Mental Meanderings

[T]he Belgrade authorities have, knowingly, taken the non-Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina on a path to hell - a path littered with dead bodies, broken families, lost youths, lost futures, destroyed places of cultural and religious worship, destroyed property, destroyed homes, destroyed towns and villages; on a path towards a world where living memories were erased and where the intimate living environment was destroyed.

This case is before this Court for truth-finding purposes. A rebuilding of Bosnia and Herzegovina against the backdrop of continued denial seems virtually impossible. Developing good-neighbour relations with Serbia and Montenegro against the backdrop of continued denial is virtually impossible. Sitting next to each other in the European Parliament does not look like a realistic, future option if the representatives of the Respondent keep entertaining totally false views on what their State did to its neighbours.

A Minister of the Crown may by order make provision for either or both of the following purposes: a) reforming legislation; b) implementing recommendations of any one or more of the United Kingdom Law Commissions, with or without changes

The Government claims that there is nothing to worry about. The powers in the Bill, it says, will not be used for "controversial" matters. But there is nothing in the Bill that restricts its use to "uncontroversial" issues. The minister is asking us to trust him, and, worse, to trust all his colleagues and all their successors. No one should be trusted with such power.

From the accounts of former detainees, military officials and soldiers who served there, a picture emerges of a place that is in many ways rougher and more bleak than its counterpart in Cuba. Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.

"Bagram was never meant to be a long-term facility, and now it's a long-term facility without the money or resources," said one Defense Department official who has toured the detention center. Comparing the prison with Guantánamo, the official added, "Anyone who has been to Bagram would tell you it's worse."

THE chauffeur of the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales died was working for the French secret service, the British team reinvestigating her death has been told.

The inquiry — headed by Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner — into the Paris car crash that killed Diana is now trying to obtain the chauffeur’s files from French intelligence but is being delayed by the reluctance of the authorities to hand them over.

There have been others in politics that have rivaled his intellectual prowess – certainly the likes of Patrick McGilligan, Sean McEntee, Charles Haughey, Conor Cruise O Brien, Declan Costello – nobody has deployed their intellectual energies in the public good as he has done over such a long time.

A bill drafted specifically to test the Supreme Court's current view on abortion rights and to set up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade won approval Wednesday in the upper house of the South Dakota legislature. The bill, H.B. 1215, was passed by the state Senate on a 23-12 vote....The bill declares that "life begins at conception, a conclusion confirmed by scientific advances since the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade..." It says that, based on experience since 1973, "abortions in South Dakota should be prohibited."

This is interesting. But surely then Jack Straw only has a "responsibility" to get involved it these people, picked up in Afghanistan and sent to Gitmo, passed through British territory?

The military commander responsible for the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, confirmed Tuesday that officials there last month turned to more aggressive methods to deter prisoners who were carrying out long-term hunger strikes to protest their incarceration.

The commander, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, head of the United States Southern Command, said soldiers at Guantánamo began strapping some of the detainees into "restraint chairs" to force-feed them and isolate them from one another after finding that some were deliberately vomiting or siphoning out the liquid they had been fed.

"It was causing problems because some of these hard-core guys were getting worse," General Craddock said at a breakfast meeting with reporters. Explaining the use of the restraint chairs, he added, "The way around that is you have to make sure that purging doesn't happen."

After The New York Times reported Feb. 9 that the military had begun using restraint chairs and other harsh methods, military spokesmen insisted that the procedures for dealing with the hunger strikes at Guantánamo had not changed. They also said they could not confirm that the chairs had been used.

On Tuesday, General Craddock said he had reviewed the use of the restraint chairs, as had senior officials at the Department of Defense, and they concluded that the practice was "not inhumane." General Craddock left no doubt, however, that commanders had decided to try to make life less comfortable for the hunger strikers, and that the measures were seen as successful.

The Government's response makes clear once again its complete opposition to the practices described in the questionnaire, which would plainly be in breach of international law, Irish law, and of the principles upon which the Council of Europe is founded, namely the maintenance and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It confirms previous statements by Minister Ahern recording the Government's “very deep concern” over allegations of the possible existence of secret prisons, and its “complete opposition to the practice of so-called extraordinary rendition”.

