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'Bomb' at San Diego Airport Was Toy, Cookie
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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4 00:00 .com [1]
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5 00:00 Uleating Wheagum6743 [11]
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Canadian Pit-Stop - onto Miami!
Via Daimnation:

More than 20 members of Cuba's world-famous national chorus are singing songs of freedom today after defecting in Toronto.

Members of the National Chorus of Cuba dodged security officers and jumped into waiting cars, some on Sunday and others yesterday, said Cuban exiles who planned the defections.

"These people are scared for their lives," said Ismail Sambra, president of the Cuban Canadian Foundation. "They are worried about their families back home.

"It took a lot of planning to get this far."....

SNIP
Posted by: anonymous2u || 10/25/2005 17:45 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looking for medium relief and backup catcher.
Posted by: Boss George || 10/25/2005 18:02 Comments || Top||

#2  why would anybody want to leave Cuba?
Posted by: macofromoc || 10/25/2005 21:49 Comments || Top||


Amsterdam to host pole dancing World Cup
AMSTERDAM – Thirteen pole dancers are to compete for the title of Miss Pole Dance 2005 in Amsterdam next month.
Now there's must see TV!

The first official World Cup pole dancing event is to take place on November 11 at the Escape nightclub. Participants will come from Venezuela, the United States, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, Japan and Germany.
What, no Poles?
The top three Dutch champions, Nancy van der Horst, Fadance and Nina Schulte, are to take part. Dutch pole dancer Denise Mulder, who also holds the title Miss Nude World 2005, has decided not to participate.
Pity, she has a website as well. She looks rather, supple
According to the spokesperson of the World Cup Pole dancing organisation, the event is not based upon sex but has to do with the skills and artful performance of the candidates.
Just like reading Playboy for the insightful interviews
The dancers will not undress completely. The winner receives a prize of EUR 3,000. The Dutch presenter and actress Sonja Silva will present the evening.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 13:55 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lol, so Denise is Miss Nude World huh? Lol. LOL. ROFL!!!

I can do better than that every night of the week. Hell, I think I'll throw myself just such a Hell / Heaven week, lol.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 15:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The dancers will not undress completely.

Chaffing?
Posted by: eLarson || 10/25/2005 15:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Why is this not an olympic sport?
Posted by: bman || 10/25/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Logistics.
Posted by: Boss George || 10/25/2005 18:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Ramadan Scam: Bogus Beggars
Bogus Beggars Bog Down as Jeddawis Get Wise to Con Artists
JEDDAH, 25 October 2005 — There’s one group of people who aren’t enjoying Ramadan as much as they’d like to in the Kingdom, namely the con artists whose attempts to take advantage of the holy month’s spirit have been frustrated by an awareness campaign and media reports that are making the public wise of their scams, sob stories and pretend injuries.

“We created this problem indirectly,” said an official with Madinah’s Anti-Beggary Department. “It’s because of the people’s generosity that these gangs are encouraged to come and take the money donated for charitable purposes away from those in need.” He said the beggars often operate in gangs and sneak into the country on Umrah visas with the intention of bilking kindhearted people. It used to be a lucrative business.

“It’s because of the people’s generosity that these beggars are rich,” the official said. “Many times, we arrest beggars with large amounts of money. Some have had as much as SR400,000.”

He said the Anti-Beggary Department is doing some begging of its own. “We are begging people to direct their money to charity organizations to ensure the safe direction of money to those in need.”

The official said an informed public is more effective than any number of raids.

“I can say that the Anti-Beggary Department’s mission is successful this season,” he said, “not in terms of arresting large numbers of them, but by increasing the awareness among residents that these are not people in need.”

The media has played an important role in getting the word out on the con artists through articles that expose their scams. So have the mosques, whose imams have warned those in attendance to be wary of the beggars’ sob stories.

“The mosque has played its role by highlighting the issue and exposing them in Friday sermons,” said Sheikh Omar Khatri, imam of Jeddah’s Tawheed Mosque.

“We’ve prevented them from begging inside the mosque,” the imam said. “They have no right to beg inside the mosque. If they are in need of money, then they have to go to the proper authorities to get help.”

Khatri said it’s making a difference. “I see it working,” he said. “Now people are aware more than ever that these beggars are nothing but organized gangs. I urged all imams in the neighborhood to do the same. It is time to fight back before they destroy our innocence and our desire to donate the money to help others.”

Some of the beggars who have targeted Jeddah soon may have to pick a new target — or give up beggary altogether.

“Personally, I stopped donating money to them,” said Turki Al-Mutairi, who works for a private company. “When they start begging I give them the advice to stop what they’re doing.”

Al-Mutairi would like the Bride of the Red Sea to say bye-bye to the beggars.

“Police should get involved for a change,” Al-Mutairi said. “They should start arresting beggars and deport them the day after they get arrested. The money confiscated from these beggars should go to the Anti-Beggary Department to buy more patrol cars or be directed to real charity activities.”
Heh.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 15:55 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Qatar to get first church
An Anglican congregation plans to build Qatar's first Christian church since Islam's arrival in the 7th century. Clive Handford, the Nicosia-based Anglican bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, says construction will start in the Qatari capital of Doha in early 2006 on the 26-million Qatar riyal ($7 million) Church of the Epiphany, along with a conference centre and meeting rooms.

Plans for the Anglican church and three other Christian houses of worship have not been well publicised in Muslim-dominated Qatar, which is also the forward headquarters of the US military's Central Command. While some see the construction as a sign of increasing religious diversity throughout the world, Qatar's close-knit Muslim community may become angered if public approval is not sought, said Najeeb al-Nauimi, a prominent lawyer in Doha. "People will be insulted," al-Nauimi said. "They respect other religions. But to impose this on them is to say that you are no longer a Muslim state. That will hurt." Al-Nauimi warned that many Qataris were already upset with the country's westward tilt, with Doha hosting the US Air Force's giant al-Udeid airbase along with American commanders running the war in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muslims don't need to worry. The Anglican church quit being Christian quite a while ago.
Posted by: BillH || 10/25/2005 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  "People will be insulted"...

Oh-oh. Think I know how that'll turn out.
I'd get plenty of insurance.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/25/2005 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  So, what's the spread on when the riots start? Over-under on Christian deaths? I give it 3,000-1 against our media reporting anything about the coming riots. Takers?
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 10/25/2005 8:51 Comments || Top||

#4  guess we'd better not tell 'em about the new Synagogue being built, then?
Posted by: PlanetDan || 10/25/2005 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  BillH: You're thinking Episcopalian, the US branch, who are squishy leftist pseudo-Anglicans. Real Anglicans are primarily African, and are about as conservative as conservative Catholics. More and more conservative US Anglican churches are becoming African missionary churches, so that they can have a conservative bishop instead of an Episcopalian liberal.

They are also making big inroads against Moslems where the two co-exist in Africa, enough that the Moslems are getting worried about it.

For all practical purposes, Anglicans are the Christian front-line troops against the spread of Islam. Many of the Christians persecuted by Moslems are Anglicans.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/25/2005 9:55 Comments || Top||

#6  "They respect other religions. But to impose this on them is to say that you are no longer a Muslim state. That will hurt."

Ohh!! Doublethink!

They respect other religions? Bullshit! This is Islam - Convert, Submit/be-humiliated/PAY, or Die!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/25/2005 10:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Just wait until the Temple of Bob The Wonder Pig goes in...
Posted by: mojo || 10/25/2005 11:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Anonymoose, the original (English) branch of the Anglican Church is even worse than the American version. Over there, it hasn't been necessary for priests to believe in the existence of God, let alone the saving grace of Jesus, for at least a century.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/25/2005 12:47 Comments || Top||

#9  trailing wife: the schism is ending up with the US, Canada and Britain on one side, and everybody else on the other. The African churches have gone so far as to condemn the British church for being "at variance", which is a milder form of heresy. This means they will no longer commune with them, give them any money or resources, nor respect their pronouncements. They did so to the US church when they ordained the gay bishop.

The schism in the US is a quiet rift, with more and more conservative churches joining the African congregation as missionary churches. Ironically, while protecting the American churches, they in turn give huge sums of money to the African arch-dioceses, making them far more powerful on the continent, and attractive to Moslem converts.

