IRAQ

STAMPEDE

Tensions are so high in Iraq that when Shi'ite Muslims were making their pilgrimage to a mosque in Baghdad, some fears another mortar attack like the one that happened a couple of hours earlier and this caused a stampede of people, causing 695 to be either trampled or knocked over a bridge into the Tigris river below where they drowned.

ANTIBIOTICS

This is something I have arguments with my nurses about. During the season change, from summer to winter and winter to spring, I develop a cough. It's never much to worry about, but I had one nurse to panic and had the doctor to write out a script for antibiotics, even though I told her I couldn't afford it. Well the medicine came the next day and I had to bounce a check to get it. And I didn't even take it once I got it.

I was told years ago by another doctor that because I've been in one form of antibiotic or another in my life, I ran the risk of becoming drug resistant. So, unless I was running a fever, he wasn't going to write me a script for antibiotics. And I've held on to that advice since them. I refuse all antibiotics unless I'm running a fever. Even then, only after a blood test proves whether its viral or not. Antibiotics do nothing for the flu or colds. Hopefully more people will learn to take them ONLY when they are truly needed.

CONSTITUTION CONTINUED

mojoala said...

no it will be not be the same, imagine us redoing our own constitution and having every single religious denomination involved in the process....

What Mojoala doesn't know is that they were concessions made back then for every religious denomination, that is why, in the bill of rights, there is a freedom of religion. Meaning that people have the right to worship how ever they see fit. That's why there are even atheist and Satanist in the United States. As long as they don't harm anyone, there is no law prohibiting their beliefs. You don't have to agree with their beliefs but they have the right to have them.

STATUTORY RAPE, CONTINUED

mojoala said...

no! Not according to history. Women were married off as soon as they were old enough to breed, atypically around the age of 13.

What does history tell you kenny?

Well, Mojoala, as an undergrad in college I did a research paper on "child sexual abuse" and there was a point in time where the rape of an 8 yr old was considered non-consequential because they believe back then that a girl's virginity grew back and that all the rapist had to do was pay the dowry to the girl's father and she was his bride, at 8 yrs old. What history was like and what the laws are today are two entirely different things.

The Mann Act was created to prevent minors from being taken across states line for the purposes of prostitution. But the law is writing "for immoral purposes". So, if its immoral for an adult male to marry a 14 yr old in the state the girl lives in, taking her to another state that allows such a marriage should be just as wrong, according to the Mann Act.

OIL RESERVES

After all the months of climbing gas prices, the President finally has no choice but to release the Federal Oil Reserves to relieve the oil prices while the country tries to recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

It will be a while before they know out much damage was done to the oil rigs in the gulf and how long before they are back up and running. They say gas could reach as high as $3.50 a gal.

porchwise said...

If you want the real story of the constitution, get your hands on Howard Zinn's book, A Peoples History of the United States. I thought I knew history until I read his book and it threw me on the floor.

Well the book I'm reading not, "The Writers of the Constitution" has a lot of information gleaned from the diaries of those who were at the constitutional convention and some of the same issues being discussed in Iraq was being discussed back then in Philadelphia. How much should religion play a part in government, should there be a central government or should each state have a government that worked independently. The Revolutionary war was fought in 1776, it took them from then until 1789 to get a constitution that everyone agreed on. And then there were some things that had to be worked out. So, its not hard to understand that Iraq isn't going to get it right the first time out.

And one little known fact, since Louisiana is in the spotlight due to the hurricane, did anyone know that most of the states based their own laws in British Common Law with the exception of Louisiana, theirs is based on Roman law. So, over 200 yrs in existence there are still some differences among the states.

FRENCH FIRES

In less that a weeks time, 24 immigrants have died in fires in Paris' lower income housing areas. There were seven in the first fire and 14 in the second. Fourteen people were in a single apartment. The people are calling for France's President, Chirac to do something about the fire safety in the lower class neighborhood.

CONSTITUTION

like the author of that article said, it took our own constitutional congress a long time to come up with a constitution that everyone could agree on. Even then, they had a several committees set up to deal with those items that couldn't be agreed on right off the bat. It took them a long time to get a constitution that everyone was happy with, and it will be the same way in Iraq. Just let them work out their differences.

STATUTORY RAPE

Yes they could technically charge him with statutory rape but what about her parents taking them across state lines to get married. Isn't that a violation of the Mann Act?

MANN

The Mann Act is to protect minors from being transported over state lines for immoral purposes. Is marriage between a 21 yr old man and a 14 yr old girl considered immoral?

LEVEES

I know they says that after all the years of holding back the water, what is the point? Well, New Orleans is just a city that's surrounded by water. What about a whole country that its sole survival is based on holding back the tide? The Netherlands, aka, Holland is famous for the windmills seen near the shore, but those windmills are pumps, keeping the water from reclaiming the country. There are parts of Holland that is 7 meters below sea level.

HOLLAND

So, when you ask why did they build the city there or should they rebuild in an area that is a flood plane, Just remember, New Orleans has been there since the French owned the territory in the 1600's.

