BBC explains what comes after the election in Iraq

The BBC explains what is supposed to happen once the election is officially called in Iraq. link (It’s essentially a full-year process until Iraq is fully democratic. And that’s assuming everything will work)

To those that are knowledgeable about German history: To me this seems more complex than the Weimar Republic. That could be good, or bad.

Iraqi election

Just got a snippy e-mail from a reader. Essentially it’s an “I told you so” with some extra f-words thrown in because Iraq just had elections.

Let me just say at this point that I am relieved the whole affair did not escalate. I thought it would get much worse, as far as violence is concerned. But about the election itself I will reserve judgment until I know more.

At this point there are just too many things we don’t know:

• Who voted? Did some areas/ethnicities have the same rights/chances to vote as others?
• Who is the new guy in charge? Considering Chalabi was on the ticket as well, it could go downhill even though the “new guy” is democratically elected. (Believe it or not, that happens sometimes.)
• Even Bush aknowledged that violence will likely not stop with the election.
• One word: Vietnamization.
• X. (If I have learned one thing from watching the developments in Iraq over the last years, it hardly ever is as it seems.)

Mayor of Baghdad: Erect a statue of Bush

Am I the only one seeing the irony of Bush replacing Saddam?

The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad ? who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties ? says he is not worried about his ties to Washington.

In fact, he’d like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.

“We will build a statue for Bush,” said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. “He is the symbol of freedom.” NY Post

Hubble still has some photos to take

Last year NASA announced the Hubble Space Telescope would not receive any further maintenance, effectively ending the mission. The public outcry was so immense that the decision was reversed. Now it seems again as though it will be lights out for the Hubble relatively soon, as the Bush administration will not fund the project anymore.

Thursday The Washington Post reported the Bush administration was scrapping its plans to come up with the needed funding, which could exceed $1 billion. The Post also stated that NASA’s overall budget is expected to be increased to $17 billion, a hike of 4.6 percent. But the increase is mainly intended for other projects, such as the proposed missions to Mars and Earth’s moon.

When the Hubble was lifted into Earth’s orbit in 1990 as part of a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), problems arose with the telescope’s lens. Soon the public began voicing concerns that the project was too costly. But once the problems were repaired, the telescope started sending images down to Earth that were of such breathtaking clarity and beauty that it soon became a sensation with the general public.
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Hero of the week

You just can’t make this stuff up:

A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it. link (via Brad)

Fuck podcasting

There is now a feed that delivers one insult a day, in a new language every day. So what are you fucking waiting for? link

Liberation of Auschwitz reminder of present-day genocides

To commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz 60 years ago, today, I asked Manoug Manougian, a professor at my university, to write a column for today’s paper. He had co-written a PBS show titled The Genocide Factor and kindly gave me permission to also post the column to this Web site. It is not only a look at the Holocaust, but also a reminder that genocide is still happening today.

Sixty years ago on Jan. 27, soldiers of the Russian Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. This camp symbolizes the ultimate example of man?s inhumanity to man. What innocent human beings endured in fear, subjugation, humiliation, starvation and finally death is mind-boggling. The few who survived the onslaught of the Nazi torture and killing machines in this and other death camps vowed ?never again,? and the world community said, ?Let us not forget.?

How quickly we forgot, and ?never again? has become ?again and again.?
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Terror alerts and intelligence gathering remain faulty

The city of Boston was placed on high alert, based on intelligence that suggested terrorists were planning a nuclear attack for last weekend. The warning also caused hysteria in other cities, where residents feared that the attack might also happen in their own back yard. Tuesday the FBI admitted the whole incident had been a ?hoax.? In order to ensure such threat warnings will be taken seriously in the future, it is vital that warnings have a basis in fact. But to ensure this, intelligence gathering systems will likely need considerable upgrades.

The FBI acted quickly, shutting down a Web site Wednesday that had allowed tipsters to anonymously submit ?threats.? Yet recent news about the computer system used by the FBI to manage the data collected is hardly re-assuring.

During the 9/11 Commission hearings it became public that the FBI system (called Carnivore) was not capable of the most rudimentary cross searches. It did not allow for two words to be entered simultaneously to cross-reference different files. This became a painfully evident flaw in the system when it was also revealed that an FBI field agent in Phoenix had filed a report that contained information about young men of Arabic descent attempting to gain admittance to flight schools.

It is not certain if the Sept. 11 attacks would have been prevented had the FBI possessed better equipment, but it is safe to say that not having such abilities did make any chance to foil the plot in its infancy considerably more difficult.
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Rice confirmed as Secretary of State

Congress confirmed Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. In the vote 85 voted for her, while 13 opposed her becoming Secretary. The second highest opposition such a nomination ever received. (For what it’s worth…)

I guess it would be a hyperbole to say, “The last remnants of the Republic have been swept away,” but “Fear will keep the local systems in line” still sums up the Bush doctrine quite nicely.

