A British anti-Semitism activist and aspiring politician was killed in the city's Georgetown neighborhood by robbers who slashed his throat and tried to rape his female companion, police said. Within three hours of the attack Sunday, police arrested and charged two men, and two other suspects surrendered to police a few hours later. The four suspects, including a 15-year-old boy, were due in court yesterday afternoon.
Three assailants stabbed and slashed the throat of Alan Senitt, 27, as he and his companion returned home from a movie, police said. Senitt, a Jewish activist, had moved to Washington last month to volunteer for the potential presidential campaign of Virginia's former governor, Mark R. Warner.
``Our entire team is shocked and heartbroken," Warner said in a statement.
Senitt had joined Warner's PAC on June 19, said Ellen Qualls, a spokeswoman for Warner. ``He wanted to work on our finance team and learn fund-raising and donor relations." He had worked for Greville Janner, a member of Britain's House of Lords from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party. He also ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in a London neighborhood.
Three men approached the couple with a gun and a knife, demanding money and valuables, investigators said. One man grabbed the woman and dragged her down a driveway where he tried to pull off her clothes, said Lieutenant Robert Glover. Two others attacked Senitt.
#6
BP, Georgetown is a very upper class sort of place, where the liberal elite have really expensive homes and shop at really expensive places. The crime rate there is lower than the average in DC (which would still make it much higher than the national average).
Posted by: Jonathan ||
07/11/2006 8:48 Comments ||
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#7
It pegged my suspect meter when I first read it, but looks like just your random street crime. Not an Abdul or Mohammad in the lot.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/11/2006 8:50 Comments ||
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#8
This is a slightly odd murder, yes. The local news last night showed the court illustrator's pictures of the accused. Two of the men have carefully groomed beards.
#9
Well, at least DC's gun ban certainly helped. The assailant didn't use a gun to commit the crime and the victim didn't have one to protect himself. /sarcasm off. Like calling the police would have helped at the point of confrontation.
#10
Actually, it appears the assailant did have a gun. And if Senitt was campaigning for Warner -- King Moonbat at YearlyKos -- it's unlikely he'd have carried a gun under any circumstances. So the DC gun ban is functioning as expected, but it was also aided by the synergistic effects of natural selection. A pity all round.
Today, President Bush called for a timeline on withdrawl of all law enforcement personnel from the D.C. Metro area. Stating that the area was rife with crime, and specifically noting this weekend's attack on a Jooooo Jewish visitor, President Bush called the D.C. area a "quagmire" and demanded the Congress move to enact a timeline for withdrawl of all law enforcement personnel, especially in light of the District's gun ban. "Seeing as how this gun ban has completely disarmed all law-abiding citizens in the District, we call for immediate withdrawl and handing over responsibility of security to the native street thugs," state White House Spokesman, Tony Snow. An anonymous source in the District's police department said that they are now considering mounting .50 caliber rifles and controlling cameras on all street corners in the District. As usual, Marion Berry could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: BA ||
07/11/2006 11:44 Comments ||
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#14
Years ago, Washington used to be a reasonably safe place. It has turned into a cesspool over the years. I try to avoid the place as it is not somewhere I feel comfortable traveling without a firearm. Unfortunately, many people have to live and work there. Social experimentation has not worked well for DC.
#15
Well, at least DC's gun ban certainly helped. The assailant didn't use a gun to commit the crime and the victim didn't have one to protect himself.
Reminds me of the Archie Bunker exchange with Meathead over gun control: "Would it make you feel better if they were pushed down the stairs?"
#16
A leftie who almost certainly opposed strict law enforcement found out the hard way why all those mean people on the right want criminals locked up and the key melted. It's a pity it cost him his life but I can think of several--we can start with Schumer and Feinstein--whom I would love to see personally get a clue through something like this. Biter bit, as it were.
Posted by: mac ||
07/11/2006 16:43 Comments ||
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#17
Just curious...were these animals black? Seems like most of the mindless, cruel, insane crime in DC is committed by blacks. Not saying anything, just curious....its a legit question.
Good pick.
SAN FRANCISCO - A retired mechanical designer with a penchant for poor prose took a tired detective novel scene and made it even worse, earning him top honors in San Jose State University's annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for bad writing. Jim Guigli of Carmichael submitted 64 entries into the contest. The judges were most impressed, or revolted perhaps, by his passage about a comely woman who walks into a detective's office.
"Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean," Guigli wrote.
DAMN good pick.
"The judges were impressed by his appalling powers of invention," said Scott Rice, a professor in SJSU's Department of English and Comparative Literature. He has organized the bad writing contest since its inception in 1982.
Guigli will receive "a pittance" for his winning entry, a bit of cash he said he may put toward the purchase of a motor boat. His work for the contest represents a sampling of a career that never quite developed for him.
"At one time I thought I wanted to write to detective novels," Guigli told the Associated Press Monday. "I never got a good start on it."
His bad start was to be celebrated Tuesday, when the contest results were to be officially announced by Rice. The contest is named for Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" began with the oft-mocked, "It was a dark and stormy night."
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07/11/2006 9:18 Comments ||
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#4
I could rewrite that for a pretty decent intro.
"Detective Bart Lasiter studied the super burrito illuminated by the light from his offices's one small window.
The door swung open revealing a woman. Her body said you've had your last burrito for a while, her face said angels did exist and her eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.
#6
looking upon her comelyness, his burrito stiffened noticeably...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/11/2006 12:00 Comments ||
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#7
The contest is named for Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" began with the oft-mocked, "It was a dark and stormy night."
