A Kenya Airways plane that went missing on Saturday with 114 people on board crashed in a swamp a short distance from Cameroons Douala airport, officials said on Sunday. There has been no word of any survivors.
The Boeing 737-800, which was carrying passengers from more than 20 countries, vanished shortly after taking off from Douala for Nairobi in torrential rain. The planes wreckage was found 20 kilometres southeast of the airport along the planes flight path, Kenya Airways said. All I can say for now is that the wreckage of the plane has been located in the small village of Mbanga Pongo, in the Douala III subdivision. We are currently enacting several rescue measures, Cameroons Minister of State for Territorial Administration Hamidou Yaya Marafa said at a news conference. For now we cannot say whether there were any survivors or not. Access to the area is very difficult, he said. We are beginning a new painful phase. Our task will be more difficult now and may involve recovering the corpses of the passengers.
An aviation official said a ground team was at the site and a search party was trying to reach the area by helicopter. The plane was found more than 100 km from the zone where radar-equipped helicopters, ground search parties and villagers on motorbikes had spent much of the weekend combing thick tropical forest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/07/2007 6:28 Comments ||
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#3
Did anybody think to dip the tanks BEFORE takeoff? Even the esteemed Boeing Company crashed an airplane a few years back when 4, count em', 4 experienced test pilots took the last remaining Boeing Model 307 for its post restoration check flight without checking the tanks. Out over Elliott Bay it got real quiet when all four motors quit. Fortunately in this cse, the crew all survived (photos show at least one steppiong off the wing into a rescue boat holding a brief case and not getting wet) and the plane was hauled out, cleaned up and flew to the Smithsonian Museum.
And that proves:
Aviation Law #1: takesoffs are optional; landings are mandatory.
#4
In the crash of Jetstream N16EJ from Eastern Airlines pilot had calculated he needed 45 gallons per tank (they were two of them) and according to the usage in the company told to copilot: 45 gallons. THis one thought it was 45 gallons total and told this to the eployeee of the gas company who did what told. Copilot then did not do the usual visual inspection of the tank. Gas gauge was defective so crew did not notice. In addition, compnay notified the crew they had to do add another leg to their scvhedule for rteplacing another plane who had had problem. Plane got out of fuel while in flight, crashed and there< were no survivors.
SANAA - A Yemeni state security court on Sunday sentenced two tribesmen to 12 years in prison for holding four French tourists hostage last September. Rajih Mohammad Ahmed Hadi, 23, and Ahmed Haidara Laswad, 22, were found guilty of forming an armed gang to abduct tourists on gun point.
The kidnapping occurred in Shabwa province, about 460 kilometres south of the capital Sanaa, by armed clansmen seeking to press Yemeni authorities to release five jailed fellow clan members. Tribal sources said that Yemeni parliamentarians and tribal chieftains secured the hostages release after a deal was brokered with the kidnappers.
The two convicts belong to the Al Abdullah clan, the same clan that kidnapped and held a German diplomat, his wife and three sons and four Italian tourists for several days in December 2005.
Oh. Just a family business then.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists. Chavez has criticized Sidor for selling the bulk of its production overseas and forcing local producers to import from elsewhere, saying Venezuelan industry should be given priority.
Sidor's parent company, Luxembourg-based Ternium SA, is controlled by conglomerate Techint Group of Argentina. Chavez said he has summoned Ternium chairman Paolo Rocca from Buenos Aires for talks. "We're going to pass a law, Rocca. We're going to force you to supply, first and foremost, the Venezuelan domestic market before you take (the steel) to other countries," the Venezuelan leader said at a news conference. "If you don't agree, give it to me. I'll grab your company. Give it to me, and I'll pay you what it's worth. I won't rob you," Chavez said.
Phone calls to Sidor for comment went unanswered Saturday afternoon. Chavez, who was recently granted special powers to decree laws, also said he was ready to require that all businesses in Venezuela similarly supply domestic demand before exporting. "I think we should work on a different model with Latin American business owners," Chavez said, calling for them to "operate differently ... at least here in Venezuela."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Backdoor price controls.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/07/2007 6:27 Comments ||
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Bobo cries; I'll grab your company. Give it to me!
And the world watches as this real time display, repeats every red hand method and practice, on que, without fail......bobo wants it, needs tanks and a heavy industry for bunkers...needs a law against free speech, needs all oil revenue to fund his swiss bank accunts, and so on and so on...Bobo is makeing his move to sit a top the International as titular head, replacing the now dead sadddam.
#3
I wonder what such a law will do to the domestic steel price. Sidor might want to cash out and hit the bricks anyway if they are condemned to losing money for the next 30 years.
