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OK, this is your chance to make a statement about your favorite statement! Have the last word about the last words. You get the idea. As you can tell, its not easy to find the right words. Theres an art to a great tagline, and these nominees are some of the best ever written. Last year, Texas Department of Transportation [Don't Mess with Texas] and FedEx entered the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. Choose your words wisely. Vote for your favorite now!
If you're interested, click on the link for the whole story according to CNN.
What I thought was interesting however was the islamic silence with regard to how God was punishing Indonesia with earthquakes in much the same way God was punishing the US as evidenced by hurricane Katrina.
#1
I have yet to see any reports on significant damage or casualties. Hard to imagine there wasn't much damage - the smaller aftershocks were over magnitude 6, which is still a pretty big earthquake, and would generally cause damage. The disasterous Northridge quake in California in 1964 was a 6.7.
#3
What I thought was interesting however was the islamic silence with regard to how God was punishing Indonesia with earthquakes in much the same way God was punishing the US as evidenced by hurricane Katrina.
Sadly, for every Muslim that might think they are being punished for Islam's atrocities, there are two others who feel the punishment is for not being Islamic enough. There is simply no easy way to overcome such a mulishly obstinant insistence that the solution to everything is more religion.
#4
Re: Glenmore's post: Heard a comment on the radio this morning that there was concern that the (so far) low number of casualties / deaths is probably due to many being trapped under / inside rubble and collapsed buildings. I am also skeptical of the low numbers. On the plus side however, maybe the earlier tremblors have caused a shakeout in the substandard buildings and only the strong have survived....
#5
Earth changes vv INDONESIA and region is beginning - as earthquakes continue local diaspora/emigration from the area will also begin.
YOOHOO, AUSTRALIA-PAPUA-NEW GUINEA, MEANS YOU'RE NUMERO UNO ON THE VISA LIST.
#6
My worry is that what is curr happening in this part of the Pacific will be experienced soon enuff by my home island of Guam, ala what I label THE KAMALEN/CAMARIN IMPACT + 2012 > THE QUAKE HEARD/FELT 'ROUND THE WORLD. Beatles lyric -"In times of trouble, Mother Mary come to me, leaving words of wisdom, let it be".
USA TODAY > SUN SWELLS NOT TOO BAD FOR EARTH. 5.0Bilyuhn? yarns from now > Humanity and most biotic life wil die, but "the Rock" itself will not. Interesting Q for the Secular-Atheists and Scientifists > Iff the earth is knocked out of its normal orbit and emplaced further out in Solar System than now, and Humanity + Biotic Life [ or protions thereof] did survive, CAN THE LATTER STILL EXIST/SURVIVE WHEN THE SUN DOES BEGIN TO SWELL. IFF GOD, even during the so-called APOCALYPSE and even during a SUPERNOVA/PRE-NOVA PHASE,.........................@etal, gives mankind a chance to survive and reform, WILL MANKIND BE FAITHFUL OR NOT BECUZ GABRIEL'S SWORD WANTS TO KNOW!? GREATEST DIALECTICISM OF ALL > so-called "END-OF-WORLD" GLOBAL CATACLYSM(S) IS ACTUALLY A CHANCE(S) YET FOR LIFE. A "SECULAR" SCIENTIFIC-REALIST EVENT IS ACTUALLY A GIFT(S) FROM GOD, only mankind does NOT realize it nor comprehend it???
#4
It could be done , Zenster, any answers to why it not been done?
Too right, rhodesiafever! It is an eternal disgrace that the Western world has not found sufficient courage to simply dispatch such parasites as Mugabe with a single .50 caliber round.
Just as I advocate targeted killings of Islam's aristocracy, so would I gladly allocate my tax dollars to finance the elimination of this world's vampire elite. Mugabe, Kim and Ahmadinejad stand foremost amongst them.
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Suspected rebels hit a U.S. military plane with machine-gun fire after it dropped food to Malian troops pinned down in battle this week near the Algerian border, American and Malian officials said Thursday. No one was wounded and the C-130 transport sustained only minor damage, said Maj. Pam Cook, a spokeswoman for the U.S. command in Stuttgart, Germany, which oversees Africa missions. The attack occurred between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning over the village of Tin-Zawatine.
