Owner: Current Events Watch URL:http://www.currenteventswatch.com Join Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:19:40 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Current Events Watch is a regularily updated blog that features articles on major news stories. Features straight news as well as opinion. Site statistics:Click here
Narcissistic Town Considers Giant Mirror 2007-02-13 13:00:40
This story isn’t as important as it is intereting. Officials in Switzerland are considering using a giant mirror to bring sunlight to the mountain village Bondo that contains places that receive no sun for three months out of the year.
In Viganella, Italy, has already embraced this idea. Viganella is blocked from the sunlight due to its position in the bottom of a valley. The mirror follows the sun’s path with the help of a remote computer.
It takes a pretty vain town to come up with the idea to put a giant mirror in front of it. Aside from that, I think it’s a wonderful idea.
Children Forced To Kill 2007-02-12 18:54:33
CNN has been following the case of child soldiers around the world. Cases were found in Burundi, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Somalia. The report contains shocking statistics and stories about children who are forced to kill and fight the wars of rebels, who in many cases use these children first in the line of fire.
From CNN.com:
——————————————-
“I closed my eyes and fired the gun, but I didn’t hit her. So I shot again,” she said. “I had to bury her and put dirt on top of her. The commander said, ‘You’ll have to do this many more times, and you’ll have to learn not to cry.’ ”
An indictment against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo asserts that one of his commanders threatened to shoot a 13-year-old girl unless she tied the testicles of a prisoner with wire. She complied and the captive died.
In Myanma Read more:Children
"One Cold War Is Enough" 2007-02-12 10:32:38 Vladimir Putin’s being mean again. Pentagon chief Robert Gates, said that “one cold war is enough” in response to Vladimir Putin’s assertion on Saturday that the U.S. has incited other countries to seek nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Gates is planning a trip to Moscow to talk with Putin. Gates has been recently urging NATO members to remember the promises they made to provide military and economic aid to Afghanistan. If you’d like, you can read that story here.
I realize that we’ve never been the best of friends with Russia, but it seems that Putin has been somewhat of a sourpuss lately. Just because democracy isn’t working for his country doesn’t mean he should take his grumpiness out on us. Seriously though, it looks like that whole side of the world is slowly reaching a consensus in regards to us. The verdict is, they aren’t partial. And I’m not even talking about the countries we are at war with. I mean our Read more:Enough
Barack Obama Announces Run, An Angel Gets Its Wings 2007-02-10 17:29:21 BarackObama
delivered a speech from the steps of Illinois’ Old State Capital earlier this morning officially announcing that he would in fact run for president. “I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for the President of the United States of America.”
During his speech he recognized and combated what critics believe may be one of his downfalls - his lack of experience. “I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington, but I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”
“Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America.” Obama also called for universal health care by the end of the next president’s term.
He acknowledged that he has opposed the Iraq War from the start. He also called for the withdrawal of troops. “America, it is time we start bringing our troops home.” Obama announced that he favored having all troops out of Iraq Read more:Wings
, Barack Obama
Iran - War Hungry or Just Bored? 2007-02-09 13:00:08 Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran warned that if the U.S. attacked, they would indeed retaliate. Khamenei said, “The enemy knows well that any invasion would be followed by a comprehensive reaction to the invaders and their interests all over the world.” You can read that full story here.
And I know what you may be thinking. This is hardly news. It’s a no-brainer that any country would retaliate if it were attacked. The scary part is that they seem quite eager to go to war. Surely they have better things to do. Like play games. Um…nevermind. Iran recently staged two days of war games in order to as the state television put it, “raise…combat preparedness” (The Scotsman).
The scary part is that unlike Iraq, who we thought may have had WMDs but for the most part stayed relatively out of the way of other countries, Iran, who we think may be capable of developing WMDs, has expressed a very keen interest in blowing Israel off of the m Read more:Hungry
, Bored
Anna Nicole Smith (1967 - 2007) 2007-02-08 22:37:07
Anna Nicole Smith
was pronounced dead earlier today. She had collapsed earlier in a Florida hotel and was found unconscious. She was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood at 2:10 p.m. At 2:49, officers were alerted that she was dead. The cause of death is still unknown.
Despite my utter hatred for celebrity news, I believe this is certainly newsworthy.
