D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.
Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area.
"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."
The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE, a section of the Trinidad neighborhood that has been plagued with homicides and other violence. Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said.
The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.
The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.
"I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). "I also suppose the plan is to take the criminal's word for it when he or she gives the police a reason for driving into a neighborhood."
Since taking over as chief in December 2006, Lanier has struggled with the issue of violent crime. She has added patrols, revived a unit specializing in getting guns off the streets and changed commanders in six of the city's seven patrol districts. Last weekend, officers were close enough in one case that they heard the barrage of gunfire coming from a triple homicide on Holbrook Street in Trinidad.
The program is aimed at the city's most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways.
"We have to try to take away the things that are facilitating the ability to commit crime," Lanier said.
Leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday that they will be watching what happens closely and that legal action is likely.
"My reaction is, welcome to Baghdad, D.C.," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director for the ACLU's Washington office. "I mean, this is craziness. In this country, you don't have to show identification or explain to the police why you want to travel down a public street."
Interim Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said that his office reviewed the initiative and that similar efforts had survived court tests.
"I don't anticipate us being sued," Nickles said. "But if you do want to sue us, the courts are open."
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said that D.C. officials consulted his office about their plans and that prosecutors suggested some changes to try to ensure that any arrests would hold up in court. "We applaud the District's efforts to make neighborhoods safer," Taylor said. "Whatever we do has to be consistent with the Constitution."
New York police set up a nearly identical checkpoint in 1992 in a neighborhood of the Bronx that was plagued by drug dealing and drive-by shootings. Police ran the Watson Avenue Special Operation on a random basis, mostly in evening hours. Officers stopped drivers, but not pedestrians, coming into the area, to confirm that they had a legitimate reason to be there.
A federal appeals court upheld the legality of the New York effort, saying in a 1996 ruling that it "served an important public concern" and was "reasonably viewed as an effective mechanism to deter crime in the barricaded area."
D.C. police have used various forms of checkpoints for years. In 1988, for example, they blocked streets and searched courtyards in a pair of apartment complexes in Northeast Washington in a bid to drive out drug dealers. That move came during the crack cocaine epidemic, in a year when the city recorded 372 homicides. Last year, the city had 181 killings.
Former D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood Jr., who led the department from 1989 until 1992, said he liked using checkpoints because his officers were able to make arrests and gather intelligence.
"They are effective. You recover stolen cars and firearms," Fulwood said. "You've got to have a lot of them if you're going to have them. You need to move as the criminal element shifts."
Some residents expressed support for the plan yesterday, saying they are willing to submit to the checks if it makes the neighborhood safer. "We can't endure any more homicides," said neighborhood activist India Henderson.
But others said they were disappointed police have not developed relationships that would allow them to gather information and find criminals without resorting to the stepped-up tactics.
"I knew eventually we'd be a police state," said Wilhelmina Lawson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. "They don't talk to us, they're not community minded."
One of Lanier's plans, the Safe Homes initiative, has yet to get off the ground because of a community backlash. The plan, announced by Lanier and Fenty at a news conference in March, called for police to go door-to-door in crime-ridden areas and ask residents whether they could go inside and search for guns. Residents and some council members voiced concerns that homeowners would feel intimidated by police. Lanier backed off, but said she plans to move forward soon by having residents call police to set up appointments.
Another plan, to arm hundreds of patrol officers with semiautomatic rifles, starting this summer, also got mixed reviews from residents.
Kristopher Baumann, head of the D.C. police lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he was concerned about public perception of the checkpoints and the potential that it could lead to more citizen complaints. He questioned Lanier's overall approach, saying, "There is no strategy and no mid-term and long-term planning.
"That's the biggest disappointment of Chief Lanier's tenure," Baumann said. "One thing we were excited about and optimistic about was, for once, we'd have strategies to combat crime and not just be reactive. But we haven't seen it. It's been a year and a half."
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who represents Trinidad and other parts of Northeast Washington, said he had informal discussions with Lanier in which she had mentioned the possibility of the checkpoint announced yesterday, but he got little notice before the news conference. Civil liberties are always a concern, said Thomas, who maintained that residents are so concerned about violence that they will be willing to give the latest program a try.
"I think the general consensus is that we have to do something because people live in fear," he said. "What would you rather have?" he asked. "A positive pattern of [police] checking things . . . or these folks who come into the community and wreak havoc?"
