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Agha Ziauddin laid to rest in Gilgit: 240 arrested, 24 injured
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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2 00:00 Captain America [2]
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Mendacious Mike wins 2004 Fiskie
Posted by: Korora || 01/15/2005 13:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hurray!! Lumpy was my man! He has finished second in this prestigious poll two years in a row.
That injustice has now been corrected and Lumpy gets the honor he is due.
I hope there aren't any lawsuits or violent protests. Advocates of Kofi Annan and Barbara Boxer are already whining about a recount though, so we shall see.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/15/2005 14:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Lol! So many deserving Idiotarians, so few dead relatives I could get to cast a vote, heh.

Good on ya, Lumpy - you do soooo deserve the recognition!
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 14:27 Comments || Top||

#3  So many L³'s out there, and most even of the most infamous will be edged out for the Fiskie. Even Mikey here lost twice; once to Carter, once to a dead fool.
Posted by: Korora || 01/15/2005 16:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Just in! Photo coverage!

2004 Fiskie winner Michael Moore delivers his acceptance speech outside his Hollywood Hills home, as Oliver Stone (r) prepares to lodge a protest.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/15/2005 16:34 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL - AC! a classix!
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 17:02 Comments || Top||

#6  L³'s
That is so cool. Did you compose that on an IBM Model 1970 Selectric?
Posted by: Dan Rather || 01/15/2005 17:30 Comments || Top||


Tom Coleman Convicted of Perjury (Tulia drug case)
For background on this infamous case, see Color of Justice in the Texas Observer. Coleman was the shady free-lance undercover cop whose unsupported testimony sent 46 people to prison in a much-hyped 1998 cocaine bust. 39 of the defendants were black, representing 12% of the town's black population. There were no witnesses to Coleman's supposed drug buys, no surveillance recordings, and no corroborating evidence of any kind. His word alone was good enough for the juries, despite a very questionable background.
The defendants have since been pardoned and released, some after spending three or four years in the pen.


Sheriff Stewart presided over Coleman's drug investigation and could well be up on perjury charges himself. The prosecutor in the case, Terry McEachern, is also out of business, having been convicted of drunk driving in New Mexico. He will probably not be prosecuted for suborning perjured testimony and official oppression since disbarment proceedings are already underway.
This case attracted national attention in 1998 and 1999, and was raised during the Presidential election campaigns of 2000 and 2004. It happened under GWB's tenure as Governor but State authorities were only peripherally involved until it came time to pardon the defendants, which was duly done.

Story at the link.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/15/2005 1:58:51 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi men hand out millions in Aceh
Colin? You reading this? This is the way y'gotta compete. Break out the suitcases full of cash and send Armitage...
A group of Saudi Arabian businessmen have appeared in the remote tsunami-ravaged town of Meulaboh on what they said was a mercy mission to personally distribute $2 million. Armed with briefcases full of cash, the Saudis handed out 100,000 rupiah (roughly $10) to every adult survivor and 50,000 to children in a relief camp. "The situation here is bad. We want to help our brothers and sisters," one of the businessmen, Abd Allah Hamid, said on Saturday. "We have a lot of money with us. We have already spent $2 million," he said.

Abd Allah said his group of business friends back in Saudi Arabia would also fund the construction of houses for the victims. "My message to the people in Saudi and all over the world - do not forget these people. Help them," he said. Entire communities on the western Aceh coast around Meulaboh were obliterated by the tsunami disaster, which left more than 160,000 people dead on Indonesia's Sumatra island. Three weeks after the tsunami struck the south and southeastern Asian shoreline, the UN announced that more than $3 billion had been pledged in relief efforts.
The Soddies' $2m is a drop in the aid bucket, but guess what people are gonna remember and tell their neighbors about?
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 3:11:59 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The Soddies’ $2m is a drop in the aid bucket, but guess what people are gonna remember and tell their neighbors about?

It will be interesting indeed to see just who and what will be remembered in the future - the empty turbans passing around cash, or the olive-clad soldiers performing actual physical work, such as cleaning up, distributing supplies, and treating the injured.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||

#2  $10 doesn't buy you clean water and food if it isn't there. Our military has done humanitarian deeds that the world will never thank them for, and we are the better for doing it. Some day, and ungrateful world will reap what they've sown. Ask the Saoodis to bring food and water via their massive carrier fleet and airlift ops?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 17:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm skeptical that they've handed out $2 million in $10 and $5 increments. That's over 200,000 personal handouts -- not a quick and easy task under the circumstances.
Posted by: Tom || 01/15/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||

#4  There is that little matter of commissions for the Saudi businessmen.
Posted by: Dan Rather || 01/15/2005 17:33 Comments || Top||

#5  "....the empty turbans passing around cash, or the olive-clad soldiers performing actual physical work, such as cleaning up, distributing supplies, and treating the injured."


Nobody in the Muslim World or non-Muslim for that matter expects a Saudi to do physical labor. It is unheard of!!
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 01/15/2005 22:46 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK Tony Caves to Chirac, Schroder Over China Arms Sales
US fears EU weapons sales would further enable China in Taiwan grab
America is waging an intense behind-the-scenes battle to stop the European Union lifting its 15-year-old arms embargo against China, warning Britain that it will not tolerate the prospect of European military technology being used to threaten its soldiers in the Far East. As Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to travel to Beijing next week to discuss ending the arms ban, The Telegraph has learnt that the Bush administration is alarmed by Tony Blair's "cave-in" to French and German pressure. Japan has also expressed dismay over the EU's move dramatically to upgrade relations with Beijing. The Tories have warned the Government that it is creating a "major breach" with Washington and endangering vital exchanges of military technology between Britain and America.

Mr Straw told the House of Commons this week that the arms embargo, imposed on China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, would "more likely than not" be lifted by June. The timing seems designed to avoid provoking a public row with President George W Bush before his fence-mending visit to Europe next month - including a stop in London. It would also spare Britain the embarrassment of the EU lifting the ban during its presidency of the body in the second half of the year. Mr Straw insists that a revised EU code of conduct on arms exports, coupled with a new "toolbox" of measures to exchange information on weapons sales, means that arms controls on China would remain as tight as under the embargo.
Posted by: Captain America || 01/15/2005 9:41:25 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the hell are they trying to do?

It's time once more to put forth my call for restoring the wetlands of Le Marais.
Posted by: Dishman || 01/15/2005 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  TGA - Can you enlighten us a bit about Germany's stance regards China arms sales?
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 1:22 Comments || Top||

#3  If the EU wants to outfit China with modern stuff, then we should equip Japan and Taiwan with comparable items.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 1:31 Comments || Top||

#4  I have zero doubt that whatever they are supplied we will face, militarily, someday. And perhaps sooner than any of us imagine. So, I think it matters, a lot, what our erstwhile allies are interested / willing to sell them.

