Hi there, !
Today Thu 02/07/2013 Wed 02/06/2013 Tue 02/05/2013 Mon 02/04/2013 Sun 02/03/2013 Sat 02/02/2013 Fri 02/01/2013 Archives
Rantburg
531704 articles and 1855995 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 71 articles and 174 comments as of 15:01.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [3] 
5 20:11 Lone Ranger [1] 
9 23:19 JosephMendiola [] 
1 18:17 Frank G [3] 
13 22:52 Clusong Gromort6441 [1] 
2 16:16 Raider [] 
0 [1] 
5 16:14 Zhang Fei [] 
0 [] 
1 05:03 Besoeker [] 
0 [1] 
9 22:09 Frank G [1] 
6 14:29 Bright Pebbles [1] 
1 21:15 Eric Jablow [] 
4 19:04 Frank G [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 15:15 Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division [1]
3 21:27 lord garth [1]
2 14:24 SteveS []
2 20:24 Thing From Snowy Mountain [2]
6 20:52 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
7 16:19 Shipman [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
1 04:47 Besoeker []
Page 2: WoT Background
2 23:02 trailing wife []
0 []
1 19:25 Frank G []
0 []
3 22:35 JosephMendiola [2]
0 []
11 20:36 SteveS []
3 15:18 Steve White []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
1 00:14 JosephMendiola []
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
2 08:21 Besoeker [2]
0 []
3 14:02 Muggsy Mussolini1226 []
1 00:43 Raider [2]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [1]
3 23:39 JosephMendiola []
1 23:36 trailing wife [1]
17 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
1 00:24 JosephMendiola []
Page 6: Politix
5 22:46 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
2 22:34 Procopius2k []
8 19:18 Raider [1]
23 23:27 JosephMendiola [2]
7 18:08 JohnQC []
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Suspect Who Murdered Navy Seal Tasered, Restrained After Assaulting Guards
Police say Eddie Ray Routh, the 25-year-old suspect in the murder of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, was tasered after becoming aggressive with jailers around dinnertime Sunday.

After eating dinner, Routh refused to return his food tray to jailers. He became aggressive and tried to attack them when they tried to get it back from him, said Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant.

Jailers tasered Routh and placed him in a restraining chair in his solitary cell. He is on suicide watch, Bryant said.
This guy's mental state is currently somewhere between rabid dog and demon possessed.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hereby authorize deadly force.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2013 4:54 Comments || Top||

#2  You want them to shoot dead a traumatized veteran?

Fuck you
Posted by: KingKong || 02/04/2013 5:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Kingdong,
you mean like he gunned down Mr. Kyle? for murder there is NFE (that would be 'no fucking excuse')

so fuck you
Posted by: past master of the obvious || 02/04/2013 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Come on, if he greased some no-life civvie or some paki you'd be crying over that?

The guy is traumatized, he's a victim, his brain ain't right.
Posted by: KingKong || 02/04/2013 6:24 Comments || Top||

#5  and Kyle don't deserve to get shot, but hell... he took a nutcase with PTSD to a rifle range? WTF?

Can't help thinking we should add him to the list of disturbed vets who killed themselves. Wouldn't a trip to Dairy Queen and a movie have been a better choice?
Posted by: KingKong || 02/04/2013 6:30 Comments || Top||

#6  That trip to the range was the whole point of what Kyle was doing: trying to de-sensitize PTSD's. My own younger son came back from Iraq with a reaction to what let's call 'loud noises'. Took him a while to work through it but he did. When I talked to him (son) about this event, he said "You never know if the dog's gonna bite til it does".
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/04/2013 6:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Hang the little b*tch! No helping him.
Posted by: Clusong Gromort6441 || 02/04/2013 8:52 Comments || Top||

#8  It is a tragedy that Chris Kyle and his friend were shot. Eddie Ray Routh underscores the need for addressing problems vets have as they come back from combat.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/04/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#9  What problem does "KingKong" underscore?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/04/2013 12:34 Comments || Top||

#10  Really a tragic outcome for Mr Kyle.
It's possible that the perpetrator has suffered head injuries during the war ... Traumatic Brain Injury. Literally, his brain may not be right - at all.
Posted by: Raider || 02/04/2013 12:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Mr. KingKong, please understand that a number of Rantburg commenters are either currently serving, veterans, or veterans now serving as civilian contractors, like Besoeker. A number of them have earnt their ghoste in the night the hard way.

