ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- A pride of lions has killed and devoured 20 villagers, wounded 10 others and eaten at least 70 cattle in southern Ethiopia in the past week, police said Tuesday. The attacks have forced at least 1,000 people to flee their homes in Hadia Zone, in the Southern Nation and Nationalities People State, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, according to a police statement.
"Feet, don't fail me now!"
"The lions are coming from the bush seeking food," in groups of two to four animals, according to the statement.
Ah hah! I knew it, it's the Bushes fault!
Lions attack and eat humans in areas where their wild prey has been reduced by over-hunting, deforestation and population growth. Older lions also become man-eaters because humans are a far easier prey than wildlife.
That answers the question, "Lions, why do they eat us?"
"The 20 people were eaten by the lions while they engaged in their daily activities in their homes and nearby places," according to the police.
This is why God invented rifles
"Killing these lions would be the only way to rescue the residents in the area and prevent other casualties," the police statement added.
But, but, what would PETA say?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 16:15 ||
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"Ethopian, food for your giant-cats. Coming to Wal-Mart winter 2005."
Posted by: Charles ||
09/20/2005 17:23 Comments ||
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This is what I call Mother Nature's warm embrace. I wonder how many environmentalists would deign to live in the African savanna among the large predators they profess to care so much about. The places we now live in used to have a lot of those critters roaming about - until humans killed them off. The 19th century view of nature as something to be tamed or viewed with great wariness was correct. Every time we forget, we get a tsunami or a hurricane to remind us.
#3
Knowing Mr. Wiesenthal, God is going to find Himself on the defensive in a few discussions when they meet. ;-) Baruch haBa. Blessed be those who come.
#6
Thank you for your life-long persuit of justice for those injured, maimed, and murdered that could not defend themselves. You were a voice in the wilderness for so many millions. Truly an inspiration for good people everywhere. I am truly humbled by the legacy of such a great man. I will make sure that my young son knows of your sense of justice and your life's work and dedication.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2005 16:37 Comments ||
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...A loss to Mankind. With the last Holocaust survivors rapidly aging away, we will now see an even greater rise of the deniers.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/20/2005 20:12 Comments ||
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AT 2 PM EDT...1800Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE RITA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 23.9 NORTH...LONGITUDE 81.7 WEST OR ABOUT 50 MILES... 80 KM...SOUTH OF KEY WEST FLORIDA AND ABOUT 65 MILES...105 KM..NORTHEAST OF HAVANA CUBA.
RITA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 15 MPH ...24 KM/HR...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THIS TRACK...THE CORE OF THE HURRICANE WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE OVER THE FLORIDA STRAITS BETWEEN THE CITY OF HAVANA AND THE FLORIDA KEYS TODAY. HOWEVER...STRONG WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NORTHERN EYEWALL ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT PORTIONS OF THE FLORIDA KEYS DIRECTLY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE REACHED 100 MPH...160 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. RITA IS NOW A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 30 MILES... 45 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 120 MILES...195 KM. LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY A RECONNAISSANCE PLANE WAS 978 MB...28.88 INCHES.
Latest projected track here. Computer models here. Tending west, looks like Corpus Christi - Houston area
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 09:29 ||
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Top off your gas tanks. If Rita hits Texas, a lot of refineries will shut down and gas prices will shoot up.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2005 10:54 Comments ||
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I topped up yesterday...oil futures up $4.00/barrel
#3
I've been away from home for a little over three weeks now. I've decided to think of this as just a really, really bad business trip.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/20/2005 11:13 Comments ||
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Rita has become the ninth hurricane of the 2005 season. Data from Doppler radar from Key West...satellite and reconnaissance aircraft
indicate that Rita has become a hurricane. Doppler radar peak winds at 5 to 10 thousand feet have been oscillating between 90 and 95 knots with an isolated peak of 100 knots...and dropsondes in the eyewall support an initial intensity of 75 knots. The pressure has decreased to 982 mb...and the satellite presentation has improved with very deep convection and well-established outflow. Both the
upper-level environment and the ocean below Rita are conducive for additional intensification. The official forecast gradually brings the winds up but...it does not include the distinct possibility of rapid intensification in the Gulf of Mexico since it is difficult to forecast. Rita will have plenty of time over the Gulf of Mexico to go up and down in intensity due to eyewall replacement cycles.
Rita is moving westward or 270 degrees at 13 knots since it is already south of a deep layer mean ridge. This pattern is forecast to persist for the next 24 to 48 hours. Therafter...the high is expected to move eastward leaving a weakness over the western Gulf of Mexico. This forecast pattern should eventually force Rita
toward the northwest toward the Texas coast. This is one the cases of relatively high confidence in the track forecast since most of
the reliable guidance are tightly clustered. For those who follow just the skinny black line...it is always good to remind them that 3 to 5 day forecast errors can be large.
Forecaster Avila
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 11:24 Comments ||
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Maybe if we all blow at the same time we can get this one to go to Vera Cruz.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 11:34 Comments ||
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Man, and just when Gas prices are going down.
Models have it going for Houston area. That's going to suck. Galveston/Texas City/Houston. That's like a High-value Target, econ-wise.
:(
I hope it just hits the King Ranch or something.
After Katrina, everyone is freaked out.
I just need to get more beer and more ammo and I should be good to go. :(
#10
Yeah, the models are starting to converge on Texas coast. Likely landfall between Corpus Christi and Galveston, all depends on how soon that big high pressure area sitting over me moves east.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 16:15 Comments ||
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#11
Guess I'd better tank up tomorrow morning on the way to work instead of waiting until Friday as I normally do.
(Noticed it was $2.68 this afternoon when I was out.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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#12
Fox had a NOAA forecaster - unfortunate name of Bastardi - who put it on the table - Cat 5 by Galveston. Crap....tie down if you can't get out, Texas!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2005 23:10 Comments ||
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A DRUNK man carried a shotgun down a busy Darwin street wearing only his underpants, Darwin Magistrates Court heard yesterday. Mark David Wright, 32, was charged with carrying a firearm in a public place, possessing a firearm while under the influence and with not having a gun licence after police found him walking down Trower Rd in the early hours of November 11 last year. Constable Tracey Meyers told the court police responded to a call about 4am and found the 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun stashed in the front garden of a house on Trower Rd.
The gun was not loaded. "The male appeared intoxicated," Constable Meyers said. "He appeared unsteady on his feet."