I've never understood why "It was a dark and stormy night" is considered bad writing, unless you think that all nights are dark, in which case you've never spent much time without artificial lighting.
However, Paul Clifford actually begins:
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
Now that's bad.
I keep meaning to enter this contest, and keep forgetting when the deadline is.
#8
Angie, the official deadline should be easy for you to remember-- April 15th--, but the actual deadline may be as late as June 30.
However, the contest accepts submissions every day
of the year. and Phil you'ree limited to just one awful sentence... See rules here.
"I know what you're thinking, punk," hissed Wordy Harry to his new editor, "you're thinking, 'Did he use six superfluous adjectives or only five?' - and to tell the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement; but being as this is English, the most powerful language in the world, whose subtle nuances will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' - well do you, punk?"
As she sashayed out of the police station, her high heels clicking a staccato rhythm on the hard tile floor, like a one-armed castanet player in a very bad mariachi band, her ample bosom held in check only by a diaphanous blouse, and bouncing at each step like a 1959 tricked out Low-rider Chevy with very good hydraulics---she smiled to herself as she thought of the titillating interrogation from Detective Tipple about the Twin Peaks Melon Heist.
Wayne Spivey, Major, USAF Retired
Huntsville, Texas
When she sashayed across the room, her breasts swayed like two house trailers passing on a windy bridge.
Stan Higley
Fairport, NY
Although Brandi had been named Valedictorian and the outfit for her speech carefully chosen to prove that beauty and brains could indeed mix, she suddenly regretted her choice of attire, her rain-soaked T-shirt now valiantly engaging in the titanic struggle between the tensile strength of cotton and Newton's first law of motion.
Mark Schweizer
Hopkinsville, KY
Liberals are sounding a sour note over U2 rocker Bonos backing of a video game that depicts Venezuela as a banana republic led by a power-hungry tyrant.
The "Venezuela in the game is a fictitious country, but lefties are distressed that it demonizes Venezuelas real leader Hugo Chavez, known for his Marxist domestic policies and virulent anti-Americanism.
A private equity firm established by Bono the Irish star who has been touted for a Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign for Third World debt relief invested $300 million in Pandemic Studios, maker of the video game "Mercenary 2: World in Flames, according to the New York Post.
A player assumes the role of a mercenary sent to Venezuela, where a dictator has seized control of the nations oil.
One left-winger sounding off against Bonos investment is Jeff Cohen, author of "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media and a recent visitor to Venezuela, who told the Posts Page Six column:
"Its hard to fathom why an artist who claims to be about new paths to justice for developing countries would be mixed up in a computer game that glorifies stale, old mercenary approaches.
And David Lindorff, co-author of the new book "The Case for Impeachment, said: "This kind of right-wing war game plays to the propaganda message that the Bush White House has been pushing for years: that Chavez is a dictator oppressing his people . . . Bono should use his financial interest in the company to kill it, or better, he should pull out entirely as an investor.
Lindorff called the video game "imperialist garbage.
As for the "propaganda message supposedly being sent out by the White House, it might be noted that since taking office in 1998, Chavez has, among other things, seized control of the nations broadcast media, rewritten Venezuelas constitution to enhance his powers, purged critics in the military and sent thousands of young Venezuelans to Castros Cuba for indoctrination.
Even Venezuelas highest Catholic prelate has called Chavez a dictator.
#5
It's interesting that videogames are one of the few entertainment media where this sort of thing can be done.
The implicit anti-Chavez tint may be less ideological than the result of "narrative imperative" (a video game about UN gabfests would be kind of boring after all), but they did choose to call it "Venezuela."
If more of this sort of thing comes out from video game producers, you can expect to see video games become the Left's new Great Hate.
If there's one thing leftoids can't stand, it's conservatives horning in on what they view as their territory.
Hence the special loathing reserved for Rush, Fox News, etc.
#8
bigjim-ky, well, as long as he only hates them as a race or ethnic group, it's ok as long as he likes individual Jews. Especially the self-loathing, morally equivocating kind.
Then, pardon me for putting it this way, it's kosher.
#12
I give Bono credit where it's due. And, I plan to check out this video game (only wish it was real).
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/11/2006 18:52 Comments ||
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I will say for Bono: no matter where his politics are, he is pragmatic, and he callls 'em as he sees 'em - an admirable trait the Kossites and nutroots should learn.
MOSCOW - A plane carrying the chief of staff of the Russian navy and other officers caught fire after crash-landing at an airfield in Crimea, Interfax news agency said Monday. It was the fourth serious aviation incident involving Russian planes in 36 hours. No fatalities were immediately reported and the Russian navy chief of staff, Admiral Vladimir Masorinym, was unhurt but several officers in his delegation received burns of varying degrees in the accident, Interfax said quoting a source with the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
ANTANANARIVO - A long-haul Air Madagascar flight carrying about 200 people had to make an emergency landing after its right engine failed moments after taking off, the airline said on Monday. No one was hurt in the incident involving a Boeing 767-300 jet, which was bound from the capital Antananarivo to Paris late on Saturday night, the company said.
Three minutes after takeoff of flight MD050 on Saturday 8th July, the technical team noticed a problem affecting the right engine of the aircraft, the airline said in a statement. It adding that the pilot succeeded in turning the plane around and flying it safely back to Antananarivo on the remaining engine.
State-owned Air Madagascar said the pilot had to jettison some of the planes fuel so as not to exceed the safe weight limit to fly on one engine. All 181 passengers and 12 crew were safe, it said.