Anna Nicole Smith
House To Vote On Iraq Resolution 2007-02-08 20:49:52 House
Democrats have emerged from a caucus meeting to announce plans to hold a three-day debate over Iraq
in the House next week. This decision has been described as the first step that will be taken by House Democrats to put an end to the war. They plan to vote on a resolution stating opposition to the president’s decision to send 21,500 additional troops to the region. Finally this will be debated.
Iraq War, Democrats Read more:Resolution
Global Warming Opinion Causes Sacking 2007-02-08 13:25:17 The percentage of intelligent people who are still skeptical over the notion that humans are the cause of global warming seems to be dwindeling. The general consensus definitely favors the theory that the world is indeed warming up and humans are to blame. Republicans and Democrats alike seem to be coming together on this issue now more than ever. The U.N has now officially endorsed this position as well.
With all of this enthusiastic suport, human caused global warming seems pretty credible. There are those however, who are not convinced. George Taylor, OSU’s (Oregon State University’s) state climatologist (it’s a real position, I swear), is one of these doubters. And he’s paying a heavy price for his beliefs as well. Oregon’s governor, Ted Kulongoski, wishes to strip Taylor from his spot as state climatologist because he believes that Taylor’s beliefs interfere with the state’s goals to reduce greenhouse gases in order to curb global w Read more:Global
, Global Warming
New York To Ban Fun 2007-02-07 23:36:13
Sen. Carl Kruger of New York
is currently promoting a bill that would ban the use of iPods and cell phones to pedestrians crossing streets. The purpose of the bill would be a safety precaution to keep pedestrians from being distracted while maneuvering through traffic. Kruger says that three pedestrians in Brooklyn have already been killed due to these distractions.
Can you imagine that? “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to call you back. I’m about to cross a street.” What if you have your headphones on while crossing the street, but the song is paused? No one can prove that you were actually listening to something. I guess the next step is not allowing people to eat, talk to fellow pedestrians, whistle, or think too hard while crossing the street.
I know his intent is good, but it just seems silly. Especially in a place like New York where people are walking all of the time and likely walking the same paths everyday. It seems reasonable that someo
Astronaut Plans Murder, Gets Makeover 2007-02-07 06:17:44 With this being my first post, I would like to welcome you to Current Events Watch. My name is Steve and I am very excited about having the privilege to write on this blog. I really encourage you to e-mail me by clicking on “Contact Me” on the right of the page. I also encourage you to leave comments if you have anything to say regarding a topic I’ve blogged on. I realize that my first post is about a topic that isn’t exactly uplifting, but it seems to be the big story of the day.
Yep, contrary to what your eyes may be telling you, these pictures are of the same person. The pictures are of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak before and after her arrest due to her alleged murder attempt. The story is that Nowak attacked a woman named Colleen Shipman with pepper spray in a parking lot and was planning to abduct her. Before this, she had driven 900 miles from Houston to Florida to reach Shipman. When the police found her she had with her a compressed air pistol, a s Read more:Astronaut
, Makeover
Mitt Romney Enters The Race 2007-02-14 14:00:43
Yesterday, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney
formally kicked off his presidential campaign. He made the announcement at the Henry Ford Museum. During the speech he attempted to distinguish himself from the other candidates by taking advantage of his position as somewhat of a political outsider. He highlighted this by saying, “I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by lifelong politicians.”
The issues that Romney will have to face are his religion and his past stances on social issues. Romney is a Mormon, which wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that a large group of his party happen to be evangelical Christians. Meaning that they pretty much agree on the social issues, just not on God. Unfortunately for Romney, God is a huge issue when dealing with evangelical Christians.
As far as his past stances on issues, Romney supported abortion rights earlier in campaigns and also claimed that he would advocate gay rights during a 1994 Read more:Mitt Romney
Barbers in Pakistan Warned Not To Shave Beards 2007-02-13 22:30:29 Barbers in Pakistan
have received threats from religious zealots warning them against cutting or shaving beards. These so-called “anti-Islamic activities” make up for “Ninety percent of their business” according to a barber in Inayat Kalay (Reuters).
Notices have been put up on various barber shops in Khar, Pakistan. The notices warn that the barbers would be responsible for damage done to their property if they do not obey.
I understand wanting people to keep their beards. I mean who wants razor-burn? It hurts and makes your neck scratchy. I can appreciate that. The thing that puzzles me is that quote about beard shaving/trimming being 90% of the barbers’ business. Why are these people getting their beards shaved? You would think that if there were groups around that were wiling to destroy the homes and shops of these barbers for merely cutting beards, every man in the region would decide that it is best to pick your battles and keep the beard. M
Gay Rights Advocates Call For An End To Childless Marriages 2007-02-14 23:59:08 In honor of today being Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d devote a post to the topic of marriage.