This issue alone, in light of the above, is grounds for a serious trans-Atlantic split, IMHO.
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 1:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Schroeder's December '03 trip to China signaled a strong interest in removing the ban on arms sales. Schroeder and Chirac favored lifting the ban and, until recently, the UK and a few Eastern European "New Europe" countries argued against lifting it.

Now comes Tony and Straw advocating lifting the ban before the UK presidency during the second half of '05. Apparently, Chirac and Schroeder were quite persuasive.
Posted by: Captain America || 01/15/2005 2:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Even Israel was trying to sell some important stuff to the ChiComs until the US stepped in. But, disappointing as it is, the EU showed that they could sell their souls by dealing with Saddam during the so-called sanctions. Blair jumping on the bandwagon hurts though, really hurts.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/15/2005 2:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Severely downgrade trade relations with Germany and France. Let them peddle their cars and cosmetics in China. And, by the way, bring all the troops home from Germany NOW.
Posted by: ed || 01/15/2005 3:02 Comments || Top||

#8  If they do it, I'd say it's time to dissolve NATO.
Posted by: Dishman || 01/15/2005 3:45 Comments || Top||

#9  If they do it, I'd say we need our troops in Europe more than ever.

China's the Germany of the 21st Century. We will probably have a hot war with them at some point.

The Europeans are whores. Always have been. This is not news. It's a big part of why most of our ancestors left.

What we should pull out of is WTO. We need a new trading regime that includes and favors our allies not our enemies. China has a trade surplus only with the US. They will pay the Europeans for the weapons they will use on us with the dollars you saved at Wal-Mart. Admitting China to the WYO was a mistake.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 8:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Annoying the US and Japan peculiar move. I expect Japan might make pretty good combat robots.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/15/2005 9:26 Comments || Top||

#11  What will it take for this country to start focusing on Asia first?
Posted by: lex || 01/15/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#12  A grab for Taiwan or South Korea might do it.
Posted by: Tom || 01/15/2005 15:44 Comments || Top||

#13  Tom, please hold your comments till he-who-shall-not-be-named has commented so that they may be characterized as taunting and trolling.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 15:49 Comments || Top||

#14  me too? Ima stalker too! LOL
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#15  Sorry, just trying to build up some more non-Arisified thread postings just in case he demands another list.
Posted by: Tom || 01/15/2005 16:18 Comments || Top||

#16  Frank, you comment everywhere, unlike Tom who has a bot that scans for the name of he-who-shall-not-be-named with twice the frequency of his own.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 16:25 Comments || Top||

#17  LOL - so it's OK due to the variety and indiscrimination in my droppings? I'm OK with that :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 16:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Before we dump on the Brits, we should all take a deep breath and remember the steady flow of technology and secrets from the US to China that occurred from 1993 through 2000. Whether from cupidity, stupidity, or just plain treason there was a flood of weapons related technology released to China on the Clintons' watch. Remember Bernie Schwartz and Loral helping the Chinese figure out how to make their ICBMs go further and hit what they were aiming at. Just because the current administration has a clear view of the world doesn't mean that it has always been so.
Posted by: RWV || 01/15/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||

#19  And therefor everybody gets an 8 year bye on being stupid?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 17:17 Comments || Top||

#20  No, but we shouldn't be particularly self-righteous about it.
Posted by: RWV || 01/15/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||

#21  Self-righteous? I hadn't notice he-who-shall-not-be-named post to this thread yet.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 17:35 Comments || Top||

#22  Besides, we should encourage the sale of French technology. Their stuff only works in the showroom. The French believe in the razor blade theory - the initial cost is low, but the cost of maintenance, spares, etc. increases exponentially. If the Chinese try to go to war with French weapons, they will probably wind up with the same win-loss percentage as the French. I'd rather fight a China equipped with French weapons that don't work than one equipped with Russian weapons that do.
Posted by: RWV || 01/15/2005 17:35 Comments || Top||

#23  'caved in' and democratic process dont fit in the same sentence .

good thoughts RWV - and if i was gonna reverse engineer things , I'd prolly poke my head in the direcion of China for advice .. The West merrily gives away free advice by default or by accident far tooo merrily for my liking , but hey , we live in a democracy , and thats what its all about . Freedom to do what ya want with the time thats been given to ya :P
Posted by: MacNails || 01/15/2005 17:40 Comments || Top||

#24  ooh and admin , perfect piccy of da man :P
Posted by: MacNails || 01/15/2005 17:41 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
U.S. to speak out on Chavez policies
A very dangerous clown!
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has rejected recent overtures from the United States to improve the nations' strained relationship, prompting Washington to respond with a tougher policy toward the country, Bush administration officials said yesterday.
"You're gonna git it now, Hugo!"
An interagency policy review under way is focusing on political and diplomatic measures, rather than economic sanctions that might hurt the U.S. economy, the officials said. The administration, they added, will begin a broad campaign in Latin America soon, urging friendly countries to reassess their relations with Mr. Chavez and to speak up against his authoritarian and anti-democratic rule. "It is very clear to us that Chavez's unrelenting hostility toward the United States prevents him from pursuing a normal relationship," a senior administration official said. He said Washington had accepted Mr. Chavez's victory in an August referendum last year and had hoped to establish a more positive relationship with him, but all efforts to do so in the past several months have failed.

The attempts started with a message delivered by the new U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, who had to wait a month after arriving in the capital Caracas in October before Mr. Chavez received his credentials. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, said he was surprised by those comments. "We have had extensive conversations with the U.S. ambassador and other American officials, and our vice president has said that we were willing to start talks about issues of mutual interest," the envoy said in a telephone call from Caracas.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 01/15/2005 12:06:06 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK, has the press learned anything about the ineffectiveness of "Appeasement" when a dictator is involved, now that the Bush administration has given them such an obvious lesson in it?

And Jimmy Carter, where are you now, you asslicking idiot?
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||

#2  "Murdoch?"

"Yes?"

"I'm coming to get you!!!"
Posted by: John Rambo || 01/15/2005 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I certainly hope the Norieaga-takedown plans have been dusted off and updated for a more southerly clime...
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Just shoot Chavez. It will solve the problem cheaply.
Posted by: leaddog2 || 01/15/2005 13:38 Comments || Top||

#5  leaddog2,

That will be a dream come true for this Venezuelan!
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 01/15/2005 13:51 Comments || Top||

#6  OK, has the press learned anything about the ineffectiveness of "Appeasement" when a dictator is involved, now that the Bush administration has given them such an obvious lesson in it?

And Jimmy Carter, where are you now, you asslicking idiot?
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||

#7  OK, has the press learned anything about the ineffectiveness of "Appeasement" when a dictator is involved, now that the Bush administration has given them such an obvious lesson in it?

And Jimmy Carter, where are you now, you asslicking idiot?
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||


Jamaica's own Dirty Harry goes on trial over killing of youths
For a police superintendent about to be tried on charges of multiple murder, Renato Adams, now suspended from duty, seems remarkably untroubled. "These people want us to go after criminals on bended knee while they fire on us," he told The Independent last week. "and then receive a posthumous award - because we behaved in a very tolerant way. I don't think like that."

