Foehammer's Blog

 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 

                    OPEC sells oil for $136.00 a barrel. 
     OPEC nations buy U.S. grain at $7.00 a bushel. 
Solution: Sell grain for $136.00 a bushel. 
Can't buy it? Tough! Eat your oil! 
Ought to go well with a nice thick grilled filet of camel ass!!!

Nation-switchers trouble Olympic chiefs

Becky Hammon says she is not making a mockery out of the Olympics Switching nationality in order to compete at the Olympics has become more noticeable in Beijing than in previous Games and it is beginning to cause concern among international sports bodies. The BBC's Alex Capstick reports.

Becky Hammon failed to make the US women's basketball squad for the Olympics, so she chose another option - to represent Russia.

Athletes change nationalities for a number of reasons - some have ancestry in another country, others simply go for the money.

Hammon's incentive was to play at the Beijing Games.

"This is the door that was open to me," she said. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"You know I could have gone home and sat in my recliner and watched it on the TV like everybody else, or I could come here and take part.

"So to me the decision, when you put it in those terms, is pretty easy."

'Unfathomable decision'

Hammon doesn't think she's making a mockery out of the Olympics.

When the American national anthem is played I feel enormous pride, the same way when the Kenyan national anthem was played long when I was one hundred percent in Kenya
Bernard Lagat

She believes the Games are about bringing the best athletes on the planet together, and it's immaterial where they come from.

But her decision to play for Russia has been described as unfathomable by the US team's coach.

Becky Hammon says such remarks are hypocritical.

"Well, I think you'll find that if you do your research hundreds of athletes have done this. I guess I am the first one to just draw attention to it.

"America has done it. America has won many medals with athletes that are foreign born."

'It's a dream'

And the US could win more medals from their foreign legion here in Beijing.

Bernard Lagat now feels amazing pride to hear the US national anthem

All three of their athletes in the men's 1,500m have switched passports.

Bernard Lagat has won silver and bronze Olympic medals wearing a Kenyan vest. He became a US citizen last year, and he believes it is time to re-pay a debt he owes his adopted country.

"It's a dream that a little boy from Kenya has dreamt about and finally came true, and it didn't happen by myself.

"From the coach who sent me to the United States, from the coach that I got from Washington State, and from the scholarship itself that came from the American taxpayers, American money... I am trying to give back to America what they gave me long before."

Regardless of their motivation, the growing number of athletes changing loyalty has become a concern for the sport's administrators.

If floodgates begin to open then clearly it offends the overall principles...
IOC's Craig Reedie

The International Athletics Federation has made it more difficult for Arab countries to buy up world class runners from Africa.

According to Craig Reedie, a senior member of the IOC, around 25 athletes in Beijing have swapped nationality in the build-up to the Games, and leading officials in the Olympic movement are monitoring the situation.

"If that trend develops, yes, I am sure the IOC would look at it."

"I think [the rules] are about right. I think on balance we would want people to take part in the Games rather than deny them the opportunity.

"If floodgates begin to open, then clearly it offends the overall principles and that, I am certain, we would look at, but I don't think it's quite at that stage yet."

No split decision

Athletes who adopt new nationalities experience different emotions.

Becky Hammon sang the American national anthem when she lined up for Russia against the USA in a recent tournament.

But there are no split loyalties for the former Kenyan Bernard Lagat.

"When the American national anthem is played I feel enormous pride," he says.

But he says, he felt the same when the Kenyan national anthem was played long: "I was one hundred percent in Kenya."

"My loyalty is for the country that I am representing right now, and that is the United States.

"I don't know about other people, who might have a lot of mixed feelings back in my country, seeing the American flag being raised instead of the Kenyan flag."

Not everyone embraces their new nationality with such enthusiasm.

Most of the East Africans who have accepted a big pay cheque to represent Gulf states still live in the country of their birth.

They have enjoyed considerable financial gain by switching passports.

While the rules allow it, it is hard to blame them for doing it.

 

So tell me...do you think it is unpatriotic to do something like this?  Selfish?  Or just capitalism at its best?

Wow...I know a lot of people are not talking about this...but after what I read today, I just have to say something.

Is anyone else shocked by the displays and scandals taking place with the Olympics?  Well, for starters, the opening ceremonies that drew so much attention was not all it was cracked up to be.  From what I heard from televised reports, much of it was prerecored and fake.

