Morning News for Thursday Oct. 11

Scream All You Want. Its an Open Thread

Yesterday President Bush announced that he was against the passage of a Congressional Resolution calling the massacre of Armenians by the Turkish military in 1915 Genocide.

I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915. This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.

However when the “Cheerleader for Torture” was a candidate in 2000 he was signing a whole different tune.

The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder and genocide. History records that the Armenians were the first people of the last century to have endured these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.

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U.S.

Did Fred Thompson Prove Himself?
The reviews are in, and the consensus is that Fred Thompson performed just well enough at Tuesday’s Republican debate in Dearborn, Mich., to keep his nascent presidential campaign alive and lurching forward. It was the sixth GOP debate of the 2008 election cycle but the first to include the actor and former Senator from Tennessee, who didn’t formally announce his candidacy until after Labor Day. “Considering it was his first debate, Fred did well,” says Scott Reed, a G.O.P. strategist who managed Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign but is unaligned this cycle. “He did what he needed to do.”

Jimmy Carter: U.S. Tortures Prisoners
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday, adding that President Bush makes up his own definition of torture.

“Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,” Carter said on CNN. “We’ve said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime.”

Asia

Myanmar Signals Interest in Talks
ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 11, 2007

YANGON, Myanmar — Ruling generals here and detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi appear to be paving the way for talks as the two sides take cautious steps toward ending a two-decadelong deadlock.

Ms. Suu Kyi’s party said it was prepared to make “adjustments” for the sake of dialogue, and the junta has appointed a relatively flexible Cabinet-level official to coordinate contact with Ms. Suu Kyi.

Nepal’s parliament to debate abolishing monarchy
The Associated Press
Published: October 11, 2007
KATMANDU, Nepal: Nepal’s parliament was set to begin debate Thursday on abolishing the country’s centuries-old monarchy to meet the demands of former communist rebels.

The communists, widely known as Maoists, have demanded the king be removed immediately, while the largest party in parliament – Prime Minister Girija Prasad’s Nepali Congress – said it would vote against such a proposal.

Africa

Report: African conflicts cost billions
DAKAR, Senegal – About $18 billion a year has been drained from Africa by nearly two dozen wars in recent decades, a new report states, a price some officials say could’ve helped solve the AIDS crisis and created stronger economies in the world’s poorest region.
“This is money Africa can ill afford to lose,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report by the British charity Oxfam and two groups that seek tougher controls on small arms, Saferworld and the International Action Network on Small Arms.

Americas

Colombians protest Uribe government
BOGOTA, Colombia – Police clashed with hundreds of protesters who blocked roads and burned trucks in Colombia on Wednesday in demonstrations called by unions, farmers and indigenous groups who accuse the government of ties to right-wing militias.
Picketers blocked traffic for hours on the Panamerican Highway in the southwestern state of Cauca, where at least 1,600 members of indigenous groups squared off against anti-riot police that came to clear the road, police said. Television images showed at least three trucks burning.

Politician: I didn’t cheat in marathon
MEXICO CITY – A Mexican politician stripped of his first-place title in a marathon after apparently taking a shortcut said Wednesday that he never intended to complete the race and simply went to the finish line to collect his belongings.
Roberto Madrazo, who finished a distant third in Mexico’s 2006 presidential election, was lampooned around the world after photographs and video footage showed him running across the finish line pumping his arms and grinning in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon.

Here’s Your WaiWai

Jeepers creepers, your love hotel might be crawling with peepers
If you — and perhaps your lady friend as well — are not sufficiently stimulated by each other’s company, you might want to consider injecting some additional excitement into your trysts, by watching other couples do the dirty deed, unbeknownst to them of course, from a handy peeping perspective, albeit not necessarily a point purposely provided.