J's Cafe Nette

Archive for August 29th, 2007

I’m cautiously optimistic about this report.

BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops, aides said Wednesday.

The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, said on Iraqi state television that the goal was to “rehabilitate” the organization, which has reportedly broken into factions, some of which the U.S. maintains are trained and supplied by Iran.

“We declare the freezing of the Mahdi Army without exception in order to rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image within a maximum period of six months starting from the day this statement is issued,” al-Araji said, reading from a statement by al-Sadr.

In Najaf, al-Sadr’s spokesman said the order also means the Mahdi Army will no longer launch attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces.

“It also includes suspending the taking up of arms against occupiers as well as others,” Ahmed al-Shaibani told reporters.

Asked if Mahdi militiamen would defend themselves against provocations, he replied: “We will deal with it when it happens.”

The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives. Iraqi security officials blamed Mahdi militiamen for attacking mosque guards, some of whom are linked to the rival Badr Brigade militia.

A spokesman for al-Sadr, Ahmed al-Shaibani, denied the Mahdi Army was involved in the Karbala fighting. Al-Sadr called for an independent inquiry into the clashes and urged his supporters to cooperate with the authorities “to calm the situation down,” al-Shaibani said.

Tensions have been rising in southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups maneuver for power, especially in the oil-rich area around Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Maybe the Shiites are turning on him the way the Sunnis are turning on al Qaeda.

Or, more probably, our forces are breathing down his neck and he wants to cool off for awhile.

Either way, if his militia does indeed cease operations for at least six months that’s good news. In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll still be looking for him if he hasn’t run back to Iran.

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The political season has started with a bang and J and I have, sometimes, different points of view. If I stayed and continued to post, it would be nothing but tit for tat and I respect her too much to do that. Hopefully, after the election, I will try my hand at blogging again. I have enjoyed myself immensely and I have gained the utmost respect for Republican views. Catch you on the rebound.

~J~ says: Guss and I have discussed the heat that will happen during a campaign. I have offered to set him up with a liberal blog that he would run and would be a sister blog of this one.

He’s still deciding what he wants to do with that idea, so I hope no one gets the impression there has been a rift here.

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Turn on your speakers and just enjoy.

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He may be a beleaguered president, but don’t call him a lame duck yet, as he is still fighting for what he believes.

President Bush has said, in spite of Democrats asking for a say in the Attorney General pick, that he will nominate someone who agrees with his policies.

A half-dozen or so lawyers are being discussed among administration officials as possible candidates to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, but no clear favorite has emerged, and President Bush is willing to fight for the right candidate, administration officials and Republican advisers said yesterday.

Democratic Senate leaders have called on the White House to consult them closely during the selection process, but administration officials warned yesterday that the president intends to nominate an attorney general who agrees with his policies. “It is the president’s prerogative to appoint someone who shares his views,” a senior administration official said.

I suppose we could put Janet Reno back in. She should pass with flying colors.

We could also go the rest of the term with an acting Attorney General if the Senate wants to block his nominee.

Good for you, Mr. President. Now stick to it.

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The Republican leadership in congress has asked for an ethics investigation into Senator Larry Craig and his latest escapades.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Republican leaders announced they will launch an ethics review of the senator.

“This is a serious matter. Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig’s incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement on behalf of the party’s Senate leadership.

I like that I belong to a party that wants to discipline its own. I don’t like having people who are saying one thing and doing another representing me.

If you look across the vast right blogosphere you will see calls for Craig’s resignation or at least an investigation into his conduct. We don’t circle our wagons and defend the indefensible.

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Former Senator and current presidential candidate John Edwards has said Americans should sacrifice SUVs to save on fuel.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group that he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.

“I think Americans are actually willing to sacrifice,” Edwards said Tuesday during a forum held by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “One of the things they should be asked to do is drive more fuel efficient vehicles.”

The former North Carolina senator was asked specifically if he would tell them to give up their SUVs, he said, “Yes.”

Edwards was asked during his appearance how he explained the contradiction of asking Americans to sacrifice while he’s living in a 28,000-square-foot (2,600-square-meter) mansion.

He said he came from nothing, worked hard all his life, has always supported workers and fought big corporations as a lawyer.

