Leaving on a jet plane

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It's pack-up day today for my young house guests.

They've been very well behaved (apart from the puking incident) and it's been fun having the place full of teenagers, fun but tiring. And now the clearing up starts. The washing machine will be on non-stop for the rest of the day and the carpet shampooer will be put into service tomorrow. 

I'm hoping to get the place spick and span for Friday evening, when Sandra begins her well deserved two week break. Then we've got 11 days until the next guests arrive!

So I'll be busy for the next 36 hours or so. Back Saturday.


Stick to cocaine, dear

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Girl overdoses on espresso coffee
She developed a fever and began struggling to breathe after being sent home by her father. "My nerves were all over the place. I was drenched. I was burning up and hyperventilating. I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I thought I was going into shock. I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake."


Keep taking the beetroot

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South Africa blames UK for Zimbabwe crisis
South Africa has blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing the UK of leading a campaign to "strangle" the beleaguered African state's economy and saying it has a "death wish" against a negotiated settlement that might leave Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF in power. According to a South African government document circulating among diplomats ahead of a regional summit this week, President Thabo Mbeki will paint an optimistic picture of his efforts to broker an agreement between Mr Mugabe and the Zimbabwean opposition.
Brainless idiot meets ruthless tyrant. God help southern Africa.

So they really ARE getting younger. Phew!

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Babies on the beat: Two 16-year-olds are recruited as community bobbies
Two 16-year-olds have been recruited as police community support officers with the authority to detain and question suspects. The pair, just out of school, will join foot patrols from a 'busy' police station. The move by Thames Valley Police has triggered a row about public safety and allegations that forces - and the Government - are trying to "police on the cheap". The teenagers are two years too young to join the regular police force. If they were offenders, they would be tried in juvenile rather than adult courts. Yet they will have a string of powers, including the right to detain offenders, stop and search under terror laws, issue penalty notices for disorder and stop vehicles.
So we are now to be policed by individuals who are, in law, still children. It's bad enough that we are confronted by spotty, gormless looking youths working as security officers in our shops and supermarkets . Now they'll be on the street. Jeez!


A person in between

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The issue of Iraqi employees who, having worked for the British Army or the CPA, are now being abandoned and left to fend for themselves has been highlighted by several UK bloggers, in particular Dan Hardie and Justin but let's not forget George Packer who wrote a long piece about the US betrayal of Iraqi interpreters way back in March:

Betrayed - The Iraqis who trusted America the most, by George Packer March 26, 2007, The New Yorker.
The Arabic for “collaborator” is aameel—literally, “agent.” Early in the occupation, the Baathists in Ali’s neighborhood, who at first had been cowed by the Americans’ arrival, began a shrewd whispering campaign. They told their neighbors that the Iraqi interpreters who went along on raids were feeding the Americans false information, urging the abuse of Iraqis, stealing houses, and raping women. In the market, a Baathist would point at an Iraqi riding in the back of a Humvee and say, “He’s a traitor, a thug.” Such rumors were repeated often enough that people began to believe them, especially as the promised benefits of the American occupation failed to materialize. Before long, Ali told me, the Baathists “made the reputation of the interpreter very, very low—worse than the Americans’.”

There was no American campaign to counter the word on the street; there wasn’t even a sense that these subversive rumors posed a serious threat. “Americans are living in another world,” Ali said. “There’s an Iraqi saying: ‘He’s sleeping and his feet are baking in the sun.’ ” The U.S. typically provided interpreters with inferior or no body armor, allowing the Baathists to make a persuasive case that Americans treated all Iraqis badly, even those who worked for them. “The Iraqis aren’t trusting you, and the Americans don’t trust you from the beginning,” Ali said. "You became a person in between."

Also check out Shadows Of Their Former Selves at BAG News. An interesting take on the position of the 'people in between.


Ouch!

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 Builder carries out home conversion
Building boss Howard Shelley carried out the ultimate DIY conversion — by castrating himself so he could become a woman. The 42-year-old dad of two decided on the drastic move after being told he would have to wait at least two years for a sex change on the NHS. He found a website which gave a step-by-step guide to the eye-watering home surgery, then waited till wife Janet went out before setting to work with a kitchen knife in the loo.

With the job done, he wrapped his severed appendages in a cloth and dropped them in the bin. Then he drove five miles to his local GP, explained what he’d done, and was packed off for treatment at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, near Aylesbury, Bucks. Amazingly, three days later he was back at his desk. Howard, who wants to be known as Holli, said: “It was very painful, but the moment I cut them off I felt all woman.


Semper Fidelis

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Troops Worry Relatives Could Be Deported
Yaderlin Jimenez was an illegal immigrant facing deportation. Her husband, a U.S. citizen and soldier, couldn't help her because he was missing after an insurgent attack in Iraq. The military has not been able to find Army Spc. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., after he was apparently snatched in May during a raid on his unit south of Baghdad. His capture drew national attention to his wife's deportation case, prompting Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to ask immigration officials to halt the proceedings. Jimenez's wife then became a legal resident, but the couple's plight put a public face on the private anguish of a growing number of military families in similar straits.

About 35,000 legal immigrants without citizenship are now serving in the military, and nearly 34,000 other service members have taken the citizenship oath since 2001. That means when immigrant soldiers ship off to Iraq, they may carry with them a worry their American-born counterparts are less likely to share: that their family members might be deported while they are away.