#1
Just make sure they have their shots and are on a leash at all times. Pets found unattended go in to confinement and are held for a week before they are humanely euthanized.
In the late 1600s, the Puritan settlement of Salem in Massachusetts toppled into chaos when accusations of witchcraft began to appear. Two young girls, aged nine and eleven, were said to have fallen victim to fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease," including screams, strange contortions, and throwing objects. The village doctor, unable to explain the symptoms, suggested that witchcraft may be afoot in Salem. Others in the settlement began to exhibit similar inexplicable behavior, and shortly the accusations began to fly.
The infamous trials that followed left nineteen people hanged to death, and scores of others imprisoned under suspicion of supernatural wrongdoing. Today, few would suggest that those punished were actually guilty of witchcraft, but the true cause of the errant behavior in Salem's citizens is still a mystery. One theory perhaps the most intriguing yet offered suggests that the community's rye crop may have been partially to blame. . . .
Salem, like many other communities in the past and present, harvested rye as part of their grain crops, and it was a staple in their diet. But it turns out that rye grass is susceptible to a particular fungus called Claviceps purpurea which infects the edible portions of the plant. During the ergot stage of this fungus' development, a cocktail of interesting alkaloids are present which will cause problems with circulation and neurotransmission when ingested by humans. A woman named Linnda Caporael was the first to suggest that Ergot of Rye may have contributed to the madness in the Salem trials.
Wonder if a similar "cocktail of interesting alkaloids" might explain things like Democratic Underground and Cindy Sheehan?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/28/2006 12:58 ||
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Ergot = precursor to LSD. It would get into the crops, and then whole regions of people would eat bread and trip. From what I understand, ergot poisoning is a lot less pleasant than LSD intoxication.
#2
They had at least one such infection - maybe more - in Europe, too, several hundred years ago. In France, maybe? I remember reading about it a long time ago.
Mike: "Wonder if a similar "cocktail of interesting alkaloids" might explain things like Democratic Underground and Cindy Sheehan?"
Naaaahhhh, they're just nuts.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/28/2006 14:44 Comments ||
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#3
I've wondered for a while if the ugly clothes, hair, and wacky ideas hatched in the 70's were partially a product of breathing in too much leaded gasoline exhaust. I remember my parents sitting in brutal hours-long traffic jams with all the windows open...
#4
I can remember reading that entire villages in Europe would be affected in a similar manner. St. Anthony's Fire is widely thought to have been caused by Rye Ergot, in which entire communities went stark raving mad.
#6
Ergot = precursor to LSD. It would get into the crops, and then whole regions of people would eat bread and trip. From what I understand, ergot poisoning is a lot less pleasant than LSD intoxication.
IIRC, it was called "danse de Saint-Guy" (Saint Guy's dance"), which in familiar language still designate a purposeless, frantic agitation; victims would be peasants forced to eat normally unedible, spoiled by mushrooms and moisture, crops in time of hunger; they would then get both devastating physical effects (with extremities painfully swelling, and litteraly rotting away, le "feu ardent/harsh fire" IIRC) and "bad trips" which led to convulsive mindless agitation, as the nervous system was attacked and destroyed by the mushroom's toxins... and this on the scale of whole families and villages.
(SomaliNet) A total of 77 lives have been claimed by the out break of acutely watery diarrhoea with over 2000 cases reported in northern Sudan, Angolapress reported Tuesday. According to the ministry's update on the epidemic covering 21 April to 18 June 2006, about 35 percent of the total number of cases occurred in the Khartoum state, while 26 percent were reported in Northern Kordofan. The rest of the cases occurred in White Nile, South Darfur, South Kordofan, Kassala, Red Sea, Al Gezira and River Nile.
But Sudan's an Islamic state. That's the important thing. If you've got religion a couple thousand cases of the terminal trotz is no big thing.
Sudan's National Public Health Laboratory confirmed the isolation of vibrio cholerae in 70 out of 139 stool samples collected so far from these states. Cholera is caused by Vibrio cholerae bacterium, an acute diarrhoeal illness that results from the infection of the intestines. In south Sudan, the epidemic has recently been reported in seven of the 10 states in the war-ravaged area and new locations continue to appear almost daily.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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It isn't merely the terminal trotz, it the terminal Cholera trotz. Nice of the reporter to slip that in in the final paragraph.
Diseases with the largest total annual health burden from environmental factors, in terms of death, illness and disability or Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)1 are:
* Diarrhoea (58 million DALYS per year; 94% of the diarrhoeal burden of disease) largely from unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene
* Lower respiratory infections (37 million DALYs per year; 41% of all cases globally) largely from air pollution, indoor and outdoor.
* Unintentional injuries other than road traffic injuries (21 million DALYs per year; 44 % of all cases globally), classification which includes a wide range of industrial and workplace accidents.
* Malaria (19 million DALYs per year; 42% of all cases globally), largely as a result of poor water resource, housing and land use management which fails to curb vector populations effectively.
* Road traffic injuries (15 million DALYS per year; 40% of all cases globally), largely as a result of poor urban design or poor environmental design of transport systems.
* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) -- a slowly progressing disease characterized by a gradual loss of lung function. (COPD, 12 million DALYs per year; 42% of all cases globally) largely as a result of exposures to workplace dusts and fumes and other forms of indoor and outdoor air pollution.
* Perinatal conditions (11 million DALYS per year; 11% of all cases globally).
1DALYs = Disability Adjusted Life Years: The sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability.
That diarrhoea kills millions, expecially children, needlessly is an indication of how primitively the bottom of humanity lives and how inefficiently the public health expenditures are. The same can be sid for malaria.
#4
NS wasn't/isn't there some sorta brew haha about an aborted plan to genetically alter patatoes to give immunity to a couple of the nastier sorts of dysentry? Would save many, many children.
(SomaliNet) At least 111 rebels have been killed by the Ethiopian forces seizing 107 others who crossed over from Eritrea earlier this month, the state news agency said on Tuesday. According to the Ethiopian Defence Minister some, 18 of the Ethiopian rebels were injured during a major military sweep in the remote north, ENA reported.
Ethiopia, has occasionally accused its neighbour Eritrea of backing, arming and harbouring a variety of insurgents. The state agency says Ethiopia is inventing threats to justify oppression of its own people and belligerence towards Eritrea. The Horn of Africa nations have long been feuding over their border and went to war between 1998-2000, with 70,000 killed.
"Of the anti-peace group who crossed into Ethiopia at Quara, Armacheo and Metema in the north of the country from Eritrea recently, 111 have been decimated and 18 others were injured in a joint military action taken by the Ethiopian Defence Forces and the people of the region," ENA said in its report.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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They decimated 111 men? So, only 11 are dead, then, yes?
The Great Firewall of China is an important tool for the Chinese Government in their efforts to censor the Internet. It works, in part, by inspecting web traffic to determine whether or not particular words are present. If the Chinese Government does not approve of one of the words in a web page (or a web request), perhaps it says f a l u n, then the connection is closed and the web page will be unavailable it has been censored.
This user-level effect has been known for some time but up until now, no-one seems to have looked more closely into what is actually happening (or when they have, they have misunderstood the packet level events).
It turns out [caveat: in the specific cases weve closely examined, YMMV] that the keyword detection is not actually being done in large routers on the borders of the Chinese networks, but in nearby subsidiary machines. When these machines detect the keyword, they do not actually prevent the packet containing the keyword from passing through the main router (this would be horribly complicated to achieve and still allow the router to run at the necessary speed). Instead, these subsiduary machines generate a series of TCP reset packets, which are sent to each end of the connection. When the resets arrive, the end-points assume they are genuine requests from the other end to close the connection and obey. Hence the censorship occurs.