An initiative has been launched by gay rights advocates calling for married couples to be required to have children within three years or have their marriages annulled. Gregory Gadow, the man who filed the initiative has said, “Our intention is not to actually put this into law…All we want is to get this on the ballot and cause people to talk about it.”
While I obviously don’t “support” this initiative in the traditional sense, as I would never actually want it passed, I definitely support what they are trying to do. There has been this rhetoric against gay marriage that stems from the idea that since man and woman can procreate (as opposed to a man and a man) it is only natural for them to marry and live together. In other words, marriage between a man and a woman is natural because it is the only way to biologically start a family.
The peop Read more:Rights
, Advocates
Biden Attempts To Make Up For Congress' Forfeit Of Power 2007-02-15 22:52:10
Joe Biden
may have a problem giving compliments, but he’s alright as far as I’m concerned.
There have been so many congressmen who have said the same thing, and it usually goes a little bit like this: ‘I voted to give the president the authority to go to war with Iraq, but my vote was misled by false claims of weapons of mass destruction, and I do not support the way this war has been conducted.’ I’ve always felt that this was just passing off the consequences of the war to the president. Congress
cannot step back and pretend they didn’t help get us into this mess because they were the ones who forfeited their constitutional power.
Sen. Biden (who will be running for the Democratic presidential nomination in ‘08) is at least making an effort to repeal this vote rather than wine about it. He wants to replace this mandate with “a much narrower mission statement for our troops in Iraq.”
It’s definitely a long shot. Especia Read more:Forfeit
Squirrels On A Plane 2007-02-15 21:08:17
I can guarantee you that this squirrel has never done anything anything as momentous as this .
They killed the little guy “fearing that it might have been carrying rabies”, but at least it went out doing something spectacular.
R.I.P. squirrel.
squirrel, airplane Read more:Squirrels
, Plane
U.S. To Take In More Iraqi Refugees 2007-02-15 13:22:23
This seems only fair. The U.S. has decided to start taking in Iraqi
refugees, who are without homes or have fled Iraq due to the extreme amounts of violence as a result of the current war. The U.S. has agreed to allow 7,000 into the country this year.
Nearly 2 million Iraqis have left the country since the beginning of the war, and the U.S. has only taken in 466 of them.
Well, 7,000 isn’t a lot at all compared to 2 million, but it sure is a lot more than 466, so I’m not complaining…too much. I know it’s completely unrealistic, but ideally the U.S. should be allowing 2 million refugees into the country. Under U.S. law we are only allowed to bring in 70,000 refugees a year. So even if we devoted all of those spots to Iraqis, there would be 1,930,000 left. That is a lot of homeless refugees who have left Iraq as a result of U.S. actions.
I should be clear in stating that I am not blind to the good things this country does. The U.S. does have a very large re Read more:Refugees
Dog Groomer Chops Off Ear, Uses Glue 2007-02-16 14:30:45 I wonder what the thought process was here. Imagine that. You are giving the dog a trim and all of a sudden, you’re holding an ear, with no dog attached to it mind you. So you decide it would be a good idea to just super-glue that sucker back on. At least I hope it was super-glue. Surely he didn’t use a glue stick. That would be awful.
You realize that someone actually had to make that call? “Hmmm…I wonder what kind of glue works best when it comes to gluing dog parts back on.” This is the thought process that someone really did go through. I find that absolutely fascinating.
Congress Grows A Pair, But Not Really 2007-02-17 17:58:42
Yesterday, the House passed a resolution denouncing the president’s plan for a troop increase in Iraq. The vote was 246 - 182. Seventeen Republicans voted for the resolution, and two Democrats voted against it.
Not that it really matters. Yesterday’s and today’s resolutions are non-binding, meaning it does nothing but “send a message.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Congress
is at least debating the issue of Iraq, but if they were serious about going against the president’s troop surge they would exercise their constitutional right of de-funding those troops. Congress actually has constitutional rights, despite what you may believe. I know, it’s easy to get confused when Congress seemingly gives away its powers to the president.
I know they don’t want to be criticized for not “supporting the troops”, but if those troops aren’t funded, they will not be put in Iraq.