IRKUTSK, Russia (AP) - Aviation officials struggled Monday to explain Russia's second deadly commercial airline crash in nearly as many months, as relatives of the more than 120 people killed desperately sought information on the fate of their loved ones. The Airbus A310 operated by Russian airline S7 crashed Sunday morning in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, 2,600 miles east of Moscow. It was attempting to land when it veered off a wet runway, slammed into adjacent garages, then burst into flames.
As of Monday evening, 127 of the 203 passengers and crew on board were confirmed dead and were awaiting identification, said Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin. Seventy-five people were believed to have survived and 53 of them remained hospitalized Monday, authorities said. A preliminary investigation indicated the plane's braking system failed, Russian news agencies reported, citing unnamed sources. Levitin said the two flight recorders were being analyzed.
MULTAN, Pakistan - Low-flying planes are a regular sight above the mango orchards here -- but residents knew something was badly wrong when the green and white turboprop came veering through the sky. Seconds later the Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 ploughed into a cornfield near the central city of Multan at lunchtime on Monday, leaving a scorched mass of tangled metal and 45 corpses with bubbled, charred skin.
I saw the plane coming down fast and then it hit an electricity pole and crashed, labourer Amir Haider, 35, told AFP at the scene of the crash in the citys congested suburb of Suraj Miani.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Dang! Now where did we put that posting on those German made paraglider thingies anyways? They may become a fashion accessory when traveling on foreign flag carriers soon!
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/11/2006 0:12 Comments ||
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#3
flew in Ruskie [USSR] passenger prop aircraft and jets waaaay back in the 60's. Although they weren't terminative flights, they left a terminal kink in the back.
#6
Yep. Just thinking about what the overhead wiring conduits looked like gave me the shakes. No wonder the Russians clap and cheer every landing.
Posted by: ed ||
07/11/2006 1:24 Comments ||
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#7
"No wonder the Russians clap and cheer every landing."
LOL. I hope you've either found alternative carriers - or stopped going where AeroFlop is the only one. I can't think of a good reason to continue tempting fate, LOL.
Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.
Ted Striker: Mayday! Mayday!
Steve McCroskey: What the heck is that?
Johnny: Why, that's the Russian New Year. We can have a parade and serve hot hors d'oeuvres...
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - More than 600 million of the world's poorest people live in Africa - often in crowded cities, or in small villages lacking health clinics or schools. Unlike every other region in the world, the poverty here worsens each year.
So when some of the world's most powerful leaders stood before the television cameras and promised drastic change, including an annual aid increase of $50 billion by 2010 with half going to Africa, many Africans cheered. But a year on, the huzzahs are fading. "They earned great kudos, internationally and at home: It looked like they were really doing something," Oxfam Great Britain's Muthoni Muriu says of the pledges made at last year's Group of Eight summit, which host British Prime Minister Tony Blair had seen as the culmination of a year focused on Africa.
"We really must celebrate what little steps have been made," says Muriu, the British charity's Kenyan-born West Africa program director. "But we must see the big picture, which isn't that good."
Disease, conflict, illiteracy: Africa's ills are well known. But the solutions aren't. Africans face a web of interlocking woe: How can you train workers if pupils aren't fed well enough to concentrate in school? How can businesses succeed if skilled employees fall sick with malaria? How do you stop the spread of malaria if the mosquitos that carry it thrive in open sewers?
Implicit in the G8 promises were expectations African leaders would do more to embrace democracy and clean up corruption. There, again, progress has been fitful.
It goes on. And on. And on. Much like Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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How pathetic this article is - more idiotic hand-wringing and false hope bullshit. Throw money! The UN and NGOs sure as hell aren't the answer to Africa's ills. They're an integral part of the problem, since they willingly play the corruption game - with Other People's Money. They've been doing it long enough to prove the case - yet useful fools like Bono and other pussified twits and voyeurs keep the game going.
Africa is fucked. Period. Kin du Toit said it clearly and knew what he was talking about. Imagine, an entire continent of losers. Hard to wrap your mind around it, but they prove the point with every effort to help them.
The Obvious: It must, one shithole bend in the river at a time, pull itself out of tribalism and corruption. Nobody can do it for them. Everything done to help Africa has been wasted. All of it. Every dime and every life given.
#2
More than 600 million of the world's poorest people live in Africa - often in crowded cities, or in small villages lacking health clinics or schools. Unlike every other region in the world, the poverty here worsens each year.
And won't change till the kleptomaniacs are lining a mass grave. All the hand wringers wanted the Western colonial administrators out. They got it. Now they're whining about the consequences.
Is poverty worsening in Germany, Japan, South Korea where the boots of American soldiers still gather dust? There are clinics and water purification facilities being built daily in Afghanistan and Iraq as we write by those same boots. The deep bigotry and hatred of people like the author inhibit them from solving any such problems, because they loath the demonstrated means to actually make change. Like an impotent witch doctor scream a useless incantation, all the words mean nothing and will continue to mean nothing till they rid themselves of their beliefs in fables and fairy tales, and start a very dark look at the reality of the world and history. There is no perfect. However, there are better real practical alternatives. Dont expect to see them acknowledge those alternatives in my lifetime, or the millions of lifetimes lost because of their blindness.
#4
"More than 600 million of the world's poorest people live in Africa - often in crowded cities, or in small villages"
Yeah? And more than 900 million of the worlds poorest people live in India, one country! You don't hear a lot of bleeding hearts whining about them. Africa is a hole, quarantine the place and let it die.
