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Germany to Deport Hundreds of Islamists
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Real Volkswagen Ad? Dunno, But It's Hilarious!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 17:31 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't know who filmed this ad but it's professionally done and has obviously been made in the UK, in the same style as a series of similar, authentic, 'small but tough' Polo ads. Possibly it was made as a real ad which was either binned or aired a few times on non-terrestrial TV, but it's much shorter (and controversial!) than your usual car ad. If it was meant for broadcast, I think it must have been meant for a UK audience - the non-generic feature such as right-hand drive and distinctive numberplates are too noticeable for use internationally, I would think.

Or it might have been part of a TV comedy...
Posted by: Bulldog || 01/23/2005 18:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Whatever it was, Bulldog, I laughed my ass off.

If I were in the market for a baby car, I'd buy this one on the strength of the ad alone. ;-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 19:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Barbara - if I'd done some actual Googling before talking through my proverbial hat, I might have found this before. The Guardian have it covered. Apparently it's a 'spec' ad; made for VW by these folks, but not commissioned. Cost: about $70,000. Seems to have earned its makers a lot of worldwide attention, and outraged Volkswagen. Heh.
Posted by: Bulldog || 01/23/2005 19:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't know why people are complaining. It's not like the car was damaged.
Posted by: Charles || 01/23/2005 20:42 Comments || Top||

#5  And it's not like anyone significant was hurt...
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 01/23/2005 22:09 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL, Charles & Phil.

So true.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 23:13 Comments || Top||


breaking: Johnny Carson - rest in peace ;1925-2005
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 13:46 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pg 2 - my bad
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 13:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Johnny finally made the Slauson Cutoff.

RIP Mr. Carson.
Posted by: badanov || 01/23/2005 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  ...By all accounts a genuinely decent and funny man - also a WWII vet.

Can you imagine the Friars Club roast in Paradise tonight? Johnny, the Rat Pack, Alan King, Milton Berle,..so many we've lost in the last few years.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/23/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Says St. Peter at the Golden Gates, "Here's Johnny"
Posted by: Captain America || 01/23/2005 15:03 Comments || Top||

#5  :(
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/23/2005 15:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Just stop and think (imagine) for a moment about all the great Clinton and Bush jokes we never heard because they were never written because Carson wasn't around to tell them. He was truly the King.....
Posted by: Mark Z. || 01/23/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#7  I can't figure why they lied about his age, he was only around 28 or 29, not much older than me.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2005 15:40 Comments || Top||

#8  Thank you, Frank. I heard yesterday that post- retirement Mr. Carson was in the habit of sending jokes to David Letterman, and got particular enjoyment when they were used in the monologue. But clearly I missed the first part of the story, about JC's passing. No doubt they're enjoying the monologue up in Heaven.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 16:56 Comments || Top||

#9 


Johnny will not be replaced. He was a true master of comedy.

Posted by: Mark Espinola || 01/23/2005 22:06 Comments || Top||

#10  A statement by President Bush:

"Laura and I are saddened by the death of Johnny Carson. Born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska, Johnny Carson was a steady and reassuring presence in homes across America for three decades. His wit and insight made Americans laugh and think and had a profound influence on American life and entertainment. He was a patriot who served in the United States Navy during World War II and always remembered his roots in the heartland of America. We send our prayers and condolences to the entire Carson family."

All about Carson.

But what did Former Prez Clinton have to say? About himself, of course..... "Bill Clinton: "Those 20 minutes on 'The Tonight Show' did more for my career than speaking for two days at the Democratic National Convention."

All about Bill.......
Posted by: Sherry || 01/23/2005 23:12 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Tsunami Relief Effort Still Disorganized, Report Says
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan. 22 -- The massive relief operation along the remote west coast of Aceh province, one of the areas hit hardest by the Dec. 26 tsunami, has brought food and medicine to most large population groups but continues to be hampered by insufficient coordination nearly a month after the tragedy, according to a draft report that offers the first detailed assessment of the effort.

Highly trained medical professionals abound -- at one point there were 20 surgeons in the west coast city of Meulaboh -- but primary health care workers are lacking, according to the report, compiled by 14 government and private agencies taking part in the work. There is an abundance of antibiotics but a shortage of dressings for wounds, stethoscopes and childbirth equipment.

