KUWAIT - Kuwait has arrested four Iraqi âpiratesâ who used a stolen boat to rob Kuwaiti ships, state news agency KUNA said on Wednesday.
"Yarrrr! We be dread Iraqi pirates!"
"We be the cops! Stick 'em up!"
Mubarak Al Omairi of the Kuwaiti Coast Guard was quoted as saying a patrol seized the men after a sea chase, following reports of armed robbery in Kuwaiti territorial waters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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A man was found guilty at a London court Tuesday of the Islamic âhonour killingâ of a man who had a secret relationship with his sister. Afghan-born Ahmed Bashir, 21, was hacked to death after 20-year-old Nighat Afsarâs family found out about their relationship, which they deemed an insult to their âhonourâ as Muslims. Her brother Waseem Afsar and Nisar Khan chased Bashir into a garden and inflicted 40 stab wounds, mainly to the groin, with a scimitar sword and a 10-inch knife. As he tried to intervene, Bashirâs friend Abdul Ebrahimkhail, 24, was also wounded in the July 1996 attack in Hounslow, west London, a suburb with a high South Asian population near the cityâs main Heathrow airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Presidential candidate Evo Morales on Wednesday criticized Bolivia's leader for sending 30 surface-to-air missiles to the United States for deactivation.
The debate over the missiles began last month when Morales said that President Eduardo Rodriguez had given up the shoulder-launched missiles. Morales maintains that Bolivia needs those missiles because it has no other air defense missiles and lacks a military radar system.
In comments to Congress Tuesday, Defense Minister Gonzalo Mendez Gutierrez said the missiles, purchased from China in the 1990s, had become obsolete and were sent to the United States to be deactivated. He said they presented ``a high risk'' because they had not properly cared for.
Yep, proper care is something you'd want to do to SAM's.
The destruction of the missiles, apparently linked to a U.S.-led campaign to rid the region of portable arms that could fall into the hands of terrorists, increasingly has become a campaign issue for Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party. Rodriguez is not a candidate.
The president ``told me the missiles weren't in the United States, that they had been deactivated and were in Bolivia. I think the president lied to me,'' Morales told reporters. He said he would start a legal process to have Rodriguez and Mendez charged with treason. ``You can't permit this kind of treachery toward the country,'' Morales said.
They could have given the missiles to France, China, Spain or Qatar for proper deactivation and no one would say boo. I think I know what the problem is.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Firefighters stood in their underwear during a protest in Spainâs North African enclave of Melilla. The firemen staged the demonstration to demand better working conditions and safety equipment.
The firefighters, who are not seeking an increase in pay, said that the unusual protest was designed to raise public awareness of the shortcomings of the fire service in Melilla, which currently has just one, 28-year-old fire engine at its disposal.
#1
If you thought it was dangerous standing in line to apply for work with the Iraqi security forces or vote in Mosul, just wait till the box office opens on this production. Well, at least it'll get those on the fence to seek out their 72 virgins now rather than later. Best they go directly to DVD and Amazon for the movie's release.
#2
I've been wondering why some of the wits out there haven't been making basement budget movies that make fun of Islam, and posting them as viral videos on the Internet.
You could shoot such a movie anywhere from OK to CA, wear lots of really unflattering makeup and fake noses so you couldn't be identified, and you could be as nasty as you wanna be.
You could get some Jim Carrey-like guy to play the frenetic, insane, homicidal pedophile Mocmud to the hilt. If nothing else, while other actors talk, you could show him chasing various animals in the background. The animals he owns could have little pink ribbons around their collars. Gags like that.
His visions of Allan would be after smoking hashish and getting really drunk, and the angel that talks to him could quote while reading from Dianetics, The Book of Mormon, and the Communist Manifesto. The angel could arrive and depart in a cardboard box, with Tardis sound effects.
Guaranteed it would be a hit in the Middle East, especially with Arabic subtitles, and would be followed with many cries for bloody vengeance--extra ironic if everyone in the movie who screams for murder and violence and war are just the most disgusting lot imagineable.