"Whooose you (hic) call'n un..(hic)..steady? And quit (hic) movin' around like (hic) that"
Prosecutor Caroline Heske told the court Wright had left his Jingili home after arguing with his ex-girlfriend Joanne Adams, with whom he has a five-year-old son. "You were very upset and angry," Ms Heske said. "You pointed the shotgun at the car. "You said: 'You can't take my son away from me."
Wright denied this and said on the morning in question Ms Adams threatened to tell police he did not have a licence for the firearm.
"She said because there was a domestic violence order out I could go to jail," Wright said. "I thought she was likely to do it so I went inside and grabbed the shotgun."
Wright said the weapon belonged to his former flatmate Michael "Wally" Edwards, who died in a car crash last year. He said he was taking the gun to Mr Edwards' father's place but hid it when he saw Ms Adams drive by, talking on the phone. "I realised I was walking down Trower Rd with a shotgun and it probably wasn't a good look," he said.
Lgf lizardoids strike again!
SANIBEL · Wildlife biologist Kendra Willett searched the teeming waters of Tarpon Bay by boat, catching quick glimpses of a stingray, a manatee, a diving osprey and a leaping dolphin. But it was the creature she couldn't find that worried Willett and other officials and residents on this posh island retreat with a 6,400-acre national wildlife refuge. The Nile monitor, a cunning, carnivorous lizard of voracious appetite that has already put fear in the hearts of many in nearby Cape Coral, has made its way across San Carlos Bay to Sanibel.
"We have more than 1,300 waterfowl nests on some of our satellite island rookeries, and we already have reports of Nile monitor lizards on Pine Island and Sanibel," Willett said as she looked for signs of the invader last month. "If these big lizards establish a breeding population and discover the rookeries as a food source, the birds may abandon them."
This is not a gecko-sized problem. And herons, terns and cormorants aren't the only species endangered. Nile monitors are large, non-native predators capable of wreaking havoc on indigenous wildlife -- and people, too. "I got a shovel and chased one that hissed at me in my yard. When it ran past the neighbor's house, it saw his reflection in a window and lunged into it so hard I thought it would break," said Steve Sebesta of Cape Coral, where nearly 1,000 of the lizards are thought to be prowling despite a 2-year-old eradication program.
Put a bounty on their heads, that'll thin them out
After reported sightings of the lizards on Pine Island, between Cape Coral and Sanibel, wildlife experts went on the alert. And when a Sanibel resident photographed a Nile monitor in her backyard, city officials put out a warning to the island's more than 6,000 residents. Sanibel Police Chief Bill Tomlinson said traps were being set in the area where the monitor was photographed. A news release issued by Sanibel City Manager Judie Zimomra warned residents of "an imminent threat." "Removal of this dangerous exotic lizard is a priority to the sustainability of our island's environmental health, and we are treating it as such," Zimomra said. At risk are the island's snails, clams, crabs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including domestic pets, even human babies, the city manager said.
If you happen to leave your baby lying in the backyard
The lizards are not as bulky as alligators but can grow to 7 feet. Though they normally flee humans, they can become aggressive when cornered. Cape Coral residents have encountered Nile monitors raised up on their rear legs, slashing out with their curved claws and whipping at them with powerful tails. This lizard's arsenal also includes a powerful bite and a pungent "squiddy smell" they emit when threatened, according to biologists. These long-necked, forked-tongue natives of Africa's Nile River basin have been imported and bred as exotic pets in the United States.
A veteran alligator trapper lassoed a 6-foot-long Nile monitor lizard with an electric cord and tied it to his dock before calling environmental biologist Kraig Hankins one day, he said. "But my favorite was this lady who shot and killed a footlong monitor lizard with the BB gun she'd just gotten her son for Christmas last year," the biologist recalled. "She wanted me to come and pick it up before her son got home. It seems she'd told him that people should never shoot what they weren't going to eat."
#2
OW, OW, Ow, Puns at thirty paces is it?
You're on sir.
Willett be a problem?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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"She wanted me to come and pick it up before her son got home. It seems she'd told him that people should never shoot what they weren't going to eat."
In de-Nile, is she?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 13:39 Comments ||
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Killing the lizards would be, like, mean and cruel and stuff; not to mention getting PETA panties in a bunch. Nice friendly, Green solution is to introduce a natural predator like jaguars. Or Komodo dragons. That's it! Komodo dragons!
And when the Komodo dragons run out of monitor lizards and start eating people, you just introduce a larger predator to eat them. Which would be....ah, T-Rex?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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#6
Komodo Dragons are a particularly large subspecies of monitor lizard.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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I know we're all really busy with the WOT, but this pandemic thing is starting to really worry me:
"A cargo of birds suspected of being infected with the deadly bird flu virus was cleared by Kuwaiti customs agents Sunday and allowed to enter the country. The cargo of birds was cleared through
customs âusing the assistance of influential peopleâ, customs officials and Interior Ministry employees . . ."
Gawd, they're too stupid to not mess with bird flu? Not that I'm all that surprised, but the arrogance--all--for--money mindset over there is unreal. They probably think bird flu can't hurt /EM>them since they're servants of allah, and rich to boot.
#2
I know we're all really busy with the WOT, but this pandemic thing is starting to really worry me:
"A cargo of birds suspected of being infected with the deadly bird flu virus was cleared by Kuwaiti customs agents Sunday and allowed to enter the country. The cargo of birds was cleared through
customs âusing the assistance of influential peopleâ, customs officials and Interior Ministry employees . . ."
Gawd, they're too stupid to not mess with bird flu? Not that I'm all that surprised, but the arrogance--all--for--money mindset over there is unreal. They probably think bird flu can't hurt them since they're servants of allah, and rich to boot.
#3
I follow bird flu developments closely and the pandemic may well be imminent. The developments in Jakarta are worrying - new cases every day. However, flu is enemic in wild birds and there are samples from a 100 years ago that contain H5N1. Its been in wild birds for a long time. There is nothing to indicate these strains are anywhere close to sustained H2H transmission, the thing we need to worry about. That will result from the 100's of millions of domestic birds (possibly via pigs) already infected in Asia.
#5
We've had several threads on this while you were off doing other things, ex-lib. Stock up your pantry with staples, several days worth of bottled water, dust masks, surgical gloves and Purell. And hope that should the time come, it burns through your area quickly.