It may be that the corruption and incompetance is too deep and too broad to actually do anything better.
As I understand it, DC has a huge number of police for its population and furthermore, much of the city is served by other forces (Capital Police, Park Police, Secret Service, etc.). Neighborhoods like Trinidad simply shouldn't be this violent.
#4
I live in DC and I have a good friend who lives near the Trinidad neighborhood. Here's his take on the situation:
"I think shes hamstrung by the city council and the bureaucracy of the DC government and its unions. She recently was forced to rehire some senior officers who were fired for gross incompetence, among other reasons. But I guess these guys were shown the door in an improper fashion, so they had to be taken back and given a second chance. Now these guys are back sucking up their pension and donuts and they are supposed to be directing these kind of tactics?
"Additionally, you have city council members who are more concerned about their own elections and argue civil rights concerns when its not their districts under fire. Our council member is in support of it.
"And that f*ck from the ACLU can shut the hell up as he lives in the safety of DuPont Circle. Im sure his tune would change if he lived on Capitol Hill. Yes, I looked up where he lived. Im sending my neighborhood crew up to his turf."
So, DC, how's that working out for you? You know, voting Democrat exclusively?
#5
"Im sending my neighborhood crew up to his turf."
I like it, Green Bull.
Can you suggest that one or two of the crew have small video cameras (with sound, of course)? Should be an interesting encounter, especially if the " f*ck from the ACLU" is there. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/05/2008 18:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
If the neighborhood citizens had lawful shotguns and pistols, this sh*t would stop on a dime.
But the reality is:
1. The law abiding people cannot be armed.
2. The criminals all have firearms.
3. The police are trying to keep the law abiding people from having weapons, while they try to keep the criminals from running amok.
4. The ACLU is trying to harass the police from doing their job.
Now, folks, here is what liberalism does: it creates a massive, life-threatening dog f*ck.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/05/2008 22:30 Comments ||
Top||
It works like a conventional library. Tables and chairs are set out for study. Librarians bustle purposefully, staffing the checkout desk. Except these aren't books on loan. They're people. Welcome to the Living Library. Here, you borrow individuals who represent stereotypes that often are the target of prejudice or hatred. Think there will be any Catholic priests or "neo-cons"?
'Relics', third floor ...
At this east London library on a recent Saturday, there were 26 "books" available, including a Muslim, an immigrant, a transgender individual, a witch, and an Indian atheist. Sort of an updated Village People
Readers borrow them for half an hour, hear their narrative, question them, even pry a little, and so the theory goes break down some of their preconceptions and stop "judging the book by the cover." Who knew that "education" could be so fun?
The idea is the brainchild of Ronni Abergel, a Danish antiviolence campaigner, who has taken the Living Library to 12 countries and watched it flourish in places as diverse as Australia and Turkey. Two of the most diverse places in the world evidently
"We live in a time where we need dialogue," says Mr. Abergel. "With dialogue comes understanding and with that comes tolerance and that's the mission of the Living Library: to promote understanding and tolerance through dialogue."
There is certainly plenty of dialogue at this London venue. At one table, a Rwandan refugee explains to a listener why immigrants cannot be dismissed both as a drain on the public purse and a threat to local jobs. "It's like walking and chewing gum at the same time - impossible!"
At another, a transgender individual relates why she felt biologically compelled to change sex. An Indian atheist and a Muslim are setting forth their worldview to "readers." And those 'books' that aren't currently checked out among them a witch, a funeral director, a medium and a police officer are swapping stories in the back room, eating sandwiches, and waiting for their next appointment.
All of the "books" are unpaid volunteers, as are the organizers, recruited for the event. Upon entry, readers can browse a list of available "books," then sign up for their "book" with volunteer librarians. On this Saturday, more than 50 people signed up, and some books were booked out almost the entire day.
"I've done this in 12 countries now," says Abergel, who has received funding from two organizations, the Council of Europe and the Nordic Council of Ministers. "In some places, I'll seed [the idea] and in some I'll put in the seeds and come back and pick the fruits. Here, I'm training someone to do it, helping with their first events."
The types of 'book' engaged vary from country to country. And the response from the public can be instructive. In Britain, for example, the Muslim and the ex-gang member are popular. In Hungary, it was the neo-Nazi, says Abergel. In some countries, homosexual 'books' are popular, but less so in a place like Britain, "because here you're more liberal and used to it." "In Hungary, the first year, the homosexual didn't go out at all, because people didn't dare and they didn't take the policeman either."
The concept is proving popular in Australia, Abergel says, with a regular Living Library session once a month in Lismore, New South Wales. "Turkey's just got up and running, and Germany and Austria are doing very well," adds Abergel, who says he has spent 50 percent of his spare time over the past eight years working on his project. Now he has his eyes on America.
"The next big move in the fall here is to start a tour in the States," he says. "We are looking to go to interested colleges in the States." One date in Fort Wayne, Ind., is inked in and others are interested, says Abergel. "We also want to take it into businesses. Why not go to large corporations and have their workers come down and have half an hour to have their horizons expanded a little bit?"
Stephen Fisher, a school inspector, says he learned as much from other "books" as he did from telling readers about the complexities of assessing schools. "Many of our prejudices are just things you don't know and once you explain to people they understand," he says. "I've learned so much about witches that I didn't know."
Abergel admits that the people who could most use a little dialogue, tolerance, and understanding are unlikely to use his library. "People who are extremely prejudiced will never come to a Living Library," he says. "The criticism that we have is we are preaching to the congregation we're getting people who are open minded. But people who are open-minded still need confirmation that they are on the right track," he says.
Another criticism is that not all readers will overcome their prejudice during a 30-minute conversation. Reader David Semple says he found sessions with a funeral director and a police officer most illuminating. But the transgender "book" enlightened him less. "The conversation was lovely but I'm afraid I still have the prejudice," he says. "I still find it hard to comprehend why you change your gender."
#2
One wonders if they have available for checkout someone that looks approximately like Monica Bellucci ... to combat prejudice against Italians of course.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/05/2008 07:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
17 Month campaign?
Shoot she's been campaigning for President ever since Bush was inaugerated in 2000.
This has been the longest campaign in history. Geez eight years of this stuff.
I am afraid we've become a "johnny one note" party blaming everything and anything on Bush.
The big question is 'Can we Democrats run on a platform of ideas instead of running on a platform of criticizing the current administration?'
Personally, I don't think so. The Bush hate and angst is so deep in the left I just don't see how those blogger nitwits and nut hatches or even goofball Soros can change their stripes that fast.
Personally, Soros is possibly a bigger threat to our freedom than Al Qaeda or V. Putin.
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/05/2008 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
A tidal wave of over 2 metres flooded parts of Jakarta overnight as the city government and citizens raced to hold the water back with emergency embankments, a government official said on Wednesday. The height of the water was far greater than earlier predicted. The World Bank, which has been monitoring flooding and tidal waves in Jakarta, warned last week of a 1.2 metre tidal surge in parts of the city. Authorities in the capital, home to more than 10 million people, had been bracing for high tides with sand bags and wire netting filled with stones. The tidal wave swamped areas near the coast for a few hours, leaving hundreds of people stranded in their homes, but the main highway leading to the airport was not affected. The water has receded, but officials said another tidal wave is expected tonight. "The flood waters entered my house last night. In the house it reached my calf, and outside it is even worse, up to an adult's thigh," Nursanti, 28, who lives in Muara Baru area near the coast in northern Jakarta, told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ah... not a tidalwave but a wave at high tide..
#2
ION NEW ZEALAND TV NEWS > KIRIBATI PLANS FOR [mass]FUTURE MIGRATION. NEW ISLAND DESIRED - 90,000 Kiris no longer able to live future submerged island home, in 50-60 years time, due to GLOBAL WARMING = RISING SEA LEVELS.
D *** NG IT, TIME FOR THE KIRIS TO COPY A FUTURE GUAM AND BUILD MODERN ADJUST FLOATING/ELEVATORY HOMES-ON-A-STICK [Stilts], ala INDONESIA-MALAYSIA + "EARTH CHANGES"???
A group of British and American diplomats were detained at gunpoint in Zimbabwe today after being stopped at a police roadblock.
Perhaps one of the experts on international diplomacy at the Daily Kos or TalkLeft can tell us the proper protocol for arresting diplomats ...