On Monday, Supt Adams will go on trial in Kingston for his involvement in the Braeton killings of 2001, when seven youths were shot dead during a raid by officers of the so-called crime management unit (CMU) of the Jamaican police. For much of Jamaica, for whom Supt Adams has become a folk hero, it will be a trial of their very own Dirty Harry. During the past five years he has been, without question, the most notorious cop in the Caribbean.

The CMU was created in 2000 to tackle spiralling rates of crime in one of the most violent countries in the world. Supt Adams, who was in charge of the unit, decided that brutal murders required a brutal response. "By 2000 crime was rampant" he said. "There was murder in the streets, car robberies, hijacking of cars, rape, kidnapping, drugs and gangs led by criminal dons. I was surprised to be asked to head the CMU but I happily took it up. We hit the streets - roughly and firmly - but within the constitution, within the law and, most importantly, within the bounds of my own moral code".

That moral code permitted operations which have since been condemned by Amnesty International and led to the eventual disbanding of the CMU. Shoot-outs were common. Night-time raids invariably ended violently. In the town of Crawle, not far from Kingston, two men and two women were killed during a raid, although witnesses claimed they offered no threat to CMU officers. The Braeton killings were even more gruesome. Seventy-two rounds of police ammunition were fired and the bodies of the seven victims bore a total of 40 gunshot wounds. Some had up to four gunshot wounds in the head, and were also shot in the legs. One was so disfigured that the embalmer was unable to reconstruct his face for the traditional open coffin.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper || 01/15/2005 4:08:58 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like they're getting wonderful advice from Scotland Yard - "You eat the banana, ..."
Posted by: Dishman || 01/15/2005 4:29 Comments || Top||


Venezuela Suspends Ties With Colombia
President Hugo Chavez said Friday diplomatic and commerical relations with Colombia would be suspended until it apologized for paying bounty hunters to snatch a senior rebel from inside Venezuela. "I've ordered all agreements and business with Colombia to be paralyzed," Chavez said in a speech before Congress.
But that's so very...unilateral! France is appalled. Quick, let's summons the United Nations to denounce Israel before things get out of hand. And call in the New York Times editorial board; Chavez acted without their advice and consent...
And who would know more about paralyzing business than Chavez?
Chavez said the move includes freezing a July agreement to build a $200 million natural gas pipeline from Venezuela to Colombia's Pacific coast, which would allow Venezuelan fuel to be more easily shipped to the United States and Asia. Chavez's announcement came a day his government recalled Venezuela's ambassador to Colombia after that country acknowledged that it sent police and bribed local authorities to capture Rodrigo Granda, a leader in the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course! They must be punished for kidnapping Hugo's loyal minions citizens!
Posted by: Dishman || 01/15/2005 1:18 Comments || Top||

#2  So... the leader of FARC was in Venezuela, and the Columbians sent police to bribe the local politicians there and let them cart him away, and HE'S upset?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 01/15/2005 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe he didn't get his cut of the bribes.
Posted by: true nuff || 01/15/2005 9:01 Comments || Top||

#4  I know people here do not take Chavez seriously but he is a very dangerous clown:

U.S. to speak out on Chavez policies

"The first official also expressed concern about the "militarization of Venezuelan society," noting that Caracas is seeking to purchase more than 100,000 AK-47s "for a military of fewer than 40,000."
A State Department official said Russia, the apparent supplier of the weapons, has been made aware of Washington's concerns."
http://washtimes.com/world/20050113-104221-8297r.htm
Posted by: Anonymous4724 || 01/15/2005 11:32 Comments || Top||

#5  A4724, to the contrary, we take him very seriously -- look how often we snark at him.

He's a dangerous man, and he needs to be 'dealt with'. Note the use of BBC-style quotes. That is not an accident, though Chavez should 'have one'.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/15/2005 14:12 Comments || Top||


Peacekeepers Fire Tear Gas at Haiti Crowd
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Retiree Protests Spread Across Russia
A thousand retired people tried to block the road to a Moscow airport Saturday as 10,000 others jammed the avenues in President Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg to voice their anger over a law that stripped them of some key welfare benefits. It was the largest show of discontent since the Kremlin leader took power nearly five years ago.

In the former Leningrad some in the huge crow called for Putin, the former KGB operative, to resign. The group in the Moscow gathered under red flags — the color of the Soviet Union — amid cries of "Down with Putin!"

"Putin's policy is that of a genocide," said Mikhail Kononov, an elderly St. Petersburg protester. "The government is waiting for all of us to die."

The protests were triggered by the Jan. 1 law that gives retirees, the disabled and war veterans cash stipends instead of free benefits such as public transportation and medicine. Protesters charge that the payments don't match the benefits they are meant to replace.

Bowing to the rising discontent, a growing number of regional officials have given orders to temporarily restore some benefits. In the Moscow region, for example, a spokesman for Gov. Boris Gromov said on Saturday that free public transport would be restored for all retirees.

In downtown St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, the protesters blocked major avenues for most of the day. The president was in the city but did not appear in public.

Tamara Larionovna, 66, said a monthly compensation of $13 wasn't enough to pay for public transport costs, let alone medicine. "It's a robbery of retirees," she said.

The average monthly pension in Russia is about $80, but people of retirement age remember Soviet days when rents, medical care and utilities were free and food and many other basics were heavily subsidized by the state.

Many observers said protests were likely to grow when people start receiving heating and other utility bills for January which will increase significantly after the Jan. 1 end of government subsidies.

St. Petersburg Gov. Valentina Matviyenko met Saturday with some of the protesters, promising to issue subsidized travel passes to help cushion the reform. She said she spoke with Putin and told him of the protests.

"We should have given people a choice between keeping benefits or replacing them with money," Matviyenko told reporters Saturday, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

In Moscow and its suburbs, hundreds of retirees have repeatedly blocked highways, paralyzing traffic for hours. Dozens of police were deployed Saturday along a highway to Moscow's international airport to prevent the 1,000 who gathered to block the road as they had days ago.

Lawmakers in the State Duma, the parliament's lower house, sought to ease tensions this week by promising to consider raising pensions.

Cabinet officials have described the Kremlin-sponsored social reform as a long-overdue effort to streamline and modernize the economy, but it has badly dented Putin's popularity.

Some analysts predict Putin may respond to the crisis by firing Cabinet members.

Lyubov Sliska, a senior member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party that dominates parliament, fueled such speculation Friday by saying she did not rule out the possibility of Putin firing his entire government.

Protesters complained the cash payments, meager as they are, often were not paid on time in many outlying regions where the economic situation is very grim..

