#1: "And we sent in a couple of investigators in at the time to see what was taking place. Inside they saw, certainly things that would be classified as violations of the law."
It only took 4 to 5 hours of close investigative work to make that determination!
#2: What is wrong with the cops this week. First the Texas cops are arresting folks for being drunk in a bar, now they are going after wet-t-shirt competitions?
Glad the border is sealed, murderers all caught and crime is down to zero. Damn, learn priorities folks.
#5: Another 'consenting adults' issue for the federal judiciary. They asked for it when they pandered to one group, now its time to start dealing with all those 'worms' they've let loose.
#2: Now I have a comeback when somebody makes fun of the way I hold a pencil and always write uphill........("Stand back yuo North-paw slime, lest ye be smiten by my mighty left hand")
#3: I demand the Lunar government install infrastructure improvements before I even consider this. For example, they might wanna fill in all those holes...
#7: Ah, but you are still subject to the Galaxians with Disabilities Act. You'd best start installing those tentacle faciltators tout suite or the fines will be staggering.
#13: Bah! All of you back off! I claim personal and direct ownership of every other planet in the universe not thus far claimed (ie youse who have claims in already will have those claims validated by my personal authority)!
Anyone else who files a claim has to make it through me and has to file all the valid paperwork and pay the proper fees forthithy before you receive a properly imprinted and signed authentic document describing your claim.
Thanks,
FOTSGreg (aka Fire On The Suns Greg - www.fire-on-the-suns.com)
#2: Given the world’s dependence on Venezuelan oil, such a possibility would have serious international repercussions.
Another bit player. Now if he'd fork over 2 or 3 billion in ready American we might, just might stage a small fleet exercise to fire up his supporters.
#4: Article: The FAN is believed to have at least 80,000 professional soldiers, who could be forced to face two-million urban guerrillas.
Easier said than done. Every family in Iraq had firearms prior to the invasion. Did that make them able to resist Saddam's secret police, let alone his army divisions? No.
#5: Sounds like a tailor-made program for country-wide chaos the moment that Chavez loses control of his minions. Just what a Latin American country needs - the society-wide dissemination of subversive & guerilla training & equipment. He's going to make that country more ungovernable than Colombia if he goes through with it.
On the plus side, oil wealth is much less localized than cocaine wealth. Venezuela doesn't have that grass-roots drug-money ready & waiting to finance each town's own set of mutually antagonistic gangs & thugs. Well, less so than the Andean states.
#6: I wonder if or when Venezuela will get into the cocaine business? Given that Hugo has put them on the highway to hell, it would complete the picture.
#7: sounds like a couple stealth bomber - full throttle passes over the capital and Hugo will wet himself into exile
Posted by: Frank G>Frank G|| 2006-03-24 20:20
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#8: Chavez is going to find out that the classic counter to cult of personality is the removal of the Dear Leader. It only takes one very unhappy soldier with an AR-50 to put an end to President Huff n Puff.
#1: No surprise here, as many Chinese choose God or Buddha over Marx and Mao. As for the HIV/Aids, various unconformed reports on the Web had reported as recently as January 2006 that HIV/Aids is spreading far faster in the rural countryside than Beijing's ability to stop or contain the same. Doubts also exist with Beijing's ability vv BIRD FLU, MAD COW, INFLUENZA or TUBERCOLOSIS.
#7: gromky: I always thought that most disposable chopsticks were made of bamboo. I guess I thought wrong.
The non-disposable ones are made of bamboo. They have tensile strength. The disposable ones feel like pine - flex them and they break. Plus they're real soft, like pine, and unlike bamboo.
#9: Found myself a pair of those jade chopsticks in the thrift shop, Barbara. Paid all of a whopping $5.00 for them. The jade flute I got in Taiwan cost a few more frogskins.
#11: BS: Bamboo, pine - pfui. My chopsticks (a Christmas gift) are jade.
Disposable ones are used at restaurants. Hygiene standards at restaurants in China aren't exactly tip-top. Customers feel a little more secure using disposable flatware.
#15: Zheng Fei - It was my understanding that Asian people often brought their own chopsticks, and it wasn't considered insulting to do so. Is that incorrect?
#16: BS: Zheng Fei - It was my understanding that Asian people often brought their own chopsticks, and it wasn't considered insulting to do so. Is that incorrect?
I've never personally encountered the practice - and I've dined in a variety of restaurants throughout Southeast (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia) and Northeast Asia (Hong Kong, China, Korea, Taiwan).
#17: BS: Zheng Fei - It was my understanding that Asian people often brought their own chopsticks, and it wasn't considered insulting to do so. Is that incorrect?