The US yesterday threatened to block a record-breaking arms deal under which Spain would sell ships and aircraft to Venezuela, in another sign of increasingly fraught relations between the Bush administration and the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez.
The US claimed that a â¬1.3bn (£890m) arms deal with Mr Chávez, who is a vocal supporter of Cuba's Fidel Castro and a fierce critic of the Bush administration, could destabilise the region. The deal, due to be signed in Caracas on Monday, includes four coastal patrol ships, four corvettes, 10 C-295 transport planes and two maritime surveillance planes. It would be a massive boost to Spain's ailing shipyard industry and to the rest of its defence industry.
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/24/2005 01:33 ||
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#1
sez more about our "increasingly fraught" relations with Zappy and his ilk
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2005 1:45 Comments ||
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#5
It might, if it comes with US-trained technicians from Spain. And in the meanwhile, it will give Chavez' takeover of Latin America a big boost - especially destabilizing Columbia.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/24/2005 12:07 Comments ||
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#9
The EADS CASA C-295 is like a junior sized Herculese C-130 (about half the payload). Looks like a neat plane. I'm sure that Spain is looking at this deal as a good source of foreign exchange. Damn the consequences. Then the US has to clean up the messes that Hugo will make with them. *sigh*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#10
It might be more than that, AP. Zapatero and Chavez are getting chummy and both want to hurt the US and its influence in Latin America.
Re: corvettes, I suspect it's not the car he's buying but a patrol boat a little smaller than a destroyer, fast, well-suited both for attacks on neighboring countries and on subs that get close to Venezuela.
U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, a leading proponent of free trade and the only openly gay Republican in Congress, announced Wednesday he won't seek a 12th term in 2006. Kolbe, first elected in 1984, acknowledged in 1996 that he is gay and has often disagreed with his party on gay rights issues. Kolbe, 63, released a statement Wednesday saying it was time that he and his district "walk down different paths."
"I make this decision not out of despair or discouragement or even uncertainty about my political prospects for election," he said. "I have both the energy and the enthusiasm for the job I do, and I am confident that I would win re-election if I chose to run."
Kolbe said in a conference call later he didn't have specific plans, but he had always wanted to teach or do consulting work. Because of self-imposed Republican term limits, Kolbe will lose the chairmanship of the powerful House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations and export financing in 2006, something that he admits factored into his decision to retire. He said the atmosphere in Washington was also another factor.
"The mood on Capitol Hill is not a pleasant one. The mood in our country, politically, is not good," he said. "There's a diviseness that I think we haven't seen in a long time and I worry about that. I like to think that I've been a moderating influence on that."
One of the proverbial "cardinals" in Congress - chairman of a panel that determines how much money Congress spends - Kolbe has been a strong proponent of free trade and a key backer of President Bush's Millennium Challenge Account that rewards poor countries that show a commitment to economic and government reform.
Former state Rep. Randy Graf, a conservative who challenged Kolbe in 2004, has said he plans to run again in 2006. Kolbe said Wednesday he wasn't backing anyone, but when asked, he dismissed Graf as a viable candidate to win a general election.
Other Republicans mentioned as possible candidates for the seat include Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, former Republican National Committeeman Mike Hellon, former Pima County Republican Chairman John Munger and state Reps. Steve Huffman and Jonathan Paton. State Sen. Gabrielle Giffords has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate.
#1
Sounds like a rarity - a decent representative. But I think he is right to retire - 20 years in office is more than enough. Sadly, his good example will not be followed by many others.
Ministers, politicians and scholars from almost 50 Muslim states have gathered for two days in the Moroccan capital for the first Islamic childhood conference, calling for protecting children from abuse, exploitation and harmful traditions, basically the abhorrent female circumcision.
Most of us outside the Muslim world regard slicing little girls' public lips off as something other than just a quaint local custom. I put it in the same category as throwing acid on women who reject their suitors, myself.