“I have no apologies whatsoever for what I’ve done with my life,” he said to loud cheers. “My entire life has been about the same cause, which is making sure wherever you come from, whatever your family is, whatever the color of your skin, you get a real chance to do something great in this country.”

I don’t own an SUV and have never wanted one, but I’ll sacrifice for my country just as soon as I see Mr. Edwards move into a townhouse and fly on commercial planes.

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This is whats happening in the real world of scandal. People don’t care about who got a million here or there. They care about things that they can understand in one second of their busy lives. I think that we are going to need more than campaign finance scandal this time around to beat the Democrats because the Republicans seem to be in a self destruct mode.

Scott Reed, a Republican strategist, was at a dinner in Philadelphia on Monday night when his cellphone and Internet pager began beeping like crazy. Only later did he learn why. His party was buzzing with news of a sex scandal involving a Republican United States senator — again.
Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.

It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.

Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.

It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.

“The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” said Mr. Reed, sounding exasperated in an interview on Tuesday morning. “You can’t make this stuff up. And the impact this is having on the grass-roots around the country is devastating. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”

Story

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Many recalls later, Mattel has decided they need to get down to business and become serious about quality control. Given the magnitude of these defective products, manufactured mainly for children, I would say the time should have been many yesterday’s ago.

Now Mattel, which appears to have stumbled in part because it had become overconfident about its ability to operate in China without major problems, is in crisis mode. Toys for the coming holiday shopping season are already shipping across the Pacific, and Mattel wants to catch any other problems that may have slipped through — before those toys land on store shelves and cause even greater damage to its reputation.

A big problem was that some of Mattel’s trusted vendors had turned to cheaper paint suppliers outside the company’s approved list. Mattel is now racing to increase its supply and product testing, no longer giving local contractors several months at a time to do the tests themselves.

This appears to be a case of some of the sloppiest, laziest management one could imagine. Where were all the executives from Mattel all this time? Why were they not insisting that products sold under their brand were safe for our children and grandchildren?

Mattel makes its best-known toys, like Barbie dolls, in its own 12 factories. But even as it has increased the share of toys it makes itself to about half, it still relies on roughly 30 to 40 vendors to make the other half. Mattel now realizes it was not watching those companies closely enough, executives here said.

Mattel vetted the contractors, but it did not fully understand the extent to which some had in turn subcontracted to other companies — which in turn had subcontracted to even more. Mattel required its vendors to list subcontractors, so Mattel could visit them, but Mattel is investigating whether that procedure has been followed. A number of companies whose factories Mattel had never visited may have had a hand in making the toys that were shipped around the world.

“Mattel now realizes it was not watching those companies closely enough,” now that is an understatement. Maybe those on the Board of this company should be scrutinizing their executives closely. Perhaps a complete overhaul of management would be a first step towards rebuilding their credibility.

The complete story at the NYT is laden with more details than I have read before on this issue.

While I can appreciate that contractors in China may have played a role in manufacturing these unsafe toys, it will remain my opinion that Mattel should be held responsible for their lack of oversight. This is an absolute disgrace.

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Anyone who has had children who reach their teenage years, (or perhaps pre-teen), has probably noticed that their sleep habits change a bit.

This is not to say that as parents we relinquish control, but increased school assignments, social activities, clubs and sports sometimes make both parent and child wish the day was 10 hours longer.

Therefore, even if the reasons stated in this article do not apply, children can become a bit sleep deprived.

Teenagers often get as little as four hours of sleep a night because they secretly play video games or watch TV until the early hours.

One in three secondary school pupils survives on short bursts of “junk sleep” and turns up exhausted for lessons the next day, according to a survey.

The Sleep Council warned that its results showed parents were being too lenient compared to previous generations by failing to impose a strict “lights out”.

I believe this is an age old problem as I can remember many years ago (yes, many) when I was still in school there would be children who had to tough out the day due to lack of rest. I don’t think this problem is something for which only today’s generation of parents should be taken to task.

Teenage years can be a bit rough on parents and children alike. Proper rest is not only beneficial to a childs education but also their overall ability to cope with the day to day peer pressure they face. Parents are the ones who need to grab all the “junk sleep” they can just to keep up with the pace. That study will be for another day I am sure.

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