#6
Don't kid yourself. Chavez is not acting alone. Lots (not all, lots) of Venezuelans are right behind him and they will only slowly fall away as the consequences of the decisions they have made become blindingly apparent. But by then it will be too late. These countries are like college kids who go binge drinking. Nothing different will happen but there's nothing you can do to stop it. I just hope that some day the Latin Americans will grow up and quit the binging.
#11
I think I speak for social scientists around the world when I say, "Thanks for giving the world another controlled experiment to see the effects of socialism."
#12
We've finally found a national leader Lou Dobbs can support. While embecilic, it's consistent with the socialism denial rampant at the CNN. Imagine how happy we'd all be if only we could get China and Japan to follow this idiot's lead?
Haitians seeking a new life are eyeing up Australia as a destination after it agreed to a deal with the US to swap refugees. The US and Australian governments agreed to exchange Cuban and Haitian refugees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo in Cuba for refugees detained by Australia on the Pacific island of Nauru.
The deal covers only migrants who have been given official refugee status because they have a proven fear of persecution, and was aimed at deterring people-smuggling. Under the agreement, some refugees who had wanted to go to Australia could end up in the United States, and some who had hoped to reach Miami could end up in Sydney.
The pact could spur more Haitians to flee their impoverished and unstable Caribbean homeland in the misguided hope of being resettled in Australia, critics say, increasing the chance of disasters at sea like Saturday's, in the Turks and Caicos islands, when dozens of Haitians drowned after their sloop capsized.
An exodus may already be happening. The US Coast Guard intercepted or rescued 704 Haitians trying to reach the United States by sea in April, compared to just five in March. That is almost as many in one month as the 769 Haitians the Coast Guard stopped at sea in all of 2006.
On La Gonave, only a few residents say they have a clue where Australia is located on a world map. But many have heard of the Australian-US refugee deal. "I don't know where it is, but they told me Australia is a rich country," said Virginie Saint-Clair, 28. "I think if a Haitian like me gets there, life will be better," said Ms Saint-Clair declining to say whether she was ready to attempt the dangerous sea crossing to Florida.
Many of La Gonave's 110,000 inhabitants have relatives in the United States or have tried to get there themselves over the past two decades. "If I have the possibility I will take my chance," said Jean Leonard, who lives in the La Gonave port of Anse-A-Galets. "We Haitians have the strength to work and we'll make our way wherever on the earth there is life."
Ti Lundi, 34, who called himself "Met lanme", meaning "Master of the sea" in Creole, said he had tried to get to the United States before and would now try again. "Maybe it is going to be my last try," he said.
US policy toward Haitian migrants has not changed despite the Australian deal. Few Haitians would likely be entitled to be recognised as official refugees fleeing persecution. The vast majority are simply looking to leave the hemisphere's poorest country for a better life. But Haiti's Minister for Haitians Living Abroad Jean Geneus said that message wasn't getting through. "Those (people) smugglers who organise clandestine trips to the US might be misleading people about this agreement," Mr Geneus said. "The population, which is not really aware of the situation, might be tricked."
Human rights groups have criticised the US-Australian refugee swap. New York-based Human Rights Watch said it amounted to bargaining human lives while Amnesty International said it feared families could end up being separated.
Haiti's Fusion for the Social Democrats party regarded the measure as immoral, said spokesman Micha Gaillard. "It is immoral because it is a lure and a trap for people who are led to believe there is a third country solution, when it is not the case," Ms Gaillard said.
Paris, 7 May (AKI) - France's conservative president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy must "reassure" Muslims in France who fear they could be on the receiving end of ridicule and contempt as the right strengthens its grip on power, the head of the largest Muslim organisation, the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF),Thami Breze, told Adnkronos International (AKI). France is home to between 5 and 6 million Muslims, the equivalent of 8 to 9.6 percent of the population and three percent of the electorate according to official data.
"Sarkozy said he would be a president for all French citizens and during the election campaign he tried to instill trust in most sectors of French society. Now we pray he will reassure Muslims, " Breze said.
"We worked with Sarkozy in the past, when he was interior minister. He is a decent and generous man, but during the election campaign he hardened his language to get rightwing votes," said Breze. "Now, however, the campaign is over, and we hope he will revert to the Sarkozy we knew before, who on several occasions praised Islam and defended Muslims," he continued. "We hope we will be dealing with that Sarkozy," Breze added.
Some young people may fear Sarkozy as president, but Muslims do not, Breze told AKI, underlining that he must "enact measures that serve the interests of the whole of French society."
In the first round of the presidential election on 22 April, Sarkozy obtained just 1 percent of Muslim votes, while 64 percent backed his rival , Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, according to a CSA poll for the Catholic newsaper La Croix. Emphasis added
#1
Maybe the Muslims would do better if THEY reassured HIM. Being as how he's French, and the president, and all that.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
05/07/2007 15:18 Comments ||
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Yeah, reassure them they'll have a comfy seat on the deportation flight back to Africa. Adieu, Muzzies! Hope you like Algiers--it was a nice city when Frenchmen ran it. Don't bother to write, cochons!