However, because the original packets are passed through the firewall unscathed, if both of the endpoints were to completely ignore the firewalls reset packets, then the connection will proceed unhindered! Weve done some real experiments on this and it works just fine!! Think of it as the Harry Potter approach to the Great Firewall just shut your eyes and walk onto Platform 9Ÿ.
Ignoring resets is trivial to achieve by applying simple firewall rules and has no significant effect on ordinary working. If you want to be a little more clever you can examine the hop count (TTL) in the reset packets and determine whether the values are consistent with them arriving from the far end, or if the value indicates they have come from the intervening censorship device. We would argue that there is much to commend examining TTL values when considering defences against denial-of-service attacks using reset packets. Having operating system vendors provide this new functionality as standard would also be of practical use because Chinese citizens would not need to run special firewall-busting code (which the authorities might attempt to outlaw) but just off-the-shelf software (which they would necessarily tolerate).
Theres a little more to this story (but not much) and all is revealed in our academic paper (Clayton, Murdoch, Watson) which will be presented at the 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies being held here in Cambridge this week.
NB: Theres also rather more to censorship in China than just the Great Firewall keyword detecting system some sites are blocked unconditionally, and it is necessary to use other techniques, such as proxies, to deal with that. However, these static blocks are far more expensive for the Chinese Government to maintain, and are inherently more fragile and less adaptive to change as content moves around. So there remains real value in exposing the inadequacy of the generic system.
The bottom line though, is that a great deal of the effectiveness of the Great Chinese Firewall depends on systems agreeing that it should work wasnt there once a story about the Emperors New Clothes ?
Mr Schroeren said Germany was still committed to its Kyoto targets, but would achieve carbon cuts through other measures.
One plan is to cut three million tonnes of carbon by training motorists to drive more economically.
ROFLMAO! Has Mr. Schroeren ever been on the Autobahn?
"Training [German] motorists to drive more economically." Yeah, like that'll happen.
Read the rest of the Euro-whining at the link - if you'd like a good chuckle.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/28/2006 13:49 ||
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Barbara, I seem to recall that Germany actually instituted a 120 kph maximum on long stretches of the autobahn in the 1990s or early 2000s, although whether it was to improve pollution or reduce those lovely 100-vehicle pile-ups I couldn't say. Loud squawking at the time about taking away the Germans' natural right to go precisely as fast as their native ability and vehicle's specs would take them. I've a friend who was arrested at the border of Bavaria, clocked at well over 220 kph (it was one of those nice BMWs with only two seats); when he asked the police why they hadn't stopped him sooner, as he'd been driving that speed since leaving Munich, he was told they'd been enjoying the speed, too,
#2
The thing is the Kyoto targets were chosen with Germany in mind. They have the baseline of East Germany polution to start with and had already met a bunch of their targets before treaty was signed.
If they weren't half socialist they would have met them by now.
Nine people were convicted on Tuesday of murder or accessory to murder in the killing of a 19-year-old woman gunned down by her older brother two days after her wedding because her Pakistani family disapproved of her choice of husband. The 12-member jury returned guilty verdicts against the nine, all family members and friends, for the murder of Ghazala Khan. Sentencing is expected later this week, likely on Friday.
Khan, who was born in Denmark, was shot and killed Sept. 23 in Slagelse, 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Copenhagen. Her husband was shot twice in the stomach but survived. In testimony during the trial, Khan's older brother, Akthar Abbas, admitted to shooting the couple as they tried to flee to a train station, but he claimed he acted in self-defense because his brother-in-law, Emal Khan, had allegedly kicked him.
Akthar Abbas was found guilty of murder. His father, Ghulum Abbas, was found guilty of incitement to murder and masterminding the killing. Prosecutors said he had his son and other members of the family to track down his daughter and her new husband and kill them. Ghulum Abbas denied the charges. Both face the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, which under Danish law is automatically commuted to 16 years. Seven other people, including three of Khan's uncles, an aunt and a family friend, were found guilty of being accessories to murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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The accessories to the crime all get two years which under Danish law is automatically commuted to three weekends of community service.
#7
If a life sentence is, in practice only 8 or even 16 years, Denmark would be the place to go if you hate your spouse but don't want the messiness of a divorce.
Prior to the sentencing, Rune had offered these observations on the situation in Denmark:
Perhaps the positive in the case is not so much that the actual sentencing likely will be much less what we could wish for (Id guess less than 4 for all but the brother and the father), but that, for the first time, the whole network behind the killing has been unravelled and convicted. Likely it will set a precedent throughout Europe, whereby not only those who do the actual killing can be convicted but also all the those who support the killing. Reportedly much of the immigrant community is in shock over the verdict. In a longer perspective it is expected the verdict will have a great preventive effect. But also that we in the future should be more aware that girls will be abducted to their homeland in the Middle East and murdered there.
What is nearly mind boggling is the massive support the killers have received from their community, even after the killing. Several of the jurors have received anonymous threats and have had some of their things vandalised. Immediately following the killing a group of unknown people visited several hospitals asking for the wounded husband of the murdered girl, supposedly to finish off the job. He had to witness in court heavily disguised and in a separate chamber a thing that has also been witnessed in other similar cases with violence against women from the immigrant communities. Womens shelters in particular have had many problems with family members of fled women who try to locate them and force them home. Most now have several policemen to protect them; they never order a taxi with an immigrant driver to transport women, always only have one women of each nationality at the shelter (since it was becoming common that a womans female relatives would enter the shelter and try to pressure the women to come back to the violent husband) etc.
There will always be maniacs. There have also been sad cases where children have been killed by their ethnic Danish fathers. But its the whole tacit or active support of the community that sickens me.
Can't say I'm much of one for polls, but this one, I like. Poll in my office -- 11 people. All support Bush and this war, and against these liberals (this is in the middle of Blue Blooded Austin, TX
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 27, 2006) - The 2006 Gallup poll results on public confidence are in and the military is again at the top of the list. Seventy-three percent of Americans polled from June 1-4, 2006, said they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military, according to Gallup poll writer Lydia Saad. This is with all of Murtha's damage working
After the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, military confidence soared 13 percent above the previous year. In that 2002 poll, 79 percent of respondents said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military.
The following year saw an increase to 82 percent of Americans having high confidence in the nations military. In 2004, the percentage dropped to 75 percent and last years confidence measurement fell one percent, but remained at the top of the polls as the institution in which Americans place their highest confidence. The military surpassed the police and organized religion, the next highest ranking organizations, by 15 percent. The police and organized religion are the only other institutions rated in the poll that earned a high confidence rating from Americans, according to Saad.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents placed high confidence in the police, compared to the 67 percent who said they had high confidence last year. Fifty-two percent of respondents said church organizations have earned a high degree of confidence, falling only one percent from last year.
The Gallup poll results indicated that HMOs, big business and Congress earned the least amount of confidence with the American public this year. Congress earned a confidence rating of 19 percent, while big business earned a confidence rating of 18 percent. In the 2005 poll, Congress and big business were tied at 22 percent.
The institutions with the lowest level of public confidence according to this years Gallup poll were Health Management Organizations. Fifteen percent of Americans polled said they had confidence in our nations HMOs, a drop of two percent from last years poll.
#1
Competence and courage always generate confidence, heh. The crap that Murtha peddles is as transparent as glass. In fact, thanks to Oldpsook working us over (I gave $50, LOL, and I'm cheep), He just might get tossed out on his ass. I have to admit, that would be soooo sweet. Right up there with Sulzberger doing the perp walk.
