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Palestinians Taking Control in Gaza Strip
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Chimps gunned down in escape attempt
EFL: ROYAL, Neb. - Three chimpanzees from a small-town zoo were shot and killed after they escaped from their enclosure and could not be captured, the zoo director said. The primates at Zoo Nebraska were able to get out of the cage Saturday when a padlock was not completely closed after cleaning, said zoo director Ken Schlueter Jr. He killed the animals with a deputy's service revolver after a tranquilizer gun didn't show any effect. No people were hurt, state patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said. After the chimps lifted the padlock and broke out, employees immediately moved visitors in an office area, but the chimps tried to get into the building, Schlueter said.
"Look out, they're using power tools!"
"When it became apparent there'd be danger here, they had to be destroyed," Schlueter told the Lincoln Journal Star.
Can't let them talk to the press, eh?
Schlueter did not immediately return a message left for him by The Associated Press on Monday. The Nebraska State Patrol and Antelope County Sheriff's Department were called to help capture the animals. A fourth chimpanzee also escaped, but quickly returned to its cage, officials said.
Likely the mastermind, we see the same action by islamic clerics
The seven-acre zoo opened 18 years ago as the Midwest Primate Research Facility with one animal — a chimpanzee named Reuben, one of those killed Saturday.
So, exactly what kind of research you been doing with these chimps?
Schlueter said the chimps weighed up to 300 pounds or more, and he shot two of them with a tranquilizer gun, but the tranquilizers had not taken effect after five minutes.
After years of "research", I'm not surprised
The danger chimps pose to humans was highlighted when a man and his wife were attacked by chimpanzees March 3 at the Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield, Calif. The man was severely mauled and the woman lost part of her thumb before the animals where shot to death.
That was the "Birthday Party" incident. And we're supposed to think this is not part of a larger movement by chimps to destroy humanity
The Nebraska animals' carcasses were flown Sunday to a zoo in St. Louis, where autopsies were planned.
"Something out of the ordinary for you, Dr. Quincy!"
"Boy, I'll say, Sam! Put 'em over there by the Pakistani Christians..."
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 12:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The zoo is located in Royal, a northeastern Nebraska village of 75; one of its major donors was the late entertainer Johnny Carson.

So how dead are they, Johnny...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/12/2005 15:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Chimps: Why Do They Hate Us?

Now we know.
Posted by: Chris W. || 09/12/2005 23:52 Comments || Top||


Bruce Lee a symbol of unity in divided Bosnia town
In the "you can't make it up" vein... Be like water, my friend.
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The ethnically divided Bosnian city of Mostar has agreed to erect a new symbol of unity -- a statue of kung fu legend Bruce Lee, worshipped by Muslims, Serbs and Croats.

A group of enthusiasts came up with the idea of honouring the childhood hero of the city's ethnic groups in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of his death. They launched the project, found donors and waited a year for the city's approval. "We plan to erect the statue in November in the centre of the city," Veselin Gatalo, a member of the Urban Movement organisation, told Reuters by telephone on Monday. "This will be a monument to universal justice that Mostar needs more than any other city I know."

He said Mostar, scene of fighting between Muslims and Croats in 1993-1994, needed a symbol of justice, mastery and honesty -- virtues upheld by the late Chinese-American actor. Born in San Francisco, Lee starred in several kung fu movies, including 1973's "Enter the Dragon". He died at the age of 32 from swelling on the brain.

A German organisation agreed last year to sponsor the project with a 5,000 euro grant.

The statue, cast in bronze and showing the martial arts master in a typical fighting pose, will be designed by a local sculptor and put up in central Mostar. Lee's widow Linda will be invited to attend the ceremony.

For years, reconciliation in post-war Mostar was slower than anywhere else in Bosnia. But the reconstruction of the city's Old Bridge last year has helped reunite Muslim and Croat communities separated by the river.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 09/12/2005 10:13 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  MSNALASBS
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 13:55 Comments || Top||

#2  You have our gratitude.
Posted by: Dr. Klahn || 09/12/2005 19:12 Comments || Top||


Thailand Artist Makes Edible 'Body Parts'
Well, there are *some* 'body parts' I certainly wouldn't want to eat, especially in public...
By WATCHARAPORN TAITHONGCHAI, Associated Press Writer
Isn't he one of our regular anon contributers?
POTHARAM, Thailand - Inside a dark room, realistic-looking "human body parts" are stacked on shelves and hanging on meat hooks. The place looks like a mortuary or the lair of a serial killer, but in fact, it's a bakery. What appears to be putrefying body parts are the bread sculptures of 28-year-old art student Kittiwat Unarrom. "Of course, people were shocked and thought that I was mad when they saw the works. But once they knew the idea behind it, they understood and became interested in the work itself, instead of thinking that I am crazy," said the fine arts master's degree student.
Nah. You're still crazy.
He hopes his realistic artwork will make people ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them. "Everyone's life is rushed nowadays, even when it comes to eating," he said. "When we eat, we don't think about our health or safety, we only think of our taste buds."

As an undergraduate art student, Kittiwat started painting portraits. He then moved to mixed media and finally dough — a natural medium for him since his family runs a bakery. Along with edible human heads crafted from dough, chocolate, raisins and cashews, Kittiwat makes human arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. He uses anatomy books and his vivid memories of visiting a forensics museum to create the human parts. He now is receiving regular orders from the curious and from pranksters who want to surprise their friends or colleagues, but that's a minor sideline.

By the end of the year, Kittiwat's confectionary slaughterhouse will go on display at Bangkok's Silpakorn University. It's his final dissertation, and he hopes it will secure him a master of arts degree. "When people see the bread, they don't want to eat it. But when they taste it, it's just normal bread," he said. "The lesson is 'don't judge just by outer appearances.'"
"Yuuummmmm, pie!"
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 09/12/2005 10:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He hopes his realistic artwork will make people ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them."

That's not what people will think.

"When we eat, we don't think about our health or safety, we only think of our taste buds."

You are what you eat? I don't get it.

"Along with edible human heads crafted from dough, chocolate, raisins and cashews, Kittiwat makes human arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. He uses anatomy books and his vivid memories of visiting a forensics museum to create the human parts."

Well, of course it's going to get decadent, pretty fast.

"When people see the bread, they don't want to eat it.

That's good. People shouldn't be cannibals.

"But when they taste it, it's just normal bread," he said. "The lesson is 'don't judge just by outer appearances.'"

Okay, now I'm lost again. We should eat it, or we shouldn't?

In any case, it's just sick and helps breaks down barriers that shouldn't be broken down, IMO.
Posted by: ex-lib || 09/12/2005 14:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Calling Randall Robinson. We found your cannibals.
Posted by: ed || 09/12/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Mexicans eat bread and sugar candy skulls and skeletons on the the Day of the Dead (1.November). I don't think this Thai artist is going to have much effect on his culture -- it's a typical Starving Artist Look at Meeee! gesture. Pointing and laughing are the best responses.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/12/2005 19:29 Comments || Top||


Martha sez Home Confinement Worse than Fed Pen
Comic relief at link.

I see there's a new "Before You Post" thingy. But it is short!
Posted by: Bobby || 09/12/2005 08:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, all right. I guess I'm just an old softy.

Send her back to prison.
Posted by: Jackal || 09/12/2005 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  "Please don't throw me in that briar patch over there!"
Posted by: Mike || 09/12/2005 10:17 Comments || Top||

#3  She misses the sisters.
Posted by: Secret Master || 09/12/2005 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Must've had bigger cucumbers in the joint...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/12/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Now I know who Hillary gets her broomsticks from...
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 15:06 Comments || Top||


Arabia
"Don't kiss my hand," Saudi king tells citizens
Saudi Arabia's new King Abdullah has ordered citizens not to kiss his hand, saying the traditional gesture of respect is degrading and violates Islam, Saudi newspapers reported on Sunday. "Kissing hands is alien to our values and morals, and is not accepted by free and noble souls," Abdullah told a delegation from Al-Baha, in southwest Saudi Arabia, who came to the royal palace to offer congratulations on his accession. "It also leads to bowing, which is a violation of God's law. The faithful bow to no one but God."

