Two War Crimes for The Price of One

In Fallujah:

Gunmen fired on troops from a mosque minaret, sparking a battle, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported. Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, prompting the Marines to call in airstrikes, Wood said.

War Crime One: Operating from a religious edifice, turning it into a legitimate military target.

War Crime Two: False use of a white flag to lure opposing forces in to attack them.

These people are not "resistance fighters", nor are they "Minutemen". They are merely war criminals who have, by their actions, forfeited the protections provided under the laws of war.

US attack on Iran 'inconceivable' says Straw

From Yahoo news

LONDON (AFP) - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was "inconceivable" that the United States would attack Iran over its nuclear programme.

"I don't see any circumstances in which military action would be justified against Iran full stop," Straw told BBC radio amid speculation that re-elected US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) may be more hawkish over the Islamic republic.

Asked if the world would support a US bombing campaign against Iran, Straw said: "Not only is that inconceivable, but I think the prospect of it (US military action) happening is inconceivable."

Jack,

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Arafat dead, not dead or perhaps freshly dead

According to the French, "Mr. Arafat is not dead," said Christian Estripeau, head of communications for French military health services. "The clinical situation of the first few days following admission has become more complex."

Complex as in "he's not dead yes he is he's nailed to his perch!?

Are puppet wires being attached or are they installing the voice and movement robot machines from Disneyland

Meanwhile, The Belgians apparrently though he had already bought it:
he confusion over Arafat's condition escalated after Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters at a summit of European leaders in Belgium that Arafat had died. He later retracted the statement.

"It was a misunderstanding," government spokesman Lucien Michels said.

I can see the headline now: Belgian waffles on Arafat's trip to his just desserts".

Kerry Concedes

Kerry called Bush to Conced the election.

This was an honorable and appropriate way for Kerry to end his quest for the Presidency. I was worried about the Democrats adopting another "scorched earth policy" a la the 2000 elections.

Bush also acted honorably in delaying declaring victory until Kerry conceded.

Now Bush can lead with a clear mandate of both the electoral college and the popular vote.

Voted...and the countdown begins

Just voted this morning here in Michigan

In my precinct the total time to vote, from finding a parking space to filling out the id sheet, receiving a ballot, voting and thence out the door was just about one and a half hours.

Strangely enough, the precinct beside ours, held in the same school gym had a light turn-out with virtually no waiting. Not to say that precinct isn't civic minded but still...

Saw one mistake committed by a poll worker in highlighting the wrong name on the voting list...caused a bit of a stir from her fellow workers along the lines of "what do we do now?" They decided to write a note beside the highlihgt that it was a mistake and the person hadn't voted.

The poll people seemed to take their jobs seriously, were friendly and reasonably efficient (except for the guy running line A-L that I was stuck in - he was the winer of the Abominable Slowman contest, but heck he was trying his best so we'll give him that).

Hopefully all of Michigan will run as smoothly but I have my doubts, especially in the precints of the City of Detroit. Sadly, in Michigan, photo ID cannot be demanded of the prospective voter unless it is their first time voting and they registered by mail . . . that needs to be changed.