#1
There are so many brilliant ideas like this that fall by the wayside for a dumb reason. The NGOs that would use these are continually reinventing the wheel. They seem to have no grasp of taking a technology like this, or innumerable others, and running with it, developing it, and advancing it like the US military or commercial entities would. For example, were a private corporation or the military to run with an idea like this, they would determine if it would work, where it would work, how many they would need for various situations, what its drawbacks were, and was it cost effective. Then they would acquire a number and have them available for deployment. But NGOs do none of that. And this is why, when there is a disaster like the tsunami, the US Navy is there and helping in a few days, long before the NGOs send a few people there to *study* the situation and make recommendations, hoping that someone will fund them and provide them with materiels and other support--all of which have to be procured, in whatever form, and delivered.
And this inability isn't just in disaster relief. Hundreds of good ideas just aren't pursued. There are no "lessons learned" that are then passed on to others in different situations, no prior preparation and training for those in similar situations. Again, reinventing the wheel each time, often based on what the NGO personnel have picked up on the news or by reading magazines. No institutional knowledge.
#2
classic arch structure - should work fine, and no reason they can't be linked together for more rooms . Headroom inadequacy, but, better than nothing for refugees, right? Excellent idea!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 21:25 Comments ||
Top||
I am aware that this mail is coming to you surprisingly, but first all; I will like to introduce myself to you. I am Kojo Annan the first son of Kofi Annan the sec-general of United Nation and a citizen of Federal Republic of Ghana, currently residing in Lagos Nigeria. "Not Egypt. My father is an Egyptian, but I'm not."
Currently, the chairman of KOJO AND SONS LTD. Also the vice president of Anan Empire Ghana. ". . . not to be confused with my father's company, Anan Empire Turtle Bay LLC."
I am mailing you to seek for your co-operation in an on-going investigation that involves me and my company in the distribution of food and oil in Iraq.
My father and I have been alleged to be involved in the toxic supply of food and oil product to Iraq, this allegation has been move by the US senate committee against my father and I. "It was not toxic, I tell you! It was perfectly good, edible money Saddam paid us! All lies!"
This issue is currently in news with the CNN London. "You can ask Eason Jordan if you don't believe me!"
I will want you to know that this contract of food and oil with contract number KJA/NIG/UN-58565/0, was done through Nigerian government, under United Nations Agency and they are yet to pay me. "Filthy cheapskate Nigerians! I send Mrs. Abacha my bank account number like she asks, but does she call? Does she write? She takes me for granted, she does! How can a woman treat her man like that? I have bought all this herbal Viagra at the online pharmacy, just for her."
But due to the on-going problem I will like you to accept my partnership offer and put in claim for the money as a sister company to KOJO AND SONS LTD, the amount involve is US$450 million.
All arrangement to secure a lawyer who will work with you for the claim has been concluded, I will provide you with the lawyer's full information as soon as I receive a positive response from you, the lawyer will assist you procure all the necessary documents you need for this claim and he will be your local representative to make sure he monitor the tr ansactions to positive conclusion. "You can trust him. He is a lawyer."
As soon as the money is paid to you by the United Nation Agency in Nigeria I will forward my bank account in London where you will transfer my share. The sharing ratio is 60% for me, 25% for you and 15% for any expenses which you may incure during the claim.
Please i will want you to keep this very secrete Eeeeewww! Keep your secretions to yourself, thank you!
and confidential. If you do not have interest in this or find it uncomfortable for you, please do away with it and keep you lips close. I never leave home without my lips.
As the United Nation Agency here in Nigeria is ready to release the fund the claimer, through Nigerian Apex Bank.
Thank you and God bless you.
KOJO ANNAN
Posted by: Mike ||
03/15/2005 7:08:38 AM ||
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Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 7:23 Comments ||
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#3
I've been getting a lot of these types from Nigeria and Sierra Leone. I send them all a variation of one of Muck4doo's letters. I've actually gotten a couple of replies telling me they don't understand my letter but they would still like my help. If I sent them my account information they couldn't do much with it 'cause there's not much money in it. Here's the start of one letter and Muck's response. I hope he doesn't mind but this is too good not to share.
Dear Sir,
I am Mr.Nuduka Eze, General-Auditor standard trust bank of Nigeria Plc
During the course of our auditing, I came across an A/C own by a-------
hiya general!
ima never got em e-mail from em general before. how in ya and yer family doin? today im tooker grill cheeze sammich to werk and sumone stole it out the fridge! can you belief that!?! we gottagrill cheeze bandits here. almos bad as taco bandits. do you have grill cheeze in nigeria? lotta famous general are get to be leeders in they cuntry. over here in america we were had a general powell who become em secratary of state and general grant and general eisemhower were even become presidents. presidents! but lookin at libya kaddafis only a kernal. hahaha!!! mebbe sumday the wurl in see general auditor...president of nigeria! thatn be sweet. then im can tells all my frenz ima gotter e-mail from you. about the a/c... you are shuld probly thinken of usen it more. itn get purdy hot in nigeria from what ima see on em nashional geografic chanel. you get that chanel there? we also get comedy sentral and lifetime netwerk. purdy sweet huh? but bout tha a/c again. ifn yer a/c out in yur car ima suggest lams auto repairs they in do purdy good wurk. the a/c in you house is werk purdy good for summers but can drive up yur elecric bill. ifn you need em good a/c ima sugges you stick in yur ranks and buy from em nother general. you ever here of general elecric? hes purdy good at a/c. dont kno ifn he ever get woonded any battles or anythin but ima thinkin hed make a bad president. well nise talkin with you. let me know ifn ya need any more help you a/c and im be glad to help.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 7:39 Comments ||
Top||
#4
ROFL!
By the way, when I saw the title I was expecting to see a little maze--the kind you see on a paper placemat at a restaurant that gives the kids something to do while you are waiting for the pizza to come.
#7
He's having computer problems. He doesn't have one any more and has to post from the library where he is subjected to time limits and mean glares from the Head Librarian.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 15:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ima think the librarian should mind her own bizznezz.
THREE villagers were trampled to death and seven wounded by a wild Asiatic elephant searching for homemade rice beer in India's north-eastern state of Assam, a wildlife official said today. "The elephant went on a rampage tearing apart huts and then attacked sleeping villagers killing three and seriously injuring seven more," M. Rahman said. The tusker strayed from a big herd in the jungle and ransacked the village of Dalokgarupara yesterday morning in a hunt for fermented "chang" made from rice grains. "The elephant herd came near the village looking for home-brewed rice beer. One of the animals strayed out from the herd and did the damage," Rahman said. The injured suffered multiple wounds and were taken to a local hospital 70km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Four Filipinos convicted of murdering a compatriot were beheaded by the sword yesterday in the western Saudi city of Taif, the Interior Ministry said. Miguel Fernandez, Sergio Aldana, Wilfredo Batista, and Antonio Alviza were convicted of murdering Jaimie de la Cruz "by stabbing him repeatedly until he died," said a ministry statement. They "stole all his money," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#2
Filipinos murdering a compatriot or beheadings?
Not sure about Filipinos...
"Statistics show that between 2000 and 2002, 43 executions were carried out, 33 of them on Saudis. Two women were executed, one Saudi and one Indonesian. All the executions were for murder."
Venezuelan authorities have said they will redistribute more than 110,000 hectares of privately-held property to landless farmers. The land seizure is part of an agrarian reform effort led by President Hugo Chavez. Since his 1998 election, President Chavez has enacted controversial reform laws, including a 2001 land law aimed at narrowing the gap between Venezuela's rich and poor. The law allows the government to redistribute unused land to the poor. Critics say the law violates property rights, and could lead to illegal land grabs. One of four estates to be redistributed includes a 13,000 hectare cattle ranch owned by a British company. The company has said it legally owns the property, and that the land is fully productive.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:28:20 PM ||
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#1
Yup, it starts with the foreigners, the Anglos.
And this is why his propaganda effort and activities in this country (US) must be stopped:
Chavez is working two fronts (similar to the followers of the Religion of Pieces).
He has set up shop here in the US through his infamous Bolivarian Circles. The latter with the help of the American left have mounted a disinformation campaigh that the Saudis would be proud of.
"SF-BAY AREA VENEZUELA FILM FLURY
for more info contact: dawn@cybercircle.org
Cabrillo College NOW, Global Women's Strike and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity present
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (30minute version)
and Women Heart of the Bolivarian Revolution
March 22 @ 6 pm
*************
San Jose State University and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity
Present
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
March 23nd 2:30 room to be announced
*************
Spend the Day in the Revolution
after watching ALO PRESIDENTE on your local internet connection come down to
The Live Oak Grange in Santa Cruz California
for a 6 film Bolivarian Revolution Series Featuring
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and
Chavez: Venezuela and the New Latin America (by Aleida Guevara, El Che's daughter )
2-10 pm- food- speakers-music-fun!
Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity
************* Celebrate the anniversary of the triumph of the Venezuelan people over the US backed coup attempt against Hugo Chavez April 11-13, 2002
University of California-Santa Cruz Revolution Youth and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity present 3 nights--6 films featuring
Venezuela Bolivariana: People and Struggle of the Fourth World War
and With the Poor of the Earth
April 11, 12, 13---- 6pm-10pm
All events will be used to promote the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students (see below)
16th World Festival of Youth and Students
Caracas Venezuela
Aug 7-15, 2005
SF bay area residents contact: cruzin2caracas@yahoo.com
all others: solidarity@handsoffvenezuela.org
or: usnpc2005@riseup.net
Culture : Caribbean Festival Dedicated to Venezuela in 2005
CubaXP - Cuba
The 25th International Caribbean Festival, scheduled for July, will be dedicated to the cultural wealth of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. ...
Global Exchange invites you to participate in....
A Venezuela Reality Tour:
A Bolivarian revolution in the making?
April 9-18, 2005 Cost:$1200
June 20-30, 2005 Cost: $1200
August 10-20, 2005 Cost: $1200
November 19-27, 2005 Cost: $1200
Across Latin America the winds of change are blowing - and nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Venezuela. After decades of harsh economic
policies and poverty on the rise, people across the hemisphere are electing leaders to take them in a new direction. Social movements are clamoring for social justice and people's rights - including the right to share in the natural wealth of the nation. In Venezuela these movements came to the forefront and elected Hugo Chávez President in 1998. But much turmoil has unfolded since then. "
He has even recruited the YMCA to further his propaganda:
"Social Movements in Venezuela - this Spring Break!
Break in Venezuela! Leave the cold and learn about the democratic process, social justice, and popular education in Venezuela this Spring Break!
March 12, 2005 to March 19, 2005 â tentative dates. Get your application today and travel with the Y-Immersion alternative Spring Break Program!
Experience history in the makingâ¦. The âBolivarianâ political and social process facilitated by President Chavez is not only changing the face of Venezuelan politics, but is also shifting Latin American-U.S. relations in general. Trip activities include: meeting with administrators and students at Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (UBV): a University that recently reformed their curriculum to provide college students a grounded and community- based college experience; learn from grassroots women's groups about the role of women in the revolution; meet the leading Afro-Venezuelan activist Chucho Garcia and learn about Afro-Venezuelan and Indigenous movements; converse with Cuban doctors and teachers working in Venezuela and organize with Venezuelan activists planning to host the 16th Annual World Youth Festival!
Other things you need to know:
Trip Cost (estimation): $1,000 (cost includes airfare, housing, transportation within Venezuela, and $100 non-refundable deposit with application; food not included)
Group fundraising opportunities are available!
YMCA scholarships will be awarded with the demonstration of financial need
Moderate proficiency in Spanish strongly encouraged; but donât let this scare you away!
This trip is open to everyone, you do not have to be a student to go on the trip.
E-mail: venezuela_ymca@yahoo.com with any questions, intrigues or to request an application.
PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY: FEBRUARY 11th
Turn in your application in person or via postal mail at the YMCA (with your $100 deposit)
University YMCA 1801 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414 612-676-7700
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Chavez has saved some of his most biting sarcasm for Rice, whom he refers to as "Condolencia," which means "condolence." In speeches, he has called her "pathetic" and illiterate and made oblique sexual references to her. "I cannot marry Condolencia, because I am much too busy," he said in a recent speech. "I have been told that she dreams about me," he said on another occasion.
Charming.
Your future cellmate Manuel awaits you Hugo. You can work it out amongst yourselves who gets to be anal dominant.
Hates Dictators <-> loves dicators
Kills terrorists <-> supports terrorists
Individualist <-> collectivist
Law Abiding <-> thief (land stealing)
Validly Elected <-> Jimmy Carter helped him rig the elections
Republican <-> Communist
Word is bond <-> Verbal Diaorrhea (evidenced above)
Resolute <-> Dissolute
Honorable <-> dishonorable
Walks the walk <-> talks the talk
Ass kicker <-> Ass kisser
#9
hugo must be tooting alot of coke. he sure has gotten a mighty big head here lately! I'm with you spod it's about time for assasinations of figureheads too come back into the limelight
#13
Chavez is working two fronts (similar to the followers of the Religion of Pieces).
He has set up shop here in the US through his infamous Bolivarian Circles. The latter with the help of the American left have mounted a disinformation campaigh that the Saudis would be proud of.
"SF-BAY AREA VENEZUELA FILM FLURY
for more info contact: dawn@cybercircle.org
Cabrillo College NOW, Global Women's Strike and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity present
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (30minute version)
and Women Heart of the Bolivarian Revolution
March 22 @ 6 pm
*************
San Jose State University and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity
Present
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
March 23nd 2:30 room to be announced
*************
Spend the Day in the Revolution
after watching ALO PRESIDENTE on your local internet connection come down to
The Live Oak Grange in Santa Cruz California
for a 6 film Bolivarian Revolution Series Featuring
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and
Chavez: Venezuela and the New Latin America (by Aleida Guevara, El Che's daughter )
2-10 pm- food- speakers-music-fun!
Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity
************* Celebrate the anniversary of the triumph of the Venezuelan people over the US backed coup attempt against Hugo Chavez April 11-13, 2002
University of California-Santa Cruz Revolution Youth and the Bolivarian Circle International-Cyber Solidarity present 3 nights--6 films featuring
Venezuela Bolivariana: People and Struggle of the Fourth World War
and With the Poor of the Earth
April 11, 12, 13---- 6pm-10pm
All events will be used to promote the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students (see below)
16th World Festival of Youth and Students
Caracas Venezuela
Aug 7-15, 2005
SF bay area residents contact: cruzin2caracas@yahoo.com
all others: solidarity@handsoffvenezuela.org
or: usnpc2005@riseup.net
Culture : Caribbean Festival Dedicated to Venezuela in 2005
CubaXP - Cuba
The 25th International Caribbean Festival, scheduled for July, will be dedicated to the cultural wealth of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. ...
Global Exchange invites you to participate in....
A Venezuela Reality Tour:
A Bolivarian revolution in the making?
April 9-18, 2005 Cost:$1200
June 20-30, 2005 Cost: $1200
August 10-20, 2005 Cost: $1200
November 19-27, 2005 Cost: $1200
Across Latin America the winds of change are blowing - and nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Venezuela. After decades of harsh economic
policies and poverty on the rise, people across the hemisphere are electing leaders to take them in a new direction. Social movements are clamoring for social justice and people's rights - including the right to share in the natural wealth of the nation. In Venezuela these movements came to the forefront and elected Hugo Chávez President in 1998. But much turmoil has unfolded since then. "
He has even recruited the YMCA to further his propaganda:
"Social Movements in Venezuela - this Spring Break!
Break in Venezuela! Leave the cold and learn about the democratic process, social justice, and popular education in Venezuela this Spring Break!
March 12, 2005 to March 19, 2005 â tentative dates. Get your application today and travel with the Y-Immersion alternative Spring Break Program!
Experience history in the makingâ¦. The âBolivarianâ political and social process facilitated by President Chavez is not only changing the face of Venezuelan politics, but is also shifting Latin American-U.S. relations in general. Trip activities include: meeting with administrators and students at Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (UBV): a University that recently reformed their curriculum to provide college students a grounded and community- based college experience; learn from grassroots women's groups about the role of women in the revolution; meet the leading Afro-Venezuelan activist Chucho Garcia and learn about Afro-Venezuelan and Indigenous movements; converse with Cuban doctors and teachers working in Venezuela and organize with Venezuelan activists planning to host the 16th Annual World Youth Festival!
Other things you need to know:
Trip Cost (estimation): $1,000 (cost includes airfare, housing, transportation within Venezuela, and $100 non-refundable deposit with application; food not included)
Group fundraising opportunities are available!
YMCA scholarships will be awarded with the demonstration of financial need
Moderate proficiency in Spanish strongly encouraged; but donât let this scare you away!
This trip is open to everyone, you do not have to be a student to go on the trip.
E-mail: venezuela_ymca@yahoo.com with any questions, intrigues or to request an application.
PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY: FEBRUARY 11th
Turn in your application in person or via postal mail at the YMCA (with your $100 deposit)
University YMCA 1801 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414 612-676-7700
#17
apparently there's a bumper crop of useful idiots...surprised he doesn't have a link on DU
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 19:43 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Antibush?
Bush <-> Chavez
Hates Dictators <-> loves dicators
Kills terrorists <-> supports terrorists
Individualist <-> collectivist
Law Abiding <-> thief (land stealing)
Validly Elected <-> Jimmy Carter helped him rig the elections
Republican <-> Communist
Word is bond <-> Verbal Diaorrhea (evidenced above)
Resolute <-> Dissolute
Honorable <-> dishonorable
Walks the walk <-> talks the talk
Ass kicker <-> Ass kisser
Hates Dictators <-> loves dicators
Kills terrorists <-> supports terrorists
Individualist <-> collectivist
Law Abiding <-> thief (land stealing)
Validly Elected <-> Jimmy Carter helped him rig the elections
Republican <-> Communist
Word is bond <-> Verbal Diaorrhea (evidenced above)
Resolute <-> Dissolute
Honorable <-> dishonorable
Walks the walk <-> talks the talk
Ass kicker <-> Ass kisser
President Askar A. Akayev of Kyrgyzstan has won overwhelming control of his nation's parliament, according to preliminary results announced Monday in runoff elections carrying broad implications for democracy in Central Asia. Akayev, 60, has been president since 1990, when Kyrgyzstan was still part of the Soviet Union. He is viewed as one of the less authoritarian leaders in a part of the world known for strongman rule. He has pledged to step down later this year as required by the constitution, which could set an important precedent in the region for a democratic transfer of power. But in two rounds of much-criticized balloting, the opposition won just six out of 75 seats in the unicameral parliament that will be overwhelmingly loyal to Akayev, according to results announced Monday. That has raised fears that the president might use his control of parliament to rewrite the constitution to allow another term.
