Tag: Open Thread

this is a phony pony….SomeOne Pforgot!

here’s some more phony’s….

pflease don’t REC this phony pony. Go see some of the Great Essay’s on the Pfront Page. They deserve your REC’s.

I never get tired of this one

What are YOU doing today?

I’m going to start my day by e-mailing this piece to everyone I know (some will be getting it twice).  It’s about John McCain.  It’s called “Bigotry, Apology, Repeat As Necessary”.  An excerpt:

We’ve come so far so fast from what they call the past

Laying down foundations and we know they’re gonna last

Present and the future we will never fall

Realise united we stand and divided we fall

Thursday’s Headlines: Moratorium on Lethal Injection Is Over, but Hardly the Challenges: Obama Pressed in Pa. Debate: Torch reaches locked-down Delhi: US offers Pakistan government $7bn in non-military aid to fight terrorism: Reuters cameraman ‘killed by Israeli tank’: Report reveals Iran seized British sailors in disputed waters: Mugabe has stolen poll win, Brown tells UN: Odinga sworn in as Kenyan premier: Boycott call as Gibraltar decides to cull monkeys: Seven police hurt in Spanish bomb: Colombia trade pact dispute spills into Californians’ laps

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice

DENILIQUIN, Australia – Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of this dusty southern Australian town, remembers the constant whir of the rice mill. “It was our little heartbeat out there, tickety-tick-tickety,” he said, imitating the giant fans that dried the rice, “and now it has stopped.”

The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

1. Here are some examples of what its like to work in Iraq. The Associated Press reports AP photographer freed by US military after 2 years. “The U.S. military released Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein on Wednesday after holding him for more than two years without filing formal charges… The U.S. military had accused Hussein of links to insurgents, but did not file specific charges.”

   In New York, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said the group was “thrilled” by Hussein’s release.

   “He now joins a growing list of journalists detained in conflict zones by the U.S. military for prolonged periods and eventually released without any charges or crimes ever substantiated against them,” said Simon. “This deplorable practice should be of concern to all journalists. It basically allows the U.S. military to remove journalists from the field, lock them up and never be compelled to say why.“

   BBC News reports on an Indonesian Worker ‘tricked into going to Iraq’. “Darmianti binti Jaba Saleh… was having her medical check-up prior to being placed as a domestic worker in the Kurdish north of Iraq. The only problem was that she had not been told she was going to Iraq at all… When she found out where she was, she said, she felt completely deceived… Darmianti said the agency she worked for refused her permission to leave Iraq unless she paid US$2,500… But after three months in Arbil, she escaped with the help of an international aid organisation and has now brought her former agent to court in Jakarta.”

   The Guardian reports Iraqi commanders recalled after failed Basra mission. “The Baghdad government today recalled the top military and police commanders in the southern city of Basra, after a botched offensive against Shia militias. Iraqi officials said Lieutenant General Mohan al-Furaiji and police Major General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf would be given senior staff positions in Baghdad as a “reward for their successful mission against the criminals in Basra“. That just drips with sarcasm.

   So, it’s probably no wonder that once again, Secretary of Torture Condoleezza Rice has Warned diplomats of possible mandatory service in Iraq, according to the Washington Post. “The State Department has warned U.S. diplomats that they may be required to serve in Iraq next year if there are insufficient volunteers to fill job openings there… The possibility of “directed assignments” was first raised last fall, when State projected a shortfall of about 50 volunteers for positions at the Baghdad embassy and other locations in Iraq in 2008. Although those jobs eventually were filled without compulsory postings, the possibility of being forced to serve in a war zone caused deep unease at State.”

Sometimes, I just have to go to The Good News Network and see if anything positive is actually happening in the world.  Just one of their current stories: