respublica

Today's most ironic photo

From a pro-Tibet rally in San Francisco.  Know your history before you go out in public.  Photo origin unknown.

Via The Austro-Athenian Empire.

413 to 1

Today the House voted on HR 1077, a bill which stated:  "Calling on the government of the People's Republic of China to end its crackdown in Tibet and enter into a substantive dialog with his holiness the Dalai Lama to find a negotiated solution that respects the distinctive language, culture, religious identity and fundamental freedoms of all Tibetans."

The vote was 413 Yeas and 1 Nay.

Who was the lone Nay vote?

Ron Paul.  Is he still in the presidential race?

Clinton calls for a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremonies

Via Politico and a Drudge exclusive:

Part of the Clinton statement:  "The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for Presidential leadership. These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government."

But it doesn't appear as though she is calling for a full boycott ala Jimmy Carter in 1980.

"Americans will stand strong in support of freedom of religious and political expression and human rights. Americans will also stand strong and root for the success of American athletes who have worked hard and earned the right to compete in the Olympic Games of 2008."

Protecting the British texting public

One street in Great Britain, I assume this is in London, has had its lampposts padded.  Seems there have been a lot of injuries due to people walking and text messaging and not watching where they are going. 

"Around one in ten careless Brits has suffered a "walk 'n text" street injury in the past year through collisions with lampposts, bins and other pedestrians."

Most unappetizing headline of the day

Customs officers seize hundreds of headless rats destined for London restaurants.

Read more if you can stomach it.  Oh, wait.  The rat bodies had been smoked to improve their flavor. 

That's ok then.

Piles of legs

In Dorset England, a plumber working in the home of Mike and Theresa Sutton found more than 100 artificial limbs and about 100 crutches and walking frames hidden in their cellar.  Said Mr. Sutton:  "My wife was quite amazed when the plumber went down, pulled one of the legs out from this hatch and told her there were hundreds more." 

The discovery of all those legs isn't the startling part of this story, this comment from Mr. Sutton is:  "We didn't even know we had a cellar, much less what was in it."

How do you not know you have a basement?

What they're searching for

The front page of the BBC's website has an "explore BBC" box which contains information about the most popular, current searches by their readers.  At the moment the 3 top searches on the BBC site are:

Deforestation
Dance mat
Acid rain.

Dance mat?

Where boys are kings, the emperor has no clothes

The long held desire among many people in South Korea for boy babies has begun to backfire as that country and several other Asian countries with the same preference for boys are seeing males far outnumbering females.  With the advent of ultrasound and early knowledge of the sex of an unborn child, many couples were aborting girl babies.  This meant a fairly large imbalance of males which many of the country's leaders feared would lead to increased sexual violence and the trafficking of women as well as limited marriage possibilities for men. 

South Korea has begun a full out campaign to promote and encourage girl babies to reverse the ingrained patriarchal mindset (“One daughter raised well is worth 10 sons!”) and it seems to be working as abortions have begun to drop even after pregnancy tests indicate a girl baby.

Trying to outsmart nature, never a good idea.  Male and female He created them.

St Louis received an award

Each year the World Leadership Forum meets in London to celebrate the "very best in modern city leadership".  This year's event was held last night, December 6, at which awards in a number of categories were given out.  St. Louis, which had been a finalist last year in the area of Urban Renewal, won an award this year in the category of Housing.  The title of St. Louis' housing entry was "Vacancy to Vibrancy".  There is no further description of the city's entry that I can find.  Mayor Slay was in London to accept the award, which explains why he was not at the press conference announcing the resignation of Metro head, Larry Salci.

Jolly old multi-cultural England

James Chapman of the Daily Mail in England reported the Institute for Public Policy Research is recommending that Christmas be downgraded since, Chapman said, “Britain is no longer a Christian nation.”

The report also recommended: " Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations."

Beyond the religious the Institute also would like to see:  "Birth ceremonies at which state and parents agree to "work in partnership" to bring up children.  It takes an English village.  And, Flying flags other than the Union Jack.   There's more if you can even stand it.  Via Don Surber who gives the report the respect it deserves.