Some observers, both critics and supporters of Akayev, believe he might use momentum from Sunday's balloting to hold a referendum giving him another five years in power in the poor and mountainous country of 5 million people. Last week, presidential aide Abdil Seghizbayev, expressing anger at protests against electoral fraud, hinted that the president could do just that. "I want to ask the opposition: Do they want their actions to push the president to directly ask the people to confirm his powers for another term?" he said. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent an observer mission, Monday described the second round of voting as showing "some technical improvements" over the first round, held Feb. 27. But in the statement, OSCE mission head Lubomir Kopaj expressed concern over "bias in the media, continued deregistration of candidates on minor grounds ⊠and inaccurate and poorly maintained voter lists."
"On the positive side, the right to assembly was more fully respected in the period between the two rounds of elections," he said. Opposition candidates won two of the 32 seats filled in the Feb. 27 vote. Of the 43 seats at stake in Sunday's runoff, held in districts where no one candidate won a majority in the first round, opposition candidates took four seats, election officials said. Kurmanbek Bakiyev, an opposition leader expected to run for president in October, failed to win a seat in parliament. Adakhan Madumarov, another prominent opposition leader and potential presidential candidate, also lost his bid, triggering protests Monday by thousands of his supporters in the southern town of Uzgen. Those defeats marked a major success for Akayev's camp, said Edil Baisalov, chairman of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, a Kyrgyz group that monitored the polling. "The story before the presidential election will run as follows: How can you really vote for these people when they didn't even make it to parliament when they had a chance? What kind of president can such candidates be?" he said by telephone from Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.
Amanbay Satybaev, who heads For the People and With the People, an organization gathering signatures in support of a referendum to extend Akayev's tenure, said in a telephone interview that the results proved the president had "created a workable, transparent democracy, that he is doing the right thing in the economic sphere, and that we need to allow him to extend his presidential term until all the planned reforms are carried out." Alleged unfair conduct of the elections, however, has angered many opposition leaders and their supporters. With protests underway in various parts of the country, some say critics of Akayev may be galvanized into more effective action.
"To me it is clear that it is very much like a pyrrhic victory for the regime," said Kiyaz Moldokasymov, Bishkek bureau chief of U.S.-funded Radio Liberty. "From now on the popular protests will continue to grow." The Russian news agency Interfax reported protests Monday in at least six places across the country, including the seizure of local administrative offices in Uzgen and the northern town of Talas, and blockage for several hours of a highway to China. Particularly in southern cities that are opposition strongholds, "people find it hard to put up with the way they were deceived, mistreated and manipulated during the election," Baisalov, the election monitor, said. "Should Akayev choose to change the constitution and run for a new term, this may give a new impetus to the political struggle of the opposition, which then may seriously capitalize on the growing popular discontent," he said. Bolotbek Maripov, defeated in his bid for parliament by the president's daughter, Bermet Akayeva, said by telephone that he had lost "to the powerful state machine, which stopped at nothing to prevent me from winning."
"Loyal voters were brought to the polling stations by the carload," Maripov said. "Special minibuses and cars were commuting all day to the polling stations in such manner. Votes were bought, people were pressured, they were deceived and manipulated into voting the way the authorities wanted them to vote. Well, I got about 40%, Akayeva got about 54%. But people who really cared to see the truth know what was going on."
"These elections helped the opposition to open the eyes of more and more people in our country to what is really going on with our democracy, economy and politics," he said. "The invaluable experience of these elections will certainly make the opposition come togetherâŠ. Nothing is lost yet. The real struggle is still ahead."
Many observers in Russia and abroad believe that recent events in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova have rung the death knell for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the fragile association that rose up in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union ... Council for Foreign and Defense Policy Chairman Sergei Karaganov [said] that the CIS has essentially fulfilled its function whatever the hell it was and should be radically reformed ... National Strategy Institute Director Stanislav Belkovskii had called for "burying the CIS" whilst banging his shoe on the podiumand creating a new alliance of countries loyal to Moscow. This part's kinda cute:Belkovskii dubbed this alliance the USSR, an acronym from the Russian words for "Commonwealth of Countries Allied to Russia." When your 'sphere of influence' is Belarus ... well, I guess you're in the proverbial tall grass.
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
03/15/2005 5:09:11 AM ||
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#1
Phew...I thought you meant Customer Information Systems. Figured I was screwed.
#4
Russia and company should all petition to join the EU. Russia could be a player in the EU if they played their cards right.
European civilization and sophistication could use a little Russian backbone. Russia's third world inclinations could use a bit of that European civilization and sophistication.
#5
Many observers in Russia and abroad believe that recent events in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova have rung the death knell for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),..
#9
You are probably right Aris, but that doesn't change the fact that the combination of the Red Army and the British Navy would certainly dependence the EU has on the US for their defense. It would also provide Europe with better access to Russian raw materials and a land-connections to the Pacific rim which many economists feel will be the economic center of this century.
#10
rjschwartz> Russia is too big and its territory extends too far away from the others' to make a member-state on an equal level with the others. Even perfectly democratic it'd be an imbalance, constantly teetering between seeking either dominance or independence. De facto, it can't be the equal of any one other nation in the EU. It'd have decisive power that a whole set of other member-states would need to constantly counterbalance lest it grow too much.
And ofcourse currently Russia is the primary military threat to its neighbouring countries like Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and so forth -- so having Europe becoming militarily dependent on Russia doesn't seem a solution, but a suicide pact instead.
In short those assets and unique qualities you underlined about Russia end up being precisely the reason why it shouldn't be made one of the EU club. Concentrated in one region, facing approximately the same set of problems, each having multiple neighbours in common -- the current EU membership makes sense, and so does extending it to cover the Balkans and Ukraine -- and even Turkey or Caucasus isn't utterly out of the question... but Russia?
That's taking my reluctance about Turkey and quadrupling it. *Even* with a democratic Russia.
And as long as Russia is undemocratic and imperialistic, the Eurasian attitude is not just dangerous for the EU, but for the whole world I think.
Relations between Japan and South Korea neared breaking point yesterday over renewed claims by Tokyo to sovereignty over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the Sea of Japan. Faced with continued violent protests in Seoul - during which two women cut off their fingers - Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea, Toshiyuki Takano. Mr Takano angered his hosts recently by claiming that the volcanic islands, midway between the two countries, were "historically and legally" part of Japan. "I heard that severe anti-Japanese sentiment is increasing," a Japanese government spokesman, Hiroyuki Hosoda, told reporters after an emergency meeting in Tokyo with Mr Takano.
The dispute over the Takeshima islands - known as the Dokto in South Korea - intensified after assembly members in Shimane prefecture in Japan drafted an ordinance that would set aside every February 22 to mark Japan's sovereignty. With the assembly expected to pass the draft ordinance tomorrow, tensions are running high in Seoul. Two people at a protest outside the Japanese embassy were taken to hospital after each chopping off a finger.
The South Korean foreign affairs minister, Ban Ki-moon, cancelled a trip to Japan, and North Kyongsang province suspended cultural exchange programmes with Shimane prefecture. The spat comes as the two countries celebrate 40 years of bilateral ties, amid some signs of a cultural detente. The islands are uninhabited apart from a small detachment of South Korean police. Though they are of no strategic significance, the islands stand in the middle of rich fishing grounds. Disagreements over the islands, and renewed calls for Japan to apologise for its wartime conduct, threaten to frustrate the countries' attempts to work together in talks on North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme. "Japan must make the truth of the past known and offer sincere apologies, and, if necessary, pay compensation," the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, said in a speech this month. "Only then can we be reconciled." "The sun in the East shall rise again".
#3
TW, at least they chopped their own. Although, for a betterment of mankind, they should have found some way to remove themselves whole and permanently. Hope there is no offspring that may have inherited the infliction.
Gathered at the Royal Christiania Hotel overlooking rain-swept Oslo, the men and women with their name tags and windbreakers could pass for an ordinary party of people over 60 on an outing. But these 30 or so Norwegians, about to set out on a day cruise, are anything but ordinary.
There's Paul Hansen, who grew up in a mental home even though there was nothing wrong with him. There's Tove Laila Strand, sipping a drink and looking as fragile as the single zinnia on her table. Her mother and stepfather used to beat her with a clothes hanger. Downstairs in the lobby, Hugo Frebel, a large, amiable 62-year-old, starts to tell his story, then lowers his voice and glances around. "People are listening," he says, and leads his guest upstairs to the company of people who can understand what he has been through: members of the League Lebensborn of Norwegian Children of War.