I, on the other hand, am no doubt what you would refer to as a no-life civvie, what with being a little Midwestern housewife and all, though I did once touch a competition target shooting rifle. Still, for some reason my family and friends are very protective of me, and would be distinctly unhappy if I were shot in the back while trying to help.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/04/2013 17:41 Comments || Top||

#12  Marine was a 2111, Small Arms Repair Technician. PTSD? Something doesn't add up....
Posted by: Vortigern Whavique7596 || 02/04/2013 21:15 Comments || Top||

#13  PSTD my a$$, just a nut job who doesn't deserve any help. I have no sympathy at ALL for Mr. Routh.
Posted by: Clusong Gromort6441 || 02/04/2013 22:52 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Hitler's Toilet Resides in a N.J. Auto-Repair Shop
[NEWSFEED.TIME] As dinner-party conversation goes, owning Adolf Hitler's toilet is hardly a bad place to start.
"Pass the ham, please? By the way, darling, I pooped in Hitler's crapper today!"
"Really, Reggie? Oh, what was it like? More potatoes?"
"Yes, thank you. When I got up I felt... empty."

An accidental antiques collector took possession of the dictator's porcelain privy when he purchased an auto-repair shop in Florence, N.J., almost two decades ago, reports Tablet magazine.
"Nice place, for an auto repair shop. Does the crapper come with it?"
"I'll throw it in for boot if you want."

The toilet was originally installed on Hitler's yacht, the 400-500ft Aviso Grille, which was also the very place where Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz first announced the Führer's death on May 1, 1945.
"Reggie! You mean that Dönitz was actually sitting on that very throne when he signed the surrender?"
"Indeed, m'dear. You can tell, y'know. The seat was down."

"[Hitler] wanted to ride it down the Thames in London
"Mein Führer! Das motör hat auf dem Kräpper gefallen!"
"Dämn!"

and go live in Windsor Palace when he invaded," the latrine's owner, Greg Kohfeldt, told Tablet. The ship boasted a crew of 245 and a private room for Eva Braun; it was one of the largest private vessels in the world at the time.

Although some may question the commode's authenticity, plenty of evidence points to this being the real deal. A sink from the same ship bears the maker's stamps and faucets in the "Blackletter" font favored by the regime.
... and since that particular unreadable font would be used on no one's potty but der Fuehrer's that confirms it.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hitler.

Right policies, wrong people targeted.
Posted by: KingKong || 02/04/2013 5:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The Aviso Grill had an interesting history. Aviso. and Grille. and Grille I wonder if the first link info is all accurate. Stalin was supposed to have Hitler's skull which he used as an ash tray for his cigars.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/04/2013 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  That's where the military got their genetic science from that has screwed their own kids including members of black water!
Posted by: Maggie Flomong2662 || 02/04/2013 18:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Hokay...is it post-SuperBowl or did the cuckoo bus unload today?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 19:04 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Toxic Air Plane Crash Warning
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] PASSENGER jets risk "dropping out of the sky" because airlines refuse to fit detectors that could save pilots from poisonous cabin air, a toxicologist told the Sunday Express.

Professor Chris van Netten, former US government adviser, says the industry is putting profits before the health and safety of passengers or crew.

He says that by failing to fit monitors that can "easily" detect leaks of odourless, colourless and toxic carbon monoxide, there is always the risk that pilots could inhale fumes and be rendered incapable of safely flying the plane.

Professor van Netten, who is Canadian, is a world authority on bleed-air contamination.

He said: "Carbon monoxide is a relatively rare event
How rare? Because at some point the precautions are against something that will likely never happen.
but it's an acute one that can bring an aircraft down.
So could it if the Hand of God reaches down from the sky and tears off all the engines, but we don't take precautions against that, right?
"When it happens you want to know what is going on because it is incapacitating and you want to be able to flush it out.

"If you can put detectors in the home, why not put them in the aircraft?"
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Carbon Monoxide detectors for low end general Aviation aircraft are available (the cheap ones are disposable and short lived, 90 days to 18 months, the $50 dollar one lasts about 5 years then must be tossed). A link to a retail supplier follows. http://tinyurl.com/bnhp7vp

I suspect certifying detectors for commercial use could be very pricey and they would require constant calibration and maintenance because the sensing material deteriorates over time.
Posted by: tipover || 02/04/2013 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Professor Chris van Netten, former US government adviser, says the industry is putting profits before the health and safety of passengers or crew.