Sherry, you're in enemy territory! You guys carpool and watch each other's backs at lunch? Take care! :)
#2
Right now, nobody pisses me off more than Murtha, except maybe the New York Times. If you want to do something about him, donate to his opponent, Diana Irey. Help her out enough, and maybe she can toss that lying, treasonous sack of shit out of Congress.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/28/2006 5:42 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2006 8:43 Comments ||
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#4
Yes, the real poll is going to be taken in november.
All the bullshit, mind-controll, sway-the-public-opinion, jeddi mind-trick polls that the left is inundating us with will be worth exactly zip at that moment. I don't believe for a minute that a majority of the country wants the U.S. to hide in the shaddows and be bent to the will of countries like Venezuela or NKor. I'd laugh my ass off if the Dems actually lost seats in the elections.
#5
Seething. The pastime of impotent losers. MSM and Dems meet your brothers the muzzies.
Magic words and incantations cant make up for real action. Real men and woman do. Those who cant do, seethe. Most people admire those who can do.
Americans are paying unusually close attention to the congressional elections in November, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and they are more inclined to deliver big gains to Democrats than in any year since Republicans swept to control of the House and Senate in 1994. The survey, taken Friday through Sunday, indicates that voters are more concerned about national issues than local ones a situation that favors Democrats hoping to tap discontent over the Iraq war and gas prices and prefer Democrats over Republicans on handling every major issue except terrorism.
President Bush looms as a significant drag: 39% of those surveyed say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Bush. Just 21% say they would be more likely. "At this point, it certainly looks like a significant tilt to the Democrats, but it's still quite early," says James Campbell, a political scientist at the University of Buffalo and author of The Presidential Pulse of Congressional Elections. Democrats including House leader Nancy Pelosi of California express optimism about winning the 15 seats needed to take control. They are hampered, though, by the limited number of competitive districts across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Polls have been claiming similar things for years and every year the Dems lose - what is clear is that even iff the GOP-Right loses a few seats, their agenda is still preferred over the Dems by the majority of the Amer mainstream. The Dems want easy street, i.e. to have the GOP resolve the Rogues for them while all they do is spend Amer dollars everywhere while simul eroding Amer geopol power and position unto anti-Amer OWG.
#2
We need more and more polls telling us the Democrats are going to win. Maybe in 2-3 Centuries the Democrats will figure out that these fake polls they love to do only drive Republicans to the Polls. Of course, Hell will also freeze over as the Flying Pigs expel freon from their nether regions as well to cause Global Cooling.
And remember you have to hold all your current ones as well. And that includes that nutbag Murtha who will be facing a solid opponent against his moonbattery and senility.
Respondnets will be more likely D than R - R tend ot have unlisted numbers, etc.
Friday through Sunday polling. On a weekend in the summer - R voters are more likely to be away formthe phone, NASCAR, fishing, etc. D (ubran) voters will be indoor near the phone withthe Air Conditioning on, watching the world cup.
On top of that, their sames are off - they far oversampled Dems (see above) and undersampled Repubs.
Etc.
Methodology makes them just as wrong now as they were in 2002 and 2004.
Rassmussen is more accurate - that would be one to watch on a state by state basis.
Zogby and USA/Gallup are heavily biased toward D - they had Bush losing Ohio, and Kerry winning the national popular vote by several percentage points the last national cycle. Its similarly bad that they tend to use push-poll type questions, not neutral ones.
#9
Don't forget, too, that "generic Democrat" versus "generic Republican" never tells you much of anything. Nobody ever votes for "generic." When you step up to the touch-screen machine, it's "incumbent Congresscritter" vesus "challenger," and your decision on that question depends largely on who those people are and what they said and whose push-polling phone call annoyed you the most.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/28/2006 7:08 Comments ||
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#10
Certainly "Generic" has never done anything to turn the electorate off.
#18
I call this skew the "Loudmouth Minority Effect". Some effects are gratifying (ie: shows up after the ballots are counted!), and some are irritating (shows up in liberal speech when you know they're wrong but they're sure they're right!).
Posted by: grb ||
06/28/2006 13:37 Comments ||
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The Senate today fell one vote short of passing a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed Congress to prohibit the desecration of the American flag. The proposed amendment went down when the Senate voted 66-34 to approve it. At least 67 votes -- two-thirds of the 100-member body -- were needed to pass the amendment, which was passed by the House last year.
Just as well, though I would be in favor of a law exempting people who thump flag burners from prosecution.
Everytime I see a flag-burner, I say to myself, "there goes an idjit."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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doent like ta see it. but ifn ya start jaylin em peples hoo burn em flag, ima doent see ya az anee bettern em yahoos hoo wanna kill peples for makerin kartoons of mo man.
#3
It's disturbing that our freedom of speech has won by such a narrow margin
Posted by: bk ||
06/28/2006 1:04 Comments ||
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#4
Yeah, nothing special about the flag.
"I Pledge allegiance to the Flag
And to the Republic for which it stands..."
"O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
"Our flags unfurl'd to every breeze From dawn to setting sun';
We have fought in every clime and place Where we could take a gun.
In the snow of far-off northern lands And in sunny tropic scenes,
You will find us always on the job - The United States Marines."
Thousands of flag-bearers have died in battle - and as each one fell, another picked it up and carried forth. Idiots.
We could replace it on the uniforms of the US Military with "Free Speech Beeyotch!" insignia. Do 'em Peter Max style.
Nope. No big deal. Don't mean nothing. The flag's not special.
#6
Oh, I get it, alright. It does stand for something, something very special, something unique on the planet. Protecting it does not blow the whole point, it makes the point that it is important and deserving of respect and protection. I know people who died to defend it.
Raising the Flag on Mt Suribachi wasn't a joke or stunt, it was symbolic of the entire Pacific Campaign, of the entire reason behind WW-II. It raised the spirits of every fighting man on the island and on the ships off the coast. It meant something. Something very special.
Yeah, I get it.
One of the things I've noticed about people today is that, along with loyalty, honor, and real patriotism, they have decided that such things as honoring the flag is corny, uncool, unclever. Fine.
The Republic has been around a little over 200 years. You and yours are the first to believe that the flag doesn't mean anything special. The change that allowed flag desecration happened in the mid-80's by one vote in the USSC. Think of it, how special you are. All those who went before, all those Americans, from Washington to Lincoln to TDR to MacArthur to Chesty - they were fools. You're the smart one, alright, you've figured out what no one for the first 180+ years could fathom. Brilliant. Yep. you're what's special.
You're a New Age Man, I see. Good for you. Welcome to your world. Keep up the schtick. It's a real winner.
#7
were they defendin a "flag", or an ideer and beleef? were they defending em way of life? or a piese of colord cloth? kore to wat they were defendin wuz freedom of spreech. not the symbol representin it.
#8
//You and yours are the first to believe that the flag doesn't mean anything special. The change that allowed flag desecration happened in the mid-80's by one vote in the USSC. Think of it, how special you are. All those who went before, all those Americans, from Washington to Lincoln to TDR to MacArthur to Chesty - they were fools.//
yore a presumpshes wun. wat meens more to ya? the ideal an way of life, or em symbel that represents it?
theenk ima did say up there sumwere that ima aynt like seein it burnt....
#9
Hey, I get your incredibly insightful point. It's fucking brilliant. Congratulations.
I thought the very same thing when I was a stupid Iowa farmer's son, before I went into the Marines. And then, somewhere over the next 2.5 years, I learned something very different. It was the same piece of cloth as before, but I had changed. I "got" what all those who went before me did. If I haven't explained myself sufficiently yet, then it's not going to happen.
Geez. I tried to be as nice as I could. You're a moron. You've never served and you don't know fuck-all about it.
"yore a presumpshes wun."