Aid workers "do what they think is best, and sometimes a particular country or a particular agency may well send materials or equipment that may not be what is required at that stage," Rob Holden, worldwide operations manager for the World Health Organization, said in an interview in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, on Saturday. "Or it may be that they haven't asked the wider question -- Is someone else sending that, do I need to send something else?"

The six-day survey, which was led by Holden, found that despite poor coordination, the number of cases of malaria, measles and diarrhea was lower than expected. Food was reaching most large population groups through civil authorities and the Indonesian military, but it was often not targeted at the people who most need it, such as pregnant women. Schools are ready to reopen in a few areas and markets are again selling locally produced food.

The report said that local and international aid groups needed to plan their efforts jointly. "If agencies . . . decide to set up an operation in a certain location, and you know nothing about it, it's very difficult to get coordinated," Holden said. The United Nations needs to send more personnel to areas with major concentrations of survivors, he said.

snip
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 01/23/2005 7:18:46 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any response to a disaster of this magnitude is going to have coordination problems. That's why there's something called 'lessons learned' or as the Brits say, 'lessons noted'.

The United Nations needs to send more personnel to areas with major concentrations of survivors, he said.

Only way that'll happen is if there's an intact Hilton within driving distance.

In all seriousness, it's unlikely that the UN is going to be any better at coordinating.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/23/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||

#2  There are so many conflicting reports surrounding this relief effort that it's hard to take any one very seriously. One would think that the UN's job, as a "world body" would be one of coordination. That appears to be a competency sorely missing.
Posted by: Captain America || 01/23/2005 21:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess the UN is still coordinating the catering service at the 5-star. Gotta make sure they have enough china you know... No time to coordinate anything else....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/23/2005 21:30 Comments || Top||

#4  It will be fully organized when zero cents on the dollar will actually go to the needy.
Posted by: Glereper Craviter7929 || 01/23/2005 21:32 Comments || Top||

#5  To be really organized, someone has to take charge. It is Indonesia, so that means the govt does it or they hand it off to someone to run the show. This is in many ways like a military operation: the plans need to be already made and the org chart needs to be pretty well hammered out and ready to go for the eventuality.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2005 22:15 Comments || Top||


Signs and Portents, part 126
A mild earthquake jolted Pakistan's capital yesterday, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported, an official said. The state-run seismological centre was collecting data to determine the magnitude of the quake, said Mohammed Hanif, an official at the centre. "Apparently, it was a mild earthquake," he said. Mild or moderate earthquakes are common in Pakistan. A 5.7-magnitude quake hit parts of northwestern Pakistan in February 2004, killing 24 people, triggering landslides and demolishing hundreds of homes.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2005 12:53:11 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoops! Forgot to turn the Zionist Earthquake / Tsunami MachineTM off, sorry...
Posted by: The Mossad || 01/23/2005 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Man, memories! That's the picture that was in our book of Bible stories, when I was a kid. Ah, yes, here it is. Still got a copy around here somewhere.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 01/23/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Where's Mucki?

We can sing Jesus Ima love the litter children...
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2005 12:51 Comments || Top||

#4  chilruns?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 13:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Lol, Shipman, Frank. That is one man who really needs .com's spell check program even more than I do.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 14:55 Comments || Top||

#6  TW - we love him as he is...
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 15:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Mucki is the Anti-AR15 -- no pretense, no arrogance. I can live with his spelling. In fact, some of it is adorable and Ima see we're picking it up here and there.
Posted by: Tom || 01/23/2005 15:14 Comments || Top||

#8  Ima thinkr samen
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 15:17 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't think muckli does adorable... weird yes
Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2005 15:44 Comments || Top||

#10  *nods* Muck's got a good heart, but it's misplaced. Tom's comment is right on target, and I mean both of them.

M is from the light side of the Farce, and A is of the Dark side...
Posted by: Ptah || 01/23/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Shipman, I don't think you are so constituted to see anyone other than very small children and certain members of your immediate family as adorable. But for those of us who are, Mucki is. Spelling and all -- for which I love him as much as you and the rest, Frank... I was just commenting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 16:44 Comments || Top||