#5
Africa has 13% of the world's population, and 69% of the world's HIV or AIDS cases. Still, the population of the African continent is expected to rise from 800 million now to 1.8 billion in 2050, because the fertility rate of 38 births per 1,000 people is still much higher than the mortality rate of 14 deaths per 1,000. Also, 43% of the continent's population is under age 15.
#6
Grom is right; so there will be a failed continent, with a growing population without prospect and perhaps even nothing to lose... and up north, an another continent, rich, with a dwindling population.... gee, I wonder what will happen?
Saudi law-enforcement agencies have reportedly arrested five employees of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's steel shredding plant on charges relating to a stolen car racket. Saudi intelligence agents raided Yard No 69 in the Bariman area of Jeddah, used by the Hill Metal Establishment, on June 7 and found a store of damaged cars. The management of the shredding plant was allegedly buying stolen cars, stripping them of spare parts to sell and then sending the bodies to the shredder. Five employees of the shredding plant - Nasir Beg, Mian Ashraf and Arshad Butt (purchasers of the cars), Khurshid (guard) and Fayyaz (driver/winch operator) were arrested during the raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Get back to us when they arrest Sharif and his Princely sponsor.
Slavery and people-trafficking in the United Arab Emirates can be punished by life imprisonment, according to a bill approved by a government panel. The bill widens the definition of offences and increases the prison term to life for crimes against women, children or the disabled, or where the perpetrator is a guardian of the victim. "In the proposed law, human trafficking is defined to include all forms of sexual exploitation, involuntary servitude, enslaving, slave trading and all similar practices," state media quoted a government official as saying on Monday. The bill will be sent to the cabinet for endorsement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#6
They also have no unpaid UN traffic tickets - they'd better get their act straightened out or they'll get kicked out of the Muslim Union, and get a fatwa issued against them.
The Tatas have suspended work on their $3-billion investment plan in Bangladesh because of Dhakas prolonged delay in approving the projects, Alan Rosling, executive director of Tata Sons, said today.
We are extremely disappointed and frustrated we thought that the projects were good for the countrys economy, for the people and the balance of payment of Bangladesh, Rosling said after a series of meetings with Bangladeshi government officials, including finance minister M. Saifur Rahman and Board of Investment chief Mahmudur Rahman in Dhaka over the past two days.
We are suspending the proposed $3-billion investment plan in Bangladesh, Rosling said. If the government does not take a decision, we cant wait. We have been waiting for 10 weeks.
Tatas investment plan for Bangladesh included a 2.4-million-tonne steel plant, two power plants, a coal mine and a fertiliser plant that would create thousands of new jobs.
Bangladeshi officials said the deal was being delayed because of the general elections in the country in January 2007, when the ruling BNP fears that the issue may figure in the campaign.
Rahman has said a national consensus was needed before the government approved the Tata proposal. He hoped the next government would pick up the incomplete negotiations for signing a deal.
The question, however, is whether the Tatas will wait until the elections. Its officials are already indicating that they will look for new destinations.
The Tatas had been pursuing the Bangladesh investment plan for close to two years. The expression of interest (EoI) was signed in October 2004 in the presence of group chairman Ratan Tata in Dhaka. The Tatas had been hoping to secure permission to exploit the rich natural resources in the country.
After several rounds of negotiations with the state-run Board of Investment of Bangladesh, the Tatas had to modify their proposal a number of times. The group also faced other difficulties in the form of pressure from Bangladeshi business lobbies even as there were differences with the government over the pricing of natural gas, a critical feedstock for these projects.
But the Tatas clung on hoping that the government would finally see merit in a proposal that would generate jobs in the country. As Bangladesh continued to hem and haw over the plan, the Tatas set a timeline of June 30 by when they wanted an affirmation from Bangladesh.
The final nail in the coffin came when on Sunday, Bangladesh industries minister Motiur Rahman Nizami said with a parliamentary election due in January 2007, it was difficult to accept the Tata investment at this point, even though the deal would be good for the country. Rosling, who has been Tatas pointman in implementing the investment plan, said, We are disappointed as we spent huge money, time and effort.
When asked if this means the Tata group is withdrawing its proposal, Rosling said, We are firm believers in the economic development of Bangladesh and will continue to monitor opportunities in the country closely. However, if indeed we are facing such a delay from the government, we have no option but to suspend work on these projects.
Rosling didnt hold out the promise that the Tatas would pursue the plans in January after the new government comes to power. While we are keen to invest in these projects, their revival after a considerable delay must depend on circumstances at that point, he added.
The Tata Group had submitted its revised offer on April 30 after some nine months of detailed negotiation.
The sudden development opens up two interesting possibilities. With L.N. Mittal keen to pump huge sums of money into the steel business in India, the Tatas will now be able to concentrate on ramping up its steelmaking capacities here to successfully face the onslaught of the worlds largest steel maker.
It is also possible that the Tatas could look at other potential international locations for expansion.
Posted by: john ||
07/11/2006 16:30 ||
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The biggest private sector company in India, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is bigger than any state government in terms of revenues.
The top five private Indian companies RIL, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank are individually bigger than as many as 17 states.
Only seven big states pip Tata Motors, with even big ones such as Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab dwarf before revenues of the countrys biggest automaker.
Posted by: john ||
07/11/2006 16:33 Comments ||
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Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/11/2006 14:33 ||
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The album Wish You Were Here is about Barrett's mental illness/drug addiction (he's the Crazy Diamond in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"), and it's arguable that The Wall is as much about him as it is about Roger Waters.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/11/2006 15:26 Comments ||
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#2
"That cat's something I can't explain."
