The threats have nothing to do with the Beeb's Streicherist anti-Israel propaganda or their terror-inciting distortions of war news, but with an opera based on the Jerry Springer show.
SPRINGER SHOW GOES AHEAD
BBC executives were tonight under guard after the controversial show Jerry Springer - The Opera was aired on BBC2.
The corporation said it had received threats from individuals who objected to the programme's "blasphemous" content.
It is believed Roly Keating, the controller of BBC2, and Jana Bennett, the director of television, are among those who have been given private security guard protection.
A BBC spokesman said executives' families had been subjected to "a large number of abusive and unpleasant calls". Lots of "C" and "F" words no doubt, read on.
Private telephone numbers of those concerned were posted on a campaign group's website, which was later taken down following legal action by the Beeb.
The corporation refused to bow to religious groups which had demanded the show not be aired. Now if they were Islamic.....
A record number of complaints, 40,000, were made prior to the show going out.
Critics say the opera features more than 8,000 swearwords and portrays Jesus in a nappy admitting he is "a bit gay". Good thing it wasn't Mohammed, but the Beeb could do that only in some alternate universe where Joe McCarthy had sobered up and people started listening to him.
Tory deputy leader Michael Ancram joined the criticism.
He said: "You can choose to go to the theatre, you can decide that you want to pay a sum of money to go to see something. That is where you go to see freedom of expression."
But BBC director general Mark Thompson said that as a practising Christian he found nothing in the show that he believed to be blasphemous. If they had shown John Lennon in a tutu, now that would be blasphemous to the chatterati.
"An hour-long programme is going out in front of it, putting it into context, and making it very, very clear to the public that it does include a great deal of strong language," he said.
The opera, which plays to packed houses in the West End,
contains a total of 3,168 "f"-words and 297 "c"-words. Eegad, you'd think it was the internet or something. The dull, docile, slavish masses of the Brit-bigot pseudo-elite are swarming to this opera, no doubt to affirm their collective superiority over typical Americans, as seen on Jerry Springer.
The total number of obscenities is calculated by multiplying the number of swearwords by the number of people singing them. Is this an official EU standard? Science marches on.
Prayer group Christian Voice held a vigil outside BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, west London. No suicide bomb though, so Beeb does not take them seriously as a religious group. How would this program rate under Victoria's (AU) infamous "Vilification of Religion" statute, I wonder?
#2
the boys are a bunch of cracked pots. Its gotta be saudi arabia and those other arab countries pumping all that oil out of the ground and leaving voids and...and...freakin numskulls
Venezuelan authorities backed by troops are on Saturday expected to seize a 32,000-acre ranch owned by Lord Vestey, an English aristocrat and meat tycoon. The move, the first in what is likely to be a number of Zimbabwe-style expropriations of big estates, appears to signal a renewed radicalisation in the leftwing government of President Hugo Chävez. Lord Vestey, known as "Spam" to friends because his family's wealth comes from the meat trade, is one of Britain's richest men and a close friend of Prince Charles. With interests that have ranged from overseas cattle ranches to a chain of butchers' shops, his fortune was estimated last year at £750m ($1.4bn, €1.07bn). But the value of the Vestey Group has declined recently, and it has written down Venezuelan assets. The company had net assets of £78m in the last published set of accounts in 2003, down from £105m in 2002. Nevertheless, the Vestey Group remains one of Venezuela's largest meat producers. Its El Charcote estate in the lush cattle-ranching pastures of Cojedes, a state west of Caracas, is one the country's most modern. When his lands were first seized in Venezuela in 2001, Lord Vestey staged a one-man protest outside the Venezuelan embassy in London. He is now reluctant to discuss the matter in public, due to its sensitivity.
... and fears of being bumped off.
On Friday, Alfredo Toro Hardy, Venezuelan ambassador in London, said the ranch was among those in Venezuela considered "partly idle" and its property titles were not considered to be in proper order. That, he said, prompted the need for an investigation.
You can always find an excuse, can't you? If you're a proper Marxist...
For the past four years the property has been partially squatted by poor farmers. "We've been in Venezuela for just over 100 years and we hope to be there for some time yet," Lord Vestey told the Financial Times. The land had been bought by his great grandfather in 1903, he said. Land reform has faded in most of Latin America since the early 1980s. However, since his election six years ago, Mr Chävez has vowed, as part of his self-styled "revolution", to attack an "oligarchic" system of land tenure in Venezuela. This week his government urged regional governors to press ahead with the programme by redistributing land to poor farmers and landless peasants. Critics complain that property rights are being disregarded, with no mention of any compensation for landowners.
That's what Marxists do, isn't it?
In addition, agronomists argue that in regions with relatively poor soil, large areas of land are needed to graze a herd of cattle, creating a false impression of large tracts lying idle. Ranchers also say that productivity is far higher on big estates, such as El Charcote, than on the small farms that the government wants to encourage. Eliezer Otaiza, director of Venezuela's National Land Institute and one of Mr Chävez's political allies, said at least 100,000 plots would be redistributed in the next six months. The show of "revolutionary" force expected today appears intended to make an example of the Vestey estate. "The full weight of the armed forces and the police will be present to implement the first phase of the land mission," said Alexis Ortiz, Cojedes's attorney-general. The "takeover" of the El Charcote estate is concerning other landowners. As one Venezuelan cattle-rancher yesterday put it: "It's deeply worrying. I'm certainly going to look at selling my cattle and ranch while I can."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2005 1:39:56 AM ||
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#1
The useless mouths of the breeding stock should be destroyed first to save grain.
#2
More demagoguery from Chavez:
If anyone have the original transcript of this interview, please post it here. I got this copy by e-mail.
