Comhcinc's week in review 04/14/2007

[comhcinc]

so i was just kinda of *****ing about how all people seem to review is entertainment. so instead of being negative i'll going to try to start doing a week in review every Saturday myself. this is if anyone wants to read it.

Combat Tours to increase for U.S. Army Troops.
the pentagon announced this week that army soldiers now have to serve 15 months of combat duty instead 12. this is the longest combat term since WWII.
this just makes me sick. our troops are in a hostile situation 24/7, the stress you are under is incredible. i was there for two years(by choice), and i don't wish that on anyone. the longer we stay the worst it gets there.
my solution we only seem to have two ideas on iraq in this country. stay or leave. neither work. instead i purpose that the operation be turn over to the UN with the full support of this country's military. while this will not reduce our troop numbers alot, it will ease tension in iraq.


Apple delays release of Leopard
Apple this week announced this week that they are delaying the release of their new OS Leopard in favor of making sure the iphone ships on time.
this seems to be a wise move on apple's part. nobody is waiting to buy a mac with leopard on it while the iphone has a lot of buzz surrounding it. apple needs to make sure that the iphone's launch is not batched. the macheads will wait for leopard

Gonorrhea back with a Vengeance
Anti-biotic-resistant gonorrhea is spreading rapidly across the United States, federal health officials reported Thursday, raising alarm about doctors' ability to treat the common sexually transmitted infection.
people it's called a condom please use it.



your thoughts? your stories? i made myself stay away from all the political stories otherwise we would be here al day

[labor_days]

Combat Tours to increase for U.S. Army Troops.
the pentagon announced this week that army soldiers now have to serve 15 months of combat duty instead 12. this is the longest combat term since WWII.
this just makes me sick. our troops are in a hostile situation 24/7, the stress you are under is incredible. i was there for two years(by choice), and i don't wish that on anyone. the longer we stay the worst it gets there.
my solution we only seem to have two ideas on iraq in this country. stay or leave. neither work. instead i purpose that the operation be turn over to the UN with the full support of this country's military. while this will not reduce our troop numbers alot, it will ease tension in iraq.I find it ridiculous that the US assumes they're going to right the problems of an "imaginary" country by sending more economically depressed soldiers to Iraq. The previous 4 week Iraq specific training was pushed back to 10 days? Yeah, good looking out with that surge.

Pull the f*** out of that shitstorm and let the people (who we've dispossess anyways) draw their borders anyway they want. Dafur didn't seem to bother us fat lazy Americans. Why should we have an attack of conscience now?

Oh wait, I forgot. Lobbyist control American interests. Silly me. :mad:

[itsbecca]

Very interesting mix of headlines there...

I think it's been mentioned around here already, but Kurt Vonnegut died on Wednesday. Depressing to lose such an intelligent, crazy, funny guy.

[comhcinc]

I find it ridiculous that the US assumes they're going to right the problems of an "imaginary" country by sending more economically depressed soldiers to Iraq. The previous 4 week Iraq specific training was pushed back to 10 days? Yeah, good looking out with that surge.

Pull the f*** out of that shitstorm and let the people (who we've dispossess anyways) draw their borders anyway they want. Dafur didn't seem to bother us fat lazy Americans. Why should we have an attack of conscience now?

Oh wait, I forgot. Lobbyist control American interests. Silly me. :mad:


my solution we only seem to have two ideas on iraq in this country. stay or leave. neither work. instead i purpose that the operation be turn over to the UN with the full support of this country's military. while this will not reduce our troop numbers alot, it will ease tension in iraq.


restated

[comhcinc]

Very interesting mix of headlines there...

I think it's been mentioned around here already, but Kurt Vonnegut died on Wednesday. Depressing to lose such an intelligent, crazy, funny guy.

yeah i really want to talk about that, but i feel it falls in to "entertainment" so i left it out of my thread starting post.

Favorite Kurt Vonnegut Quote
Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

what i found interest is only hours after his death his website was pulled down

[labor_days]

my solution we only seem to have two ideas on iraq in this country. stay or leave. neither work. instead i purpose that the operation be turn over to the UN with the full support of this country's military. while this will not reduce our troop numbers alot, it will ease tension in iraq.
Nobody wants any part of the mess we created over there. This was a unilateral war from the get-go. Everything else was showmanship & dickwaving. My cousin is over there right now and it's getting uglier. It pisses me off to no end that the media wasted so much breath on Anna Nicole Smith and Don Imus.