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/11/2006 15:48 Comments ||
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain must build new nuclear power plants, generate more electricity from wind and waves and curb domestic demand to fight global warming as well as keeping the lights burning, Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman. OUCH, that's gotta hurt the greens, eh? Expect a Greenpeace ad on British TV ASAP.
He also stressed the need to reduce rising dependence on imported oil and gas as supplies from the North Sea dwindle. "Not to mention stopping the money from flowing to that he!!-hole in the Middle East," he added.
"Wishful thinking will not keep the lights on," he told reporters on Tuesday. "Nuclear is not the only answer, but neither is renewables the only answer or energy efficiency the only answer. What you need is the mix." This spokesman deserves a cluebat award, doesn't he. What we've all been saying here for years now.
Posted by: BA ||
07/11/2006 12:38 ||
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Equip every one with a missile battery.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/11/2006 14:38 Comments ||
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#2
No need, watch the video af an F4 flying into a concrete block.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/11/2006 15:09 Comments ||
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Howard, I've got your nuclear plant protection right here. Protecting against aircraft won't happen unless you install AA missile batteries. Not too likely given the difficulty of the aircraft penetrating the containment housing. It is ground attack that is the most likely. And like I said, I've got your protection right here.
Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lodged his first legal challenge to the result of the July 2 election, filing allegations of fraud in a case bound for the nation's electoral court this week. Leaders of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, in a complaint presented at the Federal Electoral Institute in Mexico City, cited mathematical errors in tallying the vote and ballot stuffing among its claims in a more than 900 page document, according to a summary of the filing made public last night.
Lopez Obrador, at a rally of about 280,000 supporters in Mexico City July 8, said the election was marked by fraud and ballot tampering and vowed to demand a recount of all votes. Lopez Obrador lost the election to Felipe Calderon of the governing National Action Party by 243,934 votes of the 40.9 million valid ballots counted, a second tally last week showed. ``The only entity that can declare a president is the federal electoral court,'' said Horacio Duarte, a legislative deputy for Lopez Obrador's party after submitting the document. The Mexico City-based electoral institute, which last week said Calderon won a final count of votes, has three days to hand Lopez Obrador's complaint to the Federal Electoral Court. During that period, other parties will have access to the claim and may present evidence to dispute it.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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GIANT cracks have opened in one of the world's tallest dams, just months after completion. The cracks appeared after a tunnel collapsed on 20 June beneath the 200-metre-high Campos Novos dam in southern Brazil, and the reservoir rapidly emptied. At one point, 4000 cubic metres of water (more than enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool) were rushing downstream every second towards a second dam on the river Canoas. "If this had happened during the rainy season, and the two reservoirs had been full, water would likely have poured over the lower dam and it might have been destroyed. That would have been a major disaster, with perhaps hundreds killed," says Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network, a California-based group that campaigns against large dams. Between them, the two dams can hold more than 2 cubic kilometres of water.
The dam's owner, Enercan, a consortium of Brazilian power companies, has revealed little about the accident. It is reported to have been trying to patch holes in a leaking tunnel since October, before the second tunnel failed catastrophically last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Surf's Up!
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/11/2006 0:07 Comments ||
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Corruption and physics don't mix.
I once saw a heavy duty road in Latin America being repaved. Instead of rebar, the were using the kind of mesh that we normally use stateside for patio slabs and side walks.
#3
11A5S:
And in Mexico, under the PRI party dominance, anyone in charge of public works projects would use public resources to build their own homes, at the same time. I am sure that that still goes on.
Thats wouldnt happen to have been in Honduras would it?
You and I may have seen the same road.
And the good rebar (and concrete for the underlayment) went to the local "National Guard" commander's villa.
Its the culture and mentality of the looter that poisons all those 3rd world countries.
Rand said it best:
Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. . . . you'll learn that man's mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
"But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is madebefore it can be looted or moochedmade by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. . .
"Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.'
#6
Great quote, OS - Thanks. It clearly applies to South America, Africa, the Middle East - everywhere that embraces the failed collective systems, tribalism, and corruption. That they have never attained the ability to realize the simple truth this quote embodies is at the root of all failed systems, governments, and societies.
It's hard to accept that only part of mankind is able to grasp such obvious truth.
Sometimes, in my weaker moments, I actually think that grabbing the offspring of the "leaders" of the failed and failing countries and giving them a solid US education would turn the tide. Then I remember that our education system has been systematically destroyed.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/11/2006 7:10 Comments ||
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#11
They use an interesting paving technique in parts of the caribbean for asphalt roads.
A thick blanket of asphalt is laid down over the intact old surface, raising the roadway surface almost above the pavements.
At intersections, these "turtleback" roads create virtual gulleys (since the drains remain clear).
Heavy rains cause great big slabs of asphalt to be washed away.
Most amusing are the manhole covers. These ae not raised, leading to what are called "official potholes", sometimes actually surrounded with a ring of white paint to warn drivers.
Homeowners face an interesting problem, their driveways are now lower than the road surface, with the drain+roadway height presenting an obstacle to the chassis. Many consruct their own bridging ramp, made of concreate, between their driveways and the road, actually blocking most of the drainage channel.
Posted by: john ||
07/11/2006 7:20 Comments ||
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#12
OS: Actually it was Bolivia.
The first thing that I look at whenever I go somewhere is the concrete. Seriously. You can read volumes about the level of corruption in a country by looking at its concrete.