THE gardaí investigated three allegations relating to CIA flights transporting kidnapped terror suspects through Shannon Airport, the Government confirmed yesterday. Files on two of the complaints were considered serious enough to be sent to the DPP but no action was taken because of a lack of evidence. The information was part of a 24-page report sent by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Council of Europe committee investigating allegations of secret prisons and covert CIA flights in Europe. It stresses that the gardaí have powers to search any civilian aircraft. However, so far they have not exercised this power. A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said the department did not see any reason why the gardaí should search aircraft. “We would not see any reason to because we have received categorical assurances from the US that they are not using Shannon in this way,” he said.

In a scathing article in the latest issue of a local literary journal, New Contrast, Stephen Watson, head of Cape Town University's English department, accused Krog of "lifting the entire conception" of her 2004 book on Bushmen poetry, published by Kwela, from an anthology he published in 1991.

Krog's the stars say 'tsau' and Watson's Return of the Moon: Versions of the /Xam are based on the translations of /Xam Bushmen poetry by 19th-century linguists Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek.

Watson also claimed some paragraphs on the concept of myth in Krog's award-winning book Country of My Skull, published by Random House in 1998, had been plagiarised from British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes's essay Myth and Education. Eve Gray, the publishers' adviser on copyright and publishing law, said Kwela and Random House had sought legal advice.

"I can't say whether they'll sue, but they... are tentatively considering taking action," she said. On Sunday, Krog said that the suggestion of plagiarism was absurd.

She had not seen or read Hughes's piece before writing Country of My Skull, she said. Also, Hughes had referred to the Greek and Christian influences on the Western mind, while she had referred to the apartheid indoctrination that led to the black man's being perceived as a "k....r", enabling the white man to kill what was considered non-human.

Watson maintained these paragraphs by "lazy" Krog had placed her in the ranks of plagiarists with Darrel-Bristow Bovey and Pamela Jooste. Random House's managing director, Stephen Johnson, said Watson's claims had been examined and rejected. "We cannot tell whether he is confused or deliberately disingenuous," he said. "We are dismayed that this lapse should have provoked an altogether unreasonable, venomous and academically shallow diatribe in response."

In an equally strongly worded response, Krog described Watson's criticisms as "vituperative" and "libellous". Her use of Bushmen folklore was comparable with "Walt Disney accusing one of plagiarism for making poems out of stories of the Brothers Grimm", she said. Poets like Eugene Marais, Jack Cope and Uys Krige, whose works she had read since childhood, had also made references to Bleek's work.

Replying to the accusation that JD Lewis-Williams's words were also lifted, she said: "What... can have caused Watson to overlook the explicit acknowledgment in the introduction as well as on the colophon page?"

Gray said the 19th-century materials were out of copyright and firmly in the public domain. The poems had been attributed to the San authors.

Last night Irving's partner Bente Hogh said he had brought his imprisonment on himself by going to Austria despite the ban. She said: "He was not jailed just for his views but because he's banned from Austria and still went. David doesn't take advice from anyone. He thought it was a bit of fun, to provoke a little bit."

A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Canadian citizen who was arrested by U.S. authorities at a New York airport and sent to Syria for interrogation as a suspected member of al Qaeda.

Syrian-born Maher Arar claimed in the lawsuit that he was tortured during a 13-day detention at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and during his 10 months in a Syrian jail in 2002 and 2003. He was released in 2003 and the United States did not file any criminal charges against him.

Kudos to the Vice President. I've often wished I could shoot people, especially the oldest partners at the firm. They've outlived their usefulness. Cheney knew this guy's best days were behind him and decided to take matters into his own hands. That's the mark of a leader. I've never been a fan of the Vice President. His heart attacks have been signs of weakness. But this incident gives me renewed respect. Besides, I'm afraid to write anything different. After all, the man he shot was a lawyer. I don't want him to come after me next.