So there is one thing that I agre
Talking Urinals - New Mexico Is Desperate 2007-02-19 18:00:18
Does anyone else see a huge problem with this? Some of the people who these things are targeting are drunk out of their mind, and we’re going to help them by giving them advice from a talking urinal. Imagine going into one of these bathrooms to find a drunk trying to talk back to the magical urinal. You do not help a drunk by giving him a talking inanimate object. Especially a urinal.
Forget about drunks. If I walk into that bathroom completely sober and I hear the urinal talking to me when I start going, that’s it! It’s a good thing I’m at the urinal, because it would scare the piss out of me.
With love,
Steve. talking urinal, alcohol, New Mexico Read more:Talking
, Urinals
, Desperate
, New Mexico
Bill And Hillary May Switch Places 2007-02-19 13:20:36
This might not be a bad idea at all. There has been some speculation regarding Hillary
Clinton’s chair in the Senate, which would be empty if she were to win the presidency. Some are theorizing that Bill Clinton should be the one to get it. The spot would actually be appointed by the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, so it’s not like hillary would be able to appoint him. If she did win the presidency, it’s likely she could have some say in that though.
I know this is filled with many hypotheticals, but if Gov. Spitzer ever did come out and announce that he would appoint Bill Clinton to the position, assuming he wanted the position, it might give Hillary some votes, especially in New York. It’s a state that usually votes Democratic, but this election may be closer than usual seeing how both parties’ most popular candidates (the other one being Guliani) are loved in New York.
Bill Clinton was a popular president, but he seems to be even more popular Read more:Places
April 13, 2036 2007-02-20 19:09:10 The U.N. is considering an anti-asteroid plan to deal with a potential (by potential I mean a 1 in 45,000 chance) asteroid collision that could cause the extinction of the human race. April
13, 2036 is the date to pencil in to your calendar. You can read more about that story here.
And in light of the seriousness of this:
asteroid, end of the world, April 13 2036
Sport Killing The Homeless 2007-02-20 17:22:05 A recent report from CNN highlights the growing trend of ’sport killing’ homeless people. Last year 122 homeless people were attacked and 20 were murdered.
The report talks about a group of teenage boys who started out drinking and hanging out with a homeless man by the name of Rex Baum. Eventually, playful taunting turned into murder. They punched, threw rocks, pounded him with a baseball bat, smeared feces on his face, and slashed him with a knife.
Afterwards, they bragged about this around town.
I’m usually against harsh punishments, but 15 years of prison does not seem like enough for something like this. That is some disgusting stuff.
I wasn’t even aware of this problem. I don’t understand how you could rationalize something like that. I guess it’s not something that is rationalized in most cases. It seems like one of those things where afterwards the people involved say it ‘just happened.’
And I can’t help but wonder Read more:Killing
God Has Appeared - Needs Your Money 2007-02-20 15:00:18
There’s an interesting story that’s been getting some coverage lately having to do with a minister who is claiming to be God, as well as the anti-christ. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda heads a church that claims members scattered throughout the world. Interestingly, he makes a hefty salary of $136,000, wears Rolexes, and rides BMWs. (Seems that God is living a little more lavishly than he did as Jesus, but hey, times have changed. I’m sure he would have been equally as compelling if he was a rich, well-to-do snob, but I digress.) He also has a tattoo of the number 666 on his arm, which is a move that would no doubt get most ministers fired to say the least.
From CNN:
———————————————
Although it’s a number usually associated with Satan, not the son of God, de Jesus says that 666 and the Antichrist are, like him, misunderstood.
The Antichrist is not the devil, de Jesus tell Read more:Appeared
, Needs
, Money
Muslim Muslim Muslim 2007-02-21 15:00:27 Muslim Cabbie Charged With Running Over Students After Religious Dispute
This is actually not that interesting of a story. Someone tried to kill his fellow man over religion. It happens. I have a problem with that headline though. The fact that he is Muslim does not really belong in the headline. It’s really not one of the main points of the story. It’s a detail, and don’t get me wrong, it would be poor journalism to not include it in the story at all, but the headline? No, like I said, minor detail.
I wouldn’t say anything about it if I felt that it would have been treated the same way if a Christian had done the same thing. When Andrea Yates drowned her five children the headline was not, “Christian Woman Kills Children,” although her religion definitely played a part in the act. No, it was simply “Crazy Woman Kills Children.”