Abdullah became king on August 1 after the death of King Fahd. Thousands of Saudis flocked to pledge allegiance to him in the days that followed, many kissing him on the shoulder or stooping to kiss his hand in a sign of respect and loyalty. But the king, who has a reputation for modesty in a family better known for opulence and power, said only a father or mother deserved such deference. "I announce my complete rejection of this matter, and I ask everyone to restrain from kissing the hands of anyone but their parents," the monarch said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is this a good thing (westernizing trend) or a bad thing (salafist trend)? The limited context of the article would seem to indicate that he is trying to placate the salafists rather than take a step into the 21st century.
Posted by: 11A5S || 09/12/2005 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Total hypocrisy. I was in Dhahran when, then still Crown Prince, Abdullah came to visit Aramco HQ. It was the first visit by a ranking Royal. They spent 3 months building on and outfitting a special room just for him to park his ass and receive the line of hand and ass kissers. The sham included replacing the people at nearby computers he might choose to visit with Saudi drones - of influential families, of course. Impressive-looking bullshit was brought up on-screen, the expat was ushered out, and the drones were told not to touch anything, lest they screw it up. They didn't know if he'd want to wander around or what - so they did this in numerous areas, particularly in the Expec Bldg. Massive joke. Massive waste of time and materials. Etc.

Either he has time-warped forward several centuries, or this is signing off on one of their Western PR firm's suggestions to improve the Saudi image.

Pfeh.
Posted by: .com || 09/12/2005 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  BTW, the Saudi "news" on local TV used to be a 10-15 minute review of the day's Royal activities. Who sent greetings to the Royals. Who they sent greeting to. Yadda³. Prominently featured was the hand and robe kissing receiving line - some visitors would lift the hem of his thobe and kiss that, instead of his hand. Guess they were of too low birth for the hand thingy.

In Bahrain, the "news" was the same, only this was the Little Emir - and his tradition was visitors kissing him on the face - usually on the nose - yeah, you read that right. I used to speculate that he had been exposed to more diseases than any other living human - as he "received" many of these sloppy kisses every day from emissaries from all over the planet. He probably had the Mother of All Immune Systems, heh. Miss that little guy - he had class.
Posted by: .com || 09/12/2005 0:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Sounds like China Central Television's English-language coverage.

"Hu Jintao recieved a trade delegation from Hungaria today...blah blah blah"
Posted by: gromky || 09/12/2005 6:55 Comments || Top||

#5  .com,

Hah, ha, hah....You made my day!!!!
Posted by: TMH || 09/12/2005 7:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Impressive-looking bullshit was brought up on-screen

I used to have the best "boss key" before computers were found in the CEO toilet, hit the F5 Key and get a long memory dump looking thing with an artificial C: Prompt.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 10:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Kissing of hands no longer acceptable. Chopping off hands...no problem.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 09/12/2005 11:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Relax kingly, I have had the same problem for years. People rushing up to kiss my, well, (ahem) hand.
Posted by: Captain America || 09/12/2005 13:40 Comments || Top||

#9  And whatever you do, don't pull his finger.
Posted by: Jackal || 09/12/2005 15:48 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia weighs 3rd term for Putin
The governor of Russia's Novgorod region, northwest of Moscow, cites a bit of American history when talking about Russia's future leadership, a subject that has come to mean the debate on whether to allow President Vladimir V. Putin to seek election to a third term.

"There was a time in the United States when Mr. Roosevelt was elected four times," said Gov. Mikhail Prusak, noting that Franklin D. Roosevelt led the country out of the dark days of the Depression. "I admire Americans for what they have done for stability and prosperity."

But in talking about Putin, Prusak chose to ignore the fact that Russia's constitution does not allow for more than two consecutive presidential terms.

Constitutions can be changed, as many of Putin's supporters point out with increasing confidence. Their calls for an amendment that would permit him to remain in office beyond the end of his second term in 2008 are becoming more frequent. After trying to minimize speculation about his intentions, Putin fueled the rumors last month after being asked whether he intended to run again.

"Perhaps I might want to," he answered during a stop in Helsinki, Finland, "but the constitution does not allow it."

Many Russians interpreted his remark as a calculated hint of his desire to remain in office and as a shrewd effort to size up public sentiment. And within days, compliant lawmakers proposed a series of measures that would allow him to stay.

Adam Imadaev, a member of a regional parliament in Russia's Far East, proposed scrapping presidential term limits. Leonid Markelov, president of an independent Russian republic west of the Urals, proposed allowing presidents to serve at least three five- to seven-year terms. Igor Rimmer, a deputy in St. Petersburg's legislative assembly, more modestly suggested allowing a third four-year term.

"The problem is that Russia is in a transitional period now, and it would be wrong to try to change the 'vertical of power,' " said Rimmer, referring to the tradition of centralized authority. "What Russia needs most of all now is stability. Putin - he personifies stability."

Putin has likewise in the past pointed to stability as the reason he won't seek a third term: Only by observing the constitution, he has said, can national stability be assured.

Putin, as the country's little-known prime minister, became acting president when the ailing President Boris N. Yeltsin abruptly announced his resignation in December 1999. Three months later, Putin won a presidential election. Last year, he easily won a second four-year term, thanks in part to the favorable coverage by the mostly state-controlled TV networks.

While high oil prices have allowed Putin to claim a measure of economic success, he has failed to end a brutal war in Chechnya; the Kremlin also bungled a reduction in pensioners' benefits, bringing thousands of protesters into the streets of Moscow this year.

There are several scenarios that would allow Putin to remain in power beyond 2008, yet still be true to his word that he won't serve a third term.

He could support a close ally in the next presidential election, a figure who might then allow him to run the country from behind the scenes. Or Putin could serve as prime minister after orchestrating an executive branch reform to make that post more powerful. Or he could campaign to become president of a proposed new state resulting from the union of Russia and neighboring Belarus.

"There is not a single one that is risk-free," Masha Lipman, an analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center, said of the possible courses of action, "and I don't think there is a single one that would keep the legitimacy of the institution."

Putin's supporters make this argument: Ensuring democracy in the long term requires stepping beyond its boundaries now.

Putin hasn't had sufficient time, their argument goes, to carry out reforms. Nor, his supporters say, does Russia have the stable institutions to support the democratic principles enshrined in the constitution.

"I am very much afraid that our patriots will elect a new president and we'll have a pro-[nationalist] leader, which will mean a totalitarian regime in this country," said Prusak, the governor of Novgorod. "That is why I said I would very much like Putin to stay for a third term - so that he could strengthen democracy."

Critics say that Putin isn't a Western-style democrat and that attempts to keep him in power should be seen as the forward march of authoritarianism by a Kremlin determined to tighten its grip on every part of Russian society. The so-called siloviki - the network of Kremlin appointees with ties to the military and KGB - will thereby bolster their own influence.

"I think President Putin will secure a third term simply because this is the authorities' logic," Yuliya Latynina, a political commentator and radio-show host, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta last month. "Power in Russia is in essence authoritarian, and there are no other ways to hand over power."

There are precedents in other former Soviet republics for short-circuiting democracy: In 1999, the rubber-stamp parliament of Turkmenistan, in Central Asia, elevated Saparmyrat Niyazov to the rank of president-for-life. Last year, Belarus amended its constitution in a referendum, allowing President Alexander Lukashenko to run for a once-prohibited third term. Lukashenko hailed the vote as a victory for the people, while the opposition called the result a sham.