I'd say you're the presumptuous one, since you think your opinion, born of no more than a fool's understanding, is so intelligent. Do you think any serviceman would agree with your "just a piece of cloth" view? Even a REMF probably gets some kind of lump in his throat at the sight of the flag.
Explain this: If it's just a piece of cloth, no special meaning to it, just as you've claimed - then how are your free speech rights curtailed or endangered if this one little thing is off limits? How is the Republic diminished?
You're a joke and your phonetic garbage is remarkably unclever. As I said, I get your point. The problem is you don't get mine -- and appararently you never will. The symbol, if it is to actually stand for the Republic, must be treated with the same same respect, else either it is no symbol or you don't respect the Republic. That too deep?
#14
Almost all Amers = "Statesiders" I've met on the mainland are against flag-burning or other desecration of the flag, generally becuz there are myriad other ways to get points across without resorting to burning or desecration. Flag burning says one is against America or against their nation, i.e. for treason by definition, not dissent only. The irony here is that becuz so many Americans are against flag-burning or desecration, any radical or moonbat that does it will stay a radical or moonbat, which in turn helps the GOP-Conservative/Conservative cause. Hopefully, such anti-desecration sentiment will not change in America for a long long time to come.
Geez. I tried to be as nice as I could. You're a moron. You've never served and you don't know fuck-all about it.//
an yore bein presumpshes agayne. yore insinuatin that becuz i doent beleeve peeple shuld be thrown in jayle for disrespektin em flag, that it meens nuthin to me. fuk off. obviuslee freedom of speech meens nuthin to yoo. peeple shuld be imprizend if they doent hold theengs to teh same standerds as yoo. howz that for bein presumpshes?
//"yore a presumpshes wun."
I'd say you're the presumptuous one, since you think your opinion, born of no more than a fool's understanding, is so intelligent. Do you think any serviceman would agree with your "just a piece of cloth" view? Even a REMF probably gets some kind of lump in his throat at the sight of the flag.//
its a symbol that represents the ideers and peeple of this land. oh fuk it, lets jus make it yore ideas. to me its like destroyin a bible. sumwun kan mayke a messaje by doin that. but that aynt chanjed my beleefs in it or its meenin. get it? wuns yoove krosst that line an say all speech is acceptable sept this kind, then it haz lost its meenin. kapeesh? did yoo fite for a flag, or the peeple and ideas an prinsipals it represents? onse yoo start jaylen peeple for dissen a symbol yoo hold so dear, then sory. yoo are jus like em yahoos hoo want to kill yoo if yoo mishandle or desekrate their silly little koranz.
//Explain this: If it's just a piece of cloth, no special meaning to it,//
yore bein presumpshus an kompleetly missen what im sayin. thats not wat ima sed.
// just as you've claimed - then how are your free speech rights curtailed or endangered if this one little thing is off limits? How is the Republic diminished?//
kmon, itn jus wun theeng off limits! itll never go no further that! reely!
/sarkasm off
yoo doent jayle peeple for expressin emselfs. period.
//You're a joke and your phonetic garbage is remarkably unclever. As I said, I get your point. The problem is you don't get mine -- and appararently you never will. The symbol, if it is to actually stand for the Republic, must be treated with the same same respect, else either it is no symbol or you don't respect the Republic. That too deep?//
the symbol kumes sekund to the peeple an idea it stands for. not visa versa. get it?
Posted by: grb ||
06/28/2006 2:52 Comments ||
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#17
Seems to me, muck4doo, that you haven't said anything new since #5 - merely repeated it endlessly while inserting big chunks of SJ's posts.
The most compelling argument in this thread, from my POV, is that the USofA ran along just fine without this additional bit of disrespect, er, free speech, until the 1980's. I guess we didn't know what we were missing. In fact, I'm amazed we survived.
A pleasant ending...
"I don't want to wrap myself in the flag, because I'm afraid I'll get burned."
-- former Chief Justice Warren Burger
#18
This proposed amendment is merely to permit Congress to make a law regarding flag desecration. It does not define the law.
Given that an amendment requires approval by 75% of the States, and this amendment proposal addresses only this one single issue, as amendments are supposed to be: very narrow and specific, the BS about this being some slippery slope ("kmon, itn jus wun theeng off limits! itll never go no further that! reely!
") is, well, pure BS. It is this one specific thing.
#20
"I would be in favor of a law exempting people who thump flag burners from prosecution."
LOL - that approach works for me. Fred.
Sure thing, buddy, you can do any damned thing you want. Mee too. Knock yerself out. Here, lemme help you with that. I figure 2" x 2" x 6' hickory will be in short fucking supply.
#22
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're all wrapped up with that Freedom of Expression[tm] thing while you sit like little puppy dogs with McCain-Fingold which was a dagger at the heart of free assembly, free association, free speech, and free expression. The Senate and SCOTUS had no problem restricting your rights there. So what's all the concern about cutting back on something certain to 'incite to riot'?
#23
I've had people ask me to sign petitions to get Congress to make it a crime to burn the flag for at least the last 14 years. Sometimes on line and sometimes in person. I always refuse. While it saddens and even angers me to see someone burn the flag I do not believe they should be jailed. What this ammounts to is making people into political prisoners. All they are really doing is showing their disdain for a particular administration or the USA in general. Shailing Jeper3536 I am a veteran. You say burning a flag is not speach? Is arrainging electrons on a screen to depict words speach? Is writing words on a piece of paper speach? We can not start jailing people because they have different views, whether political or social. No jail time for flag burning.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2006 7:54 Comments ||
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#24
We can't burn leaves, but the flag is OK. So, this fall, be sure to rake them into flag patterns.
#25
I don't want to see flag burning. But, in order to make flag desecration illegal, Congress must first have the ability to make the flag sacred. I don't want Congress to have that ability. G-d, yes. Congress, no.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/28/2006 8:18 Comments ||
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#26
Well said Deacon Blues. It pisses me off to see someone desecrate the flag or the Bible, but it doesn't want to make me jail them or blow them up. We ain't muzzies nor should we act like them. Someone once said that allowing flag burning just makes the nutjobs easier to identify.
PS. Muck, man that must take a lot of work to come up with your "muck-speek";)
#28
I agree w/DB, BP, & the muckster. I'm glad this failed. Some jackhole burning the flag does not harm me or my family. Their burning of the flag says more about how stupid and lame the perpetrators are then how weak we are for letting them do it.
The actual meaning of the flag goes beyond the act of some moron burning it and its principles will endure beyond said act forever. Our principles are so enshrined and perfect that even burning the very symbol of those principles does not taint them or that symbol in the least. Just like my belief in God. Which is why I laugh at muzzies who got all pissed off about the cartoons. Like a God would be so petty to care what some Danish cartoonist would do. Kind of same analogy - my God and my Flag will always be bigger then the earthly actions of those trying to tarnish them.
Now, if we could just get that public burning ordinance into law. :)
#29
A radio commentator put it well...if this amendment ever passes, we will be able to read at midnight by the light of all the burning 49-star, 14-stripe flags...
#31
The House passed a resolution forbidding any restrictions being placed on the display of the flag. I think that's something we all can get behind, since if burning the flag is supposed to be protected by the First Amendment, then so is its display.
#32
Burning the flag is exactly like using the N word.
Some people are grossly offended by it. It's okay to burn a flag to destroy it, just as it's okay for the watchacallits to call each other N.
It's when either of these acts is done with malice that certain folk become uncontrollable.
So, choose your desecrations carefully.
#33
Gotta lotta anon input into Mister 4doos Rant. Sure sign of a superior post.