#12  I have it on very good authority that Muck4doo is a very caring person. He just has trouble with typing. And he's a little weird but not any weirder than I am.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2005 20:17 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Two Pakistani looters handed over to Saudi officials
MINA: The Pakistan Haj Mission handed over on Friday two Pakistanis to Saudi officials who ran away after taking money from 26 Pakistani pilgrims for slaughtering sacrificial animals. Ayaz Shahid and Abdul Sattar Bashir Ahmed took 350 Saudi Riyals per animal from 26 Pakistani pilgrims and fled. The Pakistan Haj Mission registered the complaints of the pilgrims. The Mission in collaboration with the Mossassa South Asia traced the accused and handed them over to Saudi officials. The money has been returned to the pilgrims.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2005 6:15:56 PM || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


3 pilgrims die, 500 injured in stoning the devil ritual
Did he throw back at them?
MECCA: Three Muslim pilgrims were killed and 500 others suffered light injuries Saturday as they jostled to perform the "stoning of the devil" ritual near Mecca, Saudi newspapers reported on Sunday. The crush was triggered by the arrival of "a large number of African pilgrims carrying their personal belongings" to the site of the stoning in Mina called the "jamarat," the daily Okaz said. The paper quoted Saudi Health Minister Hamad bin Abdullah al-Mane as saying that a number of pilgrims also fell down on the site as a result of the scramble to stone the three concrete blocks symbolizing the devil. The flow of pilgrims was interrupted for 10 minutes in order to clear the path, Okaz said. The ritual, which began on Thursday, is the ultimate but also most perilous of the annual hajj, triggering stampedes which left hundreds dead in past years, including 251 in 2004. The Saudi government spent 28 million dollars modernizing the holy site to make it easier for the faithful to throw their pebbles at the "jamarat" and on installing extra cameras to allow the heavy flow to be monitored. Okaz said two more pilgrims died and 196 others suffered fractures when they fell down during rare heavy rains which poured down on the Mecca region Saturday, partly flooding pilgrims camps in Mina and causing huge traffic jams.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2005 5:50:27 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My kids never learned to stay to the right either.
Posted by: Tom || 01/23/2005 18:07 Comments || Top||

#2  during rare heavy rains which poured down on the Mecca region Saturday, partly flooding pilgrims camps in Mina and causing huge traffic jams.

clearly Allan isn't happy with the curruent state of the religion
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 18:31 Comments || Top||

#3  The "will of Allah" is weird, ain't it? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 19:32 Comments || Top||

#4  These people are more nuts then previously suspected .
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 01/23/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||

#5  "One hell of a theme park" is all I can say.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2005 20:39 Comments || Top||

#6  "...two ... died...during rare heavy rains which poured down on the Mecca region Saturday, partly flooding pilgrims camps in Mina and causing huge traffic jams...."

before the deaths were announced several Imans proclaimed the rains were a sign that Allah accepted the prayers; now they will blame the US and/or Israel for the rains
Posted by: mhw || 01/23/2005 20:48 Comments || Top||

#7  "Stoning of the Devil": sounds like a Dylan/Jagger collaboration.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 23:18 Comments || Top||


Europe
Another Prosecution To Protect God From Insults
An Athens court banned a comic book portraying Jesus Christ as a drug-abusing loser whose miracles happen by luck rather than divine intervention and sentenced its author to six months in jail for insulting religion, his lawyer said on Thursday.
The book's Austrian author Gerhard Haderer did not attend the trial and the court suspended the sentence, which he would have been able to pay off with a fine had he been in court.
The book's Greek publishers and four local booksellers were acquitted but the court upheld a ban on The Life of Jesus, which was removed by police from book shops in February 2003 on the orders of the prosecution.
A separate case on the book's seizure is pending in Greece's Supreme Court.
"If the ban is not lifted, we'll consider appealing to the European Court of Human Rights," Haderer's lawyer Minas Mihailovic said.
"It's a pity, we had distributed 2 000 copies and the album can still not be sold in Greece," said Nikos Hatzopoulos, who runs the book's Greek publishing company Oxy.
The crackdown on the book was condemned by the Geneva-based International Publishers' Association (IPA) but welcomed by Greece's powerful and conservative Orthodox Church.
"It's a shame because in other countries where religion is stricter, like Portugal or Austria, there was criticism but there was no ban," Hatzopoulos said.
The Life of Jesus has been published in Germany, France, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary and in Haderer's native Austria, where it sold 80 000 copies.
Another book, an erotic Greek novel, was provisionally seized in Greece in 2000 after pressure from the church which condemned it as "blasphemous".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2005 10:12:52 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, there's a shocker.

