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Britain
26 policemen wounded in north London riots
Twenty-six police officers were wounded in riots that broke out two days after a man was killed by police. At least one of the officers has suffered head injuries after protesters clashed with police in Tottenham, north London.

So far police have made 42 arrests in connection with the trouble, which flared up after people took to the streets last night to demand revenge 'justice', after Mark Duggan, 29, was shot and killed by police on Thursday. Police cars, a shop and a double-decker bus were burned and there were reports of looting amid scenes reminiscent of the violent unrest in the same area 26 years ago when PC Keith Blakelock was hacked to death.

More than 100 officers and riot police faced crowds of more than 500 people protesting about the death of Duggan, who was described last week by police sources as a 'gangster'.

There are concerns that the riots were fanned by Twitter, with some of those taking part posting inflammatory comments from the scene and calling for reinforcements. One picture of a police car on fire in the area was re-tweeted over 100 times within an hour.

The violence last night broke out soon after a crowd of about 120 had begun to gather at the High Road from about 5:30 p.m. The target was the police station which was being guarded late last night by lines of officers and police vans. As the disorder spread, and the numbers of demonstrators swelled, two police cars being used to block the road were set on fire by masked youths.

A shop was set ablaze and then a double-decker bus was also engulfed in flames and reduced to a twisted shell. Witnesses also reported looting. Teenagers and younger children were seen carrying valuables through the shattered glass front of an electrical shop. Windows were smashed at a bank and pictures on Twitter showed the building being looted. There were also reports that youths had stormed a McDonald's and had started making their own burgers and chips.

Several fire crews could only stand ready nearby as they were barred from the High Road where the fires were. One fireman complained that earlier, three engines had been sent to the scene without being warned about the riots. He said: 'We were sent to a road accident but it was the police cars on fire. We were then ordered to leave them burning and to drive off, probably for our own safety.

'I cannot believe what we have just driven through. As we pulled out of the station, there was a car on fire on the High Road and there were people in the middle of the road -- it was very scary. We didn't give them a chance to try to stop us. I am still shaking.'

Meanwhile, two news photographers were viciously beaten and robbed by masked youths armed with crowbars and other makeshift weapons and reporters on the scene were threatened by looters. The photographers said there was 'total lawlessness' in the area with the contents of shops strewn across the streets and the police unable to gain access.

One said: 'It is utter carnage out there. We have been beaten up quite badly and had about £8,000 of equipment stolen. We were quite discreet but as soon as we got a camera out we were set on by youths with masks who were armed with crowbars.'

A local MP called for calm last night. On David Lammy's website, he said: 'We already have one grieving family in our community and further violence will not heal that pain.'
Posted by: ryuge || 08/07/2011 07:41 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the Tottenham wiki:

"Tottenham is a multicultural hotspot with many different ethnic groups inhabiting the area. It is often referred to as a black area because it contains one of the largest and most significant populations of African-Caribbean people. These were among the earliest immigrant groups to settle in the area, starting the UK's Windrush era soon after West African communities - notably the many Ghanaians - begun to migrate into the area. Between 1980 and the present day there has been a slow immigration of Colombians, Albanian, Kurdish, Turkish-Cypriot, Turkish, Irish, and Portuguese populations. South Tottenham is reported to be the most ethnically-diverse area in Europe, with up to 300 languages being spoken by its residents.

Tottenham has the highest unemployment rate in London and the 8th highest in the United Kingdom. It therefore has some of the highest poverty rates within the country.

There have also been major tensions between the African-Caribbean community and the police since (and before) the 1985 Broadwater Farm riot which stemmed from major issues of racism and police brutality.

Although Tottenham is well known for its diversity and culture, it has also been one of the main hotspots for gangs and gun crime in the United Kingdom during the past three decades. This followed the rise of gangs and drug wars throughout the area, notably those involving the Tottenham Mandem gang and various gangs from Hackney and all of the areas surrounding Tottenham, and the emergence of an organised crime ring known as the Turkish Mafia was said to have controlled more than 90% of the UK's heroin market."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/07/2011 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  "Then along that river-bank
A thousand miles
Tattooed cannibals danced in files."

-- Vachel Lindsay, The Congo
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/07/2011 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  The "victim".
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/07/2011 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  A punk that tried to kill someone gets killed instead and the place riots. Sounds to me they were just looking for a reason to steal and vent anger.
Posted by: Charles || 08/07/2011 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  "Sounds to me they were just looking for a reason to steal and vent anger destroy other people's property."