Posted by: Mac ||
05/07/2007 15:26 Comments ||
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France's conservative president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy must "reassure" Muslims in France who fear they could be on the receiving end of ridicule and contempt
Perish the thought that French Muslims might have to endure "ridicule and contempt". Despite how they have ZERO compunctions about making death threats against the Pope, Danish cartoonists, local law enforcement and anyone else who looks at them crosseyed. These Neanderthal ingrates have a smackdown of major proportions looming in their immediate future. When it happens, I will laugh and point.
Now we pray he will reassure Muslims
Here's a simple and direct question: What have the Muslims done to reassure France about anything? Murder, riots, brutal gang rapes, vicious assaults, vandalism, robbery, destruction of property, rampant thuggery, how is any of this barbarity supposed to be "reassuring" to the average French citizen?
French Muslims have worked long and hard to earn a major asskicking and I hope that Sarkosy is the man to do it. For the first time in decades, France has a chance of demonstrating some real leadership in Europe by bringing its parasitic Muslim population to heel. Let us all hope that Sarkosy has the courage to do so.
#4
I believe he will reassure the Muslim scumbags after the Parlimentry elections. Once his party has a majority, I think some nice surprises are just around the corner for Muslim criminals. He must preposition the army so that sufficient firepower is available if needed. Just be patient Muzzie dogs, your time is drawing nearer day by day.
#8
Reassure 'em that they'd better straighten up and fly right - sit on those god-damned horrific "youths" of theirs first of all - or they can get their ethnic asses kicked from hell to breakfast. Sharia? Nope, sorry. Move to Iran. Special dress codes to avoid "offending" Muslims? Fuck you.
#10
I would suggest a series of pre-positioned car bombs that will only explode if lit on fire. Handful of those and I imagine the car-fires would stop.
Prepositioned snipers with laser sites. I imagine a lot of people would be unnerved if they saw a red dot appear on the forehead of someone instigating a riot.
#13
Sarkozy's transition team needs to write a well written courteous letter to the UOIF mo' fo's and tell them that Sarkozy appreciates their concerns, and rest assured that all French citizens will be treated equally with all due courtesy and respect for their rights. It is also expected of all French citizens that they will obey the law and conform to the cultural norms of the French nation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2007 21:04 Comments ||
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[Emperor of Frogistan]
I will increase deportations. five thousand this year and the rest might quit burning cars.
HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank. I wonder when they will start advocating sterilization for people who have had 2 children.
The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their familys carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York. I knew we would get to this point sooner or later. Nutballs all.
John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet. I don't make any flights across the Planet. Can I go on boinking? Descisions, descisions! Turn off a light/have another kid? Drive to the grocery store/have another kid?
The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child. Horsepooky! This guy sounds similar to the one who said, "The Human Race is a disease on the planet."
In his latest comments the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account, he added. Sorry, Academic and John Guillebaud shouldn't be used in the same sentence.
Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.
This is from Times Online "This report and the opinions supporting it are frighteningly close to Third Reich Eugenics. Who decides whose children should be born and whose are an eco-crime, i.e. "Unwertes Leben"?
This report gives the term Eco-fascism a whole new dimension." The previous quote is not mine but I agree with the premise.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/07/2007 12:04 ||
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#1
Will this be applied to the muslim population as well?
#2
if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their familys carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.
Idiots of the press. Don't they bother fact checking anything? But they agree with this nutball's viewpoint so it must be truthy.
Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2007 15:49 Comments ||
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#3
The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account...
"Will you have dinner with me tonight?"
"Possibly, but you'll have to complete this Environmental Impact Statement first."
Posted by: Matt ||
05/07/2007 16:06 Comments ||
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#6
So we can decrease the environmental impact upon the US by deporting 10 million who are not here legally? That's 10 million fewer consuming at the American rate. It's got to be a big positive by your calculations. Think the enviro-terrorists understand the logic? Neither do I, cause its not about the environment, its about POWER. One ring to rule them all.
#7
DoDo---This only applies to the normal law-abiding population. Muzzies get a pass because they go ape-sh*t if you try to impose your will upon them. Basically, the enforcement will stop when a MP or two pushes this thing through and finds that his binnacle is separated from the main part of the hull by cutting instruments wielded by persons unknown.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2007 21:16 Comments ||
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#8
I'm the oldest of eleven.
I hope we put out so much CO2, that John Guillebaud suffocates.