This is so interconnected with the WoT that it should almost be a "background" item. With so very many Moslems becoming disillusioned with Islam, I think it is hunky-dory that Anglicanism is there to pick up the slack.

Eventually, I suspect that it will lead to open religious conflict between the two religions. The Imams just can't stand by and let their suckers be drawn away without a fight.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/25/2005 14:45 Comments || Top||

#10  "They respect other religions. But to impose this on them is to say that you are no longer a Muslim state. That will hurt."

And yet he doesn't complain that an EU with Turkey would no longer be a "Christian Europe"... so why is it bad that Qatar would no longer be a Muslim state but instead be amongst the ranks of the "multi-cultural, diverse" nations? :P
Posted by: Edward Yee || 10/25/2005 19:23 Comments || Top||

#11  The black folks go to the AME Zion church.

I know that the AME stands for
African
Methodist
Episcopal

But am unsure on the Zion. (Old Mount of Zion?)Still it seems an eclectic mix of religions.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/25/2005 19:53 Comments || Top||


Britain
Great British Brain Drain
[..]
Britain has lost more skilled workers, including scientists, bankers and doctors, than any other country in the world. In percentage terms, the UK ranks with African countries such as Cameroon and Zambia, who have also lost about 17 per cent of their graduates.

The figures in the World Bank report shatter Labour's claim to be fostering talents and skills. They are particularly worrying because the rest of Europe is much better at hanging onto homegrown talent.

Just one in 20 graduates from most other European countries are working abroad.

Experts said this could explain why Britain's productivity has slumped embarrassingly behind other major economies.
[..]
Posted by: 3dc || 10/25/2005 11:59 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya, dhimmsm and socialism will do that to you.
Posted by: mmurray821 || 10/25/2005 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2  "the most popular destination is the U.S." followed by Canada. Common language? better and safer life styles?
Posted by: bman || 10/25/2005 12:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Better life-style, getting to keep more of your income.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 10/25/2005 12:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't leave out the unspoken value of a proper English accent in the States. Regardless of less classism in the States, the mother tongue is viewed/felt as superior to various accents across America. If done properly, it has much currancy in the job and social market. I have observed the attention the fair sex takes to the its sound.
Posted by: Claving Speart7152 || 10/25/2005 12:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Pretty simple really. Its easier for English-speakers to get high-paying work abroad. British university graduates have a substantial advantage over other Euros this way. Germans and Frenchmen have a larger obstacle in relocating to the US or other high-growth destinations.

And then there is the force of tradition. The British have always had a very high expat ratio, you will find British people in large numbers in Asia for instance. A leftover of the Empire.
Posted by: buwaya || 10/25/2005 13:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Do not forget the class system in England. Two of my close friends families came from the Birmingham area. Well educated but still had an accent that they felt kept them down.

That same lower-class accent sounds high and mighty to us Yanks, its hardly a handicap.
Posted by: rjschwarz (no T!) || 10/25/2005 13:47 Comments || Top||

#7  I wouldn't read too much into the comparisons with graduates from other EU countries. With the exception of some scientific and engineering discplines, the continent doesn't teach them anything we need want in the states.
Posted by: DoDo || 10/25/2005 14:06 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm curious about whether they included non-UK citizens in their numbers. It was fairly common among the non-Western "Engineers" I met in Saudi for them to have gone to the UK for their university education. They would stay a long time to get those degrees, and most would try to get a UK passport at the same time, and many did -- but as soon as the degree was in the bag, they came back to the ME, where a lesser salary went a lot further. Oh, as a bonus, back home they didn't have to act as though they considered wymyns as peers, anymore.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 14:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Remember don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Be VERY careful restricting immigration.

Lots of well educated hard-working people want to go to a place where they are not punished for this.

You just have to filter the crap a bit better.

Same numbers, but higher quality immigrants.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/25/2005 20:21 Comments || Top||

#10  and how many deserving American local students are bumped for better paying foreigners?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 21:02 Comments || Top||


Product Safety Warning: Phony Zam Zam
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is advising consumers to be aware of the fraudulent sale of Zam Zam water that may pose a food safety risk.

Zam Zam water, which is sacred to Muslims, comes from a specific source in Saudi Arabia and cannot legally be exported from the country for commercial sale. This issue was first brought to the Agency's attention by leaders within the Muslim community. A brand of Zam Zam formally sampled by the London Borough of Westminster has been found to contain almost three times the permitted level of arsenic, which could contribute to increasing people's risk of cancer. The local authority has taken action to prevent further sale of the product from the outlet. In addition they have contacted the importer of the water to ensure that they cease to import the product. No other outlets are known to have stocked this product.
"Bah, pay no attention to the infidels at FSA. Allah will protect true believers, the so-called arsenic is a test of your faith. Drink up!"
Other brands of Zam Zam water are thought to be on sale in the UK and could be similarly contaminated. As genuine Zam Zam water cannot be legally exported from Saudi Arabia for commercial sale, any product found in the shops would have an uncertain provenance and possible safety risk. The FSA is therefore advising people not to buy or drink commercially available brands of Zam Zam water and to inform their Local Authority Environmental Health or Trading Standards Department if they come across Zam Zam water on sale.

Given that the demand for Zam Zam water is likely to increase during the month of Ramadan, the FSA has written to all Heads of Environmental Departments and Directors of Trading Standards asking local authorities to take appropriate enforcement action where the fraudulent sale of Zam Zam water is suspected. This advice does not relate to the genuine Zam Zam water being brought into UK by returning pilgrims, as an accompanied or unaccompanied 'personal import'.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 10:17 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Zam Zam! Now with arsenic!
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/25/2005 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Zam Zam? Now you know..... that would be a pretty good name for a Panda.
Posted by: Boss George || 10/25/2005 18:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Does Arsenic ingestion cause insanity?
It would answer a whole host of questions.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/25/2005 19:57 Comments || Top||

#4  There goes the market for "New Zam Zam". Coming soon "Zam Zam Lite - with 50% Less Arsenic". "Tastes great, less poisonous!!"
Posted by: DMFD || 10/25/2005 23:26 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Twenty fined for using letters Q and W
That's one episode of Sesame Street they won't be seeing.

A Turkish court has fined 20 people for using the letters Q and W on placards at a Kurdish new year celebration, under a law that bans use of characters not in the Turkish alphabet, rights campaigners said. The court in the southeastern city of Siirt fined each of the 20 people $75.53 for holding up the placards, written in Kurdish, at the event last year. The letters Q and W do not exist in the Turkish alphabet.

The 1928 Law on the Adoption and Application of Turkish Letters changed the Turkish alphabet from the Arabic script to a modified Latin script and required all signs, advertising, newspapers and official documents to only use Turkish letters.

PS: Where do stories about Turkey go? It doesn't seem right to put them in Europe.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/25/2005 19:50 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I remember seeing a needlepoint alphabet shawl on display at the Smithsonian that was made by a German immigrant about 1800 that had several letters missing, seems that then the letters were just not in the alphabet.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/25/2005 20:01 Comments || Top||

#2  So in Turkey, a QWERTY keyboard is just a ERTY keyboard?
Posted by: DMFD || 10/25/2005 23:07 Comments || Top||

#3  I bet Big Bird is seething!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/25/2005 23:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Pat, can I buy a vowel?
Posted by: BigEd || 10/25/2005 23:59 Comments || Top||


Nuggets From Pravda
  • US Congress Cracks Down on Freedom of Speech in Russia: Limitless freedom of speech does not exist in the USA at all.

    ...The anti-Russian provocation in the US Congress was initiated by Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter. The official referred to last year's report from the US State Department and said that the pressure on the part of the Russian government supposedly infringes the freedoms of Russian mass media. Furthermore, the US official concluded on the result of the above-mentioned document that the suppression of freedom of speech in Russia results in unpunished intimidation and crimes committed against journalists, including murder. The official exemplified his statement with the killing of US journalist Paul Klebnikov (former editor of Forbes Russia), which, as American congressmen believe, is connected with alleged violation of freedom of press in Russia...