I find that difficult to unbelieve.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2013 4:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I would not have thought this to be a problem. A couple of links regarding aircraft air quality. National Sciences Academy Press. and Brit study
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/04/2013 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Last year they passed a law in California requiring all homes to have carbon monoxide detectors. I think it's fair to assume the company that makes the detectors made a lot of money. Strange though, I've been around for quite a few decades and never had a problem with carbon monoxide.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/04/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||

#5  I knew a Supt. for a local bridge contractor who brought his son to work one Fall day in '94. Kid was sick and staying home from school. They apparently fired up their heater for the first time that night. Never woke up.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  I have a buddy who owns a nice Bonanza. He bought a Carbon Monoxide detector at a local hardware store and mounted it in the aircraft. I think it cost him ~$25.00....

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/04/2013 19:39 Comments || Top||

#7  AP, what's the cabin air refresh rate for commercial aviation? I think the air is completely replaced every x number of minutes -- my mind wants to say every 30 minutes. I doubt carbon monoxide would build up fast enough to be a problem. I think someone's just out to sell carbon monoxide detectors.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/04/2013 20:54 Comments || Top||

#8  OP, my thoughts exactly. Has there ever been an incident where the cabin crew passed out or was even affected from CO poisoning?

Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/04/2013 21:31 Comments || Top||

#9  cabin pressure, not CO (supposedly) but: Payne Stewart
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 22:09 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libyan TV Crew 'Assaulted' in Parliament
[An Nahar] Security guards at Libya's parliament have beaten up a crew of Alassema, an independent television network, the channel told Agence La Belle France Presse on Sunday.

"A team from (Alassema TV) went to cover a meeting of the national assembly on Friday, entering as they were permitted to," the channel's press office director Fethi Ben Aissa said.

"After interviewing an MP, the team was assaulted by plain clothes guards of the General National Congress," he said, adding that "the public prosecutor has decided to open an inquiry into the incident."

A video posted on the Internet, purportedly of the same incident, showed a cameraman being pushed and hit by men in civilian clothing, provoking an online uproar.

A joint statement by dozens of journalists said "this act of aggression essentially constitutes an attack against freedom of the media and is a return to the era of the stifling of the press."

It called for "the creation of a journalist union ... to ensure the defense of people's rights to obtain correct and timely information from different media outlets."
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Bloomberg smiles, sips 32oz Macallans Reserve.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2013 5:03 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Rebels gain key posts in new Central African Republic government
[FRANCE24] Central African Republic Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye on Sunday awarded key portfolios, including defence and mining, to members of a rebel coalition as he unveiled a unity government formed under a peace deal brokered in January.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Kuwaiti gets 5 years for insulting ruler
[Al Ahram] Mohammed Eid Al-Ajami, a Kuwaiti citizen, faces a five-year imprisonment sentence for insulting the emir on Twitter
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  We fought a war to put these murdering dictators back on their thrones.

Their pal's the saudis can kill 3000 people in USA and then get us to run round taking out their regional rivals.

If you thought you were fight against islamo dictators, think again. You've been fighting for them.
Posted by: KingKong || 02/04/2013 5:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm aware of Kuwait as a conservative country but they are mindful of Americans and considered better allies than most Arabs.

Not sure about the claim they are murdering dictators though but they do have censorship laws against royalty.
Posted by: Clusong Gromort6441 || 02/04/2013 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Very, very wealthy Bedouins. Perspective; think 16 exclusive tribes of Beyonce and Jay-z types who control all the oil in Texas, and hire everything done by Filipino third country nationals.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2013 9:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Their pal's the saudis can kill 3000 people in USA and then get us to run round taking out their regional rivals

A non-sequitor. The Sauds are not the Kuwaitis' "pals" (odd phrase coming from a Brit.) Hardly.

I overheard a conversation during a meeting with RSN officials some years back, where one of the senior officers (Prince something-or-other) got up and said something in arabic. Everyone laughed.

My counterpart translated: "Excuse me, I've got to go to Kuwait."
Posted by: Pappy || 02/04/2013 11:56 Comments || Top||

#5  If you thought you were fight against islamo dictators, think again. You've been fighting for them.

