Are there NO depths to which Bush/Cheney/Halliburton won't go to keep their fascistic control??? This year, making warmer weather so peoples' heating bills will be lower? What depraved plot will Rove come up with for 07???
STRENUOUS efforts were continuing yesterday to secure
“The kidnappers, linked to the so-called Niger Delta Frontier Force, are reported to have demanded £21 million for the men's release.”
the release of four Scottish oil workers kidnapped at gunpoint in Nigeria a week ago. George McLean, 42, of Elgin, Paul Smith, 30, of Peterhead, Sandy Cruden, of Inverurie, and Graham Buchan, also from the North-east, were taken hostage last Tuesday after militants stormed an Exxon Mobil compound for contract workers in Eket, near Port Harcourt. Two security guards were shot and killed in the raid in which three other foreign oil workers were also kidnapped. The kidnappers, linked to the so-called Niger Delta Frontier Force, are reported to have demanded ÂŁ21 million for the men's release.
NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - A couple caught having sex in a Kenyan mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have been sentenced to 18 months jail for what the judge called an "abominable" affront to religion.
Peter Kimani and Jennifer Wairimu pleaded guilty to the charge of having sex in a place of worship after being caught on October 3 at the Abubakar mosque in Gilgil, about 60 miles north of Nairobi. Neither is a Muslim.
A worshipper heading for evening prayers found the couple having sex after investigating what the prosecution described as strange noises emanating from a dark corner of the mosque.
Kimani and Wairimu both pleaded for clemency at Monday's hearing, saying they were too drunk to know where they were. Kimani told the court he thought he was in a lodging house.
John King'ori, senior magistrate in nearby Naivasha, dismissed their plea.
"Having sex in a mosque is a most abominable thing to religion and only a custodial sentence can add justice to this," he said.
#3
Jeez, we found a couple at my church (Baptist) making hanky-panky in the bushes when I was in middle school. What did we do? Yelled and laughed at them. That was enough. Now, you go to jail (Kenyan jail, at that) for 18 months? Yeah, some religion of peace.
Posted by: BA ||
10/10/2006 12:24 Comments ||
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#4
If only it'd been an imam diddling a little boy (or a goat), it would have been fine.
Posted by: Dar ||
10/10/2006 12:54 Comments ||
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South Africa is set to seize two more white-owned farms, to fast-track land reforms in an attempt to rectify apartheid-era imbalances. One of the farms is owned and run by a church, a senior government-land official said on Monday. "The minister of lands has signed the notices of expropriation and they have been sent. The owners have 30 days to respond, following which we will begin expropriation procedures," Tozi Gwanya, the chief land claims commissioner said.
Gwanya said one farm was located near the mining town of Cullinan, where the world's biggest diamonds are found, and the other is in the Northern Cape Province. "The claimants to the Cullinan farm are two local families while the local African Pniel community are staking claim to the Northern Cape farm, which is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa," he said. Gwanya said negotiations in both cases had been dragging on for two years. He said the state had offered $66,515 in compensation for the 106-hectare Cullinan farm, while the owner, OJ Botha, was demanding more.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2006 00:00 ||
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Most of the Lutherans in S. Africa are black or mixed race. So, how are they calling this church owned farm a white farm?
#3
If the white farmers in South Africa have any sense, they will take whatever they can get for their farms and flee for their lives. The ANC is doing a slow motion Zimbabwe on the white farmers, and if they wait too long, they will suffer the fate of the Rhodesians.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2006 8:45 Comments ||
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#8
Rhodesia, the Sequel. I agree Shieldwolf. Unless they are prepared to take arms, declare independence and fight to the death, they better run for their lives.
#12
He said the state had offered $66,515 in compensation for the 106-hectare Cullinan farm, while the owner, OJ Botha, was demanding more.
106 hectares is slightly less than 262 acres, so the South African government is offering the generous sum of $254 per acre No wonder OJ Botha is still negotiating or perhaps the government is projecting what the land will be worth after several years of operation by the "two local families."
#13
They'll soon be whining and crying about starvation and begging for a handout. I say make our feedstocks into ethanol. No exports. Feed ouselves and let these f**kups figure it out themselves. Goodbye.
#16
TW, didn't Israel include South Africa in their nuclear testing and development ? In fact, doesn't SA have their own nukes ? Or am I confusing nukes with beer kegs ?
#18
Also, South Africa has large deposits of uranium and a well-trained cadre of nuclear scientists. Please refer back to the joint American-British research on nuclear weapons in the late 1940s and 50s, and take a look at the names on the British side : several South Africans there.
Putin's true colors on display. Why isn't this being denounced in the US? Since when is murdering those who expose your crimes an acceptable behavior for a 'democratic' leader?
MOSCOW-- Hundreds of ordinary Russians, journalists and Western diplomats Tuesday filed past an open casket to pay their respects to slain reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Kremlin critic whose contract-style killing triggered international outrage.
But no high-ranking government officials attended the funeral of the award-winning journalist, who made her name fearlessly exposing abductions and torture in the war in Chechnya.
"The authorities are cowards. Why didn't they come? Are they afraid even of a dead Politkovskaya?" asks Boris Nemtsov, a prominent 1990s reformer who served as deputy prime minister under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
Politkovskaya, 48, was gunned down in her apartment building Saturday. The killing threw a new spotlight on the risks faced by journalists who criticize Russian authorities and dig deep to expose abuses.
At home and abroad, her slaying drew widespread concern about dwindling media freedom in Russia since President Vladimir Putin came to power nearly seven years ago and calls for authorities to find and punish her killers. Prosecutors have said she was probably killed because of her journalistic work, but there are no immediate leads.
More than 1,000 mourners who had gathered under the drizzle filed in slow procession past the open casket where Politkovskaya lay in a funeral hall on the outskirts of Moscow, her forehead covered with a white ribbon according to Russian Orthodox tradition.