    ...There are certain tabooed subjects in the USA too. World-known film director Oliver Stone made a movie about the assassination of the American President John Kennedy. The movie, titled J.F.K., was released in 1991. The director expressed a different version about Kennedy's death. As a result, almost all famous American newspapers and magazines cracked down on Stone saying that it was a slanderous motion picture, the director of which was an uneducated individual. Oliver Stone accused American journalists of their dependence on the CIA, which supposedly ordered those numerous negative reviews of his work. As a result, Oliver Stone has not been making any political movies since that time.

    Well, off the top of my head, there was Nixon, among other politically oriented movies, including interviews with Fidel Castro... he's also working on an unnamed Sept. 11 project.

    Therefore, the concerns on the US Congress about the violation of freedom of speech in Russia looks rather unfriendly and cynical. A regular press shop or a kiosk in Moscow sells a variety of newspapers and magazines representing the views of communists, liberals, pro-Russian and anti-Russian organizations, and even homosexuals....

    Let me guess... they're all free to publish their own customized versions of The Protocols of the Elders of Carencro.

  • Average bribe in Russia grows up to $135,000 vs. $23,000 in 2001.

    And those damn kids won't get off my lawn.

  • Russian Navy was Absolutely Negligent to Withdraw Vessels from Baltic Republics: The Russian Navy abandoned 22 submarines during removal of the Russian forces from the Baltic republics.

    ...People selling Russian vessels abroad did not specify especially for what purpose they must be further used. Often, Russian ships were turned into floating restaurants, bars and even brothels (B-24 was turned into a brothel in Copenhagen). Later, Germans bought the ship to make it a naval museum in Penemuende. Now, after some repairing the vessel is a key exhibit of the exposition. B-77, after it was enabled for shooting K-19: The Widowmaker, became a permanent exhibit of the naval museum in Providence, US. Americans swore they would respect the Russian submarine not less than the key exhibit of the museum, Saratoga aircraft-carrier.

    Today, B-77 is not only a museum; it is a teaching complex used for scientific conferences and scout gatherings. Newly married couples often walk along the deck of the Soviet rocket carrier believing it may make their future family life happy.

    I wonder how many of these might actually still be militarily useful for one of the world's more underfunded navies.

  • Syria Blames UN for Fabricating Report on Rafik Hariri's Assassination: According to Syrian politicians, the UN's report pursuant to the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister is politically biased and not true to fact.

    The Syrian point of view is compared and contrasted with that of the anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon.


  • USA Desperate to Shift Blame for Iraqi Mess on Syria and Iran.

    I get the feeling half the regulars could write this one from the title. It compares and contrasts Syria's domestic policies with Saudi Arabia's, but neglects Syria's support for Hezbollah and similar groups in Lebanon as outlined in the article above. Well, I guess it would be wrong to criticize Pravda in particular for not representing a broad range of opinions.

  • Colombian Court Allows Pro-US Uribe's Re-election Amid Corruption Allegations: A court member accused fellow judges of taking money for voting to approve the law paving the way for presidents to serve more than one term.

  • Bird flu Commotion Caused to Bring Russian Poultry Market Down: The bird flu hysteria may eventually generate another one - the mad cow disease.

    ..."This is an artificially caused commotion, from which someone obviously derives profits," the director of the Russian Poultry Farm Union, Galina Bobyleva told Pravda.Ru.

    The chairman of the agricultural committee of the Federation Council, Sergei Lisovsky, shares the opinion: "The disease is known for more than a hundred years already. I think that Western importers of poultry are trying to bring fears on the market taking into consideration the growing Russian poultry farming. It is a matter of competition on the market of poultry," Lisovsky told Interfax Thursday...

    Once again... Item 29. The Irish MPs are not after “Me frosted lucky charms”.

  • Current Avian flu is Even More Dangerous Than 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic: The H5N1 subtype flu virus can affect not only lungs but also other organs.

    An interesting article comparing the current bird flu with the Spanish Flu from the end of WW1.

    ...But the researches also revealed that the Spanish flu virus was less dangerous than the avian flu virus killing people today. The H5N1 subtype flu virus can affect not only lungs but also other organs. It cannot be destroyed with interferon, the compound helping the human immunity fight viruses. What is more, it is also stable against the popular flu medications used in Russia and other countries within many years. The Spanish flu lethality made up about 1 percent while the lethality of the new avian flu fluctuates from 50 to 100 percent in different countries...

    You know, the author of this article might want to poke his head out of his cubicle, and have a little talk with the guy who wrote the previous one.

  • Earth's Rotation Can Lead to the Deluge: Snows of Antarctica and Greenland are harbouring danger.

    Visit scenic R'yleh?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "USA Desperate to Shift Blame..."
"Syria has been the historical enemy of USA's prime enemy in the Middle East, Israel"You mean to tell me I've had it wrong all this time.For shame(on me).
Posted by: raptor || 10/25/2005 6:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I like the "wobble" theory, myself.

Let's see, the earth weighs aproximately...
Posted by: mojo || 10/25/2005 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  The Earth weighs in at 5.972 sextillion (5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000) metric tons.

What does the Greenland ice cap weigh? That's what percentage of the warth's weight? Does gyroscopic stabilization play any part?

Does anybody at Pravda have a brain?
Posted by: mojo || 10/25/2005 13:22 Comments || Top||


Uzbek Opposition Leader Arrested
An Uzbek opposition leader who pushed for an easing of the country's autocratic rule was arrested on embezzlement charges Monday, the Interior Ministry said. Sanjar Umarov, chairman of the Sunshine Coalition, was arrested for "the theft of millions and embezzlement," the ministry said.

Umarov, a wealthy businessman-turned-politician, was detained on Saturday, the Fergana.ru Web site said. Umarov called on the Uzbek government last week to start a political dialogue, and sent an open letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was visiting Uzbekistan at the time. In the letter, the coalition expressed its intention to look for a resolution of the political crisis in Uzbekistan, and called for stronger integration and economic ties with Russia. The Sunshine Coalition was formed in April in the wake of the revolution in neighboring Kyrgyzstan that ousted President Askar Akayev. It gained prominence in May for denouncing the brutal quelling of a popular uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
French lesbians 'inundating' Belgian fertility clinics
A Brussels fertility clinic claims it is being swamped by demand from French lesbian couples seeking fertility treatment.

"Last year, of the inseminations using a donor's sperm, 72 percent of patients came from France, with a majority of them being homosexual," the Erasmus fertility clinic's head Anne Delbaere told La Libre Belgique.

She said the clinic had never turned down requests for insemination from lesbian couples, or single women, since it opened 15 years ago.

But she said it would have to start limiting consultation appointments to French couples.

"We haven't got enough sperm samples in stock to meet all the demand," she said. "We

don't want to close access to French female couples, but we can't welcome them at the expense of heterosexual couples," said Delbaere.

Many patients come from France for fertility treatment after being refused it at home. France's 1994 bioethical law limited the treatment to married couples or heterosexual couples who have been living together for longer than two years.

By contrast, Belgium has not banned anyone from treatment, leaving eligibility criteria to be decided by individual clinics.

Delbaere said in turning couples away, the clinic would be suggesting that the women work to "change mentalities in France".

Marketing director Marie-Pierre Micoud, a 41-year-old French marketing director, has had three children with her partner, midwife Nathalie Bassac, thanks to Belgian fertility treatment. She told La Libre Belgique: "In Belgium we were welcomed without any judging. We had to wait six months for our first interview. Now it's two years."