Secondly, I read that the young girl that sand the beautiful song at the opening was not actually singing.  I read that she was lip syncing because the young girl that actually sang the song was considered, "too ugly" to be televised.

Now, today...I read that three athletes have been banned and the medals they won stripped because of taking some type of illegal drugs.

And most importantly...an American citizen was killed and another remains in guarded condition after a "random" attack where the murderer jumps to his death moments later.  I don't know..to me that doesn't sound like the actions of a criminal committing a random crime.

OH!  And lets not forget the wrestler who takes his bronze medal off and drops it on the mat at the medal ceremony and walks away.

I mean...am I the only person who is finding all of these events tasteless and just plain ole' poor form?  I'm just glad I have not heard anything negative about our atheletes.

 

 

Invisibility cloak 'step closer' For now, the invisibility cloak remains a thing of science fiction

Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible.

Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them "disappear".

The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre.

The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people.

Stealth operations

The findings, by scientists led by Xiang Zhang, were published in the journals Nature and Science.

The light-bending effect relies on reversing refraction, the effect that makes a straw placed in water appear bent.

Previous efforts have shown this negative refraction effect using microwaves—a wavelength far longer than humans can see.

In order to have the 'Harry Potter' effect, you just need to find the right materials for the visible wavelengths
Ortwin Hess

The new materials instead work at wavelengths around those used in the telecommunications industry—much nearer to the visible part of the spectrum.

Two different teams led by Zhang made objects made of so-called metamaterials—artificial structures with features smaller than the wavelength of light that give the materials their unusual properties.

One approach used nanometre-scale stacks of silver and magnesium fluoride in a "fishnet" structure, while another made use of nanowires made of silver.

Light is neither absorbed nor reflected by the objects, passing "like water flowing around a rock," according to the researchers. As a result, only the light from behind the objects can be seen.

Cloak and shadow

The fine structure of the material gives it light-bending abilities "This is a huge step forward, a tremendous achievement," says Professor Ortwin Hess of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey.

"It's a careful choice of the right materials and the right structuring to get this effect for the first time at these wavelengths."

There could be more immediate applications for the devices in telecommunications, Prof Hess says.

What's more, they could be used to make better microscopes, allowing images of far smaller objects than conventional microscopes can see.

And a genuine cloaking effect isn't far around the corner.

"In order to have the 'Harry Potter' effect, you just need to find the right materials for the visible wavelengths," says Prof Hess, "and it's absolutely thrilling to see we're on the right track."

Okay...I KNOW this would be the newest most desired fashion trend for the new high school freshman who wants to avoid that group of rough looking seniors! 

Seriously though...isn't this neat?  A way to be invisible to everyone around you!  It's amazing where technology is taking us.  But honestly...I can't see the use for something like this.  At least, nothing positive.  What about you guys and ladies?  Can you think of something positive this can be used for?

Bug feast saves Outback pest man

When a former pest-control officer lost his bearings in Australia's Outback he thought he would die, until he stumbled on a termites' nest and "got stuck in".

Theo Rosmulder, 52, managed to survive for four days by feasting on termites and other insects before local Aborigines rescued him.

"Termites don't taste too bad," he told reporters in the mining town of Laverton in Western Australia.

Mr Rosmulder was prospecting for gold last Friday when he got lost.

He had separated from his group about 80 miles (130km) north of Laverton and carried on alone, armed only with a penknife, a torch and a metal detector, police said.

Believing he would never be rescued, he said he sought out somewhere to "crawl into a hole and just call it quits".

"[I] found a hollow in the rocks where the kangaroos slept and crawled into it, got a few bushes over the top of me and stayed the night," he said.

Moisture and protein

But the next day a chance discovery of a termite mound changed his luck.

"I just hit the top of the termite nest off and got stuck into them," he said.

Police said Mr Rosmulder was suffering from dehydration but was otherwise in "surprisingly good condition".

Sgt Graham Clifford, of Western Australia police, said the insects and termites had provided him with moisture and protein.

"He kept eating what he used to kill," Sgt Clifford said.

Police had launched a large search operation at first light on Saturday, with dozens of searchers combing 77 sq miles (200 sq km) of the rocky desert terrain by land and air.

But it was a group of local Aborigines who spotted Mr Rosmulder, still clutching his metal detector, on Tuesday morning.

"It was just magic, I just collapsed," Mr Rosmulder said, before adding that he intended to continue with his gold-hunting holiday.

