It’s been a hectic week and I haven’t been able to blog very much at all as I’ve been driving back and forth from Boston to PA due to a death in my immediate family. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.
Here are some stories in the news that caught my eye today:
-It looks like the standoff in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) is over as Indian Commandos took control of the city. Now the search for exactly who was behind the attacks, begins. Some experts are speculating that one goal of the attacks was to get the attention of larger, more organized terror groups like Al Queda.
-In other news, the Democrats are doing everything they can to undermine their election victory by taking part in the same type of ideological squabbling that the Republicans have been engaging in since the day after election day. Obviously, the Democrats have internal ideological and geographical differences which will complicate things, but if they can’t unite around a basic domestic agenda, then some of them may be out of a job when the next interim elections come around. If you can count on the Democrats for anything, it is this- you can hand them an opportunity on a silver platter and they will still screw it up. Hopefully, that will not be the case this time around.
-One of the most shameful, depressing stories I have seen in a long time, was this- a worker at Walmart was killed by a stampede of shoppers on ‘Black Friday’ as he tried to open the doors when the store opened. This is upsetting as much for what it symbolizes as for the fact that there is a family out there somewhere who will spend their holidays mourning the death of a loved one- something which I am particularly sympathetic to right now.
According to news reports, when the employee was crushed underneath shoppers, other employees rushed to help him but their efforts were undermined as the mob of shoppers continued to rush into the store, stepping over his body (or in some cases, stepping on it) as they rushed to get hold of particular items in the store before their fellow shoppers. When authorities informed the crowd that the store would be closed due to an employees death, shoppers reacted angrily by shouting that they had been waiting in line all night.
There is so much wrong with this- first, the greed aspect of it- to think a flat screen TV is more important than a person’s life, is just untenable. Second, this situation is a sociologists or psychologists dream in terms of analyzing human behavior. The way a mob mentality overtakes people who are usually rational people, is unbelievable. A William Golding, ‘Lord of the Flies’ analogy is appropriate here. And keep in mind, these were people who were most likely doing holiday shopping. So much for the holiday spirit.
-Arrests have been made in the case involving the Taliban acid attack against young girls attending school in Afghanistan. This serves as a troubling reminder of the violence and fear that still hold a firm grip on that country.
–Switzerland is apparently considering making heroin available by prescription to help treat opiate addicts. Having worked with dual diagnosis patients (people with both substance abuse and mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.) in a psychiatric hospital, I have a lot to say about this, but I’ll spare you. I will say that what I find interesting about this is that one doesn’t have to use heroin to help curb the craving for opiates in people with long-standing opiate addiction. Here in this country, we use medications such as methadone or suboxone for that- both are legal and heavily regulated. I am not sure why the Swiss are choosing to use heroin vs. some other opiate which is already legalized so suffice it to say, I need to look into it more.
-Firedoglake has been looking into the recent disclosure of information about the past CBS investigation into the Dan Rather ‘Memogate’ affair. The investigation took place several years ago but as it turns out, information now available (but not available at the time) shows that CBS was anything other than objective in how it handled the matter, going so far as to essentially state it wanted a result that would appease the far right. Unfortunately, the mainstream media seems to be eerily silent about the whole thing.
Stumble It!
8 responses so far ↓
1 SusanS // Nov 29, 2008 at 2:27 pm
That walmart death was horrible. I don’t know how some of those people sleep at night
2 GOPer // Nov 29, 2008 at 2:29 pm
What a load of liberal crap this site is. All you bleeding hearts do all day is whine whine whine.
I bet you all think its wondrful that our president elect is the product of affirmative action
you make me sick
3 tehehehe // Dec 1, 2008 at 9:12 am
My condolences to you and your family. I lost my mother a few years ago, and have still not fully recovered. I know my dad hasn’t either.
4 tehehehe // Dec 1, 2008 at 9:38 am
I got a “different read” on that acid attack in Afghanistan. I don’t see it as representative of “violence and fear”. I see it as representative of terrorism and the dangers of radical Islam.
Maybe that is what you meant, but it is certainly what I would characterize it as. The attack was carried out as part of an organized campaign by a united group to terrorize a specific population or government. It was not a random act of individual violence. It was not a spontaneous riot in response to a popular uprising. This was specifically directed at a group, and designed to undermine the legitimate elected government of the nation. This is why we need a worldwide effort to stop terrorism. This is what the Bush Administration has been fighting to end.
5 tehehehe // Dec 1, 2008 at 9:50 am
As I surf the web, I came across another interesting story. Remember the big hullaballoo the NYT made about revealing the name of Valarie Plame as a “CIA operative”? Well, apparently the NYT is not all that concerned about all CIA agents being “outed”:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/06/22/the-new-york-times-reveals-the-name-of-ksms-interrogator-over-the-cias-wishes/
6 tehehehe // Dec 1, 2008 at 11:06 am
Here is an interesting choice by Obama for his transition team and his liaison with the State Department headed by Clinton.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/01/monsters-of-state/
7 stacyb // Dec 1, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Thanks for the condolences tehehe, much appreciated. It has been a difficult time.
With respect to the state dept. transition selection, it is kind of bizarre and don’t really know how to read those tea leaves. I do think Obama is someone who expects others to put past grievances behind them and move forward towards a common goal. Conservatives who knew Obama back at Harvard have said that he is very open to opposing viewpoints and is confident enough in his own intellect and principles to entertain the possibility that at times he may be *gasp* wrong about something.
I personally am tired of the whole ‘team of rivals’ analogy which the pundit class and the media have been going on about. First, they are ignoring actual history during the Lincoln era, second, they are ignoring that many of these selections for top posts are pretty logical and draw from the most logical places- the last democratic administration. He also pledged to try to diminish needless partisanship and reach across the aisle- something which he has done in these last few weeks. He is being very politically astute.
As for outing CIA operatives, I am not that familiar with the story mentioned in the link you provided but I will look into it. I think one of the reasons the NYT and other outlets were all over the Plame story is because first, there was a question whether it involved someone at the NYT playing a role (Miller) and of course Time Magazine, CNN etc. had people who were also allegedly involved. Second, there was a question as to whether it the leak went all the way to the top- the President or VP and third, there was a question whether it was not only politically motivated, but whether the motivation was a result of retribution for undermining an argument for the Iraq War. Suffice it to say, any attempt to out a CIA operative is serious and of course, possibly criminal. But the reasons for the outing are paramount. So, again, I am not going to defend the media or anyone who partakes in such nonsense.
8 Seti // Dec 7, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Tehehe- suddenly you are concerned with outed CIA operatives? I tried to do a search on this blog of Plame posts to see if you were really upset about the whole Plame leak but I could only find I post where you commented on the issue and you didn’t strike me as all that concerned about outed CIA operatives, whatever the reason.
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