In a recent poll by the Russian research firm ROMIR Monitoring, 60 percent of the people surveyed said they wanted Putin to remain Russia's leader after 2008. Asked whom they would support if he were not running for president, two-thirds could think of no other candidate; his closest competitor won support from 4 percent of those polled. But only 28 percent said they favored amending the constitution to allow Putin to run.

Amending the constitution requires either a referendum supported by more than half of all registered voters, or the approval by both houses of Russia's parliament as well as all its regional governments. Putin is believed to have the parliamentary support needed to make the change.

When Rimmer introduced his amendment in St. Petersburg, Putin's hometown, it won a less than enthusiastic reception - but not because lawmakers objected to its content. They don't want to endorse any plan until they learn which one the Kremlin supports.

"They said, 'Thank you very much, but let's wait until the Kremlin will decide," said Rimmer, whose proposal is now on hold.

Imadaev, the regional parliament member in Russia's Far East, maintains he wants only to correct a fundamental contradiction in the law. The constitution grants Russian citizens the right to elect and be elected to state governmental bodies, unless they are "legally unfit." Yet the document also prohibits the president from running for more than two consecutive terms.

"You call it an attempt to amend the constitution," said Imadaev. "We call it an attempt to observe the civil rights of Russian citizens."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 09/12/2005 03:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Coming soon on CNN: The coronation of Tsar Vladimir I. Available in High Definition.
Posted by: Jonathan || 09/12/2005 11:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Agreed. Coronate him and be done with it.
Posted by: Secret Master || 09/12/2005 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  See above, kiss the nose.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 20:43 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China, Japan and Their Naval War
September 12, 2005: Recently, a Chinese surface group was detected by a Japanese P-3C in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands. The group, which consisted of a Sovremenny-class destroyer, two Jianghu I-class missile frigates, a replenishment ship, and a missile observation support ship, was a reasonably powerful force. It does lead to the question: Who would prevail in a fight with Japan over the Senkaku Islands?

Such a battle would primarily involve the navies of both sides. Each operates on a different premise. Japan has a force of destroyers that are highly capable in anti-surface and anti-submarine operations. Japan’s guided missile destroyers are also highly capable anti-air vessels. Japan has a total of 30 destroyers, nine guided-missile destroyers, and nine frigates. At least two of the older Tachikaze-class guided-missile destroyers will be replaced by the new Atago-class destroyers. Japan also has 16 modern diesel-electric submarines.

The Chinese navy is larger in numbers – carrying 25 destroyers and 45 frigates. However, of these 25 destroyers, 16 are the obsolete Luda class. The same is true for the Chinese frigates – two-thirds of them are the obsolete Jianghu-class ships. These are equipped with antiquated HY-2 missiles, which are copies of the old SS-N-2 Styx – state of the art for 1960. These days, a Styx is an easy kill for any modern surface-to-air missile. China has 65 diesel-electric submarines, but 52 of them are obsolete Romeo and Ming-class submarines. China’s Han-class SSNs are also old and noisy. Again, in terms of modern vessels, China is outnumbered.

Another factor is air cover. The disputed waters are within 300 kilometers of Okinawa. This is easily within the combat radius of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s F-1, F-4EJ Kai, F-15J, and F-2 fighters. Japan has a major air base in Naha, and there is also Kadena Air Force Base, where the United States Air Force keeps a wing of F-15s. The oldest aircraft in service with Japan are the F-4EJ Kais and F-1s – the latter are being replaced by the F-2. China’s fighters tend to be very old. The only real modern fighters are the J-11 (Russian Su-27) and the Su-30MKK (an Su-27 variant). Japan is almost at parity in terms of numbers (187 F-15J/DJs and 140 F-2s to 380 J-11/Su-30MKK in Chinese service). Japan has superb pilots as well, who get plenty of training. Chinese pilots get less flying time, although they are increasing their training. Japan also has E-2 and E-767 airborne early warning aircraft that they have years of practice using, while China has only recently acquired Russian A-50 Mainstays.

In a straight naval-air fight over the Senkaku Islands, Japan has an advantage, even if they are on their own. While China is modernizing, Japan is not standing still, modernizing its military and keeping a qualitative edge over its larger neighbor.
Take Japan and the points
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 09:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another factor is air cover. The disputed waters are within 300 kilometers of Okinawa. This is easily within the combat radius of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s F-1, F-4EJ Kai, F-15J, and F-2 fighters.

And always bet on the home team.
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  I would bet on Japan, simply because the waters are closer and under Japanese air cover and Japan has some really high-tech air and surface forces and they are extreamly well trained. China is behind Japan in all the above catagories, and while there is a quality to quantity, with today's super accurate firepower that old military maxim is becoming less and less true.
Posted by: mmurray821 || 09/12/2005 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's play.
Posted by: Togo || 09/12/2005 10:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Banzai!
Posted by: Admiral Yamamoto || 09/12/2005 11:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Both surface Navys would be doomed in this contest. Neither side has the ability to protect them from determined air and missile attack. Speculation should focus on what happens after all the ships are sunk.
Posted by: DoDo || 09/12/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#6  As the two hundreth anniversery of Trafalgar approaches, I would say that the navy with the most active sea time would win.

How does the optempo for the Chinese navy compare to the Japanese? That is a primary question.

Needless to say, even though China has nuclear weapons, Japan has Mothra, so there is balance there.
Posted by: Penguin || 09/12/2005 13:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Basil H Penguin, Visonary.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 13:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Bah! None of you are considering the most important factor:

The Japanese military has developed special equipment and extensive experience fighting GIANT MONSTERS such as Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Giddora.

The Chinese navy would never stand a chance against the power of Mecha Godzilla after he wades into their formation and crushes their destroyers and frigates.
Posted by: Leigh || 09/12/2005 14:05 Comments || Top||

#9  An important factor is "where will the battle take place?" The first assumption would be the islands themselves, but while this may be the goal, it may not be the optimal strategy for either side.

From that axiom, you have to ask: what is the strategic reach of the opponents? Modern naval deep water ships cannot operate without special ports. An attack on a port can cripple a fleet in the right circumstances, as was demonstrated with the Riga disaster and the Russian North Sea Fleet.

Conversely, a domestic disaster, natural or man-made, can force a short term change in national prerogatives, giving the other side a chance to peacefully occupy the islands and set up serious defenses. A massive earthquake in Japan, for example.

Would the battle stop at the islands, or would it extend far beyond them, perhaps far beyond what either side would have originally wanted to go?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/12/2005 14:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Well, Japan did kick China's ass once before.


If they have the sense to stay far, far away from Pearl Harbor this time, they just might win.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/12/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#11  #10, More than likely, I think we'd probably help the Japanese this time.

Depending on what kind of conflict, we could probably just turn the tide with electronic surveillance and information support. Throw in US naval direct action and it would probably fare MUCH, much better in our favor.