US bombing of Iraq 'horrendous terrorism', Venezuela's Chavez tells
Al-Jazeera 6 December 2004 BBC Monitoring Americas (Source: Al-Jazeera TV,
Doha, in Arabic 0000 gmt 3 Dec 04)
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
salutes the TV channel, which he says is a beacon for truth in the Arab
world, and tells viewers that South America's growing rejection of
globalization makes confrontation with the United States "inevitable".
Chavez says that respect for national sovereignty prevents him from
sending a message to Arab regimes concerning US hegemony, but he uses a
Biblical quotation to suggest they should study Venezuela's example of
defiance.
The following is the text of the recorded interview with Chavez by
Faysal al-Qasim in Doha from the "Exclusive Interview" programme;date not given; broadcast by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV
on 3 December; Chavez speaks in Spanish fading into superimposed
translation in Arabic; subheadings inserted editorially:
[Presenter Faysal Al-Qasim] Mr. President, I would like to welcome you
to the Al-Jazeera channel and I would like to begin straight away.
Undoubtedly, you are aware that you are very popular in the Arab world
and millions of Arabs support you. I read a commentary some time ago
which says if President Chavez were to run in an Arab presidential
election he would win more than 90 per cent of the votes - I mean a genuine
90 per cent and not falsified. The average Arab admire you because of
two things.
The first is your care for the poor and downtrodden in your country and
the second is your defiance of the only superpower in the world;
namely, the United States of America. Let us begin with the United States.
What makes you defy the United States? Do you not fear for your future
and the future of your country?
[Chavez] First of all, brother Faysal, I would like to thank you and
the Al-Jazeera channel and to tell you that I am very happy to be on this
programme, because we in Venezuela recognize that Al-Jazeera is a
symbol of courage, principles and dignity, and that it always tells the
truth.
[Presenter]You are welcome.
[Chavez] Moreover, allow me to send heartfelt greetings to all the Arab
peoples. I greet them deeply and sincerely and express solidarity with
them. We love Arabism, we love the Arab peoples and we feel that we are
responsive to their originality, principles and struggles.
[Presenter] Thank you, Mr President, and I am sure that we will discuss
your stands on Arab issues. Your stands are well-known,especially
concerning Iraq and other issues. We will discuss this later. But let us ask
about your stand in relation to the United States. As I said, many in
the Arab world admire your defiance of the only superpower in the world.
What makes you challenge this superpower? What capabilities do you have
in your possession?
[Chavez] To start with, fighting poverty was the basis of our
revolution.
It is also the path of the Saviour Jesus Christ: Blessed are the poor
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We in Venezuela are fighting within
a revolution to really wipe out poverty. Poverty does not only mean
material poverty, but also spiritual and cultural poverty and lack of love
for the homeland. When one of us takes this path, at least in Latin
America, he will find himself face to face with the imperialist desire to
maintain control over our people. Therefore, confrontation with the
United States becomes inevitable.
[Presenter]But Mr President, do you not fear for yourself?
Why do you not see those who defied the United States in the past,
beginning with [Salvador] Allende in Chile, then Mossaddeq in Iran, and
ending with Saddam Husayn in Iraq and also Al-Qadhafi, in one form or
another after he renounced much of his stands. Do you not fear that you
will face the same fate as these leaders who tried to challenge this
superpower?
[Chavez] It is not only the issues that you presented. We also must say
that Washington's imperialist position and Latin America's position
regarding emancipation go back 200 years in history; that is, since the
days of [Simon] Bolivar, because the liberator Bolivar was called by
colonialism in North America the mad southern rebel. We in fact are not
afraid. Bolivar used to say: I always fear the power of God, or whatever
you care to call him. Those of us who adopted the people's struggle to
regain the independence of our homelands and liberate the people do not
fear anything, because the love that we feel and with which we work is
so immense that it eliminates all feelings of fear. We are not afraid.
[Presenter] Mr President this is fine but how long will you remain
steadfast? You are aware that the United States has tried to get rid of you
by all means through its agents at home - as we read in the news
through the opposition, through demonstrations and by putting economic
pressure on your currency, the bolivar. So far you are still firm. But how
long will you be able to remain firm?
[Chavez] We are not on the defensive. I am a soldier and I studied in
detail the tactics of war and now we are in a political war. We are on
the offensive. Please do not look at me as a boxer who is cornered
against the ropes and is defending himself. No, I am on the offensive,
because attack is the best form of defence. We are waging an offensive
battle.
Yesterday, in Teheran, the spiritual guide Khamene'i told me a true
statement: Power, power. I can see that as you put your questions you
raise your fist, the sign of strength. That is what I admire in the Arab
people,their strength. I would like to say that strength is not only
expressed by the sword; it is the moral strength. It is the strength of a
unified and enlightened people and this is one of the tasks that
Al-Jazeera is taking on; namely, building the enlightenment of the people.
Therefore, the Venezuelan people's strength now is not represented by
their triumph over the military coup and the political and economic
plots and the transgressions against our oil industry and so on. The
Venezuelan people's strength is represented by their moral strength and their
unity - the unity of people who want to resist and carry out an enlightened
offensive.We are now in an offensive war. I do not mean by this only us in
Venezuela but also Latin America, which is once again defying
imperialism.
If you visit Latin America, and I invite you to visit Venezuela and go
around in the continent with your camera, you will find millions of men
and women black people and Indians, children and the poor - tired of being always on the defensive and receiving blows. Therefore,
they are on the offensive and I am one of them.
[Presenter] Very beautiful message to Arab regimes . Can we understand
from what you say that it is very possible for you to say 'no' to the
United States; that the United States is not irresistible and that you
can defy it? In this case,how do you view the Arab position? US orders
are being implemented here to the letter. Can we understand from your
words, which are extremely defiant,that this is a message to the Arabs,
especially the Arab regimes, which,as many people say, are capitulating
to US conditions and dictates? Can the Arabs say no to the United
States in light of what you said?
[Chavez] I always have principles and we always must respect the
principle of respecting the sovereignty of every state and the independence of
every state. We should proceed from this principle.