Now, let's go burn some bibles, no wait, can't do that the President is sworn in on one that makes it untouchable, a holey kram? naw... too damn dangerous, burning a cross? Hell I expect that's something we can all agree on. This shit is all for symbol snappers.
I expect Mister 4doo was trying to uphold the sanctity of the flagholder. Meanwhiles yawls just pissed cause you can't 'peed typ.
#34
wow - don't have time to read to read all the comments - but I resent the idea that because I don't support an amendment regarding flag burning that I don't respect the flag. I fly it every day and I've cried more times than I can tell you when it's passed by; it's downright embarassing.
When I see pictures of people burning flags I think of the honor, courage and commitment of the fine men and women who make it possible and the freedoms we possess that allows adolescent fools to display their stupidity.
#35
You cannot legislate respect. I personnaly detest flag burning. I find it disrespectful of the country and the people that have sacrificed so much to get us where we are now. We cannot descend to the level of the people that riot and kill when rumors of Koran flushing show up in the media.
While the Congress is f*cking around with the flag burning amendment, they are ignoring essential issues that need to be addressed. Some of them are:
*Control of our borders
*Infiltration of this country by the 5th column types
*Getting good judges in the courts
*dealing with the corruption of their own houses
*runaway federal spending
to name a few.
And Mucky is our Rantburg Treasure. Don't tread on him. **makes snake face**
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2006 11:22 Comments ||
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#36
Ya nailed it AP.
While our senators (puke) were debating this how many illegals crossed the border today because the senate can't even find the common sense to agree on putting up a wall?
#37
Broadhead6 dear, in this kind of thread you needed to mention in your post that you are an active duty Marine who recently returned from the Sandbox. For some people that gives your argument more weight than if a little, civilian, Midwestern housewife like I had said it.
I don't object to flag burning as such -- some people need to have public temper tantrums, and I'd rather they burn a bit of probably-made-in-China fabric than a pipe bomb -- but I fail to see why these people aren't arrested for polluting, given how artificial fibers tend to smoke and melt rather than burn cleanly... or thoroughly doused by fire extinguishers, to protect them from the flames...
Ok, I admit, I never served, but it wasn't for lack of trying (I have asthma....FYI. Considered lying about it, but figured I'd get caught either in the medical exam or when they made me run for the first time, so decided to be honest and voila, in spite of my education and language abilities I'm a 4F or whatever they call the "nope, not gonna take that physical defective" category nowadays.) If for some reason that makes me ineligible in your eyes to comment on this, so be it.
Personally, I get offended every time I see it used to sell cars, pest control, shoes, you name it, in a newspaper ad. It pisses me off to see it turned into boxer shorts, hats, or put on disposable party ware so some yahoo can put a huge mound of baked beans on it during their backyard bbq. To me, that's ignoring what it stands for and turning it into some kind of symbol or logo that can be used for even more merchandising. All of that shows *zero* respect for what the flag represents, and it's tolerated. That's real desecration right there, and you get a quadruple dose of it from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year.
In a weird way, at least the flag-burners are saying, (in a Palestinian temper-tantrum kinda way, anyhow) "Yes, I know what this stands for and I reject it totally." That's a lot more dignified than turning it into a decoration on a plus-size thong, complete with sequins.
#40
I hadn't thought of it that way SB, but you make an excellent point. Hear hear!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2006 12:44 Comments ||
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#41
PS, I also have asthma. Didn't tell but was eventually found out. I could still do all the hard stuff. Did a lot of lung building stuff in high school.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2006 12:46 Comments ||
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#42
There ought to be a law against thongs, period. Humans just don't have enough hair left on their bodies to look any good without clothing.
Aside from that, a lot of the use of the flag in this country is just plain tacky. I'd love to see a constitutional amendment against tackiness in general, but I don't think the hoo-mans are going to let it happen.
#43
TW - thank you, I really appreciate that you mentioned it. I thought about it but then (not to be over presumptuous) I figured most of the folks who regularly post here like yourself know what I do. I really didn't want to play the vet card because I didn't think it really applies to the Flag - which we all have deep feelings about as Americans. I may have a little more credibility talking about troop morale or terror tactics as having been there recently but I feel every American has an equal weight when it comes to our National Ensign. Unless someone was going to question my patriotic cred I was hoping my reasoning for not wanting this amendment could stand on its own merit. I kind of find it distasteful to accuse people that what they do for a living is less patriotic then what others do (though I'm sure I've been guilty of such in the past) - I voluntarily chose to serve - it makes me no better & gives me no more credibility than a patriotic (though way too modest) Midwestern housewife ;)
BTW - when SJ brought up "REMF" - I thought it was out of place and soured his otherwise passionate argument (though I disagree w/him in principle) - as if REMF's are supposedly less patriotic than grunts. I've known more than a few so called REMF's who have been killed or wounded in Iraq.
#44
And finally, I'd tell the Muckster his writing style was stupid, except I can't duplicate it to save my life. It must be indicative of a higher state of conciousness.
Or, as some have speculated, an attempt to avoid the all-seeing eye of google.
#45
When I see the palys and the other 3rd world shitholes burning are flag I just smile because I know the US is doing something right and the only thing they can do is burn a flag.
#46
I agree Swampy, (BTW - I was hoping you were going to re-name yourself Beach Blondie! :)
I also hate seeing the Flag on the backside of those cheerleading style shorts. I even bitched to a manager at our PX about the block lettered USMC as well as the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor being on the back of said shorts because it looked so damn tacky and lame. (Yeah, like let's sit on the flag or the EGA). Like both the EGA and the American Flag are now some damn fashion statement for a wannabe hooter's girl to wear on her ass. To me that is closer to ignorant disrespect than some true mothball smelling maggot infested peace pansie gomer burning it.
*Sigh* I guess this is just one of the perils and sometime irritation of living in a free republic.
#47
djohn, which is why I'm going to burn the Mexican Flag as a protest the next time Vicente shows his ugly face on our side of the border. No worry though, I'll make sure to put it out with the beer I run through my kidneys.
#48
Amen to that, djohn66! Besides, they often seem to not get it right. I can't help but laugh when they burn one with blue stars, way too many or way too few stripes, etc.
DB, I didn't know that. I was afraid they'd give me a dishonorable discharge or toss my ass into Leavenworth if they found out. But considering how much trouble my mouth would have gotten me into, it's probably all for the best. ;)
#49
Broadhead6, let me know when you do it, and I'll pony up for the beer! ;) Just don't do it somewhere like Berserkley. I'd hate for you to get busted for "hate speech" or some other crap like that.
BTW, 2 reasons I'm not "Beach Blondie":
I get sunburned real easy, and my Corvette's in the shop. ;)
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2006 13:19 Comments ||
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#51
Your reasoning does you credit, BH6, and normally I would agree with you -- the argument should stand or fall on its own merits. But Mr. Shailing Jeper3536 (I assume Mr. because I'm not accustomed to such thoughts coming from female minds -- I believe the acronym given in another thread is CUNT?) and the several other anonymousities who agreed with him were clearly recently enough come to this site that they don't know our darling, spelling-impaired muck4doo, who came here to argue indignantly against everything he thought we stand for, and stayed to be converted to a unique supporter of Rantburg's purpose. Which presupposes that they also didn't know of The Adventures of Broadhead6 And His Marines, in order to by their own scale give your argument the weight it deserves.
Burning a flag is a two-edged sword. Yeah, it gets your message noticed by everyone, but the ones with brains, who are generally the audience you care about, aren't exactly going to be working well with you after that. You'll only end up with a bunch of like-minded moonbats on your side. I'd say leave it alone and let this highly effective filter continue to do its job and hope they don't figure it out. :-)
Posted by: grb ||
06/28/2006 13:56 Comments ||
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#55
I hate the sight of a flag being burned, except of June 14th, but the thought of NOT being able to express that thought causes me more anguish. Put me down for support of a "Look the other way while the flag, burner falls down the steps. repeatedly" law. Amen to the other comments about the dithering Congresscritters who let the border remain more porous than the Titanic.