Besides, isn't there some sort of Military treaty between the US, SKor and Japan?
Posted by: Anon4021 || 09/12/2005 16:05 Comments || Top||

#12  US would certainly cover Japans back militarily and supply intel. Nobody gonna do that for the Chinese.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 09/12/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Not only intel, I see C-17s flying in with all sorta AIMs, Patriot reloads, Harpoons reloads and maybe a few more Mark 48s, sorta a NickelGrass writ large.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 20:46 Comments || Top||

#14  The JSDF air force and naval ships are more than capable of defeating China's PLAN and PLAAF. China's true ace is her resort to threats of rapid nuclear escalation ags Japanese mil targets and cities. Many Japanese remain highly sensitive over the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japanese failure to protect their rights will only demons to China that Japan is weak and frightened of nuke war, and willing to make concessions to avoid nuclear confrontation. China's hegemonic ambitions calls for domination of East Asia and the PacRim, NOT co-existence with other "sovereign" states. COmmunism is ultim about UNILATERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL POWER, NOT POWER-SHARING OR DEMOCRACY!? Sino-Nippon events like these will determine whether Japan stays sovereign or becomes a contemp Asian version of a Cold War Warsaw Pact SOviet slave nation.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/12/2005 21:43 Comments || Top||

#15  sounds like the mighty Chinese military is a bag of shit.... a big bag, but still...
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 21:55 Comments || Top||

#16  sounds like the mighty Chinese military is a bag of shit.... a big bag, but still...
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 21:55 Comments || Top||


ChiCom sought system to intercept U.S. spy data
China's government secretly tried to buy U.S. electronic equipment that would allow Beijing to intercept U.S. intelligence data sent to the ground by satellites, according to court papers in a spy case.

A declassified FBI report from 1997, which authorities say was found in the possession of Chinese spying suspect Katrina Leung before her arrest in 2003, said two Chinese nationals were being sought by Chinese authorities for stealing $140 million intended for "a high-tech transfer/purchase of a most-up-to-date satellite retrieval systems technology manufactured by a U.S. firm."

Report from 1997? Say, wasn't that other guy president back then?

More at link
Posted by: Captain America || 09/12/2005 02:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Koizumi Gets Landslide Poll Win
Posted by: Fred || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The leftist Japanese media have been running rigged polls about how the Japanese public is against Koizumi's strong stands vis-a-vis Chinese gamesmanship over Japanese textbooks and Chinese territorial claims. This actual poll basically blows those rigged polls out of the water.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/12/2005 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Zhang, gotta a link on that. TIA.
Posted by: phil_b || 09/12/2005 3:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Another big win for a supporter of the WOT. Hopefully, Schroeder will keep the streak alive this weekend.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 09/12/2005 11:09 Comments || Top||

#4  phil_b: Zhang, gotta a link on that. TIA.

Here:

Nearly half of Japanese voters believe Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is mishandling relations with China and want him to end visits to a war shrine that infuriate Beijing and other Asian countries, a survey says.

Forty-eight percent of respondents to a poll by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said they disapproved of Koizumi's stance toward China against 35 percent who backed him, with the rest not giving a clear opinion.

Relations with China have steadily deteriorated in recent months.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi last week abruptly cancelled a meeting with Koizumi to protest the Japanese leader's defense of his annual pilgrimage to the Yasukuni shrine.

The Shinto sanctuary in central Tokyo honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including 14 top war criminals from World War II.

Forty-nine percent of voters said Koizumi should stop visiting the shrine as opposed to 39 percent who supported his visits, according to the Asahi poll which received responses from 1,876 voters over the weekend.

The survey also found the Japanese were critical of China. It said 51 percent considered the Chinese position on Yasukuni "incomprehensible" while 37 percent identified with Beijing's stand.

However, criticism of Koizumi's China policy did not mean overall opposition of his performance. The Asahi poll put his government's approval rating at 45 percent, up from 40 percent in March.

A poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun published May 17 put support for the cabinet above 50 percent for the first time in six months, with voters saying Koizumi, the longest serving Japanese premier in two decades, offered stability.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/12/2005 13:06 Comments || Top||


Europe
First European factory closed due to Kyoto
The Valencian regional government ordered the temporary closure of a glass factory on Tuesday, alleging that it failed to comply with the regulations set by the Kyoto Treaty, which came into effect in February. It is the first time that the Spanish government has taken such a stringent action against an alleged environmental violation.

According to Valencian authorities, Vidrios Benigàmin did not apply for permission to emit carbon dioxide gas prior to the January 1 deadline. It ordered the company to shut down temporarily, and pay a fine of €100,000. The Kyoto Treaty stipulates that all firms emitting greenhouse gases must be registered.

Teresa Vaño, who runs the glass maker, nevertheless said that the company had applied for permission in July 2004, but that the regional government never notified the company of a pending sanction.
Oh, well. Since Europe is booming at a -- what, 0.5%? -- growth rate, I'm sure all the laid-off people will get new jobs. Or they could just go on welfare.
Posted by: Jackal || 09/12/2005 10:25 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Europe-
Sha-na-na-na, Heeey-hey-hey, goodbye!
Posted by: mmurray821 || 09/12/2005 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  The Kyoto Treaty stipulates that all firms emitting greenhouse gases must be registered.

Does that include everyone who breaths?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/12/2005 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  It is the first time that the Spanish government has taken such a stringent action against an alleged environmental violation.

So much for the concept of due process.
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 12:18 Comments || Top||

#4  RC, only if you've failed to apply for permission.
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/12/2005 12:22 Comments || Top||

#5  AlGore was in San Francisco, bleating to teh Sierra Club Nat'l Conventiion about Kyoto, huricanes, Evil Chimpy Bushitler, yadda yadda.....if we could harness his gaseous effluent we could run a small city
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 12:43 Comments || Top||

#6  In related news, the EU has banned 3 bean salad and bean & bacon soup.
Posted by: wrinkleneck_trout || 09/12/2005 15:04 Comments || Top||

#7  So much for the concept of due process.

Well, it is Europe, after all...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/12/2005 21:38 Comments || Top||


Earl's killing was 'by accident'
Earl coverage continues:
The man accused of murdering the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury in France has said he accidentally strangled his brother-in-law to death.
Uh huh, happens to me all the time.
Mohammed M'Barek has told a magistrate in Grasse, south-east France, that 66-year-old Anthony Ashley-Cooper died as a result of a drunken fight. The Dorset earl's lawyer, Philippe Soussi, said Mr M'Barek claimed he did not mean to kill him.
"He's innocent, your Honor! The Earl thrust his neck into my clients hands! He was only trying to fend him off."
The body of Lord Shaftesbury - who had a home in Hove - was found on 5 April. Mobile phone signals led police to his decomposing remains in countryside between Cannes and Nice. He went missing on the French Riviera in November 2004. He divided his time between Britain and France, where he had homes in Cannes, Versailles and Toulouse.
Mr M'Barek has been under investigation for murder along with his sister, Jamila, who was Lord Shaftesbury's third wife.
A sultry wench whom the Earl met in a club where she was a "entertainer"
Ms M'Barek has allegedly confessed to playing a part in the 10th earl's disappearance.
Said part being where she lured him to his doom
Her brother had denied any involvement until being questioned during a court hearing last Wednesday.
"I had nothing to do with it, except the accidental choking part"
Mr Soussi - who described the death as a "foul crime" - said prosecutors still believed it was a premeditated murder rather than a drunken accident. He added that it would be at least a year before a trial began at a court in Nice.
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 08:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Earl got shafted?
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  What can I say, I'm idle.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 10:28 Comments || Top||


Kuchma backs Yushchenko in Ukraine turmoil
Ukraine's former president, Leonid Kuchma, gave his support to the troubled administration of Viktor Yushchenko at the weekend, in what analysts said was a signal that opponents of the Orange Revolution could be brought into the new government. Mr Kuchma, making his first public intervention in politics since he left office in January under a cloud of allegations of corruption and election fraud, also endorsed Yuri Yekhanurov, acting prime minister, who was appointed by Mr Yushchenko on Thursday after he sacked the government of Yulia Tymoshenko.

Mr Kuchma met Mr Yekhanurov - a minor figure in Orange revolution - in Dnipropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday. They greeted each other with broad smiles and knives in each other's backs kisses on the cheek. The meeting, though brief, was in sharp contrast to relations between the two political camps last winter when Mr Yushchenko and Mr Kuchma held tense negotiations under the watch of foreign mediators and Yushchenko supporters stood face-to-face with armed police under Mr Kuchma's command.