"Let Putin himself subsist on that," said one elderly protester, Svetlana Semyonovna. "People in the government must be ashamed. Don't they have parents themselves?"
Posted by: tipper || 01/15/2005 11:53:03 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Yushchenko Orders Removal of Tent Camp
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


First suicide from world's tallest bridge in France
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Splash or thud?
Posted by: Captain America || 01/15/2005 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  splat
Posted by: raptor || 01/15/2005 8:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Was he holding up the Number 1 finger on the way down?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/15/2005 9:27 Comments || Top||

#4  "If you build it, they will jump..."
Posted by: Charles || 01/15/2005 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Food for Oil or Nuclear bomb parts ?
Posted by: tex || 01/15/2005 12:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Optimist: halfway down he says "so far, so good"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 12:45 Comments || Top||

#7  What took so long?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 18:43 Comments || Top||

#8  gravity in France is different Barbara ( such a good name is easy to type , thnx )
Posted by: MacNails || 01/15/2005 18:48 Comments || Top||

#9  Was it a frog jump or a leap?
Posted by: Captain America || 01/15/2005 19:04 Comments || Top||

#10  What took so long?

Well, it is a very tall bridge. ;)
Posted by: BH || 01/15/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||

#11  Photo:
http://www.structurae.net/photos/index.cfm?JS=26449

Islam has five pillars; this bridge has seven. Apparently five are sufficient to make a person suicidal.
Posted by: Tom || 01/15/2005 21:29 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Canadian PM Appoints New U.S. Envoy
Canada's prime minister on Friday named seasoned politician Frank McKenna as Canada's new ambassador to Washington, a move designed to enhance relations between the prickly North American neighbors. McKenna, 46, said his job would be to sell his country to Americans, long perceived by Canadians as indifferent to the people and problems north of the 49th parallel. "I think Canada has something distinctive to sell to the world," McKenna told reporters in Ottawa, shortly after his appointment was made official. "A large part of that world is the United States of America, and I would like the United States to understand us better." McKenna was premier of New Brunswick from 1987 to 1997 and for the last seven years practiced law and served on the boards of General Motors of Canada Ltd., the Bank of Montreal and CanWest Global Communications Corp., where he is chairman.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Flush the credentials and hyperbole and soft warm fuzzy-wuzzy statements. There is only one question: Is this one sane - or the usual Kanadian Gov't Official?

Prickly. I'll show you prickly WTOP...
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 3:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd rather see the Romanian stripper.
Posted by: ed || 01/15/2005 3:58 Comments || Top||

#3  The last thing Canadians should wish is for the U. S. to understand them better. They are rapidly becoming part of the Europe that sells weapons to China.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  I can't get too worked up about the EU selling China weapons since we (Loral) fixed their ICBM guidance systems. :(
Posted by: Shipman || 01/15/2005 9:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Seems like a two wrongs make a right argument to me. Expecially using Clinton as justification.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 9:46 Comments || Top||

#6  What's his email addy? I'm inviting him to Rantapalooza so he can understand Americans better...
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/15/2005 12:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Sea - Whoa, I din't realize there'd be a back room where we can *torture* people. I'll have to rearrange my schedule, now. There are so many variants that need to be graded on effectiveness. We Rantburgers *are* all depraved torturers, you know. The Heiress sez so. I'll get back to you about this sudden revelatiuon...
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  tell him to bring the snipers - I'd paypal a round or two for them
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 12:46 Comments || Top||

#9  McKenna, 46, said his job would be to sell his country to Americans,

Um, who's buying?
Posted by: John Rambo || 01/15/2005 12:47 Comments || Top||

#10  "I think Canada has something distinctive to sell to the world,"

Must be legal "marijuwanna" ......
or glorification for military deserters
Posted by: tex || 01/15/2005 12:50 Comments || Top||

#11  "Dear Ambassador ...er, checks notes...McKenna. On behalf of Fred Pruitt and the Rantburg community, I would like to invite you to our party at a Irish bar in Chinatown. Please bring fifteen of your deadliest snipers along so we can congratulate them on their contribution to world peace."
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/15/2005 12:54 Comments || Top||

#12  tex - Mebbe excess "legalized" jihadis?
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 12:57 Comments || Top||

#13  "I think Canada has something distinctive to sell to the world,"

I've been drunk on Moosehead enough. Thanks anyway.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 01/15/2005 13:49 Comments || Top||

#14  canada SUX
Posted by: Dudley Doright || 01/15/2005 15:17 Comments || Top||

#15  Make that, canadianistan SUX
Posted by: Dudley Doright || 01/15/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#16  I think appointing McKenna is a smart move on the part of the Cdn. prime minister. McKenna is a former provincial premier, not a career diplomat, so he has hands on experience re: how good US-Canada political relationships can contribute to good trade policies. The fact that Alberta has vast stores of natural gas and oil is good for the USA- Canada in recent months has overtaken Mexico and Venuzuela for oil and gas exports to the USA.

McKenna is well known in power broker circles in the USA. He's a self-made millionaire and sits on the advisory board of the Carlyle Group and at least 9 other boards of high profile Cdn. institutions so he brings immediate respect for the image of Canada. Many doors in DC will be opened to McKenna and Canada as a result. McKenna is a close family friend of Bush Senior - they've shared fishing and golfing excursions, which probably doesn't hurt Canada's chances to gain a sympathetic ear in GWB's administration.

I disagree with you DD. Canada has been a good ally to the US for the most part. Only two Canadian administrations - Trudeau's and Chretien's - have been anti-American. However, both of them treated Americians no worse than they treated Western Canadians.
Posted by: 2xstandard || 01/15/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#17  I think there is a misspelling in the title.... Isn't the last word supposed to be spelled "envy"?

Oops...guess not.
Posted by: Mark E. || 01/15/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#18  "I think Canada has something distinctive to sell to the world,"

I kinda like ATI grafix cards, and CCM makes excellent hockey stuff, but that's about it tho...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 17:32 Comments || Top||

#19  Grafix cards and hockey do-dads are not running your car or heating your home.
Posted by: 2xstandard || 01/15/2005 17:40 Comments || Top||

#20 
I would like the United States to understand us better
Au contraire, Frankie-baby - I think we understand you just fine.

(For instance, I threw that Phrench in there because I know you all want everything to be bi-lingual.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 18:39 Comments || Top||

#21  Oil, wheat, timber, baby seals. They got lots.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 18:41 Comments || Top||

#22  just proves that all Frank's aren't intolerant belligerant assholes...just me :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 18:49 Comments || Top||

#23  Fyi,#21, the leading source for oil imports to the USA since 2001 has been Canada. In 2003, we got 17% from Canada, 14.5% from Saudi Arabia, 13% from Mexico, and 11% from Venuzuela. Furthermore, 14% of our natural gas is imported from Canada.
http://www.gravmag.com/oil.html

As for mocking Canada for being a bilingual nation, #20, we have no room to smirk. The USA is a de facto bilingual nation, only in our case it's Spanish and English instead of French and English. Both countries have allowed the tail to wag the dog.
Posted by: 2xstandard || 01/15/2005 18:59 Comments || Top||

#24  I wasn't smirking, 2x, I was taking a gratuitous swipe at the Quebecois. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 19:11 Comments || Top||

#25  "I think Canada has something distinctive to sell to the world,"

Yeah, cold, clean, refreshing, all natural.... WATER!!! Shut off the supply and watch them squirm McKenna, Buahahahahahaha
Posted by: Rafael || 01/15/2005 19:37 Comments || Top||

#26  2xs, Give us 60 years and the ones we have today will be speaking English. How long will it take before Canada gives up on the frogs?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 19:44 Comments || Top||

#27  And related to water, Rafael, both the East and West coast states are very thankful for being able to buy hydro electric power from Canada. Canada exports from 5-10 per cent of its electric power production to the USA.

