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02 Mar 2011 11:09

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World: Pakistan’s poisonous, difficult anti-blasphemy environment

  • This kind of attack was expected after the government’s response to governor Taseer’s assassination. Because of the government’s very weak response … it has encouraged the hardliners in society.
  • Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies Amir Rana • Explaining how the response to the assassination of Salman Taseer, who fought a blasphemy law unpopular with Christians in the country, may have led to today’s assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti. Before his death, Taseer fought in favor of a pardon for a Christian mother of four who had been sentenced to death for reportedly saying blasphemous things about Prophet Muhammad. After Taseer’s death, Pakistani officials have stayed away from changing the law. Some feel that the effect of this has encouraged some to take more hardline approach to minority groups. Sigh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2011 10:43

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World: David Cameron steps up British efforts to help out in Libya

  • last week The British government faced criticism over the speed in which it got its own people out of a very volatile situation in Libya. Rescue planes only came to oil fields days after the crisis started.
  • this week As a sign in contrasts, David Cameron is now planning on evacuating 6,000 Egyptians from the border of Libya and Tunisia. The decision caught British officials off guard with its speed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2011 10:16

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World: Gaddafi: I’m not actually in any sort of political office

  • Muammar Gaddafi is not a president to resign, he does not even have a parliament to dissolve … [I hold] no position from which to step down.
  • Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi • Explaining that he can’t step down from office because he’s not currently in any political position. Let your brain chew on that one for a second while we invent an office for him to step down from. How about “Chief Asshole”? Works for us. How about you guys? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2011 09:55

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World: Christian Pakistani official Shahbaz Bhatti assassinated

  • Shahbaz Bhatti was targeted because he was Christian. Pakistan’s minister of minorities was ambushed in his car, shot multiple times and killed. He was one of Pakistan’s only Christian political figures and its only Christian political minister. As Bhatti was Catholic, the Vatican has already condemned his murder. “To the prayer for the victim, the condemnations for this dishonorable act of violence, to our closeness to Christian Pakistanis so beset by hatred,” a Vatican spokesperson said about the incident. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 20:54

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World: Tyler Clementi’s legacy? Rutgers offers gender-neutral housing

  • Maybe the outcome would have been different if he had been able to choose his own roommate. At least now there’s an option.
  • Rutgers University Student Assembly President Yousef Saleh • Discussing the university’s plan to offer gender-neutral housing to students in the wake of the suicide of Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after an incident in which his roommate taped him having sex with another man, then posted it online. Clementi’s tragic death may have pushed the decision over the edge, but Rutgers isn’t alone – schools all over the country have been creating options like this for students. And student body officials at Rutgers say they’ve been pushing for this option for students for a number of years. Well, here it is. Smart move, Rutgers. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 16:29

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World: Abroad, military possibilities loom over Gaddafi’s chaos

  • Will international forces tighten on Gaddafi? Here’s a simple, neat little video by Al Jazeera on international military response to Libya. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 13:20

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World: U.N. worried about conditions for mass of Libyan refugees

  • 150,000 people have fled from Libya source
  • » The concern: Too many people evacuating too fast, causing difficult food, water and health conditions for refugees. The agency said that it was “becoming critically important that onwards transport becomes quickly available to avoid a humanitarian crisis.”
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Mar 2011 10:41

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World: German defense minister learns about the dark side of plagiarism

  • In case you need a reminder that plagiarism doesn’t pay, meet Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The German defense minister, who is a rising political star in the country and makes our career look like the joke it is, resigned over allegations that he pilfered large parts of his doctoral thesis. “I informed the chancellor in a very friendly conversation that I’m resigning from political offices and requested to be relieved. It’s the most painful step of my life,” he said. He admitted to “grave errors” in the 2007 thesis, but emphasized that he did not plagiarize it. However, this goes against what German media found – scores of pilfered phrases from other documents. The end result? Guttenberg no longer has a doctorate. On the plus side, we’re now on the same playing field as he is. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 10:14

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World: Quickly: How democracy will work in post-Mubarak Egypt

  • 03/19The Egyptian military will vote on a motion to rewrite the country’s constitution.
  • June The country plans to hold fresh parliamentary elections (which is a pretty fast timetable).
  • then … Six weeks later, Egyptians should plan to vote for the country’s new president. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2011 01:25

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World: Defense Secretary to successor: Don’t be an idiot, ‘kay?

  • “Any future Defense Secretary who advises the President to again send a big American land army into Asia, or into the Middle East, or Africa should have his head examined.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates • Offering some candid advice to his (as of now unnamed) successor. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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