Victims of World War II, these are the children born of Hitler's dream of breeding a master race by pairing German soldiers with north European women deemed to meet the blond, fair-skinned Aryan ideal. Their parentage condemned many of them to the margins of society. It denied them an education or cost them their marriages. Only now, as the 60th anniversary of the war's end approaches, is the government offering them compensation. "I was a German baby. Worse than an insect," Frebel recalls. "They threw stones at us."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
03/15/2005 10:33:44 AM ||
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#1
Facism and Nazism goes both ways...
These people who dumped on kids is exactly the same as people blaming a child born because the mother was raped or, in past times, the parents weren't married.
#2
Lets not forget the Comfort Women of the Japanese Empire. These are women who were taken (sometimes unwillingly - sometimes deceptively (to work in factories)) from their homes to serve in de-facto sexual slavery to the Imperial Japanese army. (Note: This is Imperial Japan of WW II and not what I consider moden Japan).
Japan still refuses to apologize (or even acknowledge) or give compenstation to the victims citing various post-war 'treaties'.
#3
CrazyFool: Japan still refuses to apologize (or even acknowledge) or give compenstation to the victims citing various post-war 'treaties'.
The Japanese paid out huge sums of money as compensation for war-related indignities. The post-war governments of the occupied countries chose to allow these women to be ostracized and generally discriminated against without compensating them from the funds paid by the Japanese government. You gotta love how these guys are double-dipping by taking the money and running, sticking it to the comfort women, and then calling the Japanese government names. As far as I'm concerned, the politicians and the citizens of the occupied countries really need a good beating. They are like the husband whose wife is raped, is paid monetary compensation, keeps the money and then beats his wife for not killing herself after being raped.
#4
Zhang, Thanks for clearing that up. I did not know that Japan has already paid compensation to the countries involved which never got to the real; victims. -- I stand corrected.
And I agree that these women pretty much got screwed by Japanese army then screwed by their own families and people
#5
I just got back from a visit to Oslo and had a chance to get to the Norwegian Resistance Museum.
They had a very interesting WWII history and spent 5 years under German occupation. And if that wasn't enough, they spent the next 50 years watching that big neighbor, USSR, to the north who always coveted an open water port, just like Norway has, for that end of the USSR.
The museum had pictures of the Nazies marching in front of the Palace in 1940, and of everyone taking to the same street in 1945.
It appeared to me that the norwegians put up a more substancial "resistance" than the cheese eating surrender monkeys... Not that it can be rationalized, but I can understand the dynamic of hatred that these victims were subjected to.
The European Commission has a "chronically sordid" accounting system and is still unable to keep track of the EU's ã73billion budget after a decade of financial scandals, according to a top EU insider. An internal email obtained by The Telegraph paints an ugly picture of an autocratic body with an "incestuous esprit de corps" that uses its bureaucratic muscle to "trash" any official who dares to question its methods. It said the Budget Directorate was in "persistent denial of the real nature and depth of problems" it faced, choosing "cavity filling solutions where root canals were called for".
The note was written by the former director-general of the commission's Internal Audit Service, Jules Muis, who retired last year after attempting to spearhead the EU's reform drive. He said the Budget fiefdom relied on non-qualified accountants to manage funds, allowing it to "get away with" practices that breached its own laws. It operated a "perverse incentive structure" that rewarded staff if "they managed not to discover financial malfeasance".
...
"Ten years after the Commission first failed to get normal audit blessing on its accounts and controls, it still does not have a proper accountability construct. This extraordinary situation is the major cause of the chronically sordid state of quality accounting," he said. The confidential letter, dated September 4 2004, was submitted to the disciplinary hearings of Marta Andreasen, the Commission's former chief accountant turned whistleblower. Mrs Andreasen lasted five months in the job in early 2002 before going public with claims that the EU budget was "an open till waiting to be robbed". She revealed that the EU still relied on single entry book-keeping - more than seven centuries after the Venetians switched double entry books - alleging that it let officials transfer of large sums without leaving an electronic fingerprint.
She was sacked last October by Neil Kinnock in his last official act as administration commissioner. Mr Muis defended Mrs Andreasen - the first trained accountant to hold the post - calling her a "focused and determined professional who was asking the right questions". He said that any chief accountant "worth his/her salt" would have been shocked by the "systemic control weaknesses" she encountered. He called Ms Andreasen's trial a "smoke and mirrors side-show", relying on character smear by anonymous witnesses, that reflected the culture of "might makes right". It sent a signal to other EU officials that disputes would "be resolved based on power-politics only". Mr Muis said that he had been threatened for stepping out of line, being warned: "We have ways of breaking people like you". Must be the IRA representative.
Mrs Andreasen, a Spanish citizen, clashed with her superiors after they asked her to sign off on the budget for 2001 - the year before she started working for the body - but refused her request for access to the accounts. She later discovered an Euro200m discrepancy in the 2001 books that was air-brushed out of existence in the final report. EU officials now admit Euro50m of the missing money involved debts written off in Eastern Europe, but have refused to detail the loans.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 8:44:40 AM ||
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#1
dont' worry itn just a treaty between equal states
#3
"A fool and his money are soon parted." -- Thomas Tusser
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 14:24 Comments ||
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#4
Wow, Aris, looks like you should be giving this more attention than gay marriage in California. Your buddies like d'Estang might be able to manage France, but they're lacking some basic accounting skills on the EU project. Looks like they've been busy cooking the books while the rest of you are busy reading the "constitution". But I guess you don't care -- you won't be paying taxes when you're an EU bureaucrat.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 21:25 Comments ||
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#10
Not only have I baited you, Aris, but I have also caught you many times. And as Ben Franklin observed, "visitors and fish stink after three days." Your passionate defense of the EU stinks. Comment on the article or on the EU-employee tax avoidance scam instead of commenting on me.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:32 Comments ||
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#11
No, Tom, that's not the way it works: You commented on my person, and so I'm commenting on yours. This article seems a long one and I'll read it in my own time, and I'll comment on it or not, as I will. As you say it's my EU money that's at stake, not yours. I don't owe you anything.
I already participate in several different threads, and you've responded insultingly and trollishly in all of them, even when my posts have been reasoned and given no provocation to you at all.
#12
No, Tom, that's not the way it works: You commented on my person, and so I'm commenting on yours. This article seems a long one and I'll read it in my own time, and I'll comment on it or not, as I will. As you say it's my EU money that's at stake, not yours. I don't owe you anything.
I already participate in several different threads, and you've responded insultingly and trollishly in all of them, even when my posts have been reasoned and given no provocation to you at all.
#13
Re #11, #12: you're stuttering again, Aris. Try to remain calm.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:45 Comments ||
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#14
Aris - I've seen you make some good points - and sometimes, your detractors lose their "cool" and descend into personal attacks. Do you think your message is enhanced by personal attacks? That's a rhetorical question, by the way .....
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 22:02 Comments ||
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#15
I would also recommend that people has read City comment by Neil Collins in the same paper:
Email confirms what we always suspected: something's rotten in Brussels
The email is the smoking gun de nos jours. A few paragraphs written by an official in a bad mood can say more than any number of formal enquiries, and the words, once released into the internet, cannot be recalled. An internal memo which we reveal today from the European Commission's former audit chief, Jules Muis, confirms what so many suspect - that Brussels still cannot take reasonable care of the £73billion entrusted to it by taxpayers.
What's worse, in a way, is how Mr Muis exposes the machine as a surprisingly nasty and vindictive outfit. The EU budget runs with a "chronically sordid" accounting system and is still culturally incapable of accepting any fault with the way it behaves, even after a decade of complaints from the European Court of Auditors.
A fraud scandal brought down the entire Commission in 1999. Three years later, a pair of whistleblowers exposed the disappearance of £3m at the Eurostat data office, in a racket described by investigators as the tip of "a vast enterprise of looting". Yet Mr Muis reveals that even now the Commission has "systemic control weaknesses" and rewards officials for turning a blind eye to graft. The EU may even have "slipped backwards".
The Commission is at last ditching its single-entry booking system, just 700 years after the Venetians made it obsolete. In theory it will no longer be possible to transfer money without trace. If this reform actually happens, it will be greatly due to the efforts of Marta Andreasen, the former chief accountant sacked by the Prodi Commission in a valedictory settling of scores.
The Muis email confirms that her disciplinary hearing was a crude, but highly successful, mechanism to smear a critic. "Might makes right" are the words he uses. At least the Commission is now promising to do what she recommended, even if it gives her none of the credit.
#16
I would also recommend that people has read City comment by Neil Collins in the same paper:
Email confirms what we always suspected: something's rotten in Brussels
The email is the smoking gun de nos jours. A few paragraphs written by an official in a bad mood can say more than any number of formal enquiries, and the words, once released into the internet, cannot be recalled. An internal memo which we reveal today from the European Commission's former audit chief, Jules Muis, confirms what so many suspect - that Brussels still cannot take reasonable care of the £73billion entrusted to it by taxpayers.
What's worse, in a way, is how Mr Muis exposes the machine as a surprisingly nasty and vindictive outfit. The EU budget runs with a "chronically sordid" accounting system and is still culturally incapable of accepting any fault with the way it behaves, even after a decade of complaints from the European Court of Auditors.