Honestly, I think both the US and Canada benefit from a good working relationship with one another because each country is the other's best ally. It's a fact- some of you believe the US's best allies are Israel or the UK or Australia or Mexico. No, it's always been Canada and it will always be Canada. Our 2 countries are inextricably joined because of our proximity to one another and our similar population makeup and values, so we share more than just a military alliance. The icy Chretien-Bush relationship hurt both countries. I for one am happy that McKenna has been appointed Canada's Ambassador to the USA so our countries' long standing bonds can be refreshed.
Posted by: 2xstandard || 01/15/2005 20:13 Comments || Top||

#28  ..the leading source for oil imports to the USA since 2001 has been Canada. In 2003, we got 17% from Canada, 14.5% from Saudi Arabia, 13% from Mexico, and 11% from Venuzuela.

Any one of those could change at any time.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 20:56 Comments || Top||

#29  >Any one of those could change at any time.
Perhaps the imports from SA, Mexico, Venezuela may decrease due to their political instability and with gov'ts ascending that are more anti-American. Canadian imports may increase in that case. Look, whether Canada has a Liberal or a Progressive Conservative party in power, it's a stable democracy, a long standing ally, and it would not seek to subvert the power of the USA by manipulating the price or supply of its oil exports. Whereas, depending who is in power in the other 3 non-democracies, it could impact that country's willingness to supply large quantities of oil to the USA at a competitive price.
Posted by: 2xstandard || 01/15/2005 21:22 Comments || Top||

#30  #27 2x:
some of you believe the US's best allies are Israel or the UK or Australia or Mexico
I think it's safe to say that no one on Rantburg thinks Mexico is an ally, let alone our best one.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 23:22 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
US military seeking quick exit from tsunami relief: Wolfowitz
The United States wants to scale down its military's Asian tsunami relief operations and hand the tasks over to countries affected by the crisis, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said. "We'd like to be out of this business as soon as we responsibly can," Wolfowitz told reporters in Bangkok before flying to Thailand's Utapao military airbase which serves as the headquarters for regional relief operations.

"The US military has a lot of other work to do," he added. "As soon as our military folks can pass these responsibilities on to other organizations, well, we will," he said without providing a time frame.

But Wolfowitz said the ultimate goal remained the alleviation of suffering and the provision of relief supplies to those affected by what he described as a "staggering" disaster. He also praised the unprecedented worldwide relief effort which has already reached into the billions of dollars.

The US military was eager to begin a transitional phase that could see it hand much of its work over to governments, other militaries, non-governmental organisations and aid agencies, Wolfowitz said. "My sense is already their role in Thailand is leveling off if not decreasing," he said of the US military.

Prior to his Thursday departure to the region, Wolfowitz told reporters he hoped the US military would be finished by the end of March, added it was no surprise Indonesia was sensitive to the foreign military presence.

The deputy to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks in Bangkok with Thai Defense Minister Sumpan Boonyanun before visiting Utapao air base and then traveling on to Indonesia. US embassy officials in Bangkok said he had plans to visit Indonesia's catastrophically hit Aceh province, where most of the 163,000 people died in the disaster.

Indonesia said recently it would impose a deadline of the end of March for the withdrawal of foreign troops providing relief assistance in Aceh. The US State Department has said Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla clarified Friday with the American envoy in Jakarta that no fixed time limit would be imposed on foreign troops and that three months was only an estimate.

But US marines delivering aid to survivors were forced to scale back their presence on shore and move to ships to address sensitivities in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. Wolfowitz said he felt Jakarta was not setting deadlines so much as "setting goals and expressing their own desire to take a responsibility in their own country as quickly as possible."

"We applaud that," he said. Wolfowitz, a former US ambassador to Indonesia, was to meet Saturday with officials there in the course of his travels through the region.

Armed forces from around the world, including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, France and the United States, have been providing assistance in Aceh in the wake of the December 26 disaster. Vice Admiral Victor Guillory, deputy commander of the US military's relief operations, said there were now 15,000 US military personnel in the region taking part in relief efforts, most of them aboard 24 US naval vessels and one coast guard ship. The latest to arrive is the USS Fort McHenry, a landing ship dock carrying four CH-46 medium lift helicopters and 400 marines and engineers from Okinawa, he said.

The United States has committed at least 92 million dollars of the 350 million it pledged for the recovery from the disaster, a US Agency for International Development official said.
Posted by: tipper || 01/15/2005 4:42:33 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The spin in the title is typical Yahoo (in the South, this is pronounced yay-hoo - apropos for Yahoo News).

Without the US and Aussie Militaries, this would've been several magnitudes more horrific, thus qualifying as a typical UN horror show of ineptitude and corruption.

Though blatantly and obviously unappreciated - the most obvious apparent priority of the UN is taking credit, posturing, and pretense - the US & Aussie Militaries will withdraw and go back to doing what they actually should be doing as soon as the whores have played this drama for all it's worth and allowed competent orgs such as USAid, et al, to find substitute equipment and manpower to execute a program of useful aid to the victims without the military's amazing assistance. Under UN "auspicies", of course.

None of this has got anything to do with Wolfie or neo-cons (the obvious inference), or any other LLL Socialist MultiCulti Bogeyman.

Q.E.D.
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 14:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Without the US and Aussie Militaries, this would've been several magnitudes more horrific, thus qualifying as a typical UN horror show of ineptitude and corruption.

Assuming that the UN will take over once the US and AUS military personnel finish their work, any contrasts (and there will likely be some) in effectiveness and organization will become apparent soon enough.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 16:51 Comments || Top||


Jakarta does U-turn on foreign troops
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has said he welcomes the presence of foreign troops in the country helping tsunami relief efforts. "You can rest assured that we welcome even foreign troops. Their presence is based on our request," Hassan said on Thursday, speaking at a press conference with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer in Berlin. Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla called on Wednesday for foreign troops helping with relief efforts to leave the stricken area of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, by the end of March. Since then, Indonesian officials have sought to retract Kalla's statement and US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday that no deadline had been set. Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and the US all have forces aiding the relief efforts in Aceh on Sumatra island's northern tip.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must have been on the line to Puerto Rico.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/15/2005 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh, Shipman. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 18:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Harvard, who needs it...
A coveted undergraduate admission to an Ivy League college is a ticket to success, right? But a recent paper by Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori, both of the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that the prestigious degrees aren't as valuable at America's largest corporations as they were a generation ago. If you want to run GE, you might be better off attending the University of Connecticut than Yale.