Mr Kuchma on Saturday called on his former supporters - who hold about half the seats in parliament - to back Mr Yushchenko's efforts to form a new government. "Don't aggravate the situation," he said.

Analysts said a recent outpouring of support for Mr Yushchenko from Mr Kuchma and other former administration figures reflected new political realities in which Ms Tymoshenko had become the main proponent of change and Mr Yushchenko had become a force for stability and social peace. Parliamentary elections next March are shaping up a three-way contest between Ms Tymoshenko, Mr Yushchenko and pro-Russian centrist and leftwing groups.

Igor Burakovsky, director of Kiev's Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, said Mr Yushchenko was under pressure to form a new government quickly because of talks with Russia over gas supplies and a World Trade Organisation meeting at the end of the month which will look at Ukraine's bid to join at the Hong Kong summit in December. That made him more likely to choose experienced old-guard figures, Mr Burakovsky said.

Mr Yushchenko is expected to form the government after a confirmation vote in parliament on Mr Yekhanurov next week.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Ontario premier rejects Shariah law
TORONTO -- The premier of Ontario said Sunday that he won't let his province become the first Western government to allow the use of Islamic law to settle family disputes and that he will move to ban all religious arbitration.

Ontario's provincial government has been reviewing a report recommending that Shariah, or Islamic law, be allowed to settle family disputes like divorce and had said it would soon make a decision. "There will be no Shariah law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians," Premier Dalton McGuinty told The Canadian Press.
That made my surprise meter jump.
The proposal to let Ontario residents use Islamic law for settling family disputes drew protests Thursday in Canada and at some of its diplomatic sites in Europe.

Ontario has allowed Catholic and Jewish faith-based tribunals to settle family law matters on a voluntary basis since 1991. The practice got little attention until Muslim leaders demanded the same rights. Officials had to decide whether to exclude one religion, or whether to scrap the religious family courts altogether.

McGuinty said such courts "threaten our common ground," and promised his Liberal government would introduce legislation as soon as possible to outlaw them in Ontario. "Ontarians will always have the right to seek advice from anyone in matters of family law, including religious advice," he said. "But no longer will religious arbitration be deciding matters of family law."
I'm really surprised he said this. I thought for sure he'd cave.
A representative from Ontario's Jewish community expressed disappointment and shock over McGuinty's decision. "We're stunned," said Joel Richler, Ontario region chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "At the very least, we would have thought the government would have consulted with us before taking away what we've had for so many years."

Homa Arjomand, a women's rights activist, was elated. "I think our voice got heard loud and clear, and I thank the government for coming out with no faith-based arbitration's," Arjomand said. "Oh, I am so happy. That was the best news I have ever heard for the past five years."
Posted by: Steve White || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tap tap TWANG crunch tinkle tinkle
Ting!
Posted by: Grunter || 09/12/2005 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Hallelluyah!
Posted by: Sobiesky || 09/12/2005 1:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Religious law = second rate citizenship for women. No place in western society for treating women as second rate.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 09/12/2005 2:49 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm really surprised he said this. I thought for sure he'd cave.

There's a mistake here somewhere. This doesn't compute. Inconsistent. Paradox. Singularity. Error..error...error...error...error...error
Posted by: Rafael || 09/12/2005 2:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Taqiya?
Posted by: gromgoru || 09/12/2005 7:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, at least he got rid of the Christian and Joooo arbiters. Now, we only need to use Sharia as the basis of the legal code and we're all set.
Posted by: Jackal || 09/12/2005 9:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Brown Out as Head of FEMA
Announced at 3:07 PM EST on Howie Carr's show; listed in the Breaking section at CNN.
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 15:01 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn! Mods, please move to Page 3, thanks.
Posted by: Raj || 09/12/2005 15:02 Comments || Top||

#2  What a shitty job, all accountability and no responsibility. A dumping target for deficient pols.
Posted by: Captain America || 09/12/2005 20:55 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Manmohan to Press for UN Council Seat
Posted by: Fred || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nah. They probably deserve one more than France, but they did spend the Cold War giving us grief as a "non-aligned" Soviet client.

Payback's a bitch, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 09/12/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Economy
Firms with White House ties get Katrina contracts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
And no doubt had a hand in dynamiting the levees. One little problem with this attempt to smear dirt, which was also missed by the UPI, Rooters, MSNBC, etc. From Michelle Malkin:
The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Bernhard worked tirelessly for Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's runoff campaign and served as co-chair of her transition team. Another Shaw executive was Blanco's campaign manager. Bernhard is back-scratching chums with Blanco, whom he has lent/offered the Shaw Group's corporate jets to on numerous occasions.


Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 13:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can they name any companies with NO ties to the administration that could have done this work?
A nice, fat, amorphous phrase, "ties to the administration." It could mean almost anything and is flexible enough to be applied to anyone who happened to get the contracts.

The media are the enemy.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 09/12/2005 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  These companies had ties to the white house since the Ford administration. But, its Bush's fault so believe the MSM lies!
Posted by: mmurray821 || 09/12/2005 14:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Reuters - Isn't that a BBC version of AP?

(No offense intended to intelligent British readers!)
Posted by: Bobby || 09/12/2005 14:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Why couldn't these asswipes have provided some perspective, and listed what other companies could have done the job and their qualifications, and what the costs were between all the companies capable of performing the work?

Would've been a lot better than these thinly veiled accusations of favoritism.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/12/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#5  FOXNEWS reported that president of the Shaw Group is the CHAIRMAN OF THE LOUISIANA DEM. PARTY and on the camp. team of the Gov.

So... I don't get why BUSH WOULD WANT HIM HIRED.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/12/2005 19:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
New Orleans Doctors Executed Critically Ill Patients
Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leaving them to die in agony as they evacuated hospitals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.

In an extraordinary interview with The Mail on Sunday, one New Orleans doctor told how she 'prayed for God to have mercy on her soul' after she ignored every tenet of medical ethics and ended the lives of patients she had earlier fought to save...
Why do I picture some guy in a wheelchair with a broken leg being hunted by a doctor with a gun, yelling to him: "Mr Jones! We both know this is for your own good!"
I don't believe this. If you read the interview, you see that the patients had 'do not resuscitate' orders on them, as if these patients had both feet on banana peels. But that order actually is common for lots of people in the hospital and doesn't mean that they were about to check out. Patients got moved from all the affected hospitals over several days, and there's no reason why one would have to kill any of them. Even most critically ill patients can be moved if needed -- we do it all the time. This article might as well have appeared in Pravda.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/12/2005 10:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I agree, Anonymoose. And seeing how many of the worst atrocity stories aren't holding up under the light of day, I think we're seeing a new rash of urban legends (a la 9/11).
Posted by: Xbalanke || 09/12/2005 11:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Had Howard Dean been in charge, of course, these people would have been humanely starved to death well before the crisis broke.
Posted by: Mike || 09/12/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Had Randall Robinson been in charge, these people would have been parted out and served to the hungry masses in the Super Dome.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/12/2005 11:52 Comments || Top||

#4  In contrast...

Planning and Private Resources
At the Hospital Giant HCA
Made Rescue Operation Possible
By GAUTAM NAIK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 7, 2005; Page B1
As New Orleans emergency services struggled last week, giant hospital company HCA Inc. ran a rescue operation that airlifted some 200 patients and 1,200 staff members with 20 helicopters it managed to find and hire.

The Nashville, Tenn., company cobbled together a rescue for patients and staff at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, a facility that it owns and that was badly hit by Hurricane Katrina. HCA flew in amateur ham-radio operators, including two from the Tallahassee Amateur Radio Club to prevent midair accidents.