US President George W. Bush called Nicolas Sarkozy to congratulated him for his victory in the French presidential election Sunday. "The United States and France are historic allies and partners," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said in a statement after Sarkozy's opponent Segolene Royal conceded defeat. "President Bush looks forward to working with President-elect Sarkozy as we continue our strong alliance."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Honestly, I have a good feeling about this. The French don't have to help us, even; not freaking fighting us for the sport of it all the time would be a nice change of pace!
#3
HUFFINGTON POST > FRENCH ELEX > SOCIALISM IS DEAD IN EUROPE article. OTOH, also in HP, CHINA > CHINA RELOCATES 250,000 TIBETANS INTO "SOCIALIST" VILLAGES. A'mighty MAO-IST of these Democratists = STALINISTS.
#5
SM is right they don't have to lift a finger to help us, just stop fighting us at every turn. I think the many cars torched last summer spelled doom for the Liberal Wing.
#6
Congrats Sarko ! Hell, that map looks like a plot of Kallefornia. Communist south vs. republican north with a holdout area around the Bay area, home base for Pelosi, Tauscher, et al.
Let's try to keep it to one post, unless there's something different or important to add. Just add your links to any other stories in comments to this post...wth thanks from the Rantburg Maintenance Division
RIOT police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters gathered in central Paris today to demonstrate against the presidential election victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy. The clashes took place on the Place de la Bastille where about 5000 supporters of the defeated Socialist candidate Segolene Royal had gone to await the election results, an AFP journalist said.
Up to 300 rioters, some of whom were masked, made running attacks on riot police who took up positions at the entrance to boulevards leading onto the square.
Earlier a small crowd of protesters, brandishing black and red anarchist flags, set fire to an effigy of Mr Sarkozy in the square before tearing it limb from limb and then stamping on it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#5
Anybody know the "demographics" of the rioters?
Not necessarily Muslims. It looks they were anarchists and similar far left scum who are usually rich white kids studying or more exactly not studying soft science in first year at university. They usually have abyssal notes at exams and don't make to second year.
#6
Gee, it's a shame the violent anachists didn't get their girl elected. I thought it was the Sarkozy bunch that was supposed to be commiting all the violence if he won?
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy greeted news of his election Sunday to a five-year term as France's president with a vow to serve as a leader for all people of France. "The president of the republic must love and respect all the French," he told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters. "I will be the president of all the French people.
Sarkozy won with 53 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential runoff, according to preliminary results issued by the French Interior Ministry. Socialist Segolene Royal took 47 percent of the vote.
"The French people have called for change. I will carry out that change, because that's the mandate I have received from the French people." Sarkozy added that he wanted to tell his "American friends that they can rely on our friendship ... France will always be next to them when they need us."
But, he added, "Friends can think differently."
He then called on the United States "not to impede" in the fight against global warming. "On the contrary, they must lead this fight because humanity's fate is at stake here."
U.S. President George W. Bush called Sarkozy to congratulate him on his victory, a White House spokesman said in a written statement.
Sarkozy said he would also work to form a link between Europe and Africa. "We have to overcome hatred to give way to the great dreams of peace and civilization," he said. "It's time to build a great Mediterranean union." Sarkozy said he would put in place an immigration policy "that is going to be controlled" and a development policy "that is going to be ambitious."
But he said that France would "stand next to" those who are persecuted by tyrants, dictatorships." "We are going to write together a new page of our history. This page, my dear fellow citizens, I am sure it will be great."
Socialist Segolene Royal, a 53-year-old mother of four, acknowledged her defeat -- with 47 percent of the vote -- in a speech to supporters moments after the polls closed at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET). "Keep the faith, keep intact your enthusiasm," she said at her party's headquarters. "I will keep on fighting the fight that we have started today."
Prior to the election results being made public, Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, said a Sarkozy victory would be favorable to the United States. "Clearly, his views are more in line with ours," Lugar told CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer."
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, concurred: "I do. I do," he told CNN. "I mean, it would be nice to have someone who is head of France who doesn't almost have a knee-jerk reaction against the United States.
"Unlike my fellow Democrats who do..."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
LUCIANNE > FRENCH WOMEN VOTERS SHUN ROYAL. France = USA in that in time of troubles andor war, women prefer a man in charge. A longtime, dedicated adult female Leftist was quoted on the Net was saying that what France = French Left needed right now to solve their probs was a woman in charge of the country + Govt. Within the scope of Segolene being the French
"HILLARY", mainstream Amers shouldn't count Hillary out whether she wins in 2008 or not - ditto for Segolene. Given the Left's maxima anti-US 2020 timeline for the USA to adopt [anti-US]OWG + CWO-SWO "or else", Hillary's window to become POTUS BEGINS IN 2008. The French elex votes for Segolene was mostly "respectable", including Segolene winning several of France's best-known cities and towns. Hillary has up from 2008 and year 2012 elelx to serve two full terms as POTUS before 2020, and up to 2016 for a one term. IOW, SEGOLENE HAS XTRA TIME TO RUN AGAIN.
