGuffin]

If he is, I think most people are so boring to intelligence agencies that they don't have anything to fear from that transparency.

You know, I worked in electronic reconnaissance while being in the air force. In lonely, boring nightshifts, when no Russians or East Germans were there to listen to, some folks simply turned the antennas around and looked for some late night talks on German mobile phones, mainly the old C-net car phones of the time...

You might be boring but isn't it a somewhat unsettling thought, that anyone can get into your privacy and sniff around, just because he maybe has a boring nightshift and nothing else to do?

 

[calvinhobbes]

You might be boring but isn't it a somewhat unsettling thought, that anyone can get into your privacy and sniff around, just because he maybe has a boring nightshift and nothing else to do?

Yes, but I don't think it's that easy to hack into my e-mails or chat conversations. As for Facebook, which is the only social network I use, I treat it much like I treat public forums. The only difference is that I've met almost all of my Facebook friends in real life. I also don't mind if some stranger finds out that like Terry Pratchett's books, although IIRC I've hidden most of my info on FB from strangers.

 

[nomix]

Hmmmm.

That's what's to be expected. You'd be mistaken if you actually think Hamas and al Quida has much in comon, despite some general dissatisfaction with the United States, Great Britain, Israel and some other western nations, but that's not entirely suprising.

In their universe of subversive islamic groups, while very different, they react much in the same way as the Finnish PM would react to the death of Silvio Berlusconi; they're miles apart, but they still regard it as regretful. That said, the differences between a Finnish PM and the Italian PM aren't nearly as great as the difference between Hamas and al Quida, and please keep in mind I'm not defending or comparing anything, I'm just trying to explain the reaction.

-

Now, for something completely different.

Ian Tomlinson unlawfully killed, inquest finds

Now, there are still ways to go, but I for one hope this stupid, ignorant, dangerous man is removed from any possible job where he has the right or the duty to use violence. His actions that day is what I despise most with modern riot policing, the use of force to be on the safe side, the use of force to get the respect of the crowd, the use of force because you are provoked, angry, had a bad day or because you don't like what someone's telling you.

People are not kattle. And even if they were, you'd be in serious trouble if you attacked kattle in they way some police forces believe it's appropriate to do on human beings. It's disgusting, and that man personifies everything I think is wrong with modern Europe and modern policing. Good riddance, go to jail, do not get a pension.

That police officer in effect killed a man, a man that wasn't posing a threath to him, a man that was walking away from him. He is a criminal, it was assault with a deadly weapon, and in the end, it was murder.

Fuck him. Oh, and yes, I want him to have a humane stay in prison. We're not the fucking barbaric hoards. He is.

/Rant

 

[jetsetter]

Missouri levee blown up to save Illinois town
May 2, 2011

As flood waters rise, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to blast a hole in a Missouri levee to save an Illinois town

WYATT, Mo. ? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exploded a large section of a Mississippi River levee Monday in a desperate attempt to protect an Illinois town from rising floodwaters.

The corps said the break in the Birds Point levee would help tiny Cairo, Ill., by diverting up to 4 feet of water off the river. Just before Monday night's explosions, river levels at Cairo were at historic highs and creating pressure on the floodwall protecting the town.

For the Missouri side, the blasts were likely unleashing a muddy torrent into empty farm fields and around evacuated homes in Mississippi County.

Brief but bright orange flashes could be seen above the river as the explosions went off just after 10 p.m. The blasts lasted only about two seconds. Darkness kept reporters, who were more than a half mile off the river, from seeing how fast the water was moving into the farmland.

Engineers carried out the blast after spending hours pumping liquid explosives into the levee. More explosions were planned for overnight and midday Tuesday, though most of the damage was expected to be done by the first blast.

But questions remain about whether breaking open the levee would provide the relief needed, and how much water the blast would divert from the Mississippi River as more rain was forecast to fall on the region Tuesday. The seemingly endless rain has overwhelmed rivers and strained levees, including the one protecting Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Flooding concerns also were widespread Monday in western Tennessee, where tributaries were backed up due to heavy rains and the bulging Mississippi River. Streets in suburban Memphis were blocked, and some 175 people filled a church gymnasium to brace for potential record flooding.

The break at Birds Point was expected to do little to ease the flood dangers there, Tennessee officials said.

The Ohio River at Cairo had climbed to more than 61 feet as of Monday, a day after eclipsing the 1937 record of 59.5 feet.

The river was expected to crest late Wednesday or early Thursday at 63 feet ? just a foot below the level that Cairo's floodwall is built to hold back ? before starting a slow decline by Friday.