...

Something has changed about the character of the student bodies at many Ivy League schools in recent decades.

...

The numbers crunched by Cappelli and Hamori suggest that big-time corporate America is less interested in Ivy League students today than it was in the past. It could also be the other way around.

Maybe the CIA could learn a bit from this.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 5:56:31 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Old Spook, it's worse than you think. The reason they aren't going to GM is that they're going to Goldman Sachs and Davis, Polk, Wardwell. The easier to make contacts with the CIA, no doubt.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Several notes: The major college accreditation association in the US is called the "North Central Association", which does almost every respectable institution in the US. But not the Ivy League. They (sneeringly) do their own accreditation. But it is often noted that almost none of the Ivy League schools could pass an NCA accred, their standards being far lower than NCA permits. The second point is that the Ivy League require both that their successful alumni donate money and support to the school and fellow alumni, under threat of having their degree revoked! This means that once an organization hires an Ivy Leaguer, he or she will attempt to get other school alumni hired--with cancerous effects. Last but not least, the Ivy League is at the forefront of teaching "situational ethics" and "moral relativism", which produces treacherous, untrustworthy, duplicitous and contemptuous graduates. They fully appreciate Bill Clinton's use of the word "is" to evade responsibility. Third, it should be noted that there are *two* "Harvards". Harvard College admits anyone with money, and is a diploma mill; whereas Harvard Law School is for the elitists. N.B.: six of the top Harvard Law professors have been publicly cited for blatant plagiarism.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/15/2005 20:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Right on, Anonymoose! I had a girlfriend that went to Harvard on a masters program in education. She wrote her master's thesis and sent a draft to me for comment. The thing was a big mess, disjointed, hard to follow, etc etc. I told her so, lovingly and gently, of course. She was pissed off, turned it in anyway, got her Master's degree, which floored me, and the relationship went south. And that is my Hah-vuhd story.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/15/2005 20:39 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Zanu PF chairman accused by Moyo of being a dictator and a liar
Zanu PF party chairman John Nkomo said the party will take disciplinary measures against out of favour Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who increasingly looks on his way out of both the party and government. Nkomo who chairs Zanu PF's disciplinary committee, said the party was going to act against Moyo for attacking and ridiculing Nkomo himself and another senior party member, Dumiso Dabengwa in an article published by the state-run Herald newspaper yesterday. "We are not going to tolerate indiscipline to tear the party apart," Nkomo said. "We will put the matter into perspective and help the public out of the agony of having to think out answers prompted by what they read (in the Herald)," added the Zanu PF chairman who was accused by Moyo of being a dictator and a liar. Moyo, an arch-critic of the government before changing sides to become its most zealous defender, appears already on his way out of the government after Zanu PF yesterday banned him from contesting March's general election.

He was in the government after President Robert Mugabe appointed him a non-constituency Member of Parliament under a constitutional clause allowing him to appoint 30 members to the House. But Mugabe has this time round promised not to appoint anyone to his Cabinet who is not elected in the March poll. Apparently frustrated at being banned from the general election and his dismissal earlier on by Mugabe from Zanu PF's key central and politburo committees, Moyo lashed out at Nkomo and Dabengwa who he accused of telling "primitive lies" about him to Mugabe. Moyo was fired from the party committees after he secretly attempted to block the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as Zanu PF's and Zimbabwe's second vice-president. Insiders said Mugabe was likely to view Moyo's outburst against Nkomo and Dabengwa as an attack on his authority, a development they said could see the former university political science teacher jettisoned from Zanu PF.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 3:29:16 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Shell reopens oil stations in Nigeria
The Anglo-Dutch energy group Shell has reopened all its oil-pumping stations shut down last month because of community unrest in southern Nigeria, a spokesman has said. "Ekulama I is up," the spokesman said on Friday, referring to the last of several flow-stations to reopen after angry villagers from the Kula community forced Shell to shut down the facilities on 5 December. The shut-down caused a production loss of about 130,000 barrels per day of crude oil exports from the Bonny export terminal. Shell is Nigeria's biggest operator, accounting for almost half of the west African country's daily exports of 2.5 million barrels. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant has in the past week gradually reopened three other plants - Belema, Santa Barbara and Ekulama II - which led to a resumption of 65,000 barrels per day out of the 130,000 total. A spokesman could not say if the reopening of the Ekulama I plant on Friday would enable Shell to reach the peak production of 130,000 barrels per day from the protest-hit stations.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 3:18:09 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: North
Mubarak says no decision on new term
Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, who has been in office since 1981, has yet to decide whether to run for a fifth six-year term but said he would stand if Egyptians wanted him to. A senior official in the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) said on Tuesday the party had chosen Mubarak as its candidate. But the next day Mubarak's son, Gamal, also a party official, said no decision had been taken and said it was up to the president to decide. Analysts say there is little doubt Mubarak, 76, will stand and that he will be chosen by the NDP-dominated parliament as the sole candidate in the September referendum. But they say officials want to avoid the impression that Egyptians have no say in the matter. Asked if he would run for another presidential term, Mubarak said in an interview with US public broadcaster PBS on Thursday: "This is too early to tell you about that. I haven't decided yet. We have a long time for that."
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 3:15:49 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He should take the money stolen and retire.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/15/2005 16:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll bet Chuck Windsor wishes Liz would be as cooperative.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/15/2005 16:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Re #1.
He wants his son to inherit.
Posted by: gromgorru || 01/15/2005 16:40 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel's Tsunami Efforts Get Cool Response
Posted by: gromgorru || 01/15/2005 08:31 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  better to have offered and been spurned by bigots and haters than to have not offered at all. Israel lives up to our ideals, unlike the Arab and muslim world.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 17:15 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
High school declines to honour Michael Moore
They say the people who know you best knew you way back when...
DAVISON, MICH. - Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has one more chance to be elected to the Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Davison High School.
He's a first ballot in if they got a Hall of Assholes.
So far, his nomination has been rejected all four times that it has come up for consideration. This, despite directing the highest-grossing documentary in film history, last year's Fahrenheit 9/11, as well as the Oscar-winning Bowling For Columbine. When a nomination is submitted on his behalf this year, it will be Moore's final opportunity to earn a place alongside other famous Davison alumni, like Michael Thorp (a class of '73 grad who used to host the local Easter Seals telethon) and Sally Bird (the class of '54 grad who oversaw the Davison choir for 40 years).
This must burn Mikey's ass bigtime...
But if Don Hammond has his way, Moore will again be turned down. "Would you want him as a role model? Would you want your son or daughter to be like him?" Hammond — a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee who has voted against including Moore — asked in an interview with the Associated Press. "I haven't talked to anybody yet who's for him. The word to describe Michael Moore is 'embarrassing.' He embarrasses everybody."
You aren't mezmerized by his greatness? You fascist Bushitlerite! Ashkkkroft must've gotten to you!
The committee meets on Feb. 11 to choose the year's inductees.
Ryan Eashoo, another Davison alumnus, is determined to secure a place for the outspoken documentarian. "We've been blacklisted," Eashoo said. "I'm a huge Michael Moore fan. He's a great producer, great filmmaker, always sticking up for minorities. He's kind of an underdog."
The blacklist! McCarthyism!!!Suppression of dissent!!!
Since there isn't a limit on how many nominations can be submitted in support of any former Davison student, Eashoo has been collecting signatures to bolster Moore's bid. He has collected about 300 nominations so far, and has even sent faxes to nearby Canadian cities looking for Moore supporters. "There's more interest in other countries, frankly," he said, adding that he thinks Moore is "the second-most-popular person from Michigan, behind Henry Ford."
They want him, they can have him.
As for Hammond, he has bad memories of when Moore served on the Davison Board of Education. Moore was 18 at the time, and Davison says he remembers the future Academy Award winner taking off his shoes and socks at a board meeting and picking at his toes.
Mmmmmmmmmmm... toe jam.
He also apparently walked out of a board meeting, telling the other members "I don't want to sit around with you bums."
Bring my limo around!
"Davison is a small town," Hammond went on. "The people here don't like people making fun of them. Michael Moore once said he likes to go back to Davison because he's the thinnest person in town. We're not all that fat."
Nobody's that fat.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/15/2005 9:52:47 AM || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ROFL!!! Great story, truth-telling is always awesome, and great commentary, tu!

