Archive for April 13th, 2008
Why Hillary opposes the very things Bill does?(0)
We all know the thing about the right hand not knowing what the left hand does. But after a while it gets a bit suspicious when Hillary keeps expressing her outrage about the very things her right hand man Bill does.
I am not talking about what Bill did behind her back in the oval office. I am talking about NAFTA. Bill Clinton always supported it and got tons of money talking about it. But then Hillary said she is absolutely against it - no way Jose. Now, it is the next episode of the sad saga. For the past weeks Hillary is shouting on top of her voice against the Chinese oppression in Tibet - and admirable stand. She called White House to boycott the Olympics.
“These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.”
She even went as far as praising British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for boycotting the Olympics opening ceremony, even though Brown did no such thing.
Given her stance, you would imagine that she would not support, let alone take money, from anyone who is helping China to oppress people. No such simple logic exists when it comes to Clintons. Bill Clinton has worked with and took money from the same Chinese company, Alibaba, that posted “most wanted” list on Tibetan activists to help China capture them. How much Bill took from the company? Well, they are not saying. I bet they have real good reasons for keeping that a secret.
I guess there is no such word as hypocrisy in Clintons’ dictionary.
Why did a mother drown herself and her two girls?(0)
No one really knows. Nicole Waring, who was reported missing with her two girls, refused help from the rescue team and drowned herself in a brook. All three bodies were found downstream.
In early Saturday morning, forty year old Nicole was reported missing from her parents’ home in Wardsboro, VT. She left the house on foot with her two girls: six year old Dakota and two and half year old Grace. As the search began, a state police officer found the three on the edge of a brook only 100 feet from the house. Due to the recent rain and melting snow, the brook had strong currents, and the officer tried to warn her. But she did not listen and moved waist-deep into the gushing water. Then the officer tried to reach for her but she pushed farther away. With two girls in her arms, she dropped into the deep water and swept away. Bodies of Nichole and Dakota were found on Saturday and Grace’s body was found a day later. Police said “For whatever reason, it was a deliberate action.” But they are not sure what upset her.
Nichole was behaving unusual on Friday, but no one yet thinks it was a deliberate suicide attempt.
Are we designed to trade sex for favor?(0)
Yes, according to a new research. We would exchange sex for favor even if we have everything we need. And it has been like this forever, and other animals do it too.
The research surveyed 475 University of Michigan students of ages from 18 to 26 year. More than one in four boys made offers to help someone for sex and one in seven girls made such offer. But while one in ten girls offered sex for favor, only one in twenty boys tried that approach. As expected, boys mostly tried to exchange favor for sex, while girls attempted sex for favor. Overall, one in four such offers to help for sex were successful. And if you think the favors were really big or necessary you would be wrong. They were simple day to day things: tickets to games; doing homework or laundry; a handbag, and voice lessons. On the receiving end, people got more offers to exchange favors for sex: 14% boys and 20% girls were offered favors for sex with them compared to 8% boys and 5% girls were offered sex for their favors.
Though this kind of exchange is universal, what surprised the researchers was that they found people so young and rich would try such exchange though they have everything they need. It is expected that older people do it more often since they have more need and experience.
I am not sure if this is just laziness or the favor is just an excuse to explore our desires.
Is Jimmy Carter going to meet terrorist Hamas leader?(0)
Yes, Carter on his upcoming Middle East trip is going to meet up with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. Whitehouse, which views Hamas as a terrorist organization, expressed strong objection. Even some Democrats expressed concerns.
Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize and negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel in 1978, is trying to help Israel and Palestinian together. Despite objection from all sides about his meeting with a known terrorist group he plans to meet Hamas. He said:
“I feel quite at ease in doing this. I think there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process…. I think that it’s very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians, maybe to get them to agree to a cease-fire - things of this kind.”
Which states to avoid if you are a pro-choice woman?(0)
Louisiana, Mississippi and the two Dakotas for sure. These four states have passed laws that will automatically ban abortion once Roe v. Wade is overturned.
With decisions like Gonzales vs. Carhart making the overturn of Roe v. Wade a distinct possibility, a recent study looks at what the the abortion rights landscape of the nation would be under that scenario. To assess a state’s risk level, the study uses a bunch of factors that include bans in waiting, existence of bans blocked by court, and vulnerability of new anti-abortion new law getting enacted by the legislature. Based on these, there are a total of 21 states that considered high risk. Though the list is full of the usual suspects there are a couple of notables like Rhode Island and Delaware. 20 other states are considered safe based on explicit protection in state’s constitution or friendly legislature. The standouts in this list include Wyoming, Montana, and Tennessee. And the remaining 9 states are considered to be medium risk ones.
Any volunteers for creating a color coded abortion rights map of the US? As the list shows, one cannot just use the red and blue political map to make the decision.
Do you have to attend church to be a good Catholic?(0)
Most of the Americans don’t think so. More than two in three Catholics believe that they can be faithful without the trouble of going to church every Sunday.
The survey released on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI first visit to America found an overwhelming support for him: eight in ten Catholics are happy with the new pope. However, only one third of 64 million Catholics attend Sunday Mass. One in three goes to confession less than once a year, and almost half never do. People over 45 and younger than 25 are most faithful: observing Lent, abstaining from meat on Fridays, believing in devotion to saints. But everyone is excited in the papal visit: half a million tickets are already sold for the two city events during his six day visit. There is, of course, the unavoidable commercial aspect to it all: from hawking merchandise to scalping tickets on the eBay. Only for a few dollars, you can get Pope soap to clean your sins and have eternal fun with Pope bobblehead.