Muslim and Christian leaders in Oslo scrapped a soccer match meant to foster understanding between religions, on Saturday after the imams refused to play a team that included female priests. Presumably everybody understands why.
The imams said physical contact with women would be inappropriate, the NRK public television said. "Wimmin's got cooties. Ever'body knows thet!"
The Norwegian Christians refused a proposal of a male-only clash. "We're Norwegians. Norwegians like girls."
Some say that bodily contact is the problem. It leads to special feelings that can lead to something forbidden, imam Senaid Kobilica told the TV channel. "It's hard to give a kick that extra 'oomph' with that stuff running down your leg!"
A woman priest from Norways Lutheran state church, who was part of the Christian team, said barring women from the pitch would be discrimination. Her objection prompted the Christian captain to cancel the match. "Ja, sure! Let's go have a few beers instead!"
"I second the motion!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It leads to special feelings that can lead to something forbidden...
Oh, don't worry, Imam. I'm sure your head will have exploded long before it gets to that stage...
#2
Some say that bodily contact is the problem. It leads to special feelings that can lead to something forbidden,
"Not that I would have any first hand knowledge of whatever this issue possibly might happen to be, you all hear. I just heard it from someone who heard it from someone, you know. I mean, I would never get off thinking of those luscious curves, the supple breasts, the silky skin ... oh no .... oh NO! ... Dammit! Not again! I'll be right back!"
#3
FREEREPUBLIC > ITS THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT FOR PLANET EARTH. Mankind on our way out, Cats and dogs eat too much goodies derived from vital biotic life forms. *PLANET OF THE APES RISING -COCKROACHES CELEBRATE FRENCH ELEX + VICTORY OF PAN-INSECT INSURGENCY OVER HUMANITY. THEY'RE ALL F-R-R-R-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E.................!
#6
A woman priest... who was part of the Christian team, said barring women...would be discrimination. Her objection prompted the Christian captain to cancel the match.
Hopefully, next time it will occur to the captain to cancel the match before the women have to bring the issue to his attention.
#9
Some say that bodily contact is the problem. It leads to special feelings that can lead to something forbidden,
Islam has the sexual maturity of a 5 year old. They can't even say what the problem is. Impotence has to be endemic among muslims. No people that frustrated could function normally.
Turkey Foreign Minster Abdullah Gul said on Sunday he was withdrawing from Turkeys presidential election race after his AK Party failed to secure a quorum in parliament. After this ... my candidacy is out of the question, Gul told reporters in parliament.
Turkey is in political crisis after a wave of secularist protests demanding the withdrawal of his candidacy and alarm in the military at the prospect of a former Islamist as the head of state and commander-in-chief. The military has removed four civilian governments in 50 years in a country which now hopes for the EU membership. The ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party failed to obtain the presence of 367 members of parliament to be able to hold a vote on whether or not to elect Gul as president. He was the only candidate standing.
A first round vote was annulled last week by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that two-thirds of parliament, or 367 members, had to be present for it to be valid. The courts decision came in response to an opposition party appeal. Fighting back, the government organised a vote rerun while also calling early general elections and pushing for a change to the constitution to allow the public rather than parliament to elect the president.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
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pushing for a change to the constitution to allow the public rather than parliament to elect the president.
Soon it will be illegal to deny US citizens jobs or insurance simply because they have an inherited illness, or a genetic predisposition to a particular disease.
On 25 April, the House of Representatives voted 420 to 3 to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The Senate is expected to endorse the act within a few weeks, which is also supported by President Bush. "I am so stunned by the majority," says Sharon Terry, president of the Genetic Alliance, a charity lobbying for the rights of people with inherited illnesses.
"Clearly the House finally understood the incredible significance this has. The American public can now access genetic tests, feel safe about their genetic information not being misused and participate in research that involves genetic information."
#2
My...ahhhhhhm...son and I...ahhhhhm...thank you.
Posted by: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ||
05/07/2007 0:52 Comments ||
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#3
Do you really think a law will keep employers from avoiding a potential future elevated insurance cost?
Smart ones won't admit that is the reason, but no company I've ever heard of wouldn't take that aspect of your employment into the mix. Companies are already uneasy about hiring someone who is overweight, much less someone that has a good chance of developing Parkinson's desease in the future.
#4
Don't you see, this is a perfect way to weed out the healthy in our society, and replace them with dependent, weak, inferior humanoids. We should have told the donks that passing such a bill would assure more Bush types in the oval office in the future. I'm sure they would see the relationship and snuff the bill now.