In one of the largest restitutions ever of art seized by the Nazis, the Dutch government announced Monday that it would return more than 200 old-master paintings to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker, a wealthy Dutch Jewish dealer and collector who fled Amsterdam ahead of advancing German troops in May 1940.

The works include oils by Jan Steen, Filippo Lippi, Anthony van Dyck, Salomon van Ruysdael, Jan Mostaert and Jan van Goyen that have been hanging in 17 Dutch museums and other government buildings since the 1950's. No immediate estimate of their market value was available.

Gender:

Age: (1-18; 19-30; 31-45; 46-60; 60+)

Nationality:

Country of residence:

Sexual Orientation:

Do you have a disability?

How would you describe your political philosophy?

Level of education (primary; post-primary; third-level; graduate; professional)

If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (Ireland)?

If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (UK)?

If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (USA)?

Where do you stand on the EU?

Did you support the invasion of Afghanistan?

Did you support the invasion of Iraq?

Do you continue to support either or both of those conflicts?

What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing Irish politics?

What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing European politics?

What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing international politics?

Are you, have you ever been, and do you ever wish to be involved in politics in a party political manner?

Who would you have voted for in the past US Presidential Election?

I have yet to hear a rational, non-emotional and non-theological argument against legalising abortion in Ireland.

It creates an arbitrary line (birth) after which human dignity and equality comes into force. Before that, a fully genetically complete, growing small human being is somehow less than the rest of us. Refusal to extend the most basic of all human rights, the right to life, to unborn human beings, makes the ubiquitous human rights language that we reference so many of our dilemmas to, negotiable and wholly dependent on social/cultural mores.

Hours after the United States and Europe prevailed in a contest over officially reporting Iran's history of clandestine nuclear activity to the United Nations Security Council, President Bush issued a statement on Saturday from his ranch, saying that the overwhelming vote showed "the world will not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons."

But even some of Mr. Bush's own advisers say that may prove an overstatement. Behind the diplomatic maneuvering, many of the diplomats and nuclear experts involved in the West's effort believe that stopping the program cold is highly unlikely, and probably impossible. They acknowledge that a more realistic goal now is to delay the day that Iran joins the nuclear club.

"Look, the Pakistanis and the North Koreans got there, and they didn't have Iran's money or the engineering expertise," said one senior official who is instrumental in putting together the American strategy. "Sooner or later, it's going to happen. Our job is to make sure it's later." By that time, he said, the hope is that a changed or different government is in power in Tehran.

In part, this is the newfound realism of an administration that has learned some hard lessons in Iraq, and is no longer quite so eager to talk about pre-empting what it regards as looming threats.

I think driver education is also at fault. The whole thrust of driver education is aimed at getting you to pass the test, not at teaching you the principles of safe driving. I don't think the test assesses your abilities to drive safely at all.

I have often thought the posts on here were frivolous, and I've been ill at ease with the notion of rating students, but today changed all that.

I have few rules in my class, but reading what's assigned is essential. Because we're only in our second week here, I've carefully established that reading each small section of text for the next class is the only way we can have an active class the next day. I've led class when I've had to, but I've been generally pleased at how many people seem aware of what our articles cover.

But today, today was a breaking point. I reached a boiling point, and I just want to scream.

I assigned a 4 page article from our textbook, a piece that is about Hollywood, and that mentions several fairly recent movies. The article says - endlessly - that movies form much of American culture, and isn't that too bad, given how single-minded and glib these movies are.

So we gathered in our normal spot, me and 15 sophomores, and I asked the typical opening questions. Nobody was biting, however, so I went to basics. "Well, let's just get the simple things established. What's the point of the article?" No sound. Crickets, maybe.

Then I tried, "Well what is the article about? It's about Hollywood, right? But what's more specific than that?" Nothing again.

Years ago I was taught in a teaching workshop that "letting them wait" is the way to go at times like this. I sipped from my cafeteria coffee and smiled pleasantly. I looked out the window and watched some snow coming down. I counted to ten in my head.

Nothing.Some students shuffled a bit. One brave soul was clearly reading like a madman.

