Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
~ Victor Borge
~ Victor Borge
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Hamas prevents Muslim pilgrims from leaving Gaza
Hamas police prevented Muslim pilgrims from leaving Gaza Sunday for the annual Islamic pilgrimage because of internal Palestinian squabbling, drawing rare rebukes from Arab countries.
Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules Gaza, blocked the crossing into Egypt, stranding Palestinians on their way to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The reason - they got visas from the rival West Bank government led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
The "hajj" pilgrimage is considered the crowning moment in a Muslim believer's life. This year's trek should be completed by Dec. 5, according to Muslim authorities.
But early Sunday morning, black-clad Hamas police blocked the only passenger crossing between Gaza and Egypt. A handful of people waited nearby.
"We are old, tired. We've been waiting all our lives (for the pilgrimage)," said Umm Jihad, an elderly woman."This is not a Hamas delegation or a Fatah delegation," fumed Ashraf Lafi, a young man with a full beard and Muslim-style clothes. "This is a delegation for God."
Saudi Arabia sets quotas to different regions for the number of pilgrims they can send to Mecca each year. Gaza is allowed to dispatch about 3,000.
Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas rulers each submitted separate lists of Gaza pilgrims to the Saudi authorities for visa approvals, but so far Saudi Arabia has rejected the Hamas list.
Hamas officials were defiant on Sunday, saying nobody would leave until those who applied through the Gaza government are given visas by Saudi Arabia.
"The priority is for those who registered with us," said Hamas official Abdullah Abu Jarbou. "It is not for those who bypassed the legitimate government. They didn't go through the legal channels."
In a sign of a widening rift with regional Arab countries, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the ban damaged "the reputation of (the) Islamic movement."
Saudi Arabia also expressed its displeasure in indirect but rare criticism.
A Saudi foreign ministry official who said he was "shocked that a member of the Palestinian parliament," - referring to Hamas - "said that Saudi Arabia did not give visas to Gaza pilgrims."Saudi Arabia "gave its visas to the Palestinian Authority," in a statement released to the Saudi news agency.
Conservative Arab regimes are troubled by the Hamas takeover but usually refrain from open criticism in the name of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules Gaza, blocked the crossing into Egypt, stranding Palestinians on their way to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The reason - they got visas from the rival West Bank government led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
The "hajj" pilgrimage is considered the crowning moment in a Muslim believer's life. This year's trek should be completed by Dec. 5, according to Muslim authorities.
But early Sunday morning, black-clad Hamas police blocked the only passenger crossing between Gaza and Egypt. A handful of people waited nearby.
"We are old, tired. We've been waiting all our lives (for the pilgrimage)," said Umm Jihad, an elderly woman."This is not a Hamas delegation or a Fatah delegation," fumed Ashraf Lafi, a young man with a full beard and Muslim-style clothes. "This is a delegation for God."
Saudi Arabia sets quotas to different regions for the number of pilgrims they can send to Mecca each year. Gaza is allowed to dispatch about 3,000.
Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas rulers each submitted separate lists of Gaza pilgrims to the Saudi authorities for visa approvals, but so far Saudi Arabia has rejected the Hamas list.
Hamas officials were defiant on Sunday, saying nobody would leave until those who applied through the Gaza government are given visas by Saudi Arabia.
"The priority is for those who registered with us," said Hamas official Abdullah Abu Jarbou. "It is not for those who bypassed the legitimate government. They didn't go through the legal channels."
In a sign of a widening rift with regional Arab countries, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the ban damaged "the reputation of (the) Islamic movement."
Saudi Arabia also expressed its displeasure in indirect but rare criticism.
A Saudi foreign ministry official who said he was "shocked that a member of the Palestinian parliament," - referring to Hamas - "said that Saudi Arabia did not give visas to Gaza pilgrims."Saudi Arabia "gave its visas to the Palestinian Authority," in a statement released to the Saudi news agency.
Conservative Arab regimes are troubled by the Hamas takeover but usually refrain from open criticism in the name of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Star Dancing
Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.
A slender crescent moon, just 15 percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.
Check out msnbc for more.
To see the event:
Look to the southwest after sunset on Dec. 1 for a close conjunction between three bright solar system objects: the moon, Venus and Jupiter. If you have binoculars, you might even be able to fit all three of them in the field of view.Science News
Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.
Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.
Read the rest in the Telegraph.
At the Last Minute, a Raft of Rules
In a burst of activity meant to leave a lasting stamp on the federal government, the Bush White House in the past month has approved 61 new regulations on environmental, security, social and commercial matters that by its own estimate will have an economic impact exceeding $1.9 billion annually.
Some of the rules benefit key industries that have long had the administration's ear, such as oil and gas companies, banks ...Read the rest in the Washington Post.
Shrub Aides Rush to Enact a Rule Obama Opposes
The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.
The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health.
Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.
With the economy tumbling and American troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush has promised to cooperate with Mr. Obama to make the transition “as smooth as possible.” But that has not stopped his administration from trying, in its final days, to cement in place a diverse array of new regulations.
Read the rest in the New York Times.
Oldest stash found!
2,700-year-old marijuana found in Chinese tomb
Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly ``cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fiber for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odor.
"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.
Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.
Read the rest in the Toronto Star.
Riot at Nerf factory in China
Associated Press story about a riot in the factory where Nerf toys were manufactured for Hasbro.
Tempers began flaring Tuesday when the plant's Hong Kong owner, Kader Holdings Company Ltd., prepared to lay off 216 migrant workers at the factory that employs 6,500. About 80 senior workers claimed they were getting shortchanged on their severance pay, and they mobilized a mob of 500 — mostly other unemployed workers and friends, Guo said.The workers battled security guards, turned over a police car, smashed the headlights of police motorcycles and forced their way through the factory's front gate, Guo said. They went on a rampage in the plant's offices, damaging 10 computers, the company said.
The account was confirmed Wednesday by several of the 200 or so jobless laborers peacefully milling around the street in front of the four-story factory complex covered in soot-stained white and green tiles. Small groups of workers inside the factory pressed against glass windows and stared at the crowd below. When their shift ended, they flooded into the streets and mixed with the angry workers.
"The factory's management and the local officials really look down on the workers," said one laid-off worker who would only give his surname, Qiao, because he feared criticizing the company might jeopardize his chance of getting any compensation.
India ends Mumbai rampage after 60 hours, 174 are dead
It took just 10 young men armed with rifles and grenades to terrorize this city of 18 million and turn its postcard-perfect icons into battlefields until security forces ended one of the deadliest attacks in India's history.
A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen - a name suggesting origins inside India - has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 170 people
All right then ... it's high time - way past time - we ended this. The hate bred by these groups and the hate that breeds these groups needs to stop. If non-violent means does not work then violent means will ... unfortunately this leads to more hate, but it may be necessary to end this cycle of idiocy.
A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen - a name suggesting origins inside India - has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 170 people
*****
All right then ... it's high time - way past time - we ended this. The hate bred by these groups and the hate that breeds these groups needs to stop. If non-violent means does not work then violent means will ... unfortunately this leads to more hate, but it may be necessary to end this cycle of idiocy.
Daily Horoscope
The daily horoscope today says:
You are especially cute now, so definitely ask for what you want.
Ain't it the truth, now!
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