China is not taking Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to skip the Olympic Games as a snub, Canadian Foreign Minister David Emerson said Thursday after arriving in Beijing.

Relations between the prime minister, who has yet to visit China, and Chinese President Hu Jintao have been tense ever since Harper said he would not sacrifice human rights for contracts with China.

But Emerson, who is heading Canada's official delegation at the Games, dismissed charges that the decision would worsen recent tensions between Ottawa and Beijing, saying relations with China have entered a period of renewal.

( Insert some witty comment here )

I can't remember the word and I don't have a dictionary nearby...

What's the French word for zebra stripes? I know it's one word.

Au secours!

I packed up everything I don't use on a regular basis today, and had to rearrange my room to calm myself down.

German City Wonders How Green Is Too Green

MARBURG, Germany — This fairy-tale town is stuck in the middle of a utopian struggle over renewable energy. The town council’s decision to require solar-heating panels has thrown Marburg into a vehement debate over the boundaries of ecological good citizenship and led opponents to charge that their genteel town has turned into a “green dictatorship.”

( Every home is better with two scoops of raisins! )

MIAMI - A man is being held in Florida by federal authorities on charges of threatening to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Raymond Hunter Geisel was ordered held without bail Thursday at a brief court hearing.

The Secret Service says Geisel made the threat during a training class for bail bondsmen in Miami in late July. Another tipster said Geisel also threatened President Bush.

A search of Geisel's SUV and hotel room uncovered a loaded handgun, knives, dozens of rounds of ammunition, body armor and a machete. The SUV was wired with emergency lights.

Geisel told the Secret Service he was originally from Bangor, Maine. He contended he made no threat against either Obama or the president.

source

From Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military is segregating violent Iraqi prisoners in wooden crates that in some cases are not much bigger than the prisoners.

The military released photos of what it calls the "segregation boxes" used in Iraq.

Three grainy black-and-white photos show the rudimentary structures of wood and mesh. Some of the boxes are as small as 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 feet tall, according to military officials, although they did not release a picture of a box that size.

The average Iraqi male is 5 feet 9 inches tall, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health. That leaves little room for a prisoner to move once put in the detention box.

The photos were made public after a blogger filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2005.

The military said the boxes are humane and are checked every 15 minutes. It said detainees, who stand in the boxes, are isolated for no more than 12 hours at a time.

"Someone in a segregation box is actually observed more than those anywhere else," said Maj. Neal Fisher, a spokesman for Task Force 134, the Marine unit in charge of detainees. "Their care and custody does not change simply because they are in segregation."

A prisoner has never fallen ill or died because of being held in a segregation box, Fisher said.

Human rights advocates say little is known about how the military treats prisoners inside these boxes.

"There are concerns that they could be used in places where the detainees are enclosed in extremely hot conditions. It is important to know whether or not detainees are provided with food," said Jennifer Daskel of Human Rights Watch.

Prisoners get food and water during their time in the boxes, Fisher said.

Since the abuses at Abu Ghraib , the U.S. has improved conditions for the 20,000 prisoners there, the military said.

But life is tough behind the wire. Hundreds are still considered by the military to be al Qaeda loyalists.

The U.S. military has released about 10,000 Iraqi prisoners and said it hopes to release more. Recently, 20 foreign fighters were sent back to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the military said.

"We are able to capture threats to the Iraqi government and the population, detain them, rehabilitate them, and 99 times out of 100 release them," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Source

If you don't remember Miss Sally...

Teasers: 

    

the rest HERE @ torchcreativity

The al-Jazeera television network yesterday admitted that its coverage of Israel’s release of convicted Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar last month violated the station’s own “code of ethics.” The admission came in response to a threat by Israel’s Government Press Office to boycott the satellite channel unless it apologized.

Israel had said that it would no longer assist al-Jazeera after it hosted a televised party, complete with soft drinks and cake, for convicted child killer Samir Kuntar, freed by Israel last month in a controversial prisoner swap with Hezbollah.

Source: National Review

Complaint filed against Abercrombie & Fitch for denying Muslim girl a job

TULSA, Okla. - A Muslim civil rights group has filed a federal complaint on behalf of a Muslim teenager who alleges she was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because she wears a hijab, or head scarf.

The complaint, filed at the Oklahoma City office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims that a district manager for the clothing store at Woodland Hills Mall told the girl in late June that the head covering, worn by observant Muslim women, didn't fit the chain's image.

"Employers have a clear legal duty to accommodate the religious practices of their workers," said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma, which helped the girl file the complaint. "To deny someone employment because of apparent religious bias goes against long-standing American traditions of tolerance and inclusion."

Hashmi declined to name the girl, but said she is younger than 18.

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers must reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer.

A manager at the Tulsa store referred all questions to the corporate office, which didn't return calls.

Source

Thank you to everyone who remembered. Here's my haul:

My mom got me three pairs of hideous pants which I am really lucky about, cuz they don't fit... so I can return them for something I want. And two shirts that are acceptable and one hideous one.

Coworkers got me:

Tiffany: 2 bags of peanut M&Ms
Bonnie: a card and three small bottles of milk for dinner
Smelly: a set of really nice pens
Anita: a nail care set from bath and body works
Nancy: a bag of fun pens, one with optimus prime and one with superman and a chainlink of pens and a hand one that has a magnet on it so it sticks to things oh and dinner... but I didn't get much
Teri2: flowers and a card, that almost made me cry
Tammy: a bottle of green tea, cuz she didn't know it was my birthday
Marlow: made my birthday cake for me :) funfetti no less!

Marc got me a free beer and, time with him is always a present.


Now that I'm 25, I think I can stop freaking out about it. I was really having a hard time with this number. I don't have a set path in life. I have no idea what I want to be doing. I don't have a career, but my job is okay. At least I have a degree, right? Thing is... I have no idea what I want to do. When I was little I thought I'd be married by now, or at least in a relationship with a career minded job.

So, earlier this year I set up a two year plan... and now that plan has been shattered. Bunac is no longer going to be offering blue cards for England. Those are working visas. If I apply and get my bluecard before September 25th, then I can still go in December. I don't know what to do. I would have to some how pay for school and save up enough money to move to England in the next 4 months and I don't think its doable.

What to do?