Isn't that usually the case, Charles? >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 08/07/2011 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  A small price to pay for the rich diversity of multi-cultural enrichment.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/07/2011 14:31 Comments || Top||

#7  I see what you did there
Posted by: Frank G || 08/07/2011 14:38 Comments || Top||

#8  It's summer. Historically this kind of thing happens in cities in the summer, when the heat makes tempers short.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2011 21:15 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican military chopper lands in Texas by mistake; sent back
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/07/2011 11:36 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
US Military Branches Now Licensing Their Own Cologne
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/07/2011 06:15 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Odur de Surabachi: Smells like Victory

Mule!: The time has come

Hazy Gray: If you smell it it's too late

Fore! Smells like par
Posted by: S || 08/07/2011 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Whoops... forgot the most important one...

Olde Hazy Gray: It'll save your ass
Posted by: S || 08/07/2011 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  ...available with or without DEET?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/07/2011 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Odur de Surabachi don't need no DEET.
Posted by: S || 08/07/2011 12:35 Comments || Top||

#5  "smells like...victory"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/07/2011 12:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Mr. Lotp is waiting for the Eau de Jock Strap release. I suspect EPA will ban it on environmental grounds, however ...
Posted by: lotp || 08/07/2011 13:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Whoa, the USDOD has license rights to BRUTE, OLD SPICE, + SKIN BRACER???

gut nuthin.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 19:44 Comments || Top||

#8  I see some serious marketing opportunities here:

For the old ex-mil geezers, the somewhat musty "Army-Navy Store"

For the hard-core unrepentant Pattons, the pleasantly charred "Napalm in the Morning"

And for the modern era, start your day with a bracing splash of "Embrace the Suck"
Posted by: SteveS || 08/07/2011 22:34 Comments || Top||

#9  That's really smart. Good on the military. I think they should also license other products like deodorant....even toilet paper! The navy toilet paper could have embossed anchors on it, the air force could have embossed jets. I suspect it would develop a following and if it's benefiting the VA and other deserving services, good on them.
Posted by: Jeque Hupairong2828 || 08/07/2011 22:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Hmmm...after thinking about it...maybe they wouldn't want the toilet paper being used that way, lol.
Posted by: Jeque Hupairong2828 || 08/07/2011 22:38 Comments || Top||

#11  But think of the possibilities in cross-service sales alone, Jeque Hupairong2828. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2011 23:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Cookies are good.
Posted by: badanov || 08/07/2011 23:13 Comments || Top||


S&P: It was our duty to downgrade US
[Emirates 24/7] The top official behind Standard & Poor's historic decision on Friday to downgrade the United States' prized triple-A credit rating said it was his company's duty to make such a hard and controversial call.

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government's budget deficits and rising debt burden. The decision could eventually raise borrowing costs for the American government, companies and consumers.

"We take our responsibilities very seriously, and if at the end of our analysis the committee concludes that a rating isn't where we believe it should be, it's our duty to make that call," David Beers told Rooters in an interview.

S&P has been under a lot of fire from the B.O. regime for basing its decision and analysis too much on the acrimonious debt-ceiling debate that led to an eleventh-hour agreement on Tuesday to avert a U.S. default.

Government sources have also accused the agency of making a $2 trillion error in its calculations about U.S. finances, and later removing that number from its estimates while sticking to its plan to cut the U.S. credit rating.

Beers, who is the head of sovereign ratings at S&P, acknowledged that the agency's decision was highly influenced by a change in Washington's "political dynamics" that hampered members of Congress from reaching a more comprehensive plan to cut the deficit.

"From the standpoint of fiscal policy, the process has weakened and became less predictable than it was," he said.

"That's the story around the difficulty highlighted in the debt-ceiling debate, cobbling together some type of fiscal policy choices."

Asked about news reports that there had been a back and forth between the agency and the government during the past 24 hours over the justification of the decision, S&P front man John Piecuch said the agency always gives a debt issuer the opportunity to review the announcement before it is made.

"They can go through it and look for numbers, look for calculations -- that is what happened," Piecuch said.

Any change in those calculations would have been taken into consideration by S&P's committee before its rating decision was made public, Beers said.