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Posted by: anon || 10/25/2005 13:20 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They are short of sperm ? That would seem to be a simple problem to fix.
Posted by: buwaya || 10/25/2005 13:56 Comments || Top||

#2  buwaya, not in the EU.
Posted by: RWV || 10/25/2005 15:11 Comments || Top||


Spanish look into death of Nigerian first lady
A Spanish judge yesterday ordered forensic scientists to determine whether Stella Obasanjo, wife of the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, died because a cosmetic surgery operation went wrong.
Mrs Obasanjo, 59, was rushed to a hospital emergency department in the southern Spanish resort of Marbella early on Sunday after an operation, reportedly to reduce weight, at the town's Molding Clinic. The Nigerian first lady was dead on arrival. Attempts to resuscitate her failed.
She was reported to have undergone an operation on Saturday, though it was unclear exactly what the first lady had wanted to change. Nigerian newspapers said she had had a "tummy tuck".
Bet she was having a liposuction and they hit an artery by mistake. Or she had a bad reaction to the anesthetic.
Forensic scientists said they had been ordered to investigate whether her death had been caused by medical malpractice. The Molding Clinic is one of several centres to have opened in Marbella in recent years, offering "health tourism" visits to the glitzy Costa del Sol resort which is more usually associated with minor film stars and international crooks. Yesterday the clinic released a statement saying the first lady "did not die while being operated on".
"The operation was a success, but the patient died"
It said the "fundamental causes" of her death had not yet been determined.
However, the USP Hospital, where Mrs Obasanjo was sent after her recovery process began to go wrong, said she was "clinically dead" when she arrived.
Shipped her to the real hospital when things went south, but she was too far gone.
Nigerian newspapers yesterday reported that the woman they called "Chief" Obasanjo had appeared to be in good health before she travelled to Spain. When she last appeared in public a week ago she had danced at a wedding, Nigeria's Tribune newspaper reported.
President Obasanjo received news of her death as he was dealing with a national tragedy, following the crash of a Boeing 737 airliner that killed all 117 people aboard. Nigerian authorities did not admit that the country's first lady had died after visiting a plastic surgeon.

A presidential spokeswoman, Oluiremi Oyo, went on television to tell Nigerians that the president's "beloved wife died in Spain early this morning after surgery". Mrs Obasanjo became known around the world after she campaigned for the release of her husband, a former army general, when he was jailed in the mid-1990s for allegedly plotting a coup. She received a number of human rights awards.

The luxurious-looking Molding clinic is housed in a vast neo-classical building fronted by towering palm trees in one of the more expensive parts of a resort that is a well-known favourite with Arab potentates and developing world dignitaries. Among other products, it advertises a facial transformation that it calls "The Molding Mask". The Molding Clinic said yesterday it was co-operating fully with Spanish authorities while awaiting the postmortem.
Lawyers on retainer are pricing new BMW's.
Spain is said to have the highest number of plastic surgeons per head in Europe, with Spaniards most likely to queue up for treatment by scalpel, laser or liposuction machine. Demand for cosmetic surgery has boomed despite the recent deaths of several patients who have undergone liposuction or stomach-stapling. The country's biggest cosmetic surgery company, Corporación Dermoestética, recently floated shares and has already expanded into Britain.

An autopsy on Mrs Obasanjo was completed yesterday afternoon and a report sent to the local court, Antonio García de Gálvez, director of the Malaga Institute of Forensic Medicine, told journalists. He confirmed that the court was investigating the possibility of medical malpractice but would not say what kind of cosmetic procedure Mrs Obasanjo had undergone.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 12:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But on the bright side she's a great looking corpse.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/25/2005 13:07 Comments || Top||

#2  So will I be getting an email from her executor soon?
Posted by: Jonathan || 10/25/2005 13:18 Comments || Top||

#3  great ....another round of scam emails
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 13:20 Comments || Top||


Only Greeks can make 'feta', EU court says
BRUSSELS - Cheese producers from around Europe are reeling at Tuesday's (25 October) European Court of Justice ruling forbidding those outside of Greece from using the name 'feta'. Europe's highest court first indicated it would rule in favour of Greece back in May to the dismay of German and Danish feta cheese producers, who were suing the European Commission. In 2002, 'feta' was originally protected by a Commission regulation as a domain of origin and could only be used by cheese producers in certain areas of Greece. The EU had been using Greek feta as an example of protected origins in trade negotiations with the US and the World Trade Organisation since before it was protected.

Although feta cheese has been produced all over modern Europe, especially in Germany. Denmark and for more than 20 years by a single producer in Yorkshire, England, the exact history of the cheese is unknown. Some historians claim the cheese came about in Greece, while others say the name was created by Venetian traders.
Cheese history being a rather obscure field of study
Feta is not only a sore spot in the EU’s 25 member states, but also beyond. The cheese has long been produced in Bulgaria and Turkey, some say as an intrinsic part of their culinary cultures, which may prove tricky as accession negotiations with the two countries progress.

One of the main arguments Germany and Denmark used in their case against the commission was that since feta is produced so widely and has been for many years, 'feta' as a name has lost its meaning. Unlike other protected names, such as Parma ham, which are tied to specific locations, feta is a type rather than a name, they argued.

The European court ruled, however, that it is the grasses grown on certain hills in Greece that milking goats feed upon which gives feta its special characteristics and that these cannot be reproduced elsewhere.
Special grasses on special hills eaten by special goats creats special cheese, so sayeth the Special Court!
The ruling could have repercussions for other types of cheeses currently considered generic and produced around the world, from cheddar to camembert. French camembert producers are especially concerned because the majority of France's famous cheese is produced outside of the small Camembert region.

The protection of origin names, which originally began as a way to protect the names of wines and spirits produced in the EU, from Champagne to Porto, has become one of the EU's biggest goals in multilateral trade talks in recent years. As agricultural production in the EU becomes more expensive and production in developing countries like Brazil becomes cheaper, competing on the world market in agriculture and food products become more difficult.

One way for the EU to compete, however, is with high quality niche products that are most often tied to a specific region that promotes specific characteristics in the product. Sparkling wine may be produced in California or Australia, but France, and now the EU, claims nothing can be like Champagne.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 09:57 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The WTO better not accept this logic.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/25/2005 10:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Cheese it boys. It's the Dairy coppers.
Posted by: ed || 10/25/2005 10:24 Comments || Top||

#3  With all due respect to Greeks and Greek food, WTF? Of all the pressing problems facing Europe they choose to tackle the titanic issue of cheese nomenclature? I can’t imagine that many Greeks were losing sleep knowing that some French or Spanish dairyman was producing Feta cheese and calling it Feta? Aris, are you now able to sleep soundly knowing the Feta Food Fight is over?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 10/25/2005 10:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Shhh...Aris is out walking the Cheese Line even as we speak. And the Greek dairymen want him on that wall. They need him on that wall.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/25/2005 10:33 Comments || Top||

#5  With all the problems in the world, I am so glad they resolved this potential war maker. I feel safer.
/sarcasm
Posted by: mmurray821 || 10/25/2005 10:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh the injustice! Will the feta cheese quagmire be a wedge issue for Turkey and Bulgary's anti-accession movements resulting in a crumbled EU or will it remain a solid salty mass unified by a common texture and taste?
Posted by: FrancoisGump || 10/25/2005 10:59 Comments || Top||

#7  CyberSarge

If you are sold a computer who is supposed to have an Athlon 64 and you open it and you discover a 386 how are you going to react? Or that you are sold cat for hare?

Feta is supposed to be a cheese made with <>goat milk and marinated in olive oil. The danish and german things are made with cow milk and marinated in, yuck, seed oil. I can disagree with artificail restrictions telling that to have the name feta it is to be made in such zone and a maile father it is no longer feta because these have no object but lining the pockets of the producers and feeding snobs but I certainly don't find acceptable to be sold cow cheese for feta.
Posted by: JFM || 10/25/2005 11:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Marinated in olive oil? Por favor, the feta I used to buy in the Athina Supermarket in Ano Glyphada came out of a big barrel of brine... the counterman would hoist out a big dripping slab of it, and carve off a kilo or so, and wrap it in plastic-backed blue paper, but the brine always leaked through...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/25/2005 11:17 Comments || Top||

#9  It's gonna happen. Good bye Cheddar et al. And f^@k the country you came in from.
Posted by: Elmereque Gravirong5743 || 10/25/2005 11:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Let me chime into this too (since my mother's from Greece).

My uncle used to own a dairy story in the town of Karditsa. He used to make his own feta, but it got too expensive. In the end, he imported it all from Bulgaria, which makes as good, if not better feta than they have in Greece. From what he told me, many dairy stores import their feta too because it's too expensive to produce on their own.

By the way, all the Greek specialty stores in North America import their feta not from Greece, but from Bulgaria.
Posted by: bonanzabucks || 10/25/2005 11:39 Comments || Top||

#11  If the French pulled off their Champaign/sparkling white wine and the world bought it this was only a matter of time.

All this means is they'll change the spelling. It's all in the spin baby.