#56
TW - I appreciate the kind words. I also find it amusing when those unfamiliar w/muck4doo encounter him for the first time. Reminds me of a time I observed him visiting the DU and they couldn't make heads or tails if he was the ultimate spelling impaired moonbat comrade or a rovian deep cover clowning on their idiocy.
Swampy - make it Pabst Blue Ribbon :)
No worries about Berkley, I'm still persona non grata there. They're still pissed at me about that bit w/the kool-aid and the turkey baseter......long story.
#57
So, let me get this. It's ok to jail someone for burning a cross on public property [hate speech and not on private property], but it's not ok to jail someone for burning a flag [hate speech Part II] on public property. Yeah, it all make sense to me.
#58
Glomble Ulinetch8608 those two examples are not the same thing. Burning a cross is aimed at either an individual or a certain group of people. There is no doubt as to the intentions of the burners. Burning a flag is not normally an expression of hate directed at individuals or particular groups of people but is dissatisfaction with the government or governmental institutions. There is a big difference.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2006 15:24 Comments ||
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#59
Glomble, (not to put words in his mouth) I think DB is pointing to the legal basis for the difference, though I can see where you perceive incongruities between the two. I personally hate the whole hate speech line of thinking btw. Though I think that just like flag burning - if moronic people want to *peaceably* assemble and are dumb enough to burn a cross in the process I could give a rat's ass. Burning a cross in it/of itself does not physically hurt anyone imo. I think the KKK are idiots but if they want to assemble and do their stupid little marches & burn a cross or whatever, let'em. Same for the Nation of Islam who I also despise. If they want to go out and yell about us white devils and spew bull sh*t I could care less. It will piss a lot of folks off & I may want to "counsel" them for their ignorance but just like the old kindergarten diddy - sticks and stones.....
#60
Our flag, like the Bible or a Koran is a symbol of something (supposedly higher) held in our beliefs. While its burning is nothing to applaud, we must be of stronger resolve to defend what the flag symbolizes (i.e., a nation of free people) rather than elevate the symbol above what it is symbolic of.
There are few better tests of free speech, save perhaps neo-Nazis, than flag burning. Repugnant, yes. Illegal, no.
LOL! Gotter you fooled. Muck is a genius Marketeer. He's his own brand, a singularity in the blogworld. Get's his own shelf space and pays no rent. It's astonishing. I think he studied Middle Englishe, muche of is phrazing, has a freelance built it yourself quality found during that time. I also suspect he has an auto=parser.
#62
I believe there are (at least) 3 aspects to this thread.
1) Symbols
2) Free Speech
3) Clubs and Cliques
Symbols
-------
FUCK YOU RANTBURG
Above you see 13 symbols: F, U, C, K, Y, O, R, A, N, T, B, G, and the space. No, no message there, just symbols. Everything that we see on Rantburg is symbolic - contrasts between pixels. Symbols have meaning - assuming you are not an idiot incapable of human reason - because humans are usually able to abstract from symbols to meaning. Symbols are the hallmark of human reason - the power, the "force multiplier" that drives and underpins our achievements. Language and math would... disappear... without symbols and the meaning attached.
Flags are symbols - sometimes very powerful symbols with a huge train of baggage. They have serious, not soy-milk latte, meaning to some. Don't Tread On Me, for example. I get it.
Pretending they are not important is silly. Saying that protecting them puts them above what they stand for is circular silliness.
Free Speech
-----------
There are many laws limiting free speech - think about the NYT and apply the logic of unlimited free speech. Think about the anger when the illegal immigrant supporters carried Mexican flags, IWP and ANSWER flags. There are hundreds of examples that indicate that some symbols are substantive, not merely the materials they're made of.
I admire those who say it doesn't mean anything, but with enough personal information about them, it would be simple to find where their hot-buttons are, find the symbols that matter to them, push them to the breaking point, and turn that sentiment into hash.
This is an ACLU-lover's dream thread. Think about it for 10 seconds.
#19 says it all.
Clubs and Cliques
-----------------
Rantburg is a club. Who posts is far more important than the words and intended meaning posted. Anonymous posters, unless they are perceived as Lefty Loonies (chew toys?), are usually ignored or denigrated. How many of you actually know each other? Personally. Face to face. Actually. Yet you act as though you do simply because you've come to "see" a personality and some measure of predictability about the positions of "known" posters.
Simply put, "known" posters get a pass, which is understandable to a degree. Looks like to me that trying to differ with any of the club members is a sure-fire ticket to shitsville, regardless and irrespective of the posted comment content.
===============
I'm anonymous to everyone here, so just ignore the post.
Personally, I'd be quite happy to have a one-one-one with a flag-burner. But that's just me. I'm presumptuous.
#65
The flag is more than cloth. It is a symbol of MY country and of MY identity. But, if some dickhead burns burns a flag in my neighborhood, I won't shoot him or club him over the head with a baseball bat. In return, I expect the same when I burn the koran or photo of Mao. If that tolerance is not returned, then all bets on bodily harm are off.
That said, I will make sure my dogs poop in his driveway everyday for the summer. There are infinite ways to get under the skins of these types without breaking the law.
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2006 18:05 Comments ||
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#66
You don't join; you get infected. You're showing symptoms.
#68
How many of you actually know each other? Personally. Face to face. Actually.
Some of the regulars do, flyover. How's that infection coming? ;-)
Reminds me of a group of friends I had waaayyyy back in college. Called ourselves the Polygon (many sided figure) because we had too many odd corners to be a 'circle'. But damned if we didn't grow on one another over a couple years. And interesting how many of us (baby boomers all) went career military or married one.
#69
"How many of you actually know each other? Personally. Face to face. Actually."
-I wasn't at the last Rantapalooza. One of the other regulars would have to answer that one. Maybe a half-dozen or more have met each other face to face but I'm not sure.
anymouse and I had lunch on Tuesday. Many of us talk to each other by phone. Rantburg does not have a video link for meetings at this time. The world is just not ready for us yet.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2006 22:29 Comments ||
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#74
no offense, Paul :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2006 22:33 Comments ||
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#75
We gotta quit meetin' like this, :
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2006 22:37 Comments ||
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#76
Counting Paloozas and drunken bacchanals, er...high level editorial staff meetings, I've met about 30 - 35 Rantburgers, each and every one a fine human being and nice to their Moms. I hope to meet many more.
Which reminds me, I'm going over the Pond to Al-Andalus in September and would greatly love to have a Europalooza. Any and all of you Euroburgers are encouraged to email me to arrange same, and please try to have your tranport and hospitality unions to stay on the job during my visit.
This seems like BS from the Paks. The dam experts here can say whether this is even remotely possible.
NOOR KOT: In a bid to escape the disaster of possible floods, India has diverted one of its flooded river aided by a solid built dam.
The situation is posing grave dangers to such borderline area of Pakistan as the rural villages and regions of Jalala, Ratoojak Jainder, Bhaat, and Warriach. etc, which are in danger of being flooded sooner or later.
The valuable agrarian lands of Pakistan are in danger as floods are slowly and gradually inching towards them, and it would only be a matter of couple of days before they devastate the fertile Pakistani territory.
This apprehension was expressed while talking to "Online" by rural notables, which included nazim of Ikhlas Abad, Chaudhry Muhammad Hayat, Baba Muhammad Siddiqui, Jamshed Iqbal, Khizar Hayat Chaudhry, Muneeb Hayat Chaudhry and other residents of these rural regions.