Beers said one contributing element to the decision was the downward revision of U.S. GDP numbers a week ago. The data showed that the US economy almost stalled in the first half of the year.

"The recession was deeper than what everybody thought a year ago and we think that this raises the possibility that the recovery will continue to be weak."
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It IS your duty to downgrade. You asked for serious measures in cuts as immediate- ($4 Tril) and instead, the government essentially spent $2.4 more trillion.

The S&P exchange traditionally has been the old world comoddity market of choice.

It was justified.
Posted by: newc || 08/07/2011 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  S&P is just pissed that GS and JPM and some hedgefunds had to loose 250 billion smakers on a bad oil bet based on the US gov reaching an agreement and not defaulting. To cover that bet they had to unload all sorts of assets that caused this week's worldwide stockmarket disaster. Considering past, current and future FED and Treasury leadership have been or still are (under the table) GS or JPM people... one has to consider their oil bet on a US default as traitorous. So they lower the gov rating to make more money on interest to cover their traitorous bets....
This ignores any limit or budget arguments but that's OK as they bet against the people of America. Does that make them enemies of the US?
Posted by: Water Modem || 08/07/2011 1:40 Comments || Top||

#3  thanks to all who commented yesterday, really interesting especially on reserve currency and trade imbalance.

S&P are right they have a duty to rate fairly by the guidelines they have set.

After the carnage, good may yet come of it, in that the US may reign in its spending and solve its economic issues.

You are right the US Navy does secure sea trade as it stands. But as you can see off the coast of Somalia, that is a hotly contested area of global politics.

Every navy including the Chinese and Russian is out there "protecting against piracy" but also jostling for power with each other.

The great game is being played at sea right now and China's naval power is increasing at a dramatic rate. They are putting a lot of money into warships and they will soon have aircraft carriers

they are the threat to watch now not some allan-worshipping fanatics.

We could have solved the 9/11 problem by rounding up Islamist fascists and put them in internment camps.

Denying visas to enter the US to anybody from Saudi or Pakistan unless they publicly disavow Islamism - seal the borders against the enemy.

no US lives lost, no draining the Treasury

And the credible, public threat that any future 9/11s will be met with the dropping of a Little Boy on Mecca.

No more 9/11s.
Posted by: anon1 || 08/07/2011 2:49 Comments || Top||

#4  PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > WOLRD MARKETS FEAR SECOND
US DOWNGRADE AFTER RATINGS DIP.

CNN + FOX NEWS > looks like very few of the Perts believe POTUS BAMMER = USA will be able to avoid a new downgrade by EOY 2010 iff world markets fail to stabilize + continue in serious decline???
Posted by: Punky Turkeyneck1180 || 08/07/2011 6:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Sorry, last post was mine - must be the rain.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 6:23 Comments || Top||

#6  See also RENSE > [Business Insider] CHINA WON'T LEND THE US ANY MORE MONEY | CHINA: AMERICA NEEDS TO ACCEPT "THE PAINFUL FACT THAT THE GOOD OLE DAYS OF BORROWING [to clean up its messes] ARE [finally = forever?]OVER"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 6:59 Comments || Top||

#7  You asked for serious measures in cuts as immediate- ($4 Tril) and instead,

I don't care which party is in power or who is President, we will damn well do what we want without any leaches providing guidance. Go hammer the drachma.
Posted by: S || 08/07/2011 8:09 Comments || Top||

#8  They are saying futures market is going to drop 50% next week. Looking like our ride is going on for awhile.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 9:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Daniel Goldman aka Spengler had some trenchant comments today on S&P as a business / malefactor:
Remember, S&P is the rating agency that sold its soul to Wall Street for structured-product ratings business. Why aren’t those guys in jail for fraud, given the exhumation of emails showing that S&P employees knew exactly what they were doing? The answer is that S&P’s lawyers take the position (which no-one has challenged) that S&P’s ratings are Constitutionally-protected free speech, like a newspaper editorial. After the shocks of 2008, no-one wanted to make more waves by going after these self-appointed actually not self-appointed, but mandated by Federal law arbiters of the credit system.

What hooey. The US government should sue them for their malfeasance during the structured credit bubble. There are still securities rated AAA by S&P trading at 40 cents on the dollar.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/07/2011 11:26 Comments || Top||

#10  S&P is the rating agency that sold its soul to Wall Street for structured-product ratings business.