American Pheta is Phat.
Greek Feta, is Fat.
Posted by: rjschwarz (no T!) || 10/25/2005 11:49 Comments || Top||

#12  My mistake about the oil. You are right it is in brine. But the Danish or German feta I have seen came in oil. Probably because cheese floats in brine but not in oil and thus doesn't yellow in contact of air like cow cheese does (goat cheese remains white)
Posted by: JFM || 10/25/2005 11:51 Comments || Top||

#13  What is the implication for French fries?
Posted by: Ronald McD || 10/25/2005 12:13 Comments || Top||

#14  Are you talking about Freedom Fries, carrot top?
Posted by: Angurong Gromoling6209 || 10/25/2005 12:15 Comments || Top||

#15  This is worse than patent law. This is giving some bastard a monopoly on something forever. In this case the bastard is a EU defined region. To top it off this is a trick they are pulling to stop others from selling food anywhere that has normal food type names. Fucking ripoff in progress.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/25/2005 12:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Aris, are you now able to sleep soundly knowing the Feta Food Fight is over?

Not in the cheese-manufacturing business, darlin'.

And nationalist mockery reasons aside, why do you think I agree with this verdict?

I tend to agree with JFM instead, that the restrictions placed on usage of the name should concern not the place of origin (such nation-based restrictions I consider to go against the very concept of the EU) but rather its nature: Feta can only be goat-cheese for example.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 10/25/2005 12:59 Comments || Top||

#17  So call it "Greek Goat Cheese".

Who cares?
Posted by: mojo || 10/25/2005 13:23 Comments || Top||

#18  Who cares?

Once again, people in the cheese-manufacturing business probably care.

They are real people and do exist you know.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 10/25/2005 13:28 Comments || Top||

#19  "What did he say?"
"The Greeks shall inherit the Earth?"
"The Greeks? Are you sure? I think he said the Meek."
"Oh, the meek, how nice, they never get nothing."

"Did he say blessed are the cheesemakers? What's so special about them?"
"I think he's blessing the entire dairy industry dear."

Little Life of Brian misquoted off the top of my head. Damn the movie was genious.
Posted by: rjschwarz (no T!) || 10/25/2005 13:46 Comments || Top||

#20  Youse can have your Feta, but keep yer filthy hands off my Velveeta!
Posted by: USN, ret. || 10/25/2005 15:20 Comments || Top||

#21  The EU can keep 'Feta' cheese, and we'll keep the 'Internet'.
Posted by: DMFD || 10/25/2005 17:41 Comments || Top||

#22  The Long Island Ice Tea is next.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/25/2005 19:54 Comments || Top||


Russia reports more bird flu cases
Russia confirmed more bird flu cases, raising fears it could spread over Europe, but a UN official said the best way to stop it was for donors to pay up and fight it where it began, among Asian fowl. The latest case in Russia killed 12 hens at a private dacha in Tambov, 400km southeast of Moscow, last week. Authorities culled 53 ducks and hens and imposed a quarantine. Tests confirmed it was the H5N1 avian flu strain which can infect humans, though not yet pass between them, officials said. The European Union was poised to ban all imports of captive wild birds after a parrot died of H5N1 in quarantine in Britain.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I pity the poor little Asian peasant village that becomes "town zero"--where the outbreak officially begins. Or at least the town that is blamed.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/25/2005 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  ...after a parrot died of H5N1 in quarantine in Britain.

He's not dead - he's just resting!
Posted by: John Cleese || 10/25/2005 9:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm pining for the fjords....
Posted by: Norwegian Blue Parrot || 10/25/2005 12:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Dems test new slogan
House Democratic leaders are holding a closed-door meeting with members of their caucus this afternoon to discuss a new slogan for the 2006 midterm elections: "Together, We Can Do Better" or "Together, America Can Do Better," according to Democratic sources.
"Democrat's, America can do better"
Although aides say the slogan has yet to be finalized and is still up for debate, it has already been in frequent use by Democratic leaders on both sides of the Capitol for several weeks. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) used it as early as Sept. 29, during a press conference on Hurricane Katrina relief, according to a search of an online news database. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) first used it in a similar Katrina press event Sept. 15.

Since then, it has become a common refrain in Democratic leadership statements, usually appearing at the end of Pelosi's press releases or sprinkled liberally in Reid's comments. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) used it in the Democratic radio address on Saturday. Reid plastered it across the backdrop of an event held last week. The catchphrase is not new to political observers, who will remember that an earlier reincarnation, "America Can Do Better," was a slogan in the campaign of presidential aspirant Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), although his main theme was "A Stronger America."
It worked real well under his picture, don't ya think?

"America Can Do Better," which lacks the word "Together," has also been in frequent rotation this fall. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) used it on "Fox News Sunday" on Oct. 16. Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) incorporated it in her in Oct. 8 radio address, as did Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) in the Oct. 1 radio address.

Today's meeting will gather feedback from the broader caucus on the slogan, Democratic aides say, as part of a periodic effort to reach out to all members of Congress on message issues. Democrats plan to unveil their 2006 party platform in the coming weeks, much earlier than in previous cycles and way ahead of the GOP's 1994 "Contract With America," which came out six weeks before the election. Democratic leaders from an array of constituencies, including the House, Senate, Democratic National Committee, governors and mayors, have been working for months on a project designed to convey Democratic ideas and views to the public in a better way.

"There's this sense that people don't know where we stand or what our ideas are," a House Democratic leadership aide said. "Messaging has been the problem. 
 People should know where we stand. We've made our views clear on every issue that has come to the floor."
We know where you stand. We just don't agree with it
Academic George Lakoff, marketing expert Jack Trout and software entrepreneur John Cullinane have periodically weighed in on the project.

Democrats are also expected to discuss message issues beyond the overarching slogan, in an effort to address the widespread belief in Democratic circles that they need to communicate more effectively with voters. "We know the majority of people agree with us on the issues," a House Democratic aide said, "but this effort is an acknowledgment that we need to communicate better."
Same old, same old. They keep thinking they have the right message, we rubes just don't understand.
The message project considered "dozens" of potential slogans, many coming from members of Congress themselves, before making the tentative choice. The phrase is expected to act as an umbrella for a wide range of Democratic ideas.

Mike McCurry, who served as a spokesman for the Clinton White House, will lead the discussion at the meeting today. He made a similar presentation on the Senate side with former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and former senior Clinton adviser Doug Sosnik several weeks ago. Jim Gerstein from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research will present positive polling on the slogan. "They're going to be looking to get people's thoughts and foster a discussion" of conveying their message, the leadership aide said.

Similar slogans in past election cycles have also polled well but failed to win back either chamber for Democrats. Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) had a two-word rubric: "Families First." Last cycle, Democrats did not have a catchall phrase, instead unveiling a set of six core principles in the New Partnership for America's Future.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 15:48 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Democrats, America could suck even worse!
Posted by: mmurray821 || 10/25/2005 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Workers of the world unite!
Posted by: macofromoc || 10/25/2005 16:59 Comments || Top||

#3  The No There, There, Party.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 17:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Democrats, when you really need to suck.

W. J. Cliton
Posted by: Tholurong Angereck4233 || 10/25/2005 17:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Democrats - lower poll numbers than their opponents, but still complaining.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/25/2005 17:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Vote Democrat...so it can be 1968 for the rest of time!
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/25/2005 17:18 Comments || Top||

#7  software entrepreneur John Cullinane

The man who burned hundreds of millions producing what in my informed opinion was the worst software product ever produced and gave away a market leading position to a small software company called Oracle.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||

#8  And also on John Cullinane. The man who produced an poor, overly complex, rehash of others original ideas (the relational database) and then dismally failed to execute the concept.

You might find a metaphor for the Democratic party there.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 17:30 Comments || Top||

#9  IDMS, lol. He certainly was a pluperfect putz. Now he's deified and people actually listen to his dinner speeches.

Mein Gott! It is 1968 1978 forever! Lol...
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 17:37 Comments || Top||

#10  anyone who votes for a slogan should lose their right to vote
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 17:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Any guesses what a Democrat victory-- especially Hillary in 2008-- would do to military recruitment and retention?
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/25/2005 17:54 Comments || Top||

#12  But where are the giant puppets?