Not about the prosecution for "insulting religion," but that the religion isn't islam.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 23:15 Comments || Top||


Yushchenko Swears in and Takes Office
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2005 10:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Dutch report on child euthanasia. Doctors apperently approve of it.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/23/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Moonbat/Green says Schwarzenegger 'damages Austria'
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/23/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
broke Austrian law
So Austria has a law that it's illegal to carry out executions of criminals in America under American law? Who knew?

And who exactly in Austria is going to enforce that "law"? With what army?

"Neutral" Austria doesn't have an army to speak of, and the Governator is his own army all by himself.

Just when you think the Euros can't make bigger assholes of themselves....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  From the Beeb, of course. Bloggers, unite. Software and a platform needed to bring down this tendentious, ludicrously biased circus.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:40 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't think that revoking his citizenship is a the kind of decision that will need a huge army in order to enforce it.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 01/23/2005 0:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Have some coffee, Aris. You're not making any sense.

Arnold is a smashing success who has the support of liberals in an overwhelmingly liberal Democratic state. The people of California will judge, and Arnold rightly is restoring their sovereignty after decades of spectacularly incompetent and corrupt rule by a one-party regime.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:45 Comments || Top||

#5  You're not making any sense.

I was talking in response to #1. The law in question is about Austria revoking an Austrian person's citizenship, it's not about invading USA and stopping Arnold Schwartzenegger from doing anything in Californian soil.

So the talk about "with what army" is just babble.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 01/23/2005 0:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Forest, trees. THe Austrians are hugely proud of Arnold. There's no way they'd strip him of citizenship to satisfy a few '68ers. btw, I strongly oppose the death penalty... this is about political reality, not rhetorical posturing
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:52 Comments || Top||

#7  frankly Aris, I don't think Arnold values his euro-citizenship enough to care... I like that
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 0:53 Comments || Top||

#8  The point is that this "individual" is going to get about as far with this lame ass idea as I will trying to pick my house up and set it upon my back. It is typical moonbat scatological thinking and resultant speech.

The majority of Europeans actually support the death peanalty. It's the political elites and Brussels EU wonks who oppose it. "If only it were that simple. It's true that all of America's G-7 partners, save Japan, have abolished capital punishment, but the reason isn't, as death-penalty opponents usually assume, that their populations eschew vengeance. In fact, opinion polls show that Europeans and Canadians crave executions almost as much as their American counterparts do. It's just that their politicians don't listen to them. In other words, if these countries' political cultures are morally superior to America's, it's because they're less democratic"
Europe's death-penalty elitism. Death in Venice
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/23/2005 2:14 Comments || Top||

#9  When is the last time Arnold traveled on his Austrian passport?
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2005 2:29 Comments || Top||

#10  Mr. Schwarzenegger is proud to be an American citizen. Forced to a choice, he'd throw away his Austrian papers without a moment's thought.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 5:21 Comments || Top||

#11  My friend sent me a postcard from Vienna this summer...somehing about it seemed familiar...then I realized! The postcard from Vienna, Austria had a "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger" stamp on it, complete with American flag. I was stunned.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/23/2005 5:27 Comments || Top||

#12  If my memory is any good there are some sentences in the oath of allegiance (that one Arnold uttered the day he was made a citizen) where the impetrant reneges from any former almlegiance to a foreign potenate or governement. In other words Arnold has already implicitly said to the Austrian governemnt to go fuck itself;
Posted by: JFM || 01/23/2005 5:34 Comments || Top||

#13  I stand ready to sail at a moments notice. Please contact my Agent Abel Weiss for fees, expenses, etc.
Posted by: Capt Von Trapp || 01/23/2005 8:41 Comments || Top||

#14  With what army?

Well, there is always the mighty Austro-Hungarian Imperial Navy!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/23/2005 9:55 Comments || Top||

#15  JFM - might have to check the newest form of the oath. I think it was altered by the Clintonistas.
Posted by: Hupereger Gligum6929 || 01/23/2005 10:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Forced to a choice, he'd throw away his Austrian papers without a moment's thought.

And yet after 20 years or so, I hear he's not yet thrown away his accent. :-)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 01/23/2005 10:26 Comments || Top||

#17  Me!
Posted by: ME || 01/23/2005 10:31 Comments || Top||

#18  And yet after 20 years or so, I hear he's not yet thrown away his accent.