A fraud scandal brought down the entire Commission in 1999. Three years later, a pair of whistleblowers exposed the disappearance of £3m at the Eurostat data office, in a racket described by investigators as the tip of "a vast enterprise of looting". Yet Mr Muis reveals that even now the Commission has "systemic control weaknesses" and rewards officials for turning a blind eye to graft. The EU may even have "slipped backwards".
The Commission is at last ditching its single-entry booking system, just 700 years after the Venetians made it obsolete. In theory it will no longer be possible to transfer money without trace. If this reform actually happens, it will be greatly due to the efforts of Marta Andreasen, the former chief accountant sacked by the Prodi Commission in a valedictory settling of scores.
The Muis email confirms that her disciplinary hearing was a crude, but highly successful, mechanism to smear a critic. "Might makes right" are the words he uses. At least the Commission is now promising to do what she recommended, even if it gives her none of the credit.
I'm waiting for the free beer program. VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Just over the United States northwest border, addicts will soon be able to get their fix from the Canadian government in the form of free heroin administered by nurses and doctors on the taxpayer's dime. "They're using heroin. They'll continue to use heroin. What we're trying to do is prevent them from getting something irreversible like HIV, hep [hepatitis] C and overdose death," said Dr. Martin Schechter, the director of the heroin program.
Vancouver is the first city to take part in the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, which plans to enroll 470 participants at three sites in Canada. The Toronto and Montreal sites are expected to begin recruiting candidates this spring. Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham is among supporters who say the heroin giveaway will let junkies shoot up without having to resort to theft or prostitution to buy their drugs. Breaking that cycle of crime, they argue, is the first step toward turning an addict's life around. "I'm not a medical expert, this is not my field. I'm an expert in public safety," Graham said. "And if this will help reduce the crime rate — I'm all for it."
In the program all addicts have to do to get their fix is show up three times a day seven days a week. Junkies offered different views of the program to FOX News. Some think it's the government's way of killing them, while others say they can't wait for the free dope. But none of them thought it would eventually get them clean. "I think it would lower the crime rate. Nobody's gonna be robbing each other. Nobody's going to be sick enough to rob each other. All be taken care of. Free dope, woo-hoo," said heroin addict Olivia Edgars. Recovered addict Chuck Swesey - who's been clean 20 years - says the program smacks of government drug pushing. He says he knows how he would've ended under a program like this: "I'd be dead ... or I'd be in a jail or an institution." The $8 million Canadian program is patterned after similar efforts in Europe.
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2005 9:19:01 AM ||
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Loon pic?
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
03/15/2005 9:30 Comments ||
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#2
I thought these types of programs are are really good idea ... After a couple of months the state just makes a mistake in the lab and accidently gives them rat poison instead of heroin. Too bad that Canada will not have enough guts to do that.
#17
must be white slag imported from you-know-who-with-puffy-hair
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 16:29 Comments ||
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#18
Was wondering when this thread would pop up.
I live just shy of Vancouver, and I'd probably be up in arms but for the fact I know it just won't work. Notice that they only budgeted for 470 users? That's how this wonderful socialized medicine thing works.
Oh, you've suddenly come down with kidney/heart/liver/(insert organ here) failure? I'm sorry, we've only budgeted for X number of these services this quarter. If you can't hold out until the next projected budget, you'll just have to die.
Oh, you got yourself addicted to smak in hope that you'll get a free ride from the Vancouver government? Well, why don't you just shell out a few more dollars on the street, and hope that the government's hand in the market doesn't screw the price up too much. Maybe we can take care of you once we have total control over the market.
Honestly guys, it'll be a hoot. I just won't be making any field trips to Stanley Park or Granville Island anytime soon.
#19
Asedwich, Sorry you didn't speak sooner. I've already sent two bums your way. If they don't get their free fix as promised, I think they'll be getting nasty before they get back. If they get back. But they're really nice guys when they are high.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 20:16 Comments ||
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#20
I can't understand from all the comments what the exact reasons of each person here is to object to this.
1) Is it that the government is spending taxpayers' money on this? Will it be spending more money than it'll be depriving from the drug-dealers?
2) Is it that you think you're gonna have people intentionally addicting themselves to heroin, because they think that the government will be there to protect them?
3) Is it that the Canadian government interferes in natural selection, and you'd just like all drug-addicts to fall down dead even if they've never hurt anyone other than themselves?
You all exhibit such levels of flippancy, that it's difficult to understand what the actual objections of each person to this are.
#21
Aris, would you treat a pedophile by keeping him busy with child pornography? Wait -- you're European -- maybe you would. Never mind.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:09 Comments ||
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#22
I see you belong in category 3, Tom.
Drug addiction is something that primarily hurts the person addicted. It's not by itself a crime against another. Pedophilia on the other hand hurts innocent children.
So, screw your moral equivalency. And your insulting trollery ofcourse.
#23
Heroin or pedophilia, somebody gets hurt either way -- but I guess you only care about the children.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:16 Comments ||
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#24
Heroin or pedophilia, somebody gets hurt either way
I see how liberty-loving you are, when you think that hurting yourself is the moral equivalent of hurting innocent others.
but I guess you only care about the children.
I care about preventing innocents from coming to harm. If taking the drug dealers out of business by removing from the addicts the need to give them money to feed their addiction, then so be it.
But you ofcourse only care about making flippant trollish remarks.
#26
Aris, the problem with addicts is not their addiction as such, since it is true that they act to hurt nobody but themselves. But, they hurt their families and friends by their behaviour, just as alcoholics do: by being under the influence when they should be mentally and physically with others, by spending their money on their chemical of choice instead of on the welfare of those they are responsible to, by making their home a place of shame and degradation rather than peace and refuge. And generally, as the addiction proceeds, the addict first guts the family finances to buy his preferred mind-alterant, then turns to crime when all other funding sources are exhausted.
A government program such as Canada is proposing would address only the last stage of the process, and help only the strangers who would otherwise be victims of criminal attack. It would help not at all the families ruined and impoverished by the addict's descent, nor the damaged souls of his children.
#27
trailing wife> I understand what you are saying but I don't see why it should only affect the *last* stage of the process, and not have a positive influence throughout.
I'm starting to read on how went the issue in European countries:
Here's a page on Netherlands and one on Switzerland
Justice Antonin Scalia criticized the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down the juvenile death penalty, calling it the latest example of politics on the court that has made judicial nominations an increasingly bitter process. In a 35-minute speech Monday, Scalia said unelected judges have no place deciding issues such as abortion and the death penalty. The court's 5-4 ruling March 1 to outlaw the juvenile death penalty (search) based on "evolving notions of decency" was simply a mask for the personal policy preferences of the five-member majority, he said. "If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again," Scalia told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. "You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility." "Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?" he said.
Scalia, who has been mentioned as a possible chief justice nominee should Chief Justice William Rehnquist retire, outlined his judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution according to its text, as understood at the time it was adopted. Citing the example of abortion, he said unelected justices too often choose to read new rights into the Constitution, at the expense of the democratic process. "Abortion is off the democratic stage. Prohibiting it is unconstitutional, now and forever, coast to coast, until I guess we amend the Constitution," said Scalia, who was appointed to the court by President Reagan in 1986. He blamed Chief Justice Earl Warren, who presided from 1953-69 over a court that assaulted racial segregation and expanded individual rights against arbitrary government searches, for the increased political role of the Supreme Court, citing Warren's political background. Warren was governor of California and the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948. "You have a chief justice who was a governor, a policy-maker, who approached the law with that frame of mind. Once you have a leader with that mentality, it's hard not to follow," Scalia said, in response to a question from the audience.
Scalia said increased politics on the court will create a bitter nomination fight for the next Supreme Court appointee, since judges are now more concerned with promoting their personal policy preferences rather than interpreting the law. "If we're picking people to draw out of their own conscience and experience a 'new' Constitution, we should not look principally for good lawyers. We should look to people who agree with us," he said, explaining that's why senators increasingly probe nominees for their personal views on positions such as abortion. "When we are in that mode, you realize we have rendered the Constitution useless," Scalia said.
I think Chief Justice Scalia has a nice ring to it.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 8:46:12 AM ||
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#1
Power brother! He gets it the democratic process! Chief Justice bound!
Congress has to do something about the Supreame Court and some of the lower advocacy courts (such as the 9th circus court). That is why our consitution has checks and balances.
#3
Let's think in what the "living constitution" means. Quite simply that a mere judge can upturn a law who has been voted by the people through its representatives. Quite simply that a mere judge can derail a legal decision made by an elected president. Quite simply that a mere judge can change the Constitution in ways unintended by its creators, quite simply that we would be changing the beautifil first words "We, the people of the United States" in "We, the judges of the United States". Quite simply that we would have abandonned the principle of a governement from the people by the people for the people.
#5
I heard sound bites of this on Laura Ingraham coming to work - probably one of the clearest minds on the supreme court ever. YES! He needs to be C.J.!!!!!!