Slogan's worthless without giant puppets!!! Should be carried by Nancy Peolosi and her crowd.
Posted by: too true || 10/25/2005 17:58 Comments || Top||

#13  Academic George Jakoff and company are the best gift possible for the Repubs. Keep it comin' boys, the polls show the donks are in even sorrier shape than to trunks.

Goofy slogans don't mean shit.
Posted by: Captain America || 10/25/2005 17:59 Comments || Top||

#14  So, why haven't the dems done better?
Posted by: anonymous2u || 10/25/2005 17:59 Comments || Top||

#15  So, why haven't the dems done better?

Same governmental model as the Soviets. Same policy model as the Soviets. Same corrupt party structure as the Soviets.

Gee, can't figure out why they haven't done better.
Posted by: Groluper Ebbelet5837 || 10/25/2005 18:10 Comments || Top||

#16  because a slogan doesn't cover for social-welfare-anti-american-anti-strong militaruy CANDIDATES
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 18:11 Comments || Top||

#17  anti-betty-crocker....oops
sorry, forgot to close the tag

/JM
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 18:12 Comments || Top||

#18  "Together, America Can Do Better"

Well perhaps if you Democrats stopped being so divisive all the time. or, certainly you can do better, stop putting idiots up for election Democrats.

This campaign is too easy to mock. I can't wait.
Posted by: rjschwarz (no T!) || 10/25/2005 18:19 Comments || Top||

#19  "Together, America Can Do Better"

Yikes! It's like a nice paintjob on a Volkswagen Bug and expecting it to beat Tony Stewart on the track. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
Posted by: Raj || 10/25/2005 19:03 Comments || Top||

#20  Together... Hmmm, so how many Americas are there in DhimmiThink? I'm just askin...

Indeed, America Can Do Better - as long as it laughs at these silly freaks.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 19:10 Comments || Top||

#21  .com, I was referring to the IDMS + proprietary relational hybrid that was Cullinet's next generation flagship product that rightly bombed in the marketplace. I was one of the unfortunates who tried to use that dreadful POS.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 19:27 Comments || Top||

#22  Bachman's IDS was a lovely product, tho. Used it in GCOS environments after GE sold their mainframe business to Honeywell and before Honeywell fubarred the whole thing up.
Posted by: lotp || 10/25/2005 19:32 Comments || Top||

#23  For those techies who aren't .... in their mature years .... IDS was the product that Cullinane ripped off and did a lousy job with.
Posted by: lotp || 10/25/2005 19:33 Comments || Top||

#24  lotp, you're my age. Do you recall the GE internal product, the General Electric Self Tape Actuated Processing Observer?
Posted by: Ununter Whoper4025 || 10/25/2005 19:41 Comments || Top||

#25  phil_b - Heh, had to look it up - not my world. I spent only 1 year in the business / IBM world on a 360 doing COBOL - sucked, lol. I hauled ass back to the engineering world as fast as I could go - and back then you didn't change jobs more than once/yr without being "blacklisted" by the firms. I worked on CDC (all of 'em, heh), Cray-1, Dec & HP minis, IBM Series 1, Apple & IBM PC, Vax, Cray Y-MP, DOS & Win PCs. Only so many ways to split a buck, lol, and the second time was boring. Hell, I even had PC SW products on the pegboards at Mr Micro and Computerland, lol - sealed in plastic bags with a Daisy Seal-a-Meal, heh. Never played with Burroughs or Honeywell - my mother did that for DOD for about 15 yrs.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 20:48 Comments || Top||

#26  IDMS was a pretty good product for its day. The relational hybrid POS was called IDMS/R (although when it first came out I recall it had a different name).
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 21:22 Comments || Top||

#27  "America, we all agree it was a bad idea. Let's divvy up the money and split."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/25/2005 22:54 Comments || Top||

#28  Is this the golden ages club for big iron techies? (I'll admit to having had AD/Cycle partner on my biz cards at one point.)
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 10/25/2005 23:21 Comments || Top||


Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Dies at 92
DETROIT (AP) - Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday. She was 92. Mrs. Parks died at her home of natural causes.

Mrs. Parks was 42 when she committed an act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title ``mother of the civil rights movement.''

The Montgomery, Ala., seamstress, an active member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was riding on a city bus Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man demanded her seat. Mrs. Parks refused, despite rules requiring blacks to yield their seats to whites. Two black Montgomery women had been arrested earlier that year on the same charge, but Mrs. Parks was jailed. She also was fined $14.

Speaking in 1992, she said history too often maintains ``that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long.''

Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

``At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this,'' Mrs. Parks said 30 years later. ``It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.''

After taking her public stand for civil rights, Mrs. Parks had trouble finding work in Alabama. Amid threats and harassment, she and her husband Raymond moved to Detroit in 1957. She worked as an aide in [Rep. ]Conyers' Detroit office from 1965 until retiring Sept. 30, 1988. Raymond Parks died in 1977.
Just another example of how one person can help change the world.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God bless that bossy dame.
Posted by: MunkarKat || 10/25/2005 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  when a white man demanded her seat.

[waves hand] I don't think so, white boy.
Posted by: 2b || 10/25/2005 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I barely remember that time. we lived on highway 31 just across the Alabama River from Montgomery at the time. We later moved back near Selma (where I was born) and witnessed the selma to Montgomery march. We lived 3 miles from the spot Viola Liuzo (sp?) was murdered. Everyone knew who commited the murder but was very afraid of the Klan and what they would do. I know a lot of people who didn't like what the Klan was doing, including my Father, but the Klan being a terrorist organization they were afraid. Rosa Parks was a courageous woman. May she rest easy.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/25/2005 8:32 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Mars rover begins descent from summit
Spirit, the robot on wheels that reached the top of a Martian hill this summer after an epic climb, is heading back down toward its next target for exploration. After two months at the summit of Husband Hill, the six-wheeled rover is descending to a basin where the scientific instruments it carries will examine an outcrop dubbed "home plate" because from orbit it looks like home on a baseball field.

Spirit's yearlong climb to the peak was a major feat for the Mars rover, which along with its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet in January 2004. Last month, scientists released the first full-color panoramic photo of the landscape taken by Spirit from the 270-foot-high summit. It shows the rover's distinct tracks in the dust, the flat plains of the surrounding Gusev Crater region and distant plateaus on the crater rim. Spirit also has been studying rocks and using its robotic arm to sift the soil to determine how the hill formed. The leading theory is that Husband Hill became uplifted as a result of crater impact.

Mission scientists say a comparison of the summit rocks reveal similar geologic features to those found on the side of the hill. In both cases, the rocks' makeup reveal they have been altered by water. It will take about two months for Spirit to make it all the way down Husband Hill, which is named after Rick Husband, the commander of the space shuttle Columbia that broke apart as it was returning from Earth orbit in 2003.

Meanwhile, Opportunity is in good health again after recovering from a recent computer glitch while surveying the Meridiani Planum region. The rovers, operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, have long outlasted their primary, three-month missions.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 14:20 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've owned cars that didn't last this long.
Posted by: Matt || 10/25/2005 14:53 Comments || Top||

#2  "...landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet..."

When they meet up, will they drive a golden spike into the spot?
Posted by: SLO Jim || 10/25/2005 15:03 Comments || Top||

#3  the six-wheeled rover is descending to a basin where the scientific instruments it carries will examine an outcrop dubbed "home plate"

Stand on it! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehiiiiiiiiiii!
Posted by: Shipman || 10/25/2005 18:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I fear that only private enterprise will overcome the boffins' penchant of reinventing the wheel. Right now, NASA has big plans to re-do these landers, just "bigger". Why?

If you are going to do something like that, then why not go for a vehicle the size of a Hummer? Work off the assumption that you have to get a really large object there, one loaded with gear and capable of operating for years. Heck, you might even make it big enough to have a nuclear reactor on board. Just having a mobile energy supply on the planet would be priceless.

At some point, to learn new things, you have to use technologies you already know, to do things you already understand, and tedious work you wish you didn't have to do.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/25/2005 18:49 Comments || Top||

#5  From the outside, and I once knew some excellent NASA software engineers well - they were a client augmenting in-house computing power with timesharing resources, as well as working for one of their best engineers - who had been forcibly retired for the "sin" of being a middle-aged white man, I'd say that NASA has flushed its system clean of that most elusive creature and a priori resource: the creative hard-headed maverick. No old crusty "make it happen" engineers, only sterilized well-leashed brainstorming groups and MBA-type yes men.

