Senate Passes Bill On Cluster Bomb Use

[Purveyor]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate has moved to restrict the sale or transfer of U.S. cluster bombs, the munitions blamed for the deaths of Lebanese civilians in a conflict with Israel last summer.

The measure, included in a foreign aid funding bill for next year that passed late on Thursday, would require that no military funds be used for the sale or transfer of the bombs unless they had a failure rate of 1 percent or less.

In addition, any sale or transfer agreement must specify that the bombs would be used only against clearly defined military targets and not where civilians were known to be present.

"Sensible standards can greatly reduce the gruesome casualties these weapons needlessly inflict on innocent civilians," said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, one of the sponsors of the measure, along with fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

U.S.-made cluster bombs were used in Israel's war in July last year against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The State Department opened a probe of the bombs after reports they were responsible for many civilian deaths.

---EOE---

http://www.reuters.com:80/article/politicsNews/idUSN0720436020070907

[TomInTib]

1. As if THAT is going anywhere.

Dead on Arrival.

Because it makes to much effing sense.

[Wiley50]

5. I'm Getting Pretty Fuckin' Sick Of This Charade, Tom

They keep dislocating their shoulder franticly patting themselves on the back

for passing stuff that really would be great IF, and it's a HUGE IF,

it wasn't DOA or, if signed, negated by these illegal fucking signing statements,

that they don't have the huevos to challenge.

Better to cut to the chase and IMPEACH THE FUCKING ROADBLOCKS ALREADY!

( I'm really worried about the next week or so, Tom. Maybe they are too)

[TomInTib]

7. You're so right, Wiley. It is a fucking charade.

Reminds me of the barnyards that I grew watching.

Reid, Pelosi, et al are like the roosters. Strutting around, preening and acting out all kinds of chicken shit.

But when the dogs would get a hankering for a little chicken, those fucking roosters were nowhere to be found.

[Wiley50]

8. Back in '75, my girlfriend's dad was a lobbyist for the Independent Petroleum Producers

The wildcat oilmen, what was left of them anyway.

Her deceased Mom had been Mike Mansfield's secretary

and her brother was a senate page.

So we hitchiked up to DC and spent a week

Did all of the museums, peeped on Muriel Humphrey whose condo was directly across from her dad's,

bought coke from a senate page in the capitol and then more at his apt where a half dozen pages on their lunchbreak

were cutting and snorting lines from a 8x10 framed glossy of one page shaking hands with his senator

in front of the capitol dome with a flag flying... the whole bit.

We spent a few hours in the Senate gallery watching the goings on

and I remember thinking,"This is all just a fucking play and these guys are just actors!"

Nothing has changed

[TomInTib]

9. You and I should hitchike to DC.

Reading your post, I had a thought.

My ex was (and probably still is) hooked on a soap opera - Days of Our Lives.

I used to tell her that she could just watch it maybe once every three months and not miss a damned thing.

Kinda like our Kabuki Senate.

Same shit, different day.

[Wiley50]

10. You're On! Pick Me Up In Nashville and We'll Go To DC

and just to make it fair, I'll accompany you back to Tiberon

Do you think we could arrange a one ton dually so I can take my boat?

That marina across the bay in Sausalito looks like a good home for me.

( and if it's too expensive, I can still sail up to Seattle, where my son is )

That's what I need at my advanced age. To get the boat to the west coast

where my son can help me get her fixed up like she deserves.

[OlderButWiser]

2. Now if they could address...

...the cluster fuck this country is going through.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Admitting to warcrimes, not a good idea at this juncture. n/t

[bemildred]

4. Which will have absolutely no effect on what is actually done in the future. nt

[TahitiNut]

6. Simple 'solution': Just off-shore the company that makes 'em.

I hear Pakistan or China would welcome the jobs. :puke: