begin: snark
Purchasing a FOX Blocker and telling the advertisers at FOX News why you did it will encourage advertisers spending their money somewhere else. ...if they ever find out about it, or care.
If we band together and tell the advertisers to shut the FOX up, we can help limit the scope, or at least the profitability of FOX News. Really? Tell me more!
FOXBlocker is an innovative new product that filters out the FOX News network. Simply screw the filter into the back of your TV and never be exposed to right wing propaganda again (at least through FOX News). Using a proprietary technology, the FOXBlocker works to filter out FOX News from your cable lineup. Yes, that's right! Using special secret alien "flubbadubba" (cough) filters, this amazing piece of, um, modern technology can tell which frequency band Fox News is allocated in your community's cable system!
Protect yourself and your family, or send one to a misguided right wing friend.
Posted by: Liberal But Healthy ||
01/10/2005 16:45 Comments ||
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#4
for the left, they have a device that allows them to see images blocked by their rose colored glasses. Beware..might be disturbing to suddenly discover that cuba is not paradise, to see the mass graves of communism's utopia, the black slavery in the third world, the mass, brutal killings of Christians in Africa, the starvation of millions in North Korea, the rapes commited by UN workers, the beheadings, state sactioned rapes, chopping off fingers, hands, heads and so much more.
#5
This is the electronic equivalent of, "YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU, YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA". (shrieked with fingers firmly in ears)
#6
Heaven forbid they might hear 10 or 15 seconds of Brit Hume - a known cause of idiotarian brain meltdown, leaving the "victim" a babbling blubbering veggie. The experts have a theory that it has something to do with a sudden realization of utter and total cognitive dissonance...
#9
Korora - Could be - I can't reach it either. Charles has been known to take it down, when under a hacking type of attack, to analyze and counter the attack. For those who are interested, here's an excellent very detailed explanation of what Korora's talking about.
#10
Glenn Reynolds at http://www.instapundit.com/ noted that the LGF shut down because "its server had thrown a drive on reboot." Apparently ff a DDOS attack.
#1
He said he dedicated his win to the US troops serving overseas. What a friggin' hypocrite.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
01/10/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#2
Ann Coulter has words that fit here:
Have you ever seen Citizen Kane? You know, he marries the nightclub singer and then wants to make her a great opera singer, because he controls all news in America; even though the audience is booing and throwing paper airplanes, all the headlines on every newspaper is âSusan Alexander Sweeps Chicago!â That is what itâs like to be a liberal in America, whether youâre Susan Sontag or Hillary Clinton. No matter how pathetic and useless and everyone can be booing you, throwing paper airplanesâyou can be incomprehensible like Susan Sontag, a âgenius,â a âpublic intellectualâ!
#3
They had something on this at FOX last night. I guess the 'voting' was via internet this year (as opposed to by organized poll) and the DU, moveon.org, etc.... had an ongoing campain to 'stuff the ballot box' so Fart-911 will win by spoofing IP addresses (not that hard to do...). This will also give weight to Mike Al-moore to get an oscar.
There were also some organized effort to stuff the ballot box for Passion as well.
So in other words this is another 'Susan Alexander Sweeps Chicago!' stunt.
#6
A cowed Stone says: "I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him. There was a clear resistance to his homosexuality."
---
So, make an X or XXX-rated Alexander.
---
Hmmm, another boomer who doesn't want to be told, "No."
#7
Let's see,
Given to sweeping authoritarian pronouncements- check
Substance-abuse problems-check
Delusions of godhood-check
Boastful about sex life-check (Stoned claims to pop Viagra "like candy"*)-check
Promotes world conquest (self for Alex, Islamo allies for Stoned)- check.
Millions hoping for imminent demise-check.
Non-Greek consumed with Greek culture- check
*The natural-born moonbat made this claim in 2000, when he was only 56 years old. Personally, I would be embarrassed.
