Light Posting

Sorry for the light posting…

But I have been covering this.

Between that, being sick, and the demands at work, time has been tight.

Video Friday – Hold Them In Your Heart

The U.N. Is Broken

According to Kofi Annan, but the solution he says, is for the body to do less… I agree

Annan: U.N. Should Cut Down on Reports

UNITED NATIONS — In 2005, the United Nations delivered 1,200 reports on issues from Guinea-Bissau to the rights of women in the developing world. Its human rights office alone produced 44,000 pages of documents — which in turn had to be translated into six official languages.

Such a huge volume of information, and the bureaucracy needed to produce it, threatens to overwhelm the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a study released Thursday. The 191 member states must fund the things they ask for, and stop demanding so much if the world body is to live up to the ideals and promises of its founders, he said.

Wow, words of sanity, finally, but the ultimate in irony is this…

The analysis, detailed in a dense 44-page report of its own, urges a sweeping overhaul of the giant U.N. bureaucracy that has become a favorite target of U.N. critics who question the necessity for all those reports, statements, conferences and expert panels.

He made the statement in a 44 page report, that itself had to go through all of the same buerocracy that has mad the U.N. Infamously Ineffective. You can tell by Iran’s quaking boots …
update: pun not intended…

25 Years Ago Today: “Honey, I Forgot to Duck.”

The alternate history that would have been created had the bullet gone a few millimeters one way or the other is something to contemplate. What would America, and the world, be like had Ronald Reagan died 69 days in to his Presidency?

Is Anyone Surprised?

Iran Defiantly Rejects New U.N. Demands

BERLIN (AP) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday the “international community is united” in the dispute over its nuclear program, but a Tehran envoy defiantly rejected a U.N. call to reimpose a freeze on uranium enrichment.

Rice spoke after a meeting in Berlin among diplomats from the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany over ways to press Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used for weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful.

Iran has no motivation to cease enrichment, nothing in the U.N. is legally binding, and the U.N. has proven time and time again that they are inept and unmotivated in their actions. This move just gives those that would take action, some international back, for whatever that’s worth (anyone remember the numerous warnings Saddam got, only to have us be left high and dry by the rest of the “concerned international community” when the time for action came).

Save the School

Chuck Muth (A Nevada Political Activist) and I don’t always agree, but Chuck hit the nail on the head today…

Bureaucrats at the Gate

If you ever questioned whether or not the education establishment is hostile to the notion of charter schools, the nightmare which Halima Academy is suffering in Reno at the hands of paper-pushing education bureaucrats right now ought to remove any such doubt. What the Nevada Department of Education is doing to Halima and its students is all but criminal.

Halima Academy is a charter school sponsored by the Nevada Department of Education. And the department voted earlier this month to close the school immediately for various “violations” of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) governing charter schools. I’ll just point out here that the main body of the NRS comes to over 14,000 horse-choking words and 26 single-spaced pages.

The fact of the matter is, if the department wants to close a charter school down, there is MORE than enough legislative gobbly-di-gook in the NRS to make it “legal.” This is reminiscent of what former New York Court of Appeals Judge Sol Wachtler once famously said: “Any prosecutor who wanted to, could indict a ham sandwich.”

Anyway, Halima appealed the department’s closure decision to the courts, and Washoe District Chief Judge Jerry Polaha issued a temporary stay. Another hearing is scheduled in his court tomorrow.

The Department of Education cited a list of what it contends are infractions of NRS as its excuse for closing the school. The “problems” generally center around failure to complete and/or submit various bureaucratic paperwork and other alleged technical non-compliance. The key point here is that none of the infractions relate to whether or not the children in the school are receiving a proper education. And none of the so-called infractions put the children in any kind of physical danger.

Read More

All of this amounts to a peeing match between the State BOE (generally thought to be controlled by the teachers union) and a well meaning charter school that takes in what the school board has already thrown away. Sad really, that the State Board of Education, does not have education first on its priority list.

Transparent Government

GTL has a great idea

This is an important piece of legislation, which is being sponsored by Senator Brian Baird of WA, folks. If successfully passed into law, Congress will then have to wait for three days before voting on proposed bills, and the proposed bills will be accessable to any interested Americans to read and consider before contacting their representatives to urge them to support (or not) the legislation.

It will help create more of the transparency in our Government that bloggers from all sides of the aisle have been screaming for quite awhile. Well, here it is, folks…

Go check out his post on the subject.

Progress?

One could only hope.

Diplomats Agree on U.N. Statement on Iran

UNITED NATIONS — The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on a statement Wednesday demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, setting the stage for the first action by the powerful body over fears that Tehran wants a nuclear weapon.

The 15 members of the council planned to meet later Wednesday to approve the statement, the text of which was not immediately disclosed. …

Diplomats said the statement, which is not legally binding will ask International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report back in 30 days on Iran’s compliance with the demands.

Once again the major problem with the U.N. is evident. “[T]he statement, which is not legally binding”, meaning Iran has no incentive to comply… Nice.

When Terror Runs a Government

Hamas Takes Power of Palestinian Government

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas formally took power Wednesday, and the newly installed prime minister pledged to cooperate with President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the defeated Fatah party.

At a news conference in Gaza after Abbas swore in Ismail Haniyeh and his Cabinet, Haniyeh said his relations with Abbas would stress “cooperation and harmony, based on the supreme interest of the people.” Haniyeh said he and Abbas would confront “Israeli aggression against the people” as well as internal chaos.

He called Hamas’ assumption of power “a great moment.”

Yeah, great, the sworn terrorist enemies of peace are now in control, ready to drive their country, and the stagnant peace process, directly into the ground. A “great moment” of status quo and medicrity.

Update

And so the game begins.

Canada Suspends Assistance to Hamas

TORONTO — Canada said Wednesday it was suspending assistance to the Palestinian Authority because the new Hamas-led government refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Where Have All The Funny Cards Gone…

I came accross this story this morning. Some of these rejects are just hillarious.

Included among the discarded messages are Christmas cards:

FRONT: “Spread some holiday cheer.”

INSIDE: “Or drink alone. Who am I to judge?”

FRONT: “Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without peanut brittle.”

INSIDE: “Or Jesus.”

Read More Here