What Was The First Human Invention?

I say culture. Now click on comments, and discuss.

NASCAR's Unluckiest Driver

Dale Earnhardt Junior, please, I know you sell a lot of t-shirts, but could you try to drive a bit better?

Every week I watch the race, and Gordon, Martin, Johnson do fairly well every week. Dale? Well, honestly, FAIL. He broke his car when he used the clutch incorrectly.

Side note: Is it me or was Montoya's rant the first time you've ever heard a driver threaten to kill NASCAR?

Coup In Venezuela?

The following article, although from a source I myself declare uncredible, has taken a full swing from its usual reporting to sound anti-Chavez, while still having Socialist leanings, in a difficult news situation in Venezuela. I can not confirm at this point, but it sounds like chaos is occuring in Venezuela right now:
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=82212

This is a very, well, the news/opinion piece falls apart about halfway through to anti-capitalism bantor with many adjectives of hate however, the pro-Chavez site rarely speaks of anything negative towards him (which is why for so long I discredited it) but this article goes against everything in the past. Either something broke in the capital, or this is big. I will continue to research this.

Update: From what I can confirm is little about the current situation. In the past week however, the judge ruling on a case against the owner of an anti-Chavez news outlet was fired after she claimed she was being pressured to rule against him in the case. The Chavez government is having 240 news outlets shut down and this created a major issue among the media groups as they said that it is clear what Chavez was doing now.

In the past two days the military was sent to a small down near Caracas and they took over the police station there. The reason was not given and the people have been peacefully protesting, but still an ominous sign. I can not figure out if the current media blackout is caused by a coup, or just no news happening. If there is something going on, it could go in two directions. This could either be a takeover by Chavez of the country, or a removal of Chavez. Either way, the sources I usually turn to for news on Venezuela were recently silenced (I followed three of the 240 shut down by the Chavez government recently). So, I'll continue trying, but it is odd to have no news out of a country for a whole day.



UPDATE: No coup. The source proved to be unreliable yet again. The previous events with the judge and the town are true however. So it looks like Chavez is solidifying his power, but a quick grab by anyone has yet to occur.

Somalia

The situation in Somalia has for many years been one of shifting alliances and civil war. However, there may be hope for an end to the violence. It will certainly not be quick, nothing in Africa ever seems to be. However, with a major town in the north being taken without resistance by the government, following a tense stalemate in that town, the government has proven it has the forces to intimidate Al Shabaab.

Al Shabaab is seeking to merge with Hizbul radicals, showing they need backup. If their alliance goes through, I think it is too little too late. With battles consisting of twenty or so fighters on a regular basis, the victories are more about having the courage to hold territory and not retreat. Which is where I believe a new approach to international peacekeeping should be undertaken.

Peacekeepers should be deployed to areas held by nation's military forces with a vow to hold the territory for that country's government. However, if more territory is to come under the government control, that government will have to use its own forces to retake territory owned by the other factions. I speak in Somalia terms, as other situations (Palestine, Kosovo) require both sides to be defended. However, as Somalia fractures, the Islamic extremists would rather see the peacekeepers be hanged than on their side.

What this means is that defensive tactics, the ultimately best case scenario all militaries in the world could achieve to make peace on earth a reality, would be emphasized by this peacekeeping force.

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I believe the uproar about Obama's comments that the police who arrested Gates were acting stupidly places emphasis on the stereotypes against police in this country and the prejudice that police face from groups that wish to use race as a reason to resist cooperating with authorities. The reason most media talks about is how police racism is highlighted by this event, while I see it as racists using their own race as justification for their prejudices against the police. President Obama obviously ranks race above title in this incident. He said he didn't know the facts, yet decided to make a statement on it which sided with his race rather than the authorities.

Our country does not have as much issues of race as it does with those who are ignorant and ill tempered.

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In other news (A glance at the headlines):
Russia opposes companies who sell weapons to Georgia.
Joe Biden says we support Ukraine and Georgia entering NATO.
Worldwide marches in support of the Iranian people took place today.
Venezuela will have to import coffee due to its government policies resulting in lower production (they have price controls and export caps). This is the first time the country has to import coffee (Venezuela grows a lot of coffee).
Hezbolla is claiming that there will be a war between the end of this year and next spring.
Ecuador will not follow a World Bank ruling if the ruling is not in favor of them.
North Korea executed a woman for distributing bibles.
WoW, next headline requires its own blog post.