Search the old threads for more detailed advice, dear. We here in the First World should get off relatively lightly, especially those prepared to stay home for a bit. The less developed parts of the world will likely no longer have an overpopulation problem, especially with so many already weakened with malaria, AIDS, and other interesting diseases -- not to mention malnutrition, of course.
I don't mean to sound flippant, but those already suffering most are going to suffer even more, and there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it.
#6
Current mortality rate is around 50% based on reported cases. Probably lower as an unknown number of cases go unreported. Even a mortality rate of 2% or 3% will kill more than WW2 with massive geopolitical consequences. As TW says stock up on supplies and be prepared to ride it out. We will know within 10 days if what is happening in Jakarta is it (the start of sustained H2H transmission) or another false alarm.
The problem with a panic is everybody does it at the same time. You will not believe how quickly grocery stores will be cleaned out. My advice is to get in first.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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and here's the lady herself
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/20/2005 1:05 Comments ||
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Hit the link if you want to read her jabber.
I'll take your word for it Tony, and not pollute what's left upstairs.
nice shop. LOL!
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 1:23 Comments ||
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#3
Muslims are just like Presbyterians.
Except they wear veils.
Superficial differences really.
This woman is a top notch lawyer?
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 6:53 Comments ||
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#4
This woman is a top notch lawyer?
For her client, I'm sure.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 8:07 Comments ||
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Cherie: "...What is extraordinary, of course, is not what divides societies and religions, but the fundamental values they have in common. They converge in their acceptance of the fundamentals on which all legal systems are based."
Fundamental value in Islam: Death to infidels.
Fundamental value in England: Welfare to terrorists.
#6
I do not agree with you folks. Read this part of the text:
Rejecting the belief that a universal concept of human rights is not possible owing to the fact that diverse cultures and political systems of the world need to be taken into consideration, Mrs Cherie Booth said that this view is mostly presented by states, and by liberal scholars who are anxious not to impose the Western view of things on others. âIt is rarely advanced by the oppressed, who are only too anxious to benefit from perceived universal standards. The non-universal, relativist view of human rights is in fact a very state-centered view and loses sight of the fact that human rights are human rights and not dependent on the fact that states, or groupings of states, may behave differently from each other so far as their politics, economic policy, and culture are concerned,â she noted.
This doesn't sound like an absurd statement to me. In the United States we would call those âinalienable rights.â According to the dictionary inalienable means âThat cannot be transferred to another or othersâ or âincapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferredâ In other words: universal human rights. I have no doubt that they exist, that they are derived from the belief that we were created in Godâs image, and that a Muslim shepherd living in rural Turkmenistan has as much right to them as I do. Now I am also 100% certain that as a rural Nevadan do not have the same view of what all those rights might be as Mrs. Blair, an urbane upperclass Londoner. For example, I am certain that the âbasic human rightâ to free taxpayer subsidized healthcare does not exist while the right to keep and bear arms does. I do not ever want to live in her England, either. If I did she and I would undoubtably be political enemies. With that said, her statement seems neither absurd nor irrelevant to the GWOT. I am certain that we agree on more basic human rights (freedom of speech, voting, racial equality, freedom of religion, etc) than we disagree on. I am 110% certain that these are things that the vast majority of human beings anywhere in the world want. Hence her statement seems accurate to me regardless of whether or not some fundamentalist cleric, would-be monarch, or two bit dictator agrees or not. It stands on its own merits.
Do we really want to turn Iraq into a multiparty democracy with constitutionally protected individual human rights? Do you really want to turn the Middle East into a region of peaceful democracies instead of a collection of dictatorships, absolute monarchies, and theocracies? I do. I know that a rather large number of people in places like Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon do as well. Well, folks, Islam is the dominant religion in those places much as Christianity is the dominant religion of North America. If we are going to help these people get their unquestionable, dare I say inalienable, rights we Westerners had better help them foster a form of Islam that values these ideals rather than despises them. Because, let me tell you, these people are not going to throw out the bath water if they think their going to loose the baby. I wouldnât
It matters not at all what the Koran actually says, either. That is a red herring argument. This is one point that I implicitly and emphatically agree with Liberal Hawk on: religion is all about interpretation. Giving up on the idea of civilizing the Muslims? Well, donât. We have no choice in the matter. Itâs a game we donât get to stop playing for the rest of our lives.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - The man who first caught the world's attention as the charismatic leader of an Indian rebel movement 11 years ago is now a member of Mexico's 'jet set,' appearing on the cover of a popular social magazine amid rumors of a love affair with a Mexican journalist.
Subcomandante Marcos' debut, on the cover of "Quien" magazine's Sept. 16 edition, coincides with the Zapatista National Liberation Army's recent announcement that it is launching a new nationwide leftist movement. The photograph is classic Marcos: face covered, as always, by a black ski mask that allows a peek only at his brown eyes, the ever-present pipe hanging from his lips. It is obvious from his eyes that he is smiling.
Causing lefty women to get all hot
Marcos has never revealed his true identity but has been identified by the government as a former university instructor in Mexico City. He has hidden out in the southern jungles of Mexico since the short-lived revolution of January 1994 in which he led a ragtag band of Indians as it took over several cities in the name of Indian rights and socialism.
A dashing man of mystery, a hero of the revolution!
The magazine article, titled "The Sub's Secret Love," describes Marcos as a "sex symbol of the jungle," and spills details of an alleged relationship with Mexican journalist Gloria Munoz Ramirez.
Rebel leaders get all the hot chicks
Munoz Ramirez, 37, a former reporter with the left-leaning newspaper La Jornada, met Marcos more than 10 years ago. The magazine piece also shared rumors that the two have a son. In 1996, the magazine said, Munoz Ramirez abandoned her life in the capital to live in Zapatista communities in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas. She then dedicated her life to studying Indian communities and to working alongside the Zapatistas. In 2003, she published a book about the group that includes a warm introduction written by Marcos.
"To Munoz, with love.."
Munoz Ramirez would be the fourth known lover of the 48-year-old Marcos. Others have included an Indian woman named Yolanda, whom the rebel leader allegedly married in 1987.
Yolanda?
The long magazine piece on "the intense love story" between Marcos and Gloria is accompanied by various photographs, one of which shows Marcos wearing a wedding ring.
engraved with; "To whom it may concern"
Following their 1994 uprising, the Zapatista rebels quickly settled into a tense cease-fire with the government. Since then their movement has been largely nonviolent.
Last weekend, Marcos announced that he would soon begin a six-month tour of the nation to share a new alternate political movement. The movement, few details of which have been released, will "shake this country up from below, pick it up and turn it on its head," Marcos said.