[comhcinc]

Nobody wants any part of the mess we created over there. This was a unilateral war from the get-go. Everything else was showmanship & dickwaving. My cousin is over there right now and it's getting uglier. It pisses me off to no end that the media wasted so much breath on Anna Nicole Smith and Don Imus.

the UN and really the whole world is interested in Iraq and they have been. they are just not happy with the way we are doing things. much like the people of iraq itself.

if the UN would to take over control of the operation a lot of the violence would stop.

[itsbecca]

It pisses me off to no end that the media wasted so much breath on Anna Nicole Smith and Don Imus.

Eaaauugggh... I've heard no end to this topic at work from all the gossiping old hens.

[six-gun]

I'd argue that the U.N. has done nothing good for the world (NATO on the other hand...) and I just don't think that the United States should suddenly become subordinate to Koffi Annon and his liberal agenda in a war that we started and can finish.

The worlsd is in the midst of a world war and the sooner America wakes up to this the better, I work my butt off every day at school (4.0) vollunteering and in athletics so that I can be accepted to a military academy and do some good for my country. I pray that by that day the West will have victory but somehow I doubt it.

[six-gun]

Nobody wants any part of the mess we created over there. This was a unilateral war from the get-go.


I wouldn't ay so from the get-go (the Brits took Basra on their own) but the fact that there are only two factions other than natives/insurgents in Iraq right now: America and Private Frakking Military Contractors!

[comhcinc]

Eaaauugggh... I've heard no end to this topic at work from all the gossiping old hens.

actually i believe the Imus thing is something that needs to be touch upon. it involves racism, freedom of speak and hypocrisy.

Imus should have been fired.even though it was a joke(a bad one at that) and taken on it's own not all that bad, but Imus has had repeated problems of this nature in the past. now that i have said that.

i found the whole uproar about this kinda silly and hypocritical on the same day that i saw this i saw "bad boys of comics" on hbo where i guy was taking about hood rats. if it is okay for one part of society to use a term then it should be okay for everyone. if al sharpton has a problem with that type of language then lets see him call for a boycott of p.diddy's show.

[fred]

ok I was trying to stay out this but **** it here I go:

this isn't what we do here

it's one thing to talk about movies or music or anything else that's not a devisive life and death issue. I understand both sides, I really do and I appreciate Comhcinc's service, but we're a comics community.

sorry if I offended anyone.

[six-gun]

ok I was trying to stay out this but **** it here I go:

this isn't what we do here

it's one thing to talk about movies or music or anything else that's not a devisive life and death issue. I understand both sides, I really do and I appreciate Comhcinc's service, but we're a comics community.

sorry if I offended anyone.

No, I'm with you completely, just the first page of this thread had me mad and I really like you guys so that kind of sucks. If there was some way for us to seperate the person from the opinion then this thread would be cool. But we're all humans (with the exception of a few high-posters who I think are cylons!) so that's not possible and I could see this thread causing divisions in this great community. I don't know if he'll do it, but I think Conor should close this thread.

[comhcinc]

I'd argue that the U.N. has done nothing good for the world (NATO on the other hand...) and I just don't think that the United States should suddenly become subordinate to Koffi Annon and his liberal agenda in a war that we started and can finish.

-------------------------------
UNITED NATIONS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
-------------------------------

1. Deploying more than 35 peace-keeping missions. There are presently 16 active peace-keeping forces in operation.

2. Credited with negotiating 172 peaceful settlements that have ended regional conflicts

3. The UN has enabled people in over 45 countries to participate in free and fair elections

4. Development - The system's annual disbursements, including loans and grants, amount to more than $10 billion.

5. UNICEF spends more than $800 million a year, primarily on immunization, health care, nutrition and basic education in 138 countries.

6. UN Human Rights Commission has focused world attention on cases of torture, disappearance, and arbitrary detention and has generated international pressure.

7. UN Conference eon Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, resulted in treaties on bio-diversity and climate change.

8. Has helped minimize the threat of a nuclear war by inspecting nuclear reactors in 90.

9. Over 300 international treaties, on topics as varied as human rights conventions to agreements on the use of outer space and seabed.

