Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalUruguay Lawmakers Vote to Legalize Gay Marriage
Source: Associated Press
Uruguay lawmakers vote to legalize gay marriage
Associated Press
Posted on April 10, 2013 at 5:06 PM
Updated today at 7:07 PM
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's lawmakers have voted to legalize gay marriage.
Their vote makes Uruguay the third country in the Americas after Canada and Argentina to eliminate laws making marriage, adoption and other family rights exclusive to heterosexuals. In all, 11 other nations around the world have already taken this step.
The law was backed by 71 of the senators in the 92-seat legislature in Wednesday's vote.
The "marriage equality project" was already approved by ample majorities in both houses, but senators made some changes requiring a final vote by the deputies.
President Jose Mujica's ruling Broad Front majority is expected to put the law into effect within 10 days.
Read more: http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/202407221.html
WikiLeaks: 'Chilling Cable from Iraq to UN Sec Council Immediately Before Powell UN Presentation'
http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/03USUNNEWYORK298_a.html#efmAbaBbMUN/IRAQ: IRAQ SENDS LETTER PRE-EMPTIVELY TAKING ISSUE WITH THE SECRETARY'S FEBRUARY 5 PRESENTATION
Date:2003 February 6, 00:21 (Thursday) Canonical ID:03USUNNEWYORK298_a
Original Classification:UNCLASSIFIED Current Classification:UNCLASSIFIED
Handling Restrictions:-- Not Assigned -- Character Count:4562
Executive Order:-- Not Assigned -- Locator:TEXT ONLINE
TAGS:IZ - Iraq | PARM - Political Affairs--Arms Controls and Disarmament | PREL - Political Affairs--External Political Relations | UNSC - UN Security Council Concepts:-- Not Assigned --
Enclosure:-- Not Assigned -- Type:TE
Office Origin:-- N/A or Blank --
Office Action:-- N/A or Blank -- Archive Status:-- Not Assigned --
From:United Nations (New York) Markings:-- Not Assigned --
To:Central Intelligence Agency | Defense Intelligence Agency | Department of Defense | Department of State | Iraq Iraq Collective | Joint Chiefs of Staff | National Security Council | United Nations Security Council | White House
ISSUE WITH THE SECRETARY'S FEBRUARY 5 PRESENTATION
1. (U) IRAQI FM NAJI SABRI SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO
THE SECURITY COUNCIL (S/2003/132), CONCERNING THE U.S.
PRESENTATION TO THE COUNCIL ON FEBRUARY 5. THE FULL TEXT OF
THE LETTER FOLLOWS IN PARA 2.
2. (U) BEGIN TEXT.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS
CALLED FOR A MEETING OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON 5 FEBRUARY
2003 AT WHICH UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL
WILL PRESENT WHAT HAS BEEN DUBBED "EVIDENCE OF IRAQ'S
POSSESSION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION."
THIS PLAY-ACTING HAS BECOME TRANSPARENT AFTER THE SUBMISSION
BY THE UNITED STATES OF MORE THAN ONE REPORT FILLED WITH
ALLEGATIONS AND ACCUSATIONS DEVOID OF ANY EVIDENCE TO
SUBSTANTIATE THEM, SUCH AS THE REPORT ANNEXED TO THE SPEECH
OF UNITED STATES PRESIDENT BUSH BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2002, ENTITLED "A DECADE OF DECEPTION AND
DEFIANCE," AND THE REPORT OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
(CIA) OF OCTOBER 2002, ENTITLED "IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION PROGRAMS." IN BOTH THOSE REPORTS, THE BUSH
ADMINISTRATION ACCUSED IRAQ OF DEVELOPING WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION AT MORE THAN 50 SITES. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
TONY BLAIR HAS PLAYED A SUPPORTING ROLE IN THIS REGARD,
PUBLISHING A SIMILAR REPORT IN OCTOBER 2002 IN WHICH HE
CLAIMED THAT THERE EXISTED SPECIFIC SITES IN IRAQ AT WHICH
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WERE BEING DEVELOPED.
AFTER IRAQ ACCEPTED THE RETURN OF THE INSPECTORS ON 16
SEPTEMBER 2002 AND AGREED TO DEAL WITH SECURITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION 1441 (2002), THE UNITED NATIONS MONITORING,
VERIFICATION AND INSPECTION COMMISSION (UNMOVIC) AND THE
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) WERE REQUESTED TO
ACCORD PRIORITY, IN RESUMING INSPECTIONS, TO SITES ALLEGED BY
THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN TO BE DEVELOPING WEAPONS OF
MASS DESTRUCTION PROGRAMMES.