#5
Genetic predisposition towards disease is going to be an essential part of diagnosis in the future, and not just for an individual, but for their children.
To start with, when they take a DNA sample, it will be evaluated for at least a thousand known variables, and the probability that such a variable will cause a problem.
For example, a given person might have an 80% chance of developing breast cancer, but "only" a 13% chance of developing each 28 other diseases, and a 5% chance of 200 diseases.
In the course of their life, they would then have "windows" in which the probability of certain diseases usually crop up. Add this to the mix, and you have a much better chance of early detection. They know about what, and about when to look for it.
On top of that, many such diseases have protein triggers that activate them, or leave them dormant. These can perhaps either be introduced or inhibited.
Finally, there is genetic "repair", selecting a fertilized ovum out of several that does not have a particularly bad genetic problem, to be implanted, so that the bad trait is eliminated from the family line, while keeping all other traits.
This is "eugenics" in its most benign form, allowing parents to choose healthy offspring over those crippled with terrible defects.
If a super-flu strikes, face masks may not protect you. Even so, the government says people should consider wearing them in certain situations, just in case.
The consumer advice issued Thursday reflects the fact that the science behind it is unclear. Whether widespread use of masks will help, or harm, during the next worldwide flu outbreak is a question that researchers are studying furiously.
But it's a question the public keeps asking as the government makes preparations for the next flu pandemic. So the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came up with preliminary guidelines.
"We don't want people wearing them willy-nilly," said Dr. Michael Bell, a CDC infection-control expert. "The overall recommendation really is to avoid exposure."
When that's not possible, the guidelines say to consider wearing a simple surgical mask if:
-You're healthy and can't avoid going to a crowded place.
-You're sick and think you may have close contact with the healthy, such as a family member checking on you.
-You live with someone who's sick and thus might be in the early stages of infection, but still need to go out.
Consider wearing a more expensive, better-filtering mask called an N95 respirator if you're well but must take care of a sick person, they conclude.
But remember the mask doesn't take the place of basic precautions, including hand washing and avoiding contact with people who have respiratory infections, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC director.
"We are concerned people will think the mask is the magic bullet. It can have a role in personal protection but they are not the only thing," Gerberding told a news conference in Atlanta.
Influenza pandemics can strike when the easy-to-mutate flu virus shifts to a strain that people never have experienced. Scientists cannot predict when the next pandemic will arrive, although concern is rising that the Asian bird flu might trigger one if it starts spreading easily from person to person.
It would take months to brew a vaccine, so the hunt is on for simple infection-control measures that communities could use in the meantime.
Topping that list: Avoid crowds, and avoid close contact with the sick unless you must care for someone, the CDC has long stressed. Flu spreads most easily to those within 6 feet of an infected person. And flu tends to be most contagious before people realize they're truly sick, when the very first coughing and sneezing begins and they're still likely to be out and about.
Why aren't masks a no-brainer to add to the list? They can help trap virus-laden droplets flying through the air with a cough or sneeze. But it's unclear whether large droplets or far tinier, so-called aerosolized particles are the bigger risk from flu.
Simple surgical masks only filter the larger droplets. But better-filtering respirators aren't for everyone. They must be fitted to the user's face, don't fit over beards, and many people find them hard to breathe in. Most people don't know how to use them properly, Gerberding said.
Plus, the CDC has wrestled with whether masks would create a false sense of security. Perhaps someone who should have stayed home would don an ill-fitting mask and hop on the subway instead.
Nor does flu only spread through the air. Say someone covers a sneeze with his or her hand, then touches a doorknob or subway pole. If you touch that spot next and then put germy hands on your nose or mouth, you've been exposed. (Hint: Public health experts now recommend sneezing into your elbow instead.)
It's harder to absent-mindedly rub your nose while wearing a mask. Conversely, faces get pretty sweaty under masks. Reach under to wipe that sweat, and users may transfer germs caught on the outside of the mask straight to the nose, Bell cautioned.
The CDC has long recommended that health workers who care for the sick during a pandemic be given masks, and the government is stockpiling for that purpose - amid dire warnings that supplies would quickly disappear once a pandemic struck.
Thursday's guidelines are the first for the general public, and likely will change later in the year as long-awaited results from mask research emerges. Meanwhile, there's no need for personal stockpiles, Bell said, although "if an individual feels more comfortable having a few at home, that's not unreasonable."
"When the CDC says 'consider,' the average citizen is going to respond by saying, 'I really ought to do this,'" said Jeff Levi of the advocacy group Trust for America's Health.
That will mean shortages, he said, calling for the government to increase stockpiles.
