Tag: united-states

US House: No Social Networking Sites at School

Techcrunch has a good post discussing the recent decision made (lastnight) by the US House. House Resolution 5319 (the Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA) was passed lastnight with a vote of 410 to 15. If the resolution does indeed become law, schools and public libraries will lose federal internet subsidies if they don’t block social networking sites such as MySpace and Newsvine.

Now, I’m all for keeping MySpace out of schools, it has no place there. But every social networking site shouldn’t be targeted, that’s just insane. That’s like banning all light bulbs because one manufacturer has problems with their light bulbs exploding. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I’m very upset by this decision. Go over to Techcrunch to read more about it. They’ve also got links to many other sites that discuss HR5319 in greater detail.

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Valerie Plame Suing Rove, Libby, & Cheney

Valerie Plame has filed a lawsuit against Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. She and husband Joe Wilson are claiming their exposure was intentional and malicious, and was done in an attempt to destroy their careers. Here’s a bit from the article at CNN:

The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children’s lives at risk by exposing Plame.

“This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of … (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,” the Wilsons’ lawyers said in the lawsuit.

Libby is the only administration official charged in connection with the leak investigation. He faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, accused of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about when he learned Plame’s identity and what he subsequently told reporters.

There’s already lots of discussion on this:
Wizbang
Stop the ACLU
Outside The Beltway
bRight & Early
Hot Air

All those sites have all the details, I won’t bother re-stating the facts. I’m not really sure how I feel about this, but it seems like something Valerie and Joe wouldn’t want to get themselves into voluntarily. Won’t this additional attention just put them and their family at greater risk?

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Bush in Iraq

The Bush administration has seen it’s fair share of good news in the last few weeks. Well deserved good news too.

In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like, the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a big one. That guy has been responsible for so much violence in Iraq, it’s great seeing him bite the dust.

With Zarqawi dead, a new Baghdad government in place and Rove freed from prosecutor’s cross hairs, the White House hopes it can pivot to a new stage in which it is no longer on the defensive. In recent weeks, under new Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, the White House has tried to do more to set an agenda, moving aggressively into the immigration debate and agreeing to join direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program under certain conditions.

Anyway, Bush made a “secret” visit to Iraq yesterday. Some think he may be laying the groundwork for troop reductions in Iraq. I don’t really see that though. To me it seems to be more of a pep-rally sort of thing. Bush was there letting everyone know that we need to stay until the job is done. Or at least until the Iraqi forces are able to handle the insurgents on their own. Even when the Iraqi forces are ready, we should still maintain a military force in the country, just to ensure the job is done right. It’d be terribly depressing if the country fell into a civil war or something once the U.S. packs up and leaves. In my eyes, we need to have a decent number of troops there for the next 50 years, just to protect our investment. “Our investment” being the nation of Iraq itself, not their oil.

Flopping Aces has some nice pictures and a video. Hot Air also has the video and a link to the transcript from Bush’s speech.

Others blogging include:
Blogs for Bush
California Conservative
Big Dog’s Weblog

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George Galloway Justifies Murder of Tony Blair

Bush and Blair have decided to “Concede Missteps on Iraq.” Hot Air has a video of the news conference.

In a joint news conference, Bush said he had used inappropriate “tough talk” — such as saying “bring ’em on” in reference to insurgents — that he said “sent the wrong signal to people.” He also said the “biggest mistake” for the United States was the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, in which guards photographed themselves sexually tormenting Iraqi prisoners, spawning revulsion worldwide. “We’ve been paying for that for a long period of time,” he said.

George Galloway used this as an opportunity to attack Tony Blair, saying “it would be entirely logical and explicable” for him to die via suicide bomber. Galloway is obviously off his rocker. The fact that he even suggests a suicide bombing to kill Blair is sick. Let’s face it, suicide bombings are a pretty sleazy and cowardly way to take a life.

The Respect MP George Galloway has said it would be morally justified for a suicide bomber to murder Tony Blair.

In an interview with GQ magazine, the reporter asked him: “Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber – if there were no other casualties – be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?”

Mr Galloway replied: “Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it – but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq – as Blair did.”

Whose side are you on Galloway? Wait, I don’t think you should answer that. Decision ’08 asks a good question, “George Galloway: Human Or Snake?”

Sister Toldjah is wondering if Galloway can be censured in front of the Parliament for his remarks. I would certainly think so, wether any action is actually taken against Galloway is probably up for debate.

Cold Fury dropped a great analogy in their Galloway post:

Listening to Leftard hero/terrorist-loving blowhard George Galloway talk about ethics and morals is roughly akin to listening to Ronald McDonald opine about fine wines and filet mignon.

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The Shining, For Real?

This is just fucking weird!

Columbia, SC
Cops went to a 44-year-old woman’s Gadsden home to investigate blood that she said was seeping out of her floor. They noticed a red liquid that looked like blood on the floor of her hallway and bathroom, as well as on the baseboards, carpets and lower parts of the bathroom cabinets, toilet and bathtub. There were puddles, splatters and smears of the stuff all over. The woman said the substance began to “appear” through the floor and seemed to follow her mother as her mother moved down the hallway and into the bathroom. The cop took some of the stuff to a lab for testing.

Just wanted to share that quick.

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