"We used ham radios to create a makeshift air-traffic control system," says Ed Jones, a vice president of supply chain operations at HCA, noting that there wasn't a single chopper mishap.
HCA's evacuation of critically ill patients in the midst of poor flying conditions, no electricity, weak phone links and frequent sniper fire stands out among rescue operations in New Orleans in the aftermath of the hurricane. It throws into relief a corresponding failure of the public-rescue system: No such operation occurred across the street, at state-run Charity Hospital.
Indeed, HCA helped rescue up to 50 patients from Charity, many of whom were critically ill. Although HCA's own patients and employees were in peril, the company's ability to launch and execute a rescue shows how advance planning and private resources gave HCA and its patients a far different experience than those at Charity and other public hospitals.
"We were unable to get any governmental help in evacuating," says Norman McSwain, a professor of surgery at Tulane and trauma director at Charity, who worked at both hospitals throughout the crisis. Two evacuated patients, both from Charity, didn't make it.
The evacuation was the result of bold decisions by senior executives in the heat of the moment, coupled with some careful advance groundwork. Last fall, top brass from HCA and its hospitals met at the Hyatt Hotel in Orlando, Fla., for a "Hurricane Lessons Learned" meeting. Three hurricanes had roared through Florida over the previous months, and HCA, whose 190 hospitals and 91 outpatient surgery centers are concentrated in the Southeast, wanted to better protect its facilities.

Some key gaps HCA identified: Cellphones often fail, so alternative phone systems are needed. Roads become impassable, so emergency supplies have to be stored closer to hospitals. Backup generators are vital for cooling lab and diagnostic equipment, especially in summer, when hurricanes tend to strike.

In the following months, HCA provided its hospitals with satellite phones, hurricane shutters and additional backup generators. It also struck deals with local businesses -- refrigeration and water companies, diesel and gasoline retailers -- to provide supplies quickly in the event of an emergency. In areas where hurricanes were likely to strike, it also began to move food, medical supplies and other gear to warehouses closer to hospitals.

When Katrina struck last week on Monday, Tulane Hospital initially withstood the onslaught. But as some levees collapsed, water began to seep into the hospital. By seven the next morning, senior HCA executives had gathered in the company's Nashville boardroom, which would become their command-and-control center for the rest of the week.

The group realized they would need to lease about 20 helicopters for the evacuation of patients and staff, a move HCA had never before made on such a scale. Jack Bovender, Jr., the company's chairman and chief executive, didn't hesitate. "Get them," he said, according to Mr. Jones.

HCA employees leased a motley collection of helicopters, including a privately owned Blackhawk belonging to firefighters in Ocala, Fla., and a Russian-made machine from a land developer in Panama City, Fla. Soon after, HCA's makeshift fleet was ferrying critically ill patients from the parking lot at Tulane Hospital to other facilities.
It was tough going. Two Tulane patients each weighed more than 400 pounds, and one heart patient awaiting a transplant was strapped to 500 pounds of equipment. The elevators were dead, so medics carried patients up several flights of stairs. At night, the helicopter landing zone was illuminated by the headlights of cars parked in the garage.

Things were far worse at Charity Hospital, where patients and staff were subsisting on canned fruit cocktail and a dwindling supply of water. Eventually, Charity patients were ferried to Tulane in boats and evacuated by HCA helicopters. Dr. McSwain says he counted 254 evacuated patients, from both Charity and Tulane. An additional 1,400 people, including staff and patients' family members, were taken out. "I don't know where to lay the responsibility," says Dr. McSwain. "All I know is we were left without help. And we got our own help."

Posted by: PsychoHillbilly || 09/12/2005 13:51 Comments || Top||

#5  45 Bodies Found at New Orleans Hospital
Sep 12 3:24 PM US/Eastern
NEW ORLEANS: Forty-five bodies have been found at a hospital that was abandoned more than a week ago after it was surrounded by floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Katrina, a state health official said Monday. The bodies were located Sunday at Memorial Medical Center, said Bob Johannesen, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Hospitals. Johannesen said the bodies were those of patients, but he had no other information. The Louisiana death toll rose to 279 on Monday, up from 197 on Sunday, Johannesen said.
On Sunday, reporters were kept at a distance from Memorial Medical by law enforcement officers as workers removed bodies from the hospital, situated in the city's Uptown section.
The 317-bed hospital, owned by TenetHealthcare Corp., remained closed Monday and was still partially surrounded by floodwaters.


Need to find out how many bodies the hospital had on hand before the hurricane. May just be the normal number of bodies awaiting pickup.
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 15:48 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't believe "Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients..." I call bullshit. All good Hospital train for and practice for disasters. Sounds like this training paid off. Notice the difference with the not so good hospitals.

Once again my fellow Amateur Radio operators come thorough when communications fail or become overloaded. People need to understand cellphones die in a disaster, don't plan on counting on them. Your support of Ham radio with the FCC is apprecated. There are powerful commercial interests who want our radio spectrum. These interests are not reliable in emergencies. Amatueur Radio operators are. We train for disasters, bring our own equipment (including power to run our equipment quite often) and are free.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 09/12/2005 16:20 Comments || Top||

#7  I suspect this story is true, for the following reasons.

It only happened in a single hospital. Most of the administration had probably bugged out, leaving only a few staff doctors and interns.
Then, because of the MSM and the rumor mill, wild stories began circulating. Small events, like panicky people showing up at the entrances, windows being blown in, and intermittent power can really get things going into a full-blown panic. Hospital communications are generally good, so they were probably convinced that the whole building was going to come down or something after hearing hysterics coming over CNN.

Finally, one person opens the pharmacy, gets out the morphine and heads to the "gork" ward. The very last thing before everybody runs away in a panic. In hospitals, patients are very classed by condition, and non-communicative patients almost invariably get less care than do those who can communicate with the doctors and nurses. People are reduced to "live-or-die" dichotomies.

The same psychology exists on the battlefield when untrained soldiers see someone seriously wounded, and, assuming that their wound is fatal, execute them for what later turns out to be a serious, but non-threatening injury. It is the "There is nothing we can do for them now but put them out of their misery" syndrome.

And once the first patient was killed, it "broke the ice", and probably two or three individuals then went on a killing spree.

And this is why it seems reasonable. It was not a policy decision. It was a panic reaction from a single person, with "just following orders" complicity from one or two more. A total of three people may have then killed 20-40-60? helpless victims in under an hour.

When they are found out, they will go to prison.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/12/2005 17:14 Comments || Top||

#8  I think the euthanasia stories will turn out to be urban legends. Toxicology tests on the dead patients should show the drugs they had received recently.
SPOD - " All good Hospital train for and practice for disasters" Some of them train for some disasters. However, an interview with Charity's Dr. Norman McSwain was published in a 9/9/2005 story in the New York Times "Despite the historical threat of flooding in New Orleans, he said, there was never a plan to evacuate Charity, the nation's oldest continuously operated hospital. Nor at first did he expect one. 'Medical people don't evacuate,' he said. 'They stay and take care of people who
weren't smart enough to leave.'"
I was disappointed to read this. Dr. McSwain is world-known in his work as a trauma surgeon. How could Charity have had NO evacuation plan? Maybe once they decided to build a large hospital below sea level with its emergency generators also below sea level, they felt a flooding evacuation plan was unnecessary!
Posted by: Crairong Omomotch6492 || 09/12/2005 18:15 Comments || Top||

#9  In retrospect, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the staff was down in the ER, with just a few left in IC. The few with the morphine.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/12/2005 19:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Gators 'Moose. Morphine wasn't needed. Hundreds of little tiny aligaasdkljasdf;kkljasdf

Ummm.... Tom? Were you going to say thousands of little tiny aligators solved the problem? That's so wrong Tom. Get a grip.

