Egyptian Protest Helmet Designs

Hit and Run in LA

"The bizarre events unfolded at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway.

It started when a minivan struck a man crossing the street. The motorist sped away. Moments later, a second vehicle ran over the man, who was sprawled in the middle of the street. That driver, too, sped away without stopping, police said.

At that point, several pedestrians who witnessed the incidents raced into the street to help the pedestrian and block other cars from running him over. As one of these Good Samaritans stepped into the street, she was hit by a third car.

Unlike the first two drivers, this one immediately stopped and got out of his car to help the injured woman. But police said the crowd turned on the driver, beating him up.

"These criminal bystanders assaulted the victim and ultimately stole his cellphone," said a statement issued by the Hawthorne Police Department."

-from LA Times

The End of NATO

Interesting article on NATO in Foreign Policy today. A new report says, "NATO should slim down, scale back, and pass the ball". As a result of "crushing fiscal retrenchment and sour memories of Afghanistan will likely leave most member states in Europe incapable of any significant military expeditions". Isn't this a good thing? Maybe we will see a return to the principle of you-leave-me-alone and I-leave-you-alone in international relations. The article speaks about a "inevitable decline in NATO's military capacity" and "NATO's days as an armed-to-the-teeth phalanx blocking the Soviet Army are now in the misty past". NATO is shrinking and "making way for a more purely diplomatic role". That staff in Brussels -- those who remain after the pink slips -- will spend more time coordinating NGOs and contractors than directing tank brigades." I have considered NATO, as it has existed, a unnecessary anachronism for a long time, this is a good development.

At the same time, the scaling back of military capability as a result of economic trouble, is not all good. This is something that Mark Stewart points out in a post on the Fourth Course of Action blog: "when governments spends enormous amounts of wealth they do not have and adopt policies that discourage economic growth [emphasis on consumption over savings], they will eventually lose the ability to pay for one of the most fundamental functions of government: National defense". Because of the economic/finical/deficit crisis in Europe, "The West will continue to rely on the military might of the United States to make up for shortfalls in capability among the other democracies. But what will happen when the United States is served the bill for its own governmental mismanagement of the economy? Who will there be to call on then? " I would like to see individual or nations in bi-lateral partnership be in command and responsible for their own defense. Europe especially has for far too long depended on the United States.

German Military Resurgence

Germany Now World's Third Largest Arms Exporter -- Spiegel

German arms export had doubled in the last five years, now only behind the United States and Russia. Although the Germans are well known for high quality weaponry, this is startling considering Germany's deep pacifism since the Second World War.

Georgia Digging a Tunnel to Afghanistan?

Another Example of Georgian-American kookiness. The United States and Georgia are signing a deal that would create a military supply line from Georgia to Afghanistan. However, Georgia shares no border with Afghanistan. In fact, the two countries are well over a thousand miles distant. According to the Stratfor analyst, "unless the Georgian government somehow managed to bore a tunnel underneath Earth's crust between Georgia and Afghanistan".

E.T. Phone Rome

Vatican Seeks Signs of Alien Life -- AP

Here is another Catholicism themed story. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be putting limits on God's creativity they say. Are there alien Adams and Eves?

" 'The questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,' said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.

Last year Funes said believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God because aliens would be God's creatures and ruling them out as a possibility would be akin to putting limits on God's creative freedom. "

" 'Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God's creative freedom.'

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered 'part of creation.'

The Roman Catholic Church's relationship with science has come a long way since Galileo was tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant his finding that the Earth revolves around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe."

Church of England "Irrelevant" ?

Bestselling children's author GP Taylor attacks Church of England as "irrelevant" as he defects to Catholicism -- Telegraph

There seem to be a lot of problems in the Church of England lately and "defections" to Catholicism by well known people. Tony Blair converted in 2007. It is also interesting because he accuses the Church of preaching climate change.

" He attacked the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury and accused the church of sinking 'into a liberal pit that was no earthly use and offered no hope, no love and no grace'."

" He attacked bishops for spending 'more time preaching about climate change' than teaching the gospel and claimed weak leaders were 'emptying churches'. "