SUPERDOME

The Governor of LA didn't think the Superdome would be a great fall out shelter from the storm because it was near the center of the city and the lowest in elevation, but they never expected the skin covering the dome would be peeled off by the winds. Several tears in the metallic fabric covering the dome, allowed the rain to come into parts of the stadium and getting people wet. Those who came there to escape the storm. They said that the structural integrity of the building was still safe.

CHAVEZ

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that he will take televangelist to court and try to get him extradite to Venezuela because he said on national TV that is Chavez is so worried about being assassinated, someone should just go ahead and do it. Its first time I've heard a religious leader calling for the murder of someone.

CHINA

China has always been a closed society. Only recently are they really allowing Western countries to set up companies there. Back in colonial times, China rarely traded with many countries, they would export their silk and art and tea but hardly ever imported anything. Great Britain was the main consumer of China's tea and silk, but they couldn't get China to purchase anything from them until the British introduced the Chinese to opium. The drug had long been used to stop diarrhea, but then the Chinese started using it recreationally. So much so that farmers and other tradesmen would rather get high on opium than to work their fields or produce goods. China finally went to war with Great Britain. Finally, in 1842, China and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Britain took possession of Hong Kong, as well as several other ports.

So, now they are looking to buy, not only western media but even oil companies. For a country that had no need for good from the west, they have changed their tune.

ACCOUNTING

Encyclopedia.com defines an accountant as:

The accountant evaluates records drawn up by the bookkeeper and shows the results of this investigation as losses and gains, leakages, economies, or changes in value, so as to reveal the progress or failures of the business and also its future limitations and possibilities. Accountants must also be able to draw up a set of financial records and prescribe the system of accounts that will most easily give the desired information; they must be capable of arriving at a comprehensive view of the economic and the legal aspects of a business, envisaging the effect of every sort of transaction on the profit-and-loss statement; and they must recognize and classify all other factors that enter into the determination of the true condition of the business (e.g., statistics or memoranda relating to production; properties and financial records representing investments, expenditures, receipts, fiscal changes, and present standing). Cost accounting shows the actual cost, over a certain period of time, of particular services rendered or of articles produced; by this system unprofitable ventures, services, departments, and methods may be discovered. The emphasis is on "the legal aspects of the business," something they should have learned from Authur Anderson and the Eron scandal.

wheelchairs

WHEELCHAIRS

I wrote about this before but it was on Scrawlville, so any new readers can know my feeling about the subject. I don't understand why it takes a war for things to get better for those of us who have been in wheelchairs most of our lives. The "Rehabiliation Act of 1972" was the result of the Vietnam War. There were disabled people before we ever got involved in it. I was born in 1961, not long but BEFORE we got so heavily involved in that conflict. Then they came up with the "People with Disabilities Act of 1994", because so many soldiers came back from Desert Storm without legs or arms. I was here the whole time. Before 1994, I couldn't get any employer to even look in my direction. Now because of "Iraqi Freedom" they have reinvented the wheelchair. Well, I've been in one since I was 8 yrs old and changes have been very slow in coming.

For those who may be new to me, I call this blog "Ironsides Rants" because one, I'm in a wheelchair and the tv show "Ironsides" was my favorite, a cop in a wheelchair. Unfortunately for me, I found out the difference from tv and reality. And secondly because as you can see, if something bothers me, I don't hesitate to let anyone know about it.

I have home healthcare nurses that come twice a week and they kind of gave me a compliment last year. The Alabama Legislature was going to send out a fact finding committee with home healthcare nurses to see what their patients concerns might be. Well, my two nurses volunteered me as their spokesman because they said i'm not shy and I'm not afraid of expressing my opinion. And I have my friend Dennis to thank for getting me started blogging. I lived across from his family for over 20 yrs and we have always got into debates about current events. So, one day he told me his work schedule had gotten to the point were we couldn't get together and have these debates as much, but if I wanted, he would set up a blog were I could debate other people. And so he did.

I like debating as long as there are facts to back up the person's opinion, not just feelings. I don't get personal nor do I take things personally if you don't agree with me. I just like the mental exercise of the debates, and a good knowledge of the facts. Oh and I'm a history buff so I do make references to history alot.

I hope I have alot of fun here on Blogspot.

PAT ROBERTSON CONTINUED

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/27/international/americas/27venez.htm

Because of Pat Robertson’s statements the Venezuelan Gov’t has stopped all visas for foreign religious leaders wanting to enter the country.  This is in response to Pat Robertson saying on national tv that someone should assassinate the Venezuelan President.    

IRAQI CONSTITUTION

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?


At least the Sunnis are making an effort to contribute to the Iraqi constitution.  It’s not something that is going to be solved overnight.  I just got through reading a book about the writers of our own constitution and the months it took to write and revise.  The good news is that the Sunnis are trying to be a part of the Government.  Now, I agree with taking care of the Kurds and Shi’ites but I don’t see protecting the Baath party.