#6
Too late folks. Our elected officials have choosen to hide behind the robes of judges to get programs and cultural laws imposed upon the people. In doing so, the judical branch has assumed the power once held by the king. It will continue to assume more and more power and the other two branches can't stop it, the process is already compromised. The only hope is for us to follow the model of direct election of Senators made a hundred years ago and directly elect the Supremes. Nothing short of that will stop the shift of power to those who sit for life and are unaccountable to the governed.
#7
Snung - what it would take is the timely deaths of Ginsburg, Kennedy, et al, who invent law rather than interpreting it, and a rash of Republican backbone
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 11:13 Comments ||
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#9
When Chief Justice John Marshall tried to force a national bank upon President Andrew Jackson, Jackson responded, "Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."
Don't these judges realize that at some point people are going to say, "Enough!", and ignore them. Then we will have anarchy. That is not what we need.
Just yesterday, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled our proposition 22, the Marriage Definition referendum which was passed 61% to 39% in 2000 as unconstitutional. The case is on appeal, and will probably be overturned because the State Supreme court has mostly Wilson appointees...
These Black Robed Totalitarian Dictators don't get it, and eventually the unrestrained power thay have will be thier own downfall, and the downfall of us all...
#10
The Massachusetts Supreme Court considers the state constitution an "evolving paradigm", which they usually envoke when one of their decisions tucks it up the voters asses.
#12
When Chief Justice John Marshall tried to force a national bank upon President Andrew Jackson, Jackson responded, "Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."
I thought that quote was with regard to the Supreme Court decision regarding the illegality of government siezure of Cherokee land in Georgia (which had gold on it).
#13
Judge Scalia came to my law school and gave a lecture. I got to hang out near him at the wine-and-cheese party after the speech. If you listen to him talk for five or ten minutes, two things become very apparent:
1. He thinks he's the smartest person in the room.
2. He's right.
I should point out that while the Judge has a great deal of self-confidence, he is not arrogant nor condescending. It was fun watching him debate a then-recent case with one of our law review editors--he was quite respectful toward the "brash young kid" and seemed to enjoy the chance to trade ideas.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/15/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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A judge has opened the way for the nation's most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to tie the knot, but both sides in the debate predicted a vigorous court fight first. San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled Monday that while withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians has been the status quo, it constitutes discrimination the state can no longer justify. "The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote. "Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before."
Ushering out a social norm long considered sacred won't happen right away, however. Kramer's decision is stayed automatically for 60 days to allow time for appeals, and conservative groups that oppose same-sex marriages vowed to uphold California's one woman-one man marriage laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 3:37:06 PM ||
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Assemblyman Ray Haynes, a Republican, predicted the judge's ruling would spur efforts to amend the state Constitution to ban gay nuptials, as was done in 13 other states last year.
Absolutely pointless except as platforms to keep the debate in the pubic eye.
#6
After the last Judge 'upheld' the ammendment passed by the PEOPLE I kind of lost track of this fight. Befor all the butt pirates and carpet munchers book flight to California, this has already been appealed and will be struck down at the next level. I would hope that the Supreme court would step in and settle this one way or the other since the idiot lawyers are burdening the lower courts with wave after wave of gay cases.
#10
If gays can marry... why can't I have more than one wife?
I have nothing against polyamory, but it comes in so many varieties that a legal recognition thereof becomes much trickier. The established legal benefits of marriage like the idea of next-of-kin, pension rights, raising children, visitation rights and so forth, become meaningless when they can be extended to a infinite amount of people.
You'd also need a whole new set of laws (both divorce and otherwise) for each variation of polyamory relationships (imagine one of your wives wanting to divorce you, but *not* divorce your other wife, etc, etc). At which time it just becomes simpler to have people make their own marital contracts defining their own rights and responsibilities.
On the other hand extending marital rights to gay people is as easy as a stroke of the pen, removing the gender restrictions of the current laws.
let em have civil partnerships with the benefits...If they insist on watering down "marriage", crush em
Creating a institution which is exactly like marriage but doesn't call itself that *wouldn't* be watering down "marriage", but rewarding the concepts of fidelity and mutual succour until death doth them part by actually allowing adult people to marry if they want to, would "water down marriage". Yeah, right.
If you want to prevent the watering down of marriage, make divorces more difficult instead.
Come on over here Fido!
Comparing the consentual relationships between adult gay people to bestiality ain't helping your cause either.
One thing I'll agree however with all of you, that it'd be very preferable if the people of California themselves decided on this one, instead of having a judge decide it.
#11
Your Ignorance - read what I wrote - nuff said
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 20:20 Comments ||
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#12
Be as gay as you want in the EU, Aris, but let me warn you: Muslim birthrates and immigration in the EU will be your undoing, as will the EU's general lack of support for serious cultural change in the Middle East.
http://www.equality.org.za/news/2005/03/14saudimurder.php
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 20:28 Comments ||
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#13
Your jerkdom, I read what you wrote quite carefully, and I responded accordingly.
#14
Tom, you are being intentionally an irrelevant troll. This issue has nothing to do with the EU, nor with Muslims, and I won't help you divert the thread.
#16
I just thought you should know what you are up against since gay marriage and the EU are your two favorite topics, Aris. The Saudis are probably spreading their influence in Athens as we speak.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 20:37 Comments ||
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#17
Actually the latest sermon I've heard against same-sex marriage came not from Muslims but from the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox church, who (being somewhat stricter on the issue that even FrankG) sees people supporting civil partnerships between homosexuals as having in mind to attack Greek Orthodoxy, since they are obviously western conspiracists that hate the Orthodox Church because it stands in the way of globalization, etc, etc, blah, blah...
#20
For some reason Aris feels entitled to rant about gay marriage in the U.S. but thinks that anything said about gay marriage in the EU is treading on his sacred turf. After enough goading, he has finally told us something about gay marriage in his country (#17). And it turns out that he's the angry liberal in Greece too.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/15/2005 21:27 Comments ||
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#21
For some reason Aris feels entitled to rant about gay marriage in the U.S. but thinks that anything said about gay marriage in the EU is treading on his sacred turf.
I don't see you having said anything about gay marriage in the EU at all. Go google up some information on it and then come back.
And it turns out that he's the angry liberal in Greece too.
#26
Tom> Tell me, Tom the Troll, do you think that calling them "civil partnerships with benefits" instead of "marriage" (or indeed not having same-sex unions be legal at all) is going to affect birthrates?
If you don't think that, then you're bringing in an utterly unrelated issue into this, in further efforts to trollishly divert the thread.
badanov> Nice homophobic remark, but as a sidenote I think the map's wrong in regards to Spain. The Same-sex marriage bill is still in the Spanish parliament I believe -- though almost certain to pass, someone who updated the map jumped the gun a bit I think.
#28
[I]t'd be very preferable if the people of California themselves decided on this one....
Ummm, the people of California have already decided this. The issue of defining marriage as being between one man and one woman was placed on the ballot via the referendum process and passed with, IIRC, 62% of the popular vote. Further the people of the United States spoke through their elected representatives nearly a decade ago when said representatives passed the federal Defense of Marriage Act which was signed into law by none other than Bill Clinton. What's happening now in California is a pure judicial fiat supporting a small minority view over the expressed wishes of a large majority.
There are really only a couple of ways to prevent homosexual marriage from becoming law in all 50 states:
1. Congress can exercise their Constitutional power to remove marriage from the jurisdiction of the federal courts. This would, in effect, allow each state to set its own policy without interference.
2. A federal Constitutional Amendment.
Without one of those two coming to pass it's only a matter of time until one state finally and completely recognizes homosexual marriage. At that point the Full Faith & Credit Clause will force legal recognition of marriages conducted in that state by all others and the federal government. That's why the state-level Constitutional Amendments are pointless, they'll be immediately trumped the (at least) the Full Faith & Credit Clause.
I *think* it's slightly wrong in regards to one specific country, namely Spain. Am not completely sure, but either way didn't want you accusing me of misleading you, if you later found the maps was flawed.
#32
hey, Aris! That was one of your more temperate comments!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 22:09 Comments ||
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#33
Aris - I belive the highest state court in MA ruled that homosexual marriages must be allowed but I don't believe that the state is issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples yet so I assume that there is more political wrangling going on there. I belive that popular opinion in MA also currently disfavors homosexual marriage.
Our federal Supreme Court won't touch this issue until they're forced to by a split in the Federal Circuit Courts and that deadlock is years away. So the strategy for homosexual marriage advocates right now is to force the capitulation of a single state, marry many couples from all over the country in that state, then litigate the validity of those marriages in each Federal Circuit when the newly married couples return home and are denied marital benefits under existing state & local laws. My guess is that most arguments (e.g., Equal Protection, etc.) will fail in most Circuits but that all will probably find the Full Faith & Credit arguments valid. If not the S.Ct. of the US will and at that point the entire nation will be forced to legally recognize homosexual marriage.
Brought to you by the Rantburg School of Engineering and GraftThe independent engineering specialist who led an investigation into leaks at the $14.6 billion Big Dig project says he can no longer vouch for the safety of its tunnels. Gov. Mitt Romney responded to the report by saying he would ask the state's highest court if he has the power to fire the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the system of bridges and tunnels that has been plagued for years by cost overruns. "With the Big Dig there's been a pattern of cover-up and stonewalling that has left the public with little confidence that the project is being managed well or that the road and tunnel system are safe to travel," Romney said.