They placed flowers, mostly roses and carnations, around the coffin, while others held thin yellow prayer candles. Many wept.
"Anya lived and died a hero," said veteran human rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva. "She couldn't bear seeing how people suffer, how they're in trouble, and that's why she rushed to their help as if she were the most powerful person in the world, not waiting for other help to arrive."
U.S. Ambassador William Burns attended the ceremony.
"I hope that this tragic death will lead to greater respect for freedom of speech, for the importance of speaking the truth and achieving fairness and truth," Burns told the mourners.
Putin issued a brief statement after a conversation with U.S. President George W. Bush promising an "objective investigation" into Politkovskaya's killing, three days after her death, but he has not spoken publicly about the crime.
Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika has taken personal charge of the investigation, but Politkovskaya's colleagues have expressed doubts her slaying will be solved. Her newspaper has pledged to conduct an independent investigation and offered a nearly million-dollar reward for information that would help solve the crime.
The family of Paul Klebnikov, a U.S. journalist whose 2004 slaying in Moscow remains unresolved, said Politkovskaya's death sent yet another worrying signal.
"Who's next?" Klebnikov's widow, Musa asked in a statement. "Without journalists such as Anna Politkovskaya and Paul Klebnikov, as well as many others who say truths some find uncomfortable - you cannot build civil society in Russia."
Russia is the third-most deadly country for journalists, after Iraq and Algeria, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which says Politkovskaya was at least the 43rd reporter killed for her work in Russia since 1993.
A fierce critic of the wars in the rebellious province of Chechnya, Politkovskaya reported on abuses by forces of the Russian military and Moscow-backed government. Colleagues said she had been working on a story about torture and abductions in Chechnya, abuses she blamed on Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov.
In a newspaper interview published Monday, Kadyrov denied any link to Chechnya in the killing.
Politkovskaya's colleagues described her as a brave reporter and a courageous woman who would venture into war-shattered Chechen villages not just to conduct investigations for her stories but also to help ordinary people. At times she was in such danger that people tried to protect her by taking her from village to village in a car trunk, said her closest collaborator at the paper, Vyacheslav Izmailov.
#1
Old news. Since when is Putin a democratic leader? Putin's soulful eyes aside, Russia in 2006 is no more a democracy than Zim-Bob-we or China. It's nice that they couldn't yet just openly arrest her and exile her to Siberia for life the way they would have in Soviet days, but that's the direction they're heading
Posted by: just sayin ||
10/10/2006 11:23 Comments ||
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Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Monday that a high-ranking Russian diplomat was ordered out of the Baltic republic "for espionage". He was quoted by the Interfax News Agency as saying that "since the diplomat is guilty, we expel him: now we shall wait for answering actions of Russia". He did not elaborate on Lithuanian media comments on the matter, but noted that "this incident will not affect the Lithuanian-Russian relations". Western and local mass media said that the Russian diplomat was declared a persona non grata "for attempts to influence the stance of Lithuanian representatives on settlement of the Russian-Georgian conflict".
#1
In true Lefty = ultra-Lefty TRIANGULATION - you know, QUADRILATERALISM, etc. - looks like GEORGIA may become another hotspot ala IRAN + NORTH KOREA includ TAIWAN. RUSSIA > warned Georgia that it may support efforst of local separatists wid its armed forces.
LONDON (AFP) - European aircraft maker Airbus has set aside around 1.0 billion euros (1.26 billion dollars) to compensate airlines for delays in delivery of its troubled A380 superjumbo.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said that the estimate, which was equivalent to 690 million pounds, was contained within the 4.8-billion-euro loss forecast last week as a result of chronic delays to the flagship A380.
Airbus has not made no provisions however to cover possible cancellations from airlines for the 134 orders taken so far, the report said Monday. Airbus hoped it could "satisfy angry customers by either reducing the cost of the sales package or easing their pain with a compensation offer", the daily added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2006 00:30 ||
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Can anyone confirm that Rolls Royce has stopped work on the A380 engine program? I picked that up this past weekend, cannot remember where, and have not seen it in any publication. And no, I was not reading with beer goggles on....
#7
EADS, Dieing a slow death while Boeing's production line get busy. Gotta love the US aviation industry.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/10/2006 7:50 Comments ||
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I think the A380 will be the final nail in Airbus' coffin. They will still be around, but only to make smaller planes that Boeing won't and to make parts for their exsisting fleet.
#10
Thanks for filling in the blanks Zen and Spec Ops.
And in other Airbus news; while they can't build a working A 380, they are looking at ways to shuffle production around to revive the A350 ( the one that got severly critiqued at the Airshow earlier tis year) they want to move production out of Germany and consolidate it in France. That has the Germans in an uproar, and rightly so. This whole farce reminds me of the failed MacDonnel-Douglas /General Dynamics Navy A-12 fiasco fo the recent past. Trying to make a 50/50 proposition work and keep everybody happy at the expense of efficient production. In the end all you end up with is a pised off customer base, a pile of partially completed airplanes / parts and the competition gets the work. Funny how in both cases Boeing is the winner ( Yes I know that Mac D originally designe and built the Lawn Dart(Hornet), but Boeing's name is on the grille now).
#11
There is more to this for AirBus. They've been trying to get every A380 system they can into A400M production version.
This way they get paid twice for much of the development and production of A380. Systems that end up in A400M (or another military hauler) would be spread over greater numbers than just A380. Although, the accounting is ovbiously separate, the scale of economy is not.
Their project leadership auroa is gone now. Integration of the systems into other projects may not be a given now.
However, RR, has not stopped on Trent 900. Design refinement continues as does design for the support equipment (stands, lifts, etc). They'll still continue production and testing cycles. When necessary they'll scale up.