#1
Practical things that can be done at the local level:
1) Lay in a large amount of hand sanitizer. Walgreens now sells quart sized bottles for $4. Also get several 2oz bottles to carry around with you, and to leave in your vehicles in case you forget. This is the single most important precaution you can take. When out in public during the epidemic, sanitize hands about six times a day, and train yourself NOT to touch your face until after you have sanitized.
2) Public businesses of all kinds should be encouraged to keep a large amount of complimentary hand sanitizer at their entrance and cashier registers. They might also pass out inexpensive dust masks (5-10 for $1) to their customers and employees, instead of the far more expensive loop masks. This will strongly help reduce public contamination.
3) It should be suggested to city governments that they set up a phone bank, to systematically call every phone number in the city with information, to get information, and to streamline emergency services.
4) Inexpensive latex and rubber gloves will also be a shortage item that should be pre-purchased. Remember that the gloves can also be contaminated, so you should still use hand sanitizer when wearing them. If no gloves are available, use gallon sized plastic bags.
Let's see. Your circulation is crashing. The value of your paper has plummeted. Everyone in the industry recognizes that the the future is online, and most realize that the byline has become the brand and that writers with followings will be a crucial part of the rescue of the bottom line.
#4
James Lileks is the best English-language writer of short feature essays and op-eds active in the world today. Period.* The Strib is shooting itself in the foot (and probably has the chutzpah to put in for a Purple Heart the moment the cordite smell dissipates). If I were a subscriber, I'd be cancelling this afternoon.
As it is, all my friends will likely be getting copies of Interior Desecrations next Christmas--ordered from Amazon via the link on the Daily Bleat page so Lileks gets a commission on top of his royalty.
*I yield to no man in my admiration for Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, Peggy Noonan, the Anchoress, Wretchard, and the many other fine writers whose works grace the Op-Ed page of the RDS&TP--but Lileks is the best of that very good lot.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/07/2007 14:29 Comments ||
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#5
They couldn't resist cutting the last thread that kept the business above water, could they?
#13
As myself and other Netters had argued times before, iff the Left = LeftSocialism can't rule the world and post-9-11 future OWG, they'll take everybody wid them to hell. Its not for the Failed and Failing to reform or share or change, even for its own benefit or advantage its for the Good and Successful to concede = surrender.
Apparently, saving the whales is more important than saving 5.5 billion people. Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and famous for militant intervention to stop whalers, now warns mankind is acting like a virus and is harming Mother Earth.
Watsons May 4 editorial asked the question The Beginning of the End for Life as We Know it on Planet Earth? Then he left no doubt about the answer. We are killing our host the planet Earth, he claimed and called for a population drop to less than 1 billion.
The commentary reminded readers that Watson had called humans a disease before and he wasnt sorry. I was once severely criticized for describing human beings as being the AIDS of the Earth. I make no apologies for that statement, the column continued.
Strangely enough, neither Watson nor nay of the people he hangs out with will be on that list of people who get to participate in the "population drop."
Posted by: Mike ||
05/07/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
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#2
I'm not sure I could find 5.5 billion I want to get rid of, but I could make a good start. My motivation is not 'saving the whales' though, but saving me and mine.
#4
The eco-extremists will be the ones depopulated, Spot - and by choice.
I'm guessing that the bulk of the greenreds are not exactly reproducing at or above replacement level. It is their ideas that will disappear. Demographics are destiny.
The Roe effect - so cruel, yet so inevitable......
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/07/2007 13:23 Comments ||
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#5
They'll volunteer for depopulation right about the time Mookie volunteers to wear a suicide vest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2007 13:23 Comments ||
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#6
One of the best excuses for physician assisted suicide there Mr. Watson. Ever thought of moving to Oregon?
(Oh, wait a minute....it's ok, really, since he only has one, and they're the "right" kind of people, anyway.....not like all those unthinking breeders out there, anyway.....nope, not him....no way.....besides, he knows better now, you betcha.)
#11
Anyone who spews this sort of filth needs to come under the harshest sort of government scrutiny. These are exactly the sort of megalomaniacs that wouldn't flinch at unleashing a viral or germ weapon to achieve their ends. Take them in, clean their clocks, go over their personal finances with a fine tooth comb and keep them under surveillence until they flip out and do something that merits putting them in prison.
This is nothing more than the left's equivalent of jihadist clerics who are always so eager to get someone else to die for the cause of Islam.
Federal agents are taking aim at phony war heroes who tell tall tales of battlefield valor and pin bogus medals upon their chests, the Daily News has learned. The FBI's Washington headquarters receives at least 15 tips a week about fake heroes - and most of the information comes from veterans who are furious that the scam artists are demeaning real sacrifices, said FBI Special Agent Michael Sanborn. Sanborn said the charlatans are an insult to the nearly 200,000 veterans who have perished in faraway battles and earned their medals posthumously. "These guys gave their lives for their medals," he said. "These other guys bought theirs off eBay."
