B'Man's Revolt
Archive for August 19, 2008
10 Things I Hate About The Commandments at Kontraband
Stopping World Starvation Is Easy
Eat rats to battle food crisis: Indian official
A state government in eastern India is encouraging people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
Authorities in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, are asking rich and poor alike to switch to eating rats in a bid to reduce the dependence on rice. They even plan to offer rats on restaurant menus.
“Eating of rats will serve twin purposes — it will save grains from being eaten away by rats and will simultaneously increase our grain stock,” Vijay Prakash, an official from the state’s welfare department, told Reuters.
Officials say almost 50 percent of India’s food grains stocks are eaten away by rodents in fields or warehouses.
Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bihar’s caste and tribe welfare minister, said rat meat was a healthy alternative to expensive rice or grains, and should be eaten by one and all.
“We are very serious to implement this project since the food crisis is turning serious day by day,” Manjhi, who has eaten rats, told Reuters.
In Bihar, rat meat is already eaten by Mushars, a group of lower caste Hindus, as well as poorer sections of 
society.
John Conyers: Get Rid Of Him And True Investigations Might Succeed
I am sick and tired of these blue dog asshats who do nothing except stand in the way, all-the-while trumpeting what they are doing. This old man is worthless and is one of the key reasons that Bush is able to get away with murder.
Democracy Now had Conyers on with Ron Suskind and I never heard Conyers give a reasonable answer to any question. Obfuscation and deliberate shift-changing. Why Amy would ever have this man on again will be a huge surprise to me.
She should have simply turned his damned mic off and spoke with Suskind.
The ‘skunk’: Israeli’s Newest Weapon Against The Palestinians
Latest Israeli weapon in W Bank: The ‘skunk’
The Palestinian protestors massed at the fence expected tear gas and rubber bullets; what they got instead was a putrid yellow wind, Israel’s newest weapon against West Bank demonstrators.
The noxious mist, which Israeli police refer to as “skunk,” was used for the first time earlier this month, when a truck-mounted cannon sprayed it over the heads of protestors, sending them racing down the hillside, retching and tearing off their shirts to try to escape the stench.
Dozens of Palestinians from the village of Bilin, along with international and Israeli activists, had marched to a nearby segment of Israel’s controversial separation barrier to demand its removal, just as they have done every Friday for the last three and a half years.
“No, no to settlements; no, no to the wall!” they shouted, as they waved Palestinian flags and posters of Yusef Amira, a 16-year-old shot dead by Israeli police at a protest in a neighboring village last month.
Then the skunk truck arrived, spraying a cloud of yellow mist and filling the air with the suffocating stench of faeces and urine.
More than one demonstrator said he preferred the tear gas Israeli troops usually Israeli police say “skunk” is more effective at dispersing crowds than tear gas or the more lethal rubber-coated bullets, which killed Amira.
“It’s the start of a change in tactics in dealing with crowd control and dispersing violent demonstrations and violent instances,” Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
“It protects the protestors because it doesn’t require us to use tear gas and rubber bullets.”