The days of cigarette-friendly France are about to go up in smoke. The prime minister has announced a ban on smoking in public places like offices, schools and public buildings will start in February, while restaurants, dance clubs and some types of bars can delay applying the order until 2008. "I am convinced the French people are now ready," said Dominique de Villepin, adding France to a growing list of European nations like Ireland, Spain, Britain and Italy to adopt similar measures.
"The issue is ripe in our country, given the experiences that we know of elsewhere." Villepin, speaking in an interview on LCI television, said the ban will be ordered 'by decree' in the next few days, a manoeuvre that allows the government to avert a potentially explosive parliamentary debate ahead of presidential and legislative elections next year. Many French treasure their right to light up in cafes, bars or restaurants, and have sought to cast the debate as one of freedoms being infringed.
Which it is, of course. I've quit — it's been just under a month since I laid down my pipe, and I miss it every day. Contrary to the propaganda, the smell of my pipe never killed anyone, though I'll admit it made a few people gag now and then. The only person whose health was damaged was me. But being able to tell other people what to do seems to be an addiction that's even worse than nicotine, and even harder to break.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2006 00:00 ||
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I lost my first wife to lung cancer so I've got as much reason to hate tobacoo as anybody. But I refuse to preach at people about it and its ill effects on health. However at the same time I'm glad we have a local smoking ban in restraunts so I don't have to be subjected to the stench of a cheap cigar when enjoying a meal.
#2
Fred, my darling mother-in-law quite smoking some forty years ago. She still occasionally has dreams of smoking, she says. Congratulations and good luck! Apparently tomacco is one of the most difficult addictions to quit.
#3
Good luck Fred. I quit (after 2+ packs/day for some 35 years -- yikes) about 5 years ago - girlfriend (now wife) said it had to go. In my case patches helped. It is well worth it beleve me. I didn't think I would ever be able to quit.
Of course now I can't stand the smell... That doesn't stop the occasional cravings - and sometimes I do dream about having a smoke.
Doctor told me to never -ever- smoke again. Because if I take that first drag my mind will recall all the old addictions and I'll be back at square one again.
Plus my wife (she who _must_ be obeyed :) would be very disappointed. I could never do that to her.
#4
I agree w/ Cheaderhead: smoking kills, but it is not for society to police grown people. My mother lost a piece of one lung to cancer ( as a nurse she, of all poeple should have known better), and my dad died due to complications caused by smoking, but I cannot bring myself to dictating the behaviour of others. I an active in the ACS Relay For Life for raising funds for research, but if you choose to kill yourself one cigarette at a time, go ahead. Lessens congestion on the road for the commute home.
#5
But, even after all these years, if I wake up one morning and the guy on tv says the comet will hit later that afternoon, I will most probably go down to the store and buy a carton.............
Posted by: kelly ||
10/10/2006 18:34 Comments ||
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Mexico's foreign secretary said Monday the country may take a dispute over U.S. plans to build a fence on the Mexican border to the United Nations. Cause, you know, the UN has soverignty over the United States.....
Luis Ernesto Derbez told reporters in Paris, his first stop on a European tour, that a legal investigation was under way to determine whether Mexico has a case.
The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. President-elect Felipe Calderon also denounced the plan, but said it was a bilateral issue that should not be put before the international community.
Derbez said Monday after meeting with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy that it was a "shame" U.S. immigration policy had been used for what he claimed was a short-term political gain in the lead-up to midterm elections in the U.S. in November. Yeah... France is a prime example of immigration policy. Did you ask him about he muslim riots?
He said he discussed the issue with Douste-Blazy, and planned to bring it up in meetings with his Spanish and Italian counterparts during visits to Madrid and Rome. He vowed to work on the case until the "very last day" of President Vicente Fox's term, which ends Dec. 1. Axiom often metioned at my job: You can do anything you want - on your last day of work.
The U.S. Senate approved the border fence bill last month and President Bush has said he will sign it into law _ despite last-minute pleas from the Mexican government for a veto.
#6
Tell Mexico that any attempt to stop us building that fence will be considered an act of war, and we'll totally destroy Mexico's top 40 families in retaliation. That may solve a number of problems we have with Mexico.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2006 18:57 Comments ||
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NEW DELHI: It was real monkey business in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Court ordered deportation of nearly 300 monkeys captured from various areas of the Capital to forests in Madhya Pradesh for a price of Rs.25 lakhs to be given by the Centre to the State Government.
A three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, Justice C. K. Thakker and Justice R. V. Raveendran directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wild Life Warden of Madhya Pradesh to trans-locate the monkeys for proper rehabilitation after they were handed over by the Delhi Government.
The 300 monkeys captured under apex court directions have been kept in cages in the Rajakori area of Delhi for the past three years. The Bench directed the Centre to provide Rs.25 lakhs to the State to meet the expenses to be incurred in carrying out the rehabilitation process.
The Bench passed this order on a public interest petition filed by Geeta Sheshmani seeking rehabilitation and natural habitation for the captured monkeys. Earlier in April 2004 the Court had ordered that the monkeys be trans-located in the forest area of Madhya Pradesh within three weeks but the order was not complied with.
Counsel C. D. Singh appearing for the State Government submitted that shifting of the monkeys would be difficult in view of opposition by the local people. Also, trans-location or rehabilitation would be difficult as the monkeys were not habitual to forest life, accustomed as they were to living in cities. However, he agreed to abide by the Court order.
Earlier, the Centre informed the Court that it had identified six States -- Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh -- for trans-location of the monkeys.
Posted by: john ||
10/10/2006 20:51 ||
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"Simian Cleansing", anyone? What would General Ursus or General Urko have to say about this? Where's the outrage at the UN when you really need it? Is there a Zionist entity connection to all of this?
