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27. august 2007
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Amusing. Alberto Gonzales has been clinging to his post for dear life, and after he had sort of ridden out the storm, he resigns.
Well, I guess now he can say, "I wasn't pushed, I jumped." Doesn't make much of a difference.
PS: The story has been that Michael Chertoff will become the new Attorney General. Or maybe not:
A Senate aide with close connections to the Department of Justice tells CNN's Dana Bash Chertoff will not be the president's choice to replace Gonzales.
We'll see.
9:11:20 PM 
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Who knew the Iranian government were such careful readers of small Swedish newspapers?
Iran summoned a Swedish diplomat to its foreign ministry on Monday to protest against a cartoon in a Swedish newspaper depicting the head of Prophet Muhammad on a dog's body, Sweden's foreign ministry said.
"Gunilla von Bahr, Sweden's charge d'affaires, was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry today where she received a protest from the Iranian government," foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Björkander told AFP.
The Iranian government told Von Bahr the cartoon was "offensive to Prophet Muhammad," Björkander said, refusing to disclose any further details of the meeting.
The cartoon was drawn by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, whose series of drawings of the prophet as a dog have sparked a controversy in Sweden. Several art galleries refused to display the sketches amid fears of angry reactions from Muslims.
The Örebro local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on August 18 to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.
"The editorial was critical of the fact that so many had turned down Vilks's drawings for fear of the reactions they would provoke," Nerikes Allehanda's chief editor Ulf Johansson told AFP.
Ah, well, now they know why. Here we go again!
PS: A quick web search failed to find the offending drawing.
8:49:30 PM
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Another great definition of chutzpah:
A man who wildly stabbed fellow passengers on board an Oslo tram three years ago is now seeking compensation from the state. He claims he never should have been released from psychiatric care just days before he went amok, and his victim's own mother agrees.
The man, an immigrant from Somalia in his 40s, killed one of the passengers and wounded four others in the bloody attack on board the #17 tram as it rolled by Bislett Stadium on an August afternoon in 2004. [...]
One of his victims, a 23-year-old man who didn't hear the uproar around him because he was deaf, was stabbed to death.
The assailant was eventually captured later that day and has been committed to psychiatric care ever since. Newspaper VG reported Friday that he now claims the state is liable for turning him into a killer because he didn't receive the care he needed at the time.
Psychiatry just isn't an exact science. Whatever mistakes may have been made in his case, it's just plain ridiculous for the attacker to demand compensation for anything.
12:18:39 AM
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The Pacific including the western Americas have a celestial treat coming on Tuesday:
The Earth's shadow will creep across the moon's surface early Tuesday, slowly eclipsing it and turning it shades of orange and red. The total lunar eclipse, the second this year, will be visible in North and South America, especially in the West. People in the Pacific islands, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand also will be able to view it if skies are clear.
I watched the last one, which was visible in Europe, and it's extremely cool. Hope for clear skies!
From descriptions, I realise it is nothing compared to the magnificence of a solar eclipse, however. Total solar eclipses are rare, however, and will not occur over Norway in my lifetime (unless you count Svalbard, in 2015). I could travel to China or Mongolia on August 1 next year, though.
On Friday, 2008 August 01, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia.
Why does all these other places have all the fun?
12:13:56 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.09.2007; 12:37:10.
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