Well, Ah thanks he has da same Damnyankee accent da rest ah y'all have...
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 01/23/2005 10:42 Comments || Top||

#19  Time to undo what Clintonistas did.
Posted by: JFM || 01/23/2005 11:46 Comments || Top||

#20  Phil Fraering - Ah noticed that too. ;-p

Just remember, people - that's American by birth, Southern by the grace of God.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/23/2005 11:52 Comments || Top||

#21  meeeeeeee! I can be funny toooooo! Meeeee!
Posted by: Me || 01/23/2005 12:28 Comments || Top||

#22  Peter Pilz has discovered that if you have not yet earned your 15 minutes of fame, you can borrow from someone else.
Posted by: GK || 01/23/2005 13:22 Comments || Top||

#23  This is a moot point. Austria's government won't move on this just because one jackoff is pissed at Arnold. As Lex & SPOD had said, most Austrians are rather proud of Arnold and one moonbat politico ain't gonna change that. Amusing story but really much adoo.
Posted by: Jarhead || 01/23/2005 13:26 Comments || Top||

#24  And yet after 20 years or so, I hear he's not yet thrown away his accent. :-)

In Germany, I appeared to be a brain-damaged local, Mr. Wife sounded like an intelligent American. My surprising facility with English has been praised often enough to establish a trend, his ability to speak German was commented on with amazement. Its a quandery, it is. ( ;-) back atcha!)

And Jarhead brings us firmly to the point. Jarhead, please make sure to send Fred a wish list and a mailing address for your unit when you go over later in the summer, 'k?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 15:38 Comments || Top||

#25  What TW said, except for the sounding intelligent part.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/23/2005 15:54 Comments || Top||

#26  Don't sell yourself short, Shipman.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2005 20:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Yeeeaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!, pt. 2
Democrats from the throughout the West gathered Saturday to interview candidates to lead the Democratic National Committee, including former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whose candidacy has come under fire from within the party. The candidates are competing for the votes of about 430 voting members of the Democratic National Committee, who will choose the successor to outgoing DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe on Feb. 12. But numerous party activists turned out as well to meet the candidates and offer their views on how the party can emerge from minority status. "This is a war for the survival of the United States as we know it," Dean declared at a breakfast meeting with labor leaders and Hispanic activists.

Competing with Dean were former Reps. Tim Roemer and Martin Frost, party activist Donnie Fowler, New Democratic Network President Simon Rosenberg, former Ohio party chairman David Leland and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. Dean, whose fiery anti-war rhetoric captivated millions of activists during his upstart presidential campaign, said he was not concerned that his image as an anti-war, pro-gay rights liberal would alienate voters in conservative states and provide fodder for Republican media campaigns. "My attitude is that they are going to run those ads anyway, so why not go down and stand up for what you believe in?" Dean said. "How are we going to convince people in Mississippi that their economic interests are the same as ours if we don't show up? It is incredibly insulting to people."

Earlier this week, Dean seemed to be steamrolling to front-runner status in the race, announcing that he had secured the endorsement of several state party chairs and other voting DNC members. But that move produced a backlash among other state chairs and some activists. For example, several Oklahoma Democrats publicly criticized the decision by state party chair Jay Parmley's decision to endorse Dean. "Like most Oklahoma Democrats, I do not believe Gov. Dean shares our values or is the right person to lead our party at this time," state Sen. Debbe Lefwich, a DNC voting member, said Thursday.
It's like watching Wile E. Coyote working...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2005 12:49:57 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So long as the war continues to divide Dems into hardline antiwar and prowar camps, the Dems will not be competitive in presidential elections. The only way to end this schism is for our involvement in Iraq to end, with nearly all of the troops coming home, and for Iran to give up its nuclear drive. Not likely.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 15:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Stupid MSM partisans.... If they really want to help the next Dem candidate, they should move the war off the front pages and the nightly news. Antiwar is a losing stance for Dems.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 15:37 Comments || Top||

#3  he was not concerned that his image as an anti-war, pro-gay rights liberal would alienate voters in conservative states and provide fodder for Republican media campaigns. "My attitude is that they are going to run those ads anyway,

Do you have any idea how difficult it was getting him through medical school? Ailes laughed! Ha ha he said! Laughs on him now.

