Bouncing Hedgehog

Archive for the ‘In The News’ Category

Apparently Darth Cheney has been defending the Bush administration policy of torturing suspects. As previously discussed the “It’s not torture because we don’t call it that” approach to morality is not a valid defence.

As I have already stated in an earlier post torture is torture and it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s still immoral by any civilized country’s standards. I’m not going to repeat myself so I will just add a quote from the speech: Read the rest of this entry »

I was somewhat bemused to see that Del. Barbara hatfield (D) of WV’s state legislature has proposed the following bill (WV HB 2061):

That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-8-24, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 8. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY AND DECENCY. Read the rest of this entry »

It doesn’t seem to be very often that I have anything really positive or uplifting to write about nowadays as regards society in this modern “I’m alright Jack” world in which we live. I currently live in the epitome of that attitude – the USA. The lack of compassion here is quite mind-boggling and doesn’t seem to be getting any better despite the growing number of the “I’m not alright Jack” newly unemployed. Anyway, I digress. Despite the fact that many of my posts revolve around the USA – such a wonderful source of material – this story is about one of my fellow countrymen – Brian Burnie.

Who the %^&* is Brian Burnie you may ask? Well read on and find out why this man is a shining example of what those with money could and should be doing. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember those so eloquently phrased promises of “transparent government” and an end to military tribunals? I thought …

Transparent government? That’s the way it should be. Great. Fundamentally flawed military tribunals with so many human rights holes in them gone? Cool. I won’t even comment on the legalities of how so many of them got there. The fact that kangaroo court 101 was in full swing was enough for me and should be for anyone with a fundamental regard for ethics and human rights. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently West Virginia state has been scammed. They owed some $2,000,000 to two companies and when payment was requested it was to a different bank account. So instead of verifying the change of bank account with the companies (after all it WAS $2,000,000 not some piddling amount) they promptly handed the money over to a thief instead. God knows where the money will end up or who with. Read the rest of this entry »

I was interested – but (sadly) not very surprised – to see that some Republicans are screaming about “policy differences” being the reason that the current Obama administration is “possibly” (I’ll believe it when I see it) considering prosecution for officials responsible for the “harmless” interrogation policies (aka torture) developed by Bush and Cheney and co. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone, it seems from the papers and TV programs I’ve seen , is up in arms about AIG and its plans to award $165,000,000 in bonuses and retention pay. They are apparently (at least they claim this is so) legally and contractually bound to do so. That may well be the case and although I am not personally American, I am a taxpayer in this country. So that makes their bailout money my money too. Read the rest of this entry »

Once again I am back to West Virginia. I was reading the local paper and to my surprise I saw an announcement about when and where the cops were going to be staging a DUI stop. WTF? I thought the whole idea of such stops was to actually catch drunks in charge of their personal missiles? This is the only country I have ever been in (and I’ve certainly been in a few) that announces to the media that they are going to hold such an event. And the press then goes on to publish the details. Or, as I have been told, the TV stations announce them on the news. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently barbie is 50 today. She certainly looks good for her age. Happy birthday Barbie from everyone. Oh… except West Virginia it seems. Apparently one of our bright-eyed wonderboys – Jeff Eldridge, a Democratic state legislator – has just proposed House Bill 2918 which is meant to bring West Virginia in line with Iran. In other words… ban Barbie – Iran being the planet’s only other political body that I know of that has taken such a step. Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who didn’t know, and I am sure there are quite a few, Cyprus was invaded by the Turks in 1974 and the end result was a split island which now operates under the auspices of a UN peacekeeping force.

Apparently the peacekeepers have upset the locals as they have refused them access to the UN patrolled buffer zone thus preventing the traditional harvesting of wild asparagus. Read the rest of this entry »