Hatfield.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 20:54 Comments || Top||

#11  speaking of meds.....
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 21:21 Comments || Top||

#12  I believe HCA is owned by the Frist family.
Posted by: Abu al-MacSuirtain || 09/12/2005 21:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Economy
Mary Landrieu: School Bus Failure Bush's Fault
It was the Bush administration's fault that hundreds of city school buses weren't dispatched to evacuate the hurricane-battered residents of New Orleans two weeks ago before floods swamped the city, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said Sunday. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" why New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin failed to follow the city's evacuation plan and press the buses into service, Landrieu blamed Bush administration cuts in mass transit funding.
"Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane," she said. "And it's because this administration and administrations before them do not understand the difficulties that mayors . . . face."
You mean like your father, Moon Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans?
Landrieu then added: "In other words, this administration did not believe in mass transit. They won't even get people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out."
What about getting the kids to school? Or were those hundreds schools buses up to their axles in water a opticial illusion? I'll bet the buses were running on election day as well
Saying she was unwilling to criticize Louisiana officials,
That would be difficult, seeing that her brother is the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
.. the Louisiana Democrat insisted that Mayor Nagin's evacuation efforts had been a smashing success.
"Because the mayor evacuated the city, we had the best evacuation . . . of any evacuation I've seen. I'm 50 years old; I've never seen one any better," Landrieu told FNS. That prompted FNS host Chris Wallace to remind: "But there were a hundred thousand people left in the city."

Landrieu once again blamed the White House, saying:
"They did [have] a hundred thousand people left in the city because this federal government won't support cities to evacuate people, whether it's from earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes. And that's the truth."
Then her lips fell off. I don't watch these shows, but it's reported she also suggested that Blanco couldn't let the feds use the National Guard because they needed vacations after serving in Iraq. She also blamed the President Reagan for running up deficits which prevented President Clinton for spending more on FEMA to save New Orleans.
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 09:18 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Moon Rocks, we never should have taken them. I blame Nixon.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 10:43 Comments || Top||

#2  And THIS is a public servant!!!Need to put her in the same catagory as momma sheehan!! WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!!
Posted by: ARMYGUY || 09/12/2005 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  The Left knows no limits, no shame.
Posted by: .com || 09/12/2005 11:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Sounds like she ghostwrites for Zarqari.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/12/2005 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  "They did [have] a hundred thousand people left in the city because this federal government won't support cities to evacuate people... And that's the truth."

Given what we now know, how can anybody come to that conclusion? Even shameless exploitation or shifting of blame can't explain this outright lie. I truly believe these people are delusional.


Posted by: DepotGuy || 09/12/2005 12:50 Comments || Top||

#6  get yore teeshirts heer:

http://www.cafepress.com/bushdoesntcare
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/12/2005 13:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Muck, got one showing W stroking the guitar while death befalls the Big slEasy?
Posted by: Captain America || 09/12/2005 13:38 Comments || Top||

#8  ima shure sum entrapanoorial spirit owt there werkin on it. :)
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/12/2005 13:45 Comments || Top||

#9  I saw Sen. Landrieu's Fox interview and it was bizarre. Questions and answers were even more disconnected than previously seen from Lousiana politicians. Video link here.
Posted by: ed || 09/12/2005 14:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Do mean like this, Muck? The President and former President on Vacation. I think it's rather tasteless myself.
bushvacation
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/12/2005 14:12 Comments || Top||

#11  What's not obvious about that picture is Ted Kennedy driving past in the background.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/12/2005 14:16 Comments || Top||

#12  lmao db an rc!
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/12/2005 14:20 Comments || Top||

#13  this is let me kno hoo to blayme at anee giver moment. :)
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/12/2005 14:25 Comments || Top||

#14  Muck, that lick should come with a coffee alert!

Wonderful
Posted by: john || 09/12/2005 15:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Camilla Parker Bowles?
Posted by: Shipman || 09/12/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#16  Mary Landrieu a short bus senator.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/12/2005 18:04 Comments || Top||

#17  3dc, LOLOLOL!!
I must admit, though, I met Connie the Short Bus Lady when she was living in a short bus converted to a motor home. Now she lives at the Deacon Blues Pork Palce, Potables Parlour, and Home for Wayward Animals and Women.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/12/2005 19:38 Comments || Top||

#18  It was the Bush administration's fault that hundreds of city school buses weren't dispatched to evacuate the hurricane-battered residents of New Orleans two weeks ago before floods swamped the city, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said Sunday. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" why New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin failed to follow the city's evacuation plan and press the buses into service, Landrieu blamed Bush administration cuts in mass transit funding.

Why would mass transit money be used on school buses??
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/12/2005 21:45 Comments || Top||

#19  Yes B-A-R

Its known in Louisiana as Hollywood bookkeeping. Just like all that federal Homeland Security money sorta didn't make it into the hands of local officials who knew what the hell they were suppose to do. The same model employed by the former governor of New Jersey.
Posted by: Phereque Omineger4095 || 09/12/2005 22:03 Comments || Top||

#20  I really wish the 'locals' would get their stories straight on why the emergency plans weren't followed.

First it was that most of the school-bus drivers were women, and they didn't want to expose them to danger.

Next it was Mayor Nagin dissing school buses and holding out for Greyhounds.

Then, according to NO's emergency director, it was that the city had no intention enacting the plan to use buses (Sept 12 WaPo).

Now it's because mass transit money had been cut.

What next?
Posted by: Pappy || 09/12/2005 22:14 Comments || Top||

#21  there was too much lead [+.0000000001] in the bus fuel. wou'nt want to poooLute nutin woood ya?
Posted by: r || 09/12/2005 22:25 Comments || Top||

#22  I'd still hit it with Mary Landrieu, just to make her say "Moooooooooooooon"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 22:50 Comments || Top||


Military Casualties from Katrina
September 12, 2005: Hurricane Katrina not only devastated New Orleans, and nearby coastal areas, it also directly impacted over 20,000 military personnel, dependents and military retirees living in the area. Most lost their homes, and some were injured. The effected areas, in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi included the following localities (by ZIP codes); Mobile, Alabama (365XX to 366XX), Meridian, Mississippi (369XX to 393XX), Hattiesburg, Mississippi (394XX), Gulfport, Mississippi (395XX), McComb, Mississippi (396XX), New Orleans, Louisiana (700XX to 701XX), Houma, Louisiana (703XX), and Mandeville, Louisiana (704XX). Keesler Air Force Base, outside Biloxi, Mississippi, took a direct hit, and will be closed for months, at least, to repair the damage.
They are not accepting new students until at least March. Also word has come down that Keesler will be a "unaccompanied tour" for the next 2-3 years. Housing areas took the biggest hit, as well as the exchange and commisary.
Keesler may simply be shut down permanently.
Don't think so. Technical training facilities look like they took minimal damage, airfield is still in operation.
Several other smaller military installations were similarly damaged. There were some military operations inside New Orleans as well, that were hit hard. Part of the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command was there, along with a lot of their Internet servers. These had to be shut down. The navy also had several personnel support operations in New Orleans, which also had to be shut down temporarily, and then moved elsewhere.
Posted by: Steve || 09/12/2005 08:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Marines have landed in Biloxi. The Mexican Marines.
Marines from Mexico, the Netherlands and the United States are allies in an international Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort based on ships about 20 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Four Canadian ships are on the way. "Our president called George Bush, and three days later we came here," said Óscar Martínez Pretelin, an officer aboard the Papaloapan, a 440foot-long, troop-landing ship. "We are honored to help the United States."

About 75 Mexican Marines landed this week on the beach just east of the Beau Rivage casino to begin cleaning up Biloxi, Miss., especially around schools and churches.

One of the Marines, Mario T. Rodríguez, said he left a small city in the far south of Mexico to volunteer for hurricane relief duty. He has a 3-month-old daughter with his wife at home. "The U.S. is rich, but even a rich country can need help," he said.