Posted by: Carl with a K || 01/23/2005 16:03 Comments || Top||

#4  the dems have got themselves in the position where there biggest constituencies are the terrorist sympathizers, felons, and the 'a fetus has no rights' crowd; where they have to be against elections and where they have to defend dishonest government

bummer
Posted by: mhw || 01/23/2005 20:53 Comments || Top||


Four More Years, Four More Years....for Bill Clinton?
"I'm tellin' ya, she had honkers out to here!"
Political strategists are reportedly pondering a deal that would allow Bill Clinton to run for president again by getting Republicans to agree to a change in the constitutional ban on third terms. Calling it "a long shot," U.S. News & World Report says the deal would work like this:

"Congressional Democrats will OK a constitutional amendment allowing naturalized citizens like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president if Republicans help kill the 22nd Amendment."

"Right now it's the talk among political strategists," says the magazine's Washington Whispers section. "But look for it to spread on Capitol Hill when Sen. Orrin Hatch reintroduces his plan to let naturalized citizens run for president after 20 years."

Clinton himself has boasted that he "could be re-elected" one more time.

Bill hasn't had enough. I sure have of him.
Posted by: Captain America || 01/23/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I find the idea of Bill running to be the funniest thing I've heard of in a long time.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 01/23/2005 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I mean, come on, he did win the presidency with the help of Perot (which is never mentioned by the people talking about how he's such a good candidate), and was able to hold on against Dole (but still never broke 50%) but managed to break the Democratic Party's hold on Congress, and has given himself a definately non-serious reputation in a world that is currently far TOO serious.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 01/23/2005 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Hilary-ous. Bill's foremost opponent will be the harridan he dumped.

In any case, it's doubtful his ticker will hold out for four more years, let alone eight. He looks like a skeleton these days.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:25 Comments || Top||

#4  [Clinton] has given himself a definately non-serious reputation in a world that is currently far TOO serious.

Exactly. Clinton's the quintessential dotcom-era guy. Triangulate, pontificate, worm your way out of any difficulty btu for god's sake, don't ever let anyone know what you really in your heart of hearts believe. He's the worst possible type of leader for a war to the death with a global death cult.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:28 Comments || Top||

#5  and now we return to the halcyon days of yesteryear.... The dems are really grasping at straws. Bill truly is the only democrat that might be elected and that is only because he such a frighteningly good liar.
Posted by: RWV || 01/23/2005 0:30 Comments || Top||

#6  It's not impossible. I could see a sharp turn against the big bad world and toward isolationism in 2008, in which red staters say "F*** those little bastards, no point trying to help them liberate themselves" and blue staters say "F*** those little bastards in Washington, no point trying to help their pet projects overseas." Clinton could sell anything, and he's got a keen nose for which way the political winds are drifting. He could be the anti-Wilsonian for the 21st c., another Harding.

But I wouldn't bet on it. Hilarity won't let it happen.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Hillary's response? Bill gets a Vince Foster "suicide"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 0:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Or the Lorena Bobbitt treatment.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 0:47 Comments || Top||

#9  Congressional Democrats will OK a constitutional amendment allowing naturalized citizens like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president if Republicans help kill the 22nd Amendment."

--

Anyone shop at Costco and read it's magazine?

I started reading it tonight and they reviewed last year's debate questions.

July - Should foreign-born US citizens be allwed to run for president??

Yes - 23%

No - 77%

Don't know how many responded, but I think the pubbies are making a mistake in pushing this. This could just be the national party.

Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/23/2005 1:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Agree with the Costco'ers. Arnold is a totally Collyfornian solution to a Collyfornian problem. He may be the MSM's ultimate RINO wet dream-- a more photogenic and interesting version of McCain-- but he simply isn't national or international material. Let him clean house in CA and go back to making money and groping starlets. Cleaning up CA's corrupt politics and getting it in order are achievement enough.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 1:24 Comments || Top||

#11  Found this at Lucianne:

India Knight: Meet the mummy-wife

...As it happens, Laura Bush has the highest approval rating of any first lady in living memory: it currently stands at 71%. Her popularity outranks her husband’s by nearly 20%, and 55% of Democrats like her, even if they loathe her other half. Her fans don’t consist solely of conservative evangelicals. Furthermore, nearly four-fifths of Americans recently told pollsters she has “improved the image of the office of first lady”.

I don't think either Clinton could sit in the big chair. But it's early yet.

Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/23/2005 1:35 Comments || Top||

#12  I don't think he'll be able to run in 2008 on account of his lower lip being all worn down to a nubbin.
Posted by: strategists || 01/23/2005 1:49 Comments || Top||

#13  I may not be a lawyer but as I understand the admendment it only bans more than two conscecutive terms. Or am I mistaken
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 01/23/2005 9:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Or am I mistaken

You're mistaken.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 01/23/2005 12:08 Comments || Top||

#15  I could just picture it ....
Democratic primary Clinton vs Clinton vs Gore.

90's Flash back.
Posted by: tex || 01/23/2005 12:30 Comments || Top||

#16  strategists: that was pretty damn funny! LOL
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 12:51 Comments || Top||

#17  Has any party put up a candidate for the job knowing the candidate could/would only fill a single term? That's madness, the goal is to grab 2 terms and set your VP up for another 2 terms. 1 term isn't enough to properly guarantee a launching pad for the VP (heck for Gore 2 terms wasn't enough).

This is foolishness, go back to your attempts at running the UN bill, you got a chance there.
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 01/23/2005 13:40 Comments || Top||

#18  Imagine if the Republicans went along with such a deal and Bill lost the primary. How sad would that be.

Imagine Clinton vs Clinton vs Gore vs Kerry in 2008. A Leiberman/Edwards ticket would have a better chance of grabbing the middle.
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 01/23/2005 13:41 Comments || Top||

#19  The Dummycrats are in a fit of desparation, not knowing whether or not to quote Bible scripture when someone asks them the time.

They have no one credible to name as chairperson for the DNC. They have two entirely lame spokespersons in Harry Reid and Nancy "deer in headlights" Pelosi.

They are coming across as whiners and complainers without any plans of their own. They are unserious is very serious times.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton languishes for headlines and spotlights. He would like nothing more than to recoup his tarnished legacy (visitors are not flocking to Little Rock to his "library"). Being the party's savior is his greatest wet dream.

Could we see the Dummycratic Party renamed as Bilary Party, with Bill as prez and Hill as v.prez?
Posted by: Captain America || 01/23/2005 15:23 Comments || Top||

#20  Bill's going for UN Sect'y after Kofi - lotsa interns there, and the level of expected behavior suits him
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 15:30 Comments || Top||

#21  I could see Bill as UNSG. A huge rhetorical platform on which he can pontificate about Big Global Issues of Concern while, as Bob Geldofr memorably put it in his comparison of Clinton and W re AIDS in Africa, "doing f***-all." And he could help funnel cash to buddies like Marc Rich.

Cynicism aside, it wouldn't be such a bad outcome for the US when you consider the competition. Remember, we thought Kofi was a huge improvement over his predecessor in 1996... tells you how low the bar has been set.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 15:48 Comments || Top||

#22  , not knowing whether or not to quote Bible scripture when someone asks them the time.

Do you need work Captain?
Posted by: Carl with a K || 01/23/2005 16:06 Comments || Top||

#23  Sorry, but the U.S. has suffered enough Billary for its lifetime. Any Democrat silly enough to even contemplate this sort of thing must be pretty damned desperate.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/23/2005 17:02 Comments || Top||

#24  "Time and tide waits for no man."

Somebody
Posted by: Poet || 01/23/2005 17:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Chinese Woman Sought in Boston Threat Is Already in Custody
Should be pretty easy to bring her in for questioning then, eh?
Posted by: Robi Sen || 01/23/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The fumbling bunch of idiots will probably f*** that up too.
Posted by: whoops lost another one || 01/23/2005 1:37 Comments || Top||

#2  There is a heck of a lot more here than is being let on. For example, in WWII it was common practice for underground leaders, spies and saboteurs to be well-known to the local police as petty criminals. Then they would lie about being petty criminals until the police "broke" them, serve a couple of months, then be released and ignored again. It was also a good way to launder their operations money, and get extra financing for their schemes.
For the case in question, I suspect that it is much like the Israeli "art student" ring that was busted up a while back. It will be back under the radar before sunset. Nobody brags about successful counterintelligence ops, either.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2005 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Israeli art students came through my neighborhood some summers back. If they were spies, they were not at all good at their job. There is nothing in our particular outer suburb that could possibly be of interest to anyone except real estate agents and househunters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 14:32 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Reformists slam Maldives election fraud
MALE: Maldivian reformists cried foul as thousands went to the polls yesterday in an election seen as a key test for Asia's longest serving leader, who faces international criticism for his rights record. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom voted at the Ameeniya school here four hours after balloting opened following a campaign subdued by the December 26 tsunami that devastated the low-lying nation and prompted it to postpone the election by three weeks.