So, when's the movie come out?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 13:53 ||
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Btw, a numbers of indians from the Chiapas have converted to islam, a religion seen as the ultimate in-your-face to the world order and globalization.
The driving force behind theses conversion was IIRC the Morabitouns, a group of spanish leftists left-over from the anti-Franco days who have converted en masse to islam and are bent on spreading it in South america.
Note also that a while ago there was a RB article about a turkish mag published by an AQ affiliate, and in the interview its editor talked about the conversion of Marcos himself.
There really is a convergence between islam and leftists (and neo-nazis, too) that shouldn't be underestimated.
President Fidel Castro on Monday lamented that the U.S. government had not still responded two weeks after he offered to send nearly 1,600 Cuban doctors to help Hurricane Katrina victims, saying the team could have saved lives. The U.S. government has suggested there were sufficient American physicians to care for the ailing among those displaced by the storm across Louisiana and Mississippi. An appeal for help from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "has seen a robust response from the American medical community," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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We probably should have accepted 1,600 Cuban doctors for about one day. A few would probably like to stay here.
#2
People keep saying that - "how many would stay?" Those people seem to be ill-informed as to what exactly a "Cuban doctor" is. Think revolutionary cadre, with maybe some field-medic training if you're lucky. Why do you think Chavez has imported so many of them into Venezuela?
I'd sooner accept treatment from a Haitian voudoun than a Cuban doctor. The voudoun would be more likely to be read up on the literature.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/20/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#3
Yeah, they could've sent up their fleet of floating '54 Buicks.
#1
SO what are the JSDF'a gonna do about 'em - they gotta know that under any Chicom plans for East Asian hegemony Japan's destiny is to be another alleged "independent" Commie-Socialist state controlled from Beijing ala North Korea.
Pic at link, nice, but not my type (too sophisticated and parisian). On a more serious note, this is to be seen in the PR efforts to launch Galouzeau "de Villepin" as a presidential candidate for 2007.
Dominique de Villepin who is reportedly a man, the French prime minister, has received an unexpected boost from his daughter in the campaign to eclipse his cabinet rival for the presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Seen by many as somewhat aloof, Mr de Villepin's chances of winning over the French public will have been greatly enhanced by the modelling exploits of the beautiful, teenage Marie de Villepin.
Miss de Villepin, 19, appears across six glossy pages in the current issue of Elle, posing in low-cut or strapless silk and taffeta haute couture from the winter collections of Chanel, Valentino, Givenchy and Armani.
Given the French passion for a sexy crimson pout, Miss de Villepin's timely appearance can only lift her father's profile, already helped last week when he was asked to step in for the French President, Jacques Chirac, at the United Nations general assembly in New York.
Blonde, tall and fashionably skinny, if a little over made-up, Miss de Villepin - the eldest of the prime minister's three children - appeared beneath the headline "Model Daughter". She was described as having the appeal of a "Pre-Raphaelite Madonna".
Political analysts believe that her father and Mr Sarkozy, the interior minister, who are both members of Mr Chirac's right-of-centre UMP party, will go head-to-head in the presidential elections in 2007.
The 72-year-old President spent a week in hospital after suffering what was believed to be a minor stroke a fortnight ago and he nominated Mr de Villepin to step into the UN limelight.
"Of course he's going to say that while his mentor is president and hasn't completely ruled out standing again," Robert Schneider, the political editor of the weekly Nouvel Observateur magazine told The Sunday Telegraph. Schneider added: "I don't think we should believe him."
Mr de Villepin, a former career diplomat who has never been elected, was appointed prime minister in May in the wake of France's rejection of the European Constitution.
The French were initially sceptical that he could revitalise the country's economy and cut unemployment but his popularity has grown in the last few weeks.
His daughter's high-profile feature in Elle was published as the prime minister was preparing to leave for the UN, where he first came to international prominence in 2003 when he attacked the war on Iraq.
In New York, Mr de Villepin dined with Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, had "warm" talks with President George W Bush, chatted to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and exchanged a few words with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2005 10:25 Comments ||
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I can view 3 healthier and more beautiful specimens right outside my office door. She probably can't even begin to belt out a tune with 1/10 the heart of nutter Iggy. What is she wearing? Is that roofing paper or a trash bag salvaged from the top of a live oak that withstood Katrina?
#6
LOL. waaay too skinny, credit due, she's got the death warmed over look down pat.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 10:47 Comments ||
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She was described as having the appeal of a "Pre-Raphaelite Madonna".
The Pre-Raphaelite Madonnas were moody in a healthy sort of way. This one looks like a typical heroin-addict high fashion model. I just hope it's the fashionable make-up, and that Daddy quickly marries her off to someone who will wean her off the dope. Ick.
The chances of Angela Merkel becoming Germany's next chancellor suffered a setback yesterday when the Greens appeared to rule out joining a coalition with her conservative CDU party.
With the country in political gridlock after Sunday's inconclusive general election, speculation was growing last night that the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, would try to force new elections early next year.
A day of political horse-trading left Europe's most populous country facing months of confusion. No government is likely to emerge until November at the earliest. Both the main party leaders announced that they had begun talks with smaller parties in an attempt to cobble together a coalition government.
An exhausted-looking Mrs Merkel urged Mr Schröder's Social Democrats to accept that they were "not the strongest group" in Germany's new parliament and therefore had no right to form a government. She said she had "initiated contacts" with other parties, and was prepared to talk to all groups apart from the Left party.
But the Social Democrats' chairman, Franz MÌntefering, said Mr Schröder would carry on as chancellor and was himself leading coalition talks. "It is clear that Germans do not want Mrs Merkel as their chancellor," he said. "We want to rule with Mr Schröder as chancellor and implement much of that which we have undertaken to do." With the Free Democrats (FDP) apparently ruling out any alliance with Mr Schröder, the only viable coalition appeared to be one between Mrs Merkel's CDU, the FDP and the Greens - a so-called Jamaican coalition because the parties' black, yellow and green colours resemble the Jamaican flag.
But Joschka Fischer, the Green party leader, appeared to swiftly quash that suggestion. Speaking from a hangar in Tempelhof airport, he said the coalition "would not happen". "There is no majority for a neo-conservative government in Germany," he said. "The combined result of the CDU-FDP is less than a majority. This is a very important signal that we have to take into account in our conversations."
