The Current Affairs Thread

[chicken]

[Pashernate_Lover]

(I'm not international to you, but geez am I excited! I think that he will pull a James K Polk on his promises, not what they are about but how quickly he achieves all of them... but then stick around for more than 4 years )

[Cracked Pleasures]

The Bush countdown clock on my Facebook indicates we are rid of the redneck in less than 24 hours. I am very excited about Obama, he has the hardest possible legacy he could ever get but this leaves him with a huge challenge and if he succeeds in that he will go into history as one of the greatest ever presidents. He definitely, partially because of the mess Dubya leaves behind, has the chance to make history: if he succeeds to clean most of this mess, he will be one of the best things that ever happened to the US. He comes across as a very intelligent and sincere man, and I do think he can bring change. For one he brought new hope in the hearts of people worldwide, so he already accomplished an incredible lot even before his inauguration.

One sidenote: I think he made the wrong choice in choosing Hillary Clinton for the post of foreign affairs minister. She already said there should be sanctions against North Korea and Iran and how she does not believe in the will of Teheran to talk. Sounds like a very aggressive and provocative approach, as if she has already given up on the diplomatic route before she took office. All fine if that is her opinion, but if so she should not be having this role. I can't help but thinking Obama should have chosen a different person for this post, someone who strongly believes in the diplomatic approach.

[Cracked Pleasures]

So Belgium has a next tragedy. A man with psychiatric history murdered 3 infants and 1 staffmember in a daycare center.



While I agree this is tragic and wish to out my sincerest condolences to the families of the victims, I am equally troubled by public reaction to this event.

Within the few hours well over 1000 people reacted to articles, asking for the most barbaric punishments. Ranging from regular death penalty (which by European law is forbidden, little do those people know Belgium can luckily not reintroduce the death penalty) to hanging on the town square, burying the criminal alive, let him rot without food in a basement, ... and more such primitive punishments.
I find it embarrassing to see few people know about the legal justice system and why we have this system, I find it worrying most dont even want to know about the history of our system. The system exists to protect regular people from wrong judgements. Maybe the day they face courtcases or accusations themselves, those people who all shout for public hanging will be happy the current system with a fair trial exists, rather than lynching the killer on a town square. While showing little understanding of the justice system, so many people just want to see blood flow and want revenge rather than an honest trial. The outings such as "people with psychiatric history must be locked up" are equally worrying, hopefully none of those people will ever need a psychiatrist, they may be happy that the justice system does not lock up people preventively without reason then.

Also, cliche, a lot of people say it is the governments fault! Of course, our prime minister himself handed the weapons of murder to the killer, and set everything up single handedly! In all seriousness, how can a government, no matter how dictatorial, prevent events like this? People react emotionally, which is understandable, but statements such as blaming the government are just outed without even thinking twice about what they are saying. But reacting emotionally is normal, however asking for medieval sorts of punishment worries me. Is this civilisation then when the public opinion calls for barbaric punishments as soon as they have the opportunity? The murder is tragic, there is no need to use it to out a desire for torture. And so many people ask for the death penalty while European law even forbids this, can people not research before they speak out?? I am very uncomfortable with these reactions outed by the mass out there, but well, of course lets finalise by outing my condolences again to those who lost a loved one in this tragic event.

[Pashernate_Lover]

People act in a very animalistic nature to things that awaken their deepest, most primal emotions like that. Its even biological- people biologically want to reproduce and want their young to grow so that they can keep the species in tact and anything that threatens that like a man that murders young humans causes very brutal, starving animal reactions. Death, but not just death, the kind of torture that cats give to mice they catch. You have to let people have time to let reason overtake emotion like that- much like when hurt people tend to scream, but when the scream dies and the hurt is not so new the reaction is not so much punch-the-wall-in-reaction as it is grab a pack of ice and lessen the pain even further.

[Boxguy]

I'm sure most people here have by now heard of George Tiller . I'm curious as to the reactions of those here on the killing.

Me, I remember the "Summer of Mercy" protests/riots by the "pro-life"/anti-women's rights groups in the early 90's, driving past his clinic and seeing the protesters chanting, watching the mob attempting to storm the clinic being taken down and loaded onto Ryder trucks by the police, seeing the damage to the building after it was bombed. It amazes me how hypocritical, fanatic, nasty, and violent the far-right in the US can be when it comes to abortion. I'm not surprised that Tiller was killed; he's been on the "hit list" of the far-right for decades. And despite what those on the far-right say, they're overjoyed he's gone (case in point: during an ad-hoc vigil in Old Town in Wichita the evening after Tiller was killed far-right protesters showed up carrying signs reading "God Bless the Shooter").

[Pashernate_Lover]

I... had not heard. Blame it on finals...or not having a TV...or radio. In my opinion, not so humbly, the far right are EVIL. Murder is never okay, and babies' brains don't actually have any activity until the 3rd trimester...as in after the possibility of an abortion. Its bones don't even START to form until 10 weeks in... so abortion isn't murder, but shooting a man that gives women the right to choose their future is and it disgusts me.

[Boxguy]

I personally know of at least one woman who went to Dr. Tiller when she was faced with an unplanned pregnancy a bit over six years ago. It was a difficult decision for her, but at least she had the choice available to her.

Fortunately this does not mean the end of women in Kansas having a choice. There are at least two other doctors -- Dr. Z in Wichita and another in Kansas City -- that enable women to have the right to choose. That's at least one thing that we can be thankful for.

[Boxguy]

The man widely known as the "most trusted person in America" .

Farewell to the last shred of objective, unbiased, and great journalism in American news media.

[Pashernate_Lover]

For the past 4 years I have been a bit freaked out each summer (...well, summer in my hemisphere) as Strangeways seemingly dies. I joined 5 years ago, almost to the day, and I joined late summer, so I didn't have to experience a slowness... but I will keep my faith in the rebirth of this awesome forum. I miss you all! I am moving with my boyfriend to the accursed LA in a few weeks. Jobs in other countries did not surface, and some will be opening up in the LA area soon...I hope I can learn to love it :-/

[Boxguy]

I do hope your move to LA goes okay. Despite it not being quite an ideal place to live by most means (in my opinion), I certainly think you'll be able to find a niche there (or anywhere you may go, for that matter).

Right now I'm moving forward with the process of buying a condo here in Hays. I have a tentative contract drawn up with the sellers and have an appraisal ordered. I should hopefully be ready to finish up securing the financing by next week. If the appraisal comes back okay we'll likely close at the end of September. Then I'll be a homeowner. Scary thought.

[Pashernate_Lover]

[Pashernate_Lover]

Best UK news ever. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... hters.html

[Boxguy]

[helmoz]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8420325.stm