So did Fitch and Moodys. As long as the issuer pays these companies, your going to have to take their opinions with a grain of salt.

More important is the "negative credit outlook" that S&P issued along with the downgrade. The rating agencies are usually late to the party, and the negative outlook is their way of saying "expect more downgrades -soon!"
Posted by: Frozen Al || 08/07/2011 13:29 Comments || Top||

#11  Whatever the politics, the U.S. under our present sleazy spendaholic clowns deserves a downgrade.

Would you lend money to someone with the U.S. gummint's borrowing/spending habits? Me neither.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/07/2011 13:59 Comments || Top||

#12  Would you lend money to someone with the U.S. gummint's borrowing/spending habits? Actually, I have. The major portion of my tax-deferred retirement savings was shifted into short term gov't securities 4 years ago, for lack of anything better, and there they remain. Haven't lost anything besides whatever has been lost to QE I, II, etc.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/07/2011 15:37 Comments || Top||

#13  Indeed, its savers the world over that are doing the lending.

Its rather misleading when its said China, Japan, etc are doing the lending. All the governments are doing is parking the savings of individuals that result from excess foreign supply versus foriegn demand.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/07/2011 16:22 Comments || Top||

#14  I believe that this downgrade is aimed squarely at the Bernank and Geitner. The US can never default, not as long as the debt is denominated in dollars and the printing press is functioning.
The problem is that the dollars will weaken and all other currencies will have to revalue downwards too. That's what is pissing off China and causing problems with the Euro. Throw in commodity and food inflation in the third world, just so the US can live high on hog by abusing its reserve status. As the say in the UK, "bugger you, I'm OK"
Posted by: tipper || 08/07/2011 19:45 Comments || Top||

#15  It's not quite that straight forward, tipper. China's in good shape in large part because they've been manipulating the value of their currency for well over a decade - keeping it artificially low so that they could suck industries to relocate there and export goods to us. Bush tried for years to get them to moderate that, and failed. So now their currency will be revalued for them, whether they like it or not, by the dollar dropping dramatically. That not only forces their own currency up, and makes their exports more expensive - it also devalues the US treasuries they hold. Watch for them to try to buy up US assets like real estate with US dollars to get out of the bind they've helped to create.

You are right about the very poor. That is caused in good part by poor yields in a number of key crops world wide, but the currency issue doesn't help.
Posted by: lotp || 08/07/2011 20:14 Comments || Top||

#16  First, my abject apologies to whoever fixed the 'burg.

Second, I'm unconvinced the Chinese kept their currency "artificially low." They used an old-fashioned natural way of devaluation: they increased their money supply, and used the proceeds from that to subsidize raw material purchases in industries where they have strong vertical integration.

They manage to kill two birds with one stone that way.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/07/2011 20:22 Comments || Top||

#17  lotp, Indeed what you say is true, but what I'm referring to is the future. Every time China and Japan have to revalue down, their inflation rate goes up. By not addressing it's debt position, the US is causing massive instability in the world. That's why moves are being to remove its maxed out credit cards/reserve status and substitute another (Gold is the default at present) Basically the rest of the world will have to put an adult in charge to lessen the damage caused by the incontinence of the US fiscal system.
Posted by: tipper || 08/07/2011 20:35 Comments || Top||

#18  Talking about gold:
Goldman Hikes Its 12 Month Gold Price Target From $1,735 To $1,830
Posted by: tipper || 08/07/2011 21:01 Comments || Top||

#19  Basically the rest of the world will have to put an adult in charge to lessen the damage caused by the incontinence of the US fiscal system

tipper, I would argue that if the rest of the world stops buying --and starts dumping their holdings of -- U.S. Treasuries, things will come to a head pretty quickly. And if they don't, they don't really believe things are as risky as they're making out...or at least not riskier than all the other places they could park their excess cash. We only have to run faster than the other guy also being chased by the lion, a certain mindset would say.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2011 23:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
Chinese react with disbelief to photos of Norwegian prison
Translation from a Chinese magazine:
Norway's unrepentant mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik, is now under arrest. And he should count himself lucky for -- if entirely undeserving of -- a penal system in that country that is among the cushiest in the world.

There's no capital punishment, and the longest jail term allowed is 21 years (a caveat: if a prisoner is deemed to still be a threat, his sentence can be extended in five-year blocks indefinitely, though it's highly unlikely, according to Norwegian officials).

