Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas
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Hits of the Day
Three important early electoral wins
by Flavius 11/9/2011 - 12:33 am
Ohio repealed the anti union law by a margin of more than 20 points
Mississippi defeated the "personhood" law which would have banned abortions
Maine defeated the law attempting to prevent same day registration
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In the News
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Conversations with suicide bombers
By Elizabeth Weingarten, ForeignPolicy.com, May 23, 2012
It was 2009 in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Mossarat Qadeem was sitting on the floor of a house with about a dozen young Pakistani men -- some of whom had nearly become suicide bombers. Qadeem's goal: to undo the destructive brainwashing of the al-Qaeda and Taliban teachers who trained them in extremism, in part by asking the students to narrate their life stories.
"We were handling one of the boys, and he just came, put his head here in my lap, and he started crying and weeping," Qadeem recalls. "I was taken aback. It is very unnatural in my country that a man that tall can just sit at your feet and put his head here. [The other men] were all crying with him, and I was looking at him, and thinking, ‘my God.'"
All in a day's work for Qadeem. She's the national coordinator of Aman-o-Nisa, a coalition of Pakistani women that convened in October 2011 to combat violent extremism in Pakistan at the grassroots level. [....]
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For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice
The issue of sexual assaults on American Indian women has become one of the major sources of discord in the current debate between the White House and the House of Representatives over the latest reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
.......
“We should never have a woman come into the office saying, ‘I need to learn more about Plan B for when my daughter gets raped,’ ” said Charon Asetoyer, a women’s health advocate on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, referring to the morning-after pill. “That’s what’s so frightening — that it’s more expected than unexpected. It has become a norm for young women.”
The difficulties facing American Indian women who have been raped are myriad, and include a shortage of sexual assault kits at Indian Health Service hospitals, where there is also a lack of access to birth control and sexually transmitted disease testing. There are also too few nurses trained to perform rape examinations, which are generally necessary to bring cases to trial.
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Doctor Who Helped Find Bin Laden Given Jail Term (for...
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
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Russia lawmakers advance bill on penalties for protesters
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
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In Cuba, Mystery Shrouds the Fate of an Undersea Internet...
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
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Wooo-Hooo!!
In Arizona the Republican who is Chairman of the Arizona Senate, and author of the controversial 1070 law on immigration, Russell Pearce, is losing in a recall election to a moderate Republican who is strong on education.
He would be the first Senator recalled in Arizona history.
A Republican has also conceded defeat in a run for Mayor of Phoenix.
Gullet went after the unions, I'm glad he isn't going to be Mayor.
As for Pierce, one wonders whether he'll be the first to be recalled and then be re-elected again?
Conspiracy: They'll find some suspicious ballots cast by Non- legal citizens, who voted for Lewis, throwing the results into question?
Politics in Arizona is all about dirty tricks.
The Governor had the Chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission removed.
The Republicans protected Stapley and Wilcox, by making sure Democrats weren't on the committee that investigated them.
Defiant Cain says he won't drop out of GOP race
Under rising pressure from fellow Republicans, presidential hopeful Herman Cain sought to muddy the reputation of one accuser, forcefully denied any and all allegations of sexual impropriety and vowed Tuesday the growing controversy would not drive him from the race for the White House.
Yup
Reasonably enough some of the commentators on MSNBC argued that Ohio will demonstrate to Obama that he can win if he gives his base something to excite it. No more Mr. All things to all men. Please
The commentators on MSNBC make a good point.
In Genesee County, Michigan, the off year voter turnout is around %14. Yesterday, it was %25. Why? Voters came out to recall state representative Paul Scott who cut the K-12 school budget and voted to overhaul the state income tax laws that now tax senior's pensions.
People are angry enough now that they are more willing to hoist their asses off the barcalounger and go vote.
Excited?
Hell, yeah!
More cowbell!
As another data point, all of the people I voted for in Albemarle County (a "suburb" of Charlottesville) won, with one exception: for state senate, Bryce Reeves (R) defeated Edd Houck (D) by 86 votes. For those who read my pre-election comments, you'll recall that I was very uninspired by Edd Houck (he's a blue dog, being very "pro-business"), and would've considered voting for Reeves if I didn't find him even worse. The vote count was 22,536 to 22,450. By comparison, for state representative, Creigh Deeds (D) defeated TJ Aldous (R) by 32,397 to 17,856. I was going to make a point about Creigh Deeds being much more progressive and how that helped him (which is definitely true), but in doing a little research, I found that Creigh Deeds' house district includes Charlottesville proper, whereas the senate district does not, but contains a lot more traditionally Republican territory.
Edit to add: There's speculation that the Houck/Reeves race will have a recount. I don't know about the Republican party, but the Democratic party was pushing early absentee voting in this race, and if those votes aren't included in the above totals, it could make the difference.
The two I had been following ... anti-union and personhood ... both were defeated by 60/40.
So I have to ask ... did the polls indicate the same %-ages?
From what i was reading prior to election day ...it was up in the air with approval rating slightly more positive. It would explain why so many were surprised at the final tallies.
Ah yes, and they recalled that a**hat in Arizona.
It has been a GOOD DAY! but
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZRb37yZOjE