We're not fighting against them - we're fighting against some of the troglodyte scum they rule, but can't control, on account of the scum having this habit of overthrowing rulers who are insufficiently devout (to Islam). In the Mid East, the Muslim hoi polloi are the scum of the earth. If we could deport the lot of them to Alpha Centauri, the earth would be a better place.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/04/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||


"Burkas for babies": Saudi cleric's new fatwa causes controversy
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Saudi holy man has called for all female babies to be fully covered by wearing the face veil, commonly known as the burka, citing reports of little girls being sexually molested.

In a TV interview on the Islamic al-Majd TV, which seems to date back to mid-last year, Sheikh Abdullah Daoud, stressed that wearing the veil will protect baby girls. The Sheikh tried to back his assertion with claims of sexual molestation against babies in the kingdom, quoting unnamed medical and security sources.

Recently picked up on social media, Sheikh Dauod's statement prompted wide condemnation from his fellow Saudis on Twitter. Some tweeps called for the Sheikh to be held accountable because his ruling denigrates Islam and breaches individual privacy.

Sheikh Mohammad al-Jzlana, former judge at the Saudi Board of Grievances, told Al Arabiya that Dauod's ruling was denigrating to Islam and Shariah and made Islam look bad.

Jzlana urged people to ignore unregulated fatwas and explained that there are special regulations set by the Saudi authorities to administer religious edicts and appoint those who are entitled to issue them.

He said that he feels sad whenever he sees a family walking around with a veiled baby, describing that as injustice to children.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought little girls in Saudi Arabia have their fathers to fear most.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/04/2013 21:15 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Govt unveils plan to fight graft
[Bangla Daily Star] The government yesterday unveiled before the development partners its plan for preventing corruption and improving governance against the backdrop of Padma bridge corruption allegations.

Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan presented the National Integrity Strategy (NIS) describing it as a concerted initiative for fighting corruption at a meeting of the Local Consultative Group (LCG).

The meeting was held at the National Economic Council auditorium two days after the government withdrew its request to the World Bank for financing the Padma bridge project.

A high official of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) told The Daily Star that there were "no direct links between the timing of the presentation and the complexities over the graft allegations in the bridge project".

The official, however, said the government had an intention to remove any bad impression, if there is any, from the donors' mind over the Padma bridge corruption allegations.

The bridge project was not discussed at the meeting. The ERD secretary at the beginning told the representatives of the development partners that the finance minister will brief them on the bridge project later, said the ERD official.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn, I thought the headline referred to the USofA.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/04/2013 12:52 Comments || Top||

#2  The third world unveils a plan to fight corruption. Hahahaha! That's like ordering chickens not to poop.
Posted by: Raider || 02/04/2013 16:16 Comments || Top||


Hartal in 16 dists today
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP will enforce a dawn-to-dusk hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions today demanding release of the party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its self-dependence affairs secretary Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu.

Joint Secretary General of BNP Mizanur Rahman Minu announced the hartal yesterday during a presser at the party's Rajshahi office.

Withdrawal of "false" cases filed against the two veteran leaders of the opposition, protesting incidents of disappearance and secret killings and indiscriminate killings by Indian BSF on borders, increase of fuel prices and lack of security are among other reasons for calling hartal in all 16 districts of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions.

Minu also threatened to go for tougher agitation programme if the government interrupts their peaceful protests during hartal hours.

The presser was organised by the party's coordination committee of two divisions.

Earlier, BNP placed barricades on highways and railways for an hour on February 2 and held demonstrations at district and divisional level on January 27, Minu added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Google boss Schmidt labels China an 'IT menace'
[BBC.CO.UK] Google Chairman Eric Schmidt uses a new book to call China an Internet menace that backs cyber-crime for economic and political gain, reports say.

The New Digital Age - due for release in April - reportedly brands China "the world's most active and enthusiastic filterer of information".

China is "the most sophisticated and prolific" hacker of foreign companies, according to a review obtained by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

China denies allegations of hacking.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Revolution coming?
Beijing has been accused by several governments, foreign companies and organizations of carrying out extensive cyber espionage for many years, seeking to gather information and to control China's image.

The New Digital Age analyses how China is dangerously exploiting an Internet that now permeates politics, business, culture and other aspects of life, the WSJ says.