#15
11A5S - BTW, not that I disagree, upon reflection it makes perfect sense, just that it begged for a coffee alert. I'm going to go lie down, now, LOL.
#17
Nimble Spemble, I've seen some pretty bad stuff in Alabama and Missouri. Also upstate NY. But as you probably know, it varies by county as much as it does by state. The only time I've been in Louisiana is driving fast early in the morning, so I can't say much about them, but I suspect that some of the parishes would look pretty rough.
As far as developing nations, I consider the ability to build a sturdy concrete, two lane highway to be the starting point. A reinforced concrete bridge is the next step. If they can build a interchange with lots flyovers, they've got their corruption down to first world levels.
In really corrupt countries you'll see a lack of rebar, ungraded aggregate being used, skimping on cement in the mix, or old mix being used. Lots of times, you'll see what looks like smooth concrete on the sides of bridges but if you were there right after the forms were removed, you'd see workers filling in all of the air pockets with mortar. Cracks, exposed aggregate, exposed rebar -- it all adds up.
#19
And, don't forget the "big dig" in Mass. I mean, how many times have the Founding Fathers rolled over over that state?
Another footnote, 11A5S, I remember riding I-20 west from Mississippi to Louisiana. I fell asleep (someone else driving) when we crossed the State line. It literally woke me up from deep sleep each time we hit the "seams" in Louisiana's asphalt/concrete. Constant "da-dump, da-dump" shakes & noise in the vehicle. All the way across the State, if I remember correctly.
Posted by: BA ||
07/11/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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#20
Wow, this has been a bad week for aerospace and civil engineers of all stripes: missiles, aircraft, tunnels, dams. What's next, a building collapse?
#21
actually, in CA we don't rebar the roads or highways, instead using high-grade concrete or asphalt in structural pavement sections over cement-treated-base or class 2 aggregate, with geo-grid fibers if necessary for poor soils....
adding asphalt over ill-prepared (no tack coat) asphalt is just asking for alligatoring or delamination of asphalt sections....
your engineering pavement notes for the day...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/11/2006 12:18 Comments ||
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#22
According to the news there was just a big structural failure in the Big Dig.
I guess Boston's part of the Carribean these days?
Posted by: Phil ||
07/11/2006 12:49 Comments ||
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#23
I guess Boston's part of the Carribean these days?
Pretty much.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/11/2006 12:56 Comments ||
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ITALY defender Marco Materazzi has denied provoking Zinedine Zidane's extraordinary World Cup final head-butt by calling the France captain a "dirty terrorist".
"It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist," Materazzi said overnight.
"I called him a 'dickhead.'"
"That's the same thing!"
"It is not. Italian has 194 different words for 'dickhead'!"
"I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying after the Italy team returned to Rome. "The whole world saw what happened on live TV," he added.
"Maybe I'm too much of a dumbass to know what 'terrorist' means, but I recognize a dickhead when I see one!"
Theories are flying around as to what was actually said, with wildly varying accounts coming from all parts of the globe. The Times, in London, went as far as to enlist to help of a lip reader. "After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator", the newspaper reported their man "read" Materazzi calling Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore", before adding, "So just f--- off".
Contrary to popular belief, Zidane's outburst was not particularly out of the ordinary. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level. At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final. Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.
Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism overnight quoted well-informed sources as saying Materazzi had apparently insulted Zidane with the use of the word "terrorist".
"According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement.
Whoopdy doo.
Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was shown a red card after the incident and Italy won on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 following extra-time.
SOS Racism called for an inquiry and said FIFA, football's world governing body, had recently toughened sanctions against racism. "It's for this reason that SOS Racism asks in a determined fashion for FIFA to shed light on this altercation and that sanctions laid out in the official rules be applied should this be the case," SOS Racism said.
French television reported that Zidane would talk about the incident "in the coming days".
Zidane reportedly told his agent, Alain Migliaccio, that Materazzi had said something very serious", but the Real Madrid veteran wouldn't reveal any more deteails. "Zinedine didn't want to talk about it but he will talk about it in the next couple of days," Migliaccio told the BBC. "He is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him. He was very disappointed and sad. He didn't want it to end this way."
Aime Jacquet, who coached France to World Cup glory in 1998, said Zidane was "someone who reacts to things". Zidane grew up playing on concrete in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood of Marseille, where fouls and insults are met with instant retribution.
France striker Thierry Henry suggested perhaps that might have been a factor. "You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man," Henry, who hails from similarly impoverished roots, said overnight.
Apparently you can't win the World Cup with him, either.
#2
I thought he told him "your sister is a prostitute". Though I'm not a lip reader.
They should get over it. It's done all the time. Italian soccer is especially brutal though :-) Zidane should've known that.
Btw, Zidane has a Berber background. Interestingly, in his book which he published along with Christophe Dugarry, he dedicated his 1998 world cup win to all Algerians, and those families in France who have not forgtotten their roots. This dedication went missing in the second printing of the book. Wonder why.
A few weeks ago I was present when two Algerian women had a row a supermarket. Both were in their sixties. One had her hair covered, not the Iranin-like tchador who smells "terrorist sympathiser or wife of terrorist symptahiser" at ten yards, it was less strict and militantic, more like traditional algerian cloth . The other one was clad occidental-style. The "occidental" was screaming "Apologize!", the other told something in Arabic and then the "occidental" screamed even stronger "SPEAK FRENCH". I think she was a Berber.
As an aside for many years Berbers have feigned to not understand Arabic and forced Arabic-speakers to speak French to them.