On a day when North Korea stunned the world with its nuclear test, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) officially nominated its adversary, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to be the next Secretary-General of the world body. Voted by acclamation on Monday after the withdrawal of all six other aspirants, including IndiaÂ’s Shashi Tharoor, BanÂ’s nomination is expected to be formally approved by the 192-member General Assembly within a week or two.
Diplomats at the UN have speculated in recent days that the North Korean plans were timed in part to coincide with Ban’s nomination — and reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s own ninth year in power after succeeding his father, Kim Il Sung, as head of the Korean Workers' Party
In Seoul, Ban expressed gratitude over his nomination and said he would work to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme. He said the South Korean government fully supported the immediate convening of the UNSC for an emergency meeting to deal with the situation arising out of the tests. “Our government has issued a strong statement expressing our deepest concern. All consequences should be borne by North Koreans,” he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2006 00:00 ||
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One of the sunshine boyz
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/10/2006 2:11 Comments ||
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Now NorK will have no choice to take SouK seriously! :-)
#2
These two rovers are a marvelous example of why we should send robots to Mars to prep the place for astronauts.
As long as they have a small nuclear reactor to keep giving them power, they can slowly and methodically keep working, saving vast amounts of time, money and labor. They don't even stop when the people arrive. They don't have to get to Mars quickly, either, they can be sent on an ion drive spaceship.
Their #1 task will be hard-rock mining, digging tunnels for human habitation. The spaceship that brought them there can be completely cannibalized for reinforcing rods that stabilize rock, pressure doors at cave entrances, some hard floors and walls. Literally designed to be completely used, with spare parts for the robots built into the ship.
They can also take with them things like mining explosives, pressure sealant against microfractures, and much thicker and stronger sealant to be used for lining water cisterns.
Once they have dug more than enough tunnel, they can be used to mine water ice.
By doing all of this, they radically increase the length of the human missions. They can bring food instead of equipment, water and oxygen.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/10/2006 18:21 Comments ||
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We build something to last five years, and it lasts 20 (Mars rovers, Pioneer, etc.). Europe builds something to last ten years, and it never gets off the ground (A380) or is incapable of meeting mission requirements (Carrier DeGaulle). Yet we're always pointed to as the "cowboy" or "spoiled children". Free markets, a balanced economy, and reward for achievement once more beat socialistic dream worlds.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2006 19:09 Comments ||
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#5
That is well put, OP.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/10/2006 21:25 Comments ||
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#6
What odds that robots on Mars would have a "body by Caterpillar, brain by Roomba" logo on them?
YANGON - Myanmar’s (Burma’s) junta on Monday flatly denied reports that the country is working on clandestine nuclear facilities, possibly with the assistance of North Korea which has just admitted to conducting its first nuclear test. ‘Many subversive elements are making accusation against our country, but if one studies these (accusations) seriously it is clear that they are totally impossible,’ said Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, Myanmar’s minister of information.
"No, no, certainly not!"
MyanmarÂ’s diplomatic relations with North Korea were cut in 1983 after North Korean spies launched a terrorist attack on a South Korean government delegation that was visiting Yangon, formerly Rangoon. Relations have yet to be restored although there have been unverified reports of sightings of North Korean technicians and workers in Naypyidaw, the militaryÂ’s new capital, situated 300 kilometres north of Yangon.
Myanmar and North Korea share certain similarities. Both are military-run Asian countries deemed pariahs among Western democracies for their refusal to implement political reforms and for neglecting the welfare of their people.
Both have crazy leaders, both have trouble feeding their people, both have neighbors who don't trust them ...
Myanmar reportedly purchased a Russian a nuclear reactor in 2000, although the reactor has yet to be delivered, according to the Irrawaddy magazine in its August, 2006, edition.
This is a country that is barely 20th Century and they want nukes. Great, just great.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2006 00:13 ||
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At least Burma (Myanmar) can feed its people. The country has no natural resources to speak of (except trees and heroin of a good, but not outstanding quality), and could use a nuclear reactor to produce electricity. There isn't much available anywhere in the nation, except a couple of larger cities. They'd have to have someone not only build it, but also run it - Myanmar isn't noted for intellectual development (their intellects usually either leave early, or end up in jail). I doubt they could build a nuke weapon even if they had the opportunity or desire. NKor's dud indicate they don't have the capability either.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2006 19:03 Comments ||
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NYAUNG HNA PIN, Myanmar - MyanmarÂ’s military leaders reopened a long-delayed convention for drafting a constitution on Tuesday, after slamming the party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for boycotting the proceedings.
More than 1,000 delegates attended the convention, the latest phase in a process that started 13 years ago, which human rights groups have denounced as a sham and undemocratic. Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and her opposition group is shunning the convention as undemocratic to protest her continued arrest.
The current session is set to last more than two months. It comes after an eight-month hiatus.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2006 00:11 ||
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"A wave of propaganda created by national and non-national media in the past months has played up the issue of rising prices," Ahmadinejad said in a cabinet meeting, cited by Aftab-e Yazd daily on Tuesday.
These media "have sought to portray the government as incapable as if it had been supposed to reduce the inflation (rate) to zero percent within a year," he said. Not my fault, I swear on my mother's beard!!!
A group of leading university academics wrote in a letter printed in the Iranian press in June that Ahmadinejad's economic policies were "lacking a scientific and expert basis" and risked causing "persistent inflation". Hey, that is not what the 12th Mahdi told me! Wait a minute...I am the 12th Mahdi...
Posted by: Ol Dirty American ||
10/10/2006 13:07 ||
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Well, by all means don't vote him out of office. He talks shit to the U.S., that's very important in your part of the world. Everybody's got to put something into the kitty.