They have strongly urged construction of dams in these regions to protect borderline areas from imminent flooding, and expressed insecurity due to the fact that dams were quite insecure unless they were adequately supported by embankments. Currently only 1400 feet of stone embankment is being raised at Jalala flood dam, while the remaining part is being left open and vulnerable.
They said that during previous year, the floods were only 720 feet away from the dam, whereas this time they are literally touching the dam. Similarly the water levels of nullahs Auj and Tarnao, both of which originate in IOK and curving from the front of Jalala turn back to IOK before merging in river Rawal are also increasing.
They said that during a previous flooding, which occurred at the toochak Jainder region situated on the banks of this Nullah route, due to weak structures , caused heavy damages both in human and crops including plenty of domestic animals.
Posted by: john ||
06/28/2006 16:53 ||
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Two Nepalese Gurkha Victoria Cross (VC) winners have attended a ceremony in London to mark the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the medal. Four of just 12 surviving VC holders are Gurkhas from Nepal.
Most Nepalese people are completely unaware that their countrymen are among the tiny surviving group who hold Britain's most prestigious medal.
Gurkha soldiers were first recruited by imperial Britain in 1815, and are deeply admired for their fearlessness. Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung, an 80-year-old who attended Monday's celebrations, made a solo stand against 200 Japanese troops during the World War II after being blinded in one eye.
Also in London was Captain Ram Bahadur Limbu, aged 66, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving two wounded comrades in Borneo in 1965. The other two Nepalese VC holders, both now in their eighties, were decorated for action in Burma. One continued a charge after almost all his colleagues were killed. The other repelled a Japanese counter-attack on a captured bunker.
In recent years, some Nepalese Gurkhas have been involved in disputes with London over retirement issues. Captain Limbu recently led a group petitioning British Prime Minister Tony Blair to demand the same pay and pension rights as British-born soldiers. Gurkha pension and citizenship rights have recently been improved, but only for those retiring since 1997.
Recently, several hundred retired Gurkhas received a £10,000 ($18,000) payout from London after being imprisoned in Japanese camps.
In a poor country with high unemployment, men still flock to sit the Gurkhas' gruelling recruitment test. But Maoist rebels now involved in peace talks - and about to enter an interim government - say they want the system to end.
The Prince of Wales was among 2,000 people gathered at the church service in London's Westminster Abbey to pay their respects to the VC winners.
Posted by: john ||
06/28/2006 16:07 ||
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#1
Of course they do. The Gurkhas can kick their ass.
#3
Their battle cry: Ayo Gurkhali!
(The Gurhas have come!)
Gurkhas served as part of the British Indian Army and there were 10 Regiments, but following Indian Independence four Regiments were transferred to the British Army, the remainder stayed with Indian Army.
It was at this time in 1947 that the British, Indian and Nepalese Government signed a Tripartite Agreement with intention of regulating the pay and conditions for Gurkhas serving in all three Armies. The agreement is still in existence today
Posted by: john ||
06/28/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#4
Joke told to the Argies during the Falkand's War.
How do you know if you've been visited by Gurkhas in the middle of the night?
If you wake up, they haven't paid you a visit.
Posted by: bruce ||
06/28/2006 18:00 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi on Tuesday informed a Senate standing committee that Pakistans literacy rate was the lowest among south and west Asian countries and said that drastic initiatives were required to improve the situation. Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Science and Technology expressed alarm when informed that the country had a 45 percent student dropout rate.
The minister informed the committee that the National Education Census was initiated in November last year and data from all four provinces had been collected. The complete data would be made available on the Internet after evaluation, he said. The minister said that the national education policy was being reviewed to introduce uniform policies in all four provinces. He told the committee that under the new policy, Islamiat would be taught as an integrated subject in classes one and two and as a separate subject from class three onwards. Subjects of ethics and morality will be taught to non-Muslim students instead of Islamiat. Computer courses are also being introduced as an elective subject from class IX and all controversial material will be removed from the syllabus in the new education policy, the minister said.
That's the important thing. Give 'em lots of Islamiat. Don't worry about the trifles, like reading and writing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#5
Now how the hell are they gonna memorize the Koran???
It should be plain by now that Islamic cultures, atop their ::cough:: technological pinnacles ::cough::, do not rely heavily upon literacy. Probably 99% of the Koran is taught through oral tradition and rote memorization.
It takes no great leap of imagination to consider how a young boy who has, for all his short young life, been obliged to parrot back the words of his imam might also take that role model's word about strapping on a Semtex vest.
Lowest literacy ... highest violence. Who'da thunk it.
WASHINGTON: A US congressional committee on Tuesday endorsed a sweeping civilian nuclear energy deal between India and the United States, which supporters said would usher New Delhi into the top tier of global powers. Lawmakers on the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives voted 37-5 in favour of the controversial agreement. Both the administration of President George W Bush and lawmakers are confident the deal will secure majority bipartisan support in the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee before full House and Senate votes, possibly next month. "This is a historic hearing," said the committee's top Democrat, Tom Lantos, a sponsor of the House bill. "In terms of the impact of this legislation on the new geostrategic alignment between India and the US for the balance of the 21st century, the importance of this legislation cannot be overstated," he said before the vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
...37-5 in favour of the controversial agreement.
37-5. Apparently not as 'controversial' as the 'journalist' might hope.
#5
Lantos is the only Bay Area liberal for whom I have any respect. He understands tyranny overseas. Too bad his bleeding heart makes him support its policies at home.
Just about any military pilot would kill to get into an F-22 fighter. But one Air Force flier couldn't get out of one.
A jammed canopy kept the pilot at Langley Air Force Base, Va., trapped inside for five hours April 10 before firefighters used a rotary saw to cut him out. Air Force officials said the optically perfect canopy on the $130 million jet will cost about $82,000 to replace.
The Air Force blamed the snafu on too-short screws that had begun to back out of the canopy frame. The offending hardware was inspected in other planes and replaced with longer screws. "This was a rare case that's likely to never happen again," said Dexter Henson, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, which builds the jets in Marietta. "The technical issue has been resolved."
So far, the stealthy fighters have flown more than 14,000 hours and Lockheed and Air Force officials say they're meeting or exceeding expectations. The Langley planes are part of the Air Force's first front-line F-22 squadron.
#3
...A good friend of mine is still at Langley and had some interesting commentary on this when it happened. FWIW, there was never any question that if they had to cut the pilot out they would do so, but obviously they wanted to try every option first. The one I wouldn't wanted to have answered for was the FOD (Foreign Object Damage) incident a couple months ago where the F-22 picked up a chunk of concrete and wiped out one engine.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/28/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#4
I wouldn't want to cut it either, but imagine being able to tell the story.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/28/2006 12:10 Comments ||
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#7
Disappointed in all you guys for overlooking the obvious 2fer: "...too-short screws that had begun to back out of the canopy frame." the USAF admits it has a screw loose.
And the USAF has short screws. Never heard the Navy say that. (grin)
and as an added no-cost bonus, it is kind of telling that this incident is described as a 'snafu.' De-acronymized, it means: 'Situation Normal, All F#$%ed Up."
but the picture is pretty anyway.
#12
My brother, the Major, once got as angry as I've ever seen him when he told me about the screwdriver he'd picked off the runway t his base. FOD stands for both Forign Object Damage and Finger of Death, you know.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/28/2006 18:28 Comments ||
Top||
#1
Specifically, some believed that even more foam needed to be removed from the shuttle's exterior to lessen the risk that falling foam would damage the shuttle during launch.