Concerns about internment camp remain unanswered

It’s been three years since the United States started to take custody of so-called “enemy combatants” as part of the invasion of Afghanistan and later Iraq. Such inmates — carefully classified not as soldiers, but as “enemy combatants” to circumvent the Geneva Convention — are being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and for three years the public has had virtually no access to information of what is going on inside the walls of the camp.

Mounting evidence has been suggesting they face harsh conditions at best and torture at worst. Without access, though, it is hard to say, and the Pentagon adamantly claims conditions are acceptable.

But the way the Pentagon and other government organizations portray what is supposedly going on in the camp raises more questions than it answers.
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Grandmother, what big eyes you have!

Made me laugh this morning:

“When the police came to my door I invited them in. I told them to look in the loft and I offered them some tea and biscuits.” BBC

You have to read the story to get why it’s funny. If that’s your kinda cup o’ tea (pun intended), check out the movie Saving Grace.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz was liberated 60 years ago this coming Thursday. The BBC has photos here. Some graphic content, but definitely worth a look. The harsh reality:

After experimenting with several different methods of mass slaughter, the Nazis settled on Zyklon B, a gas previously used for fumigation, at Auschwitz.

Victims were gassed en masse in chambers disguised as shower rooms, then burned in ovens designed specially for the purpose.

Rolling wagons slid in and out of the ovens so that corpses could be burned quickly.

At least 1.1 million Jews were killed at the camp.

‘Block tuition’ spells problems for students

Students are already hard pressed to come up with the ever-increasing funds needed to finance tuition. Between classes and jobs, it is becoming harder every year to balance educational needs with the means to earn the needed money. This task may soon become even more complicated, as the Board of Governors is likely to introduce a “block tuition” proposal this Thursday.

The proposed plan would have students paying for tuition in preset hourly blocks whether or not the student was actually taking more or less than what he or she was paying for.

While the proposed details of how the plan should be implemented vary from university to university, the implications for students remain the same: They can either attempt to make as much use of the money they spend by taking more classes, or accept the fact that they are paying for more credits than they are actually taking.
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Military leader of Iraq says election should be postponed

The leader of the newly formed Iraqi army, Babkir Bederkhan Zibari, told the German TV news Tagesschau he believed the election “should be postponed” for “at least three months.” (link in German.)

Zibari has been in the military since 1970 and sees the situation on the ground on a daily basis. Yet, the Bush team, as well as the “leaders” of Iraq, still insist the election will happen on Jan. 30.

Worst. Monday. Ever.

The BBC tells me today is statistically the worst Monday of the year. They also have the formula with which a UK scientist arrived at this conclusion:

JANUARY BLUES DAY FORMULA
1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. Where:
W: Weather
D: Debt
d: Money due in January pay
T: Time since Christmas
Q: Time since failed quit attempt
M: General motivational levels
NA: The need to take action. BBC

I agree.

High-tech promising for Florida, but no ?magic bullet?

For years now Florida politicians have attempted to turn the I-4 corridor into a high-tech sector in which ?white-collar? jobs thrive. The idea behind this is to bring in high-paying jobs by giving incentives to companies that promise to bring such jobs to the region. But there are problems with this technique that are often not sufficiently considered.

Such expansion has been actively supported by the local authorities to help make the dream of a clean, prosperous state that is not dependent on heavy industry a reality. This dream is an enticing one, considering areas of Florida are quite rural in character and jobs are hard to come by.

Yet, companies can leave as fast as they came, since the main benefit of such high technology jobs is that they can be moved rather fast.
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Witch hunt now focused on SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is gay. That is the indictment James Dobson, the founder of right-wing Christian group Focus on the Family, is making concerning a new video that stars the quirky cartoon character from the Nickelodeon show of the same name. After Jerry Falwell made a similar accusation about the character Tinky Winky from Teletubbies in 1999, such accusations are becoming old rather fast.

According to the New York Times, Dobson made the statement during one of the many inauguration events to commemorate the start of President George W. Bush?s second term. Spokesperson Paul Batura, speaking on behalf of Focus on the Family, later said to the BBC that SpongeBob is an ?insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids.?

What is the Christian right?s obsession with children?s TV shows? Wouldn?t it be more productive to focus on more relevant problems such as the increasing number of American children who grow up in poverty every year?

For the sake of argument, let?s assume that SpongeBob is indeed gay, a fact his creators deny. What Christian groups imply is that ?being gay? is a choice, and that such behavior, which they obviously condemn, can be triggered by exposure to people who actively participate in homosexual lifestyles. There is no data suggesting homosexuality is a choice. Watching a TV show starring ?gay? characters could therefore hardly do any ?damage? to even the most open-minded child.

There is nothing wrong with having a sexual preference that may not be labeled normal by some. Instilling hatred and intolerance toward those that may be ?different,? though, could also be termed ?manipulating and potentially brainwashing.?

Before individuals like Dobson and Falwell go on any more witch hunts, maybe they ought to consider how productive such quests are in their efforts to further the cause of organizations that supposedly operate under such auspices as ?love thy neighbor.?