I wonder, for instance, who am I to come to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, Iran, Libya or Algeria and give them lessons?
I am a friend of the governments of all these states, irrespective of
their political and philosophical trends. Who am I to tell them what
they should do and on what path they should walk? In the final analysis,
the Arab peoples must define the course and the direction that their
homelands must take.
Allow me to end my answer with these words. I am a Christian and the
Bible says on the question that you have asked and the answer that I have
given: He who has eyes to see, let him see; and he who has ears to
hear, let him hear.
We find this good example in the Bible.
[Presenter] Then in short we might understand this as a message from a
Latin American revolutionary directed at the Arab people?
[Chavez] Of course, the Arab people and the world. I was in Madrid two
weeks ago and I talked to thousands of Spanish workers and I spoke to
thousands of students in the University Complutense of Madrid. Then I
went to the Philosophical Studies Institute in Moscow. I spoke to
thousands of students and I addressed millions of people, men and women, in
Europe, Central Asia and recently in the Middle East. My message is:
I, Hugo Chavez, and millions of Latin Americans believe that the only
road that our people must pursue is the revolution, but this should be a
moral revolution, a social and economic revolution. It will be the only
means to defeat poverty, be fair to our people and wipe out
imperialism.
[Presenter] Mr President, you said in one of your speeches, and I
quote you word for word: The 20th century was the century of bipolarism,
but the 21st century will not be a unipolar century but a century of
multipolarism. You said that we all must press for this objective. Let Asia
live united, let Africa be united and let Europe be united. Of course
you mean that they should be united against the United States. What is
the possibility of this unity being realized against the United States,
the superpower that is in control today?
[Chavez] The United States or any other imperialist power.
Even if this imperialism comes from the stars or from outside our
planet, I call it imperialism, whether it is the United States or any other
power. The only way to confront the United States and the hegemony of any
other power and reach a multipolar world, a world of which our liberator
Simon Bolivar,our spiritual and eternal guide, spoke of, will be through
a balanced world.
On this subject, I can say that I arrived in Doha yesterday and also
that when I come to Qatar I feel at home. I started to read the unity
declaration which we intend to sign. It is a document presented for our
study in order to be signed at a meeting in South America, a meeting
which will be held a few days from now in the Ayacucho region of Peru,
where the Venezuelan Marshall [Sucre] realized his last victory over
Spanish colonialism in South America. It is the birth certificate of the
South American union. I prefer to call it Unsur, the Union of South
American Nations. It is an expanse of land which covers more than 17m sq. km;
it is South America. It is a continent in its own right. It is a
beautiful continent, because it is the reservoir of the greatest amount of
drinking water in the world.It is the biggest store of the living species
on earth.
It competes with the Middle East in its oil and gas wealth and its
petrochemicals and energy,the like of which is not found in the world.
Millions of people live there, generous and heroic people.
It is a new civilization and a mixture of Europeans, Africans and the
original inhabitants of America. I mean that the establishment of a new
pole in South America was an old dream of liberator Simon Bolivar, a
pole which will cooperate with the multipolar world, exactly like the
African Union. I spoke on this matter with Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi in
Tripoli a few days ago and I felt the Unity of Africa was progressing. We
need an African unity. I was with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and I
will return to Madrid tonight.
European unity is strong and firm. It forms another pole in the world.
Another pole can be composed of Asia - China, India, Sri Lanka and
Malaysia.
I know that my friend, the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Muhammad, is here and I send him my greetings. I mean that the world
should be multipolar and the 21st century should be a century of peace and
will provide the opportunity for people to live as brothers and sons of
the same God.
[Presenter] Very beautiful. But you are aware, Mr President, that the
United States is continuing with the same momentum.
In the past you described President [George W.] Bush as a devil, as I
read sometime ago. You also described the new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, as illiterate and you proposed to your friend, President Fidel Castro, to
send her the book Robinson Crusoe to learn the alphabet. Now what do you
expect will happen in this world under this leadership, which you
described as devilish and illiterate?
[Chavez] Thank you for describing my remarks several times as
beautiful.
It is a way of describing what goes on in ones mind or conscience. What
can we do regarding the imperialist power of the United States? We have
no choice but to unite, as we have said. We have to unite in South
America, Africa and Europe. Please follow our recent tour Madrid, Tripoli,
Moscow, Teheran, Doha and then Madrid; and later our trip to Ayacucho
in Peru and then to Brazil, where there will be a conference for the
Mercosur [Common Market of the South] nations. After a few days in
Caracas, I will visit China. We must understand that we are not on a
recreational or tourist trip. We are working to gather forces, thoughts,and
political and economic forces as the only means, and I repeat, not only to
remain on the defensive, because I do not imagine that the world will
continue with its defensive position. No, it is the offensive of the
hour.
I believe that here lies the secret. We are on the right path and I am
convinced of that. Not only this, but let us say, brother Faysal, that
in general, there is a dialectical and deductive method. Let us take
the Venezuelan issue for instance. How could Venezuela stand firm in the
face of a military coup that was planned in Washington and which was
encouraged by the CIA and was backed by Washington's economic,
technological and intellectual resources and pressures? What made the military,
economic and reactionary political leaderships and the backward trade
unions and the private media unite? The plotting of all these powerful
forces was supported and backed by Washington. The wily United States was
involved in this plot against Venezuela. I was imprisoned and a
putchist government was installed. I was exiled to a remote island and my
ministers were arrested.
Then they practised all kinds of repression against the people. How can
you explain the fact that in less than 48 hours, the tyrants in
Venezuela were wiped out? The explanation is that the people are enlightened
and free.
The people have regained their historical value. They are united
people. The soldiers who were united with their people made this miracle
possible.
