Buck Naked Politics

Real Bullets Used in French Hostage-Freeing Demo Instead of Blanks; 16 Wounded

by Damozel | A military demonstration in France went badly wrong when a soldier used real bullets instead of blanks. (BBC) Four of the 16 wounded are in critical condition, including a child. (BBC)   No one knows how it happened, but the soldier who used the bullets has been detained. (BBC)

Reports from the scene say the hostage scenario had been acted out five times before a crowd at the Laperrine military barracks, near Carcassonne, when on the sixth take real bullets began flying through the air, and onlookers fell to the ground....

California Allows Gay Marriage

Yesterday's Washington Post reported:

"Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, both dressed in ivory-colored suits, were pronounced 'spouses for life' on the steps of the town courthouse here [Beverly Hills] Monday evening, as California became the second state to officially sanction same-sex marriage.

As the women were wed by a female rabbi, under a Jewish wedding canopy and surrounded by a mob of cameras, a protester shouted, 'You're going to burn in hell.'"

I understand that many Christians feel homosexuality is a sin.  It's their right to feel that way.  But under Christian tenets, humans are not supposed to sit in judgment of other humans.  Such "sins" are supposed to be between the sinner and his or her maker.

That said, why would anyone show up a someone's wedding ceremony and deliver such a hatefully judgmental message?  Why not just stay at home and read scriptures or otherwise practice Christian principals?

Arsonist Set Fire to Texas Governor's Mansion

The Houston Chronicle reports (via Memeorandum):

"An early morning fire at the Governor's Mansion today was intentionally set, a state fire investigator said.

"State Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado declined to discuss further details but said there was no indication the fire was intended as a direct threat to Gov. Rick Perry.

"No one was in the building, which has been closed several months for renovation, when the fire broke out. The governor has been living in a rented house in suburban Austin since last fall....

"The fire, discovered by security officers about 1:45 a.m., was under control by 6:30 a.m., but there were still hot spots in the building. Flames broke through a portion of the roof about 9:30 a.m. but were quickly extinguished."

Bo Diddley Dies at 79

Bo Diddley was a great musician and had a local reputation in my county for being a really nice person.  I wasn't lucky enough to actually know him.  The Gainesville Sun says that he died on Monday of heart failure. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

The NY Times has a great write up, which includes some of his contributions to the music world and some of the many famous musicians who were influenced by Bo. 

See him playing one of his unusual, self-designed guitars with fellow Gainesville-area boy Tom Petty in the video below:

Ted Kennedy's Surgery Goes Well

The NY Times reports:

"Senator Edward M. Kennedy successfully underwent surgery at Duke University Medical Center on Monday for a malignant brain tumor, the doctor who performed the procedure said.

"'“I am pleased to report that Senator Kennedy’s surgery was successful and accomplished our goals,' Dr. Allan H. Friedman, co-director of the Brain Tumor Center at Duke in Durham, N.C., said in a statement.

"Mr. Kennedy, 76, was diagnosed two weeks ago with a malignant glioma in the upper left portion of his brain after suffering a seizure at a family residence in Cape Cod."

Sydney Pollack Dead at 73

by Deb Cupples |  Yesterday, Director, Actor and Producer Sydney Pollack died from cancer at age 73.  It's a loss to his family and to the world.  Condolences to his family.

His most recent film (that I know of) is Michael Clayton (he produced it and acted in it, playing the older lawyer).

Pollack did so many phenomenal films.  Two of my favorites that he directed were Three Days of the Condor and Tootsie.  He acted one of my favorite Woody Allen movies, Husbands and Wives. 

I really admired Pollack. He was a true Hollywood great, and his works go far beyond what I've listed.  The New York Times has a nice write up (via memeorandum).

Ted Kennedy Hospitalized [Updated]

by Deb Cupples |   Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the second most senior member of the U.S. Senate, had a seizure of some sort this morning and was taken to two Massachusetts hospitals.  The Boston Globe reports that he may have had a stroke.

In October 2007, Sen. Kennedy had surgery to unblock an artery, presumably to reduce the chances of a stroke.  Kennedy is 76 years old.  We wish him a speedy and full recovery.  Memeorandum has commentary.