It quotes the book as saying: "The disparity between American and Chinese firms and their tactics will put both the government and the companies of the United States at a distinct disadvantage."

This, it says, is because Washington "will not take the same path of digital corporate espionage, as its laws are much stricter (and better enforced) and because illicit competition violates the American sense of fair play".

The book argues that Western governments could do more to follow China's lead and develop stronger relationships between the state and technology companies.

States will benefit if they use software and technology made by trusted companies, it suggests.

"Where Huawei gains market share, the influence and reach of China grow as well," the WSJ quoted the authors as writing.

The WSJ this week said its computer systems had been hacked by specialists in China who were trying to monitor its China coverage.

It was the second reported attack on a major US news outlet in days, as the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported earlier that Chinese hackers had "persistently" penetrated its systems for the last four months.

China's foreign ministry dismissed the New York Times' accusations as "groundless" and "totally irresponsible".
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The book argues that Western governments could do more to follow China's lead and develop stronger relationships between the state and technology companies.

Double Huh? If Bill and Melinda were any closer, they'd be sleeping in the West Wing!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/04/2013 4:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Reprint of a comment I made at Belmont Club on this issue:

Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way.

The way I see it, Google et al are like any entity that wants to cement its income stream and power and then grow both. The desire to do so isn’t new and has always been there, but the ability to prevail upon the government with conversation and writing didn’t exist. Prior to now they had political leaders with whom they were hostile, largely by choice. Now that they have a wholly owned government with a mighty military, one over which they can exert some influence to use against their enemies.

In other words, they have always known of the “greatness”, but loathed it right up until the point when they could wield it. They don’t respect the institutions, or the philosophy and sacrifice that made them possible, just the utility, in our throwaway society (ironic that most of them are “green” and believers in recycling etc.).

“Those are OUR planes, now”, as was once famously said.
Posted by: no mo uro || 02/04/2013 7:46 Comments || Top||

#3  this is the new cold war and we need to act like it
Posted by: Clusong Gromort6441 || 02/04/2013 9:17 Comments || Top||

#4  If you have a website, Rantburg, and take any time at all to analyze your logs you will see that a great many hacking attempts originate in China. It really is a form of state sponsored terrorism. If it was up to me I'd firewall the whole damn country. I would cut off all trade with them. All of it. No exceptions. Why do we do anything at all to enrich a hostile, aggressive, totalitarian dictatorship?

As for the likes of Google, Apple, HP, Dell and Microsoft doing business with the fascist bastards I can only say they are paving the way to their own funerals. What a bunch of fucking morons.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/04/2013 12:53 Comments || Top||

#5  The book argues that Western governments could do more to follow China's lead and develop stronger relationships between the state and technology companies.

Spoken like the true corporate twin of the classic Fascist/Corporatist state. Benito would be proud.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/04/2013 12:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Without the focus of proper customer choice companies die slowly from the inside.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/04/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||


Economy
Argentina tries freezing prices to break 30 percent annual inflation spiral
Argentina announced a two-month price freeze on supermarket products Monday in an effort to stop spiraling inflation.

The price freeze applies to every product in all of the nation’s largest supermarkets — a group including Walmart, Carrefour, Coto, Jumbo, Disco and other large chains. The companies’ trade group, representing 70 percent of the Argentine supermarket sector, reached the accord with Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno, the government’s news agency Telam reported.

The commerce ministry wants consumers to keep receipts and complain to a hotline about any price hikes they see before April 1.

Polls show Argentines worry most about inflation, which private economists estimate could reach 30 percent this year. The government says it’s trying to hold the next union wage hikes to 20 percent, a figure that suggests how little anyone believes the official index that pegs annual inflation at just 10 percent
Posted by: tipper || 02/04/2013 19:29 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A price freeze?
Really?
Have they ever worked in the past?
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 02/04/2013 19:35 Comments || Top||

#2  So I guess they prefer empty market shelves.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/04/2013 19:35 Comments || Top||

#3  pretty obviously a Juice/British conspiracy to impose reality on the Argie markets? Oh yeah, and when you're starving you can eat Peronist promises from Christina
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 19:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah good luck with that.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/04/2013 19:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Next, like any banana republic, their government will be clamping down on credit rating agencies to prevent them from issuing lower credit ratings.