In 2003, falling foam from Columbia's external fuel tank damaged the shuttle, which eventually disintegrated, causing the deaths of seven crew members.
All because the entire rotten NASA organization won't admit it made a fatal error in reformulating the composition of the foam to make the Green/Reds happy. They refuse to go back to the original formula.
#2
NASA is finished as a leading edge agency. They have fallen victim to the DC bureocracy mindset. Time to let the private companies take over and it seems congress agrees by forcing NASA to pay companies that meet certain milestones in space vehicle development.
Talk about an ego deflater.
#4
This really makes NASA look bad. That the leadership allowed the dispute to become public by his firing shows how foolish and full of themselves the current leaders are.
#5
Can someone explain to the Physics impaired (me) how a block of foam, traveling in the same system, fall off and damage carbon-carbon? Does the foam deaccelerate that quickly? Or more like I don't have a grasp of the speed-mass thing?
I cannot accept the methods I believe are being used by this Center to select future leaders. I have always based my decisions on facts, data and good solid analysis. I cannot be a party to rumor, inuendo, gossip and/or manipulation to make or break someone's career and/or good name.
#7
Can someone explain to the Physics impaired (me) how a block of foam, traveling in the same system, fall off and damage carbon-carbon? Does the foam deaccelerate that quickly? Or more like I don't have a grasp of the speed-mass thing?
F=ma
or Force equals mass times acceleration.
A small mass with sufficient acceleration can generate significant force on impact (think of bullets, for example).
On liftoff the shuttle is accelerating very rapidly (a million pounds of liquid hydrogen going off underneath it gives it a lot of acceleration. If a small piece of foam breaks off and impacts on the tiles (which are actually very brittle), it can punch holes in the heat shield.
On re-entry, holes in the heat shield, if they're deep enough, can allow the heat to bleed through to vital areas of the spacecraft. If they're in the right place they can destabilize the craft's aerodynamics, punch through to vulnerable areas (like the onboard liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks, landing wheels, and crew compartment, etc.) which can explode or cause destabilizing damage which causes the craft to break up in flight (this is essentially what happened to Columbia - Challenger exploded on launch when a jet from the solid-fuel booster rockets punched a hole into the liquid hydrogen external fuel tank due to faulty O-rings and construction of the solid-fuel rocket boosters).
#8
cannot accept the methods I believe are being used by this Center to select future leadersl
limited knowledge is a dangerous thing - but from the little I do know (apply salt liberally) - he's on to something that is a serious problem in NASA.
#9
Oh, and BTW, once the foam breaks off it has essentially left the system and while it is still accelerating upwards, it is also decelerating rapidly back towards the craft itself.
#11
Sadly, NASA has degenerated into yet another political beauracracy, not the special science organization it started as. This Griffin is especially disappointing since he originated on the science side. But he knows the game and has been a real Bush lapdog. He seems willing to risk another crew, just to stay on the published schedule. The way to remedy this is to give him a seat and let him belt his cushy butt onboard. If he's willing to go, so be it.
#13
Some corrections. The shuttle does not accellerate really fast. It accellerates very slow because there is a lot of weight to get off the ground. The foam tends to be foam+Ice as the liquid hydrogen makes it very cold and the humid Florida air tends to create ice. Ice covered foam is heavy.
The carbon-carbon on the leading surfaces would be fairly safe from the ice covered foam. The tiles themselves are more vunerable but even they could probably take a glancing blow. When the Columbia was hit the ice-foam hit a spot where the tiles come together which torqued one out of place enough that the heat on reentry was able to tear it lose which caused a cascading effect that stripped a bunch of other tiles lose very quickly.
Personally I think the veteran is planning to retire anyway, planning to write a book, and realizes that if the shuttle goes he can be the man that stood against the storm of government anti-safety folks and thus sell more copies. If he stays and the shuttle blows nobody will care about his book. Yeah cynical but there you have it.
#15
Yawl ain't telling me. I'ma got F=MA and d=.5At^2 what I'm trying to figure out is can foam change its deltaV in 12=18 ft enough to damage the carbon-carbon leading edge, evidently yes. I didn't realize it was brittle.
RENEWED violence was sweeping East Timor's capital with sporadic shooting, hit-and-run arson raids and attacks on minority ethnic groups from its east. Around 26 buildings have been destroyed in Dili since last night.
Stone-throwing mobs have also attacked with refugee camps sheltering easterners also being attacked. They also attacked the national television station but were quickly repelled by Australian and Portuguese peacekeepers.
Anger at a television broadcast showing outgoing prime minister Mari Alkatiri meeting several thousand supporters yesterday at Hera, 10km east of Dili, sparked the attacks. He asked them to abandon immediate plans to enter the capital, where peacekeepers feared clashes with anti-Alkatiri forces, but told them to return in one or two days.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Bystander Carlos Fernandes said the Comoro attack occurred because "we don't want communists in this country. A lot of people are going crazy about the news broadcast. It attacked Australia and praised Dr Alkatiri."
Good man.
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
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) A total of 77 lives have been claimed by the out break of acutely watery diarrhoea with over 2000 cases reported in northern Sudan, Angolapress reported Tuesday. According to the ministry's update on the epidemic covering 21 April to 18 June 2006, about 35 percent of the total number of cases occurred in the Khartoum state, while 26 percent were reported in Northern Kordofan. The rest of the cases occurred in White Nile, South Darfur, South Kordofan, Kassala, Red Sea, Al Gezira and River Nile. 
(SomaliNet) At least 111 rebels have been killed by the Ethiopian forces seizing 107 others who crossed over from Eritrea earlier this month, the state news agency said on Tuesday. According to the Ethiopian Defence Minister some, 18 of the Ethiopian rebels were injured during a major military sweep in the remote north, ENA reported. 
Nine people were convicted on Tuesday of murder or accessory to murder in the killing of a 19-year-old woman gunned down by her older brother two days after her wedding because her Pakistani family disapproved of her choice of husband. The 12-member jury returned guilty verdicts against the nine, all family members and friends, for the murder of Ghazala Khan. Sentencing is expected later this week, likely on Friday.
Americans are paying unusually close attention to the congressional elections in November, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and they are more inclined to deliver big gains to Democrats than in any year since Republicans swept to control of the House and Senate in 1994. The survey, taken Friday through Sunday, indicates that voters are more concerned about national issues than local ones a situation that favors Democrats hoping to tap discontent over the Iraq war and gas prices and prefer Democrats over Republicans on handling every major issue except terrorism.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi on Tuesday informed a Senate standing committee that Pakistans literacy rate was the lowest among south and west Asian countries and said that drastic initiatives were required to improve the situation. Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Science and Technology expressed alarm when informed that the country had a 45 percent student dropout rate. 
WASHINGTON: A US congressional committee on Tuesday endorsed a sweeping civilian nuclear energy deal between India and the United States, which supporters said would usher New Delhi into the top tier of global powers. Lawmakers on the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives voted 37-5 in favour of the controversial agreement. Both the administration of President George W Bush and lawmakers are confident the deal will secure majority bipartisan support in the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee before full House and Senate votes, possibly next month. "This is a historic hearing," said the committee's top Democrat, Tom Lantos, a sponsor of the House bill. "In terms of the impact of this legislation on the new geostrategic alignment between India and the US for the balance of the 21st century, the importance of this legislation cannot be overstated," he said before the vote.
Just about any military pilot would kill to get into an F-22 fighter. But one Air Force flier couldn't get out of one.
RENEWED violence was sweeping East Timor's capital with sporadic shooting, hit-and-run arson raids and attacks on minority ethnic groups from its east. Around 26 buildings have been destroyed in Dili since last night. 