US officials said that five Americans and four Britons have been held for some five hours after their convoy was stopped in Bindura. The White House denounced the Zimbabwean action as an "outrageous" and "completely unacceptable" attack.
Details of the incident are unclear but the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee - who was himself briefly detained with other diplomats last month - gave some details to CNN in a telephone interview from Harare.
"My people were stopped, detained," he said. "The police put up a roadblock, stopped the vehicles, slashed the tires, reached in and grabbed the telephones from my personnel. And the war veterans threatened to burn the vehicles with my people inside unless they got out of the vehicles and accompanied the police to a station nearby."
Mr McGee said that any dispute with the diplomats should have been taken up with the ministry of foreign affairs. "Instead in this lawless society that we call Zimbabwe the police decided to take action into their own hands and detaining my people for almost five hours now," he said.
A Foreign Office spokesman in London was unable to confirm the news, saying only: "We are urgently investigating these reports."
#3
Under the Carter Doctrine, any action against diplomats does not constitute an act of war. Even occupying the embassy. So we should be grateful that the diplomats were only held for five hours.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/05/2008 13:27 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Told Ya two days ago, "Make Jimmuh Ambassador to Zim-Bob-Land"
Larn'em to grow Goobers.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/05/2008 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Right after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a traveling Methodist minister came to our church and talked about the peaceful nature of Mugabe even though the minister said he was "only" a Socialist. In my mind, the word dictator suddenly flashed before me. Now the chickens have come home to roost in Zimbabwe and Mugabe's true character, or lack thereof, has been revealed for what it is - Dictator of a country that his going to hell in a broken hand-basket. Ian Smith is probably saying, "I told you so!" to the world community, if anyone is ever listening. Zimbabwe has become just one more Uganda as if it were under the hob-nailed boots of Idi Amin and his wrecking crew! Sometimes our hunches are pretty good looks into the future.
Posted by: Jim W ||
06/05/2008 15:33 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Its called job security for the State Department Officials. Once you create a feckless bureaucracy you must keep feeding and grooming it, even though it can do absolutely NOTHING!
Posted by: Jim W ||
06/05/2008 15:42 Comments ||
Top||
#9
The Carter Doctrine would make US grateful that our officials were ONLY held for five hours - my, oh my, how generous. Of course, that is much shorter than the 444 days of captivity in Tehran in 1979, 1980 and 1981 under the Carter "administration!"
Posted by: Jim W ||
06/05/2008 15:46 Comments ||
Top||
#10
>#7 Why do we have people there?
We DO have friends in that country. It's important we support them any way we can.
#15
Before we beat up on the striped pants brigade too much, let's remember that we have embassies out there for a reason. We have diplomatic, intel, and business interests just about everywhere in the world, including Zim-bob.
A lot of the people in State are good people, particularly the ones who end up in the shitholes of the world. I don't envy them one little bit, and you couldn't pay me enough to sit in Harare.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
#16
And the names of those two people are?
We DO have friends in that country. It's important we support them any way we can.
1. To ensure that US interests are represented in Zimbabwe?
2. Because other nations whose interests don't coincide with the US' interests are there?
3. Because if we have to pay the Swiss to represent US interests in every country our illustrious foreign-policy experts here at Rantburg think the US shouldn't have an embassy in, we'd be subcontracting our foreign service to Geneva?
We have an ambassador-with-balls (James McGee) there. He's done a pretty good job of pissing off Mugabe's government for the right reasons.
#18
>>In case you folks don't know, we have an ambassador-with-balls (James McGee)there. He's done a pretty good job of pissing off Mugabe's government.
When this story broke this afternoon European time, he was on CNN-I a half hour later, going after the ZimBob government hammer and tong. No squishy diplomat is he. I was impressed.
#21
We don't have DoS in Cuba, Nork, Somalia, or Iran. Doesn't seem to have caused a problem. It is beyond my why we have them in Zimbobway, Syria or the Sudan.
#22
Those good people volunteered to sit in those shit holes of the world but still the question remains - why are those people there and what can they do?
#23
#8 Its called job security for the State Department Officials. Once you create a feckless black totalitarian communist dictator you must keep feeding and grooming it, even though it can do absolutely NOTHING!
Posted by Jim W 2008-06-05 15:42|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
Totally agree Jim. Please kindly accept the insert.