ABU DHABI — General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, here yesterday called for freedom of speech and reforms in Arab world's media in tune with global changes and the fast rhythm of the information age. Delivering the keynote address at a conference on 'Arab media in the information age', organised by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), Gen. Shaikh Mohammed urged media organisations to play an active role in catalysing the reform process and called on Arab leaders to promote the freedom of speech and to protect the intellectuals, accept other opinions and support creativity and new ideas. "The media, like any other activity, needs reform and change. At the same time, media is a key player in the issue of reform and change. In the particular case, we have two points — one is critical and the other is a hot spot. The critical point is that reform advocates have to make additional efforts to justify asking for them, as opposed to reforms being dictated or pressurised by foreign influence, which can be rejected by the masses, whatever its objectives were. "The second point, he said, originates from the ambiguous relationship between reform and national identity, especially Arabism and Islam."
All the holy men over there know that answer to that one.
Stressing the important role played by the media in shaping the future of any nation, Gen. Shaikh Mohammed said the media, in general, had become an integral part of our age and the core of economic, political and social life, both locally and internationally. "The media should not be overburdened, as it has become an integral part of our community's driving forces."
"So boys, don't work so hard. Let my agency just write your stories for you."
He cautioned that the slow response of the Arab media in dealing with their own issues in a responsible manner will open the way for others to deal with these issues — but from their foreign perspective and interests. He said the Arab media was under the control of some dictatorial governments hindering them from addressing the challenges of reliability and competence, which they have faced during the past years. He urged the media to focus on dealing with issues of women, children and education. He said that though the Arab media had played a major role, their pioneering role was broken when the Arab world suffered from despotic regimes, which discovered the power of the media and controlled it and changed its real objective. "These regimes have changed the objectives of media from serving the homeland to serving them, and from clarifying the wrongdoings to justifying them, and from a platform of dialogue between different powers of society to a weapon to defame opponents and other opinions," he pointed out.
That is what dictators do, and you're a crown prince, remember?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2005 1:10:28 AM ||
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#1
Lessee, is this the new name for the recently disbanded Institute for Islamic Horsepucky which used to invite all the idiotarians from the West over and pay them huge sums of money to give speeches or attend "conferences" to kiss Arab ass and pretend that it must be someone else's fault that they are so fucked up and now he's just gonna have the Arab press take over that function and 'splain everything away through improved perception and image? *deep breath*
#2
"He, however, pointed out that fortunately, this period in the Arab world has ended, as it is now impossible to spread false ideas or justify failure by giving false reasons or changing defeats into victories, thanks to technology."
Britain's military commander in Gibraltar has been found dead in his swimming pool under mysterious circumstances, the Times of London said Monday. Commodore David White, 50, who was single, was found dead dressed in civilian clothes in the pool of his exclusive government mansion Saturday. Friday, Britain's Ministry of Defense asked him to return to England following an investigation related to unspecified personal issues. The ministry declined to give any details of the police investigation into White's death and refused to comment on reports White had been arrested before Christmas over allegations about the possession of child pornography.
Ah, took the easy way out.
A pathologist from London was to arrive in Gibraltar Monday to examine the body. White commanded all the core functions of the Gibraltar base, which include a nuclear-powered submarine berth, a Royal Air Force airfield, intelligence-gathering assets and a command-and-control communications center in a vaulted complex.
A prime subject for some blackmail?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/10/2005 11:45:27 AM ||
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#1
The Commodore... in the pool...with the kiddie porn.
#2
The commander of British forces on Gibraltar, found dead in his swimming pool at the weekend, appears to have committed suicide after being recalled pending an investigation into paedophilia offences, it was reported. The British daily The Sun reported Commodore David White, found dead on Saturday, was the subject of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) police investigation and had been relieved of his duties on Friday.
The Sun reported that detectives had been investigating White for several months "for having hundreds of indecent images of children".
An anonymous navy source told the paper: "Since everyone is innocent until proven guilty, we tried to give Commodore White the benefit of the doubt. "But with more information from the police last week, his position was no longer tenable. "It is tragic - he appears to have decided to take his own life - but not surprising."
In the old days he would have been given a revolver with one bullet....."for the honor of the regiment". Of course, who sez he wasn't?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/10/2005 12:45 Comments ||
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#3
75,000 tons of Boer War era Bully Beef is missing.
#4
"which include a nuclear-powered submarine berth"
More lousy writing (or possibly an attempt to mislead?): The berth itself is not nuclear powered, "berth for nuclear-powered submarines" would be better,
Questions about when Washington State mailed ballots to overseas U.S. military personnel have cast further doubt on the 2004 gubernatorial election outcome. Republican Dino Rossi was initially declared the winner by a narrow margin over Democrat state Attorney General Christine Gregoire, an outcome confirmed by the initial machine recount of the ballots. A second recount of the ballots, by hand and under different standards in each county, produced a win for Gregoire by 129 votes.
On Monday, the Seattle Times reported the federal government had threatened to sue the state in October because it had not yet mailed ballots to overseas U.S. military personnel requesting them. The ballots are a key argument in Rossi's push for a new election. "Military overseas and other absentee voters may not have received or been sent their absentee ballots in a timely manner and could have been disenfranchised by the neglect, mistake, or error of election officials," the Republicans argued in Chelan County Superior Court.
Democratic Party spokesman Lisa Cohen said no one has shown evidence of "broad disenfranchisement" of military voters. Cohen did allow that there were "quite possibly" isolated cases in which the military ballots were mishandled.
Why, you may ask, is this so important? Consider the fact that the Democrat pulled ahead after the "recount" by only 129 votes. Opinion Journal reports: More than 300 military personnel who were sent their absentee ballots too late to return them have signed affidavits saying they intended to vote for Mr. Rossi.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/10/2005 3:52:20 PM ||
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#1
It's in the Democratic party interests to make sure the military ballots are mishandled.
Posted by: ed ||
01/10/2005 16:18 Comments ||
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#3
This story sounds just like the many election we have here in California. A Dhimi is losing a statewide office and then all of a sudden there are 10k ballots from either LA or SF than were not included. If they are not needed they are simply tossed into the bay. I think they should fight but don't get militant about it. I doubt they will gain anything on a vote that wasn't cast. They should concentrate on the votes that were counted and their validity. If that doesn't pan out, Rossi should run for the Senat in 2006. What a srpingboard this battle will be for a Senate campaign. Imagine a LARGER majority in the Seante. Dare I dream? You bet I will!
#4
clearly, however, it is only Democrats which are able to divine "voter intent" a la Karnak
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/10/2005 16:50 Comments ||
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#5
Dont forget the 3,500 ballots in King Country who, apparently, do not have voters as the precents have more ballots then registered voters..... the above soundpolitics.com site has the details.
And of course the MSM says 'nonthing to see here... move along...'. The MSM should be doing their own balanced and unbiased investigative reporting like they did to get those ballots in King County included.
We have rules being enforced about erasing email fast to make sure that it doesn't get backed up and nobody from the outside can request email and the county can't get in trouble for not providing it. I think this is because of the lawsuit from that guy that got the county fined, but they claim it is for better "information management". I think this is illegal, it seems like complaints that come into the election office belong to the people and better information management doesn't consist of erasing documents and voter complaints, but who am I to say? I just work here.
2. Like I said in the one above, if you want any documents for a recount or for any lawsuits, better ask King County for them now, because we have been told to delete things to keep them from getting out to the public. You might want to ask the county to freeze anything they have. At least make them tell all of us staff not to delete our e-mail or "old" documents.