Update: good news -- Sen. Kennedy's doctor said that Kennedy did not suffer a stroke (AP). 

 

California Court Rules Against Ban on Gay Marriage

As far as states go, California does tend to be a trend setter.  The California Supreme Court just struck a blow against that state's ban on gay marriage.  The LA Times reports:

"The 4-3 ruling declared that the state Constitution protects a fundamental 'right to marry' that extends equally to same-sex couples. It tossed a highly emotional issue into the election year while opening the way for tens of thousands of gay people to wed in California, starting as early as mid-June."

Memeorandum has commentary.

Devastating Cyclone in Burma: Over 22,400 Confirmed Dead, 41,000 Missing, & A Million Homeless

Posted by Damozel | Burma (Myanmar) has already had more than its share of trouble, and now this?  As BBC News says,  'Until Saturday, a common view among Burmese people was that life could not get much worse.' This is the sort of story that makes you sit back and reflect on the grossly unfair way in which trouble seems to get distributed.  Meanwhile, to get the full story you really have to turn, as always, to the British press.

Some 22,464 people are confirmed dead as a result of this killer cyclone. 22,464. (BBC News)  And 41,000 are missing.(BBC News)  Why isn't this being talked about to the exclusion of anything else?

Death of the D.C. Madam

Posted by Damozel | Debra Jean Palfrey, 'the DC Madam,' was found dead in a storage shed at her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, Florida, an apparent suicide. (Fox)  Palfrey was convicted on Tuesday of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and racketeering, but hadn't yet been sentenced. (Fox)   Aged 52, she was facing a maximum of 55 years in prison. (The Swamp)  Initially there was some doubt of her identity, but this now seems to have been confirmed by the police.  (On Deadline)

Meanwhile, there's plenty of speculation in the blogosphere about her apparent suicide.   

The Chinese and the West: Talking at Cross-Purposes?

Posted by Damozel | The problems with China arise, I will always contend, from a complete disjunct between western assumptions and Chinese ones.  Everything gets lost in translation.  Here's what the Chinese president had to say about the Tibet crackdown:

[L]ast month's crackdown was a result of "conflict" with supporters of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama...."Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. "It is a problem either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland," Mr Hu told visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. (BBC News)

In other words, it is---according to western standards---an ethnic problem, a religious problem, and a human rights problem.  That the Chinese see it as a problem of safeguarding 'national unification' doesn't preclude its being all those other things as well. 

China's Preparation for the Olympics: Arresting Dissidents?

Posted by Damozel | When China bid to get the Olympics, it promised to do a better job protecting the rights of its citizens, including, presumably, Chinese dissidents.(BBC News)  Remember that?

Today, in a move that Condoleezza Rice called 'deeply disturbing,' the Chinese sent dissident Hu Jia to jail for three years.(BBC News)  Hu Jia has been an outspoken critic of China's human rights records for years. 

Correspondents say he had become a kind of one-man clearing house for information, passing it on to journalists, organisations and foreign embassies.

Evidence presented against Mr Hu in court included interviews he gave to foreign media and political articles that he wrote for the internet, lawyer Li Fangping said. (BBC News) 

Inspector General Investigates the DoJ's Firing of Exemplary Prosecutor

Posted by Teh Nutroots |  The lawyer herself---known for reticence about her private life--- is keeping quiet, but the DoJ's inspector general is investigating whether one of the country's top prosecutors was let go because of rumors that she was a lesbian.  I apologize for the pop culture reference but come on, you know someone's got to say it.  As a (former) Law and Order fan, I--and everyone else who remembers the episode--- will obviously have thought of the "Serena Southerlyn" character's out-of-left-field exit line ("Is it because I'm a lesbian?") upon being fired by Fred Thompson's character a few years ago.  But whereas Fred Thompson's character "Branch" fired Rohm's character for being too lenient to be a prosecutor, Leslie Hagen's record reflects that her performance was exemplary.  

Google Assisting the CIA?

Posted by Damozel | According to The Times of London,

Agencies such as the National Security Agency have bought servers on which Google-supplied search technology is used to process information gathered by networks of spies around the world.

