Is This Right?

For those of you who don't know, today the Port Authority lost a civil case in which a jury found them responsible for negligence of their parking garage at the WTC. Here's the article in full detail: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051027/ap_on_re_us/1993_wtc_bombing

The reason they were blamed was because in 1985 a report that was written by the Port Authority's security officials said that the garage was a likely attack site. This doesn't seem like a logical reason to find them guilty. Look at the year difference- 1985-1993 is 8 years. 8 years! This just doesn't seem right to me, because so much happens in a near decade.

Iraqi Constitution

Today I happened to notice an article in the paper that laid out the basis of the new Iraqi Constitution. I was a little troubled.

One part said that Islam would be the official religion and basis for laws. This alone takes away from the whole ideal of democracy and freedom; it becomes more or less a theocratic nation. For instance, America has no nationwide religion nor does the US have a government sponsored religion. Just look- for mentioning the Lord like in the Pledge of Allegiance some minority becomes offended, the ACLU steps in, and it becomes a Supreme Court case. Sure, America is based on Judeo-Christian elements, yet we try to be so protective of the minority that one can't help laughing. If a Christian or Jew were to go live in Iraq (you'd have to be stupid, but who knows), you already have points against you as an outsider to the society. They might not like to admit it, but its true.

There was another part of the Iraqi Constitution, which I think is too idealistic but good nonetheless, said no one would be discriminated based on gender, origin, ethnicity, race, etc.- everyone is equal. We would all like to believe that everyone is equal, but in reality, it is not so. Women are supposed to be equal to men, yet on the average, women make about 78% of what men make for doing the same task. Another factor is obviously socio-economics- as long as this exists and we have a class system, no one will be equal (in capitalism, it will always exist). Racial quotas, although they "don't exist", play a role in who gets into certain college facilities. Unless women get to have rights in the new Iraq, they will be far from equal to men. I still think that if you aren't a Muslim, you will be frowned upon in the new Iraq as well. Even the different sides of Islam will be at odds.

Ding- We Have A Nominee!

Today, when the Supreme Court began its next session, John Roberts was officially sworn into office as the next Chief Justice.

But that don't matter right now. On this very morning, President Bush gave us our next nominee. The person------- Harriet Miers.

Here's how the pool's working:

1.) We will pick 3 numbers between 1-20

From there we will proceed.