3. I think someone needs to do the math and find out where the extra mystery 10K ballots really came from, because we sure don't know and we work here. We can figure out about 3,000 more than we thought, mostly provisional ballots sent from other counties and some late arriving overseas ballots with good postmarks. The absentee supervisors have gotten all weird and secretive when people ask. And no, they weren't just sitting around here. The extra "good" ballots appeared over the weekend. I don't know what absentee "supervisor" told you people that we don't have a way of counting the incoming absentee ballots, that's just bulls**t if you pardon my French. We DO have a way of knowing how many absentees have come back.
#8
Old news. Democrats will do anything they have to do to stay in power. What elese is new? What is anyone going to do about it? They control the court system. There is no such thing as "justice" when it comes to elections in Democratic controled states. The feds will not touch it with a 20 foot pole. God luck but don't hold your breath. The MSM will keep this story pushed to page D 15 if they cover it at all. It's off the radar or 98% of the sheeple.
Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service. The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with willfully dishonest "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.
Color me impressed.
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard's deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated. The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.
Which makes the body count five.
"We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 MinutesWednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy," said CBS President Les Moonves.
And how did he manage to avoid getting sacked?
The panel said a "burning desire to wreck the President" "myopic zeal" to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Mr. Bush's National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization's internal standards. The report said at least four factors that some observers described as a journalistic "Perfect Storm" had contributed to the decision to broadcast a piece that was seriously flawed. "The combination of a new 60 Minutes Wednesday management team, great deference given to a highly respected producer and the network's news anchor, competitive pressures, and a zealous belief in the truth of the segment seem to have led many to disregard some fundamental journalistic principles," the report said.
#3
The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece.
Oh? And which report is this? The one that was supposed to come in "weeks, not months"?
#9
The swift departure of Mary Mapes makes me feel that they got the message that we will not stand by and be C BS'd. She is the central figure that bent over back to make a story of no substance into a News story. The fact that Moonves gets to stay says they have much to learn. Make no mistake, these are big fish that got tossed. Look for Mapes to start her own show on Air America, Public Radio, or maybe CNN.
#10
Mary's book must be just about ready for publication.
Posted by: john ||
01/10/2005 11:38 Comments ||
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#11
If I sound a little cranky, I just got back from a dentist who, based on the amount of drilling, thought the best place to achieve energy independence is my lower jaw.
So they're not prepared to brand the Killian documents as an outright forgery""? Is that for legal reasons or because they are dumber than stumps? If they can not say they are forgeries, why are they firing people? This is a white wash. These guys tried to influence an election with forgeries. Where do they think they are, King County Washington? They deserve worse, Moonves and Rather included.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/10/2005 12:05 Comments ||
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#12
This is still about a 50% cover up.
If after all this time the investigators couldn't bring themselves to say this is a forgery, then the investigators didn't do there job.
#14
There is no way in heck the MSM will admit political bias -- they simply will refuse to do it.
The sad part about this is that the MSM now thinks 'thats over - we had to sacrifice a few heads but we are still "the truth"' and they can get back to the same old bullshit and wonder why they are loosing viewship.
#15
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howardâs deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West
#16
Wonder whether the TANG Colonel (Staudt?) will take legal action against CBS? This report doesn't get them off the hook; if anything, I'd guess it only gives Staudt ammo to pursue a defamation case.
#18
Hmmm...Rathergate reports that the delay of the report release was explained away as being due to the "complexity" of the story, but that the
...document we have is a .pdf file, created on January 5th, 2005. The orginal document used to CREATE that .pdf tells another story. Itâs called, Microsoft Word - DC-685241-v10-Final_CBS_Report__sent_to_Lou_12_20_.DOC. December 20, 2004. 21 days ago.
They STILL don't understand how to operate a computer. Sheesh.
#19
I can't believe thay didn't boot Rather. Hey guys, he's the "managing editor", right? Not just an empty suit who reads whatever drivel they type into the teleprompter?