Ryan Eashoo needs to get a life outside of kissing Moore's remarkably fat ass. He's made a local fool of himself, though, which is probably the best form of smackdown.
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 12:53 Comments || Top||

#2  hope he misses again. Sometimes the pettiest victories taste the sweetest....
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 12:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I grew up about ten miles from Davison in another small town. Davison folks always seemed pretty down-to-earth -- and they're not fat, either. Michael Moore is an embarrassment to all of Michigan. We've got Madonna, too. Sorry about that.
Posted by: nada || 01/15/2005 20:11 Comments || Top||

#4  I wouldn't put him ahead of Nuge. Hell, I wouldn't put him ahead of DeBarge.
Posted by: BH || 01/15/2005 21:24 Comments || Top||


Anti-Bush Bracelets Say, 'Count Me Blue'
EFL.Will the denial ever end? Will it ever sink in?
After spending 10 days in London with friends who were outspoken about their disdain for President Bush's policies, Berns Rothchild came home wishing she had a way to show the world she didn't vote for him. "I sort of felt ashamed, and didn't really want to be associated with being an American," said Rothchild, who lives in New York City and voted for John Kerry.
Don't tell me. You wanted to leave the country, right? But you didn't, right? But you really, really wanted to though, didn't you? That should get you some kind of lefty brownie points, right?
"But my mommie wouldn't let me leave, so she told me about some sucky bracelets instead."
Her mother had a suggestion: bracelets, inspired by the Lance Armstrong Foundation's popular "LIVESTRONG" bands, that would signal opposition to Bush. Thousands of miles away, two women in Idaho had the same idea. So did a woman in Kansas. The result? At least three separate bracelet ventures targeting left-leaning citizens who want to wear their political affiliation on their wrists — and at least one competitor bearing the opposite message.
Rothchild, 35, is selling blue bracelets that say "COUNT ME BLUE," while Laura Adams, of Fairway, Kan., offers blue bracelets that say "HOPE." The McKnight family, of Moscow, Idaho, is even more direct; their black bracelets proclaim: "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH."
Here's some more suggestions. "LOSER"? "WHINER"? "IN DENIAL"? "I'D LIKE TO MOVE TO CANADA, BUT I DON"T HAVE THE BALLS?"
"It's kind of like saying, 'This is my tribe,'" said Adams, 43, a Kerry supporter, who was inspired by her 14-year-old stepson's yellow Lance Armstrong band.
Yes, a tribe. A wandering, leaderless, clueless tribe.
So far only McKnight said she has received e-mails criticizing the bracelets as unpatriotic. But Rothchild said her venture has spawned a counter-protest — from her Republican father.
John Rothchild, a Miami Beach, Fla., resident who voted for Bush, has invested in 5,000 "COUNT ME RED" bracelets.
Oh, dad! How could you become a dupe of the Bushitler/Ashkkkroft conspiracy!
Common sense? Which obviously isn't a genetic trait.
He has hired his daughter's boyfriend, who created her Web site, to create his, which he launched this week. "Now we're sort of having a father-daughter competition to see who can sell more," Berns Rothchild said.
Go get 'em, dad.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/15/2005 10:21:46 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow--I rate the effectiveness of these bracelets right up there with those giant paper maché protest puppets and the U.N. tsunami relief effort.
Posted by: Dar || 01/15/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  So far only McKnight said she has received e-mails criticizing the bracelets as unpatriotic.

Forget 'unpatriotic.' How 'bout just plain stupid? These people have too much time on their hands.
Posted by: nada || 01/15/2005 12:21 Comments || Top||

#3  make the bracelets so they can't come off and we've got a good start for internment camp candidates in Ashkkkrofts amerikkka! Oh wait, he's gggone
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm American, and I know you hate Americans, but if too look down on Americans - then that makes me superior to "them" and you can like me.
Posted by: Uncle Tom || 01/15/2005 12:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Eeeexcellent, Smithers! If this takes off, we should have most of of them identified and ready for our detention- I mean, vacation camps in Utah by the end of the year.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/15/2005 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Great News - now I can identify these asshats BEFORE they open their whiny pieholes. And open up the great guns of truth on them. Enlightenment with facts and reason usually sends these types reeling and running.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Now some wanker will start selling purple bands...
Posted by: .com || 01/15/2005 12:46 Comments || Top||

#8  well, anything other than yellow (and apparently red) = idjit and certified object of ridicule
Posted by: Frank G || 01/15/2005 12:47 Comments || Top||

#9  How 'bout, Count me American? Ever think of that, whiners?
Posted by: lex || 01/15/2005 15:14 Comments || Top||

#10  I rate the effectiveness of these bracelets right up there with those giant paper maché protest puppets and the U.N. tsunami relief effort.

