An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Morning Coffee 04/23/08
Abbas to ask Bush to jump start peace plan
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will call for urgent international action to jump start Middle East peace talks when he meets President George W. Bush this week, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority last year agreed to try to reach a peace deal in 2008 and international pressure is needed if both sides are to meet objectives on the way to that goal, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said.
The agreed to try to agree? The whole thing is rather simple actually. The Pallies quit lobbing bombs into Israeli neighborhoods, they stop the homicide bombings, they release those they have kidnapped, stop demanding more and more from others they won’t provide for themselves. Israel can stop cleaning up the blood and burying their dead, AFTER the murder stops. See? Problem solved. That’s $100,000 for the consultation fee.
Several anti-smoking bills fail in agriculture committees
Opponents of the legislation say it’s not necessary because hospitals can currently set such bans without a statewide mandate.
See how easy that is? Letting businesses decide for themselves what their rules are going to be. Novel concept, I know, but something that can be learned by states all over the country.
Nigeria: High Food Prices, a Silent Tsunami – WFP
“This is the new face of hunger – the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago now are,” the WFP executive director, Josette Sheeran, stated.
“The response calls for large-scale, high-level action by the global community, focused on emergency and longer-term solutions,” she said.
A WFP analysis of the situation supported World Bank estimates that about 100 million people had been “pushed deeper into poverty by the high food prices.”
Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, yes, I do donate to organizations that provide food for children. I have my doubt about how effective they are. There are many reasons why hunger has become more widespread: fuel instead of food, overpopulation, feckless governments that prevent needed food from reaching the areas for which they are meant, drought and the lack of personal responsibility.
Gas prices climbing with no end in sight
U.S. gasoline prices topped out Monday at $3.50 per gallon for self-serve regular, according to AAA — the highest average price the national auto club has ever recorded.
(…)
The latest survey, conducted Friday, put self-service regular gasoline at $3.47 per gallon, 15 cents higher than the previous record set in the survey two weeks earlier.Publisher Trilby Lundberg blamed the increased prices on higher crude oil and ethanol prices. She said she does not expect the prices to go down anytime soon, especially as gasoline demand goes up in the spring and summer.
Don’t ya just love that Communist News Network headline? Yet, nothing in the brief story indicated “no end in sight”. The gubmint has created a “crisis”, and the MSM is doing it’s best to promote it.
Khmer Rouge leader seeks release
Khieu Samphan was arrested in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, and is blamed for up to two million deaths.
Khieu Samphan has never denied these deaths, but both he and his lawyers insist that, as head of state, he was never directly responsible.
Right. And Hitler had nothing to do with the 12,000,000. (insert sarcasm)
The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday reconsidered action on legislation that would restrict credit card solicitations to students on college campuses and unanimously passed the measure.
I’m of two minds on this one. First, companies who solicit for credit cards are a major pain in the tush, and I’d love to see them get a black eye. On the other hand, “file 13″ (or a shredder) works great. The first step to being a grown up is making rational decisions that will affect your life. If you choose to apply for and receive a credit card, the responsibility of how it’s used belongs to YOU.
Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient
The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted “virtual fence” on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.
One word: assholes! Why don’t they ever ask us? You know, us regular folks out here in the REAL world.
Bill on DUI ‘experts’ would affect ads
Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville, pushed the proposal as an amendment to a bill sponsored by Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, to create a state registry for DUI offenders.
Burchett endorsed Kurita’s move, saying “it kind of ticks me off” to hear lawyer advertisements declaring; “I’ll get you off of a DUI. Just call this number!”
I’d be ever so grateful not to have to hear six of those annoying ads in a row! Had a lawyer friend tell me once, “If you ever need a lawyer, don’t, whatever you do, call one that advertises!” Good advice! 