The first Islamic Conference of Ministers in Charge of Childhood put special emphasis in its final statement called the "Rabat Declaration" on female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices discriminating girls, underlining it is against Islam. Organised by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), the declaration spared harsh criticism for FGM.
As written, that looks like they didn't criticize it harshly, which doesn't surprise me. I'd have used words like "a stench and an abomination," "loathesome in the sight of God," and probably "burn in the lowest reaches of hell for all eternity." But then, I'm not a diplomat, either.
It called upon all Muslim states to "take the necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and all harmful traditional or customary practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation."
Child marriage is another of those quaint local customs that sets me off. I guess I'm too culturally insensitive.
Muslim scholars for decades have emphasised that there is no Islamic basis for the very harmful practice, which causes many deaths among young girls each year.
Yet they keep lopping them off, don't they?
Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradwi asserted that the practice is by no means obligatory in Islam. Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Canada, said in another fatwa, that there is nothing in the Islamic sources, either the Qurâan or the Sunnah, to suggest that it is a prescribed ritual of initiation for women in Islam.
There are the fatwahs, so all Muslims will now immediately cease doing terrible things to their daughters. Yep. I'm sure of it...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Fred: "public lips"
Hmm, oakly doakly, did not know there are also private lips. Learning something new every day. ;-)
#2
I'd accept the practice if Penile and Scrotal removal were equally applied. Nice way to get rid of the fanatics. Islamic nutcase men being in charge, and insecure puny cowards incapable of really satisfying women as they are, I hold out little hope. Time to broadcast TV with a flood of "The Bobbitt Alternative". Let Islamic women know there is an alternative, and like a turkey, the giblets (heh heh) are removable. When Islamic men have to sleep with one eye open, and lock up the cutlery every nite, a real change may occur
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2005 1:02 Comments ||
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#3
i dunt kno Frank..thats a great idea for the Islamo Bamm0s, but lets not give the girls around here any ideas!
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/24/2005 3:31 Comments ||
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#4
At first glance I'd say this is positive. But excuse my cultural insensitivity when I ask;
In the year 2005, do you need a frickin' two day conference to declare that female circumcision may not be a good thing? And can anyone find another religion that has a need to clarify it's position on such an abhorrent custom?
#5
Heh, DG. Reminds me of the Twain quote: "Man is the only animal that blushes, or has a need to."
Islam is the only religion ideology that has a need to hold a conference - on a whole shitload of barbaric insanity. They would probably reply that they did finally get around to it, after 1400 years hold a conference. Pretty soon they'll announce a schedule of conferences on slavery, honor killings, the burning need for burqas, stonings, suicide bombers, acid baths for uppity femalians, burning girls' schools, blowing up ancient statuary, Mohammed & Gidget Go To DisneyLand Paradise, Barbie - Satanic Infidel Whore, Piggy Banks and why they skeer us, Qat - The Chew of the Ages, Moskkks as Armories - The Holy Hand Grenades of Allah, Shari'a - Misunderstood Truths, Taqiya = Truth to Power, Victimology 101, and Soccer Stadiums are for Shooting Wymyns, I'll bet. See how reasonable they are?
#7
Heh, Zen. Twain is The Man when it comes to pithiness. As far as I can determine, I've read everything he ever wrote that was published, including letters, speeches, etc.
It's damned hard to pick one from the thousands, my all-time favorites are:
I tried him with mild jokes, then with severe ones.
Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to share it with.
Truth is good manners; manners are a fiction.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
At the Pearly Gates: Upon arrival do not speak to St Peter until spoken to.
Do not begin any remark with, "Say."
Leave your dog outside. Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit you would stay out and the dog would go in.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained.
On America: We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty.
If you pick up a dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
And for Thanksgiving: Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Posted by: the Dog ||
11/24/2005 16:55 Comments ||
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#9
And to think the same folks that do this actually think they should be allowed to develope a nuke? Good lord. And to call it Circumcision, this is not circucision! It Mutilation for the sake of power and dominance.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
11/24/2005 20:48 Comments ||
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#10
All time favorite:
"I never let school interfere with my education."