The Marines will be aided by Spanish-speaking crew members of the USS Bataan as they work in the devastated areas of Biloxi and Gulfport.

For the first time in the history of the Mexican military, women have been assigned a mission, said Lt. Leonardo Tun Humbert of the Papaloapan: Three female physicians and two nurses from the Mexican navy are aboard the ship waiting to be assigned to hurricane relief work. "We are trained to help and we will help," said Sgt. Carmen Rodríguez Cruz, 26, a nurse from Veracruz.

They got a bit of a culture shock when they met Capt. Nora Tyson, the commander of the Bataan. The 844-foot ship is equipped with six helicopters that began rescue operations in New Orleans the day after Katrina struck, then was sent to Biloxi on Thursday. "We were surprised to find a woman commanding a ship," said Pretelin, the Mexican navy fleet officer. "We found her very professional, very well mannered."

"It's the same hard job for a woman as it is for a man," said Tyson, with a smile.
Posted by: DanNY || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Well, when the Mexicans hit the beach that is probably the last Nexico will see of those guys.
Posted by: RG || 09/12/2005 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Pic here
http://www.navy.mil/list_all.asp?id=20026
Posted by: Sherry || 09/12/2005 1:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Good catch, Sherry

Here is the full link to the US Navy story
Posted by: DanNY || 09/12/2005 6:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Damn, I live close enough to have gone there and seen the Big Marine Hovercraft come in, but I didn't know until too late.

Maybe I can see it go out?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/12/2005 16:12 Comments || Top||

#5  "Our president called George Bush, and three days later we came here,.."

A mistake. Fox is going to expect something in return. Something with an immigration tone to it, like say, amnesty.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/12/2005 19:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Fox will be disappointed. I don't feel very bad about that either
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 20:30 Comments || Top||

#7  YOu don't think the Mexican Marines will expect to be allowed to help with disasters at home in the future?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/12/2005 20:37 Comments || Top||

#8  That's one way to cross the border legally! I really appeciate these guys helping though, if its really out of good will.
Posted by: Shelet Jaiting1602 || 09/12/2005 21:14 Comments || Top||

#9  I think Fox is facing a groundswell of antipathy to illegals that will disappoint him in the next decade. Bush is actually starting to get it.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 21:31 Comments || Top||

#10  I am grateful they are here to help.
Posted by: Austin || 09/12/2005 21:34 Comments || Top||

#11  me too
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2005 21:41 Comments || Top||

#12  God bless them for the effort.
Posted by: Munkarkat || 09/12/2005 21:43 Comments || Top||

#13  The best pic is the Mexican army arriving in San Antonio! Remember the Alamo.....
Posted by: Sherry || 09/12/2005 23:28 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
50 Christian families flee Amer Sidhu
LAHORE: Some 50 Christian families have fled Waheed Park in Chungi Amer Sidhu fearing a backlash from the Muslim community after a Christian was arrested for alleged blasphemy. Factory Area police registered a blasphemy case against Younis Masih, 40, on Saturday night after he allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) at a Qawali, arranged by another Christian, on Friday night. Following the incident, Younis was beaten up by local Christians who wanted him to apologise, and then by an angry mob of Muslims, but he refused to take back his comments, according to witnesses. On Saturday night, some 200 protestors carrying sticks surrounded Factory Area police station demanding a case be registered against Younis, and refused to leave until they were shown copies of the FIR. By Sunday, some 50 Christian families had fled the area.

Muslim community leaders told Daily Times they had made repeated assurances of peace to the Christians, saying they only wanted Younis punished. They admitted that some Muslims had damaged Younis’s house, but said the damage was minor. “We have made repeated announcements in the mosques that people should control their emotions,” said Tariq Mahmood, a local leader. “We also assured the Christian community that they would be safe here, but they left.”

He said people were much calmer now and community leaders had managed to disperse a small protest against the incident on Sunday morning. However, he said the whole community was determined to see Younis get punished under the law. “If the police try to hush up the investigation, we will not keep quiet.” The police sent Younis to Kot Lakhpat Jail on Sunday morning, after he confessed to the investigation officer of the case, Sub Inspector Abdul Rasheed, said Karamat, the duty officer at Factory Area police station. He said Younis would not have been safe in the lock-up at the police station. The investigation officer was not available for comment. Earlier, police told Daily Times that Younis’s wife had shown up at Factory Area police station with tattered clothes saying a group of Muslims looking for her husband had done this to her. The police said they would investigate her complaint as well.
Posted by: Fred || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mob burns down cop shop after SI 'desecrates Quran'
SARGODHA: A violent mob set a police post in Farooqa, Sahiwal tehsil, on fire after a sub-inspector allegedly hit a two-month-old baby and desecrated the Quran.
What'd he do? Hit the baby with the Koran?
According to the protestors, a police team led by SI Muhammad Mukhtar raided Muhammad Ramzan's house after Amir Khichi complained that Ramzan owed him money.
"We wants our grease, see?"
The SI allegedly 'tortured' the two-month-old baby of Ramzan's sister Kausar, at which she brought out the Quran.
"Leave the baby alone or I'll hit you with this holy book!"
The SI allegedly threw the holy book on the ground.
"That's fer yer holy book!"
News of the incident caused anger among locals, who protested and set the police post ablaze.
"Aaaar! Getcher torches an' pitchforks and swarm the cop shoppe!"
Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan, the DPO in Sargodha, denied that the SI had desecrated the Quran or hit the baby.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The DPO told reporters on Sunday afternoon that "miscreants" had spread rumours and provoked people to set the police post ablaze, thus destroying police records.
No! Really?
The DPO said that a case had been registered against 64 people for torching the Farooqa police post of Sahiwal police station and 47 of them had been arrested. The police were also considering registering a case for violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and using loudspeakers in mosques to instigate the protest.
When there's a riot there's always a mosque involved. Have they given any thought to taking the loudspeakers out of the mosques? Followed, perhaps, by the loudmouths?
The DPO said that a five-member committee consisting of two SPs, the Sargodha ASP, and Sahiwal and Sillanwali DSPs had been formed to investigate the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 09/12/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..egad..the breath of DOOM.
/whew
Posted by: MAW || 09/12/2005 2:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I say turn about is fair play. Let the cops go burn down the mosque which used it's loudspeaker to cause the trouble. Imam inside is even better.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 09/12/2005 2:57 Comments || Top||

#3  What if you set up a fire base, with barbed wire and Claymores, then stood up and started dumping Korans into a big bonfire>
Posted by: Jackal || 09/12/2005 9:44 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2005-09-12
  Palestinians Taking Control in Gaza Strip
Sun 2005-09-11
  Tal Afar: 400 terrorists dead or captured
Sat 2005-09-10
  Iraq Tal Afar offensive
Fri 2005-09-09
  Federal Appeals Court: 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Can Be Held
Thu 2005-09-08
  200 Hard Boyz Arrested in Iraq
Wed 2005-09-07
  Moussa Arafat is no more
Tue 2005-09-06
  Mehlis Uncovers High-Level Links in Plot to Kill Hariri
Mon 2005-09-05
  Shootout in Dammam
Sun 2005-09-04
  Bangla booms funded by Kuwaiti NGO, ordered by UK holy man
Sat 2005-09-03
  MMA seethes over Pak talks with Israel
Fri 2005-09-02
  Syria Arrests 70 Arabs Attempting to Infiltrate Iraq
Thu 2005-09-01
  Leb: More Hariri Arrests
Wed 2005-08-31
  Near 1000 dead in Baghdad stampede
Tue 2005-08-30
  Leb security bigs held in Hariri boom
Mon 2005-08-29
  Will Musharraf ban Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI?


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