6.25.2005 ||> Give me back my broken country
I saw a quiz yesterday asking viewers whether or not the prison at Guatanamo Bay should be closed. The options were:
a. "Yes, the reports of human rights abuses are damaging our image"Well shit, aren't those answers leading? I will never understand the disconnect that some people (and apparently the media as well) have with the concepts of abuse and national security. First of all, the abuses at Abu Graib and Guatanamo Bay are a national security issue. When anyone violates the Geneva Conventions, it makes them ripe to have torture turned against them. Or rather, we are giving a free pass to anyone who wants to torture Americans.
b. "No. National Security should be our primary consideration."
c. "I'm undecided."
And who is the most likely to be tortured? Oh yes, the soldiers. If the Bush Administration really supported the troops (and not just the war), they would keep our troops safer by making sure that no one would be able to get away with torturing some on the basis of an "eye for an eye".
Furthermore, one of the reasons that terrorists make the USA a target is because of the crap things we do abroad. I'm not talking the French being annoyed at a McDonald's on every corner. I'm talking about Mai Lei, taking in the Shah of Iran, and Abu Graib. These are things that would make normally sane people incoherent with rage. So, if it does that with average people, what does it do to the people who are already unbalanced? It turns them into fanatics. And terrorists.
Besides being morally reprehensible, Guatanamo Bay should be shut down for our safety as well as the safety of prisoners.
Labels: politics
The rule of thumb for people is that there are more women than men in the country. I, for one, always thought that it was about 51% women to 49% men or something like that. Not so, according to the Center for Disease Control. The CDC came out with a report on the 14th that says that more boys than girls are born in the US and have been for some time.
Since 1940, an average of 91,685 more male babies have been born each year than females, a total of 5,776,130 over that 63-year period.Just goes to show how much we all really know about life. I wonder though, if this is a specific American trend or not, and whether or not environment (like hormones leaking into us from all directions) has any role to play.
On Saturday I bought the Mr. Clean magic reach scrubber thing because my bathroom was so messy that it was more like a single guy lived in my apartment than me. The reason for this was that I hate cleaning bathrooms. Not because of the germs or anything like that. No, it's the bending over while scrubbing and the back pain that ensues that gets me. So while I'll keep the rest of my place updated weekly, the bathroom gets just a little bit bad before I'll do anything.
But then I saw the commercials for the scrubber thing. Skeptical at first, because I dislike Swiffer intensely (it doesn't clean very well), I had to think about it for awhile. But hell, it's only $13 so I splurged. (You can tell I'm a Virgo by how I'll "splurge" on cleaning products but not on something pretty.)
I was done with the tub and the sink in five minutes and it was almost fun, like a car wash. Of course, the rinse off was messy because I'm bad at that part, but I can work on that. Thank you, you bald-headed wonder.
Last week at work, I was wearing my favorite skirt. It's a jean skirt with pleats purchased in a boutique in Prague. I always feel very chic in it, but on this particular day I was running around the office. I went to give my co-worker a fax and despite the fact that the office is 70 degrees, he had this big fan.
The funny part was not that my skirt flew up as if I were a poor Marilyn Monroe imitation. The funny part was that when I squeaked and pushed the skirt down, he looked surprised and said "Sweetie!"
Going to Publius Pundit the other day, I stumbled upon this campaign by opposition leaders in Nepal to shame the government into repaying its debts.
To shame him, Nepal's major opposition parties said they have started a fund-raising campaign in Nuwakot to help the minister repay the loans. The novel 'Suka Mohor Sankalan' - penny pitching campaign - started Monday in the local market square where people were asked to chip in with sukas - 25 paise coins - and mohors - 50p coins.This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I wish someone would do it here! Set someone out in front of a store like Target ala the Salvation Army to collect spare change and then send it to Congress to pay off the national debt or Social Security or something. They could have a meter and everything. Like:
The opposition begging bowl yielded over NRS 175 with the highest "donation" said to be coming from a beggar who contributed NRS 2. The parties bought a draft for the collected amount and mailed it to Giri, the Kathmandu Post daily reported Tuesday.
$7,800,613,105,454.05 ... then someone gives 25 cents and it drops down to $7,800,613,105,453.80.
That would be the greatest thing ever.
Labels: politics