In Norway, rehabilitation is the guiding principle, not punishment -- a somewhat difficult notion to swallow given the gravity and callousness of his crimes.

"Both society and the individual simply have to put aside their desire for revenge, and stop focusing on prisons as places of punishment and pain," one Norwegian prison official told the Daily Mail. "Depriving a person of their freedom for a period of time is sufficient punishment in itself without any need whatsoever for harsh prison conditions."

Norway's newest jail may hold rapists and murderers, but Halden Prison -- the country's second largest and most secure facility -- looks more like a posh sleepaway camp. In fact, architects say they purposely tried to avoid an "institutional feel." When it opened in 2010, some news accounts called it the "most humane" prison in the world.

According to Time magazine, the prison is spread over 75 acres "of gently sloping forest. To avoid an institutional feel, exteriors are not concrete but made of bricks, galvanized steel and larch; the buildings seem to have grown organically from the woodlands."

The prison boasts a state-of-the-art gym, complete with a rock-climbing wall. Guards don't carry guns and are encouraged to be outgoing and friendly toward the inmates -- they eat together and play sports in mixed teams to create a sense of family, according to officials.
The following comments were made by Chinese:
If prison is too comfortable, then everyone will want to go there, and society's law will become even more ineffective.

If the Heavenly Kingdom's prisons were this comfortable, the crime rate would definitely go up.

What kind of world is this... Other country's convicts are living easier lives than I am!!!

How is that like a prison sentence? It's clearly a vacation!

After 30 years of being lost, I have finally found a goal in life: Illegally immigrate to Norway and blow up several buildings.

Being kind to the killer is being cruel to the kind innocent people! Norway's type of so-called "being civilized" is just trampling on the respect for the lives of the kind and innocent!
Posted by: gromky || 08/07/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  for once I agree with the Chinese on this one
Posted by: chris || 08/07/2011 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, I've just changed my retirement objective. Do Norwegian prisons come with room service?
Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 || 08/07/2011 0:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Not everything is cushy. For instance, at times of the year, the entire prison reeks of lutefisk. And non-Norwegians who are kept there are surrounded by sanctimonious Norwegians. And once a day, everyone greases up with Neutrogena, which keeps their skin soft and touchable.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/07/2011 6:10 Comments || Top||

#4  NORWAY PRISON SYS COMFORTS

versus

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CHINA THREATENS THE ISI?

ATIC = Besides everything else that PAK has endured this year, its "Big Brother" + BFF CHINA IS DEMANDING THAT PAK HUNT DOWN + KILL ANY + ALL UIGHUR TERRORISTS BASED OR TRAINING IN PAKISTAN, ESPEC THOSE IN TRAINING WID THE ETIM MILITANT GROUP; OR ELSE TURN 'EM OVER TO CHINA.

* CHINA MIL BLOGGERS > argue that, iff Islamabad refuses the above, + also given the PLA's inferiority or lack of training + hi-tech, dedicated or specialized assets, etc. vee US-NATO as required for the conduct of counter-terror ops, e.g. Abbottabad, THE PLA BE PREPARED TO COVERTLY DEPLOY SMALL TO BATTALION-SIZED SPECOPS UNITS INTO SOVEREIGN PAKISTAN WID OR WIDOUT ISLAMABAD'S CONSENT, + BACKED UP BY PLAAF UNITS = AIR SUPPORT.

Pro-Islamist Pak on an existential tripwire as it was counting on BB BFF China to counter the USA - ONLY ONE MISSING IS THE RUSSIANS, I.E. PAK LINK TO RUSSIAN/CAUCASUS TERROR???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 6:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Norway has the lowest crime rate in twenty years.
Increase in rape yes so women travel in pairs.
Federal prisons in this country are cushy. I asked a Federal warden if I could have my son tour his prison. He said that would not be a good idea. It is too nice. Many of the Norwegian things you see are similar to our Federal prisons(many open spaces without bars). Look at our recidivism rates and compare to theirs. They compare Breivik to our Mcveigh. They have moved on already. Each Norwegian has $100000 dollar rainy day set aside fund just the opposite of us.
Retired at 50. Free state of the art health care.
Free education. Socialist, happy, longevity, and the desire to help other peoples of the world. Very strong minded people like the Swiss. They are showing great progress. 40% growth in new housing construction, historic fishing exports, Cruse lines booming, four new oil platforms being built. So I would not travel there to commit a crime but others will so others could be as miserable as themselves. They need help. They are hiring. Around 350000 now are employed from all over the world.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 8:31 Comments || Top||