#24
We don't have DoS in Cuba, Nork, Somalia, or Iran.
First, you have to have a host nation willing to accept an ambassador and/or consul. Given the history of relations between the US and those countries, think any of those are going to say 'yes' if asked?
It is beyond my why we have them in Zimbobway, Syria or the Sudan.
Zimbabwean opposition leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has been released after being arrested Wednesday at a roadblock, his supporters said.
Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa told The Telegraph newspaper Tsvangirai was taken into custody near Bulawayo as he campaigned against incumbent President Robert Mugabe in the June 27 run-off election. Tsvangirai was set free late Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
"It makes absolutely no sense that a presidential candidate in an election is arrested for attracting crowds of people," said Tsvangirai's party in a statement.
Amnesty International condemned the arrest and what it called a "sharp and dangerous crackdown," the Times said. "It appears they want to disrupt our campaign program," Chamisa told The Telegraph. He said fair elections in Zimbabwe will be impossible without the intervention of the United Nations and the international community.
The opposition party says 50 of its supporters have been slain by Mugabe's supporters in recent weeks, with soldiers loyal to the president beating and threatening those who voice support for Tsvangirai, The Telegraph said.
Tsvangirai's arrest came hours after it was reported that the Mugabe government accused international charities of engaging in political activities and ordered them to stop operating in Zimbabwe.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia went on trial on Wednesday on corruption charges over a port deal, officials said. It is the latest graft case to come to trial as part of what the interim government says is its drive to rid the country of corruption and ensure free and fair elections by the end of the year. Also facing prosecution in the same case are Khaledas second son Arafat Rahman, plus 15 others including ex-ministers and former senior officials. All have pleaded not guilty. According to the prosecution, Khaleda and her son Arafat influenced the authorities to award the deal in 2003 to an obscure local company to handle containers at the main port in Chittagong. She is accused of accepting kick-backs from the company.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Labour has been making strenuous efforts to forge links, almost from scratch, with Barack Obama and his team in recent months and will step up their efforts now he has won the Democratic nomination. Until the primary season began in January few in Number 10 thought the Illinois senator had the stamina or backing to beat his Democratic rival. Hillary Clinton is part of New Labour's extended family and there is little doubt her victory would have been cheered in Downing Street. A number of advisers, like Bob Schrum, have worked for both the Clintons and Gordon Brown and it would have been easier and more comfortable for Mr Brown if Mrs Clinton had won the nomination.
Stewart Wood, a Number 10 special adviser, has been central to establishing links. He has made regular visits to America and got to know some of the key figures in the Obama camp. They include Samantha Powers, who had to resign after comments she made about Mrs Clinton to the Scotsman newspaper, and Tom Daschle, the former Democrat leader in the Senate, as well as other advisers Tony Lake, a Clinton veteran and Denis McDonough, a former foreign policy aide to Mr Daschle. Lord Malloch Brown, using his United Nations connections and links to George Soros, the financier and Obama-backer, has also been acting as a point person between Downing Street and the Democratic candidate. One Labour insider said: "It has been difficult because the Democrats have basically been run by the Clintons for years, so many of Obama's people have been outsiders. But there have been so people who have switched and that has helped."
In London recently a fund-raiser for Mr Obama took place at the Notting Hill home of Rupert Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth. It raised $400,000, which is thought to be the largest the campaign has received from one event outside America. The Democrat was so pleased with the amount raised he phoned Miss Murdoch, who is married to Matthew Freud, the top PR man, that night and congratulated those who had attended and lent their support. Those attending were asked to pay £1,160 each to Senator Obama's fund. Only those holding American passports are allowed to contribute directly to campaigns. Although Gwyneth Paltrow, the Oscar-winning actress, was invited she did not attend. David Schwimmer, who played Ross in the American series Friends, was photographed arriving at the event which took place on 28 April. The majority of those attending were businessmen and women.
It is unlikely Hillary Clinton will join Barack Obama as the presumptive Democratic U.S. presidential nominee's running mate, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing sources in both the Obama and Clinton camps, the newspaper said Wednesday that former President Bill Clinton might be reluctant to release records of his business dealings and information on major donors to his presidential library. Close advisers to Obama, who claimed the nomination Tuesday, told the Journal an Obama-Clinton ticket was highly unlikely, and people in both campaigns said it would be "a deal-breaker" if Bill Clinton refuses to release business and donor records.