A short while ago you mentioned to me Allende in Chile. They used the
same methods on us that they used against Allende 30 years ago. But this
time they found a difference between the two cases. For instance, the
Chilean socialist revolution by Salvador Allende was peaceful and
democratic, but it was not armed. The Bolivarian revolution at the beginning
of this century was peaceful and democratic but it had weapons, lethal
weapons in the hand of the sons of our people who were ready to defend
our sovereignty and our revolutionary project. South America rejecting globalization
[Presenter] In light of what you said, it can be argued that the
victory is not for Chavez and the Bolivarian forces but it is for all the
forces that oppose the hegemony and savage globalization. Through your
strong words and stands towards the United States, we understand that you
are also against globalization. We know that you turned a cold shoulder
on all the instructions from the International Monetary Fund and orders
from the World Bank and redirected the oil revenue to new social
programmes and numerous humanitarian projects all over the country, making
many people recall the atmosphere of the first years of the Cuban
revolution. It is all very well to say that this is a victory against
globalization but the question is: The entire world is marching towards
globalization. Why do you want to stop the globalization train and return to
socialism although the train is moving?
[Chavez] No, I cannot do that. I am just one person like you. By the
way, I heard that you incite controversy in the Middle East on this
programme of yours, is this not so?
[Presenter] Exactly.
[Chavez] It is the Opposite Direction programme. Is this not so?
But let me answer your question. Let them as they are. The issue in
question does not at all mean that I am going to stop the train, brother
Faysal. What I say is that from the viewpoint of Latin America one
should not be Don Quixote. We should be realistic. I speak about Latin
America and the Caribbean region and I cannot speak about the peoples of the
Arab world. I cannot talk about the peoples of Asia, but about the
peoples of Latin America. We are moving in the opposite direction to the
globalization. It is untrue that globalization is moving ahead in Latin
America as a sign of victory. No, the liberal project was implemented
there and impoverished whole nations such as the peoples of Argentina and
Bolivia. In 1989, the Venezuelan people rebelled. The same thing
happened in 1992. The people brought me to lead their lives because I came
from among people who rebelled against the neo-liberal project. In 1991
[2001,ed.], the Argentine people rebelled and toppled the government and
controlled the streets. Thus, [Argentine President] Nestor Kirchner
came to present a national solution aimed at profoundly changing the
economy in the opposite direction to neo-liberalism. The Brazilian people
brought Lula [President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] in order to oppose
neo-liberalism and globalization.
The Bolivian people rebelled. Millions of people brought down a
government that was capitulating to neo-liberalism and to Washington.
Thus, we find a state of rage among all the original peoples. This is
happening almost in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. We are
defeating neo-liberalism and globalization there.
[Presenter] Very beautiful. Opposing neo-liberalism and globalization
there.
In other words, there is a trend in Latin America in general,
particularly in Venezuela, towards socialism in one form or another, in the
direction of the left. We know that there is a leftist government now in
Brazil and there are other leftist trends in other countries. But the
question is: Why do you want to apply socialism once again? We have an
Arabic popular adage that says: Going for pilgrimage while the pilgrims
are coming back. They say that this adage applies to you. Socialism
failed in the Soviet Union. China is heading towards market economy and
liberalism and you are opposing globalization. Why are you swimming against
the tide, in the opposite direction?
[Chavez] The Soviet Union fell, but socialism has not fallen.
That is what I will say first. When the Soviet Union and the model that
prevailed then fell, we felt that what Lenin and then Trotsky proposed
from the beginning, especially after Stalin, was distorted and this
distortion led to the fall of the Soviet Union as a model.
However, we must admit that the neo-liberal model, which wants to
control the world, is also falling. We cannot allow this model to succeed,
because it will take us to the fifth hell. It will soon threaten life
itself on this planet. Indeed it will threaten the existence of the globe
itself. We must bypass these models. I said at Madrid University a few
days ago that I was gathering new ideas, because we need an advanced
phase of enlightened thinking. Each project and each revolution needs a
certain ideology and this is the ideology that we need. We in Venezuela
dare and say this is the revolutionary democracy and we must proceed in
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2005 12:03 Comments ||
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#4
Frank,
I agree with you 100%!
Please take a peek at www.aporrea.org. This is a website financed by his government, although he denies it. In it there is a picture of a muslim girl and above it reads the following caption: !Fuera yankis de Irak! !Solidaridad con la heroica resistencia anti-imperialista en Faluya! Translation: Yanks out of Iraq! Solidarity with the heroic anti-imperialist Resistance of Fallujah!
If you click on the picture of the girl, there is a especial issue on Iraq put out by the Venezuela Cultural Ministry. You can only imagine what it says!
If I were Mr. Vestey, I would remove all items from that farm that I could and offer all the current hands a job in another country. Then plant everything that remains with some explosives. When the commies come to take the farm, BOOM!
#6
South American-Arab Summit Draft Raises Concerns:
"In the document's section entitled Strengthening Biregional and Multilateral Relations, for instance, paragraph 2.9 calls for a U.N. conference ''to study'' terrorism and ``define the terrorist crime, and distinguish terrorism from the legitimate right of peoples to resist foreign occupation with a view to reach national independence............''
"....Still, Venezuela is likely to support the Arab-proposed paragraphs, and other South American countries may accept an only somewhat lighter version of them."
#9
he'd be just another wanna-be dictator with a face that doesn't look "finished". He weirds me out..
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2005 16:33 Comments ||
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#10
Anon4724, No I just figure his grasp is way bigger than his stomach. At some point even the poor will catch on to the game. :( Glad to see you at RB again.
#11
One would think his amour propre, or at least his vanity, would clue him in that the colours of that horrible sash make him look bilious. A man in his position really can't afford to look ill for very long, or it foreshadows a permanent change in his health.
China is planning to make selective abortions of female fetuses illegal as a way to close the widening gap between the number of boys and girls in the country, the official Xinhua News Agency said. "The government takes it as an urgent task to correct the gender imbalance of newborns," Zhang Weiqing, minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission, was quoted as saying Thursday by Xinhua.