#6  "Drive drunk. Go to camp."
Posted by: Perfesser || 08/07/2011 9:07 Comments || Top||

#7  The total population of Norway on January 1st, 2011 was 4,920,305 [1]

Non-Norwegians
Country of origin Population (2011)[1]
Poland 60,610
Sweden 34,108
Pakistan 31,884
Iraq 27,827
Somalia 27,523
Germany 24,394
Vietnam 20,452
Denmark 19,522
Iran 16,957
Turkey 16,430
Lithuania 16,309
Bosnia-Herzegovina 16,125
Russia 15,879

[1]

Social issues are a lot easier with basically a mono-culture that has the same common beliefs and ethics. Just take that small town suburb largely of one culture and extrapolate to an entire nation.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/07/2011 9:26 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm on the waiting list, so in the meanwhile, I've booked a ClubMed vacation.
Posted by: Jack Salami || 08/07/2011 9:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Not a comfortable place be Jewish, though.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2011 9:43 Comments || Top||

#10  TW that is true. Why I don't understand. Many Norwegians came to this country at the time of the potato famine in Ireland. Large families with say ten children. The oldest boy would inherit the farm so what are the others to do. They went to American to seek their fortunes. That's what they said before Ellis Island and after when asked on paperwork. To become baptized was heresy and in old days and put to death. Lutheran mainly was or is the faith.
Dutch rule for 400 years then the Swiss till the 1900s. Strong bond with the Swiss. So in there my be where the behavior comes from for the Jewish people. TW personally I believe the left infected their socialism so that's where it comes from.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 10:09 Comments || Top||

#11  Let me give you an idea on how strong minded they can be. The Grandfather overhears an argument. He asks all parties to sit down. He then asks each to express their side of the issue. He then presents his thoughts on the the subject; so that's how it is, end of discussion.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 10:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Um, Dale - Lutherans practice baptism. ;-)

Mr. Lotp is the descendent of Norwegian immigrants, as it happens. The old family farm is now a historical park there, of the 'this is how our ancestors scratched out a living' sort. FWIW

Posted by: lotp || 08/07/2011 11:09 Comments || Top||

#13  Lotp yes at birth but to do it again as an adult is the heresy.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 11:29 Comments || Top||

#14  Dutch rule for 400 years then the Swiss till the 1900s

Dane & Swede?
Posted by: gr(o)mgoru || 08/07/2011 11:52 Comments || Top||

#15  Not a comfortable place be Jewish, though.

Where is it comfy? Juice are a stubborn (albeit damn well armed) people. You get comfy, it's a sign something bad is getting ready to happen. Vigilance at all times.
Posted by: S || 08/07/2011 12:35 Comments || Top||

#16  I've been comfortable in the U.S., S, although there were a number of universities the trailing daughters did not apply to.

Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2011 13:10 Comments || Top||

#17  gr(o)mgoru "the 400-year-night" Denmark. Then Swiss till early 1900." In 1814 Denmark-Norway was defeated in the Napoleonic wars and the king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel (January 14). The Norwegian dependencies Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands were kept by Denmark".
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 14:07 Comments || Top||

#18  A bit of a warning. Should you be invited to a sauna you may wish to avoid a Finnish sauna. The Finnish invented the sauna and it is a very important cleansing effort. First you remove your clothing then shower. You take a towel in to sit on. Heads of state, families ,or business client this is normal for them. Jumping into icy water is an eye opener even when you are under water.


Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 16:16 Comments || Top||


#20  Anonymoose where do you find this stuff but its good!.
Posted by: Dale || 08/07/2011 23:43 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two ex-generals picked for key PML-N positions
[Dawn] Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz president Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
appointed on Saturday two retired generals as his party`s assistant secretaries general.
No military coup needed, when their people are tapped by the civilian government...
Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Lt-Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi were picked as office-bearers at the party`s central management committee meeting held here at the central secretariat.

Gen Baloch served as governor of Balochistan.
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
from Feb 1 to Aug 11, 2003, in the regime of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
. He is currently a member of the National Assembly from Balochistan.

Earlier, he retired prematurely as corps commander of Quetta so that he could be appointed a governor. Gen Tirmizi, a former corps commander, has been given the responsibility of strengthening the party.

