Current Events for the day

Was Zidane's outburst related to terrorism? Find out.

A Chechen terrorist leader is killed. And here is more. BBC over here. Al Jazeera over here.
Here is more.

More sectarian violence in Iraq.

"Islamists" claim victory in Somalia - the first place we cut and ran from potential chaos. (Whoops, that might have been too biased for the kids in my class to read from me...well, they are smart, and they'll figure it out. I want them to be thinking about where the opinions people express come from anyway, so it'll probably be good for them to read.)

A guy with hollowed out shoes gets on a plane in Houston, and "It was looked at and deemed a non-event," said the FBI.

Why would I link to something about India's space program?

From the blogs:

This is about the Shia death squads in Iraq...

This is a very interesting piece about the differences between Iraq and other muslim nations, it's written by a blogger who writes from Iraq...

A look at the recent strategies in dealing with North Korea.

Money in the Bank

Lower taxes never lead to higher revenues, isn't that what they always tell us?

I wonder what page the Times printed this story one? Any guesses?

Only three more years untill Frank J. is a Lame Duck

Go check out the celebration from the first four years of Frank's blog...I got me my old link...but I actually kind of need to update it and I don't have time. Whatever. You should check out the site...it's a funny place.

Current Events

Is the Bush Doctrine done? Do you agree with Time on this? Are they a credible authority on something like this, or are they too involved with the opposition to have an unbiased view?

Rape Sucks.

This is a very interesting article about gender trends in education. My kids from class should definitely read it and think about it...even though it doesn't really apply at all to terrorism...

It's interesting to get a different perspective sometimes... I must have missed the memo about that secret war though...definitely worth the read for my students.

Now for the blogs and commentary...

Jane Galt talks about unemployment...and it's worth a read if you think you know what that word means but you haven't taken any eccnomics...

On the NYT and secrets...

About Iran and inspectors...

Gitmo suicides and motives...

"The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime" - Iran President...

Links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda? Had you heard about this from the MSM?

Blogs are always slow on the weekend...so I wonder how much our productivity really does increase when we get the internets at work.

On Blogging...

This is an interesting article.

There's a blogger who is now his news-niche's standard...and he's 20 years old. That's cool, but it's not why I linked...

Last week, after the unexpected death of former Enron chief Ken Lay, someone e-mailed Stelter to say — erroneously and anonymously — that CNBC planned to run a prime-time special on Lay. Stelter posted it but quickly corrected the report after CNBC contacted him. He says his willingness to do so has increased his blog's credibility.

"People write me and say, 'Thank you for correcting yourself.' I guess that's in short supply these days. Not enough people admit when they mess up. To me, credibility is all I have."

Isn't it pretty standard to correct yourself when you're wrong on a blog? I mean...it's the MSM that doesn't always correct itself? So isn't it interesting to see this standard thing get touted on a news story about a guy who writes news about the way news programs are run? I think it's noteworthy here for the people who are reading it. This article is for people who care about the way news is run. Mostly those people who are involved with running the news, and those people are interested in seeing things that are new to them....like preserving your credibility with a retraction when you are wrong...

How cool is the MSM? Anyone? Anyone at all?

More News

A plot to bomb NYC is uncovered...

American Future discusses the NYT and the Swift story.

California and Al Queda

Iraq raid...on shiites...

Putin is strange, and maybe I should give him more of a benefit of the doubt, like Tiger Hawk does, but he's done too many things for me to like him much.

A new threat from North Korea, in retaliation to stuff from Japan. There's also a good explanation/overview of the posturing going on over there...

Is Bush loosing Cowboy status?

I like to keep tabs on Ukraine...the opposition parties just merged. Damn.

This is good news, Hamas is at least saying that the Israeli soldier is still alive...

Straight from the BBC headlines...Iran feels positive about the new terms on the nuclear deal.

Link Fest...

So, this summer I have the best summer job ever...I get to teach kids who are smart and super-excited to learn. I couldn't have asked for a better place for my first true teaching experience. I'm helping to teach the class called "International Terrorism," and it's extremely interesting. I've studied the material before, but looking at the same articles from a teaching perspective casts new light on them, and I'm learning (probably) more than I'm teaching.