The governor's comments were in response to a letter written to the Turnpike Authority by engineering specialist Jack K. Lemley, who stated he was "unable to express an opinion as to the safety of the I-93 portion of the Central Artery." A copy of the March 9 letter was obtained by The Boston Globe. Romney has previously called for resignation of Turnpike Chairman Matthew Amorello, but the chairman has so far refused. A call to the Turnpike Authority was not immediately returned, but spokesman Doug Hanchett told the Globe that "we believe the tunnels are perfectly safe. If we ever had a reasonable inkling otherwise, we'd close the tunnels."
You mean, right after the collaspe?
The leak-ridden tunnels are the centerpiece of the massive Big Dig highway project, which buried Interstate 93 under downtown Boston and connected the Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan International Airport.
They've been digging since Ted Kennedy had his first drink
In September, water broke though a faulty wall panel and flooded the I-93 northbound tunnel, backing up rush-hour traffic for miles. A subsequent investigation headed by Lemley found hundreds of smaller leaks. Lemley told lawmakers in November that there was no public safety risk to people driving through the tunnels.
unless you count drowning as a risk, but enough about Ted....
Since then, Big Dig officials have identified more than 40 sections of tunnel wall with construction defects. Fireproofing material has also fallen after being damaged by leaks.
But there's no risk....
In his letter, Lemley said project officials blocked him from obtaining records and data related to the new problems, including 10 years of field notes from engineers and more recent testing data. He said his change in position was also driven by the apparent lack of any formal plan by Big Dig officials to address the leak problems. Lemley did not immediately return a phone call on Tuesday. Romney stopped short of calling the tunnels unsafe and said he will continue to drive through them. "I don't feel as safe in the tunnels today as I did yesterday," Romney said. "If (Lemley) doesn't know if the tunnels are safe then I don't either and that's intolerable."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 2:48:38 PM ||
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#1
I left Boston in December of 1992 just as the Logan tunnel project was getting underway. There were problems with that as well (one of which was the mud being dredged from the bottom of Boston Harbour was contaminated waste and couldn't be dumped just anywhere) but not on the scale of The Big Dig. Teddy Kennedy scores another financial windfall for his cronies in Massachusetts but isn't held the least bit accountable. I really wish someone would ask him some very tough questions about this. I swear if I ever get the chance to piss on his leg like he's been pissing on the American taxpayers all these years I won't hesitate.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 15:43 Comments ||
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#2
As the Big Dig neared completion, the question was raised as to what to name the thing. One wag suggested "The American Taxpayer" Tunnel, since that's who's paying (and paying and paying) for it.
#3
Sunday's "Tale of The Big Dig" was driving over the lovely Zakim Bridge while being bombarded by the giant chunks of ice from the last snowstorm that were falling off of it and onto the cars 100 feet on the roadway below.
The man who pushed real hard to get this thing here was the legendary "Friend of the Working Man" Tip O'Neill, who never met a government buck he didn't want a piece of and who leaned hard on Reagan to sign the papers for the Federal backing. There was real serious talk about naming the tunnel after him by the local Dem hacks but, funny thing, you don't hear that idea "floated" much anymore.
#4
As someone who travels back and forth to Logan Airport almost weekly there are a couple of things to which I can attest:
1) For a brand new tunnel system they spend an awful lot of time fixing things...
2) The sections through South Boston (most of it) were carefully engineered to maximise the revenue to the Boston Mafia headed up by James "Whitey" Bulger whose brother Billy was the head of the Mass Senate before being given the sinecure as President of UMass. This job Romney managed to force him out of after he took the 5th at US Senate hearings about his mudering, FBI corrupting brother.
3) Mass politics and Boston in particular is so Democrat controlled (despite the run of RINO governors) that corruption is unopposed and the few Republicans seem more than happy to go along.
#9
guarantee responsible engineering took a back seat to other concerns. IMHO The responsible engineers should lose (for at least 5 yrs?) their licenses, and their higher-ups should go to prison, including the colluding contractor and politicians
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 20:19 Comments ||
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#10
# 8 Classical liberal- Right on about the Chinese!
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
03/15/2005 21:37 Comments ||
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#11
Why bite the hand that feed you? The taxpayer!
We all paid for this so why not hit us for more money? You have the fox in charge of the hen house
Agree??
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
03/15/2005 21:38 Comments ||
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#12
Since it takes one to know one, I supspect the engineers were conservative - they always are. Someone in management might have over-rode them, like the Challanger catastrophe.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 21:43 Comments ||
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#13
exactly, Bobby - I'm a licensed engineer: civil with structural specialty, and nobody in their right minds gets tolerances that close, usually 1.5 to 3 safety factors, minimum - I actually think they should go at the engineers first (who are probably not at fault) and they'll show where the suits and contractors cheated and skimped, happily
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 21:52 Comments ||
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#14
Ahhh... Frank! Civil, myself, but not structural. So you know tunnels leak. The (self-named) inventor of the New Austrian Tunneling Method once told me "You can not waterproof a tunnel, you can only control the water"
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 22:27 Comments ||
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#15
They should've moved the MTA offices into a side tunnel ....
Edited for brevity.
The population of Afghanistan grew slightly Saturday, thanks in part to a pair of Black Hawk crews and a 25-year-old flight medic from Wiesbaden, Germany. Army Spc. Kyle Storbakken helped an Afghan mother deliver a healthy 6Âœ-pound baby while aboard the Black Hawk flying to the U.S. military base Salerno. Peer Mullah Khan, the baby's father, is a leader of the village next to the U.S. outpost at Skhin. Through a translator, he said he came to U.S. troops for help when his wife started struggling during labor. Giving birth isn't a new experience for his wife, Melawa. The baby girl, who hasn't been named yet, is the couple's 14th child. Two have died, but the others — ranging from the newest addition to a 19-year old girl — make for a large family. Two sons currently serve in the Afghan army. American officials said they agreed to take the mother and father aboard the aircraft because it appeared that the placenta was between the baby and the birth canal, potentially putting both lives at risk. Fortunately, that turned out to not be the case. In order to save time, one helicopter was dispatched from Salerno to Skhin to pick up the mother while another left Bagram to fly to Salerno. While the first helicopter was on its way back from the village to Salerno, the mother gave birth.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/15/2005 12:41:14 PM ||
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Dumb question: Is a Black Hawk helicopter considered "U.S. territory"?
This week's cover story in "Fuckin Duh" magazine... WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Malt liquor, a type of beer that is higher in alcohol than other brews, is largely a drink of the homeless and unemployed, and is likely to be abused, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. Well funded government grant researchers I'll bet.
And malt liquor is heavily marketed to black and Hispanic youth, the team at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California found. They find that out by watching MTV?
Their study of 329 drinkers in Los Angeles found that malt liquor drinkers are different from those who choose other tipples. Connosieurs of the malt beverage, no doubt...
Ricky Bluthenthal, who led the study, said malt liquors were both higher in alcohol than other beers and tended to be sold in larger containers. Shocked, weren't you Ricky? What was this, some high school kid's science fair project?
"We found that the combination of these differences resulted in the average malt liquor drinker in our study consuming 80 percent more alcohol per drink than the average regular beer drinker," he said in a statement. Astounding!
And, Bluthenthal said, the more alcohol consumed, the worse the consequences for both the drinker and his or her community. Writing in the March issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Bluthenthal's team said they found malt liquor drinkers were more likely to be homeless, unemployed, receive public assistance, and tended to drink more alcohol than other drinkers. Stop the presses on this one...
Rhonda Jones-Webb, an expert in alcohol consumption and behavior at the University of Minnesota who reviewed the study, said she was concerned about the marketing of malt liquor. The products are largely targeted to black and Hispanic youths and young adults, she said. "Rap artists have been popular images in malt liquor advertising and 'gangsta' rap performers portray malt liquor as a sign of masculinity," she said. I blame THE MAN!!!
"Advertising influences brand choice, and what young people drink in early years influences what they drink as adults," she added in a telephone interview. Malt liquors are often sold in 40-ounce (1 liter) bottles, she added. "Rap lyrics and movie scripts encourage 'chugging' the bottles before they get warm," she said. I blame THE MAN!!!
"The combined effects of higher alcohol content, larger serving size, and faster consumption can result in higher blood alcohol levels, an increased risk of aggressive behavior, and other alcohol-related problems." This probably took years of research and lots of money to figure out.
Jones-Webb said larger studies should be done on the type of alcohol that people drink, advertising of the different types and their influence on behavior and crime. AKA: SEND.. US... MORE... MONEY!!!
Posted by: tu3031 ||
03/15/2005 10:21:13 AM ||
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I don't worry about beer or liquor commercials. I make my own.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 10:29 Comments ||
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Totally based on the idea that advertising *alone* sells products. They are poor, so they must be stupid and sheep-like enough to do what they're told. This also explains the preference for menthol cigarettes among African Americans; and rap, tex-mex, and C&W music among the poor. Plus eating a lot of junk food and not wearing a whole lot of designer clothing: all is advertising. If you just don't *advertise* NASCAR and professional wrestling, the poor won't want to watch it.