 

Kinda hard for me to decide if I could have eaten termites or not.  And unless they were HUGE...he had to have eaten a lot of them!  But more curious to me is that he got lost prospecting for GOLD!  I thought that was over and done with long ago.  =)

S man charged for shooting mower Witnesses told police Mr Walendowski appeared to have been drinking

A 56-year-old man from the Midwestern US state of Wisconsin has been arrested after shooting his lawn mower in his garden because it would not start.

Keith Walendowski was charged by police in Milwaukee with disorderly conduct and possession of a sawn-off shotgun.

He could face a fine of up to $11,000 and a maximum prison sentence of six-and-a-half years if convicted.

Police officers said Mr Walendowski had told them: "It's my lawn mower and my yard, so I can shoot it if I want."

Police found the shotgun, a handgun and a stungun, as well as ammunition, when they detained Mr Walendowski in the basement of his house.

Witnesses told police that he appeared to have been drinking.

The lawn mower was found sitting outside Mr Walendowski's house, which he shares with his mother, with the rubbish on Friday.

A local retailer said that Mr Walendowski might now have difficulty getting his lawn mower repaired.

"Anything not factory recommended would void the warranty," said Dick Wagner, of Wagner's Garden Mart in Milwaukee.

 

Okay...we've all been there.  A lawnmower that has not been tuned up...a blistering hot Texas afternoon and the sound of a that mower sputtering as you pull on it for the hundredth time!  Yup...a recipe for a mercy killing!

But seriously...do you think this gentleman should face time for blasting away his own mower on his own property?

'Allah meat' astounds Nigerians The gristle spells out the word "Allah" in Arabic

Diners have been flocking to a restaurant in northern Nigeria to see pieces of meat which the owner says are inscribed with the name of Allah.

What looks like the Arabic word for God and the name of the prophet Muhammad were discovered in pieces of beef by a diner in Birnin Kebbi.

He was about to eat it, when he suddenly noticed the words in the gristle, the restaurant owner said.

A search of the kitchen's meat revealed three more pieces which bore the names.

The meat was boiled and then fried before being served, owner Kabiru Haliru told newspaper Weekly Trust.

"When the writings were discovered there were some Islamic scholars who come and eat here and they all commented that it was a sign to show that Islam is the only true religion for mankind," he said.

The restaurant has kept the pieces of meat for visitors to see.

Thousands of people have already gone to the restaurant to see them since they were discovered last week.

A vet told the newspaper the words "defied scientific explanation".

"Supposing only one piece of meat was found then it would be suspicious, but given the circumstances there is no explanation," Dr Yakubu Dominic said.

 

I don't know...I've seen many things in my lifetime.  Tortillas with images of Christ, trees with images of the Virgin Mary and now this.  Does anyone acutually believe in things like this?

Obama team decry satirical image The magazine said the image "combines... fantastical images"

Barack Obama's team has decried The New Yorker magazine for a cartoon cover depicting him in traditional Muslim garb and his wife as a terrorist.

The magazine says the cartoon is intended as a satirical comment about some of the distorted right-wing attacks on the Democratic senator.

An Obama campaign spokesman said the cartoon was "tasteless and offensive".

A spokesman for John McCain, Mr Obama's Republican rival in the presidential election, also criticised the cartoon.

 

The image, drawn by Barry Blitt and featured on the front cover of this week's New Yorker, shows Mr Obama wearing traditional Muslim dress, while his wife, Michelle, is dressed in combat trousers and carrying a machine-gun.

The couple are shown standing in the Oval Office, greeting one another with a "fist bump", with an American flag burning in the fireplace, and a portrait of Osama Bin Laden on the wall.

'Mirror to prejudice'

In a statement, The New Yorker magazine said the cartoon "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are."

The New Yorker said the cover, called "The Politics of Fear", was a critique of unfounded allegations that have tried to portray Mr Obama, a Christian, as a closet radical Muslim.

"The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the statement said.

The portrayal of the Obamas "fist-bumping" one another was a reference to a campaign rally in St Paul, Minnesota, back in June, at which the couple were seen to "fist-bump", an action described by one Fox News commentator as a "terrorist fist-jab".

The presenter - E D Hill who subsequently lost her Fox News show - later apologised for the comments, and insisted that they had not been meant seriously.

The New Yorker said that this week's edition carried two "very serious" articles about Mr Obama.

But Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismissed the cartoon, saying: ""The New Yorker may think... that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create, but most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree." 