Traditionally, sons have been more valued as a way for the family name to continue and as a means for parents to be cared for as they get older. Government figures show 119 boys are born in China for every 100 girls - a gap blamed largely on parents aborting baby girls to try again for a boy under the country's one-child policy. Zhang said the commission would begin drafting revisions to the criminal law "to effectively ban fetus gender detection and selective abortion other than for legitimate medical purposes." The central government hopes to even out the imbalance by 2010, Xinhua said. ... And for those generations where the imbalance was an economic choice imposed by the one-child rule - uh, tough shit. No nookie mates for you.
Posted by: .com ||
01/08/2005 1:44:56 AM ||
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#1
Lets see how well they can enforce this. I am not going to hold my breath. One solution I have already floated is more coal mining. That seems to reduce some of the surplus male population.
#5
I have good friends who have adopted baby girls from China (they're known in the adoptive parent communities as "Her Imperial Highness"). We considered it ourselves. From the reports my friends have given me, adopting in Shanghai or Canton turns out to be very interesting. High points:
-- the system is actually fairly honest, as the ChiComs have a solution for bribery -- they shot a few corrupt officials.
-- the orphanges formerly were in sad shape, but now are pretty decent. The children there get care, but it isn't very personalized. Most of the kids need more holding than they get.
-- the orphanage workers and officials seem to be genuinely happy to have American parents adopting these children.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2005 13:48 Comments ||
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#6
Steve, I have two friends who adopted Chinese baby girls. The orphanages are indeed well run and the children well cared for. As you say, they don't get enough individual attention but I believe that is a result of overcrowding in the orphanages.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/08/2005 17:57 Comments ||
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The Australia Unites charity concert and telethon has raised over $20 million for the victims of the tsunami. 4000 people crammed onto the Opera House forecourt to see some of Australias top musical acts. Millions watched the concert broadcast simultaneously on all three free-to-air commercial networks. The head of World Vision in Australia Tim Costello was hoping for around $5 million in donations and is thrilled by the generosity. 30 per cent of the money will go immediately to World Vision's emergency fund to help where it is most needed.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/08/2005 8:19:03 PM ||
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#1
In word and deed, Oz simply rocks. Very cool, friends... there are none better.
#2
Find a way to add the Aussies to the emerging OSCE for Asia. Focus on Asia, 'mericans. Quit wasting so much bandwidth on can't help us, can't hurt us Euro-chihuahuas.
#3
Absolutely spot-on, lex. Howard's landslide completely denuded the MSM portrayal of Oz as one of their bastions. The anchor of Pacific Common Sense, in fact, and should be seen and credited as such in all of our endeavors in The Rim, IMHO. I would happily look to them for on-the-scene advice and to take the lead where it makes sense, as well. I'd trust Howard with my life.
Germany wants to take a leading role in setting up a system to provide early warning of tsunamis and has drawn up a plan costing an initial 40 million euros, the Research Ministry has said. The Potsdam-based Geoscientific Research Institute (GMZ), which would coordinate the system, has developed a concept that could be in place in one to three years, the ministry said. It would add 30 to 40 new stations in the Indian Ocean region to a global network of 50 seismological research bodies, and would concentrate initially on Sri Lanka and Indonesia, two of the nations hardest hit by the devastating Boxing Day tsunami which killed at least 156,000 people. "The strength of our concept is that we are building on existing observation centres," Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "We don't have to start from scratch."
In the event of an earthquake, a warning would be posted on the Internet in a matter of minutes and emails and SMS text messages sent automatically to regional data stations. Hotels and private individuals could also join the network. A ministry spokeswoman said Germany was one of the few nations able to set up and operate such a system that works more or less in real time. Together with other donor nations, some 250 new stations could later be added to the network. Ms Bulmahn said the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean should also be included. "The Greek and Turkish coastlines are also an extremely dangerous earthquake zone," she told the paper.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/08/2005 2:26:58 PM ||
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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Julia Roberts has celebrated the arrival of her two twins by buying 32 acres (13 hectares) of prime New Mexico property from US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, People magazine reports.
According to the magazine, since taking up part-time residence in New Mexico in 1995, Roberts has bought other pieces of property adjacent to hers. The plot purchased from Rumsfeld in an area of Taos known as Des Montes neighbors the 80 acres Roberts already owns.
Messages left at the Taos Country Clerk's home and with Julia Roberts' publicist by The Associated Press seeking confirmation were not immediately returned.
Rumsfeld, though, still owns other real estate holdings in Taos, including several houses.
Roberts, 37, and her husband Danny Moder, 35, just weeks ago gave birth to twins, Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter Moder. The couple were married at her Taos home in 2002.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/08/2005 10:20:48 PM ||
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Funny but I've been looking at land across the soutehrn Rockies and have always wonderdd what on earth Rumsfeld was thinking when he bought land in the Nuclear-Free Zone and Wiccan-Hippie-Gaia Worshipping Republic of Taos.
I'd have to think he sold for security reasons. No joke.
HONOLULU - A nuclear submarine ran aground about 350 miles south of Guam, injuring several sailors, one of them critically, the Navy said. There were no reports of damage to the USS San Francisco's reactor plant, which was operating normally, the Navy said. Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, said the Friday afternoon incident is under investigation and the 360-foot submarine was headed back to its home port in Guam. Details on the sailors' injuries were not immediately available. The sub has a crew of 137, officials said. Military and Coast Guard aircraft from Guam were en route to monitor the submarine and assist if needed, the Navy said.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
01/08/2005 6:31:01 AM ||
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#2
The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is called The Challenger Deep , so named after the British exploration vessel HMS Challenger II, and it is located 210 miles south-west of Guam. This depth was reached in 1960 by the Trieste, a manned submersible owned by the U.S. Navy.They touched bottom at 35,813 ft/10,915m. That means, while they were parked on the bottom in the bathyscaphe, there were almost seven miles/11km of water over their heads.