In short, it's awesome.


The only drawback is that it's taking up almost too much of my time. I don't really have enough time to blog anymore...not that I have for a while. But, a solution occured to me. I need to read the news and gather links to current events stuff anyway...why don't I just put it on the blog? Then I can send the kids to my site to look at them later, and I'll even get more hits that way!

So, here's a round-up of current happenings, and especially stuff relating to Terrorism and International Relations.


First on the list is, of course, the honorable Althouse. I also love stuff like this from her.
The first post is about a prof at UW who is a 9/11 denier and wants to include his theories about how the buildings were toppled by the government in an intro class. The other is just heartwarming...

Go check this blog out. Regime Change Iran. They're obviously biased a bit, but that's ok if you know about it, and they link to the relevant news stories. (Thanks Consul-At-Arms)

Was there a connection between Al-Queda and the London 7/7 bombings? Check out this ABC news story.

Check out this Afghanistan Photo blog (AfghaniDan) It's got lots of stories. If you need something to do, check out the archives.

Op-For has some thoughts on walls, Gaza, and terrorism.

Check out these two posts by Tiger Hawk on North Korea.

Now Taiwan wants to test fire a missle that could hit China? Can the region get any more unstable?

Bush says "I'd rather be right than popular."

Russia and China are refusing to go along concerning North Korea.

That missile North Korea threw was aimed at Hawaii.

Some good news for Europe and it's Muslims.

That's it! Enjoy....sorry I haven't been posting enough lately...hopefully I can get back to it relatively soon.

Finaly, a new post.

I'm pretty busy with my summer job, but I hope to be back to blogging in a few days (maybe a week).

However, I came across this, and it needs to be shared.

Why do people -- Westerners, he {the author's son} meant in this case -- wear Mao t-shirts, but not Hitler or Stalin t-shirts? Frankly, I can think of but one answer that stands up to the test of history: Mao murdered millions of Asians, but Hitler and Stalin slaughtered Europeans. Westerners, particularly the paternalistic left, do not value Asian lives according to the same standard, so they are willing to forgive the murder of tens of millions of Chinese. Anybody want to try their hand at a different explanation?

This is why so many on the left were willing to let Iraqis continue to suffer under Saddam Hussein, and believe that "stability" in the Arab world is more important than popular sovereignty. Arabs aren't capable of democracy, you know. It also explains why the interventions in Bosnia, Servia and Kosovo were justified for their humanitarian purposes (according to the left), but the invasion of Iraq was not.

This is something I've thought about for a long time...and something that the college students (and some profs) don't understand. They just wear the Che and Mao shits anyway...most don't even know who those guys are, other than that they stand for communism. That is probably the saddest part about the whole t-shirt craze.

I think, if you're going to display a simbol, you should understand what it means first....

Why men should not shop with their wives

I know this is kind of lame....but, I've been working in a basement room with no windows for the past three weeks, and I haven't been a very good blogger lately.

Those two facts combined to make me decide that this fwded e-mail was funny, and that I should post it on my blog. Two decisions I normally wouldn't have made...but here it is, enjoy. We especially enjoyed number five...

This is an actual letter

Letter:
Mrs. Fenton:Our store is considering banning your family from ever shopping with us again unless your husband immediately stops his antics. Below is a list of offenses over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras.

MEMO
Re: Mr. Bill Fenton - Complaints - 15 Occurrences involving Mr. Bill Fenton while his spouse/partner is shopping:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares .....and watched what happened.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and asked to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.

6. September 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When a clerk asks if they can help him, he begins to cry and asks Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, and picked his nose.

10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, asked the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

12. December 6: In the auto department, practiced his "Madonna look" using different size funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yelled PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"

14. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumes the fetal position and screams "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"

(And; last, but not least!)

15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door and waited a while; then, yelled, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

The Hook

Check out the most complete national spelling bee coverage you'll ever see over at Mr. Sun.
Today is one of the best days of the year; you don't often get to watch a spelling bee on ESPN.