..... Oh, wait.......
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 02/04/2013 20:11 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Amusement park planned for Osama bin Laden's hideout
Now that the place where Bin Laden was killed has become the 2nd most hold shrine in Islam after Mecca, can't let a crisis go to waste.
Pakistan is planning to build an amusement park in the town of Abbottabad, notorious for being the site of Osama bin Laden's death.

The amusement park and outdoor activity center is planned for the edge of the northwestern town and will begin construction in the next two weeks.

"This project has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden," said Syed Aqil Shah, the provincial minister for tourism and sports, adding that the 50-acre development would also include restaurants, a heritage center and manmade waterfalls.

"The amusement city will be built on 50 acres in the first phase but later will be extended to 500 acres," he told Agence France-Presse.

"We are working to promote tourism and amusement facilities in the whole province and this project is one of those facilities."

"The project will take five years to complete," Jamaluddin Khan, the deputy provincial minister for tourism, told Reuters, that it would include a zoo, a mini-golf course, rock climbing and paragliding.
And not forgetting the most popular entertainment "be a suicide bomber for a day"
Javed Abbasi, a provincial member of parliament who supported the park, said, "It was unfortunate that Osama stayed here but I don't think it was the fault of the city, where he had no support," according to the Guardian. "People are not fanatic, they do not support terrorists -- you cannot blame a city if someone hides here."

Bin Laden was killed in his compound by US Navy SEALs in a raid on May 2, 2011. The large white villa has since been demolished, Reuters noted.
Posted by: tipper || 02/04/2013 20:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


India President Approves Death Penalty in Some Rape Cases
[An Nahar] India's president on Sunday approved harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi sparked national outrage and triggered demands for tougher laws.

President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the new rape law two days after cabinet ministers recommended changes to improve safety for women.

"The Indian president has given his assent to the ordinance on crime against women. It comes into effect immediately but it will also be tabled before the parliament," a senior officer in the president's office told Agence La Belle France Presse.

A government-appointed panel and the cabinet had recommended tougher laws after the death of a 23-year-old woman who was savagely raped and attacked in a bus on December 16 and died nearly two weeks later.

Under the changes, the minimum sentence for gang-rape, rape of a minor, rape by coppers or a person in authority will be doubled to 20 years from 10 and can be extended to life without parole.

In the existing law, a rapist faces a term of seven to 10 years.

The cabinet has also created a new set of offenses such as voyeurism and stalking that will be included in the new law.

But women rights activists have slammed the ordinance saying it lacks teeth to fight sexual crimes against women and lashed out at the government for passing the law without holding a debate or discussion.
Posted by: Fred || 02/04/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's President Ahmadinejad offers to go into space
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has volunteered to become the first person sent into space by his country's fledgling space programme.

"I'm ready to be the first Iranian to be sacrificed by the scientists of my country and go into space," he is quoted by state media as saying.

Iran announced last week that it had successfully sent a monkey to space.

Western nations have expressed concern that Iran's space programme is being used to develop long-range missiles.

Such missiles could potentially be used to carry nuclear warheads.

Iran denies it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
Worms

President Ahmadinejad made his space-travel offer during an address to scientists on Iran's national day of space technology in Tehran, state media report.

It comes a week after Iran said it had successfully sent a monkey to an altitude of some 120 km (75 miles) for a sub-orbital flight. The monkey returned unharmed.

In the US Senator John McCain mocked Mr Ahmadinejad's announcement, using Twitter to compare the Iranian president to the nation's space monkey.

"So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space - wasn't he just there last week?" Mr McCain wrote.

The tweet provoked an angry response from many who saw racist overtones in his comparison of the dark-skinned, bearded Mr Ahmadinejad to a monkey.

That prompted Mr McCain to tweet again, saying: "Re: Iran space tweet - lighten up folks, can't everyone take a joke?"

Pictures released by the Iranian presidency website on Monday showed President Ahmadinejad meeting the monkey.
Posted by: tipper || 02/04/2013 17:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hear the weather is quite nice on Venus this time of year. Nothing beats a vacation on Venus. I hear alot of people love it so much they don't come back. see: http://www.scribd.com/doc/23657356/The-Marching-Morons
Posted by: George Glaigum7976 || 02/04/2013 18:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Can you leave him up there?
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/04/2013 18:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I think this would violate the prohibition on space junk
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 18:17 Comments || Top||

#4  "So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space - wasn't he just there last week?" Mr McCain wrote.