Google is also providing the search features for a Wikipedia-style site, called Intellipedia, on which agents post information about their targets that can be accessed and appended by colleagues, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The contracts are just a number that have been entered into by Google's 'federal government sales team', that aims to expand the company's reach beyond its core consumer and enterprise operations.  (ToL)

'Intellipedia'?   Really?   Intellipedia?  Yes:

An Elephant Paints His Own Self-Portrait

Posted by Damozel | This is an astonishing---and moving---thing to witness.  Watch it till the end:  you'll see him carefully and delicately use his trunk to paint an absolutely recognizable picture of an elephant holding a red flower in his trunk. 

I've posted more footage of elephants painting  (and some background about the painting 'Starving Elephant Artisans' ) here.

Small Explosion in Times Square Damages Armed Forces Recruitment Station

Posted by Damozel | The Times Square blast damaged the front of the Armed Services Career Center in Times Square.(NYT)   No one was hurt. (NYT)  An 'improvised explosive device' did the damage, according to NYC police.(NYT)  The area was cordoned off for two hours while police checked for secondary devices.(NYT)  The device blew a hole through the front door of the recruitment center. (NYT)   Video surveillance recorded the attacks.  Authorities are looking into connections with attacks in 2007 on the Mexican consulate and in 2005 on the British consulate. (NYT)   

Matt Drudge Blows Prince Harry's Cover: Some Consequences

by Damozel | Elsewhere in the world, journalists, even journalists in London's quite energetic tabloid press, had known of the deployment for weeks and kept quiet. They did so because they did not wish to place Harry in much greater danger than he was already facing in his deployment, not to mention his fellow soldiers. After all, the man who is third in line to the British throne certainly might be seen by the enemy as a rather more valuable hostage than your average Clive, Trevor, or Nigel.

The decision to send Prince Harry, 23, to Afghanistan under a cloak of secrecy   came after the furore that followed the revelation of his proposed   deployment to Iraq. Much to the Prince's frustration, General Dannatt   announced in May last year that it would be too risky, fearing the Prince and his comrades in the Household Cavalry would become top priority targets   for insurgents. (The Independent)

You'd have thought this might have occurred to Drudge.  But either it didn't occur to him or he didn't care.

Federal Government to Increase Penalties for Those Who Hire Illegal Aliens

Posted by Damozel |  If the goal is to keep out illegal aliens, the clearest path to preventing an increase in the number would seem to be punishing those who induce them to come here, right?  If zero tolerance is the policy, shouldn't it start first at home?  So I'd say that this news comes under the category 'high time.'  If illegal aliens are a problem, and that is certainly the case, it seems that the solution is to make American employers stop dangling that big slice of the American pie in front of them. 

In fact, why not throw the people who do the hiring in jail or at least make them do community service?  It seems that the Department of Homeland Security is finally---and belatedly---deciding to do exactly that.

McCain: Intimations of a Sex/Ethics Scandal?

by Teh Nutroots | The New York Times has published a piece that's stirred up an internet shoutfest and completely altered the current of the current endless jabber-jabber of discussion of the candidates  (NYT)   Rallying at last to McCain's cause, conservative bloggers and columnists are yelling "Foul!" and launching their little firecrackers in the Times' direction.  What are the chances they'd be calling names rather than feeding the rumor mill as fast as their little fingers could type if the piece had been about Clinton, Obama, or any Dem? You and I both know that the people complaining most loudly about the McCain piece would be all over it like cockroaches on cotton candy if the NYT had so much as hinted at a sex scandal  involving a Democrat.

You can see why they're outraged.  After all, Republicans never become the subject of allegations of ethics scandals or sex scandals or sex 'n ethics scandals.  Okay, hardly ever.  Okay, not in the last two months or so.  Anyway, whenever they are, they get drummed right out of their family-values-loving party, at least if the scandal involves allegations about gay sex

Man Arrested with Box-Cutter at the Tampa Airport

by Damozel | A Clearwater man tried to get through security at the Tampa Airport with a box-cutter hidden in a hollowed-out book.(TBO.com)

About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, airport security ran Benjamin Baines Jr.'s backpack through an X-ray machine and saw the image of a box cutter, according to a report from the Transportation Security Administration.

When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled "Fear Itself." The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.