He told the Guardian: "Can you really see Angela Merkel and Edmund Stoiber [the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU] sitting round the table in dreadlocks? This is more our style. It's impossible. I don't see that."
On issues such as atomic energy, taxation, social policy and Turkey's membership of the European Union, the conservatives and the Greens had nothing in common, he added.
Both Mrs Merkel and Mr Schröder failed to win an outright majority for their parties in Sunday's election, which Mrs Merkel had been widely expected to win. Her CDU party got just 35.2% of the vote - one of its worst results ever, and far less than opinion polls had predicted. Mr Schröder's Social Democrats won 34.3% of the vote.
Mrs Merkel's coalition partner, the FDP, won 9.9%, with the Greens on 8.1% and the recently formed Left party on 8.7%. Under Germany's constitution, the country's new parliament has to elect a new chancellor when it meets next month. But with Mrs Merkel unable to command a majority in the Bundestag, she is unlikely to win in a secret ballot of MPs.
After three rounds of voting, the country's president, Horst Köhler, could then invite her to form a minority centre-right government. But he is unlikely to invoke this option, which would almost certainly lead to the new government's swift demise and further humiliation for an already weakened Mrs Merkel. Instead, constitutional experts believe, Mr Köhler will dissolve parliament.
Until this happens, Mr Schröder will carry on as chancellor until Germans go to the polls again, probably in January.
Asked who was likely to win the face-off between Mr Schröder and Mrs Merkel, Nils Diederich, a professor of political science at Berlin's Free University, said he had his money on the chancellor: "There is now a poker game going on, with Schröder playing for very high stakes. The reason he was so relaxed on election night is that he knows he is now in a favourable position."
With the euro plummeting, nearly five million of Germany's population on the dole and the economy stagnant, there is little prospect that reforms to Europe's biggest economy can take place until the confusion has been sorted out.
"We are in a mess," said Ulrike Guerot, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. "Germany is not Italy. We are proud to be in a stable democracy. It's completely new for us to have this scattered election result.
"But in a way this reflects what has happened to German society. The consensus that used to exist here has gone," she added.
The most likely way out of Germany's electoral crisis would be for the two big parties to form a "grand coalition", a left-right political experiment last tried in the 1960s. But on Sunday night, Mr Schröder categorically ruled out taking part in a coalition led by Mrs Merkel. And for Mrs Merkel to take part in a coalition led by Mr Schröder would be political suicide.
Last night, one expert said it would be in Germany's best interests if both leaders resigned. "If they wanted to help Germany, resigning would be the best way," said Bernd Becker, a political analyst.
"Schröder will now try everything he can to stay as chancellor," he added. "The problem for Mrs Merkel is that even if she does become chancellor she will be extremely weak. Her own party is already plotting to get rid of her."
The man widely blamed for costing Mrs Merkel the election, meanwhile, announced yesterday that he was giving up politics and returning to his job as a professor.
Paul Kirchhof, who Mrs Merkel appointed as shadow finance minister, became the centre of controversy after Mr Schröder launched a merciless campaign against his plans for a 25% flat tax. "I will concentrate on my duties as professor for law and tax law," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:54 ||
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I seem to recall another german leader preventing the formation of a government that didn't have him as Chancellor.
#2
Remember this when people start talking about proportional representation and parliaments instead of our presidential system. Iraq could easily degenrate to this also. First past the post should win, even if it means Ross Perot can throw an election to Bill Clinton. At least we weren't without leadership, however deficient.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 8:28 Comments ||
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#3
Reunification - "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it".
#4
We really need to get the ball rolling on getting our troops out and dismantling the bases.
Obviously, this can't happen overnight, but I'd feel better knowing that we were in the midst of preparations for a drawdown now.
Why delay the inevitable? We know we can't rely on the Germans, and even if the CDU does better on the nex go-around(a debatable proposition) we clearly are on the razor's edge with these people.
It's time to junk the institutional fetishism that says we have to preserve Nato "just because" and start taking the same cold-eyed cost/benefit view that our "allies" do.
#5
You just have to love the bias in this article.
Schroeder is the incumbent, but is there any humiliation or weakness assigned to him for only getting 34.3% of the vote. On the other hand, Merkel and her party are weak. She's "exhausted-looking". She shouldn't form a minority coalition because it would "further humiliate" her.
Germany's opposition leader Angela Merkel and the chairman of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party made their first contacts with potential coalition partners Monday in a scramble for power after the country's inconclusive election. Voters denied both Schroeder and Merkel a majority, but each is demanding the chancellor's office. Their struggle could last weeks, even as business leaders and economists warn decisive action is needed to invigorate the sluggish economy.
Germany's foreign policy — addressing such issues as Turkey's bid for European Union membership, Iran's nuclear program and U.S. relations — also remains on hold. "Germany is paralyzed at the worst time for European diplomacy," said leading French foreign affairs analyst Dominique Moisi. On Iraq and in dealings with China and Russia, Washington officials "were looking for a stronger, more united, cooperative Europe. Obviously, they are not going to have it."
Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party just barely beat Schroeder's Social Democrats 35.2 percent to 34.3 percent. The muddled result could lead left and right to link up in a so-called grand coalition. But either Merkel or Schroeder would have to yield the chancellorship, and many fear such a merger would be too internally divided to be effective.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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David's Medienkritik (in English) held out the possibility of a "Jamaica" coalition featuring the Yellow (pro-business FDP), Black (Merkel's CDU/CSU) and Green parties coming together. Talk about your strange bedfellows!
#2
I think Joschka Fischer said, "When hell freezes over." or words to that effect. Whatever happens, it's a mess and unfortunately it seems to be an accurate representation of Germany and its politics today. I sure hope they don't do the Japan thing and end up in the tank for a decade.
Maybe they could find a way to undo reunification.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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What's keeping the SPD, Greens and the Left Party from forming a majority coalition?
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2005 10:48 Comments ||
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#4
FDP is free market and opposes subsidies for alternate energy, and restrictions on nukes, which Greens favor, I saw someone suggest they could make common cause in opposition to subsidies for coal and other polluting industries (the coal miners all vote SDP, I presume) Not srue how it will play out. Also would lead to split in Greens - some Greens are yuppie enviros, others are anarchist types.
Schroeder and Lafontaine hate each others guts, IIUC. And going left would hand the NEXT election to the right - most Germans dont like the left, and dont want SDP to ally with them.