What I have seen is this - in some regions, (1) the first pot of steaming hot tea is poured into a teacup, (2) the chopsticks (if not disposable) are rinsed in the tea, (3) the cup of tea is poured into a bowl, (4) the cup is rinsed in the bowl, (5) the tea is poured out of the bowl into a large communal bowl meant for that express purpose and (6) the bowl of water is taken away. Dishes are served banquet style.
#4: A northern Italian had a great retort when someone impugnes the bravery of the Italian army.
In World War I, 300,000 Italians died in the twelve battles of the Isonzo, half of their total war casualties. They fought a heavily fortified enemy in mountains on the far side and overlooking a river, during heavy rains, an impossible mission.
#6: ITS WAR - SEND IN THE FRENCH NAVY, assuming of course their props don't fall off. Kind of hard to fight decisive naval battle wid go-go modern warships that have to depend on wave/sea motion to get there. How can Radical Islam's Navy of mad Mad MAD M-A-D Camels/Camel-kazes lose???
#1: Rome has been waiting for this one for a millennium. You see the muzzies eliminated all the other of the competing Bishops [Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, etc]. The last competitor was Byzantium at Constantinople. There has always been a historical rivalry of who is in charge. When the muzzie took Constantinople, the authority of the Eastern Church was claimed by Greek and Russian Orthodox leftovers. Now if the Vatican can get Istanbul/Constantinople, they’d have claim to the sole lineage from the early church [disregarding the Protestant view of matters]. Like they’ve been working this angle for centuries. The muzzies are going to make it happen for Rome by keeping up the self destructive behavior.
#2: The article contains a detailed denunciation of the lack of religious freedom that afflicts the Christian minorities living in Turkey today. And before that is a recollection of the massacre of the Armenians and the expulsion of the Greek Orthodox: the two terrible acts of “cleansing of the non-Turkish and non-Muslim element” from which contemporary Turkey was born.
This is a fair assessment as far at the Armenians are concerned. They got screwed. However, as is later indicated in the article, this is NOT in fact a fair or accurate representation of what happened to the Greek Orthodox.
After the end of the war between Greece and Turkey, in 1922, the Turkish government, having won the conflict, established within the peace treaties – with the agreement of the Western powers – that an exchange of populations take place. In this way, most of the Greek Orthodox had to leave Turkey, which they considered their land, and to move to Greek territory, where they did not even speak the language. It has been determined that 1,344,000 Greek Orthodox Christians were deported to Greek territory, and that 464,000 Greek Muslims were transferred to Turkey.
....and the result of this agreement, which was known as the Treaty of Lausanne, was that about 2 million people didn’t suffer the usual Balkan fate of genocidal annihilation at the hands of their ethnic cousins. Additionally, some 250,000 Bulgarians were peacefully shifted from Greece and Turkey to Bulgaria. In one of its few acts of utter competency, the League of Nations supervised the entire exchange to the overall satisfaction of the parties involved.
Was it ethnic cleansing? Yes. Was it “genocide?” No. Did is save untold lives and prevent a second Balkan War? Yes. Is there something to be learned from the Treaty of Lausanne? Yes. Sometimes it is better for everyone if you separate, take a breather, and don’t try a brave multicultural experiment.
#4: Well, I’ve heard a lot of allegations over this issue and, being that we are talking about the Turks here, I’m fairly certain that most of them are true. With that said, there has been an attempt by academia in recent years to spin the Treaty of Lausanne as a tool of genocide, when in fact it largely prevented genocide from occurring. Mark my words: if it hadn’t been for that treaty, the Bosnian Genocide would have occurred over a much, much larger area and included far more countries than Yugoslavia.
#4: Notice here they call them "students and "workers";the end of a largely peaceful rally by thousands of students and workers against the CPE First Job Contract. "This time, there are lots of young criminals on the march who are there to steal and smash. This discredits the movement," said Charlie Herblin, a 22-year-old worker on the Paris march
Yet, it is Rampaging French youths who set fire to cars and looted. I'd like to see the names of those arrested.
#4: Someday, the French are going to wake up, realize that "my little cabbage" is a term of endearment in their language, and switch to speaking anything else.
#1: An example the "Christians" for "peace" would do well to follow.
If they weren't on the other side.
Rest in peace, Mr. Doss. You were a great and good man, and this non-pacifist honors my fellow Virginian for a truly honorable life.
Don't worry - where you are now, you'll never have to cross the paths of those clowns nowadays who besmirch the name of true and honest pacifism and patriotism, even after they die.
#2: From the US Military Medal of Honor site, about Mr. Doss:
He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station.