#5
Sounds like pretty standard trash talk to me - happens in all sports. How could Zidane be so dumb as to react to it? On another note, why is this pinhead SOS group involved? I noticed that most of France's team was black.
#6
Video of the headbutt : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/348829 Great headbutting, by the way, footballers/soccer players use their head a lot (to bounce balls...), and growing up in a sleazy project of Marseille, I'm sure he had used it before.
Italy's Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a "son of a terrorist whore" just before the France captain gave him a brutal head-butt in the World Cup final, Britain's top forensic lip reader says.
The Times newspaper hired Jessica Rees, whose skill has seen her summoned as an expert witness at criminal trials, to study a tape of Sunday's match that saw Zidane get a red card for his seemingly spontaneous assault.
"After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed that Materazzi called Zidane 'the son of a terrorist whore' before adding 'so just f*** off' for good measure," it said.
Posted by: john ||
07/11/2006 17:55 Comments ||
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#10
Well, that's a tough one. It's a matter of honour I guess. But it's the World Cup, end of a career, going down in history as the best player since Platini, so....I would have simply responded with "How's your wife and my kids?".
#1
Odd choice of words for this headline, don't ya think? I mean, an Airbus falls out of the sky and then the word 'fall' appears in an Airbus article. Almost like it was chosen or something...
#4
Second choice was "Airbus Orders Crash". I'm surprised they didn't settle on Descent of Airbus Orders Begins. Please fasten your seatbelt and return your tray table to the upright and locked position."
#11
Interesting rumor from thebusinessonline: The truth that the A350 was a dead duck finally hit home in Toulouse. The design was torn up earlier this year, and work started on an all-new plane, codenamed A370. Now, the board of EADS, which met on Friday, has suspended the launch of this aircraft, with a likely development cost of E8bn, twice that anticipated earlier.
Posted by: ed ||
07/11/2006 23:35 Comments ||
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A federal judge on Monday upheld the FBI's unprecedented raid of a congressional office, saying that barring searches of lawmakers' offices would turn Capitol Hill into "a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime." Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected requests from lawmakers and Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.
The overnight search was part of a 17-month bribery investigation of Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat. In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments by Jefferson and a bipartisan group of House leaders that the raid violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials. Hogan acknowledged the "unprecedented" nature of the case. But he said the lawmakers' "sweeping" theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime." A member of Congress is bound by the same laws as ordinary citizens, said the judge, who had approved the FBI's request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson's office. Standing ovation. The rest of the article is whining and bullshit.
Jefferson had sought the return of several computer hard drives, floppy disks and two boxes of paper documents that FBI agents seized during the 18-hour search of his Rayburn Building office. Hogan said the Justice Department can retake custody of the materials, which President Bush ordered held by the solicitor general until Congress and the agency could work out procedures for future raids on congressional offices.
You can get the full opinion here. Surprisingly readable and a real slap at the Congress.
#3
The mouthpiece says they'll appeal because the judge that issued the opinion also issued the warrant. Good luck with that conspiracy theory, Charlie, but I won't be holding my breath waiting for a reversal. Face it, your client is toast.
He's back and he's brushed!
The Publicans will be crushed!
It's Friday night in Iowa and an old politician is trying some new tricks. John Edwards is backback, with the familiar deep drawl, dark tan and honeyed hair. Gone, though, are the old catchphrases"two Americas" and "hope is on the way." In their place: a long meditation on America's moral obligation to confront the plight of its poor. "Thirty-seven million of our people, worried about feeding and clothing their children," he said to his audience. "Aren't we better than that?" It's not the stuff of great sound bites, but it's part of Edwards's new political plan: a presidential campaign with fighting poverty as a central plank. It's a risky strategy in today's Democratic PartyEdwards may be the most viable national candidate since Bobby Kennedy to tie his destiny to a fight for the destitute. "Yeah, I heard all that stuff: 'Who cares?' or 'It's a dead end'," Edwards tells NEWSWEEK. "Well, it's what I want to do."
Rebel outsider is an odd role for the Democratic Party's most recent vice presidential candidate to play. Yet Edwards's 2008 presidential campaignstill hypothetical but proceeding at high speedis all about breaking with the established script. He's largely opted out of the buzz primaryleaving candidates like former Virginia governor Mark Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh to convince Beltway insiders and media types that they're the best alternatives to front runner Hillary Clinton. Instead, he's using the name recognition he built up in '04 and hitting the campaign trail early and oftenquietly raising $6.5 million in 105 appearances for Democrats running in 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Let him talk that crap. Show how he has personally made some of these 35 million poor with his legal antics. Dish out a double helping of truth.
No lawyers for president Donk or Republican. We have too many lawyers in politics as it is. They only help themselves, pass laws we don't need and ignore the rest of us while helping their lawyer and corprerate friends.
#5
There's no stopping him. Edwards maina will be breaking out all over!
Really.
It will, now, any second. Promise.
You hear it yet?
Hey! You crickets! Stop that chirping, right now! I'm listening for the sound of Edwards Maina breaking out, and I can't hear it for all that crickety stuff! Shaaadup!
Posted by: Mike ||
07/11/2006 10:42 Comments ||
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#6
So he'd have us forget all about the rest of the really tough issues like war, terror, economy,and concentrate on raising our taxes.
Great, he's a shoe-in.
But it's easier than having a platform.
What's unemployment, 4%? Everyone who will work, is.
#7
Talk about your quagmires...America's war on poverty truly is one! Keep up the talky, there Johnny boy. And, I absolutely love the Breck photo...bravo!
