I hate it when the people in the news just leave out relevant information and I happened across an example today.

CNN:

In a closed meeting, the Senate Intelligence Committee of eight Democrats and nine Republicans voted 12 to 4 for the nomination, with one senator making no recommendation on the nomination.

Which senator? CNN doesn't say. I mean, it's not like I can't guess. One of the members of this committee is running for the office of Vice President. By why didn't CNN tell us?

I don't mind that he didn't vote. I mean, he's running for office. A vote now either way would be somewhat rude.

But it irritates me that CNN wouldn't just say it.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 02:00 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Category: In the News
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NYT: School Siege in Russia Sparks Self-Criticism in Arab World

"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims," Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of the widely watched Al-Arabiya satellite television station wrote in one of the most striking of these commentaries.

This situation is one of such dire circumstance that I find my response being simply, "No shit."

"The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim," he wrote. "What a pathetic record. What an abominable `achievement.' Does this tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture?"

Yes, it does. For everyone who thinks that it's wrong to use profiling to identify potential threats, please listen to this man. He is an Arab. He is a muslim.

Mr. Rashed, like several other commentators, singled out Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a senior Egyptian cleric living in Qatar who broadcasts an influential program on Al Jazeera television and who has issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, calling for the killing of American and foreign "occupiers" in Iraq, military and civilian.

"Let us contemplate the incident of this religious Sheikh allowing, nay even calling for, the murder of civilians," he wrote. "How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is the religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood and slaughter?"

Mr. Rashed recalled that in the past, leftists and nationalists in the Arab world were considered a "menace" for their adoption of violence, and the mosque was a "haven" of "peace and reconciliation" by contrast.

"Then came the Neo-Muslims," he said. "An innocent and benevolent religion, whose verses prohibit the felling of trees in the absence of urgent necessity, that calls murder the most heinous of crimes, that says explicitly that if you kill one person you have killed humanity as a whole, has been turned into a global message of hate and a universal war cry."

You should go read the rest. I'm glad people are saying this but the final comment I will make is this: They still aren't admitting religion categorically and by definition makes NO SENSE AT ALL.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 05:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Category: In the News
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I was listening to NPR again today. It never fails; if I spend any time listening to the news on that radio station I will go from zero to pissed in no time flat.

They were talking about the situation in the Sudan and how Sudanese officials have called the stingy aid policies of France, Italy, and Japan "mean." I couldn't find a news story with the exact words, but NPR quoted someone as actually saying that those countries were MEAN for not giving more money to the people in the Sudan.

By contrast, the United States and Great Britain are considered to be very generous. GB has given something like 57 Million pounds and the US has give upwards of $270 Million. (Sorry, I'm not going to look up how to make the pounds symbol here.)

What pisses me off is the impudence of these Sudanese beggars and moochers. Whose fault is it that they have these problems? I'll give a hint: It's not anyone outside of the Sudan. How DARE they criticize anyone's generosity? What sort of shameless and brazen animals bite the hands that feed them?

But that isn't what makes me the most angry of all. What makes me the MOST angry is the fact that France, Italy, Japan, USA, and Great Britain are falling for this crap.

These countries are robbing their own citizens through taxes, stealing food from the mouths of OUR children, to feed, clothe, and shelter people in another country that does nothing in return. I have legitimate doubts that any of it will ever be paid back.

That there aren't cries of indignation heard around the world on the sheer audacity of the Sudan is a sign of the times. We live in an age where beggars insult their benefactors and the benefactors feel guilt for it. We live in an age where being needy, not to mention patently irrational, gives a group of people the moral high ground.

I wouldn't have given them anything in the first place, but now I wish someone would really get with it and cut them off.

If you're not as pissed as I am, read this over again and place special interest to the part where this idiocy is funded by dollars that have come straight out of your paycheck.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 05:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Category: In the News
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