I would think it would be kinda tough to run a sub aground in the Mariana's Trench.
Once upon a time (during and after WWII) submarines had fish names but one of the Admirals commanding the submarines changed that saying "Fishes don't vote". He was speaking of Congressmen and Senators who vote naval budgets.
That is why you have submarines named after San Francisco or Los Angeles.
It is in fact the officials of the city who are extatic when Navy names a submarine after the City. I am eagerly wait for Navy naming a missile-carrying submarine after a pacifist nest's name eg USS Berkeley.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2005 15:11 Comments ||
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#16
It is in fact the officials of the city who are extatic when Navy names a submarine after the City. I am eagerly wait for Navy naming a missile-carrying submarine after a pacifist nest's name eg USS Berkeley.
#17
I dunno, I'm not sure of the wisdom of sullying of a boat and its crew by assigning it the name of a place as contemptible as Berkeley...or an individual as detestable as Jimmy Carter. San Francisco I don't hate as much, but it's getting there.
If you can see the ground through your runway, perhaps an alternate landing site is advisable..
At least it wasn't a Globemaster or a Galaxy that was damaged...
#18
Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/08/2005 16:28 Comments ||
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#19
Ouch...can you say "deductible"?
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/08/2005 18:54 Comments ||
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#20
Is it possible that the sub's maps were rendered inaccurate by the earthquake that caused the tsunami? Are ships/subs expected to check to make sure the maps are correct? Or is this one of those common sense things (which we all know isn't all that common) in this post-tsunami world?
#21
Many of the details still aren't known, although it is gen true that such incidents can ruin naval careers - in Guam's former SRF, one AFS was legendary for its captains andor crews losing its anchors a few times in a row, includ one while testing to replace the one anchor it had only just previously lost. The ship allegedly failed to make sure its brand-new new anchor was securely attached in its forward space/trunk near the bow -when "anchors away" was given, the brand new anchor in the whole went straight down into the Marianas Trench, or parts thereabout - the Captain, whom had now lost two anchors under his watch, was allegedly de-captained after that! With Chicom subs reportedly prowling around Guam and WESTPAC, and with fewer attack subs than during the Cold War, the US Navy's missions can't be compromised due to sub accidents.
#22
I'm not sure I'd commit myself to service in a confined space for several months with a bunch of sailors on a boat named after the city of San Francisco...
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/08/2005 22:13 Comments ||
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#30
Just foolin', mind. My ex-military ex-colleagues used to forward me classic email threads in which Army and Navy men would trade epic insults along these lines.
But (serious note) one of them was kidnapped and almost certainly executed near Tikrit last fall. F*** them, f*** those fascists. Just defeat them. Victory is all. Please cease the jokes and banter on this, it's not funny anymore. Sorry for getting emoptional and personal here.
#6
Jeez, that wacky UN! If they keep going like this, Scrappleface will be out of business.
On a more serious note, has the UN actually done anything other than conferences and meetings to coordinate the coordination? From reading around the edges of the mainstream media, it sounds like the Yanks, Aussies and regional navies are the only ones actually accomplishing any immediate, useful disaster relief.
From the Rantburg Diplomacy Desk. This story amused me as the jockeying for position begins, and status is determined by whose taxpayers can offer more tribute...
Finland found itself in a different league from the other Nordic countries at the emergency summit held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta this week. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark had all sent ministerial level representatives to the meeting, who had a right to speak at the gathering. Finland was represented by Markku Niinioja, the Finnish Ambassador to Indonesia. He followed the meeting with other observers in a separate room via closed-circuit television.
"You Finns can just go play the slots with the tour bus crowd. No VIP room with the high rollers and the pretty waitresses for you!"
On Tuesday Finland was offered the possibility to send a representative from Helsinki, who would not have had the right to address the gathering. This means that Finland was represented indirectly by the European Union. "It raised the threshold to go to Jakarta even higher", LehtomÀki says. "It could have something to do with the fact that the other Nordic Countries are significantly bigger donors of aid - in fact, they are among the leading providers of aid in this Asian crisis." Norway's massive contribution puts the country in a category of its own. Denmark has said that it would give EUR 58 million in tsunami disaster relief, and Sweden has pledged EUR 57 million. The Finnish government has so far earmarked EUR 12 million for the effort.
#1
The Bidding War on this disaster may help the victims, who knows how much will be skimmed and scammed out of the pot, but it is just about the ugliest visage of what should be a positive aspect of mankind I can imagine. Truly, it has become disgusting.
And the UN is the chief whore of the game. Yeah, they be leadin', all right.
#3
We can only hope this can help the victims, but I'm gonna be a little cynical here and say some of this moohlah's going to disappear. I don't think the UN's fixed its accounting problems yet.
Off Topic -- Actually, back to the Tourism Disaster Topic -- .com, yeah, Thailand rocks, and I came "this" close to getting captured by Chiang Mai, too. (It's still a possibility in the future, too.) And no, the "volunteers" didn't ruin it for me. I played the Quiet American role, and spent most of my time with the Irish, Swedish, and Dutch girls who liked to work more and talk less. They were all much better to be around anyway. Did those bumper stickers have a purple elephant on them?
#4
nada - Lol! Gee - I seem to remember that, but I won't say I do... sheesh - getting senile! I believe I prolly came close to it (north of town, right?) on my runs up to Chiang Rai to cross Burmese border for new visa stamp. Once they killed the 30-day game, I went to Vietienne and Phnom Penh. Never did follow the crowd to Panang.