The tweet provoked an angry response from many who saw racist overtones in his comparison of the dark-skinned, bearded Mr Ahmadinejad to a monkey.

That prompted Mr McCain to tweet again, saying: "Re: Iran space tweet - lighten up folks, can't everyone take a joke?"


"Dark-skinned" my ass. That race card is just plum worn out.

Nice shootin' from the hip, John McCain.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 02/04/2013 18:35 Comments || Top||

#5  The tweet provoked an angry response from many who saw racist overtones in his comparison of the dark-skinned, bearded Mr Ahmadinejad to a monkey.

and there's the rub, oh sensitive ones. "Sons of Pigs and Monkeys" is OK for the Juice, but not for an unshaven unclean hate-spewing dwarf POS like Ahmadinejad? If anything, the monkeys should take offense at the comparison
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 19:06 Comments || Top||

#6  This stuff just writes itself, don't it! No wonder Scrapple Face went out of business. Who can compete?
Posted by: SteveS || 02/04/2013 22:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Truth be told, being a Spacenaut was long a personal dream = life goal of his since a young Tween, before Khomenei + the Islamic Revolution came along.

Personally I blame the APOLLO PROGRAM + "I DREAM OF JEANIE [Barbara Eden]".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/04/2013 22:42 Comments || Top||

#8  I strongly support this idea. Is there a fundraiser somewhere? Does he need a promotional website? How can I help get him on the end of rocket? I'll put up a sign in my yard if needed.
Posted by: Beau || 02/04/2013 22:46 Comments || Top||

#9  ION MOUD NEWS, WAFF > IRAN'S PRESIDENT SAYS HE WISHES TO VISIT GAZA, to walk + chat among the Paleo people barring any resistance or denial by Israel = Tel Aviv of his formal request to pray in Jerusalem.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/04/2013 23:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Alabama hostage situation has ended
After a seven-day standoff, local media report that the hostage situation in Midland City, Alabama has ended.

Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old Vietnam veteran kidnapped a five-year-old boy from a school bus on Tuesday last week, shooting the bus driver to death in the process, he then held the boy in an underground bunker in his yard for the next six days.

The child is reported to be uninjured and is undergoing a standard medical evaluation.

Local news station WJHG reported explosions near the site of the crisis while other local media say a coroner has confirmed that Dykes has been killed.

The FBI has not discussed a motive for the kidnapping, but neighbors described Dykes as a loner with no children of his own. The 65-year-old was estranged from his family, according to Mel Adams, a Midland City Council member who knew Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4, as quoted by AP. The kidnapper’s neighbors told AP that Dykes once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for stepping onto his property, and guarded his property at night with a gun and a flashlight.
Posted by: tipper || 02/04/2013 17:24 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dykes deserved killing
Posted by: Frank G || 02/04/2013 18:17 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
39[untagged]
6Arab Spring
5Govt of Pakistan
4Govt of Syria
3Taliban
2TTP
2al-Qaeda in North Africa
2Boko Haram
2Govt of Iran
1Hezbollah
1HUJI
1Islamic Jihad
1Salafists
1Govt of Sudan
1Ansar Dine

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
  Syria Suicide Attack on Regime Kills 53
Fri 2013-02-01
  Binori Mosque cleric among 10 killed in Karachi
Thu 2013-01-31
  Boko Haram 'commander' declares ceasefire
Wed 2013-01-30
  Mali and Niger forces retake Ansongo
Tue 2013-01-29
  Sahel jihadist groups splinter
Mon 2013-01-28
  Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts
Sun 2013-01-27
  French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu
Sat 2013-01-26
  Green-on-green clash in Khyber tribal region kills 32
Fri 2013-01-25
  AQAP #2 killed for the THIRD time in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-24
  US drone strike near Sanaa kills 7 hard boyz
Wed 2013-01-23
  Nuristan Airstrike Kills 14 Insurgents
Tue 2013-01-22
  French seize control of Diabaly, Douentza
Mon 2013-01-21
  Nigeria: Gunmen attack Kano emir's convoy

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.215.77.96
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (17)    WoT Background (29)    Opinion (5)    (0)    Politix (5)