Now With Revealing Photos!

OK, if this were a picture..... it would be here.....
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And ah-ha... so it is...

Ladies and Germs, the State Department (in this case REVEALING a former Rwandan MP looking somewhat bored) OK so here are some fun things for the day:

1. 6 countries propose a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions - completely missing the point, of course. The reason why Iran wants nuclear capability and not power (ignoring the current presidents psychotic rants about Israel for the time being) is that they live in a nuclear neighborhood, are surrounded by the U.S. military (who funded their enemies just 20 years ago, not to mention the whole Shah thing), and are completely isolated (well, except for Syria - and what a pair they make). Iran knows the U.S. won't attack if they have the bomb, witness N. Korea. Unfortunately - they do have the post-cold war equivalent to the bomb, a vast population of young people who are largely unemployed - but exposed to the influence of western culture and the vast poverty gap. Perhaps we should be sending jobs to Iran, not enriched uranium.

2. DHS Deathwatch day 1: how long until we shut down the newest government body? My guess is June, 2009. Once again we have completely missed the point of security. Even if security were a matter of checking one's shoes the DHS doesn't actually provide enough funding to do their shoddy and ineffective jobs well. (what a contradiction) New cuts on the chopping block include a vast percentage of DHS funds for New York and D.C.. How very ironic that the very cities that were attacked thus providing the impetus for this departmental debacle and the vast restriction of civil liberties are now going to face a security funding shortfall of 10s of millions of dollars. So how long will it take to get rid of this body and actually install a department where it is needed - between defense and state? [more on this later]

3. Exxon is steadfastly refusing to continue to fund clean-up efforts due to the wreck of the Valdez tanker in Alaska 17 years ago. The U.S. Gov't today asked for a further $92 million which prompted Mark Boudreaux, media relations manager for Exxon Mobil, to postulatie that a link between the remaining oil and effects on wildlife "is no more than a hypothesis".
No more than a hypothesis?
Isn't that where you start with all scientific study?

Somewhere a high school science teacher weeps.