Political analysts are of the view that appointment of the two former generals as central office-bearers by Mr Sharif is aimed at projecting the soft image of the PML-N within the military but its arch rivals are terming the move a bid to improve the party`s working relations with the military establishment.

Besides the two newly inducted office-bearers the meeting was also attended by senior vice-president Sartaj Aziz, deputy secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal, information secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan and former secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra.

The meeting decided to celebrate the Independence Day on August 14 in a befitting way and instructions were issued to the district office-bearers across the country in this regard.

The meeting formed a media coordination committee in order to effectively communicate the party`s activities to the masses.

The party`s secretary information would head the coordination committee while secretary information of four provinces would be its members.

The meeting decided to form a special committee comprising parliamentarians to look into complaints being received against Nadra and the census.

The meeting also took serious notice of the continued loadshedding during Ramazan, blaming the government for its failure to give relief to people during the month of fasting.

The meeting called for taking immediate steps to end loadshedding and restoration of train service at the earliest so that people could join their family on Eid festivities.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Imran leads sit-in near presidency, parliament
[Dawn] A large number of supporters of Tehrik-i-Insaf took part in a sit-in on Saturday evening at the Parade Ground facing the Presidency and the Parliament house.

The people gathered at the ground under the slogan of "Hakoomat Hatao Mulk Bachao" (dismiss the government and save the country).

Men, women, children and the elderly gathered just before iftar where they broke their fasts with their party leader Imran Khan
... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
who sat in the crowd with the young and old surrounding him. Maghrib prayers followed later.

The stage was set high on containers arranged in the middle of the road in front of the permanent roadblock set up by the authorities during Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
`s regime blocking the access to the Presidency.

Television crews captured the atmosphere from an elevated position as activists raised anti-government slogans and swayed the party`s red and green flag for cameras.

"Main to dekhoon ga"--the famous song by popular band Strings played from loudspeakers that further raised spirits in the crowds who cheered at every stanza in the lyrics.

Supporters who had come from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
and central Punjab wearing T-shirts that read "Pakistain`s Cornered Tigers" and "United We Stand" rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud "Imran teray jan nisar beshumar".

No distance was far enough for a group of youngsters, students, professionals and entrepreneurs who had come all the way from Sialkot.

"We have gathered here for a cause that is bigger than any distance. We have seen a nationalist spirit in Imran Khan that is rare in many so-called leaders of Pakistain," said Abdul Basit, a lecturer in a private university in Sialkot.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian Delegation Seeks to Clinch Oil Exploration Deal with Lebanon
Posted by: Unish Protector of the Apes1896 || 08/07/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the curent location of the [revamped] Russian Mediterranean Fleet is where - again???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 22:46 Comments || Top||

#2  [SUNKEN COLD WAR ISRAELI DESTROYER "ELATH" here].

STYX missles got her, if I recall.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/07/2011 22:48 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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4Govt of Pakistan
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1al-Qaeda
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1al-Qaeda in Pakistan

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2011-08-07
  Yemen president leaves hospital but to stay in Saudi
Sat 2011-08-06
  38 dead as NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
Fri 2011-08-05
  Turkey Seizes Iranian Arms Smuggled to Syria, Hizbullah
Thu 2011-08-04
  Libya Shoots Missile At Italian Warship. Misses.
Wed 2011-08-03
  US Drones Kill 15 in Yemen's Abyan Province
Tue 2011-08-02
  Israeli, Lebanese Troops Exchange Fire in Wazzani Area
Mon 2011-08-01
  Activists: Army Kills At Least 145 across Syria, Among Them 113 in Hama
Sun 2011-07-31
  Syrian Generals Desert, Start Neue Armie
Sat 2011-07-30
  'US, Israeli mercenaries' blow up Iran-Turkey gas line
Fri 2011-07-29
  Libyan rebels' military commander arrested whacked by own comrades
Thu 2011-07-28
  AWOL c.o. Soldier Arrested In Killeen Over Ft. Hood Atk Concerns
Wed 2011-07-27
  Security, Army Divisions Join Popular Revolution in Yemen
Tue 2011-07-26
  Arkansas soldier shooter pleads guilty, gets life
Mon 2011-07-25
  Taliban hang 8-year-old boy in Afghanistan
Sun 2011-07-24
  More than two million Somalis out of aid groups' reach


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