Ahh, the World, pt. 112906

Bears cannot change stripes-

A makeover, wardrobe overhaul, and name-change doesn't change who you are. Just look at Russia. It's the same viscious Stalinist state, but stripped of a layer of bureaucracy of the Politburo and the superficial rhetoric of being "for the worker". Picture Stalin in a pin-striped suit instead of the Red-trimmed uniform. Just in recent memory:

- Poisoning an unsympathetic candidate in a neighboring country's election
- Shutting off natural gas supplies to a neighboring nation to influence policy
- Mysterious murder of a journalist investigating government malfeasance
- Radioactive poisoning of a former spy, turned critic of the government
- Sales of defensive missiles to a state that's creating banned weapons
- And a host of other diplomatic maneuvers designed to foil scrutiny at the U.N.

And our President looked deep into the soul of the Russian president, eh? Just another questionable judgment call.

Islamic Communion

The vicious sectarian violence in Iraq is enabled by the lack of a central religious authority in Islam, and by the lack of a peaceful hermeneutic to guide the discussion of the different interpretations of the Q'uran and Hadith. It's the same authority vacuum that enables Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hez'b allah to use their religion to authorise their violence against the rest of us. They claim their sacred texts are the only authority needed.

Well, you know, Gene Robinson and Fred Phelps claim to reference the same Bible. So much for authority.

Little Sympathy

For all the people who let them selves be herded through the chutes on Red Friday, and eventually sheared, why are you willing to endure or inflict injury to get a $40 DVD player? Injuries are reported in Torrance, CA, in another shopper stampede.