#6
Yes there is a personal feud, but coalitions form all the time in spite of personal enmity. Are the policies of the SPD and Greens so different that they cannot share power. After all, the FDP and Greens seem even farther apart and talk of a coalition was entertained.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2005 10:58 Comments ||
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#7
The SPD is now governing with the Greens but they would need a third party. Neither the CDU nor the FDP would want to join. There is a third left wing party, called, I think, Left run by Oscar Lafontaine that is really wacko Greens or communists who left the Green party and want nothing to do with the SPD. Plus, everybody is playing head games with everybody else. Perhaps TGA will drop by to straighten out all our errors. But when he does, the bottom line will still be German politics are a mess.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/20/2005 08:50 ||
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Officials probably didn't grant her a permit for the Union Station location because of the disruption that would be put on commuters. This is a pretty busy place, I wonder what time of day it was, morning?
Posted by: Jan ||
09/20/2005 9:34 Comments ||
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#2
"Nazis," "Gestapo," "free speech," "burn the constitution," "traitors,"
Gee they left out Bushitler. Such comments say a lot about the "peace movement". Honest thoughtful dissent is to be admired. Mindless reactionary BS is just that BS.
#3
A permit violation is no big deal; unless she tries to pull a hunger strike or some such nonsense she'll be out in less than 24 hours. Somebody somewhere -- LGF, maybe -- suggested that this was just the NYPD getting back at Cindy for dissing the memory of the victims of the 9/11 attack.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
09/20/2005 9:39 Comments ||
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#4
Note: Following the 'comments' link brings you to the 'Daily KOS'.
#6
I do need to add she wasn't arrested. here is an exerpt courtesy of Reason. Update: Village Voice says Sheehan's speech was kiboshed but she was not arrested. Organizer Paul Zulkowitz was arrested for not obtaining a sound permit. Funny detail:
Inspector Michael McEnroy, commander of the 13th Precinct, insisted the shutdown order had nothing to do with the content of Sheehan's speech, but was instead about the "provocation" caused by Zulkowitz. "This has been going on for much longer than today," McEnroy said, adding of Sheehan, "I don't even know the woman." That last part prompted one pissed-off onlooker to shoot back: "Haven't you watched the news or read a paper in the last three months?"
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/20/2005 9:56 Comments ||
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Cindy Sheehan may be the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. But that didn't stop members of the New York Police Department from marching into the crowd of about 150 people gathered in Union Square Monday to hear her speak and yanking away the microphone.
Police dragged away Paul Zulkowitz, a.k.a. Zool, an organizer with âCamp Casey NYC,â the small encampment that he and other activists set up a month ago in Union Square in solidarity with Sheehanâs vigil outside President Bushâs ranch in Crawford, Texas. The New York branch existed much to the ire of the cityâs Parks Department. Today, Zulkowitz was arrested for failing to obtain a sound permitâa charge that normally warrants no more than a summons.
Note that this has been going on for a long time - I bet old Zool has been ignoring summons too. After all they can't possibly apply to the holy elite!
Moments earlier, Zulkowitz had been chastising Parks officials for refusing to grant a permit to the encampment,
So ole Zool has been encamping for a Month without a permit....
and accusing the police of trying to enforce the laws harass the antiwar protest away.
... "In fact, we've had two arrests and eight summonses
Which I'll bet Zool ignored...
and endless harassment from the police for doing what we do."
...Sheehanâs mic wasnât that much louder, leaving one to wonder whether the copsâ hasty halt to the speakout was perhaps motivated more by the crowd she drew and the radical posturing voiced by some of the speakers leading up to herâincluding Dustin Langley of the Troops Out Now coalition, who urged the anti-warriors milling in the bright sun to "open a new front of resistance right here. Bring Falluja to New York and shut it down!â,
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2005 17:19 Comments ||
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#15
âCamp Casey NYC,â the small encampment that he and other activists set up a month ago in Union Square in solidarity with Sheehanâs vigil outside President Bushâs ranch in Crawford, Texas.
#16
What did she expect? Cops don't like assholes any more than you or I. Maybe less, since they are the ones that have to deal with them more times than not. I'm sure it was the highlight of that dudes day to arrest that communist bitch.
Perfect headline for this - makes me think of the James boys.
Money shot:
The nature of the legally-binding instrument to be adopted by the UN is not prescribed; but Swiss data-protection commissioner Hanspeter ThÃŒr told SwissInfo.org that it could be a text adopted by the UN in the same way as human-rights provisions.
And enforced just as lackadaisically if at all, I'd imagine.
The UN is already dead, but it's too stupid to know it.
#3
It's the same playbook. Make a bunch of regulations by unelected officials with no accountability. Put it under the umbrella of the UN. No way. The UN needs to die or at least get out of NY so we can use the land for something useful.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2005 14:48 Comments ||
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#4
"The UN needs to die or at least get out of NY so we can use the land for something useful."
More useful that the UN, AP?
A toxic landfill comes to mind.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2005 16:17 Comments ||
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#5
Hierarchies of value:
Dirty Harry: Lawyers -> Child Molesters.....good people
Barbara Skolaut: UN (NYC)-> Toxic waste....good things
Yep, Barbara, that is about right. The UN should be declared toxic waste and dealt with accordingly. Just don't make it a Superfund site, or the US will be stuck with the cleanup bill (we already are, heh).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2005 16:31 Comments ||
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This is an important issue for the WoT and law enforcement in general. The MSM systematically misrepresents it by equating it to human rights or freedoms (it is most definitely not the same) and does nothing to explain the consequences of this kind of legislation. As an example Able Danger would certainly be illegal under any king of privacy legislation, because it requires access to data with identifying personal data. The main thing this kind of legislation prohibits. Able Danger type data mining is one of the few tools available to identify terrorist acts in the planning stage. To throw it away is lunacy. Data mining has widespread application right across law enforcement and will make our societies safer.
Found this at Instapundit, tracked it to Radioblogger.com. Absolutely worth the three minutes required to listen to the mp3 file at the link (Radioblogger) and hear Gen Honore patiently (for him) try to explain to the reporters that their heads are stuck way up their asses and they need to pull them out. He tries to clearly inform, reason with, cajole, and even bond with the reporters, but finally...; well, listen up, troops. Both my wife and daughter whooped with glee at his comments.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/20/2005 19:32 ||
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Beatcha, Mike!
