political nonsense

A survey found that almost 60 percent of the military community are critical of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war.
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Israel approved a cutoff of fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.
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Australia ratified the Kyoto protocol, leaving the United States the only major industrialized country not to do so.
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Voters in Venezuela narrowly defeated a referendum on changing their constitution to abolish presidential term limits and vastly increase President Hugo Chavez’s executive powers.
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Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear “Muhammad.”
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China and France signed a bilateral pact to fight against climate change together.
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The UN Committee Against Torture has determined the use of taser stun guns can be a form of torture and violate the UN Convention Against Torture. Four men in the United States and three in Canada have died after being shot with tasers in the past two weeks.
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Australia’s new Prime Minister pledged to sign the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the US as the only major economy which still opposes the agreement, scientists warned that poor people will bear the brunt of climate change, and Oxfam found that more than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, in a study Sunday that largely blamed global warming.
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The Bush administration threatened to lay off up to 150,000 civilian workers at military bases in mid-December if Congress does not approve unrestricted Iraq funding immediately, around 60% of all foreign militants who entered Iraq to fight over the past year came from two of America’s allies- Saudi Arabia and Libya, a former top US commander in Iraq has come out in support of withdrawing most combat troops by the end of next year, and Al Qaeda insurgents disguised as members of a Sunni alliance council attacked the council’s headquarters outside Baghdad leaving at least 18 people dead.
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Swedish women were fighting for their right to go topless.
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OPEC’s members have expressed interest in converting their cash reserves into a currency other than the depreciating U.S. dollar, referred to by the President of Iran as a “worthless piece of paper.”
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Santas in Australia were told not to say “ho ho ho” because it may be offensive to women. Sydney’s Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say “ha ha ha”, the Daily Telegraph reported.

[ho ho ho?]
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The House approved a war funding bill ordering President Bush to withdraw most troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
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It was reported that UK newspapers report on climate change 3 times as much as the US, and they did it more accurately.
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It was revealed that US snipers would kill Iraqis that picked up fake guns they had planted as bait regardless of any further indication they were insurgents, the US contested that the quantity of Iranian bomb-making components being found in Iraq is increasing and 20 Iranian-trained agents are still operating south of Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced amnesty for detainees who had been “deceived” into joining the insurgency in Iraq, and the head of police intelligence in Iraq’s Kerbala province was detained after roadside bombs and other weapons were found in a raid on his house.
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A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people, including five MPs and several children, in northern Afghanistan.
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The United Nations called on Israel to stop its daily air violations of Lebanese airspace.
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In Afghanistan, at least 60 people have been killed and 50 injured in a suicide bombing targeting Afghan lawmakers. The dead include six parliamentarians, as well as schoolchildren and senior citizens. It was the worst suicide bombing in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in 2001.
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A Swiss survey found that teenagers that smoke weed function better than teen tobacco-users, are more socially driven and have fewer psychosocial problems than those who do not use either substance. US doctors disagreed.
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It was reported that 2007 was the deadliest year yet for US troops in Iraq, hundreds of US diplomats protested against a government move to force them to accept postings in war-torn Iraq, the UN reported that independent security contractors in Iraq are mercenaries, Congress approved a $459 billion military spending bill, and the Pentagon was secretly reviewing plans to ease enlistment standards to make up for recruiting shortfalls. The number of recruits seeking waivers for criminal behavior rose three percent last year to nearly one-fifth of all prospective servicemembers. Two-thirds of the waivers were approved.
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