A sailor has died after a US nuclear submarine ran aground south of the Pacific island of Guam, injuring several sailors on board. The accident occurred on Saturday, near the submarine's home port of Guam, one of the most important US Pacific bases. The US Navy said the nuclear reactor on the USS San Francisco was not damaged during the accident. But 23 other crew members are being treated aboard for injuries including broken bones, bruises and lacerations. A spokesman for the Pacific Fleet said the name of the sailor was being withheld for 24 hours after next of kin had been informed. ... Obviously, this was not just a little jolt.
Posted by: .com ||
01/10/2005 12:49:02 AM ||
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#1
23 crew are laid up? This in a Navy where you have to report for duty unless you're really seriously injured? You can be sure the rest of the crew is mashed up as well. I'm sure the experience can be compared to being in a car wreck. The entire ship's crew being thrown violently against the nearest object can't be fun.
#2
I'm not sure if it ran aground. If that picture that was posted yesterday was was the San Fransisco it looks like a huge chunk of the sail was torn away.
#3
Shipman, could you direct me to the picture? I can't find it.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/10/2005 8:20 Comments ||
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#4
While the damage from Saturday's grounding is not immediately evident, there did appear to be a forward list as she sailed past the breakwater. The true damages though are the ones that you couldn't see. Below decks 23 sailors have injuries ranging from broken bones to lacerations to whiplash, and a number of the rest of the crew have scrapes and bruises. And most tragically, 24-year-old Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley lost his life.
Pacific Submarine Support Force spokesperson Lt. Commander Jeff Davis says the petty officer, whose hometown is listed as Akron, Ohio, was standing watch in an engineering compartment when the accident happened and sustained significant trauma to the head, resulting in his death on Sunday.
Only picture I could find was a old one of her coming into port. I think it was just the angle of the photo that made it look damaged.
Details on how the accident occurred are still sketchy. While Commander Davis says the accident occurred about 350 miles south of Guam in the Caroline Ridge, he would not release the speed the submarine was traveling at, or its depth. And Commander Davis wouldn't speculate on how an accident like this could happen. He was emphatic however, when speaking of what the sub hit.
When asked if there was any indication that it might have been another submarine or another vessel, Commander Davis said, "No...there's absolutely no reason to believe that it was anything other than a geographical feature under water." This afternoon Lt. Commander Davis said the Navy plans to conduct a thorough investigation so that "a tragedy like this never happens again." The Caroline Ridge is east of Palau and Yap, intersecting the Yap Trench from the east, and consisting of a chain of seamounts.
May have hit a uncharted seamount, subs running quiet would not be using active sonar.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/10/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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#5
Just what the hell are we doing naming a nuclear submarine after San Francisco? Poetic justice? I mean I don't know whether to applaud the irony or weep for the crew!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/10/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#6
Okay, that's what I was wondering Steve, Mrs. D. it was in yesterdays thread, the sub was accompanied by a pair of tugs and I assumed it was on the way back to Guam. The angle of the photo made it look like there was a gash in the sail. IOW nevermind.
#9
jeez - why don't they just look out the front windows, like on the Seaview? That way you can see any obstructions, Krakens, or space aliens trying to abduct crew members....right, Sharky?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/10/2005 11:20 Comments ||
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#10
How would the sail get damaged by hitting a geographic feature? Unless its running upsidedown or through a trench and goes under an overhang???
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/10/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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#11
And I thought it was just either British made / Canadian run , or Chinese subs that act like this :P
#13
The exact depth and location of this incident will probably remain classified. This ridge is quite well charted except for some of the deeper prominences and it may be one of these that the sub hit. The crew deserves the highest praise in any case for keeping their heads and saving themselves and their ship.
Just how deep these vessels can go is a carefully held secret, but it is several times as great as the publicly released operating depth. The location may be at such a depth and revealing it would give away vital information.
IIRC, the USS Thresher broke up at about 1800 feet in 1963 and a modern nuke would have substantially better depth capability.
Hitting the bottom at such a great depth must have a truly horrifying and traumatic experience.
As for the damaged sail, it is possible that the sub slewed and rolled after impact, possibly enought to bump the sail against the bottom.