10. The International Court of Justice has helped settle international disputes involving territorial issues, diplomatic relations, hostage-taking, and economic rights.

11. The UN was a major factor in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid system.

12. More than 30 million refugees fleeing war, famine or persecution have received aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

13. Aiding Palestinian Refugees with free schooling, essential health care, relief assistance and key social services virtually without interruption. There are 2.9 million refugees in the Middle East served by UNRWA.

14. Alleviating Chronic Hunger and Rural Poverty in Developing Countries, providing credit that has benefited over 230 million people in nearly 100 developing countries.

15. The Africa Project Development Facility has helped entrepreneurs in 25 countries to find financing for new enterprises. The Facility has completed 130 projects which represent investments of $233 million and the creation of 13,000 new jobs, saving some $131 million in foreign exchange annually.

16. Promoting Women's Rights *have supported programs and projects to improve the quality of life for women in over 100 countries, including credit and training, marketing opportunities, etc.

17. Providing Safe Drinking Water * Available to 1.3 billion people in rural areas during the last decade.

18. Eradicating Smallpox * through vaccinations and monitoring. Helped wipe out polio from the Western Hemisphere, with global eradication expected soon.

19. Pressing for Universal Immunization of polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis * has a 80% immunization rate, saving the lives of more than 3 million children each year.

20. Reducing child mortality rates, halved since 1960, increasing the average life expectancy from 37 to 67 years.

21. Fighting parasitic diseases, such as saving the lives of 7 million children from going blind from the river blindness and rescued many others from guinea worm and other tropical diseases.

22. Promoting investment in developing countries *promoting entrepreneurship and self-reliance, industrial cooperation and technology transfer and cost-effective, ecologically-sensitive industry.

23. Reducing the effects of natural disasters *early warning system, which utilizes thousands of surface monitors as well as satellites, has provided information for the dispersal of oil spills and has predicted long-term droughts.

24. Providing food to victims of emergencies * Over two million tons of food each year. 30 million people facing acute food shortages in 36 countries benefited from this assistance last year.

25. Clearing land mines - The United Nations is leading an international effort to clear land minds from Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, El Salvador, Mozambique, Rwanda and Somalia.

26. Protecting the ozone layer & global warming*highlighting the damage caused to the earth's ozone layer. As a result there has been a global effort to reduce chemical emissions of substances that have caused the depletion of the ozone.

27. Preventing over-fishing

28. Limiting deforestation and promoting sustainable forestry development *in 90 countries.

29. Cleaning up pollution *encouraged adversaries such as Syria and Israel, and Turkey and Greece to work together to clean up beaches. As a result, more than 50% of the previously polluted beaches are now usable.

30. Protecting consumers' health *have established standards for over 200 food commodities and safety limits for more than 3,000 food contaminants.

31. Reducing fertility rates * Family planning programs. Women in developing countries are having fewer children * from six births per woman in the 1960s to 3.5 today. In the 1960s, only 10% of the world's families were using effective methods of family planning. The number now stands at 55 percent.

32. Fighting drug abuse *Reduce demand for illicit drugs, suppress drug trafficking, and has helped farmers to reduce their economic reliance on growing narcotic crops by shifting farm production toward other dependable sources of income.

33. Improving global trade relations * The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has worked to obtain special trade preferences for developing countries to export their products to developed countries with fair prices.

34. Promoting economic reform * Together with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations has helped many countries improve their economic management, offered training for government finance officials, and provided financial assistance to countries experiencing temporary balance of payment difficulties.

35. Promoting worker rights *worked to guarantee freedom of the right to association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, setting worker safety standards, the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, promote employment and equal remuneration and has sought to eliminate discrimination and child labor.

36. Introducing improved agricultural techniques and reducing costs *Resulted in improved crop yields, Asian rice farmers have saved $12 million on pesticides and governments over $150 a year in pesticide subsidies.

37. Promoting stability and order in the world's oceans *global agreement for the protection, preservation and peaceful development of the oceans.

38. Improving air and sea travel *Setting safety standards for sea and air travel, making air travel the safest mode of transportation.

39. Protecting intellectual property *Protection for new inventions and maintains a register of nearly 3 million national trademarks. artists, composers and authors worldwide.