Hillary Clinton has indicated a willingness to be considered for vice president but her tenacious refusal to surrender the contest until now has engendered only mixed support for her within the Obama camp, CNN reported Wednesday.
The pairing, however, could produce a so-called dream ticket for Democrats, hoping to shore up Obama's support among white ethnic voters and women who strongly supported Clinton.
Other possibilities, analysts told CNN, include Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., whose strong points include service on the Senate armed services and intelligence committees; Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., whose foreign relations credentials are extensive; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who could help attract Jewish votes; and former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, a staunch Clinton supporter who analysts say could help unite the party.
Other possibilities, CNN said, include Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Oh, pick Hagel, pleeeeeeease pick Hagel ...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In my mind, HILLARY is thinking 2008 -2012 is the geopol equivalent of "MUNICH time" ala WW2. IFF THE USA [includ ISRAEL]WON'T ATTACK ANDOR INVADE IRAN NOW OR BEFORE 2010, IT WILL LIKELY HAVE TO POST-2010 ONCE IRAN + JIHAD-TERR GOES NUCLEAR, and do so regardless of risk of anti-US "Great Power" confrontation and intervention [read - Russia-China].
IOW, the Left has 2-4 POTUS years to demonstrate UTOPIC-PLURALIST, WAVY GRAVY "DIVERSITY", BEFORE WILFULLY UNILATER GIVING IT UP IN FAVOR OF EISENHOWER-ERA BOMB SHELTERS [Solyent/Environ-correct, of course] + NATIONAL TOTALITARIANISM???
#3
On Fox tonight, Dick Morris called an Obama-Clinton ticket an unlikely..."Ménage à trois." He also said Clinton intends to "hover" over Obama hoping for his eventual undoing.
#2
Well, you never know what might happen in June.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/05/2008 16:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, June 05, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Excerpt from the above"
In February, Rezko told Chicago magazine "Hell, no" when asked if he would testify against others to save his own neck. Now facing long prison time, he may consider changing his stance. Stay tuned. Another shoe from the Obama centipede may be about to drop.
Hillary Clinton Saturday will end her historic bid to be the first woman President of the United States. "Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," the campaign said in a statement.
The farewell event was initially scheduled for tomorrow -- then put back a day "to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend."
The decision came late in an emotionally exhausting day, after Clinton bade farewell to her distraught, weeping staffers at her suburban Washington headquarters and spent hours hearing from friends and Democratic power brokers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
That would be suspended Grunter. The Clinton campaign, at present, is millions of dollars in debt. Suspended status allows her to continue to legally accept campaign contributions.
US Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama said Wednesday that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Israel in a speech to a powerful US-Israel lobby group here.
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided," Obama told the vast annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC).
Addressing the group in almost his first act since claiming the Democratic nomination late Tuesday, Obama said he was a "true friend" of Israel and that the US bond with the Jewish state was "unbreakable."
Obama drew a standing ovation as he arrived to address the mighty US-Israel lobby, and also addressed perceived suspicion of him in some sectors of the Jewish community. "As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security," Obama said. He said in the strikingly pro-Israel speech that the US bond with the Jewish state was "unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable for ever," adding he was speaking from his heart as a "true friend" of Israel.
But his friends aren't, and they're the ones who got him to where he is today. Expect 'new flexibility' should he win the election; the kind of flexibility he won't show over Iraq.
Republicans have hammered Obama over his offer to talk to leaders of US foe Iran, saying the strategy ignores repeated warnings by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to destroy Israel.
But he said it was time to abandon Middle East policies of President George W. Bush, which he said had made Israel less safe, and accused Republican presumptive nominee John McCain of wanting to prolong them. "There are those who would continue and intensify this failed status quo, ignoring eight years of accumulated evidence that our foreign policy is dangerously flawed," Obama said.
Obama warned Islamist movement Hamas must renounce violence, pledged to stand up for Israel's right to defend itself at the United Nations and to provide the Jewish state the means to guarantee its security. "We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements. There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations."
Really? And what will you do if Hamas tells you to go pound sand?
He said he would push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal if elected president in November.
Oh. That's what.
"Any agreement the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state," Obama said.
Hamas has already made clear they want Israel to be extirpated. It isn't clear that Obama really understands that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Jeez, this guy is his own worst enemy.