I lived on Charoen Pratet Rd - running along the Ping River (it was across the street) in the SE quadrant in The Doi Ping Mansion. The French Consulate was 2 doors up toward the closest intersection with Sri Donchai. Need a decent 1 bdrm furnished? 15K/month. I had UBC Cable, a phone, the worx, heh. Avg'd about another 7,000 for all the goodies. Run by an Israeli guy who was cool. I can get the name and phone number for him to you if you need it. Easy to find, too - just say you want Wat Chaimongkon - it's a white 12-story bldg across the street. The 2 cleaning ladies are a scream and will try to shove learning Thai down you throat, lol! I speak enough to get around, eat, etc.
My volunteer thingy was back in my Bangkok days - one flood was particularly bad (at sea level every rain is a flood there, lol) and there was some serious damage in Bangkok Noi across the river.
#7
...My understanding though is that although the Finns are pretty Scandiliberal, they were for the most part straight shooters, so I'm not sure if I understand the article - did they sent the man on the scene there to do his job and the EU/UN won't let them play unless they send someone higher ranking?..
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/08/2005 9:48 Comments ||
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Indonesia is to monitor its international borders in a bid to stop child traffickers. The country's government is setting up special centres within tsunami refugee camps to care for children and reunite them with their families if possible. There have been sporadic reports of attempted child trafficking in Indonesia since the Boxing Day quake, but police say there haven't been any confirmed cases. The main city on Sumatra, Medan, already had a reputation as a base for criminal gangs that sell children into servitude or for sexual exploitation. Indonesia also recently placed restrictions on children under the age of 16 leaving the country in an effort to avert child trafficking.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/08/2005 8:17:42 PM ||
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They are making it hard for the UN, aren't they?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/08/2005 20:56 Comments ||
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INDONESIA has responded to requests from Australia and promised to boost security amid fears of aid workers that the world's humanitarian mission may be caught in the crossfire of the separatist struggle. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday there would be growing concerns over safety in the coming months as Australians helped rebuild the devastated western Sumatran coast. Fuelling the volatility of the region, fundamental Islamic activists are also flooding into the region in a bid to guard against what they regard as dangerous Western influences.
As relief efforts continued yesterday, the death toll in Indonesia from the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunamis jumped by almost 20,000 to 113,306, taking the total number of dead across the region to more than 165,000. Australian aid workers in Aceh told The Australian yesterday that Indonesian soldiers had warned they could not guarantee security outside Banda Aceh. Workers were being urged to travel in large convoys that were clearly marked for safety. There were also unconfirmed reports of several cars belonging to a non-government organisation being held up by a firefight involving TNI soldiers and rebels. Indonesian sources say the chief concerns for the safety of aid workers and unarmed defence personnel are Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists looking for publicity, criminal gangs attached to GAM, and Islamic fundamentalists concerned about the influx of Westerners.
One hardline Islamic group took aim yesterday at an Australian Catholic charity, Father Chris Riley's Youth off the Streets, planning to set up an orphanage in tsunami-ravaged Aceh, warning it not to try to convert Muslim children. Chief of the radical Islamic Defenders Front, Hilmy Bakar Almascaty, warned the group to stick purely to humanitarian work in Aceh — the only Indonesian province to have fully implemented Muslim sharia law. Mr Downer said it was "political suicide" for Islamist militants to attack now, but there would be concerns for Australians as the program dragged on. "The assessments of our agencies is that it is very unlikely that Islamists groups would commit acts of violence against people providing humanitarian aid simply because it would be an act which would be enormously unpopular in Indonesia, would set their cause back a very long way, even if it was some sort of an attack on foreigners," he said. "In terms of Islamist groups it is quite unlikely in the short term, I'm not talking about the medium term — over the five years of this program, that is something we'll have to assess."
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Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/08/2005 7:22:31 PM ||
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You just gotta love a place where people that are doing their best to help overcome a disaster are still subject to being attacked by "militants".
#5
I think the UN would love to see some gunsexplay. They would be able to blame the Americans. Would not have happened if they (the Aussies and Americans) had put the blue helmets on. Sniff.
Posted by: john ||
01/08/2005 22:31 Comments ||
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#6
But they are in control, now, john - didn't you get the memo 72pt MSM headlines, lol!
EFL. Tree huggers know what's important.
PATONG BEACH, Thailand - Many believe the tsunami that devastated this tourist hotspot and killed thousands had one positive side: By washing away rampant development, it returned the beaches to nature. ...other than that, did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
Greg Ferrando glistened with sweat and sea water as he went for a barefoot jog up the immaculate white sand beach, where the tsunami has wiped away almost all signs of humanity. "This whole area was littered with commercialism," said the 43-year-old from Maui, Hawaii. "There were hundreds of beach chairs out here. I prefer the sand." Those couple of hundred thousand dead people kinda bummed me out a little, but look at this beautiful sand!
The beauty of Thai beaches is the stuff of folklore: pristine, clean and untouched. That was 10 or 20 years ago. More recently, they have been swamped by development. "Everyone is talking about it. It looks much better now," he said. "This looks a lot more like Hawaii now, where vendors aren't allowed on the beach." No more icky humans trying to make a living? Cool!
"They were just building and building and building. It was too much. You couldn't even walk around," said Moriel Avital, a 24-year-old Israeli who lived on the island for four months. 4 months? Wow, she's a regular townie!
"It was all gone in one wave — it's telling people not to mess with nature," she said. "Paradise should be paradise and should not become this civilized." Of course, if I was dead, I might see it differently.
Surin Kaewjan, a 44-year-old fruit vendor on Patong Beach, is suffering financially because of the tsunami. But before the huge waves came, the beach was littered and the sand was black and dirty, she said. "Honestly, I love this nature," she said. "Twenty years ago, it was like this, and full of trees. I haven't seen the beach this white in ages." Once they cleaned the corpses up, it looked just great!
#6
Ah, yes - the "natural state" of beaches worldwide always included thousands of bloated, decomposing dead bodies, but we removed that when we developed them, right?
Right?
Useless wanker. Too bad he wasn't on the beach when it was returned to its "natural" state.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/08/2005 11:17 Comments ||
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Paradise should be paradise and should not become this civilized
...except for me of course. My house and my presence don't count....so nice that the others washed into the sea, just for very special me.
