Year: 2004

This is a great article by Mar

A report from U.N. weapons inspectors to be released today says they now believe there were no weapons of mass destruction of any significance in Iraq after 1994.

This review confirms the recent conclusion by David Kay, the former U.S. chief inspector, that Iraq had no banned weapons before last year’s U.S-led invasion.

Those both confirm what the inspectors said before the war, that there were no weapons of mass destruction.

That confirms that the Iraqis weren’t lying when they said they didn’t have weapons of mass destructions.

Which confirms that the US and British administrations were lying when they said they were sure Iraq had WMDs and that war was necessary.

So ?
Kick out the liars !

[via USA Today]

McDonald’s has started phasing out its trademark Supersize fries and drinks in its U.S. restaurants as part of an effort to simplify its menu and give customers choices that support a balanced lifestyle.

The move comes under growing public pressure to give consumers healthier food options.

Now this sucks !
Obesity shouldn’t be the restaurants’ problem to deal with, it’s the customer’s problem. If the consumer is concerned about his health and his fitness, then he should take care of it himself.

I always buy supersized menus whether it’s McDonald’s or Burger King. I guess I just enjoy drinking that bucket of coke and munching on that ton of fries.
Why should people like me lose that option simply because some others can’t control themselves or take care of their healths for themselves.

I think it’s unfair.
I think that democracy entitles each and everyone of us to choose what he wants to eat, and I want Supersized menus.
Aaaaarrrrggggghhh !!!

The good thing though is that this has only started in the US. I expect the rest of the world to continue supersizing for the time being.
And I sure hope it stays that way and that they don’t start getting any dumb ideas.

[via CNN]

“What is it about Islam as a whole and the Palestinians in particular? Is it some form of cultural deprivation? Is it some genetic defect?”
Ze’ev Boim, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister

Member of Knesset, Jamal Zahalka (Balad party) said in response that :

“whoever says that Palestinian behavior is caused by a genetic defect has a brain defect himself and the values of a racist fascist.”

and

“Boim is giving racism a bad name, and returning to the same kind of primitive, sickening and dangerous racism from which the Jews have suffered for many generations…”

[via Je Blog, Lawrence of Cyberia]

I found this interesting article on Al Jazeera’s website by Dr Toine Van Teeffelen, an educational consultant and a representative of peace movements in Palestine from the Netherlands, about how Israelis are better at manipulating media.

“As a guide and consultant living in Bethlehem, Palestine, I have regularly coordinated visits for groups of Westerners coming to see Palestinian reality with their own eyes.

Almost always those visitors felt afterwards that what they saw did not correspond with the image of Palestine they had before. Somehow the impact and scope of occupation were never really understood except after experiencing it first hand.”

“Israel’s lies are much cleverer, more sophisticated. When an Israeli government official provides information, it seems to come from a think tank that has decided to offer its own brand of media ‘spin’.”
A French Channel 2 journalist

“Western journalists are more quickly on the scene when a Palestinian attack against Israelis happens in the streets of Jerusalem than when Palestinians are killed in a clash in Hebron.”

Read the full article on how Israelis are better at manipulating media.

So, it seems the Arab League is pledging to reform.

The news talk about the Arab foreign ministers having reached agreement on a formula to turn the Arab League into an organisation that would have greater international clout.
They say that the accord represents a “comprehensive project that covers all aspects of reform”.

An Arab League official said that the summit to be held in Tunis this year would probably launch economic reforms, such as forming an Arab economic bloc, as well as approve a mechanism for carrying out league decisions.

He added that plans to create a court of justice, a parliament, a Arab development bank and a cultural council would be postponed until some later date.

Well, I truly hope the Arab League gets it’s act together because it’s become nothing more than a joke. In fact, the only organization that is more useless than the United Nations is the Arab League.
So any kind of reform is very welcome and needed.

So John Kerry has basically won the Democratic presidential nomination, with no serious challengers left ahead of him after John Edwards bowed out of the race.

Now, he has to start facing the hardest challenge of all, defeating Bush.
I think Bush is going to be a very hard President to unseat. Even though he’s not doing that well in recent polls and his popularity is only going down lately, I think he’s still able to turn things around and win the election.

So, John Kerry should be really smart and not expect the election to pass as easy as the primaries did.
He should be careful about what he’s saying. No more of that opinion switching he’s becoming famous for.
He should aggressively and intelligently debate Bush, hitting him where it will do the most damage.

Kerry is winning the nomination not because he’s the best option but because the people think he’s got the biggest chance of winning the presidency from Bush. But to win the presidency from Bush, he has to become the best option.