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
(A latter day equivalent of; "Never miss an opportunity to shut up.")
Finally:
"Do good. It will amaze your friends and confound your enemies."
Heh, again, Zen. I agree wholeheartedly regards The Man. He had so much right, and in a time when one could, indeed, expect to be tarred and feathered for upsetting the citizenry, he had to have a silver tongue to survive, lol.
I love that he was correct: he came in with Halley's Comet, and he went out on its next appearance. That gave us many many years of his wit to treasure through the ages.
One of my favorite anecdotes came from an interview he gave to Kipling, who came away enthralled with Twain, happily babbling about the honor of smoking two cigars with him. Twain's characterization of the young Kipling was signature:
After Kipling departed, Mrs Clemens asked what her husband thought of the young writer. Twain replied that he thought Kipling was the most remarkable man he had ever met: "Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows what can be known, and I know the rest."
#12
Oh, I forgot (every day is the same in my world, heh), I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, too.
It is still OK to say Thanksgiving, isn't it? I know the Injuns, "native residents of this particular landmass, after they removed whomever was here before they showed up", seem to have a bug up their asses to strike it down. As someone with some of that ethnicity floating around inside, I think they're asshole and morons, but they didn't hold a referendum so I couldn't let them know how I felt.
Only Alley Oop has the "right" to be semi-sanctimonious, heh. Mainly he has the right to be extremely grateful for the Yucatan Meteorite that took out the dinosaurs, lol.
Same goes for me, .com. Every day is Christmas (as in 'pay forward') and every day is Thanksgiving, too. There is no better time than now to make sure that good will and fellowship are given the greatest regard.
GUJRANWALA: A girl, who had been sold, escaped her captors in Sindh and reached home after one year.
Sold. As in "slavery."
Sumaira of Owais Qarni Road in Noshehra Sansi had been working at Khalidâs house in Shaheenabad. A year ago, Khalid took her to Sadiqabad saying that he would get her meet her relatives. Khalid sold Sumaira to Nazar Muhammad in Sindh for Rs 25,000.
"She's a comely wench, well worth the price!"
She alleged that Nazar Muhammad had raped her. On Tuesday night, Sumaira escaped from Sindh and reached Sabzi Mandi Police where she recorded her statement. Sumaira said Nazar Muhammad had other 13 girls, whom he had bought for marrying. She said Nazar Muhammad had forced her to marry him, although she was married and had a child. Sumaira said the accused had been allegedly raping all the 14 captive girls.
Got himself a nice little harem there, doesn't he?
She said a gang from Peopleâs Colony sold girls to people with influence in Sindh after kidnapping them. Sumaira said that her husbandâs brotherâs wife had also been kidnapped and was still in private detention in Sindh. She said whenever Punjab Police tried raiding these captors in Sindh, the Sindh police informs them in advance and they shift the girls to some other place. Sabzi Mandi Police has started investigation.
I'm sure they'll get right on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"She alleged that Nazar Muhammad had raped her."
Then she is despoiled and a shame upon her family, and she must be stoned to death. At least that's how I think it goes.
Non-government organisations (NGOs) are spreading vulgarity and un-Islamic and anti-Pakistan values under the guise of uplift projects, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) member of the National Assembly (MNA), said on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, he said that the MMA government would not tolerate any activities that were misguiding the younger generation of Pakistanis. âWe (MMA) are not against the Aga Khan Foundation or any other organisation in particular and we are even running our own NGOs,â he said, adding, âhowever, we will not allow those organisations, which are involved in un-Islamic and anti-Pakistan activities to continue.â
âWe are against the NGOs who invite women from rural districts such as Chitral for training and workshops in Islamabad, where they are given an opportunity to indulge in immoral and vulgar activities like thinking for themselves and laughing at my tiny moustache. When I want a woman's opinion, by Allan, I'll give it to her,â Maulana Chitrali told Daily Times. He said that in the weekly or monthly workshops held by these NGOs, veiled women from the rural areas took off their veils, thus spreading vulgarity and violating the traditions of Pakistani society. âIf they are genuinely interested in social development then why are these NGOs not holding their workshops in the rural areas?â he asked.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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MIANWALI: Wan Bhachran police have arrested nine people after registering a case against 13 for the forced marriage of two minor girls in practise of the custom of Vani in Mianwali. This is the first case registered in Punjab since the enactment of the Vani and honour-killing law. Reportedly, five men from the Sheray Khel tribe were booked in 1955 for murdering two men from their rival Joaiey Khel tribe.