"First, for comparison, your average American beer has between 3.6 - 3.8 percent alcohol by weight. "Light" beers have much less, and heavier European beers contain about 5% alcohol.
Camo 5X Malt Liquor (it comes in a camouflage bottle, so don't put it down on the ground -- it's hard enough to find your beer after you've had a few) contains 8% alcohol by weight. St. Ides Malt Liquor (as promoted by Ice Cube, the rap star: this is from his rap tune on a St. Ides commercial -- I am not making this up -- "It'll make your jimmy thicker and get your woman in the mood quicker") is 7.3% alcohol. Some of the others, like Colt 45 and Mickeys (my house brand) have less than 5.6% alcohol."
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 11:06 Comments ||
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#5
Hey DB, making your own commercials.....nothing as thirst quenching as ad revenue.
Posted by: john ||
03/15/2005 11:13 Comments ||
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#6
Malt Liquor Drink of Homeless and Unemployed
And cheap generic beer from the 7-11 is (or was in my day) the drink of choice for broke airmen just before payday. Yeah, it tasted like shit, but you could get a case for $5.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 11:17 Comments ||
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#7
"No beer was spilled during the research for this study - hic-...."
#8
Dopey me, I ment I make my own beer. It is stronger than store-bought.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 12:03 Comments ||
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#9
Homebrew's not THAT much stronger. I'm pretty sure you can't get more than 6% out of straight malt. I've heard rumors that dropping a Bean-o tablet in the fermenter will boost that, but the yeast itself can't stand more than 12% before it dies out.
As for "larger containers" -- homebrewers tend to think in 5 gallon batches...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/15/2005 12:21 Comments ||
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#10
Too true, Robert. I can boost to about 6 1/2 to 7% depending on how cool the wort is during fermentation (ideal between 50 and 60 degrees F) and I do make 5 gallons at a time. The alchohol content is still more than Miller or Budweiser and about the same or a little higher than ice-brewed beer. However, I'm not going for the alchohol content but a much richer flavor. I once made a honey porter that knocked my pecker in the dirt.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#11
Rap lyrics and movie scripts encourage âchuggingâ the bottles before they get warm
Have you ever tried to drink a warm bumper of King Cobra? Vomit city; cold is the only way to drink malt liquer. This is one case where I believe that Rap lyrics are giving young people very solid advice.
Because I could have given them the same information for half the price. (Why be greedy? ;-p)
And in much less time, too. Like maybe 2 minutes. 10 if they wanted it typed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/15/2005 15:24 Comments ||
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#13
However, I'm not going for the alchohol content but a much richer flavor.
No kidding. The first time I tried saki, I sat there for a few minutes wondering "Now, just WHERE have I tasted that before?"
American beer. Made with RICE. Bleah.
I've got a brown ale in some minikegs in my basement. Yeah, it's got brown sugar in it, but everything else came from barley.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/15/2005 15:37 Comments ||
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#14
DB - You make your own beer and liquor commercials? Wow!
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 15:45 Comments ||
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#15
"At the Deacon Blues Pork Palace and Potables Parlour you can enjoy a cool Nutbrown Ale, Honey Porter, or Cream Stout along with our delicious Tequila-Lime marrinated Hickory Grilled Pork Loin served with pickled jalepno-cranberry relish, a just done baked potato, and roasted corn on the cob with chile-lime butter. If you preffer, you can have a glass or 3 of Connie the Short Bus Lady's wild raspberry wine, all made on the premises." Come Visit.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 15:59 Comments ||
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#16
*ahem* Does Mr. Mucky "Meat Is Murder" 4Doo know about your Hickory Grilled Pork Loin?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 16:28 Comments ||
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#17
Yes, and he chides me every now and then about it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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#18
LOL - but he's a forgiving Muck....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 17:09 Comments ||
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#19
RC - FWIW, A-B uses rice. Miller uses corn. Can't comment about Coors, et al.
Corn sugar ferments out more completely, but it's almost tasteless. The only use I have for it is carbonation.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/15/2005 21:06 Comments ||
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#21
Barbara- with working in the medical field- what do you think about the theory...suffering from depression = alcohol consumption. It is said by clinician's, doctor's that this gives them a "lift" from the depression when they drink, but then come crashing down back into a depression.
There is plenty of research to support this finding.
ANdrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
03/15/2005 21:44 Comments ||
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A SINGLE cow is what it cost Jack to buy the beans that grew into a giant stalk, but the King of Swaziland has had to trade considerably more beef on the hoof for his own latest acquisition: a bulletproof, air-conditioned luxury car. King Mswati III is the world's last absolute monarch and a man who rarely has to explain himself, least of all to the poverty-stricken subjects of his tiny landlocked mountain kingdom wedged on the eastern border of South Africa. He felt obliged last week, however, to issue a statement explaining that he had not plundered taxpayers' money to buy himself one of the world's most expensive cars, but had traded his own cows for the plush ride.
The king is used to brushing off the many critics who complain he spends too much on himself and too little on his people. The recent acquisition of a $US500,000 ($630,000) Daimler Chrysler Maybach 62 sedan, though, has sparked much anger and controversy. Along with the Maybach, Mswati also bought 10 5-series BMWs — a Valentine's Day gift for each of his 10 wives. The king's habitual generosity to his spouses, and himself, at the expense of the national treasury has prompted international condemnation and threats to cut off aid to Swaziland. He has tried to buy himself a multi-million-dollar jet aircraft and recently spent millions more building palaces for each of his wives, to the outrage of opposition groups and donors.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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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.
Dear Sir,
THREE villagers were trampled to death and seven wounded by a wild Asiatic elephant searching for homemade rice beer in India's north-eastern state of Assam, a wildlife official said today. "The elephant went on a rampage tearing apart huts and then attacked sleeping villagers killing three and seriously injuring seven more," M. Rahman said. The tusker strayed from a big herd in the jungle and ransacked the village of Dalokgarupara yesterday morning in a hunt for fermented "chang" made from rice grains. "The elephant herd came near the village looking for home-brewed rice beer. One of the animals strayed out from the herd and did the damage," Rahman said. The injured suffered multiple wounds and were taken to a local hospital 70km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
Four Filipinos convicted of murdering a compatriot were beheaded by the sword yesterday in the western Saudi city of Taif, the Interior Ministry said. Miguel Fernandez, Sergio Aldana, Wilfredo Batista, and Antonio Alviza were convicted of murdering Jaimie de la Cruz "by stabbing him repeatedly until he died," said a ministry statement. They "stole all his money," the statement added.
Venezuelan authorities have said they will redistribute more than 110,000 hectares of privately-held property to landless farmers. The land seizure is part of an agrarian reform effort led by President Hugo Chavez. Since his 1998 election, President Chavez has enacted controversial reform laws, including a 2001 land law aimed at narrowing the gap between Venezuela's rich and poor. The law allows the government to redistribute unused land to the poor. Critics say the law violates property rights, and could lead to illegal land grabs. One of four estates to be redistributed includes a 13,000 hectare cattle ranch owned by a British company. The company has said it legally owns the property, and that the land is fully productive.
Relations between Japan and South Korea neared breaking point yesterday over renewed claims by Tokyo to sovereignty over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the Sea of Japan. Faced with continued violent protests in Seoul - during which two women cut off their fingers - Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea, Toshiyuki Takano. Mr Takano angered his hosts recently by claiming that the volcanic islands, midway between the two countries, were "historically and legally" part of Japan. "I heard that severe anti-Japanese sentiment is increasing," a Japanese government spokesman, Hiroyuki Hosoda, told reporters after an emergency meeting in Tokyo with Mr Takano. 
The European Commission has a "chronically sordid" accounting system and is still unable to keep track of the EU's ã73billion budget after a decade of financial scandals, according to a top EU insider. An internal email obtained by The Telegraph paints an ugly picture of an autocratic body with an "incestuous esprit de corps" that uses its bureaucratic muscle to "trash" any official who dares to question its methods. It said the Budget Directorate was in "persistent denial of the real nature and depth of problems" it faced, choosing "cavity filling solutions where root canals were called for".
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Just over the United States northwest border, addicts will soon be able to get their fix from the Canadian government in the form of free heroin administered by nurses and doctors on the taxpayer's dime. "They're using heroin. They'll continue to use heroin. What we're trying to do is prevent them from getting something irreversible like HIV, hep [hepatitis] C and overdose death," said Dr. Martin Schechter, the director of the heroin program.
Justice 
A judge has opened the way for the nation's most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to tie the knot, but both sides in the debate predicted a vigorous court fight first. San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled Monday that while withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians has been the status quo, it constitutes discrimination the state can no longer justify. "The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote. "Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before."
A SINGLE cow is what it cost Jack to buy the beans that grew into a giant stalk, but the King of Swaziland has had to trade considerably more beef on the hoof for his own latest acquisition: a bulletproof, air-conditioned luxury car. King Mswati III is the world's last absolute monarch and a man who rarely has to explain himself, least of all to the poverty-stricken subjects of his tiny landlocked mountain kingdom wedged on the eastern border of South Africa. He felt obliged last week, however, to issue a statement explaining that he had not plundered taxpayers' money to buy himself one of the world's most expensive cars, but had traded his own cows for the plush ride. 
