An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Morning Coffee 02/27/08
Heathrow protesters scale British parliament roof
Protesters scaled the roof of Britain’s parliament in a major security breach on Wednesday and threatened further direct action against government plans to expand London’s Heathrow airport.
Environmental protesters from the “Plane Stupid” group scaled the Houses of Parliament to mark the end of a public consultation period on a third runway and sixth terminal at what is already the world’s busiest international airport.
First, how did they get past what would normally be fairly tight security? Second, Heathrow only has two runways? 
Iran’s launch of a rocket in early February provoked unease in an international community already suspicious over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, since the technology involved can also be used to deliver warheads.
“Iranian space engineers built the research rocket in nine months,” said Ahmadinejad, according to the IRNA, the state news agency. “The rocket was not a reproduction of a foreign one.”
Oh puhleeeeeze! Yes, there are some pretty smart Iranians, I won’t deny that. Mostly educated in ferin countries. If that wasn’t a reproduction of others, why does it look the same? Huh?
Proposal to limit abortion rejected
A proposed constitutional amendment that could have allowed new limits on abortions in Tennessee was killed on Tuesday by a state House subcommittee, the fourth time the Republican-backed proposal has been defeated in the legislature.
The 6-3 vote was along party lines and came amid open partisan sniping. Opponents of the bill claimed victory.
The Party of Death is nothing, if not consistent.
Polygamist sect leader pleads not guilty
Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs has pleaded not guilty to sex charges stemming from arranged marriages between teen girls and older men.
Jeffs made his first court appearance Wednesday in Arizona. He was convicted in Utah last year of rape as an accomplice for his role in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her cousin.
He should have saved everyone time and money, including himself, and just pleaded guilty. Seems to me they have way too much evidence. But hey, that’s just me.
Kassam hit kills student at Sapir College, wounds another
A student at Sapir College in Sderot was killed and one other person wounded by shrapnel after a Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a parking lot on the western Negev campus.
At least five other people were reported in shock. Army Radio reported that everyone present on the college campus was being shepherded into sheltered areas. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day, and college officials planned to meet Wednesday evening to decide whether studies would continue as usual for the rest of the week.
If the palestinians want peace, they might consider not firing rockets into schools, or anywhere else, for that matter.
Bredesen, Pelosi discuss TennCare
Gov. Phil Bredesen has met with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington to express concern about proposed Medicaid rule changes that could cost Tennessee up to $400 million a year in federal money for TennCare.
I’ll grant you, I don’t know a lot about TennCare, but I do know that they are extremely inefficient, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, and they seem inclined NOT to communicate with each other. If they weren’t such a bloated bureaucracy, perhaps there would be no need to cut funding for care, just cut out the people who haven’t a clue how to work a fax machine!
At drugs hearing, committee vows different atmosphere
The leaders of a congressional hearing on drugs in sports said Wednesday they will not take a partisan tone during the broadly-focused hearing looking at the future of drugs in sports.
“This is not going to be political theatre,” said chairman Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., before the hearing in front of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. “There won’t be any histrionics.”
Doesn’t Congress have anything actually IMPORTANT to do?
Woman gets probation for shooting husband
A Madison County woman who was charged with shooting her husband in the back of the head last May will spend the next five years on probation, according to court officials.
Wanda Sue Ross, who was 58 at the time of the charge, pleaded guilty Monday to the aggravated assault of her husband, Dennis W. Ross, who was 61 when he was shot.
I’m getting the impression that it’s just peachy for women to shoot their husbands in Tennessee. I find this rather odd.
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