I totally agree with him, but the leftard comptrollers of the donk party are going to have a thrombo over this.
It started with a dead dog, escalated into a tit-for-tat tribal war, and has now reached a grotesque climax with the exchange of 15 child brides.
Pakistani human rights activists are outraged at reports that a long-running blood feud in a remote corner of western Baluchistan province has been resolved by the handing over of 15 girls, aged between three and 10, for marriage.
"There has to be action," said Asma Jahangir, a leading rights campaigner. "These people who force others to sell their daughters must be sent to prison."
The new government in Islamabad, led by the party of the late Benazir Bhutto, has promised to act. "We will not allow young girls to be traded like this," said the information minister, Sherry Rehman. "The culprits who tried to do this will be arrested. The orders have been given."
But Jahangir said those orders had not been acted upon. "There is a dysfunction in the whole system. They are not listening to the government," she said. "We need to see them being more effective than just rhetoric."
You're just figuring out now that there's a disconnect between what your country says and what it does ...
Vanni, an ancient tribal practice in which feuding clans settle their differences by exchanging women for marriage, is illegal in Pakistan. In 2004 the Sindh high court outlawed all such "parallel justice" systems. But the writ of government is weak in rural areas, and local police often turn a blind eye.
The current controversy started with a row over a dog, said Muhammad Paryal Marri, a researcher in northern Sindh for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. A dog owned by one tribe, the Chakranis, was shot dead because it strayed too close to a well controlled by their rivals, the Qalandaris. In revenge the Chakranis shot a donkey belonging to the other side. A ferocious bout of tit-for-tat killings ensued in which 19 people, including five women, were killed.
The fighting ended in 2002 when Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti - a rebellious tribal chieftain who was later killed by the Pakistan army - brought the two sides together. Bugti ordered the Chakranis to hand over 15 child brides in compensation; at a jirga, or tribal council. Last Friday they finally agreed to make good on that promise, said Marri. "They agreed to pay some money and exchange the ladies," he said.
Such brutal traditions have only come to light for a broader public in the past decade, thanks to activism by human rights groups and publicity from local media.
"Barbarity in the name of tradition," declared the English-langauge newspaper Dawn earlier this week in a scathing editorial against the "medieval mindset that dominates many sections of our society".
But, despite previous shows of similar anger, official action has lagged far behind. "The government is unwilling to use its authority to protect women. It will find any excuse," said Jahangir.
#1
"... and now, watch the power of this Fully Operational battle station. (evil cackle)"
Oh, did I mention the improved stealth aircraft, and precision munitions that can sneak in and puree you in your own bed. Or we can hand you over to your former subjects for trial and execution. Sweet dreams, tyrants.
Somewhere, the ghost of Ronald Reagan is smiling. We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.
Posted by: N guard ||
06/05/2008 3:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.
I hope so. That is one group of weapon systems I wouldn't mind seeing become completely obsolete.
Now we just need to perfect the anti-matter bomb. >:)
#3
We may see ICBM's and IRBM's go the way of the all big gun battleship.
Nah, dictators and tyrants would want them for the same reason they keep buying the cheap junk from the Russian-Chinese consortium. It's good enough to keep the locals in line. Who said anything about firing some of those puppies off against foreign interests? Getting one of those on a large protest crowd, and the urban blocks around them, in a distant city would remove a lot of Hugo paranoia for at least a couple weeks.
#4
Speaking as a child of the cold war and growing up under the red menace and the potential for nuclear annihilation back in the mid 50's AND the Cuban Missile crisis...I am just overjoyed for once to see a really nifty neat and thoroughly effective deterent to ICBM's and their ilk.
Dang this is the coolest capricious waste of tax payers money I have ever seen. Sure beats Medicare Supp B and Food Stamps.
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/05/2008 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#5
They look mobile and unimpressive. Why don't we put a few on a C5 and set them up in Eastern Europe like we wanted to. The Ruskies would never know they were there.
#6
I'm not sure this is the kind of risk we need to deal with on the Mexican border. Perhaps a fence will work well enough there and we could sent THAAD to Iraq. Or has Oogo been on a Moscow buying binge again?
#7
They look mobile and unimpressive. Why don't we put a few on a C5 and set them up in Eastern Europe like we wanted to. The Ruskies would never know they were there..