Okay...I know that many of us here have differeing views on B. Obama.  And that is understandable.  But...I just think a widely distributed medium like the New Yorker would be more responsible.  After all...there are those who may believe that Obama is Muslim and I'm not making comment on that....but still...to put this on the cover of this magazine.  Do any of you think this was out of place?  Would love your opinions.

State Officials Issue Warning about Toxins in Galveston Bay Fish Last Edited: Tuesday, 08 Jul 2008, 12:42 PM CDT Created: Tuesday, 08 Jul 2008, 12:42 PM CDT Galveston beach FOX 26 News
Related Items Links Seafood Health on myFOX Health or just enabling jstl so that we can just write ${bean.property} and jsp takes care of the new lines. -->Simone Ford

GALVESTON  --  The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued a warning telling people to limit the amount of fish they eat from Galveston Bay. The warning comes after a two-year study showed elevated levels of toxins in the fish.

This advisory focuses mainly on Chocolate Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay and contiguous waters. Spotted Seatrout and catfish are the major concerns but other species such as red drum, black drum and flounder were said to be safe to eat.

The study showed increased levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the two fish.

Adults are asked to limit their consumption of the two fish to no more than one 8-ounce meal a month. Women who are nursing or pregnant and children should not eat the two fish at all.

Long term affects of these toxins can be cancer and reproductive, immune system, developmental and liver problems. There is even a chance of skin rashes, liver damage, and weight loss.

This advisory does not prevent people from catching or possessing these fish. The state says the contaminated fish do not pose a threat to other recreational uses of the bay such as swimming or other contact recreational activities.

Wow...so much for what makes me happy.  I love to fish and speckled trout are one of my fav catches/dishes.  Now, it seems that we can't enjoy that simple pleasure anymore.  And the bad thing for me is that I just fried up a mess of the yummy buggers a 3 weeks ago.  Now I have to wonder if I have injured my entire family with a fish dinner! 

I guess I'd better really get into freshwater fishing now!

Denmark 'world's happiest nation' Personal freedom is more important than money, the authors say

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.

The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.

The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life.

Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.

The study was directed by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart. He says that unlike other studies, which have focused on economic factors, his research has found that financial prosperity is not the only reason for happiness.

"Our research indicates prosperity is linked with happiness. It does contribute," he says, "but it is not the most important factor.

"Personal freedom is even more important, and it's freedom in all kinds of ways. Political freedom, like with democracy and freedom of choice."

A happier world

The world is becoming a happier place overall, according to the survey, which has been conducted since 1981.

Zimbabwe has suffered hyperinflation and political violence.

Dr Inglehart says that gender quality is also an indicator of happiness, as is rising social tolerance. He says that both of these things have risen dramatically in recent years.

The world's wealthiest nation, the United States, was found to be the world's 16th happiest country, behind Switzerland, Canada and Sweden.

The study also found that the countries at the bottom of the list all struggle with widespread poverty or authoritarian governments.

Zimbabwe, which is gripped by hyperinflation, and has recently seen a controversial presidential election marred by violence, was found to be the least happy nation amongst the countries covered by the survey.

Well, I guess it's true then...having money does not always mean a person is happy.  Considering we are still the wealthiest country in the world, we are only #16 on the "happy chart".  So tell me...what makes you happy?  Is it money?  Good health?

Dutch coffee shops weed out tobacco

By Dominic Hughes
BBC News, Amsterdam

 

 

Making joints with any sort of tobacco will be outlawed It is a lazy weekday afternoon inside the Rusland coffee shop, one of the oldest in Amsterdam.

For years locals and tourists have been coming here to relax in easy chairs, roll up a joint and lose a few hours as they take advantage of Amsterdam's famously relaxed approach to marijuana.

But now, there is a cloud on the horizon. From Tuesday 1 July, the Dutch will impose a nationwide ban on smoking tobacco in cafes, bars and restaurants - meaning any joints rolled using tobacco will be illegal.

Strictly speaking, marijuana is illegal as well - but it is tolerated. So, perhaps oddly, the smoking of pure grass or hash will still be allowed.

Not for the coffee

The coffee shop owners fought the ban for months, but to no avail.

Esther Delahaige, who works behind the bar at the Rusland, says no-one is quite sure how the customers will react.

Exemption doesn't work - that's why we have to stop the abuse everywhere; that means also in coffee shops
Lung experts Pauline Dekker and Wanda de Kanter "They don't come here for the coffee, you know," she says with a laugh.