#1: Now this is a real hero who stood by his beliefs and still served his country and his fellow soldiers.
Very true. This guy proved you can stand up for your beliefs, help out your fellow man and be patriotic at the same time. Rest in peace. We need more people like that.
Citation: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. He was a company aid man when the lst Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
#8: The 77th also fought on Guam, and helped liberate camps set up by the Japanese to hold local Chamorros-Guamanians - according to the local beliefs of many elderly survivors, the Japanese ultimately intended to kill all of those held in these camps. Several groups were misled by the Japanese to travel to selected areas around Guam for work detail or other where they ended up being abused and later massacred.
#9: I lived in that area of Georgia for several years and met Mr. Doss in Church several times.
Like Mr. Doss, I was born and raised a Seventh Day Adventist. I was a teenager during the Vietnam war, and the Church gave us the following counsel:
1. Do not volunteer: you will be obligated to carry arms by doing so, and the Church cannot help you in any way.
2. When Drafted, apply for 1AO, not 1O status. 1AO allows you to support direct military operations, such a a front-line medic, as was Mr. Doss. 1O status means you object to even indirect support of the war effort. A 1O says, "I won't have anything to do with this dirty war," while a 1A0 says, "There are some things I cannot do in good conscience, but there are things I can, and will, do that will help the war effort." Almost all became medics, like Mr. Doss, and the Church actually cooperated with the Pentagon in setting up pre-draft boot-camps so that the option of making an Adventist a medic was more attractive to the Pentagon.
3. If there is a situation where you decide, despite your intentions, that you must pick up a weapon and shoot the enemy, the Church WILL NOT SECOND GUESS YOU. In times like that, they realize that you cannot be accoutable to anyone else but God and your guts, and so refuse to be a judge in that matter.
I eventually left for doctrinal reasons, and in retrospect, I do not think I would have grown spritually if I had remained. But they laid a good foundation, and there should be no doubt that they are patriots.
Rest in peace, Mr. Doss. However, if he DOES show up at the pearly gates, given the beliefs Adventists teach, he's bound to be more than a little put out. ;)
#10: reasonable reservations - committment made and, should we say, overachieved a little? What a hero and stud - an admirable character regardless of your position on the violence. Right hand of God/Jesus in my view of heaven.
Posted by: Frank G>Frank G|| 2006-03-24 23:13
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#6: AS 6196:
God did not see fit to give reptiles a burning curiosity. They are content with a good meal and sunshine when they want it. Our turtle, Leon, is quite content in a small horse trough, with clean water flowing at a gentle current, a sun lamp, and Reptomin Turtle Food. He will patiently sit for hours in the corner where the current slows, waiting for the turtle food to float into easy reach.
I think God invented turtles to give us a good laugh. Leon is good for my morale; he's got a ridiculous perpetual frown and his little legs paddle wildly when he jumps off his sunning platform into the water.
I'm going off topic for a minute to remind everybody that, if you see somebody selling turtles smaller than four inches long, they don't know diddly about turtles and they're breaking the law. Don't buy a cute little turtle who's undersized for any reason, and don't buy any reptile unless you're ready for a long term investment, including making room for it as it grows. Leon will grow to the size of a dinner plate and can live for 30 years.
Some morons have let their oversized pythons loose in the southern US, where they pose a threat to livestock, small children, and the endangered species in the Everglades.
#2: While I think I understand why Gaza has a high potential for multiple fatalies from bird to human transmission (lack of automation, lack of sanitation), I don't understand why a mutation to a human to human virus is any higher in Gaza then anywhere else.
#3: mhw: Right now, it is believed that H2H is less common because the virus enters the body through cells deep in the lungs. Typically, flus enter through sinus and throat cells, and the eyes, so infection is much easier. So, the virus might just need to "learn" to attack cells higher up to spread easily via H2H.
The easiest way for avian flu to "learn" *might* be in an area where B2H infections are more likely.
Gaza is just one such place, however, and better off than most, as Israel has made it abundantly clear that they will provide some of the best medical resources in the world *instantly* when there is any sign of the disease in the Paleo areas.
Vast areas of Asia, Africa and Oceania do not have anything approaching this level of assistance so are far more troubling.