Don't Bring That Booze into My Taxi
by Daniel Pipes
A minor issue at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has potentially major implications for the future of Islam in the United States. Starting about a decade ago, some Muslim taxi drivers serving the airport declared that they would not transport passengers visibly carrying alcohol, in transparent duty-free shopping bags, for example. This stance stemmed from their understanding of the Koran's ban on alcohol. A driver named Fuad Omar explained: "This is our religion. We could be punished in the afterlife if we agree to [transport alcohol]. This is a Koran issue. This came from heaven." Another driver, Muhamed Mursal, echoed his words: "It is forbidden in Islam to carry alcohol."
With this in mind, MAC proposed a pragmatic solution: drivers unwilling to carry alcohol could get a special color light on their car roofs, signaling their views on alcohol to taxi starters and customers alike. From the airport's point of view, this scheme offers a sensible and efficient mechanism to resolve a minor irritant, leaving no passenger insulted and no driver losing business. "Airport authorities are not in the business of interpreting sacred texts or dictating anyone's religious choices," Hogan points out. "Our goal is simply to ensure travelers at [the airport] are well served." Awaiting approval only from the airport's taxi advisory committee, the two-light proposal will likely be in operation by the end of 2006. But on a societal level, the proposed solution has massive and worrisome implications. Namely, the two-light plan intrudes the Shari‘a, or Islamic law, with state sanction, into a mundane commercial transaction in Minnesota. A government authority thus sanctions a signal as to who does or does not follow Islamic law.
What of taxi drivers beyond those at MSP? Other Muslims in Minneapolis-St. Paul and across the country could well demand the same privilege. Bus conductors might follow suit. The whole transport system could be divided between those Islamically observant and those not so. Why stop with alcohol? Muslim taxi drivers in several countries already balk at allowing seeing-eye dogs in their cars. Future demands could include not transporting women with exposed arms or hair, homosexuals, and unmarried couples. For that matter, they could ban men wearing kippas, as well as Hindus, atheists, bartenders, croupiers, astrologers, bankers, and quarterbacks.
MAC has consulted on the taxi issue with the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society, an organization the Chicago Tribune has established is devoted to turning the United States into a country run be Islamic law. The wife of a former head of the organization, for example, has explained that its goal is "to educate everyone about Islam and to follow the teachings of Islam with the hope of establishing an Islamic state." It is precisely the innocuous nature of the two-light taxi solution that makes it so insidious - and why the Metropolitan Airports Commission should reconsider its wrong-headed decision. Readers who wish to make their views known to the MAC can write it at publicaffairs@mspmac.org. If you think it can't happen here think again.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/10/2006 19:12 ||
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"Airport authorities are not in the business of interpreting sacred texts or dictating anyone's religious choices," Hogan points out.
Yeah, we leave that up to the Muslim scholars cabdrivers...
#4
soon they can put swastikas on the doors to show that they don't transport Jews. And of course unaccompanied women or women without hijabs can be transported straight to the brothels. It's all in their religon ya see. Seems to me if they don't like carrying alcohol.
It was an evening that elicited tears, standing ovations, raucous laughter and shouts of joy from the audience - and was just in the first few minutes. Yes, Barbra Streisand's return to touring after a 12-year absence was the extravaganza that it promised to be. Monday night's show at Madison Square Garden was the third stop of a 20-city jaunt across the nation - a virtual lovefest between the ultimate diva and an adoring, sold-out, geriatric, left-leaning, celebrity-dotted crowd of people who think NPR is hip.
Streisand effortlessly crooned through a select repertoire of the hits she's amassed during her four-decade-plus career. But night's most riveting moment came during what was perhaps the only unscripted - and truly uncomfortable - episode in the three-hour show.
There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of very loud jeers as she and "George Bush" - a celebrity impersonator - muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot. Creative writing students, take note: in the next sentence, the writer skillfully uses the literary devices known as "damning with faint praise" and "ironic understatement." For purposes of pedagogy, we will underline the relevant phrases.
Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it got a bit too long, especially for a few in the audience who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.
"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. "Insolent peons," she muttered.
But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it. She pulled out a loaded Kalashnikov assault rifle and emptied a 30-round magazine into--no, wait, she can't do that, she's a gun control advocate. Never mind.
"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"
With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered - no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not when she's ranting in her hometown. "You are peons, and I am the great artist. Your duty is to sit there and worship my greatness. That is why you paid that inflated admission price. And, no, I do not have an inflated ego! Who said that? Security, find that upstart and thrash him, immediately."
Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance "I'm disturbed, and you have to tolerate me!"
before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." Someday, somewhere
We'll find a new way of screeching
We'll find a way of impeaching
Somewhere...
Posted by: Mike ||
10/10/2006 15:29 ||
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#1
Great! 500 bucks a ticket and I get a bad Saturday Night Live skit!
Shut up and sing, cow.
Cree Delivers the First 160-Lumen White Power LED [PR announcement from CREE-mhw family owns shares in CREE]
Monday October 9, 5:00 pm ET
- XLamp LEDs now as efficient as fluorescent sources -
DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE - News), a leader in LED solid-state lighting components, today announced new benchmarks for power LED brightness and efficacy with the release of the newest white Cree XLamp® 7090 power LED. This new XLamp LED, available in volume quantities, produces luminous flux of up to 95 lumens or 85 lumens per watt at 350 mA [compact fluorescents are about 50-80 lumensperwatt], and up to 160 lumens at 700 mA....Cree LEDs are achieving efficacy levels formerly delivered only by the most efficient traditional lighting sources, including fluorescent bulbs. We have established a new class of LED performance," notes Mike Dunn, Cree general manager and vice president, lighting and backlighting LEDs. "Our goal at Cree remains to aggressively increase the brightness and efficacy of our LEDs to ensure that LEDs become a cost-effective, energy-saving alternative for all lighting applications."
IMO, if you can tolerate the harshness of compact fluorescents (CFLs) you should buy them rather than wait for LEDs because the CFLs are cheap compared to whatever retail LEDs will be produced. The big dollar and big energy savings impacts of this and the next generation of LEDs will be in shopping malls, offices & streetlights (although upscale new homes will be using LEDs soon). Right now most of the company's output goes for backlighting of computer and phone screens, automotive applications and the like.