The high water has raised concerns about the strain on the floodwalls in Cairo and other cities. The agency has been weighing for days whether to blow open the Birds Point levee, which would inundate 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland.

Engineers believe sacrificing the levee could reduce the water levels at Cairo by about 4 feet in less than two days. Meteorologist Beverly Poole of the National Weather Service put the figure closer to five feet.

"These are uncharted territories, but it would be very fast," she said.

Carlin Bennett, the presiding Mississippi County commissioner, said he was told a 10- to 15-foot wall of water would come pouring through the breach. The demolition was expected to cover about 11,000 feet of the levee.

"Tell me what that's going to do to this area?" he said. "It's a mini-tsunami."

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh ? the man ultimately responsible for the decision to go through with the plan- has indicated that he may not stop there if blasting open the levee doesn't do the trick. In recent days, Walsh has said he might also make use of other downstream "floodways" ? basins surrounded by levees that can intentionally be blown open to divert floodwaters.

Among those that could be tapped are the 58-year-old Morganza floodway near Morgan City, La., and the Bonnet Carre floodway about 30 miles north of New Orleans. The Morganza has been pressed into service just once, in 1973. The Bonnet Carre, which was christened in 1932 has been opened up nine times since 1937, the most recent in 2008.

"Making this decision is not easy or hard," Walsh said. "It's simply grave ? because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood, either in a floodway or in an area that was not designed to flood."

Officials in Louisiana and Mississippi are warning that the river could bring a surge of water unseen since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

The corps has said about 241 miles of levees along the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Mo., and the Gulf of Mexico need to be made taller or strengthened.

George Sills, a former Army Corps engineer and levee expert in Vicksburg, Miss., said the volume of water moving down the river would test the levee system south of Memphis into Louisiana.

"It's been a long time since we've seen a major flood down the Mississippi River," Sills said. "This is the highest river in Vicksburg, Miss., since 1927. There will be water coming by here that most people have never seen in their lifetime."

He said the Army Corps has warned residents that waters levels in Eagle Lake, an oxbow lake of the Mississippi River, will rise exceptionally high, and that could stress a federal levee with a history of problems.

"They're taking some extreme measures to save it," he said.

But few measures could be as drastic as the one at Birds Point.

Bob Holmes, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said using such levees as relief valves can be vital, likening swollen rivers to traffic bottlenecked to one lane in freeway construction zones. Remove the barricades, he says, and things flow more freely.

"I can tell you that when you can open up the flow path and have additional conveyance, you're going to lower the elevations upstream," he said.

Holmes declined to talk specifically about the Birds Point matter, saying the corps was more versed in the computations used to decide the levee's fate.

"For me to make any kind of a guess would be irresponsible," he said. "All this extra rain threw a monkey wrench into it."

Missouri's legal bid to block the breach was rejected by federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Sunday refused to intervene.

Missouri officials said the incoming water would crush the region's economy and environment by possibly covering the land under sand and silt and rendering it useless.

Bob Byrne, 59, farms 550 acres below the Missouri levee and called news about the pending break "devastating."

"It's a sickening feeling," he said. "They're talking about not getting the water off until late July or early August. That knocks out a whole season."

Rep. JoAnn Emerson, who represents the southeast Missouri area in Congress, said Monday she had spoken to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who told her that farmers with crop insurance would be treated the same as if the flood were a natural disaster.

There were other trouble spots Monday, both on the Mississippi and elsewhere in southern Missouri, where rains last week overran a levee protecting the town of Poplar Bluff.

In Olive Branch, about 17 miles northwest of Cairo, the Mississippi River overtook a levee, further drowning the tiny outpost where locals spent recent days erecting walls of sandbags around homes.

In the southern Illinois communities of Metropolis and Old Shawneetown, voluntary evacuations were under way. State officials went door-to-door by boat in some places telling people to leave.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/02/national/main20059083.shtml

 

[tigger]

That police officer in effect killed a man, a man that wasn't posing a threath to him, a man that was walking away from him. He is a criminal, it was assault with a deadly weapon, and in the end, it was murder.

Exactly. Trying him for manslaughter is outrageous, though not surprising. He killed a man in cold blood and is getting off light because he's a cop.

Can't believe they fucking did it. As the Corp Maj. Gen. Walsh said, it's a grave decision either way. But I can't believe they'd choose to ruin all that farmland (and that's exactly what this will do) in order to *hopefully* divert water off of a town of 2,800 people.