#4: Here in Guam, iff someone uses the term BIRD FLU, many old-timers would not know what was being described or referred to - iff, however, one uses the alternate term BLUE-COLORED/HEADED CHICKEN, then they'll know what is meant. The head is cut off and thrown away, and the remainder is boiled, broiled, or barbecued at high heat. The top layers of broth or excess, dripping fats are often skimmmed - to my memory, no one I know has ever gotten sick, not even those whom still chose to cook a chicken + head with some blue discoloration. Here in Guam most farm animals are kept separate from primary domiciles and in clean environments - its a matter of [male] pride for one to know how to raise a healthy animal, be it for agricultural production or for cockfighting, as well as to prep/cook one for large groups of people. BIRD FLU, etal. will truly be life-threatening iff, e.g. like ROE V. WADE and Govt. subsidized Universal Abortion-on-Demand, and women on perm welfare, the Gummermint starts telling economy-based/dependent men Govt., etal. will unilater 150% take care of everything and anything from now on without need of anything from men. Don't need our money, don't need our romance, don't need our sex, don't need women of any age, don't need God, Govt. and Third Parties will take care of any kids, etc. .............. @so why do men need to cook!? IS WHY, WESTERN OR ASIAN, POPULATIONS IN SOCIALIST STATES ARE DYING ERGO AMERICA NEEDS TO BE LIKE THEM!?
#2: Color me blase. When this disease shows signs of being infectious, I'll start to get worried. Remember Ebola and the mad cow disease? Both are fatal. But neither showed signs of being very infectious. Ebola got its start in Africa, where hygiene is indifferent and presents an ideal environment for spreading disease. Same with bird flu and SARS. If they can't spread in China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia (where the natives use their left hands in place of toilet paper), all of which are hygienically-challenged, you're not going to see any serious problems in the West.
You have some good points, but, we just can't predict what happens when human to human.
The only thing on the good news front is the timeline. 24-48 hour kill rate is too fast for massive, massive destruction ... well, given today's populations. 1918, or before and global, problem of a different scope.
The problem is, and we can't stop it no matter what, the bugs will adapt. We adjust our health care and technology to a certain level, and they will out do us. It is pure math.
We divide once or twice every 50 years or so. They do it every 30 minutes or so.
We offset by technology, but there is the law of delimiting returns. It is an iteresting race. At some point we have to come up short, and massive corrections in population are the result.
#6: The only thing on the good news front is the timeline. 24-48 hour kill rate is too fast for massive, massive destruction.
Its well documented that in 1918 many people were killed in 24 hours or less, yet the flu spread just fine.
In fact, I would argue exactly the opposite. A person becomes highly infectious very quickly which makes containment a lot more difficult. Hence spread is much more rapid than 'normal' flu.
#7: I'd be interested in knowing how many human deaths there have been in Western countries.
Among people who are not from 3rd-world countries with 3rd-world ideas about sanitation.
Though I understand it's nothing to sneeze at, I suspect this flu (presuming it jumps to human-to-human transmission) is going to be less of a problem in Western cultures where there is at least a modicum of sanitation.
#8: The big jump from bird to human B2H to H2H may not be as difficult as all that. Right now, it is believed that H2H hasn't erupted en masse solely because the virus only takes hold in cells deep in the alveoli of the lungs, unlike typical flu that enters in the cells of the sinuses, eyes and throat.
So, how different are the cells in the lungs from those higher up?
As far as mutation goes, it is much like a computational problem. Individual animals that do not immediately die from the disease, like swine, may have several mutations of the same disease in their bodies, in a darwinian race to establish supremacy and efficiency. In a herd, each animal is doing the same, but with different mutations.
The "winners" of the individual animal viruses are exchanged around the herd, in a "semi-finals", until the best mutation is the sole survivor.
Herd after herd and flock after flock produce increasingly efficient mutations, even though many good possibles are eliminated through death. But when you add up all of those individual and group efforts, an awful lot of possibilities are generated.
Now, consider human interaction at many stages of this process. Swine, in particular can catch both human and avian influenza, and within their bodies the two different types of viruses can and do exchange RNA.
This means that humans are not needed to produce a virus that will transmit easily H2H.
Remember that *most* typical flus are uptaken in the upper respiratory system. It is a common mutation that allows them to do this, so there is a very good chance that a common influenza will give that mutated gene to H5N1.
In addition to its virulence, H5N1 is also believed to have an optimal incubation period, anywhere from 10-17 days, with an extended period of communicability. This bastard seems to be tailor made to kill humans.
#9: CoasttoCoastAM had a recent episode where Noory's guest commented that what is being [wilfully] under-reported or nono-reported in the Medias is how stocks in poor countries are born, raised, eat, and processed in hyper-polluted, unsanitary industrial conditions, and that left alone, these viruses can easily mutate over time to threaten mankind. IOW, the world doesn't need exploding Commie Biowar factories or research complexes - all thats needed is for enviro wastelands/dumps to stay polluted AND HUMAN-OCCUPIED for periods of time.
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