#1
I suppose, but I really hate those squiggly things.
Posted by: kelly ||
10/10/2006 12:56 Comments ||
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#2
Compact fluorescent lights suck great big green donkey nuts. Incandescent lights have a spectrum that is much closer to real sunlight. They are probably much more effective in preventing SADS (Seasonally Affected Disorder Syndrome), and the washed out aenemic spectrum of fluorescent lights makes everyone look like a corpse.
I'll need to see the spectral distribution for these new LEDs before passing judgement on them. The story of how they achieve white light output from LED's is a nice demonstration of engineering finesse.
LEDs normally emit a single frequency of light. This is why their color appears so "pure". It is monochromatic light (monotonic), just like a laser's but not coherent (uniphase). There are also laser LEDs like those used in your CD or DVD players and all sorts of telecom applications, but they are a different critter.
White light is a blend of many different visible frequencies of light. In order to achieve chromatic emission from a monochromatic LED, they use one that emits in the UV (Ultra Violet) range. The interior of it's dome lens is coated with phosphors, just like those used on a conventional television screen. When stimulated by the UV LED, the phosphors undergo secondary emission in the form of white light.
#4
Thanks for keeping us apprised, mhw. You are a dear. :-) I recently discovered that there are compact fluorescents shaped for the cans in my ceiling, and I've been slowly replacing as the old bulbs burn out (except where Mr. Wife notices). I read something that said that if each of us replaces just two regular light bulbs with compact fluorescents, we'll need one less power plant... or something like that. So I'm trying to do my bit.
kelly, I put them in the lamps in the trailing daughters' rooms, in my bedside lamp but not Mr. Wife's (he gets a nice halogen bulb because he shares your opinion), eventually as replacement for about half the cans in the kitchen and basement playroom -- so that the other half set the tone in the room, or so I fondly imagine.
#5
If you don't mind the high price, and want the best possible light, go for an "Ott" light.
John Ott was the time-lapse photography pioneer for Walt Disney studios. With a big budget, he experimented with all kinds of light sources until he found a superior natural light that was shielded from harmful radiation.
Plants, insects, birds and mammals all seemed to both look and grow better with that light, so he eventually decided to make it a commercial product.
#7
Incandescent lights have a spectrum that is much closer to real sunlight.
Oh really? Last time I checked the color temperature of sunlight was 5,500 to 27,000K (bluish) and your typical 60 watt incandescent was around 2,800K (orangish).
A cool white flourescent tube is about 4,300K and the fancy 'daylight' tubes are about 6,500K, making them "much closer" to sunlight than incandescents.
Anyone familiar with the process of 'white balancing' a camera knows this.
#9
And no serious photographer uses flourescent lighting.
Thank you, CO1137. The vast majority of all camera film is made for shooting with tungsten lighting or outdoor illumination. The full spectrum and heavy red component of incandescent lamps mimics sunlight very well.
#10
When I go camping, I really like bringing LED lamps. They have much lower power consumption, hence I have to bring and replace far fewer batteries. I have handheld LED lights, headband mounted LED's for reading and even an LED lattern.
looks like a winner. Clint's a national treasure
Ambitiously tackling his biggest canvas to date, Clint Eastwood continues to defy and triumph over the customary expectations for a film career in "Flags of Our Fathers." A pointed exploration of heroism -- in its actual and in its trumped-up, officially useful forms -- the picture welds a powerful account of the battle of Iwo Jima, the bloodiest single engagement the United States fought in World War II, with an ironic and ultimately sad look at its aftermath for three key survivors. This domestic Paramount release looks to parlay critical acclaim and its director's ever-increasing eminence into strong B.O. returns through the autumn and probably beyond.
Conventional wisdom suggests directors slow down as they reach a certain age (Eastwood is now 76), become more cautious, recycle old ideas, fall out of step with contemporary tastes, look a bit stodgy. Eastwood has impertinently ignored these options not only by undertaking by far his most expensive and logistically daunting picture, but by creating back-to-back bookend features offering contrasting perspectives on the same topic; the Japanese-language "Letters From Iwo Jima," showing the Japanese side in intimate terms, will be released by Warner Bros. next year.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2006 08:32 ||
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#1
I look forward to seeing this film. One of the very few worth watching this year. A lot of young Americans sacrificed their lives on this volcanic spit. But, at this point in the war it proved to be invaluable for basing fighter escorts for the B-29's and as an emergency landing strip for returning B-29's whose fuel tanks or control surfaces were damaged in their runs over Japan. Most of these missions were providing the utter destruction of the Japanese industrial base, especially with the napalm missions which burned out the heart of many major Japanese cities. The early loss of the lives of the invaders made that possible.
The writer is a bit too fond of his yellowed and tattered elementary school vocabulary lists, and a tad week on the grammar side, but it will be good for American audiences to see the ugliness of battle. SpecOp35, thanks for reminding us exactly why this battle was important -- it relates to why we must remain in Iraq militarily until the current war is won, regardless whether democratization of the Iraqis will turn out to be do-able. If someone who truly understands these things could expand on that thought, I'd be grateful. Thanks!
#3
Good Points SpecOps35. Those men were definate heroes. As I've heard, before Iwo Jima was taken any bombers had to do so without *any* fighter escort while over Japan - they suffered heavy losses. Iwo Jima allowed is to inflict very heavy damaage on the Japanese industreal base and greatly shortened the war.
I shudder to think what Kerry, Murtha, Kennedy, the MSM and the rest would do after a modern-day Iwo Jima. "We did not win after 6 hours! QUAGMIRE! Bring out troops home NOW!".