The FBI investigates all the tips and, on average, more than a hundred each year lead to pretenders who tout their bogus heroics at Memorial Day rallies and other military galas, said Sanborn, a Marine Corps captain who has been hunting impostors for a decade.
The latest to be accused is Louis Lowell McGuinn, a 62-year-old Vietnam vet from Flushing, Queens. Prosecutors say he promoted himself from private to lieutenant colonel and wore the Army's highest medals for valor on his dress blues during an October gala at the Hotel Pierre. McGuinn became the first person in the nation to be prosecuted under a new law, the Stolen Valor Act, which exposes convicted fakers to a year in prison.
McGuinn's lawyer says he plans to defend his client by attacking the merits of the law.
When you can't attack the evidence, you attack the law ...
"They're going to be sitting in the jury box waiting to hear about the crime that was committed," said attorney Paul Dalnoky. "He served and this is how the government thanks him?" Dalnoky would not acknowledge that his client broke the law. But the lawyer added, "We all do it. With women. Applying for a job. It's all puffery."
Then you won't mind the prosecutor displaying the photos, the fake medals, etc., to the jury. Nope, the jurors won't care at all, will they.
Authorities say McGuinn wrongly parlayed his medals into lucrative security consulting contracts. "This is a problem that has gone on as long as there have been soldiers," said Doug Sterner, a military historian who keeps track of medal winners and helps the FBI ferret out the phonies. "Soldiers tell war stories."
#5
The pic of a faker named Thibideux set of my bullshitometer, even before I read the caption, because his mustashe was so far out of regs.
Well, regs in this century, anyway. (Might have passed in the 19th century, though)
#6
...I've been following thsi stuff for a while, and folks, it is unbelieveable what some of these idiots have gotten away with. What amazes me to no end is the number of them that had long, solid and perfectly respectable careers in the military, then suddenly promote themselves from E5 to 0-10 with two CMOHs.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/07/2007 9:27 Comments ||
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#7
Sgt. Mom: Actually, that style of mustache was popular with some Vietnam War attack helicopter pilots, who were given some latitude in their high-performance, high-risk job. A very bold bunch, known for their daring and heroics.
Which makes this scoundrel even more reprehensible.
#8
Nothing and I mean NOTHING frosts me quicker than a faker or a poser. I actually get angrier at those that have served and puff up their bonafides to find glory outside the military. Trouble is that NO reporter will ever investigate a War Hero unless he is exposed first. This is especially true of those that are Anti-Bush.
#9
Re: mustache... I'll take your word for it, Moose. But a guy in dress blues with facial hair so very far out of regs would still cause me to raise an eyebrow.
There are just some things that will instantly attract the critical notice of an NCO, even a retired one.
I notice stuff like this all the time on TV dramas. This makes me a very cranky person sometimes...
#10
This kind of fakery should be a hanging offense. My father sacrificed a lot for the Combat Infantryman Badge, which he considered a higher decoration than his Bronze Star.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/07/2007 14:16 Comments ||
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#11
MomHey, you kidS! Get off my lawn!!!!
heh Ima not the only one
*ima recovering crab apple*
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Kenya Airways plane that went missing on Saturday with 114 people on board crashed in a swamp a short distance from Cameroons Douala airport, officials said on Sunday. There has been no word of any survivors.
SANAA - A Yemeni state security court on Sunday sentenced two tribesmen to 12 years in prison for holding four French tourists hostage last September. Rajih Mohammad Ahmed Hadi, 23, and Ahmed Haidara Laswad, 22, were found guilty of forming an armed gang to abduct tourists on gun point.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists. Chavez has criticized Sidor for selling the bulk of its production overseas and forcing local producers to import from elsewhere, saying Venezuelan industry should be given priority. 
US President George W. Bush called Nicolas Sarkozy to congratulated him for his victory in the French presidential election Sunday. "The United States and France are historic allies and partners," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said in a statement after Sarkozy's opponent Segolene Royal conceded defeat. "President Bush looks forward to working with President-elect Sarkozy as we continue our strong alliance."
RIOT police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters gathered in central Paris today to demonstrate against the presidential election victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy. The clashes took place on the Place de la Bastille where about 5000 supporters of the defeated Socialist candidate Segolene Royal had gone to await the election results, an AFP journalist said.
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy greeted news of his election Sunday to a five-year term as France's president with a vow to serve as a leader for all people of France. "The president of the republic must love and respect all the French," he told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters. "I will be the president of all the French people.
Sarko suporters! 
Turkey Foreign Minster Abdullah Gul said on Sunday he was withdrawing from Turkeys presidential election race after his AK Party failed to secure a quorum in parliament. After this ... my candidacy is out of the question, Gul told reporters in parliament. 