Interesting that you raise that point. I'm sure we can get them even smaller to blend in with other unobtrusive vehicles making them even harder to discern. We'll have them out by the thousands before 'they' know its deployed.
Posted by: Halliburton Mobile Transport Division ||
06/05/2008 12:04 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The Ruskies would never know they were there.
Yes, they would. The NYT would publish the deployment stats on Page 1 before they arrived.
#9
actually, looks like they'd fit in a couple or 3 conex. Lash those to the deck of a small cargo ship, and put some plating down for a launch area, and we could put them damned near anywhere.
#10
Old Spook,
My reptilian cognative powers tell me that the intent of this design is to make it as unobtrusive and as mobile/flexible in deployment as possible. I kinda like the idea that you could strap this little suckers to the deck of some rust bucket and sail them right up some hostile foreign ICBM tooting regime's butt.
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/05/2008 15:30 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Kimmie would shit his pants if one of his missile tests got shot down by a THAAD from inside his own territorial waters.
#12
I'll bring the popcorn, you bring the rusty scow and the THAAD.
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/05/2008 21:19 Comments ||
Top||
#13
NS - They are at Ft BLiss near the Mex border because Ft Bliss is the home of Army Air Defense (and close enought to White Sands one direction and Ft Hood the other).
#14
The services sometimes uses Fort Wingate in NW New Mexico to launch target missiles for interceptor tests out of White Sands/Fort Bliss in the south. When you got a whole lot of nothing in between, the locals don't get as frisky about NIMBY. Lot cheaper than hauling the lot to Eniwetok for a shot off the west coast for the smaller stuff.
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.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.
The program is aimed at the city's most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways.
It works like a conventional library. Tables and chairs are set out for study. Librarians bustle purposefully, staffing the checkout desk. Except these aren't books on loan. They're people. Welcome to the Living Library. Here, you borrow individuals who represent stereotypes that often are the target of prejudice or hatred. 
A tidal wave of over 2 metres flooded parts of Jakarta overnight as the city government and citizens raced to hold the water back with emergency embankments, a government official said on Wednesday. The height of the water was far greater than earlier predicted. The World Bank, which has been monitoring flooding and tidal waves in Jakarta, warned last week of a 1.2 metre tidal surge in parts of the city. Authorities in the capital, home to more than 10 million people, had been bracing for high tides with sand bags and wire netting filled with stones. The tidal wave swamped areas near the coast for a few hours, leaving hundreds of people stranded in their homes, but the main highway leading to the airport was not affected. The water has receded, but officials said another tidal wave is expected tonight. "The flood waters entered my house last night. In the house it reached my calf, and outside it is even worse, up to an adult's thigh," Nursanti, 28, who lives in Muara Baru area near the coast in northern Jakarta, told reporters.
Former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia went on trial on Wednesday on corruption charges over a port deal, officials said. It is the latest graft case to come to trial as part of what the interim government says is its drive to rid the country of corruption and ensure free and fair elections by the end of the year. Also facing prosecution in the same case are Khaledas second son Arafat Rahman, plus 15 others including ex-ministers and former senior officials. All have pleaded not guilty. According to the prosecution, Khaleda and her son Arafat influenced the authorities to award the deal in 2003 to an obscure local company to handle containers at the main port in Chittagong. She is accused of accepting kick-backs from the company.
Labour has been making strenuous efforts to forge links, almost from scratch, with Barack Obama and his team in recent months and will step up their efforts now he has won the Democratic nomination. Until the primary season began in January few in Number 10 thought the Illinois senator had the stamina or backing to beat his Democratic rival. Hillary Clinton is part of New Labour's extended family and there is little doubt her victory would have been cheered in Downing Street. A number of advisers, like Bob Schrum, have worked for both the Clintons and Gordon Brown and it would have been easier and more comfortable for Mr Brown if Mrs Clinton had won the nomination. 
16 counts out of 24 total
Hillary Clinton Saturday will end her historic bid to be the first woman President of the United States. "Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," the campaign said in a statement.
US Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama said Wednesday that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Israel in a speech to a powerful US-Israel lobby group here.
It started with a dead dog, escalated into a tit-for-tat tribal war, and has now reached a grotesque climax with the exchange of 15 child brides.