Arguably the most successful technology fermentation tank is the Skunkworks. Perhaps adopting Kelly Johnson's Rules would be a start.

NASA's problems certainly appear to be systemic.
Posted by: .com || 10/25/2005 19:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Mars rover begins descent from summit

Say, did it have any stone tablets with it?
Posted by: Almost Anonymous2520 || 10/25/2005 21:53 Comments || Top||

#7  .com---Rule 6 seems to be largely ignored in today's government contracts:

Rule No. 6
There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. Don't have the books ninety days late and don't surprise the customer with sudden overruns.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/25/2005 21:59 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan-Pak-India
Terrified Residents Report Volcanic Activity in Quake Zone
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's army flew a team of geologists to an isolated northwestern valley Tuesday to investigate reports by anxious villagers of possible volcanic activity in the quake-shattered Himalayan foothills, a government official said. An official from Pakistan's meteorological department said there was little chance of volcanic activity as the country has no recent history of eruptions.
But does it have any past history, I don't think there is in this area

Nevertheless, a two-man team left for the Alai Valley to investigate the villagers' claim, said chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan. The valley is at an elevation of about 6,000 feet, surrounded by mountains as high as 10,000 feet. Army helicopters flew over the rugged region of North West Frontier Province on Monday and found no immediate signs of an eruption, Sultan said.

Sultan speculated that aftershocks from the massive Oct. 8 quake and subsequent landslides kicking up dust could cause the terrified villagers to mistakenly believe that volcanic activity is occurring.
Could be numerous secondaries from arms caches. Call in the RAB, they've got experience in locating them.
Government officials have been eager to dispel rumors among local residents - and even those in the capital of Islamabad - that another major quake was imminent. If the team finds evidence of volcanic activity, Sultan said there would be evacuations.
An estimated 3.3 million people have already been left homeless by the quake, which killed about 80,000 people.
Posted by: Steve || 10/25/2005 11:23 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, look at the upside. With winter coming on, at least the lava would keep them warm.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/25/2005 12:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Great. First, we get a line about how the brutal Pakistani winter is going to require Uncle Sam to pay up. Now we're getting a new line about how brutal volcanic eruptions are going to require even more moola.
Posted by: Elmenter Snineque1852 || 10/25/2005 12:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Terrified Residents Report Volcanic Activity in Quake Zone

Buwahawahahahah
Posted by: Halliburton Epicenter and Upthrust sub Division || 10/25/2005 14:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Volcanos do occur where one tectonic plate is colliding with another as in this area.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 16:29 Comments || Top||


U.S. Army MASH Unit Rolls Into Pakistan
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Trucks carrying more than 100 American soldiers and the U.S. Army's only remaining MASH unit trundled into this quake-ravaged city Monday on a mission Washington hopes will help generate goodwill among Pakistanis.

The 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital could save lives, but its arrival was delayed by a shortage of aircraft, vehicle breakdowns and the winding roads of the lower Himalayas. When the unit finally rolled into Muzaffarabad after a 27-hour drive from a military base near Islamabad, it still lacked equipment for major surgeries. That gear had to be returned to the military base because it was on long trailers that could not negotiate the curving mountain roads. The equipment will be loaded onto other trucks and could reach Muzaffarabad in a few days.

``We came as quickly as we could. Everyone we have talked to is very thankful that we are here,'' Maj. Soo Lee Davis, the unit's executive officer, said as the unit set up shop outside the city's parliament house.

Davis, who is from El Paso, Texas, conceded that the lack of surgical facilities was disappointing, but said the medics could provide other valuable services. ``It's a small setback, but we can provide badly needed surgical care and treat outpatients,'' she said. Once the unit is complete, the MASH team - which is based in Germany - will be able to perform 20 major operations a day.
Not that we'll get any credit, of course.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God I hope they have good security. The humanitarian nature of the mission isn't going to deter any of the Lions of Islam. They'll just make up some story about how them kaffir doctors was peeking under Allah-fearin muslim ladies skirts, and then unleash the shaheeds.
Posted by: 11A5S || 10/25/2005 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  As Americans we are supreme in our Compassion.
Posted by: Omerert Cleter3946 || 10/25/2005 3:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if Klingers' gonna be there???
Posted by: ARMYGUY || 10/25/2005 7:54 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Nigerian First Lady dies after plastic surgery
Stella Obasanjo, the wife of Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after undergoing plastic surgery at a luxury clinic on the Costa del Sol. She was in Spain for an operation and apparently died of complications. No information has been given about the reason for the medical procedure, the BBC reported. Mrs Obasanjo, 59, was a controversial figure who had ordered the arrest of a newspaper publisher earlier this year. Orobosa Omo-Ojo was held after his newspaper, the Midwest Herald, ran an article entitled "Greedy Stella". An autopsy is being carried out in Malaga on Monday before her body is returned home, Spanish officials have said.

They have said she was on a private visit to the southern town of Puerta Banus, near Marbella, and have not confirmed she had had an operation. She underwent treatment at the exclusive Molding Clinic. In a television broadcast announcing Mrs Obasanjo's death, presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo said books of condolence had been opened at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, the State House Marina in Lagos, and at the president's home in Otta. Olusegun Obasanjo had several wives before returning to power in 1999, but since he became president Stella had been considered his official wife.

This one came at absolutely record speed:
From: "MRS. ABIOLA CAROLINE EDO"
To: fred@xxxxxxx.com
Subject: Late Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, wife of Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:25:01 +0200

Dear,

Following the sudden death of Stella Obasanjo, wife of Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after cosmetic surgery. The late former first lady, Mrs Obasanjo died on Sunday in Spain, where she had gone for the operation.I have been thrown into a state of utter confusion, frustration and hopelessness by the present administration, I will be subjected to physical and psychological torture by the security agents in the country if I donÂŽt transfer this funds out. I will be under detention arraigned before the federal high court of Nigeria for an offence I did not commit. As a personnal assistant that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with anybody within the country.

You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the recovery of various huge sums of money deposited by the late first lady and aid in different security firms abroad, some companies are willingly giving up their secrets and disclosed our money confidently lodged there or many outright blackmail. In fact the total sum discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of ($14.2). Million dollars. And they are not relenting to make life more unbearable to all her close aid. Just last two months her son was arrested in Germany, when he was on his trip to transfer his share of already transferred sum of $12.2million dollars only, from a partners bank account into the newly opened bank account in Germany.

I got your contacts through my personal research, and out of desperation decided to reach you through this medium. I will give you more information as to this regard as soon as you reply. I repose great confidence in you hence my approach to you due to security network placed on my day to day affairs, I cannot afford to visit the embassy for travelling visa for now, so this is why I decided to contact you and I hope you will not betray my confidence in you. We just deposited the sum of ($5.5)million dollars only with a firm in Spain two days before her death, whose name is withheld for now until we open communication.I will be grateful if you can receive this fund into your bank account. This arrangement is known to you and I alone and also her personnal advicer who have work with us for over a decade, as security is up my whole being.I am seriously considering to settle down abroad in a friendly atmosphere like yours as soon as this fund get into your bank account so that I can start all over again if only you wish, but if it is impossible,just help me in diverting this fund into your bank account which will accrue you (30%) of this fund .

Please honesty is the watch word in this transaction. I will require your telephone and fax numbers so that we can commence communication immediately. In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence .I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith.