#14
AC - That makes sense that it might have rolled after hitting. I don't even want to think about how deep these things go. I seriously get the willies when thinking about being under that much water.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/10/2005 13:45 Comments ||
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#15
Maybe it was the rolling that caused the fatal injury.
A United Nations inquiry has found that UN peacekeepers working in DR Congo sexually abused girls as young as 13. The report by the UN watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, investigated abuse allegations in the north-east Congolese town of Bunia. Head of UN peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said he was outraged and angered by the abuse... "The rules of the UN are crystal clear. Any sex with under-18 years is against the UN rule and whenever we find that, this is just something that needs to be punished," he said. Mr Guehenno... said the abuse destroyed the trust of local people in the UN mission.
The report said many of the victims were under 18, with some as young as 13. They were usually given food or small sums of money in return for sex. The investigation looked at more than 70 allegations against military and civilian UN personnel in Bunia. It found seven cases against UN staff, all but one of them peacekeepers, involving sexual exploitation of under-age girls, were fully substantiated... while many of the girls could not identify the individual peacekeepers responsible, their reports of regular sexual contact were detailed and convincing.
The UN has jurisdiction over its own civilian staff but no power to punish peacekeepers. It can only repatriate soldiers responsible and call for them to be brought to justice at home. Investigations into the abuse in Congo has led to action being taken against two soldiers in one country and the imprisonment of a civilian UN staff member in France. The UN is looking at ways to follow up whether governments actually take action against soldiers who are repatriated following allegations of misconduct.
#1
Maybe the Banda Aceh Islamic Youth Scouts will be able to use it, when it gets there. The medical stuff, what, 3+ weeks after the event? Must've coordinated with Jan Egeland & Co. Has to be unloaded, then reloaded onto your landing craft? The C-130's you're gonna charter - those built by the UN? No? Mebbe Norway? Well, all in all, a fine effort, fine. *golf clap* Literally, from the Clubhouse, good job Mr Reiss.
#2
As I understand it there are no local port facilities that can be used to unload either bulk or container cargo. Even the moorings at the Arun LNG plant are not available. So, I guess it begs the question - why ship by sea - why not airlift the stuff?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/10/2005 10:07 Comments ||
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#3
"...why ship by sea...?"
It costs less when there is no urgency. They're not white after all, so there is no rush.
Worthless. The ICRTC has about as much "moral authority" as the UN.
Neolithic hunters aiming arrows at a rescue chopper stand out among the terrible images of the December tsunami (Early warning? Ask Nicobar's stone-agers, January 9). For the aborigines of the Sentinel Islands, the last stone-age people to resist contact with the world, an Indian Coast Guard helicopter landing on their shores seemed a direr threat than the tsunami. It is not known whether more than 40 of them survived the events of December 26 out of an estimated population of 100, the remnant of 10,000 at the turn of the 18th century.
Because we often have seen the dreadful fate of primitive peoples thrust into the modern world, their hostility surprises us not at all. They would rather die on their own terms than live as our wards. Like Friedrich von Schiller's William Tell, the Sentinelese will cry, "Better by the hand of God than the hand of man." To refuse disaster aid would seem an irrational choice for a Swedish tour group, but not for aborigines, for whom the approaching chopper resembles an exterminating angel.
"Send not to know for whom the chopper lands: it lands for thee," a modern John Donne might have written. [1] Who is less rational, the aboriginals of the Andaman Sea or today's Europeans? The former are fighting to keep their culture, while the latter are liquidating theirs, first of all by failing to reproduce (Why Europe chooses extinction, April 8, 2003). Our actions seem more rational than those of the Sentinelese because we live at a greater distance from the existential boundary. The Sentinelese live in wariness of the next anthropologist to step out of the bush. Remote by contrast seems the day in which other people will inhabit the hills and valleys of our land, and our language will be preserved only in libraries, in Franz Rosenzweig's memorable phrase.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
01/10/2005 10:53:29 AM ||
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Great quote:
"Pessimists reckon that in 100 years' time 90% of the world's languages will be gone, and that a couple of centuries from now the world may be left with only 200 tongues," observed The conomist, in a plaidoyer for funding to preserve the grammar and vocabulary of doomed idioms. "French and German may not be among them; 200 years from now, at current rates of population decline, they will be spoken only in hell."