A warm spell in the Southeast that has brought people out in shorts and T-shirts in January has also given rise to a fair-weather phenomenon: allergy attacks... "We're selling a lot more allergy than cold medicine," said Richard Miller, owner of Miller's Rexall Drugs in Atlanta. He said he has not seen such a warm spell - and such allergy-medicine sales in the middle of the winter - "in years and years."
While much of the rest of the nation is shivering amid the usual January ice and snow, the Southeast has been basking under a high-pressure system since just after Christmas that has kept cold fronts at bay and sent the mercury climbing as high as the mid-70s. Charlotte, N.C., has either hit or approached daily records in the past several days, with temperatures in the 70s. Memphis, Tenn., reached nearly 63 degrees, well above the usual readings in the 40s. Jackson, Miss., and Birmingham, Ala., have been running about 20 degrees above normal. It is not pollen that is causing the misery, but mold, said Dr. Keith Phillips, an associate professor with Emory University's division of allergy and immunology. Mold thrives in warmer weather and has a "wonderful" place to grow on vegetation that has died in the winter, he said. Phillips said people with mold allergies should not rake leaves or do other lawn work and gardening that could disturb the mold and release spores into the air. Hold out a little longer -- winter will surely return soon.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/08/2005 12:41:37 AM ||
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Hush TW. Begone with the negative vibes. I declare spring! BBQ! 19.6 C 70% RH at TLH.
snip. Typical NYT stage setting. Some reservoirs in Arizona, one of the states hit hardest by the drought, are filling to the brim. The Salt River Project, a large water provider in the Phoenix area, has been spilling water from its Granite Reef Dam for the first time in nearly seven years because there is too much to store. "We are getting running rivers in Phoenix again," said Jack Lavelle, a spokesman for the Arizona water department. "We are looking to fill every pail we can."
the buried lede:
A report this week by the National Drought Mitigation Center was sunny in its description of the stormy weather that has been relentlessly pounding the Southwest and parts of California. As officials in Southern California and other waterlogged areas distributed sandbags because of flood and mudslide warnings, the report declared that the unusually wet weather was delivering a small but critical punch to the drought. "While flooding caused many problems, the good news is that these totals have finally started to put a dent in the long-term drought that has persisted in this region," the report said. It would take several years of similarly wet weather to end the drought, and some drought-stricken parts of the West, most notably Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, have been largely sidestepped by the storms. Water levels in many reservoirs across the region remain at half of capacity or less. "What happens in the next two to three to four months is critical," said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, which is based at the University of Nebraska. Even so, Mr. Svoboda and other water experts said, the rains are washing away some of the pessimism of recent years, giving hope where there has been very little. "They just need to get this one behind them and hope for a couple more years like it," said Gary Bardini, the chief hydrologist for the Department of Water Resources in California, a state that is largely outside the zone with the most serious drought but nonetheless feels its impact, given the locations of some California water supply. "We are hoping for our neighbors that the rain just keeps coming."
Some officials in California are of two minds, though, because of the great toll the heavy rains have taken in many parts of the state. The National Weather Service said storms that began Friday and are expected to continue through Monday could drop 20 inches of rain in the highest elevations around Los Angeles, causing severe flooding and mudslides. On Friday, waves in San Francisco Bay splashed over seawalls, flooding several thoroughfares. "That old woman up there, Mother Nature, is throwing three waves of storms at us this weekend," said Bill Hoffer, a National Weather Service spokesman in Oxnard, Calif., near Los Angeles.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/08/2005 12:51:11 AM ||
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I live less than 3 miles from Roosevelt Lake(the largest lake on the Salt River chain)could someone with authority put-up a map graphic for me.I was talking to a friend who operates the Marina yesterday.He was saying the lake is rising so fast that they can't adjust the ancohors fast enough and are worried about losing the docks,marina store and some of the boats.
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.
Venezuelan authorities backed by troops are on Saturday expected to seize a 32,000-acre ranch owned by Lord Vestey, an English aristocrat and meat tycoon. The move, the first in what is likely to be a number of Zimbabwe-style expropriations of big estates, appears to signal a renewed radicalisation in the leftwing government of President Hugo Chävez. Lord Vestey, known as "Spam" to friends because his family's wealth comes from the meat trade, is one of Britain's richest men and a close friend of Prince Charles. With interests that have ranged from overseas cattle ranches to a chain of butchers' shops, his fortune was estimated last year at £750m ($1.4bn, €1.07bn). But the value of the Vestey Group has declined recently, and it has written down Venezuelan assets. The company had net assets of £78m in the last published set of accounts in 2003, down from £105m in 2002. Nevertheless, the Vestey Group remains one of Venezuela's largest meat producers. Its El Charcote estate in the lush cattle-ranching pastures of Cojedes, a state west of Caracas, is one the country's most modern. When his lands were first seized in Venezuela in 2001, Lord Vestey staged a one-man protest outside the Venezuelan embassy in London. He is now reluctant to discuss the matter in public, due to its sensitivity.
INDONESIA has responded to requests from Australia and promised to boost security amid fears of aid workers that the world's humanitarian mission may be caught in the crossfire of the separatist struggle. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday there would be growing concerns over safety in the coming months as Australians helped rebuild the devastated western Sumatran coast. Fuelling the volatility of the region, fundamental Islamic activists are also flooding into the region in a bid to guard against what they regard as dangerous Western influences.
Some reservoirs in Arizona, one of the states hit hardest by the drought, are filling to the brim. The Salt River Project, a large water provider in the Phoenix area, has been spilling water from its Granite Reef Dam for the first time in nearly seven years because there is too much to store. "We are getting running rivers in Phoenix again," said Jack Lavelle, a spokesman for the Arizona water department. "We are looking to fill every pail we can."
