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Just an explanation; I'm not seeking an abortion rights debate; I've stated my views, etc.

I concur. Therefore I'll just clarify my own position. The reason I stated that saying the present Administration is "no better than the patriarchal repressives in the Middle East" is because it ignores the degrees of difference.

American evangelical loonies aren't calling for women to be stripped of their right to vote, compelled to obey their husbands in all matters and generally be chattel. Perhaps it's only because they are legally unable to implement such things, but still it remains. Their MidEast religious wacko counterparts are very much of that opinion.

And just for the record, I'm pro-choice by default. Generally I don't care if someone has an abortion or not. Were it my call I'd introduce a cutoff point, within the first three months or so unless other health concerns came up. It would be rather arbitrary, but no more so than the current approach.

I'm of the opinion however that it remains such a heated issue largely because its supporters, rather than convincing the voters of it and getting legislation passed instead opted to bypass that process and have the courts legislate it from the bench.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050719/ap_ … s_bush]New female Supreme Court judge?

*I nominate http://www.judgejudy.com/Bios/allaboutjudy.asp]Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin).  She is so incredibly sharp, no-nonsense, etc.  I love it when she yells "You're an idiot!" occasionally to some doofus in the courtroom.  :laugh:

Sometimes she's a bit too harsh, but most of the time I agree with her reasoning and verdicts, etc.  I -really- would like to see her on the Supreme Court.  :up:

--Cindy

Planned Parenthood of Houston v. Sanchez: upheld a Texas statute that restricted the distribution of federal family-planning money to any organization that performed abortions or participated in abortion-related activities.

More chickens and eggs, I am afraid. But with modern media and the internet much can be accomplished very rapidly provided we do not isolate those communities.

> Okay, so we need to make sure they can receive our corrupting media and have internet access? This planning, while resting on sound concepts, seems to fall apart whenever the details come up.<

By next year the program will be in seven Egyptian governorates. The program will most likely end when USAID funds dry up.

"We're shifting our emphases to reflect changes in U.S. foreign policy," said Ken Ellis, the director of USAID Egypt.

Reproductive health programs are being phased out at U.S. Agency for International Development, in response to pressure for more emphasis on abstinence-only for contraception education and the Bush administration's reinstatement of the so-called Global Gag Rule, a policy lifted by President Bill Clinton.

It bars U.S. family planning assistance to any foreign health care agency that uses funds from any source to perform abortions, provide counseling and referral for abortion or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country. The agencies may perform abortions only when there is a threat to the woman's life or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

True equality for women within Islam would be the fastest most effective method of assimilating that culture and neutralizing the patriarchal rage that fuels the jihadists.

Agreed. Unfortunately, handing out birth control in care packages isn't going to cut it. You're talking about very deep cultural changes that need to take place before we can even reach that point.

Bill, I'm curious as to why you're suddenly on this "police work" kick, what brought this on with such zeal?

Perhaps going even further than militant jihadi-wacko Islam, "serious" Islam, as defined by those who take the religion to the point of actually praying five days a day in the office, dressing in traditional garb, etc. is an alien element within American, Australian and European society, one in which the fanatics grow. Foreign colonists.

LO

Here's an article from today's "The Australian" newspaper, which illustrates the kind of problem I've mentioned that exists within Islam - Crackdown]http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15976086%255E601,00.html]"Crackdown on terror books".

    For those with too little time to read the whole thing, here are a few sentences:-

Federal and state counter-terrorism officers will investigate at least one Islamic bookshop in Sydney following revelations it is selling literature promoting jihad and justifying suicide bombings.

Another bookstore in Melbourne, run by the country's most fundamentalist cleric, was yesterday selling a book calling for Christians to be trampled underfoot.

"It is either Islam or death," says the book, which is sold from the bookshop attached to the Brunswick prayer room where Sheik Mohammed Omran delivers his fiery sermons.

The latest glossy magazine, from a group called Islamic Youth Movement in Sydney, features a glowing interview with a leader of Iraqi terrorist group Ansar al-Islam.

Fundamentalist scholar Sheik Omran's shop sells a book that details reasons Muslims should not befriend Jews, Christians or non-Muslims. "If it becomes clear that someone is at odds with Islam, then fight him. The (Jew or Christian) who insults the Prophet should be killed," it says. Sheik Omran's website also praises a US scholar convicted last week for inciting his young followers to wage war. The website paints the influential scholar, Ali-al-Timimi, as a victim of spurious charges.

    Weeding out these rogue Imams may not totally prevent acts of terror in our streets, but not weeding them out is unconscionable! We can't carry on turning a blind eye to this sort of thing for fear of upsetting the Muslim populations in our respective countries. Clerics like these must be rounded up and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Did they discovered that rigth now ? Bright journalists !
Wha, quelle claivoyance !

The FBI's fight against organized crime is unlike other criminal programs. Instead of focusing on these crimes as individual events, the FBI's Organized Crime Program targets the entire organization responsible for a variety of criminal activities. The FBI has found that even if key individuals in an organization are removed, the depth and financial strength of the organization often allows the enterprise to continue.

The dismantling or disruption of major international and national organized criminal enterprises is an area of FBI expertise. The FBI is uniquely qualified to dismantle organizations because of the experience, training and expertise of its agents in targeting criminal enterprises as opposed to individual criminal acts, the broad Title 18 and Title 21 statutory jurisdictions at its disposal, the FBI's presence throughout the country, and its history as a methodical and thorough investigative agency.

WASHINGTON - According to a White House staffer, a memo representing official Bush administration space policy calls for no more than 15 space shuttle flights before the fleet is retired in 2010.

The memo, promoted by Paul Shawcross, NASA's examiner at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), calls for a massive cut to the number of approved Space Shuttle missions remaining to assemble the International Space Station (ISS) The direct result could be an ISS that is smaller and less capable than is spelled out in various international agreements.

This document was originally supposed to have been part of the Administration's formal "passback" on the NASA FY 2006 budget. However, the approach spelled out in this document was rejected out of hand by (then) NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.

According to NASA, industry, and other government sources, shortly after O'Keefe's departure in February 2005 the paper's contents were being touted by Shawcross at NASA and elsewhere as now representing the "official White House position" on NASA's budget and how it was to deal with the shuttle.

Specifically, the memo says "The Administration is convinced that 28 Shuttle flights are not required to assemble a Space Station that meets the goals of the Vision and that this number of flights is not achievable by 2010. The projected increases to the Shuttle's lifetime budget could put the Vision in jeopardy ... To ensure that the Shuttle can be retired safely by the end of the decade at close to its planned lifetime budget, and without undue schedule pressure, Passback assumes that the Space Shuttle program is limited to a total of 15 additional flights to complete the assembly of the Space Station."

Bill:-

... AND Western fascism-lite wannabes that people like Cindy and Shaun cheerlead for.

    Now now, Bill!