Finally, the one reader raised his hand. "Is it about Russell Crowe?" (He'd located one line early in the piece that mentions a movie Russell Crowe is in, but in no way is the article ABOUT Russell Crowe.)

I didn't say anything.

We all went home early today, that's my point. And now the idea of facing them next week just gives me a pain in my head and my heart.

Cameroon has been rocked by an anti-gay crusade in newspapers that have accused more than 50 prominent figures of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon as in many African countries, with jail sentences of up to five years, and editors say they are on a campaign against "deviant behaviour". The latest list by the weekly tabloid L'Anecdote sold out within hours and vendors resorted to selling photocopies. Those named included government ministers, news readers, popular singers and sports stars.

"Men making love to other men ... is filthy. It may be normal in the west, but in Africa and Cameroon in particular, it is unthinkable," L'Anecdote's publisher, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, told Reuters. "We could not remain silent. We had to ring the alarm bell. We don't regret it and we have to do it again ... in spite of numerous death threats that me and my journalists have had."

The Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee said today that he believed the Bush administration had violated the law with its warrantless surveillance program and that its legal justifications for the program were "strained and unrealistic."

The program "is in flat violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," said the chairman, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who will open committee hearings on Monday.

Dear student, On behalf of the Law Society I wish to announce that this coming Wednesday night, February 8th at 1930 in G19 the debate that "this house would ban victim impact statemets" will be held. This debate is perhaps in light of at the contentious and moving issue that everyone is aware of. Proposing the motion is Frank Buttimer Solicitior for Wayne O' Donoughe and opposing the motion is Brian Leahy, Barrister.

It's clear from the Oscar nominations and current crop of movies that Hollywood just isn't going to aim its cameras at the terrorists who hate us (especially the Hollywood culture) and who try to kill us. In Hollywood, the enemy is the United States of America. Note this wire story about the "political action" in movies says about Oscar nominee "Syriana" and its producer-star, George Clooney: "Clooney and his Section Eight production partner Steven Soderbergh also put their clout on the line to produce "Syriana," writer-director Steven Gaghan's journalistic investigation of the machinations of the U.S. government and oil companies in the Middle East." Has George ever "put his clout on the line" to tell the history of the Syrian Assad family's long support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups who have murdered Americans, Israelis, and other innocents for decades?

The sickest and most egregious display of anti-Americanism and ignorance of Islamic terrorism might be "Valley of the Wolves Iraq," a Turkish-made film with Hollywood veterans Gary Busey and Billy Zane. One article describes it as "American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his mother. They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison - where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv."

Steven Spielberg, Mr. Hollywood, who twisted the terrorist murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics into a criticism of Israeli anti-terrorism tactics in his Oscar-nominated "Munich," provides the rationale behind the burst of political statements, "These movies are asking sensitive questions about racial intolerance and Middle East politics...Some of it is due to our own insecurity about the voices representing us in government right now. We feel like our government has set us adrift, and we're trying to make our voices heard. We're telling them to be worried about these things." Excuse me, we're supposed to be "racially tolerant" of terrorists?!

There are NO movies about our heroes in Afghanistan who liberated a country from the Taliban's and Al Qaeda's murderous grip - not one movie about the detective work that went into the arrest and conviction of Americans who funded Islamic terrorism in the 1990s through the misuse of charities and companies - not one in-theater movie about the victims of the 9/11 attacks and the heinous plot intended, as Bin Laden said afterwards, to kill up to 30,000 innocents. Many of the biggest stars won't visit troops in Iraq, even in the safest zones. Spielberg's statement says it all - these movies are about supporting the "Hate America" movement, and Hollywood really doesn't care about terrorism

Professor Hills,The morning of Friday has now come and gone. A few questions and requests:

1. When did you begin grading our exams?

2. Was it not foreseeable that by giving a 20 page exam with a 6,000 word limit that you were thereby committing yourself to an extensive grading project that would require you to begin grading the exams before whatever your answer to #1 above is?