INSPECTION WORK BEGAN ON 27 NOVEMBER 2002. AFTER TWO MONTHS
OF INTENSIVE INSPECTIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF
STATE-OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT FOR DETECTING ANY PROSCRIBED
NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY AND THE ANALYSIS OF
WATER, SOIL AND AIR SAMPLES ALL OVER IRAQ DURING 518 TOURS OF
INSPECTION COMPRISING ALL THE SITES THAT WERE THE OBJECT OF
PRESIDENT BUSH'S AND PRIME MINISTER BLAIR'S ACCUSATIONS, AS
WELL AS NUMEROUS OTHER SITES, INCLUDING RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS
IN IRAQI CITIES, THE REPORT OF MESSRS. BLIX AND ELBARADEI,
SUBMITTED TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON 27 JANUARY 2003,
SUBSTANTIATED IRAQ'S DECLARATIONS AND CONSEQUENTLY CONFIRMED
THAT THE REPORTS OF PRESIDENT BUSH AND PRIME MINISTER BLAIR
WERE DEVOID OF TRUTH AND HAD BEEN DRAFTED IN ORDER TO DISTORT
THE PICTURE OF IRAQ AND CREATE PRETEXTS FOR AGGRESSION
AGAINST IRAQ AND AGAINST THE REGION AS A WHOLE.
PERHAPS THIS FACT EXPLAINS THE URGENT REQUESTS ADDRESSED TO
STATES BY MESSRS. BLIX AND ELBARADEI TO PROVIDE UNMOVIC AND
IAEA WITH VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE OF ANY PROSCRIBED ACTIVITIES,
SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS IN IRAQ AND THE INSISTENCE OF STATES
MEMBERS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL THAT THOSE STATES WHICH ARE
ALLEGING THAT IRAQ IS DEVELOPING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
SUBMIT THEIR EVIDENCE TO UNMOVIC AND IAEA PURSUANT TO
PARAGRAPH 10 OF RESOLUTION 1441 (2002), WHICH READS,
"REQUESTS ALL MEMBER STATES TO GIVE FULL SUPPORT TO UNMOVIC
AND THE IAEA IN THE DISCHARGE OF THEIR MANDATES, INCLUDING BY
PROVIDING ANY INFORMATION RELATED TO PROHIBITED PROGRAMMES OR
OTHER ASPECTS OF THEIR MANDATES ..."
ON THE BASIS OF THE ABOVE TEXT, CONTAINED IN THE SECURITY
COUNCIL RESOLUTION, WE REQUEST THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, THROUGH YOU, TO SUBMIT IMMEDIATELY ITS ALLEGED
EVIDENCE TO THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ENTRUSTED BY THE UNITED
NATIONS WITH VERIFYING SUCH ALLEGATIONS, NAMELY UNMOVIC (IF
THEY RELATE TO PROSCRIBED ACTIVITIES IN THE CHEMICAL,
BIOLOGICAL OR MISSILE FIELDS) OR IAEA (IF THEY RELATE TO
PROSCRIBED ACTIVITIES IN THE NUCLEAR FIELD), SO AS TO ENABLE
THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS TO BEGIN THEIR INVESTIGATIONS
IMMEDIATELY AND INFORM THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF THE EXTENT TO WHICH THOSE
ALLEGATIONS ARE CORRECT.
IN THIS CONNECTION, WE CAUTION AGAINST USING THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OR THE SECURITY COUNCIL AS FORUMS FOR SPREADING
FALSE ACCUSATIONS AND FABRICATED EVIDENCE IN OPEN DISREGARD
FOR THE MECHANISMS PRESCRIBED BY THE SECURITY COUNCIL
Ashley Judd Responds To Secret Tape: ‘We Expected Nothing Less From Mitch McConnell And His Camp’
Source: TPM
Ashley Judd Responds To Secret Tape: ‘We Expected Nothing Less From Mitch McConnell And His Camp’
TOM KLUDT 2:27 PM EDT, TUESDAY APRIL 9, 2013
Actress Ashley Judd on Tuesday responded to an audio tape revealing an aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) discussing her history with depression and how it might be used in a campaign.
Judd, who announced last month that she won't be challenging Kentucky's senior senator in 2014, blasted McConnell in a statement read on MSNBC for being so flippant with regard to a "personal struggle such as depression."
"This is yet another example of the politics of personal destruction that embody Mitch McConnell and are pervasive in Washington, D.C," Judd said in the statement. "We expected nothing less from Mitch McConnell and his camp to take a personal struggle such as depression, which many Americans cope with on a daily basis, and turn it into a laughing matter."
McConnell's camp has asked the FBI to investigate the recordings of the secret meeting, which were obtained and reported on by David Corn of Mother Jones. Corn later countered the GOP charges, asserting that the audio wasn't the product of a "Watergate-style bugging operation" as some Republicans have contended.
Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/ashley-judd-responds-to-secret-tape-i-expect
Judge Rules Obama Administration Overlooked Fracking Risks in California Mineral Leases
Source: Reuters
Judge rules Obama administration overlooked fracking risks in California mineral leases
By Rory Carroll
Tue Apr 9, 2013 1:11am EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal judge has ruled the Obama administration broke the law when it issued oil leases in central California without fully weighing the environmental impact of "fracking," a setback for companies seeking to exploit the region's enormous energy resources.
The decision, made public on Monday, effectively bars for the time being any drilling on two tracts of land comprising 2,500 acres leased for oil and gas development in 2011 by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (in Monterey County.
The tracts lie atop a massive bed of sedimentary rock known as the Monterey Shale Formation, estimated by the Energy Department to contain more than 15 billion barrels of oil, equal to 64 percent of the total U.S. shale oil reserves.
Most of that oil is not economically retrievable except by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a production-boosting technique in which large amounts of water, sand and chemicals are injected into shale formations to force hydrocarbon fuels to the surface.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE93803720130409
New Leak Found at Fukushima Plant Water Storage Pool: Regulator
Source: Reuters
New leak found at Fukushima plant water storage pool: regulator
Tue Apr 9, 2013 1:01am EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear regulator said on Tuesday another leak was found in Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc's (Tepco) underground water storage pool at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where contaminated water was being transferred from an already leaking pool.
The fresh leak was found in the No. 1 pool where contaminated water from the leaking No. 2 pool was being transferred, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said on Tuesday. The regulator said Tepco had halted the transfer of the contaminated water.
Tepco, recently dogged by a series of mishaps at the nuclear plant devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami two years ago, had just said on Monday it had began transferring contaminated water from the No. 2 pool to the No. 1 pool.
(Reporting by Risa Maeda and Mari Saito; Editing by Shinichi Saoshiro)
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE93802W20130409
Glenn Greenwald on Margaret Thatcher and Misapplied Death Etiquette
http://www.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquetteMonday 8 April 2013 10.41 EDT
Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette
The dictate that one 'not speak ill of the dead' is (at best) appropriate for private individuals, not influential public figures
Glenn Greenwald
News of Margaret Thatcher's death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: "I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today." Following in the footsteps of Santa Claus, Steve Hynd quickly compiled a list of all the naughty boys and girls "on the left" who dared to express criticisms of the dearly departed Prime Minister, warning that he "will continue to add to this list throughout the day". Former Tory MP Louise Mensch, with no apparent sense of irony, invoked precepts of propriety to announce: "Pygmies of the left so predictably embarrassing yourselves, know this: not a one of your leaders will ever be globally mourned like her."
This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure's death is not just misguided but dangerous. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power. "Respecting the grief" of Thatcher's family members is appropriate if one is friends with them or attends a wake they organize, but the protocols are fundamentally different when it comes to public discourse about the person's life and political acts. I made this argument at length last year when Christopher Hitchens died and a speak-no-ill rule about him was instantly imposed (a rule he, more than anyone, viciously violated), and I won't repeat that argument today; those interested can read my reasoning here.
But the key point is this: those who admire the deceased public figure (and their politics) aren't silent at all. They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography. Typifying these highly dubious claims about Thatcher was this (appropriately diplomatic) statement from President Obama: "The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend." Those gushing depictions can be quite consequential, as it was for the week-long tidal wave of unbroken reverence that was heaped on Ronald Reagan upon his death, an episode that to this day shapes how Americans view him and the political ideas he symbolized. Demanding that no criticisms be voiced to counter that hagiography is to enable false history and a propagandistic whitewashing of bad acts, distortions that become quickly ossified and then endure by virtue of no opposition and the powerful emotions created by death. When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms.
Whatever else may be true of her, Thatcher engaged in incredibly consequential acts that affected millions of people around the world. She played a key role not only in bringing about the first Gulf War but also using her influence to publicly advocate for the 2003 attack on Iraq. She denounced Nelson Mandela and his ANC as "terrorists", something even David Cameron ultimately admitted was wrong. She was a steadfast friend to brutal tyrants such as Augusto Pinochet, Saddam Hussein and Indonesian dictator General Suharto ("One of our very best and most valuable friends"
. And as my Guardian colleague Seumas Milne detailed last year, "across Britain Thatcher is still hated for the damage she inflicted – and for her political legacy of rampant inequality and greed, privatisation and social breakdown."
MORE[p]
21 Incredibly Angry Songs About Margaret Thatcher
TWO DIFFERENT songs called "The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies!" ...http://www.buzzfeed.com/angelameiquan/21-incredibly-angry-songs-about-margaret-thatcher
21 Incredibly Angry Songs About Margaret Thatcher
The former prime minister inspired bitter tunes by Elvis Costello, Morrissey, Pink Floyd, and many others. Update: She died April 8, 2013, at age 87 — though her death was celebrated by musicians years ago.