Dissidents running in the election said there had been irregularities in voter registries as well as intimidation of voters, especially on remote islands. The government vehemently denied any fraud and maintained that it had invited foreign observers to ensure the voting was free and fair.

Voting ended after 12 hours late on Saturday, but some polling booths remained open to accommodate a few late comers, the election commission said. Election officials said they would close the ballot boxes only after everyone had voted.

Voter turnout in Male was around 30 per cent during the first 10 hours, but there was a much better response in remote atolls where 70 to 75pc of voters turned out during the same period, an official said.

Gayoom, 67, is not a candidate at the parliamentary election, but diplomats said his future could depend on the members who are returned to the people's Majlis, or assembly, that will decide on future reform.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2005 12:55:02 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: Subsaharan
Scourge of polio returns to Africa
The Guardian is just now noticing. They do, however, forget to mention that the superstitious, 'anti-western' types who opposed vaccination were of a certain religious persuasion. Sigh, and we had this disease on the run.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/23/2005 12:47:18 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's coming back in America, too.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/23/2005 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  ?? Evidence?
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 1:08 Comments || Top||

#3  You're not going to like this, but, talk radio, the 50K watt powerhouse WLS-am. I think the topic was immigration, dr. called in and made that point as a reason to slow it down. I'm in greater Chicagoland.

There might be some Cook County stats out there somewhere.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/23/2005 1:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Talk radio doesn't count. Are there any Cook Co health worker/docs blogs you know of? This is potentially a HUGE story if true.
Posted by: lex || 01/23/2005 1:16 Comments || Top||

#5  any Imams in Chicago?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2005 1:16 Comments || Top||

#6  A2U, you are probably thinking of antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, brought in by immigrants, and spread to the native population. There is no native polio left in the western hemisphere. There are a few cases of polio in the US each year in immigrants. Due to the short incubation period, a carrier passing it on undetected is unlikely. The other cause of polio infection was a tiny incidence of a polio innoculation (live vaccine?) causing the disease in a few people each year.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2005 1:35 Comments || Top||

#7  They do, however, forget to mention that the superstitious, 'anti-western' types who opposed vaccination were of a certain religious persuasion.

Forget?? Yeah, they forgot all right.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/23/2005 4:48 Comments || Top||

#8  The Salk vaccine is a killed-virus injection. the Sabin vaccine is a live attenuated-virus oral preparation; the attenuated virus survives in the intestines. You can guess which one children prefer, and the there is a little 'community immunity' as people get the attenuated virus from each other.

Unfortunately, some children with immune deficiencies (usually unrecognized) can develop full-blown polio. This is why the Salk vaccination has become much more popular.

See the Sabin Vaccine Institute for more information.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/23/2005 11:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Ed - she said polio. That's why I remembered it, I know about TB.

Frank, you mean the 1st weekend in September host city to the annual meeting????

Hey, whooping cough's making a comeback here this winter. Of course I heard that on the radio, too.

Don't forget everyone, a child needs all its' shots by kindergarten. Doesn't mean they're going to get them on a regual schedule.

And think about it, Lex, what the American public would demand if there were largish numbers, why we'd have to tighten up security at the airports. Can't come in unless you've had your shots.

But then there's the religion issue....
Posted by: anonymous2u || 01/23/2005 13:07 Comments || Top||

#10  And how to stop those who refuse to be inconvenienced by a little personal illness? I remember the executive's wife whose Xmas trip home from Germany had been booked months in advance. The inconvenience of all four children having full blown chicken pox did nothing to change her plans. I often wonder how the other passengers on her various connecting flights fared...
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/23/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Last case of "wild" polio in US was in 1979. Link here.
Posted by: 11A5S || 01/23/2005 17:31 Comments || Top||

#12  Whooping caugh is alive and well in east Tennessee courtesy of unvaccinated immigrants. This is not a rant against immigrants, just lets get these children vaccinated.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2005 20:19 Comments || Top||



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Sun 2005-01-23
  Germany to Deport Hundreds of Islamists
Sat 2005-01-22
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Fri 2005-01-21
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Thu 2005-01-20
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Wed 2005-01-19
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Mon 2005-01-17
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