“Crazy Cabbie Charged With Running Over Students After Religious Dispute.” I like it. Read more:Muslim
Islamist Kills Family To "Protect" Them From Westernization 2007-02-21 23:11:37 In one of my earlier posts today I defended Islam by saying that it gets a bad reputation for being a violent religion. This story however, does nothing to help my cause.
A man killed his family (wife and four daughters) in their sleep to “protect” them from westernized lifestyles. He was also upset that his daughter wanted to become a fashion designer.
It happened a few months ago, but this report came out today.
For the longest time I have maintained that Islam is not responsible for events like this. Rather, horrible acts are done for different reasons and masked by religion. But this story and stories like this one make it hard to accept that.
It should also be noted that Islam is a relatively young religion. While Christianity is often regarded as a peaceful religion, it wasn’t always like this. Christianity has had its share of bloodshed. It would be wrong to take the position that Islam fosters violence while being blind to the violence that has been bro Read more:Islamist
, Kills
, Family
, Protect
Guantanamo Detainees Denied Right To Challenge Detention 2007-02-21 18:00:37
Yesterday, a federal appeals court in Washington upheld a provision in a law signed by the president (the Military Commissions Act) that took away the rights of Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detention before a court.
This really doesn’t change anything. In october 2006, the Military Commissions Act was approved by Congress, which denies habeas corpus to any non-citizen who is being detained by the U.S. So essentially we can keep these prisoners for as long as we want, possibly even without reason, and use “aggressive” interrogation methods (as long as we don’t refer to it as torture) until they squeal and give information that may or may not be accurate, seeing how they may be innocent after all.
This may get to the Supreme Court, and I’m willing to bet that the new Democratic congress will change the policy.
I just can’t help but feeling that if only one of those detainees is innocent, then Guantanamo is an atrocity. At least it is fo Read more:Right
, Challenge
, Detention
Lieberman - Democrat or Republican? 2007-02-23 07:05:05
A recent report from Time Magazine highlights the amount of power that Joe Lieberman
now has due to the speculation surrounding the possibility that he may abandon his party for a party that seems to be more in line with his interests: the Republican
Party.
According to the article, Lieberman has said that leaving the party is a “very remote possibility,” but the way recent events have played out seem to suggest that the idea is not far-fetched.
The main issue that distances him from the party is his position on Iraq. So far, Lieberman has been no less than 100% supportive of the Bush administration’s policy, which is a stance that doesn’t seem to have too much support, even from the Republicans.
It was his hawkish stance on Iraq that caused Lieberman to lose the Democrat
ic nomination to Ned Lamont last year during his campaign for re-election in the Senate. Lieberman went on to win the election as an Independent. Upon being re-elected, he came back home t
"My Virgin Ears!" 2007-02-22 22:24:43 Someone decides to make Mass interesting for once, and everyone just freaks out.
At a church in New Mexico, Ash Wednesday Mass was disrupted by blaring foul language coming from CD players that were duct-taped to the bottoms of the pews. A bomb squad was sent in to detonate two of these “devices.”
I love when the news reports stories like this and they seem to tag somewhat related, yet completely unnecessary information at the bottom of the page. This one is a great example. After telling us about the bomb squad blowing up CDs that allegedly featured “pornographic messages,” they go on to teach us a mini-lesson about our Catholic brothers.
——————————
The bomb squad blew up two players outside and kept the third one to test for fingerprints or DNA and trace its components, he said.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which marks a 40-day period of fasting and penitence before Easter.
—— Read more:Virgin
Music Industry Attacks Largest Group of Customers 2007-02-22 13:53:45
The music industry is now cracking down more than ever on college students who are downloading music “illegally.” Incidentally, college students are likely one of their largest groups of customers. Good going, guys!
In my opinion it all has to do with the sad realization that the record companies are having to fight becoming obsolete because of the changing technology. The record companies are making the money off of the CD sales; only a small amount of it actually goes to the artist. With the convenience and popularity of putting songs up on websites like MySpace and Pure Volume, the record companies probably feel threatened and are now lashing out on the defenseless.
A month ago, this story came out about a 16 year old who fought back against the industry that had sued him, his sister, and his mother for music piracy. The family was essentially being attacked by the music industry.
It seems to me that in stories like this, the industry is unfairly picking on the har Read more:Music
, Largest
, Group
Video Of The Week (2/23/07) 2007-02-23 21:20:26 I’ve decided to bring a new feature to this site called “Video Of The Week.” I’ll put one up every Friday. I suspect that I’ll be putting up a lot from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. This week’s comes from Conan.
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