(But not by much.) ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2005 21:28 Comments ||
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#2
Yep. I'm just happy we got to share this with Greater Rantburg.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/20/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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#3
Oh, yeahhhhhhh. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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#4
That phrase calls out for a T-Shirts, hats, and bumper stickers! WTG General! I bet the press is trying to dig up dirt on him as we speak.
#4
I was stuck on stupid for 13 years before I got General Honore's "YOU ARE STUCK ON STUPID".
after just 2 minutes of this amazing product I broke my 13 year splurge on stupid.
September 20, 2005: After years of negotiations, India has signed a deal to buy six French Scorpene class diesel submarines. These are similar to the Agosta 90B subs (also French) that Pakistan has bought. The first of the Agosta's was built in France, but the other two were built in Pakistan. The third Pakistani Agosta is still being finished, it was delayed over a year because Islamic terrorists had killed some of the French engineers working on the project.
The two designs are similar, with the Scorpene being more recent (and the result of cooperation between a French and a Spanish firm.) The Agosta is a 1,500 ton (surface displacement) diesel-electric sub with a 36 man crew and four 21 inch torpedo tubes (with 20 torpedoes and/or anti-ship missiles carried.) The Scorpene is a little heavier (1700 tons), has a smaller crew (32) and is a little faster. It has six 21 inch torpedo tubes, and carries 18 torpedoes and/or missiles.
Both models can be equipped with an AIP (air independent propulsion) system. This enables the sub to stay under longer, thus making the sub harder to find. AIP allows the sub to travel under water for 4-5 days at low speed (5-10 kilometers an hour). The Pakistanis have an option to retrofit AIP in their current two Agostas.
With both nations having these modern subs, they have very lethal weapons against surface warships. With well trained crews, Agostas and Scorpenes can get close to just about any surface ship, no matter how good the defenders anti-submarine defenses are. But it's the AIP boats that are the real killers. Without AIP, subs spend most of their time just below surface, using their diesel engines (via a snorkel device that breaks the surface to take in air, and get rid of the engine exhaust.) Snorkels can be spotted by modern maritime patrol aircraft, and both nations are getting more of these.
India has not said if it is getting AIP for its Scorpenes. The price of the contract is quoted as $300 million for each boat. That could include AIP, because the boats are being built in Indian yards, which have much lower costs. European built AIP boats go for about half a billion dollars each. Typically, AIP adds about $100 million to the cost of a sub.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 09:13 ||
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The very thought of a Submarine Built by Pakistanis sends a chill shiver up my spine.
It can (of course) submerge, but will it come back up?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2005 13:06 Comments ||
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"The price of the contract is quoted as $300 million for each boat."
Not a bad price, actually. I wonder how long it will be before the two of them have a real war?
#3
The Indians want the German AIP system, not the French one. They will probably install it on the later boats built.
They will also sign a deal to build the Russian Amur class of Diesel-Electric submarines in India. These will be armed with Klub cruise missiles.
A large number of Indian Naval officers are training in Russia now. The Russians even built new buildings to accomodate them at its nuclear sub training facility. The number of officers is said to be equal to 4 complete crews for Akula-2 SSNs.
While the sailors may be training for India's own nuclear sub (the ATV being built inside Vizag naval base), the Russians are rumored to be completing two Akula SSNs for lease to India.
There have been reports that the Scorpene technology will be useful to the ATV project with a claim that the modular nature of the Scorpene would allow a section containing a small nuclear reactor to be added. The ATV reactor could thus perhaps find its way to future Scorpenes, giving India a number of additional, small SSNs.
Modifications to allow firing of the Klub CM, the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile and the future Sagarika long range nuclear cruise missile may be made.
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 18:06 Comments ||
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Just before the Indian cabinet cleared the Scorpene deal, the German submaker HDW put in a bid to revive their 209 production line in India. They would modify the design (with their Russian partners) to accomodate launch of Russian missles like the Klub.
The Russian Amur deal is probably guaranteed so HDW (which has dealings ie allegations of bribery with the ruling congress party) may be accomodated by participation in the Scorpene and Amur production lines.
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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The Russians are also reportedly offerring to train Indian sub crews on AKULA-type simulators, although the jury is still out on whether India will get any AKULAS, etal. since to combat advanced enemy submarines one must be able to know how they work andor will be used. Russia also earlier had offered a similar deal to CHINA where China would have AKULA/TYPHOON training facilities built by Russia for the PLAN.
HUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned. ... tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.
Exactly why are they badly needed? While the people in the Superdome right after the storm could have used them, I don't see anyone starving to death now.
Scores of lorries headed back to a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, to dump it at an FDA incineration plant. The Ministry of Defence in London said last night that 400,000 operational ration packs had been shipped to the US. "It is perfectly good Nato approved food of the type British servicemen have. Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it has come from Britain it must be destroyed...
It's because of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; aka Mad Cow Disease. Suspected of causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans. That's why I can't give blood anymore: You should indefinitely defer former or current U.S. military personnel, civilian military personnel, and their dependents as follows:
individuals who resided at U.S. military bases in Northern Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands) for 6 months or more, from 1980 through 1990 or,
individuals who resided at U.S. military bases elsewhere in Europe (Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, and Italy) for 6 months or more, from 1980 through 1996.
Food from Spain and Italy is also being held because it fails to meet US standards and has been judged unfit for human consumption. And Israeli relief agencies are furious that thousands of gallons of pear juice are to be destroyed because it has been judged unfit.
And now, the rest of the story:
The Ministry of Defence said: "We understand there was a glitch and these packs have been impounded by the US Department of Agriculture under regulations relating to the import and export of meat. "The situation is changing all the time and at our last meeting on Friday we were told progress was being made in relation to the release of these packs. The Americans certainly haven't indicated to us that there are any more problems and they haven't asked us to take them back."
The FDA said: "We did inspect some MREs (meals ready to eat) on September 13. They are the only MREs we looked at. There were 70 huge pallets of vegetarian MREs. "They were from a foreign nation. We inspected them and then released them for distribution."
Guess there isn't going to be any bonfires of burning MREs. The real facts were buried at the bottom of story where the reporter and poster hoped you'd overlook them.
#3
Sending food to the US is pretty supid. We have it coming out of our gills. There were hundreds of trucks loaded with food and water waiting to get into the hurricane zone as soon as the roads could be cleared. What were more needed were large water pumps, rubber or stackable aluminum boats with small motors, and road clearing equipment (though it makes no sense to fly bulldozers in from England). It was the New Orleans officials complete incompetence in not stocking the Superdome and the welfare culture that government must satisfy all needs that triggered the savages at the Superdome. Meals flown in from Europe would have had no effect.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2005 9:49 Comments ||
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#4
Food from Spain and Italy is also being held because it fails to meet US standards and has been judged unfit for human consumption.