Posted by: BA ||
07/11/2006 11:23 Comments ||
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#8
Think of the children...
--Thereessa
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/11/2006 18:56 Comments ||
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Posted on the off-chance the UN tribunals still matter...
Four months after the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his closest ally, Milan Milutinovic, and five others also accused of war crimes in Kosovo in 1999 will stand trial at the UN tribunal on Monday. Milutinovic, 63, and his co-accused are charged with the persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the forcible deportation of about 800,000 civilians and the murder of hundreds of civilians by Serb forces. Milutinovic succeeded Milosevic, who died at the UN jail on March 11, as president of Serbia in 1997. He and former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, former army chief and defense minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and army commander Vladimir Lazarevic returned from provisional release to The Hague last week.
The four are indicted with army commander Nebojsa Pavkovic and security chief Sreten Lukic, also released on bail, as well as former chief of public security Vlastimir Dordevic, who is still at large. Prosecutors allege Milutinovic had at least formal control over the Serb forces who killed hundreds of ethnic Albanians and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Milutinovic pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity including murder, deportation and persecution, and one charge of war crimes. He argued that he had little real power as Serbian president. Milutinovic was Milosevic's closest ally and representative during the crucial negotiations on Kosovo in early 1999 which ended in an impasse and resulted in the 78-day NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
The Dutch embassy in Damascus is preparing for a long stay by two children caught up in a tug-of-love saga between their estranged parents. Tug-of-love? Oy. More like tug-of-ownership.
Ammar, 12, and Sara, 10, escaped from their Syrian father, Hisham al-Hafez, two weeks ago and took a taxi to the Dutch embassy. Ambassador Roderick van Schreven told newspaper 'De Telegraaf' that negotiations about the children's future had been hampered by the father's insistence that embassy staff kidnapped them.
"Here they come, van Sluyt! Is the net ready?"
"Hrarrr! C'mere, y'little brats! Yer goin' to the Netherlands!"
"Help! Help! We're not being kidnapped!"
"The children walked in of their own free will and have only one wish: to return to the Netherlands," Van Schreven said.
Oh, yeah. Likely story. How many people would rather live in the Netherlands than in Syria?
He confirmed the children have made statements alleging their father hit them. Their Dutch mother is in the Netherlands. Van Schreven told the newspaper that there were never plans to smuggle the children out of the embassy. "This must be resolved by official channels. I am almost continuously in negotiations with the Syrian authorities and the father, but there is no opening in sight." Extra staff and other provisions, including blast shields and an inflatable pool, have being brought into the embassy to make the children's stay as comfortable as possible.
#4
Islam doesn't recognize childhood innocence. AOL won't let me link, so cut and paste this:
http://www.islam-watch.org/Archemedez/RebutMuslimRape.htm
#6
If Mom's in Holland and the kids are in Syria, Daddy dearest probably kidnapped them in the first place. A "visit" to the paternal homeland that stretched on for years. That's why he's bleating "kidnapping".
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.
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.
IRKUTSK, Russia (AP) - Aviation officials struggled Monday to explain Russia's second deadly commercial airline crash in nearly as many months, as relatives of the more than 120 people killed desperately sought information on the fate of their loved ones. The Airbus A310 operated by Russian airline S7 crashed Sunday morning in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, 2,600 miles east of Moscow. It was attempting to land when it veered off a wet runway, slammed into adjacent garages, then burst into flames.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - More than 600 million of the world's poorest people live in Africa - often in crowded cities, or in small villages lacking health clinics or schools. Unlike every other region in the world, the poverty here worsens each year.
Saudi law-enforcement agencies have reportedly arrested five employees of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's steel shredding plant on charges relating to a stolen car racket. Saudi intelligence agents raided Yard No 69 in the Bariman area of Jeddah, used by the Hill Metal Establishment, on June 7 and found a store of damaged cars. The management of the shredding plant was allegedly buying stolen cars, stripping them of spare parts to sell and then sending the bodies to the shredder. Five employees of the shredding plant - Nasir Beg, Mian Ashraf and Arshad Butt (purchasers of the cars), Khurshid (guard) and Fayyaz (driver/winch operator) were arrested during the raid.
Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lodged his first legal challenge to the result of the July 2 election, filing allegations of fraud in a case bound for the nation's electoral court this week. Leaders of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, in a complaint presented at the Federal Electoral Institute in Mexico City, cited mathematical errors in tallying the vote and ballot stuffing among its claims in a more than 900 page document, according to a summary of the filing made public last night.
GIANT cracks have opened in one of the world's tallest dams, just months after completion. The cracks appeared after a tunnel collapsed on 20 June beneath the 200-metre-high Campos Novos dam in southern Brazil, and the reservoir rapidly emptied. At one point, 4000 cubic metres of water (more than enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool) were rushing downstream every second towards a second dam on the river Canoas. "If this had happened during the rainy season, and the two reservoirs had been full, water would likely have poured over the lower dam and it might have been destroyed. That would have been a major disaster, with perhaps hundreds killed," says Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network, a California-based group that campaigns against large dams. Between them, the two dams can hold more than 2 cubic kilometres of water.
ITALY defender Marco Materazzi has denied provoking Zinedine Zidane's extraordinary World Cup final head-butt by calling the France captain a "dirty terrorist".
A federal judge on Monday upheld the FBI's unprecedented raid of a congressional office, saying that barring searches of lawmakers' offices would turn Capitol Hill into "a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime." Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected requests from lawmakers and Rep. 
It's Friday night in Iowa and an old politician is trying some new tricks. 