Good morning?

Hi. Don’t worry, the site will soon switch back to its old design. As soon as I can figure out how…

Lesson learned today: Don’t tinker with server software at 4 in the morning.

Condi’s shitlist

The BBC was kind enough to compile a list of the countries Condoleezza Rice mentioned during her “interview” (read: love letter) with the confirmation committee in Congress yesterday. It includes Iran (no surprise there), North Korea (none either) but also Belarus, Zimbabwe, Burma and, most puzzling, Cuba. (link)

What puzzles me most about this is the smoke and mirror actions the Bush administration has made in the past. Bob Woodward’s books “Bush at War” and “A plan of attack” both suggested the infamous “axis of evil” was simply a way of getting into Iraq. The other countries, Iran and North Korea, were simply added in order to make the plans to take out Iraq less obvious.

That of course raises the question what Bush is planning to do with Iran, especially considering the recent New Yorker article that suggested the CIA (hi guys!) already has operatives scouting out and preparing military actions in Iran. Bush also suggested yesterday military action was an option in Iran.

Iraqification

Tomorrow’s NY Times leads a story with this passage:

Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s nominee for secretary of state, refused Tuesday to set any timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, but declared that the United States was making “some progress” in training Iraqi security forces.

Replace U.S. troops by having locals trained and take the heat instead. Hardly a new concept. Some refer to it as vietnamization, which does not make the prospects too appealing.

Wal-Mart focuses energy on wrong battle

The Wal-Mart empire is striking back. In a public relations blitz, the company that employs more Americans than the U.S. Army is trying to improve its reputation. But as other corporations such as McDonalds have learned, it would be more effective if Wal-Mart focused its energies on improving conditions in its stores, rather than spending them on glorifying advertising.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Wal-Mart went so far as to take out full-page advertisements in 100 newspapers nationally, including The St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, Florida Sentinel and Weekly Challenger as well as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The corporation also conducted public relations strikes, hitting 14 well-chosen media markets in which Wal-Mart felt a boost in public perception of its stores would help them.

Wal-Mart officials were seen and heard essentially stating over and over that Wal-Mart was simply being misunderstood and was actually a corporation that was there to help people.

This is doubtful at best. Wal-Mart has been in the news due to policies forbidding employees from organizing in unions. Repeatedly the company fired those that dared to join unions in attempts to better their working conditions. Wal-Mart was also forced to acknowledge it paid female workers less than male workers for the same job. Internationally the company has also made waves, notably when it announced plans to open a store in close proximity to culturally important sites in Mexico despite local residents being quite vocal about not wanting the store there.
Bearing all these conditions in mind, it is hard to see what part the company feels is being misunderstood.
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Microcosm

It never seizes to amaze me how well my university reflects what is going on in the United States, be it in smaller scale.

The column I wrote for today’s paper (link) focuses on the University of South Florida’s president Genshaft getting an unnecessary raise and bonus, but is also relevant to the Bush administration and their control of all three houses.

University of South Florida President Genshaft cashes in

Last Thursday I sat in a room in the Administration building with other local journalists and listened to the Board of Trustees give USF President Judy Genshaft a raise of $16,320 and a $35,000 ?performance-based bonus.?

All involved, most notably BOT chairman Dick Beard, made it quite clear that they thought the conference call a mere formality. The charade that ensued was the latest example of what is wrong with the leadership at USF.

None of the BOT members, including Genshaft, had shown up in person for the meeting, but instead elected to do it by conference call. The call itself lasted about 18 minutes and consisted of little more than a roll call, an objection from student body President Bijal Chhadva and a rather lame non-objection from Faculty Senate President Susan Greenbaum. Greenbaum said she did not feel obligated to oppose the raise even though she knew most of the faculty objected to it. We?ll see how well that goes over with the faculty, but they will likely not be dancing in the streets.

Chhadva read a resolution the SG Senate had passed the prior night after debating about it at length. This move had the potential of sending the right message to Genshaft ? the students are watching what you are doing and you can?t get away with everything ? but undermined itself by praising Genshaft in the same breath. Considering the lengthy process Chhadva went through before voicing the objection, it felt rather toothless.

Chhadva nevertheless seemed upbeat about it and later said, ?They did acknowledge what I had to say.?

And that they did, but probably not in the way Chhadva had hoped. After only Chhadva voted against an increase of Genshaft?s already-respectably salary, Beard acknowledged the votes with the words ?unanimous with the exception of one,? which was followed by quiet but audible laughter from at least one person.
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history repeating

I just had an odd moment. I read the New Yorker article about covert operations taking place in Iran. It’s an awesome read and everything seems to add up.

Then I read the response from the Pentagon. It’s a non-denial saying the New Yorker article was “based on rumor, innuendo and conspiracy theories.”

Why is that odd? That line is exactly the same response one of the first stories about Watergate got from the White House.

Funny how some things keep the same the more they change.