40. Promoting the free flow of information *free of censorship and culturally unbiased, aid to develop and strengthen communication systems, established news agencies and supported an independent press.

41. Improving global communications * Regulated international mail delivery, coordinated use of the radio spectrum, promoted cooperation in assigning positions for stationary satellites, and established international standards for communications, thereby ensuring the unfettered flow of information around the globe.

42. Empowering the voiceless *recognize the needs and contributions of groups usually excluded from decision-making such as the aging, children, youth, homeless, indigenous an disabled people.

43. Establishing "children as a zone of peace" * From El Salvador to Lebanon, Sudan to former Yugoslavia, provide vaccines and other assistance desperately needed by children caught in armed conflict.

44. Generating worldwide commitment in support of the needs of children *more than 150 governments have committed to reaching over 20 specific measurable goals to radically improve children's lives by the year 2000.

45. Improving education in developing countries *60% of adults in developing countries can now read and write, and 80 percent of children in these countries attend school.

46. Improving literacy for women *Raise the female literacy rate in developing countries from 36 percent in 1970 to 56 percent in 1990.

47. Safeguarding and preserving historic cultural and architectural sites *protected through the efforts of UNESCO, and international conventions have been adopted to preserve cultural property.

48. Facilitating academic and cultural exchanges encouraged scholarly and scientific cooperation, networking of institutions and promotion of cultural expressions, including those of minorities and indigenous people.
Link (http://www.una-usadanecounty.org/about/index.php?category_id=1550)



if you want to find out the UN's biggest problem i suggest you check out Noam Chomsky's Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs (http://www.amazon.com/Rogue-States-Force-World-Affairs/dp/0896086119/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9368843-9192805?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176587986&sr=8-1)

[labor_days]

I wouldn't ay so from the get-go (the Brits took Basra on their own) but the fact that there are only two factions other than natives/insurgents in Iraq right now: America and Private Frakking Military Contractors!
See: Showmanship, dickwaving, false information, deceit and David Kelly.

I don't think this "war" is winnable. We can only outlast them (never going to happen), go home or commit genocide.

[jerome]

ok I was trying to stay out this but **** it here I go:

this isn't what we do here

it's one thing to talk about movies or music or anything else that's not a devisive life and death issue. I understand both sides, I really do and I appreciate Comhcinc's service, but we're a comics community.

sorry if I offended anyone.

as long as is stays civil (and most everyone here has shown an ability to do so), and contained within specific threads, i see no problem. People who don't want to go into it, don't have to read the thread.

no offense taken. :)

[comhcinc]

ok I was trying to stay out this but **** it here I go:

this isn't what we do here

it's one thing to talk about movies or music or anything else that's not a devisive life and death issue. I understand both sides, I really do and I appreciate Comhcinc's service, but we're a comics community.

sorry if I offended anyone.

i don't like the idea of that an exchange of ideas would cause devision. i have a firm belief that you should always strive to create a better more informed world.

what i find interesting is that i chose three topics and only one is "life or death" yet that is the one people want to harp on. remember i made it clear that i choose to leave out the political stories as i don't see the point

[labor_days]

this isn't what we do here
No, I'm with you completely, just the first page of this thread had me mad and I really like you guys so that kind of sucks.
No disrespect to either Fred or Six Gun. But I don't think anyone was being disrespectful to one another, no?

But if this isn't the place, than so be it. Better times/better places. :cool:


Edit: I had stronger feelings about the Iraq situation than the other stories. My conscience compels me to say something about it. Forgive me, if it was seen as devise. Surely critiquing one's own government is not a bad thing, eh?

[comhcinc]

No, I'm with you completely, just the first page of this thread had me mad and I really like you guys so that kind of sucks.
what upset you?


If there was some way for us to seperate the person from the opinion then this thread would be cool. But we're all humans (with the exception of a few high-posters who I think are cylons!) so that's not possible and I could see this thread causing divisions in this great community.
i have to disagree with you there.
I don't know if he'll do it, but I think Conor should close this thread. yes it may be best just to ignore the problem. that works

[six-gun]

Surely critiquing one's own government is not a bad thing, eh?


Absolutely not, it's that right that makes America the greatest (Canada's great too) country in the world!

[conorkilpatrick]

Ah, I go away for a day and up pops a politics thread.

No politics. There are plenty of other places on the web for that.