 

[nomix]

Exactly. Trying him for manslaughter is outrageous, though not surprising. He killed a man in cold blood and is getting off light because he's a cop.

Indeed. Not only did he assault someone who died, he did it with a deadly weapon. If I did that, I'd be charged with murder.

Can't believe they fucking did it. As the Corp Maj. Gen. Walsh said, it's a grave decision either way. But I can't believe they'd choose to ruin all that farmland (and that's exactly what this will do) in order to *hopefully* divert water off of a town of 2,800 people.

And let's remember that making food in rich, expensive countries is good security policy. Today, we're importing oil. We don't want to import too much food in the future, do we?

It's funny to think that it's uncontroversial to overspend on military force in case the Russians invade, while no one would think to consider that subsidising farming is much the same, only different.

Sorry for the digression.

 

[Okaen]

922,095,840 acres of farmland in the US.
About 130,000 acres were flooded.
I don't know a ton about farming but I am sure that they will be unusable for at least the spring season.
Also the army core of engineers has a procedure set in place for this. It says that when the flood level gets to 61 feet. They blow the levee. It got to 61 feet. I don't see the controversy here.

Perhaps Missouri can fight to have this procedure modified.

 

[nomix]

This won't really affect the US much, no. I was just digressing.

 

[tigger]

Indeed. Not only did he assault someone who died, he did it with a deadly weapon. If I did that, I'd be charged with murder.

Almost wrote exactly that in my post. If any one of us civilians did the exact same thing we'd face decades, if not life, in prison.

And let's remember that making food in rich, expensive countries is good security policy. Today, we're importing oil. We don't want to import too much food in the future, do we?

True. I think the US is the world's largest net exporter of 'food', but we still import a great deal of the stuff. If things were different, perhaps as the world's population continues to explode, we'll see attitudes towards farm subsidies change. Right now I'm amazed they exist at all.

922,095,840 acres of farmland in the US.
About 130,000 acres were flooded.
I don't know a ton about farming but I am sure that they will be unusable for at least the spring season.
Also the army core of engineers has a procedure set in place for this. It says that when the flood level gets to 61 feet. They blow the levee. It got to 61 feet. I don't see the controversy here.

Perhaps Missouri can fight to have this procedure modified.

The damage is done, there's no reason to attempt to get 'the procedure' changed now. The Corp of Engineers has the final say on the matter anyway. The Corp predicts that the land will be underwater until July or August. Even once the water recedes, the top soil will be wrecked and what's left will be soaked with all the crap out of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Farmer's crop insurance will cover this years losses, but I don't know if they'll cover cleaning the mess up and making the land arable again.

I know it's not much farmland in the scheme of things. My problem is that this was done in order to "save" a town of 2,800 people. There are over 300 farms on the now flooded land, and given the average rural family of 4.5 people, you could guess that somewhere around 1350 people have now been directly affected. Deprived of their homes and/or livelihood.

The water levels at Cairo are supposed to get under 60 feet by the weekend. And then, of course, they're going to get hit with some more storms. If the Cairo levee survives that then I suppose wrecking that land, and putting fewer people through the misery of dealing with a flood, might have been worth it.

/just grumpy because I've been through a few floods and I'm related to a bunch of farmers.

 

[nomix]

I just hope the swine gets punished for his crime. He was a thug.

-

My grandparents on both sides were farmers. My old man tried his hand at it after his old man died in '69, but quit. I've worked summers on farms, not to mention that I spent every summer in the tractor with the nearest farmer harwesting grass for kattle feed, I grew up with it. I get the frustration.

 

[Okaen]

I was saying that they could try and get the procedure so that this isn't an issue next time around. Sucks to hear that it will wash away the top soil though. That is rough.

 

[teeb]

In about 10 hours I will be voting in the Scottish elections and UK's AV referendum.

As much as I want to put "1" and "2" in boxes for the referendum they probably won't see the funny side and would mark it invalid

 

[nomix]

1 is Conservative, 2 is no?

 

[teeb]

1 is Conservative, 2 is no?

To be honest, nobody wants AV.

The Tories are against it as they would lose MPs. The Lib Dems are against it because it's not true Proportional Representation. And Labour are against it because it's split their party in two.

But a "no" vote is a no vote, regardless of whether it's because I want a huge number of Tory MPs or whether I want proper PR voting.

The argument is you should vote "yes" in the hopes it's a step towards true PR, but I'm not sure - mainly as 2/3 of the country looks like it's going to say 'no'. Hmf.