Which is a self-inflicted wound created by the blood donation community. They use sweeping catagorizations which eliminate thousands and thousands of potential donors. They then turn around and continously bug to almost the level of harrassment the smaller list of known donors for even more blood. Its a growning 'crisis' of their own making.
#12
And all this food was sent from nations that have a problem with genetically modified, or so-called "frankenfood".
Oh, and I can't give blood these days because I lived in Europe from 1983-1991, thanks to mad cow. And the funny part was, I couldn't afford to buy beef on the local economy, during all that time!
Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (Front for Islamâs defence), an alliance of 22 Sunni religious organisations, demanded that alleged blasphemer Younis Masih be given the death sentence. Dozens of Mahaz activists and Kainchi Amer Sidhu residents staged a peaceful demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club on Monday and displayed placards with slogans âHang the blasphemerâ, âBlasphemer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) must be hanged immediatelyâ and âWe are ready to sacrifice everything for the defence and protection of the Holy Prophetâs (PBUH) dignityâ.
Mahaz speakers opposed the recent amendment made in the Criminal Procedural Code of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that a superintendent of police must investigate the blasphemy case before lodging the first information report. They declared the amendment âanti-Islamicâ and demanded the restoration of the original procedure for registering blasphemy cases. âThe Mahaz is not against the Christian community but want to punish the culprit. We are also ready to lodge a blasphemy case against any Muslim who commits blasphemy against Christ or his mother Mariam (AS),â said Mahaz speaker Irfan Shah. They said that they would continue their struggle till Masih was sentenced to death.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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peaceful demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club on Monday and displayed placards with slogans âHang the blasphemerâ
#2
"..We are also ready to lodge a blasphemy case against any Muslim who commits blasphemy against Christ or his mother Mariam..."
One of the wacky things about the Koran is that they identify the mother of Jesus (Issa in the Koran) as the sister of Moses. Another wacky thing is that Jesus seems to be Esau the brother of Jacob (see verses below)
---------------------------
When the wife of Imran [Amran in english translations of the hebrew] said, 'Lord, I have vowed to Thee, in dedication, what is within my womb. Receive Thou this from me; Thou hearest, and knowest.' And when she gave birth to her she said, 'Lord, I have given birth to her, a female.' (And God knew very well what she had given birth to; the male is not as the female.) 'And I have named her Mary, and commend her to Thee with her seed, to protect them from the accursed Satan.' 3:35-36
Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, 'Mary, thou hast surely committed a monstrous thing! Sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother a woman unchaste.' 19:27-28
And Mary, Imran's daughter, who guarded her virginity, so We [Allah uses a plural verb most of the time] breathed into her of Our Spirit, and she confirmed the Words of her Lord and His Books, and became one of the obedient. 66:12
#3
Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (Front for Islamâs defence), an alliance of 22 Sunni religious organisations, demanded that alleged blasphemer Younis Masih be given the death sentence.
If a 22-group religious alliance calls for the death penalty for blasphemy, are we able to conclude that this is a mainstream idea within the religion, or are we to believe that a small band of fanatics has misread the tenets of its own faith?
Is Islamic a great civilization with a noble history of tolerance, or an insecure medieval death cult baying for the blood of the unbeliever? Hmmmm....
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/20/2005 18:15 Comments ||
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Soldiers, civilians and officials participated in a ceremony Monday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base to officially deactivate the Peacekeeper nuclear missile. More than 200 people watched as the last piece of a Peacekeeper was driven down the road at F.E. Warren, commemorating its retirement from the base's missile fields. F.E. Warren oversaw the only squadron of 50 Peacekeepers deployed in the United States. Each 71-foot-tall, 8-foot-diameter missile carried 10 warheads.
The United States began removing the Peacekeeper from its intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal in 2002 after it determined the weapons were no longer needed with the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union. The missiles, also known as the MX, were taken out one by one, stage by stage, and retired. Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force, congratulated those who had worked with the missile system. ``The Cold War was won, and the Peacekeeper helped win it,'' he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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``The Cold War was won, and the Peacekeeper helped win it,'' he said.
10 warheads on the bus
WOT, should have saved them
just in case
too bad for us
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 0:58 Comments ||
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RD, the article says the missiles were deactivated, not destroyed.
Posted by: Tibor ||
09/20/2005 2:14 Comments ||
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TX Tibor, for the MX. ;)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 3:29 Comments ||
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Red Dog-
They were saved. For all the disarmament nonsense we hear, not a single US nuclear warhead or bomb has ever been destroyed/disposed of except through accident or damage.
They wait.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/20/2005 7:15 Comments ||
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I think you may be wrong on that Mike. Because of cut backs in production, IIRC they are 'recycling' materials. So an old one is dismantled/destroyed in the process. Just a technicality.
#6
Not exactly true. The boosters are recycled, so are often the initiators and some other equipment. The plutonium pits themselves, and much of the warhead equipment minus boosters tends to be left intact. Boosters have to be replaced every 5-7 years anyway so this isn't much of a big deal.
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.
President Fidel Castro on Monday lamented that the U.S. government had not still responded two weeks after he offered to send nearly 1,600 Cuban doctors to help Hurricane Katrina victims, saying the team could have saved lives. The U.S. government has suggested there were sufficient American physicians to care for the ailing among those displaced by the storm across Louisiana and Mississippi. An appeal for help from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "has seen a robust response from the American medical community," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier this month.
Germany's opposition leader Angela Merkel and the chairman of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party made their first contacts with potential coalition partners Monday in a scramble for power after the country's inconclusive election. Voters denied both Schroeder and Merkel a majority, but each is demanding the chancellor's office. Their struggle could last weeks, even as business leaders and economists warn decisive action is needed to invigorate the sluggish economy.
Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (Front for Islamâs defence), an alliance of 22 Sunni religious organisations, demanded that alleged blasphemer Younis Masih be given the death sentence. Dozens of Mahaz activists and Kainchi Amer Sidhu residents staged a peaceful demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club on Monday and displayed placards with slogans âHang the blasphemerâ, âBlasphemer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) must be hanged immediatelyâ and âWe are ready to sacrifice everything for the defence and protection of the Holy Prophetâs (PBUH) dignityâ. 