Margaret Thatcher served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. Nicknamed the Iron Lady, Thatcher was known for her steadfast conservative politics. Thatcher's term coincided with a boom in English music in the wake of the punk movement, and much of this music harshly criticized her policies or straight up attacked her on a personal level. Bands tapped into the atmosphere of anger and discontent in Thatcher's England, singing about everything from high unemployment rates to the Falklands War.
- snip -
4. The Specials, "Ghost Town" (1981)
Another ska classic about Thatcher. "This town's becoming like a ghost town / Government leaving the youth on the shelf."
- snip -
8. Pink Floyd, "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (1983)
Roger Waters envisions "The Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings" in this song from The Final Cut, naming Margaret Thatcher as one of the tyrants in residence.
- snip -
13. Morrissey, "Margaret on the Guillotine" (1988)
This song from Morrissey's debut solo album Viva Hate, which calls for Thatcher's death, made him the subject of an official investigation by British police.
14. Elvis Costello, "Tramp the Dirt Down" (1989)
Costello fantasizes about stomping on Thatcher's grave in this harshly condemning cut from Spike, singing "And when they finally lay you in the ground / I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down."
- snip -
20. Frank Turner, "Thatcher Fucked the Kids" (2006)
Turner reckons with the lasting influence of Thatcher in this cut from Campfire Punkrock singing, "Blame the folks who sold the future for the highest bid / That's right, Thatcher fucked the kids."
REST OF LIST AT LINK[p]
Paul Krugman in NYT on Obamacare and GOP's "Freedom" Bullshit...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/opinion/krugman-insurance-and-freedom.htmlInsurance and Freedom
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 7, 2013
- snip -
It goes without saying that Republicans oppose any expansion of programs that help the less fortunate — along with tax cuts for the wealthy, such opposition is pretty much what defines modern conservatism. But they seem to be having more trouble than in the past defending their opposition without simply coming across as big meanies.
- snip -
Conservatives love, for example, to quote from a stirring speech Reagan gave in 1961, in which he warned of a grim future unless patriots took a stand. (Liz Cheney used it in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article just a few days ago.) “If you and I don’t do this,” Reagan declared, “then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” What you might not guess from the lofty language is that “this” — the heroic act Reagan was calling on his listeners to perform — was a concerted effort to block the enactment of Medicare.
These days, conservatives make very similar arguments against Obamacare. For example, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has called it the “greatest assault on freedom in our lifetime.” And this kind of rhetoric matters, because when it comes to the main obstacle now remaining to more or less universal health coverage — the reluctance of Republican governors to allow the Medicaid expansion that is a key part of reform — it’s pretty much all the right has.
As I’ve already suggested, the old trick of blaming the needy for their need doesn’t seem to play the way it used to, and especially not on health care: perhaps because the experience of losing insurance is so common, Medicaid enjoys remarkably strong public support. And now that health reform is the law of the land, the economic and fiscal case for individual states to accept Medicaid expansion is overwhelming. That’s why business interests strongly support expansion just about everywhere — even in Texas. But such practical concerns can be set aside if you can successfully argue that insurance is slavery.
Of course, it isn’t. In fact, it’s hard to think of a proposition that has been more thoroughly refuted by history than the notion that social insurance undermines a free society. Almost 70 years have passed since Friedrich Hayek predicted (or at any rate was understood by his admirers to predict) that Britain’s welfare state would put the nation on the slippery slope to Stalinism; 45 years have passed since Medicare went into effect; as far as most of us can tell, freedom hasn’t died on either side of the Atlantic.
MORE AT LINK[p]
BREAKING: Youngest son of Calif. Pastor Rick Warren commits suicide
Source: CBS News
@CBSNews: BREAKING: Youngest son of Calif. Pastor Rick Warren commits suicide, Warren's Saddleback church says in statement
Will update
Read more: Link to source
Afghan Attacks Kill U.S. Diplomat, Soldiers, Others
Source: Reuters
Afghan attacks kill U.S. diplomat, soldiers, others
Sat Apr 6, 2013 4:21pm EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A car bomb blast killed five Americans, including three U.S. soldiers and a young diplomat, on Saturday, while an American civilian died in a separate attack in the east.
The diplomat, whose name was not given, and other Americans were in a convoy of vehicles in Zabul province when the blast occurred, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.
The soldiers and the diplomat died in the blast along with a civilian employee of the Defense Department and Afghan civilians, Kerry said. His statement gave no overall death toll.
Local and international officials in the region said earlier that six people died in the blast: three U.S. soldiers, two U.S. civilians and an Afghan doctor.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE93506820130406
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