Air Strike in Afghanistan

This is why we are here on this earth, this is why we go to University, it is a duty upon us, as people who have a clear advantage over everyone else in the world, to use our education, to use our political influence to prevent things like this from ever happening. This is why we have to strive for excellence, anything less than excellent will not suffice in our efforts to make a difference.

Swine Flu in Afghanistan

In a precautionary effort Afghanistan has quarantined it's pig population to protect the country from the swine flu epidemic that is sweeping the globe. Last year china donated a pig to the Afghanistan zoo and the pig population skyrocketed from 0 to 1. The one pig is currently under quarantine and safe from infection.

"There are no pig farms in Afghanistan and no direct civilian flights between Kabul and Mexico."

Must read : Reuters

Biden Also Angry at Israel

I have to say, 90% of what this guy says is pretty lame but that 10% is his saving grace. Plus, I always can feel safer about a politician if they're not mega millionaires.

Biden said at an AIPAC conference:

"Israel has to work toward a two-state solution," he said. "You're not going to like my saying this, but [don't] build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow Palestinians freedom of movement."

via LAtimes

You wouldn't like the UN when it's angry, actually there's no difference

Apparently the UN is mad at Israel for destroying UN property on Palestinian ground, honestly after Kofi Anan and the whole Iraq war debate in the Security Council, I doubt anybody gives a crap about what the UN thinks.

via nytimes

Bill Clinton On Democracy in Palestine

Torture

The torture debate has been going on for a while now, I thought this was an interesting statistic


Narrated Ibn 'Umar: The Prophet said, "A woman entered the (Hell) Fire because of a cat which she had tied, neither giving it food nor setting it free to eat from the vermin of the earth."

I think it's safe to assume that if a woman was sent to hell for torturing a cat then torture is not an Islamic quality, in fact it is extremely reprehensible no matter who is being tortured. All experts agree that torture is not an effective way of getting information out of somebody.

Via Christians and Torture

While I slept, Gaza bled

An Op-Ed in the LA Times by Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy of Hamas' political bureau.

Renewed calls today for our movement to "recognize the right of Israel to exist," in the face of murderous onslaught, ring as hollow as Israel's continuing claims to be acting in "self-defense" as her jets bomb civilians. Without debating here the Zionist state's fictive, existential "right," which of the many Israels, precisely, would the West have us recognize? Is it the Israel that militarily occupies land belonging to three of its neighbors, ignoring international law and scores of U.N. resolutions over decades? Is it the Israel that illegally settles its citizens on other people's land, seizes water sources and uproots olive trees? Is it the Israel that in 60 years has never acknowledged the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their farms and villages as the foundational act of its statehood and denies refugees their right to return?

And from Tel Aviv:

Thousands of Israelis Protest Against the War in Gaza (facebook link)