FEEL FREE TO LOGON TO THIS WEBSITE:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4368806.stm

Please kindly reply to this e-mail: stellaobasanjo@netscape.net

sincerely yours,
Abiola Caroline Edo.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just who's plastic were the surgeons exrtacting*

* I appologize. Given the Nigerian scams I just could not resist
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 10/25/2005 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  check your spam dump..and get the chance of a lifetime.
Posted by: Red Dog || 10/25/2005 4:27 Comments || Top||

#3  And just what were those benefits of socialized medicine?
Posted by: DoDo || 10/25/2005 14:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Zowie Fred, that was fast.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/25/2005 14:27 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan-Pak-India
2 more tremors recorded
ISLAMABAD: Two earthquakes of over five magnitude jolted Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad and Mansehra on Monday. The first earthquake of five magnitude was felt at 12:28am and the second of 5.2 magnitude jolted the areas at 6:14pm, putting the total number of aftershocks at 909 since the October 8 earthquake of 7.6 magnitude that killed more than 50,000 and injured over 75,000 people.
They're not gonna stop until you all become Unitarians, y'know...
The epicentre of the latest earthquake was 30 to 40 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad, the same as the major earthquake. Media reports predicting a massive earthquake on November 9 also created panic. Despite repeated clarifications from the Metrological Office that there wasn’t any scientific method to forecast earthquakes, rumours continued to circulate.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I love that logo!
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/25/2005 5:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Ms. Trailing wife, thanks a lot for the nice comment on my little nephew yesterday, it's much appreciated, I'll transmit it to Adeline and Benjamin. Cheers!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/25/2005 5:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Not that it has anything to do with the Halliburton earthquake machine and the pakistani disaster, of course.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/25/2005 5:45 Comments || Top||


NWFP Assembly protests ISPR DG’s breakfast in Ramazan when quake hit
PESHAWAR: The provincial assembly erupted into uproar on Monday when the religious affairs minister alleged that the ISPR director general was having breakfast during Ramazan when the earthquake struck.
Having breakfast? Oh, horrors! Quick, Ethel! My pills!
NWFP Religious Affairs Minister Maulana Amanullah Haqqani showed to the house a newspaper clipping which reported that Major General Shaukat Sultan was having breakfast when the earthquake rocked NWFP, Kashmir and other parts of the country at 8:51am on October 8. “It was Ramazan, and the general was not fasting,” said the Religious Affairs minister.
"And that's why the earthquake happened! It's all his fault!"
Haqqani’s remarks triggered uproar in the house, with government and opposition members trading insults.
"Yer mudder wears combat boots!"
"A curse on your moustache!"
Nighat Yasmeen Orakzai of the PML said that this was a personal matter on no public importance. “He was not having breakfast openly in the bazaar, but at his own home in Islamabad,” said Orakzai.
"Don't you people have anything more important to seethe about?"
“Whether he (Shaukat Sultan) was having it at his home or in the bazaar, it was (during) Ramazan and he was violating the sanctity of the holy month,” said Amanat Shah of the MMA. Opposition Leader Shahzada Gustasip said that Allah had excused ill people from fasting. Gen Sultan could have been ill, he said, urging members not to speculate without proof.
He was probably sick of the MMA's constant priggish nattering...
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope his breakfast consisted of eggs and bacon. Plenty bacon.
Posted by: JFM || 10/25/2005 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  If Allah was really pissed at him, don't you think he would've had him killed in the quake?
Run that one by Ask The Imam...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/25/2005 10:36 Comments || Top||


250 arrested for looting relief goods
More than 250 people, allegedly involved in looting relief goods, have been apprehended in Mansehra and Balakot areas in the last three days. This was announced at a high level meeting held in Islamabad late Sunday night chaired by Major General Nadeem Ahmad. The reports of looting of relief trucks were widely reported in the media. President Musharraf had ordered strict action against those involved Those arrested belong to Kohistan, Shangla, Punjab and Sindh. A first information report (FIR) has been lodged against them.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Islamabad is on five major fault lines
Islamabad is situated on five major fault lines, one of which is exactly underneath the Faisal Mosque.
That's the one known throughout the Ummah as "Your Fault".
And there's no word for "My Fault".
Allah Bakhsh Kosar, the director of the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP), and MZ Babar, a GSP geo-physicist, told Daily Times on Monday that it could not be determined when these fault lines will cause another earthquake. The officials said that an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.7 was reported a few days ago, and had its epicentre near Shahzad Town.

They said that the fault lines under Islamabad were around 30 million years old. “The earthquakes have to come sooner or later. The important thing is how well we are prepared to face them,” they said, adding that the entire country, except the planes of Punjab, was tectonically fractured. They said that the ancient civilisation of Taxila might also have perished from a severe earthquake. A major two-kilometre fault line was situated under Havellian, they said.

The GSP officials said that when the government had planned to declare Islamabad the federal capital, its seismic zoning was conducted. Geologists had warned the then government that Islamabad was prone to high intensity earthquakes because it was situated in an active earthquake zone. The officials said that it was not advisable to construct high-rise buildings in Islamabad. They said that no building structure higher than two stories should be allowed in the federal capital, as the earth’s crust in Islamabad could not sustain the weight of high-rise buildings.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamabad is on five major fault lines

Does it get any better?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/25/2005 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Allan sez: move back 6 centuries
Posted by: Frank G || 10/25/2005 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  "Your Fault". And here I thought it was St.Andreras'Fault!
Posted by: raptor || 10/25/2005 6:46 Comments || Top||

#4  New Orleans was fun, but hey, it's great to be back in my hometown. You'll be hearing about me soon.
Posted by: Fly Ash Liberation Army || 10/25/2005 8:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Insh'Allan!
Posted by: imoyaro || 10/25/2005 8:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Anybody spotted any 'aid' trucks that look like this running around Pakistan?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/25/2005 9:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Link didn't work; copy/paste (Vibroseis truck)
http://www.litho.ucalgary.ca/transect_info/snorcle/photos/vibtruck.html
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/25/2005 9:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Geez guys get with the program.

That's Bush's Fault.

Then there's Haliburton's Fault, Jooos Fault, India's Fault and THEN Your Fault.
Posted by: AlanC || 10/25/2005 10:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Five? Hmmmm. Domestic Islamists, Al-Quada, Nukes, India, America. I miss any?
Posted by: Abu - SVU Bahgdad || 10/25/2005 10:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Fault lines in Tehran? Let it be so, Allan.
Posted by: Elmese Elminens4980 || 10/25/2005 11:20 Comments || Top||

#11  Teheran has a giant volcano on its outskirts.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/25/2005 22:19 Comments || Top||

#12  ,I>They said that no building structure higher than two stories should be allowed in the federal capital, as the earth’s crust in Islamabad could not sustain the weight of high-rise buildings.

Thin crust? I see that the journalists have the geologic and geotechnical nuances mastered. I think that the earth's crust sustains the weight of high rise buildings just dandy. The buildings just can't dance. And that is the Paks' problem, Inshallan, baby, if you do not do your lower division class homework.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/25/2005 22:25 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
TV Shut Down for Being Right
Nigerian authorities have banned the private television station whose reporters were the first to find the site where an airliner crashed killing all 117 on board, the National Broadcasting Commission announced yesterday. Reporters from Lagos-based African Independent Television (AIT) were the first to reveal Sunday that the Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 had come down a short distance outside Lagos in the village of Lissa, a cocoa growing area near President Olusegun Obasanjo’s farm in Otta.

Earlier, several Nigerian officials had incorrectly told journalists that the crash site was in Kishi, a remote rural area 400 km further north. AIT’s report allowed many reporters traveling to the scene to alter course and head for the true location. Despite this, a statement from the National Broadcasting Commission accused Nigerian outlets in general of causing “confusion” in the international media through their reporting.
Posted by: Fred || 10/25/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what would happen if ABCCBSNBCPBS were ever right on something?
Posted by: Jackal || 10/25/2005 22:13 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2005-10-25
  'Bomb' at San Diego Airport Was Toy, Cookie
Mon 2005-10-24
  Palestine Hotel in Baghdad Hit by Car Bombs
Sun 2005-10-23
  Islamist named in Mehlis report held
Sat 2005-10-22
  Bush calls for action against Syria
Fri 2005-10-21
  Hariri murder probe implicates Syria
Thu 2005-10-20
  US, UK teams search quake rubble for Osama Bin Laden
Wed 2005-10-19
  Sammy on trial
Tue 2005-10-18
  Assad brother-in-law named as suspect in Hariri murder
Mon 2005-10-17
  Bangla bans HUJI
Sun 2005-10-16
  Qaeda propagandist captured
Sat 2005-10-15
  Iraqis go to the polls
Fri 2005-10-14
  Louis Attiyat Allah killed in Iraq?
Thu 2005-10-13
  Nalchik under seige by Chechen Killer Korps
Wed 2005-10-12
  Syrian Interior Minister "Commits Suicide"
Tue 2005-10-11
  Suspect: Syrian Gave Turk Bombers $50,000


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