3. In our review session before the final you sermonized about the professional responsibilities of an attorney. Because we would hold such weighty responsibilities in our professional careers you said that you would impose similar responsibilities regarding the exam. In particular, you made it clear that you would brook no excuse regarding an exam turned in after the 8 hour time limit. You made it clear that we were responsible for planning ahead and ensuring that the 8 hour time limit would be honored. Do you feel no reciprocal responsibility toward us, your students? A responsibility that extends beyond ex post facto apologies?

4. Please stop saying "I'm so sorry". A) The phrase has lost all meaning from constant repetition throughout the entire semester. B) Few students believe you. C) Fewer students care whether you>subjectively impose upon yourself an appropriate level of guilt.

Sincerely,(the law student's name)

The memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:

• Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".
• Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said to have referred Mr Blair to a "small possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".
• Mr Blair told the US president that a second UN resolution would be an "insurance policy", providing "international cover, including with the Arabs" if anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning oil wells, killing children, or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq.
• Mr Bush told the prime minister that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups". Mr Blair did not demur, according to the book.
  

[A]nother hate-filled column in the Irish Examiner yesterday

I should mention that I am a personal friend of Ronan and like him loads – he’s a sincere, bright, articulate guy who does as United Irelander says “challenge mindsets”.

Bring Bloggers together and have them debate Gay Marriage, Feminism, Iraq and Bush, Google in China, Open Source Vs Microsoft. One blogger on the for side and one on the against side. They will be allowed to prepare in advance and the subjectmatter would be topical. Host it in Dublin for now and maybe have this on once a month followed by some socialising after the event. Each event can be sponsored so it is free admission.

But instead of one person on each side of a proposal- the college debate model- why not a general topic and then a panel with a range of views. A short opening statement each, and then a moderated discussion. (Need a stong moderator, mind). The whole shebang taking about 40 mins. Then a mixer.

And, you could record it in front of whoever wanted to come, and release the sound file to everyone who wasn’t in Dublin. Multiple voices makes for a more interesting and varied listen than long blocks of just one person speaking

The FBI notes its ongoing investigations into the threats posed by terrorist groups, specifically those originating in the Middle East.... Because of the nature of these investigative activities, and because of the breadth of Mr. Bassiouni's contacts with the Middle East, the FBI anticipates that it will continue to receive information about Mr. Bassiouni. ... The Bureau's file on Mr. Bassiouni will provide context for evaluating that new information.... We believe that the purposes identified by the Bureau fall within "authorized law enforcement activity" conducted by the FBI. We note ... that the realm of national security belongs to the executive branch, and we owe considerable deference to that branch's assessment in matters of national security. Furthermore, although the Privacy Act certainly does not authorize collection and maintenance of information of private citizens on the "off-hand" chance that such information may someday be useful, it does not require law enforcement agencies to purge, on a continuous basis, properly collected information with respect to individuals that the agency has good reason to believe may be relevant on a continuing basis in the fulfillment of the agency's statutory responsibilities.

Is Brokeback Mountain by homosexual-sympathising pervert Ang Lee. Is Taiwanese. What you expect? But has important message for everyone about youngsters not doing as they are told and how more discipline is needed today.

I have not seen it yet, but is going to win lots of trophies at Oscar ceremonies in sadly decadent and once-powerful United States of America, where the homosexuals in especial live (see Defeatists). I am hoping that Christian religious people will make big protests against this movie. Is indicative of dangers of letting men wear silly outfits and ride on horses, which is thing really only a lady should do. America should have learned from Village People and CHiPS and John Wayne, famous Chicago serial killer who dress up as cowboy AND clown and star in True Grit.

Also I am surprise very much about Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Well, maybe not about Jake Gyllenhaal. But I espect now that they will be famous. You can call me a cynical if you want to, but is clear that film industry is full of them.

It would never happen in Spain.

There is something that does make it slightly more surreal, though - Mark Simpson wrote in his Yahoo! mailing list on 20th January that "the cowboy from the Village People... was the `gay cowboy consultant' on this metro-cowboy movie."

In the end, I think my prediction failed because I overestimated the salience of the abortion issue and the strength and savvy of the Democratic party. Thanks to Sen. Kerry, Democrats have two losses rather than one in a 24-hour period.