#4
SpecOp35 - Firebombs were thermite, not napalm. The thermite bombs were more like flares - small and intensely burning - as opposed to a relatively large area of coverage with napalm. Folks might be able to dodge thermite bombs - a few pounds - or get out of the building before it burned to the ground; somewhat more humane than the jellied gasoline used on dug-in troops.
Germans used thermite on London; allies used it on Dresden to create a 'firestorm'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/10/2006 15:18 Comments ||
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#5
Napalm was used against Tokyo, thermite against Kobe. What each city was hit with depended on what stores were on hand at the time of the bombing runs.
#6
Hmmm, Shieldwolf, perhaps my generalization was too ... general.
According to Wikipedia -
On July 17, 1944, napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. LĂ´, France.[2] Napalm bombs were first used in the Pacific Theatre during the Battle of Tinian. In World War II, Allied Forces bombed cities in Japan with napalm, and used it in bombs and flamethrowers in Germany and the Japanese-held islands. It was used by the Greek army against communist guerrilla fighters during the Greek Civil War, by United Nations forces in Korea, by Mexico in the late 1960s against guerrilla fighters in Guerrero and by the United States during the Vietnam War.
If you're out to destroy a city, like Dresden, incendaries (thermite) will spread a lot farther than an equivalent weight of napalm, yes? But napalm does stick better, making it more horrific.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/10/2006 17:00 Comments ||
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#7
The Americans also used a trick to reason with recalcitrant Japanese hidden deep in caves. They would roll a 55 gallon drum of gasoline down there, then throw a couple of hand grenades to perforate the drums.
The protesters who rushed the stage at Columbia University Wednesday night when the founder of a volunteer border-patrol group tried to speak are crying foul, asserting that they were the victims of the violence and that they should not be disciplined by the university.
After the students climbed onstage, overturning tables and chairs and causing mayhem, President Lee Bollinger called the students' disruption of the event "one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can occur at a university."
"It is unacceptable to seek to deprive another person of his or her right of expression through actions such as taking a stage and interrupting the speech," Mr. Bollinger said in a statement, adding that "of course" the university is investigating the incident.
Three students who claimed responsibility for taking the stage and interrupting the speech by the border-patrol group known as the Minutemen held a press conference yesterday on Broadway outside the university. One of the students, Karina Garcia, the political chairwoman of the Chicano Caucus, said that she and her fellow protesters were the victims of a "massive campaign of vilification and demonization."
Flanked by members of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism group and the National Lawyers Guild, which have rallied to the student protesters' cause, Ms. Garcia said,"We wanted the whole world to know that the Minutemen are racists who terrorize defenseless immigrant families" and that the protesters set out to "sabotage them."
A Minuteman whose speech at Columbia was prevented by the protest, Jerome Corsi, rejected the racism charge as "inaccurate and irresponsible" and said it had "no basis in reality."
In a reversal of standard accounts of Wednesday evening's events, Ms. Garcia said that when the protesters stormed the stage, they were attacked by the Minutemen and other students. "Shame on the administration for launching an investigation into peaceful protesters," she said. Ms. Garcia referred to video footage captured by the Spanish television network Univision that she said depicted the violence.The video shows students fighting over a banner that the protesters unfurled, but the violence to which Ms. Garcia said she was victim is not evident.
Ms. Garcia said that no disciplinary action had been taken yet. She nonetheless called on the public to send letters to Mr. Bollinger demanding that the investigation be halted. She said that he has already received over 3,000 such notes.
Student protesters attesting to the violence they said had been inflicted on them by the Minutemen followed Ms. Garcia at the podium. The student leader of the International Socialist organization, Monique Dols, said that the Minutemen's "violent backlash" was "in the same tradition of the attackers in Birmingham and Montgomery," referring to events of the Civil Rights era. Comparing the plight of illegal immigrants to that of blacks in the 1960s, Ms. Dols advocated for granting full rights to illegal aliens, noting, "Every movement for social justice has always been deemed untimely or too extreme. It's time for immigrant rights."
Mr. Corsi denied that the Minutemen had been involved in any violence. "We were just trying to protect ourselves," he said.
Challenged by reporters to square her advocacy of free speech with her decision to take the stage at last Wednesday's event, Ms. Dols said, "The nature of these questions shows there's more concern for the Minutemen than for helpless illegal immigrants."
The Columbia administration declined to comment on the press conference.
#1
There's plenty of film to determine whassup. I think they're lying fascist crybabies who thought everyone would consider them heroic or some such shit. Fuck 'em.
#2
Ahhh youth, the right to free speech until you have to listen to something you don't like then try to shut them down. They should get expelled and told to come back after they figure out what free speech really means.
#4
Can't blame the rabid little twits. Their prof probably offered them extra credit. Heck, given the timing, this "direct action" mighta been the midterm exam.
#5
"Their prof probably offered them extra credit"
And there's the real problem. Even at "conservative" schoold such as St. Mary's where I'm taking grad school courses, the campus is literally INFESTED with academic moonbattery. Over half the profs I've met have an incurable case of BDS, and seem to have a compulsion to interject Bush bashing during their lectures, even in classes that are totally unrelated to politics or world affairs.
Student bodies are simply reflecting the philosophies of their teachers. Here's where the house really needs to be cleaned.
#6
I watched the girl ringleaders on FoxNews. These young bitches were never properly spanked as children and are now "Bad Girls" like in the movie. They need parents or boyfriends to put them over their knees and give them a series of spankings.
#8
You people actually pay money to these whore houses for what passes for education ?
That's the problem, where there's money, there will be parasites.
#9
Reminds me of two demonstrations at Michigan State in the late 60s. A small group staged a sit-in at the Chancellor's office demanding he negotiate with them about some trivial issue. They were arrested, expelled, and jailed for criminal trespass in about 3 hours.