"It's going to be really hard. Everyone is just waiting to see. We're all just really anxious to see what will happen. We don't know."

Over at the Red Cross Hospital in Beverwijk, just north of Amsterdam, Doctors Pauline Dekker and Wanda de Kanter know what they hope the ban will achieve.

These two lung experts - authors of a best-selling guide to giving up smoking - are looking forward to a drop in the number of smokers.

They see the damage done by smoking every working day, and they believe there can be no exceptions to the ban.

"Tobacco causes such great numbers of suffering," says Dr Dekker.

"Here in Holland we're a small country, but we still have nearly 4 million nicotine abusers. Two million of them will die because of their nicotine abuse.

"And one million will die between the ages of 35 and 69 - which is about 13 years too young. Exemption doesn't work - that's why we have to stop the abuse everywhere. That means also in coffee shops."

No worries

Back in town at another coffee shop, the Greenhouse, a smoker pulls enthusiastically on a bubbling bong.

Many health professionals are increasingly worried about the psychological impact new stronger variations of cannabis can have, especially on young users.

Vaporisers and other alternatives of inhaling cannabis are replacing joints And in the Greenhouse many of the customers - most of them British - do look young. To my eyes at least, some of them would be hard pushed to meet the strict over-18 age limit.

Like the bong smoker, many are already using cannabis without tobacco.

Some inhale from a medical vaporiser that heats the cannabis to 158 degrees Celsius, filling a plastic bag with pure THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

And Greenhouse owner and spokesman for the Dutch Cannabis Retailers Association, Arjan Roskam, says people are increasingly opting for a tobacco-free smoke. He is not worried about the impact of the new law.

"It's much healthier to smoke cannabis than tobacco so actually it's a very normal law," he says.

"Slowly, everyone's realising that tobacco is not the way to go. Most people smoke pure cannabis. And cannabis of course has much less health risks than tobacco, as we all know."

Some doctors and psychologists would disagree with that last statement. But the Dutch authorities have clearly decided that it is tobacco that presents the most clear and present danger.

I guess I might have been wrong about this topic.  I've always stood firm that smoking was bad for you period.  And that weed was probably far worse than regular tobacco.  I guess, considering this article, that I was mistaken.  To outlaw tobacco but allow weed just blows me away. 

What do you think?

Journalist 'reported own murders'

Police in Macedonia have arrested a journalist on suspicion that he is behind three murders he reported on.

The journalist, Vlado Taneski, is accused of raping, torturing and killing three elderly women in the south-western town of Kicevo.

Macedonian police began to suspect him after he included details in his reports that they had not made public.

Other men have reportedly already been convicted of the first two murders. The third was committed last month.

Mr Taneski, 56, has not yet been charged with any offence, police said.

They allege that he kidnapped and abused the women before cutting them into pieces and dumping them in plastic bags.

"He is also suspected of being involved in... [the disappearance of] a 78-old female who is still missing," said police spokesman Ivo Kotevski.

"All victims were found naked, strangled, wrapped with phone cables," the spokesman said.

"The women were sexually and physically abused. For example, the last victim, a 65-year old female, was found with 13 deep wounds on her skull and multiple rib fractures."

All cleaners

All the women apparently had similarities to the suspect's late mother, with whom he reportedly had a poor relationship.

"All victims were elderly females with poor education who had worked as cleaners. They all were from the same neighbourhood of Kicevo," Mr Kotevski said.

Mr Taneski's editor at the Utrinski Vesnik newspaper told the Associated Press: "We are all shocked with this. I know him as an exceptionally quiet man and I would never believe that he is capable of doing something like that."

 

Is news this hard to come by these days?  Wow...you'd think with all that is going  on in the world that creating your own news like this wouldn't be necessary.

I know...this guy had far deeper problems than finding that next big story.  He was clearly out of his mind and suffering from some type of trauma dealing with his mother...but still...YIKES!

Bush calls for offshore drilling Petrol prices are part of the wider energy policy debate

President George W Bush has called on Congress to end a 27-year ban on drilling for oil in US coastal waters, to reduce dependence on imports.

Mr Bush's move comes as consumers are calling for action to tackle high oil prices that have pushed prices at US pumps to more than $4 (£2) a gallon.

US energy needs are set to be a key issue in November's presidential poll.

Republican John McCain favours offshore oil drilling while his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, opposes it.

Speaking before Mr Bush's speech, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president believed "Congress shouldn't waste any more time".