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/10/2005 15:06 Comments ||
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#2
Yep, that's what happens to languages. There used to be a lot more languages -- and peoples, too -- in Sub-Saharan Africa, before the Bantus, with their more efficient agriculture, took over pretty much everything (see Guns, Germs, and Steel by J. Diamond for details).
Nowadays people who speak English tend to be more successful than people who don't, whether as a first or nth language. It isn't a matter of imperialism, but of differential success. But since anyone with access can learn to speak English, this language benefit is not exclusive to the native speakers. Not like the good old days, when the dominant language was that of the conquerers, and the one about to disappear that of the conquest, often only spoken by the womenfolk after their men had all been killed off.
Of course its sad, and wouldn't we all love to explore the literature of the Etruscans, or the cavemen of Southern France, but all the fussing in the world isn't going to change it. On the other hand the fussers can look forward to the coming dark ages, when in the many isolatated small population groups English will splinter and evolve into many different languages once again.
A US Navy helicopter has crashed on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, while on a mission to bring aid to victims of the tsunami disaster. Four people are reported injured, after the Seahawk helicopter crashed near Banda Aceh airport on Monday morning. There were no fatalities among the 10 people on board, according to local media reports. The crash happened at 0715 local time (0015 GMT) outside Banda Aceh, which is the hub for transporting vital aid to people in remote parts of the region. The SH-60 Seahawk helicopter had been flying in personnel from the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group, which is based off the Sumatra coast. It crashed into a rice paddy not far from its normal landing site. An AFP agency reporter at the scene said the machine appeared to be intact but its rotor blades were damaged. The injured were reportedly flown back to their ships. ... The Cost of Doing Business. I wonder if this will show up on the Who Donated The Most fuckwit tally. Thankfully, no one died. G'luck folks, take extra care - the UN is on the job.
Posted by: .com ||
01/10/2005 12:35:35 AM ||
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#1
Bound to happen. You can't run all these sorties day and night and expect Murphy to sleep through the whole thing. I understand the value of our assets off Sumatra to total $20 billion and the daily cost is $8.5 million. Never seems to get into the league tables does it?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/10/2005 10:09 Comments ||
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If I was them , I would be grateful that he didnt stop by , he would fleece them for everything they have (not alot at the moment ) , hand it to his son to invest in some ropey old 3rd World deal , then skim the profits off into some swiss bank account under an un assuming french name , maybe Pepe L'Swindleer
#2
I know its a really long memo, but there are lots of interesting bits. Basically, it confirms all of the accusations bandied about the blogosphere, confirms that
Rather and Mapes and their team were on a witchhunt -- for which they ignored all the rules on how to get and confirm a story -- that the information about the story was communicated improperly to the Kerry campaign, and finally, that the CBS organization chose to lie about the merits of the story in support of their man Rather.
Equally interesting to me was the sentence structure. I only got to about page thirty, but what I saw over and over again was this:
{Subject}{wishy washy verb}{absolutely scathing clause}
Dan Rather may have been allowed to retire earlier than planned but, despite the efforts being made at Columbia U. to cloud the issue, clearly he is going to become a notorious J-School case study. He's going to have to choose whether to be remembered as a powerless front man, brainlessly parroting the stories of others, or a vindictive incompetent incapapble of staging a fraudulent story effectively.
I shouldn't be surprised is his body is found, fully clothed, at the bottom of the family swimming pool in the days after his official retirement.
Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.
Blogosphere, take a bow.