That was... ummm... carry the 3, square root of 59... that can't be right... divide by 12... 50 years ago.
The five fled and hid in a house in village Wichwin Bala. Muhammad Nawaz of the Joaiey Khel tribe tipped off the aggrieved party about their hideout after which men from the Joaiey Khel tribe attacked them and killed one of the alleged murderers and critically injured another. Both parties settled the dispute out of court in 1960.
45 years ago...
All was well till the recently held local government elections when Ahmed Sher, a close relative of Nawaz, contested for the naib nazim seat of UC Muzaffarpur Shumali. Ahmed Sher went to the Sheray Khael tribe for votes who told him that they still had grudge against Nawaz, now 80.
"And then there was that incident with great-great-grand uncle twice... no, four times removed Nizamuddin, back in 1783. We ain't fergot that, neither!"
The Sheray Khel tribe agreed to vote for Ahmed Sher in exchange for two girls from the Nawazâs family.
"Hrarrr! Hand over some wenches an' we'll vote fer yez!"
Muhammad Khan, the nephew of Nawaz, agreed to wed his two minor daughters to the boys of the Sheray Khel tribe. Asia, 5, was wedded to Amir, 18, and Fauzia, 6, was wedded to Islam, 8, on August 6, 2005.
Got that? 5-year-old Asia got to be diddled by an 18-year-old. Fauzia and the appropriately named Islam got to play doctor together until one or the other of them is old enough to figure what to do with their pants off.
A correspondent of a local daily unearthed the case on which the police booked 13 people under Section 310 (a) and 109 of the PPC on November 22 and arrested nine of them: three from the girlsâ family and six from the boysâ family. The fathers of both the grooms said they were ready to let their sons divorce the girls.
"Hrarrr! We didn't vote fer the sonofabitch anyway! Shoulda arrested him, too!"
"How we gonna arrest him? He's a politician!"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
KUWAIT - Kuwait has arrested four Iraqi âpiratesâ who used a stolen boat to rob Kuwaiti ships, state news agency KUNA said on Wednesday. 
A man was found guilty at a London court Tuesday of the Islamic âhonour killingâ of a man who had a secret relationship with his sister. Afghan-born Ahmed Bashir, 21, was hacked to death after 20-year-old Nighat Afsarâs family found out about their relationship, which they deemed an insult to their âhonourâ as Muslims. Her brother Waseem Afsar and Nisar Khan chased Bashir into a garden and inflicted 40 stab wounds, mainly to the groin, with a scimitar sword and a 10-inch knife. As he tried to intervene, Bashirâs friend Abdul Ebrahimkhail, 24, was also wounded in the July 1996 attack in Hounslow, west London, a suburb with a high South Asian population near the cityâs main Heathrow airport.
Ministers, politicians and scholars from almost 50 Muslim states have gathered for two days in the Moroccan capital for the first Islamic childhood conference, calling for protecting children from abuse, exploitation and harmful traditions, basically the abhorrent female circumcision. 
GUJRANWALA: A girl, who had been sold, escaped her captors in Sindh and reached home after one year. 
Non-government organisations (NGOs) are spreading vulgarity and un-Islamic and anti-Pakistan values under the guise of uplift projects, 
âWe are against the NGOs who invite women from rural districts such as Chitral for training and workshops in Islamabad, where they are given an opportunity to indulge in immoral and vulgar activities 