US dependence

Since 1981, a congressional moratorium has prohibited oil and gas drilling along the east and west coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area accounting for some 80% of the US's Outer Continental Shelf.

 

OFFSHORE OIL Estimated reserves:
18bn barrels of recoverable oil
77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas US annual energy usage:
7.6bn barrels of oil
21 trillion cubic feet of gas Source: US interior department

The federal ban was enacted in part to protect tourism and lessen the chance of oil spills washing on to beaches.

The Democrats, and some Republicans who represent coastal states, oppose ending the moratorium.

Mr Bush, who has repeatedly pushed for an end to the ban, has accused Democrats of using their control of Congress to undermine attempts to boost domestic oil production.

The president is also expected to renew his call for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to be opened up to drilling.

Senator McCain, the Republicans' presumptive presidential candidate, is opposed to opening up Alaska and had previously backed the moratorium on drilling in coastal waters.

But speaking in Houston on Tuesday, Mr McCain called for the ban to be lifted to help counter US dependence on foreign oil.

"This was a troubling situation 35 years ago. It was an alarming situation 20 years ago. It is a dangerous situation today," he said.

"And starting in the term of the next president, we must take control over our own energy future and become once again the master of our fate."

Mr McCain said the US had enormous energy reserves and was acquiring methods of using them in clean and responsible ways.

"As for offshore drilling, it's safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston," he said.

"Yet for reasons that become less convincing with every rise in the price of foreign oil, the federal government discourages offshore production."

Senator Obama dismissed Mr McCain's call as "political posturing" that would not bring down petrol prices and could endanger the country's coastal environment.

"His decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades," Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama has called for conservation and the search for alternative green energy supplies.

Analysts say drilling for offshore oil and developing alternatives will both prove slow to reduce US dependence on imported oil.

Okay...I know my first thought was, "it's about time!"  But I have to wonder...is this a simple situation of the powers above deciding that we have no other options?  Or is this a ploy by our president to gain favor for the Republican party to help McCain now that we are in a crucial area in the polling process for our new president?

Elian 'joins Cuba's communists' Elian Gonzalez returned to Cuba with his father in mid-2000

Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the centre of an international custody battle eight years ago, has reportedly joined Cuba's Young Communist Union.

He was quoted by Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde as saying he will never let down ex-President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul.

Elian, now 14, was six when relatives in Miami lost their battle to keep him in the US.

He was returned to Cuba in mid-2000 with his father.

Juventud Rebelde said in its Sunday edition the boy was among 18,000 people who joined the Young Communist Union on Saturday.

Elian was found floating alone in the Florida Straits in late 1999, one of the few survivors from a group of shipwrecked Cubans who had tried to reach the US in a handmade boat.

His mother was among those who died when the fragile craft hit a storm.

A bitter custody battle ensued between his relatives in Miami, backed by the anti-Castro Cuban American community there, and his father, supported by the Cuban government.

The US courts got involved, eventually ruling in favour of Elian's father and the boy was returned to Cuba.

Correspondents say the Cuban government carefully guards Elian's privacy.

Considering all that this young man went through at such a young age...you have to wonder that is his decision now is simply misguided or a mature decision based on what he believes. 

What do you think?  Do you think this is some ploy by Cuba to further kick the US in the rear behind this entire incident?

Blogger arrests hit record high Elections in China, Pakistan and the US could prompt more arrests

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.

In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.

More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.

Jail sentence

Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics, said the World Information Access (WIA) report.

Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.

The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests.

Jail time followed arrest for many bloggers, said the report, which found that the average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months. The longest sentence found by the WIA was eight years.

It acknowledged that the true number of bloggers arrested could be far higher than the total it found as, in some cases, it proved hard to verify if an arrest had taken place and on what grounds.

For instance, it said the Committee to Protect Bloggers has published information about 344 people arrested in Burma - many of whom are thought to be be bloggers - but the WIA could not verify all the reports.

It also noted that many nations, perhaps as many as 30, imposed technological restrictions on what people can do online. In nations such as China this made it difficult for people to use a blog as a means of protest.

The report pointed out that it is not just governments in the Middle East and East Asia that have taken steps against those publishing their opinions online. In the last four years, British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have also been arrested.

The report predicted that the number of blogger arrests in 2008 would exceed the 36 seen in 2007 thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the US.

 

You would think that you could say what you want as far as opinions on blogs go.  But this article applies to us here in the states too.