The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard's deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated. The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen ||
01/10/2005 10:38:23 AM ||
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#1
I watch Fox...but it's not all that much better. I've yet to see much reporting from them on all of the good work being done in Iraq or Afghanistan...schools being built, etc. And when they do sympathetic pieces on the soldiers, they always pick a story that involves death or dismemberment. We read lots of heroic stories or soldier human interest stories on blogs...I've yet to see such a story arising from Fox news that doesn't have some sort of sad undertone to it.
Fox just takes the same stuff CNN does and turns it into a question. Instead of saying, "the US should get out", Fox says, "should the US get out?" Turning from one channel to the next, I see exactly the same anti-US news stories on Fox that I do on CNN or any other MSM channel, with the exception that Fox has phrased it as a question.
Here's how I'd characterize Fox's reporting: "Other's say the cheerleader has a big butt, what do you think?"
#2
Rather is not out as of today. That means they haven't gone all the way. I don't and won't watch CBS. It's been years since 60 min ran in this home. Firing 4 people who I have never heard or doesn't cut it. (I suspect they will be back at work soon anyhow.) Dan needed to go, he didn't. It's a white wash.
#3
SPD, then you missed the one last night that said we are all doomed because anyone can currently buy a .50 Barrets rifle. They forgot to mention that if a .50 can knock down a plane, so could many other rifles. And that .50 rifles have been available for over ten years (at least since the Balkans war) and the thousands owned by legal gun owners have yet to have even killed one person, let alone been used for any terrorist incident.
Posted by: DO ||
01/10/2005 17:11 Comments ||
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#4
Yea "they look evil and must be banned." My state banned them already. But the Mexicans politicians in Sacramento don't know their ass for anything but a 38 Super which they want to ban too.
#5
Hmmmm, maybe the blogosphere should organize a gathering outside of CBS's HQ and chant "No Justice, No Peace." Carry signs that say FU** RATHER and No Blood for Rather.
Of course, then the riot would start and the building would be torched, so maybe it's not a good idea.
LAHORE: The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government has allowed prisoners to keep their wives with them in jail thrice a year, a news channel reported on Saturday. The channel quoted an NWFP government notification as saying that a married woman could spend three days with her husband in jail three times in a year with the district coordination officer's permission. "The women can keep their children with them in jail, who are below six years," the notification added. The channel reported that this facility would be provided to men who had spent over five years in jail. The notification said that the prisoners with more than one wife could spend two days with each wife. The prisoners involved in terrorism and subversive activities would not have this facility, the notification said according to the report. Azam Khan, inspector general prisons, told the channel that separate rooms for such couples were being built in the provincial prisons in compliance with the NWFP government's orders.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/10/2005 1:11:27 AM ||
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#1
Of course, the wives have no word in this little passion play, I'm sure.
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.
ABU DHABI — General Shaikh 
Commodore David White, 50, who was single, was found dead dressed in civilian clothes in the pool of his exclusive government mansion Saturday. Friday, Britain's Ministry of Defense asked him to return to England following an investigation related to unspecified personal issues. The ministry declined to give any details of the police investigation into White's death and refused to comment on reports White had been arrested before Christmas over allegations about the possession of child pornography. 
Questions about when Washington State mailed ballots to overseas U.S. military personnel have cast further doubt on the 2004 gubernatorial election outcome. Republican 
Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service. 
LAHORE: The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government has allowed prisoners to keep their wives with them in jail thrice a year, a news channel reported on Saturday. The channel quoted an NWFP government notification as saying that a married woman could spend three days with her husband in jail three times in a year with the district coordination officer's permission. "The women can keep their children with them in jail, who are below six years," the notification added. The channel reported that this facility would be provided to men who had spent over five years in jail. The notification said that the prisoners with more than one wife could spend two days with each wife. The prisoners involved in terrorism and subversive activities would not have this facility, the notification said according to the report. Azam Khan, inspector general prisons, told the channel that separate rooms for such couples were being built in the provincial prisons in compliance with the NWFP government's orders.
