Poll_Blind
Poll_Blind's JournalBritain ready to back Palestinian statehood at UN
Source: The Guardian
Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.
Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has called for Britain's backing in part because of its historic responsibility for Palestine. The government has previously refused, citing strong US and Israeli objections and fears of long-term damage to prospects for negotiations.
On Monday night, the government signalled it would change tack and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application, which is to be debated by the UN general assembly in New York later this week. As a "non-member state", Palestine would have the same status as the Vatican.
Whitehall officials said the Palestinians were now being asked to refrain from applying for membership of the international criminal court or the international court of justice, which could both be used to pursue war crimes charges or other legal claims against Israel.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/27/uk-ready-to-back-palestine-statehood
My word.
PB
Look, I had a ménage à trois with a succubus and my roomate in college. But that doesn't make...
...me gay.
That makes me...a WARLOCK, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!
PB
DeFazio: Let's close a tax loophole for millionaires and billionaires to fix Social Security
Sounds really goddamned reasonable to me!
PB
"He was preeminently the white man’s President, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men."
A quote from Frederick Douglass, Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln
Both Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X would have said something similar, were they alive today. And that's not hyperbole, either. Read the oration from which that's excerpted, read the Autobiography of Malcolm X and listen to his post-Mecca writings and speeches.
It's because Douglass, Malcolm X and Cornell West all have one thing in common: They were black populists.
Mary Todd Lincoln understood this, as most of you apparently don't seem to, and recognized Douglass in return for his honesty in describing her late husband.
What Dr. West has said is, on inspection, no true calumny.
PB
TPM: Jill Kelley, An Embarrassment to Honorary Consuls Everywhere
Jill Kelley, An Embarrassment to Honorary Consuls EverywhereBut this was premature.
It turns out that Kelley is actually an “Honorary Consul” of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At first, I thought this was just another one of Kelley’s ridiculous faux titles, something you get for throwing a party or perhaps for anything as long as the ambassador drunk.
But I was too quick to dismiss this. ‘Honorary consuls” are a real thing. Or at least they can be, whatever Kelley was doing with the title. I talked this evening to a diplomatic from an Asia nation (not Korea) who explained that they’re often used when a country doesn’t have consular representation in a particular city or region. So for instance if you’re from Country X and you’re visiting Florida and you get into a jam or lose your passport you can contact the ‘Honorary Consul” to help you get a new passport or help you out in much the same way your embassy or an official consul might.
Oh you know much more at the link!
Here's a sample of what an honorary consular ID looks like:
They get the red-bordered cards. Those are the good ones! You can see the whole range here. Collect 'em all!
Oh, and the license plates like you see HERE? Apparently legit, issued from the state. I need to get a fucking bus pass holder with that shit emblazoned on it.
PB
I AM TOTALLY ALL OVER THAT SHIT NOW- I want to collect those titles like Pokemon.
But fuck that shit with France or some country that's going to check with my parole officer.
Namibia. Namibia's not going to check up on me. They would totally make me an Honorary Council. I just fucking got a haircut, too.
PB
I find it deeply unnerving that so many voted for Romney. I just...do.
In some ways, it was worse than the folks who voted for Bush in 2004. With McCain, I dunno. That was a whole 'nother brand of misguided. But the people who voted for Bush in 2004 and the folks who voted for Romney yesterday...
I just don't know who these people are. They are strangers, who're either dangerously ignorant or subscribers to dangerous ideologies.
And there are so many tens of millions of them.
In my secret happy place, the one which involves not just Democratic success but success for everyone in America, I hope some large portion of those who voted for Romney did so out of duty to party and not out of identification. Reasonable conservatives- people who are against big government or issues voters, such as those who can't identify with the Democratic party because of our pro-choice stance or something like that.
I know there is some portion of that group who voted for Romney who do not genuinely hold the toxic ideas that he and Ryan stood for...but the day after an election, you can't help but wondering how many on the other side cast that vote out of desire or "necessity".
It's a cold thought to think of living in a country where around half the people are smiles and nods about what Romney truly stood for.
It really is.
That's your ghost story for the night.
PB
LOL! As IF. We NEED to show the Republicans we're willing to make painful sacrifices!
Sacrifices liiiiiiiike.....YOU!
See, wasn't that easy and don't you feel magnanimous?
PB
Oh shit: Seattle Times Action Shows Limits of Citizens United
[div class="excerpt" style="border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: none; border-radius: 0.3846em 0.3846em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Seattle Times Action Shows Limits of Citizens United[div class="excerpt" style="border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: none; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3846em 0.3846em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]This week the Seattle Times Co. announced that it would run $75,000 worth of independent expenditure ads on behalf of Rob McKenna, the Republican nominee for governor in Washington -- at the company's expense. It is also giving $75,000 of free ad space to the campaign backing a referendum to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
The company says this is an effort to demonstrate the value of print advertising for political campaigns; they hope that these free ads will work so well that other people will pay for them in the future. This is a totally bizarre ad marketing strategy, as noted by Eli Sanders at the Stranger and Derek Thompson at the Atlantic.
In some ways, this is the nightmare scenario that opponents of Citizens United worry about. A media company is using its access to a broad audience to run free ads for a desired candidate, with no ability for federal or state law to stop them.
More at the link!
"In some ways, this is the nightmare scenario"? In some ways?
Giant media corporations, running free ads for candidates who will do their bidding. The only thing they need to worry about is whether their "objectivity" will suffer in the minds of consumers? As if FOX didn't prove the model for this shit.
Wow. Sorry, while they're trying to be "fair and balanced" by donating the same amount of ad space for a good cause (same sex marriage), think about the precedent this will set in the future.
"...no ability for federal or state law to stop them."
PB
Fear into Hilarity: 117 pictures of reactions to the same Haunted House scare
Only those who've seen it or built it know what these poor unsuspecting haunted house patrons saw, but whatever it is it clearly elicits the most hilarious, eye-popping fearful reactions I've ever seen.
From CBS News
Oh, want even more? This gallery is just "Part 2"
Two other galleries from (I believe) different scares at the same funnhouse:
Part 1
Part 3
BONUS! Post your pics of what you think they saw, heh heh!
PB
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