To be sure, their little form of identification is a double-edged sword...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/15/2005 15:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Hey, let's not be too hard on UN tsunami relief. I'm sure the UN reps are just getting their feet under them. Catering has been arranged, a couple of cocktail parties held... they'll be ready to go Real Soon Now.
Posted by: eLarson || 01/15/2005 16:00 Comments || Top||

#12  "I sort of felt ashamed, and didn’t really want to be associated with being an American"
I think that's the new mantra of the left. I tried to get a Red band but they are on back order for 3-4 weeks. I will be wearing my Bush Back-to-Back tshirt to work on Thursday and I pray that some LLL says something to me. These bracelets are comfort clothing for people who don't want to admit losing. They really should get used to it, because they are going to lose a lot more elections in the future. Maybe some Cubs fans can hold a seminar or speak at DNC meetings?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 01/15/2005 21:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Great News - now I can identify these asshats BEFORE they open their whiny pieholes. And open up the great guns of truth on them. Enlightenment with facts and reason usually sends these types reeling and running.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Great News - now I can identify these asshats BEFORE they open their whiny pieholes. And open up the great guns of truth on them. Enlightenment with facts and reason usually sends these types reeling and running.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/15/2005 12:41 Comments || Top||


Newdow Petitions to Strike God from Judge's Ruling
ScrappleFace
(2005-01-14) -- Just hours after losing his bid to prohibit Christian prayer at the presidential inauguration ceremony, atheist Michael Newdow filed a motion to have the court remove references to God or religion from all official records of his most recent legal proceeding, Newdow v. George W. Bush (PDF).

"In the court's 50-page ruling alone," said Mr. Newdow, "I was shocked to find 10 mentions each of God, Christianity and church, 14 uses of the word 'religion' and 12 of 'faith,' three instances of 'divine' or 'divinity,' no fewer than 44 mentions of Christ, and 256 appearances of various forms of the word 'prayer'. And I haven't even read the transcripts yet."

The fact that taxpayer dollars funded the production of these documents, he said, represents a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

"My participation in this breach of the wall between church and state is a source of deep shame for me," Mr. Newdow added. "I feel dirty."
Posted by: Korora || 01/15/2005 12:01:50 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  can we petition God to strike Newdow?
Posted by: anon || 01/15/2005 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Finally the true face of the left is beginning to reveal itself in a way that the mainstream will no longer be able to ignore. If I were the judge I'd strike the petition but order Newdow held over for psychiatric evaluation.
Posted by: AzCat || 01/15/2005 1:23 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL. Ott rocks. Satire and exaggeration do tend to illuminate the ridiculous. I agree with AZ. Newdow should be fitted with a white jacket with sleeves that buckle in the back and confined to a rubber walled room.
Posted by: GK || 01/15/2005 2:19 Comments || Top||

#4  God I think some one found that loose screw. I had been looking for it.

Athiests give us Agnostics a bad name.

This guy is supposed to be a lawyer. I think he is going to find out real soon what the ramifications of being a vexatious litigant are. He will have to get permission from the a court to even file a suit. He will be tossed in the slammer for contempt if he violates it. The supremes have turned your sorry ass down. No one is taking you seriously. Get on with life. No ones adding any more munites to his.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/15/2005 4:43 Comments || Top||

#5  minutes even :D

When you been scapplefaced Nedlow your heading for the last round up.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/15/2005 5:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Stand back boys, Vengence is mine.
Posted by: The Lord || 01/15/2005 10:17 Comments || Top||

#7  You cannot petition the Lord with prayer.


He accepts only briefs, under 75 pages excluding citations, printed on 8.5x11 paper, with 1 inch margins. Bring 12 copies; they take 7 themselves, and you'll need more stamped copies for service. Note the new rule of no protruding tabs for exhibits; they are scanning everything now, so no more tabs.
Posted by: Mark E. || 01/15/2005 10:26 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 Stand back boys, Vengence is mine.
Posted by: The Lord 2005-01-15 10:17:36 AM


#7 You cannot petition the Lord with prayer. He accepts only briefs, under 75 pages excluding citations, printed on 8.5x11 paper, with 1 inch margins. Bring 12 copies; they take 7 themselves, and you'll need more stamped copies for service. Note the new rule of no protruding tabs for exhibits; they are scanning everything now, so no more tabs.


Any doubts on why I keep coming to Rantburg?
Posted by: badanov || 01/15/2005 10:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Wow! Everybody's talking about ME!
ME! Wow! Look at ME!
Posted by: Michael Newdow || 01/15/2005 10:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh, and I tried to ask why they needed 7 copies if they are scanning everything now, and I didn't really get an answer.... All I got back was "Where were you when I created the universe?" or something like that. I don't see what that has to do with it, but ok.
Posted by: Mark E. || 01/15/2005 10:33 Comments || Top||

#11  Droll, droll, droll, Mr. E :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 01/15/2005 12:18 Comments || Top||

#12  What I want to know it, where does this clown get the money for all these suits? Sueing ain't cheap.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/15/2005 18:35 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Gang-rape of doctor: Army implicated for politics
Army personnel are being implicated in the gang-rape of a woman doctor at Sui for political gains, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan on Friday.
But I'm sure she was askin' for it...
The ARD had alleged that five army personnel including an army officer gang-raped the woman doctor. However, the ISPR spokesman said, "If any army personnel is found involved in the incident, he will not be spared." Talking to BBC, Mr Sultan said: "No one is above the law and no one can be declared innocent or a culprit before the completion of an investigation."
I suppose they could ask her who dunnit, but she'd have to produce witnesses, of course...
The ISPR spokesman said he believed that the army was being implicated in the incident for political gains as the captain, who is being accused in this case, was married just two weeks ago and was living with his family.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What is political about being married for two weeks?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/15/2005 6:20 Comments || Top||


Drunk couple arrested from Kashmir House
Police on Friday night arrested a man and a woman from Kashmir House, both of whom were drunk and found in a compromising position, police sources said. Ameer Kabul, who is reportedly a close friend of Sahibzada Ishaque Zafar, member of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly, was arrested along with a Turkish woman. Secretariat police said that Ameer used to bring prostitutes to Kashmir House and was arrested on the complaint of its management. Police took the couple to hospital for a medical checkup and registered a case against them. The woman was taken to the women's police station later. SHO Jameel Hashmi denied that the police raided Kashmir House, saying the couple was arrested at the entrance to Kashmir House. Ishaque Zafar, who is also a senior leader of the Azad Kashmir chapter of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians, was not available for comment.
Posted by: Fred || 01/15/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:



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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.
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Meet the Mods
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Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2005-01-15
  Agha Ziauddin laid to rest in Gilgit: 240 arrested, 24 injured
Fri 2005-01-14
  Graner guilty
Thu 2005-01-13
  Iran warns IAEA not to spy on military sites
Wed 2005-01-12
  Zahhar: Abbas has no authorization to end resistance
Tue 2005-01-11
  Abbas Extends Hand of Peace to Israel. Really.
Mon 2005-01-10
  Sudanese Celebrate Peace Treaty Signing
Sun 2005-01-09
  Paleos vote
Sat 2005-01-08
  Commander of Salafi Forces in Fallujah Killed
Fri 2005-01-07
  Abbas Calls for Peace Talks With Israel
Thu 2005-01-06
  Kerry Trashes Bush in Baghdad
Wed 2005-01-05
  Algeria celebrates the end of the GIA
Tue 2005-01-04
  Zarqawi in jug?
Mon 2005-01-03
  19 killed in Iraqi car bombing
Sun 2005-01-02
  Another most wanted found among Riyadh boomer scraps
Sat 2005-01-01
  Algerian deported from San Diego


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