A Less Spicey Jamahiriya

   Last week I was sleeping in my bed wearing a hooded sweatshirt over a longsleeved shirt. This weekend it just got too cold to sleep or work in my room and I moved out to the living-room couch, where it was significantly warmer (though there I have to contend with my roommate randomly coming out to ramble at me about obscure aspects of geology). He actually noted himself however, how it was odd that it would be uncomfortably warm in his room with the window open, and uncomfortably cold in the livingroom (this being the same livingroom temperature that I was considering to be blessedly warm). I think our heater dumps 60% of its heat output right into his room, 30% the other rooms, 7% gets piped directly outside for some reason and the remaining 3% goes into my room.

   Additionally, our internet was down all weekend. Fortunately all the research I'd done was from scholarly journal articles which are invariably in PDF format, which is irksome in that I have to download them to read them, but in this case as I'd downloaded them already I did not need internet access to write my paper. Still, not having internet access all weekend made me feel remarkably isolated. )=


Libya, Re-examined
   So as you know, Libya has long been considered a classic Rogue state. Leader Muammar Kadafi publicly reserved the right to develope nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and refused to sign the relevant treaties, and for decades blamed the United States for everything including purposefully starting the AIDs epidemic to make the rest of the world dependant on US pharmaceuticals. Also, when he came to power in 1969, he officially renamed Libya as "The Great People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" -- "Jamahirya" being a word he had made up, possibly on the spot. It sounds to me like some kind of delicious Cajun dish.
   So why did we get off on the wrong foot with Libya? Well to be fair we were less than thrilled when he nationalized our oil investments in his country upon coming to power, but another significant factor is that we were pissed that in the Iran-Iraq war Libya was supporting Iran against our dear ally Saddam Hussein.
   Also of interesting note, Kadafi has been after Osama Bin Laden since before we had any idea who he was. It was Kadafi who issued the first Interpol arrest warrant for Bin Laden. When the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center occured in 2001, Libya was one of the first countries to offer condolences, condemn the "horrifying and destructive," and state that US military retaliation would be justified. (seriously, I have three sources on this)
   The most infamous action linked with Libya has been the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988. In the initial months after the bombing, the prime suspects were an organization called PFLP-GC. However, later a piece of circuitboard was discovered among the wreckage that an FBI expert testified could only be linked to a Libyan bomb. Later that FBI expert would be convicted of perjury in presenting false evidence during unrelated murder trials. In 2003, a retired CIA officer gave a statement to Megrahi's lawyers in which he alleged evidence had been planted. And in late 2005 a retired Scottish police chief who had been involved in the investigation has submitted an affadavit that the CIA had planted the key piece of circuitboard. (source)
   Anyway, when Libya announced in 2003 that it would renounce weapons of mass destruction and sign all the relevant treaties, many hailed it as a consequence of Libya being concerned about being the next Iraq. My research indicates, however, that Libya had been trying to get back on our good-side for some time already (vis-a-vis the reaction to Sept 11th), and was getting desperate to get out of the crippling sanctions they'd been buried under.


Parking > Defence Budget
In other news, I recently found this somewhere on the internet:

“Free parking isn't really free. In fact, the average parking space costs more than the average car. Initially, developers pay for the required parking, but soon tenants do, and then their customers, and so on, until the cost of parking has diffused throughout the economy. When we shop, eat in a restaurant, or see a movie, we pay for parking indirectly because its cost is included in the price of everything from hamburgers to housing. The total subsidy for parking is staggering, about the size of the Medicare or national defense budgets."

Picture of the Day

Social Sciences Building

   ...and Case 36 has been filed.


Previously on Emosnail
   Three Years Ago Yesterday: Corresponding With Vicki Swett II - ASUCD Advisor Vicki Swett informs me that the ASUCD Administrative Office will not do work for the Judiciary. I politely ask her for the Administrative Plans for SGAO and the office of the Advisor. Turns out neither exists. I'm told SGAO at least has one now. (See Also: Corresponding With Vicki 1)
   Two Years Ago Last Saturday: Re-Enfranchisement, Partially - ASUCD Justices formerly couldn't write any legislation at all, a Bill passes however enabling them to write legislation regarding specific judicial sections of the bylaws however. Also, The President of Ecuador dismisses all Ecuadorian justices.
   Year Ago Last Saturday: Four Pending Cases - This year we only have three.