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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (738534)	9/10/2013 5:39:17 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1587945

We'll see. I predict it plays out the way it usually does (Psst - Obama is LUCY!): It's tough for stupid people to realize when they're being played.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (738534)	9/10/2013 5:47:02 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1587945

Syria accepts Russian weapons plan as France seeks UN resolution September 9, 2013 6:15PM ET Updated September 10, 2013 3:38PM ET america.aljazeera.com Russian President Putin calls developments a "good step," but says it could only work if the use of force was rejected President Barack Obama agreed Tuesday to U.N. talks over a Russian proposal that would see Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons destroyed, as the White House seemingly pivoted away from military strikes. In a day that saw a flurry of diplomatic action, the government of Bashar al-Assad appeared to accept the Russian plan, under which Assad's stockpile of chemical weapons would be placed under international control. Meanwhile, France said it planned to submit a resolution to the U.N. Security Council demanding that Damascus complies with demands to destroy or dismantle its chemical weapons program. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Syria wanted to join the international convention outlawing the use of chemical weapons and was ready to provide information about weapon stocks. Al-Moualem also voiced support for the Russian initative and said Damascus wants to hand over all of its chemical weapons, Reuters reported. The developments came before a widely anticipated national address by Obama on the Syrian crisis in which he is still expected to make the case for limited missile strikes. Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration is seeking congressional approval for military action in Syria. But it comes amid fresh talks of a non-military solution. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he hopes the Russian chemical weapons handover plan will be a "good step toward a peaceful solution" for Syrian conflict. However, Putin told reporters that the plan "can work, only in the event that we hear that the American side and those who support the U.S.A, in this sense, reject the use of force." White House aides told congressional leaders Tuesday that diplomacy is now the administration's primary goal, and that Obama has spoken separately with French President Francois Hollande and the British Prime Minister David Cameron about the Russian proposal. All three parties have agreed to work closely with Russia and China to ensure the verifiable and enforceable destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, a White House official said, adding, "These efforts will begin today (Tuesday) at the United Nations, and will include a discussion on elements of a potential U.N. Security Council Resolution." But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested Tuesday that Moscow was not "necessarily enthusiastic" to a binding U.N. resolution. An emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria that was set for Tuesday afternoon was canceled after Russia withdrew its request for what was to be a closed-door meeting. Syria's Foreign Minister earlier announced that Damascus had agreed to the Russian proposal because it would "remove the grounds for American aggression," according to an Interfax report. "We held a very fruitful round of talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday, and he proposed an initiative relating to chemical weapons. And in the evening we agreed to the Russian initiative," Walid al-Moualem was quoted as telling the speaker of Russia's lower house parliament house in Moscow. It comes as France plans to submit a resolution to the U.N. Security Council calling for Syria's chemical weapons stockpile to be turned over to international control, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday. Fabius said that the resolution would threaten "extremely serious" consequences if Syria violates conditions on chemical weapons. Fabius said that all options are still on the table regarding Syria. France has previously spoken out in support of limited air strikes in Syria, backing President Barack Obama's push for an attack, which had slowed in response to a growing domestic and international outcry against the move. The developments come ahead of a major address by Obama on Tuesday evening during which he was due to outline his case for a limited missile attack on Syria. On Monday, Obama told ABC News that any proposed strike against Syria would "absolutely" be put on hold if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to turn over chemical weapons. The United States and its allies have accused him of using the weapons during an attack near Damascus last month that the U.S. says left more than 1,400 people dead. Fabius said France's resolution would include condemnation of the attack, which could go beyond what Moscow, which wields veto-power in the Security Council, would allow to pass. Russia has expressed doubt that the Assad regime carried out the attack. While Obama called Syria's response "a potentially positive development," he said on NBC News that it would need to be taken "with a grain of salt." "We are going to run this to ground," Obama said. "(Secretary of State) John Kerry will be talking to his Russian counterpart. We're going to make sure that we see how serious these proposals are." British Prime Minister David Cameron also was open to the Russian plan but was skeptical of the sincerity of the proposal. Cameron's spokesman said on Tuesday, "The onus is very much now on the Russian government and the Assad regime to follow up in a way to show that the initiative is a serious and genuine offer." A spokesman from the Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed support for the Russian-brokered proposal. Iran is one of Syria's most stalwart allies and has been supporting the Assad regime throughout the civil war. An earlier statement by Syria's foreign minister Moualem about Moscow's proposal -- in which he expressed concern for "the security of our country" -- appeared to mark the Syrian government's first official acknowledgment that it possesses chemical weapons. Moualem's statement came just hours after Kerry said that Assad could resolve the crisis by surrendering control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week -- although Kerry himself expressed doubt that Syria would actually follow through. State Department officials had earlier said that they would give the proposal a "hard look" -- though with "serious skepticism," said spokeswoman Marie Harf, who said that Syria had consistently refused to destroy its chemical weapons in the past.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (738534)	9/10/2013 7:41:56 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1587945

"Ask a Slave" Takes Aim at Racial Ignorance —By Nina Liss-Schultz\| Tue Sep. 10, 2013 3:00 AM PDT motherjones.com "What's your favorite part of the plantation?" "Why don't you just go to Massachusetts and go to school?" Those are just a couple of the brilliant questions tourists asked Azie Mira Dungey during her two-year stint portraying a domestic slave at Mount Vernon, the historic plantation of George and Martha Washington. "Their questions just made me feel like they really don't value my history and my presence the way they value the mythological status of" the president, says Dungey, an aspiring actress who has spun her on-the-job experience into a new YouTube comedy series she calls "Ask a Slave." "I'm dismissed in such a way—it's very telling to me." Wanted: "One housemaid. No pay. Preferably mulatto. Saucy with breeding hips." After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Dungey returned home to the DC/Maryland/Virginia area—the "DMV," she calls it—and took a job as the Washingtons' enslaved lady's maid. After work, she told me, she would come home and recount her experiences for incredulous family and friends. They encouraged her to start writing down the tourists' questions, which "left me wanting to address so many issues behind the questions," she says. On the job, Dungey could hardly unleash sarcastic responses on the tourists. Hence the series: "Ask a Slave," which has three episodes so far and will air new ones every Sunday—sets straight her ignorant interlocutors with humor and attitude. "How did you get to be maid for such a distinguished founding father?" asks one visitor (portrayed by an actor). "Did you read the advertisement in the newspaper?" "Why yes," Dungey replies. "It said, 'One housemaid. No pay. Preferably mulatto. Saucy with breeding hips." "If we whitewash this narrative…that does affect us socially and politically—and it divides us." In our interview, Dungey recalled perusing writings of Thomas Jefferson in which he claimed that orangutans are attracted to black women. She thought, "'Wow, this guy is a huge jerk!'" But after reading the now infamous Psychology Today blog post (since removed) that claimed to have proof that black women are the least attractive of all women, she realized that not so much has changed. Before the first episode aired a few weeks back, while Dungey was still editing her clips, Russell Simmons released a video entitled "Harriet Tubman Sex Tape" (also since removed from YouTube) in which the revolutionary abolitionist has sex with her master in order to blackmail him. After seeing it, Dungey says she began to doubt whether she'd be able to pull off her show. But through humor Dungey was able to make her political points without offending viewers—the most hilarious moments coming, she says, "from modern misconceptions." She hopes her series, which so far has racked up a combined 740,000 page views on YouTube, will open up a discussion about whose history is most valued, "because this narrative we have about ourselves, and our origins, if we whitewash it or if we ignore certain aspects of it, that does affect us socially and politically—and it divides us."