The local left wing decided to hold a dance to raise money for their defense. Unfortunately they set up their sound system behind Shaw Hall, one the largest all male dorms in the country on the first day of exam week. Aggravated students pouring out of the dorm threw them and their sound equipment into the Red Cedar River. The abortive dance wound up as a march by three groups to the edge of campus. The wet and confused protestors were in the middle of the street with a double line of police on either side protecting them from the enraged mob of students who wanted to beat them to a pulp for their stupidity.
I was at MSU at the time. There was a lot of that going on. The hippies used to scream "pig" at the cops until the football players or fraternity guys showed up.
What a bunch of spoiled fakes.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/10/2006 11:49 Comments ||
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#12
ANSWER, Lawyers Guild, and the Int'l Socialist groupies? What, was La Raza and CAIR busy this weekend doing their hair? Jeebus, I've never seen a more tempting target of opportunity than this grouping.
Posted by: BA ||
10/10/2006 12:22 Comments ||
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#13
Unless the guys on stage yelled "FIRE" there was no excuse fore the students to disrupt the speech. I saw both of the agitators/leaders on Hannity and Colmes and they were besides themselves that Colmes wasn't on their side. To his credit Hannity interrupted the young fascists about a ten times until she lost her cool. Then he asked her if she liked being interrupted. They both wanted to continue the fairy tale that the Minute men are an armed wing of the KKK. I hope the Dean suspends all of the fascists for the year. If it were me I would boot them all for violating the school charter on freedom of speech. I am certain that if the College Republicans interrupted their weekly socialistÂ’s party secretariat meeting they would demand that they be expelled. (RIGHTLY SO)
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/10/2006 16:53 Comments ||
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#16
The minutemen are at fault for not videotaping the entire event, and from several angles, including above. This is inexpensive and damning in a court of law.
And then, when an event happens, immediately file a lawsuit against the individuals involved, and let the institution have a choice: defend the students and become part of the lawsuit; or discipline the students and stay out of court.
Of course administrators will go to great lengths not to be sued by someone with a good chance of winning, so they will gladly throw any number of radical students on the fire as a burnt offering.
#17
A bunch of spoiled crybabies that need a good thumping to know that "free speech", like every other right our Constitution guarantees, is for ALL. Denying one group free speech by wrecking the venue is a crime. They should all be expelled, every class recorded as a "0" (not an "F" or "incomplete", but a zero - which drags a grade point average down to four or five digits to the right of the decimal), and their names struck from the rolls of Columbia University completely (they don't get credit for the classes they "passed"). Any "professor" that disagrees needs to find a pink slip in their mailbox, along with a copy of the "help wanted" classifieds. This kind of sh$$ doesn't belong anywhere in the United States.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2006 18:23 Comments ||
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#18
#6 I watched the girl ringleaders on FoxNews. These young bitches were never properly spanked as children and are now "Bad Girls" like in the movie. They need parents or boyfriends to put them over their knees and give them a series of spankings.
Posted by 3dc 2006-10-10 09:31
I agree. They were on H&C the other night. Actually, the two were pretty hot and most deserving of a spanking. Where do I sign up?
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.
STRENUOUS efforts were continuing yesterday to secure 
NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - A couple caught having sex in a Kenyan mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have been sentenced to 18 months jail for what the judge called an "abominable" affront to religion.
South Africa is set to seize two more white-owned farms, to fast-track land reforms in an attempt to rectify apartheid-era imbalances. One of the farms is owned and run by a church, a senior government-land official said on Monday. "The minister of lands has signed the notices of expropriation and they have been sent. The owners have 30 days to respond, following which we will begin expropriation procedures," Tozi Gwanya, the chief land claims commissioner said. 
Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Monday that a high-ranking Russian diplomat was ordered out of the Baltic republic "for espionage". He was quoted by the Interfax News Agency as saying that "since the diplomat is guilty, we expel him: now we shall wait for answering actions of Russia". He did not elaborate on Lithuanian media comments on the matter, but noted that "this incident will not affect the Lithuanian-Russian relations". Western and local mass media said that the Russian diplomat was declared a persona non grata "for attempts to influence the stance of Lithuanian representatives on settlement of the Russian-Georgian conflict".
The days of cigarette-friendly France are about to go up in smoke. The prime minister has announced a ban on smoking in public places like offices, schools and public buildings will start in February, while restaurants, dance clubs and some types of bars can delay applying the order until 2008. "I am convinced the French people are now ready," said Dominique de Villepin, adding France to a growing list of European nations like Ireland, Spain, Britain and Italy to adopt similar measures. 
"The issue is ripe in our country, given the experiences that we know of elsewhere." Villepin, speaking in an interview on LCI television, said the ban will be ordered 'by decree' in the next few days, a manoeuvre that allows the government to avert a potentially explosive parliamentary debate ahead of presidential and legislative elections next year. Many French treasure their right to light up in cafes, bars or restaurants, and have sought to cast the debate as one of freedoms being infringed. 
On a day when North Korea stunned the world with its nuclear test, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) officially nominated its adversary, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to be the next Secretary-General of the world body. Voted by acclamation on Monday after the withdrawal of all six other aspirants, including IndiaÂ’s Shashi Tharoor, BanÂ’s nomination is expected to be formally approved by the 192-member General Assembly within a week or two.
YANGON - Myanmar’s (Burma’s) junta on Monday flatly denied reports that the country is working on clandestine nuclear facilities, possibly with the assistance of North Korea which has just admitted to conducting its first nuclear test. ‘Many subversive elements are making accusation against our country, but if one studies these (accusations) seriously it is clear that they are totally impossible,’ said Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, Myanmar’s minister of information.
The protesters who rushed the stage at Columbia University Wednesday night when the founder of a volunteer border-patrol group tried to speak are crying foul, asserting that they were the victims of the violence and that they should not be disciplined by the university.