Another U.S. official in Stuttgart, Air Force Maj. John Dorrian, said the plane was the only U.S. aircraft in Mali. It was there for a counter-terrorism training exercise when the rare call for help came from the government, he said. The plane had completed an airdrop of about 14,000 pounds of food when it was hit, Cook said. "We would do this for any partner nation that we're working with when their troops are pinned down," Cook said by telephone from Stuttgart.
It was unclear if the Malian troops' movements were restricted by rebel fire or because the area was heavily mined. Mali's military says delivering food by land to the region is no longer safe because rebels have mined much of the area.
Malian officials gave similar accounts. They called the gunmen "armed bandits," a phrase the government uses for Tuareg rebels active in the far north. Another senior Malian military official said the plane landed safely in the capital, Bamako. He said gunmen used automatic rifles in the attack and that the incident occurred early Wednesday.
Though Mali is often called one of the most stable countries in West Africa, it has seen rebellions several times since the 1990s. The Tuaregs are a semi-nomadic people, part of the Berber ethnic group, and many say they suffer discrimination at the hands of the Bambara-speaking majority.
Tuareg rebels signed a peace deal with the government in July 2006. A Tuareg faction led by Ibrahim Bahanga rejected the deal, however, saying it did not do enough to help Tuaregs. The government blames Bahanga for a new spate of attacks and kidnappings. This month, rebels released 10 of about 30 soldiers they had held for more than week.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
They make it sound like the rebels achieved some kind of major accomplishment, hitting a C-130 on a food drop pass. I think I'd be more impressed if it said they hit a dove taking off from a baited field.
Two members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were injured in a mob attack in the city's Mirpur area yesterday morning. The injured are ASI Kamran, 30, and Safayet Hossain, 30, of Rab-4.
Locals said a vehicle of the elite force hit the motorbike of one Ali Haq near BRTA at about 11:30am. Haq locked in an altercation with the Rab men over the incident. At one stage, the Rab members beat up Haq, leaving him seriously injured. Witnessing the incident, local people got infuriated and beat up the Rab personnel, Kamran and Safayet. Injured Haq and the two men were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
watch for un upcoming 'Crossfire' to feature "Ali and the Locals..."
Former BNP lawmaker Shamsuzzoha Khan was arrested yesterday under Emergency Power Rules. The law enforcers picked up Khan from the court premises at the district headquarters at 5:30pm. Police Superintendent Sarder Nurul Amin said Anti-Crime Regional Committee of Bogra and local law enforcers jointly arrested Khan, former MP from Naogaon-2 constituency. He was wanted in a number of criminal cases.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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Margaret Thatcher returned to Downing Street for tea with Gordon Brown on Thursday in the Labour prime ministers most brazen attempt yet to attract Conservative voters.
Baroness Thatcher, who declined an offer to enter through the back door, posed for pictures with Mr Brown. The encounter infuriated activists at both ends of the political spectrum. Downing Street aides said Lady Thatcher brought toys for Mr Browns two sons. She talked with the prime minister for 45 minutes before taking tea.
Lady Thatchers warmth towards Mr Brown contrasts with the frosty relations she enjoys with David Cameron, the Conservative leader. Michael Ancram, a Tory former deputy leader, accused Mr Cameron last week of trashing his partys Thatcherite legacy.
However, the insiders said the meeting was set up four weeks ago, before Mr Ancrams attack and was not designed to overshadow the launch of Tory proposals on the environment. An aide to Mr Cameron said: She is not about to join the Labour party. It is a straightforward meeting between a prime minister and a former PM.
Contributors to Conservative Home, an activists website, expressed a mixture of shock, anger and grudging respect for Mr Brown. One wrote: I thought I was dreaming about the return of our most glorious and blessed leader. Another said it was a sad, sad day for the Conservative party and yet another nail in David Camerons coffin.
Labour also revealed that it had hired Saatchi & Saatchi, the advertising agency which helped Lady Thatcher win power in 1979 with the slogan Labour isnt working, to support its next election campaign. The agency has designed an advertisement showing the premier under the slogan Not flash, just Gordon.
Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being examined by doctors and depending on the result may be hospitalised, the top government spokesman said on Thursday, a day after the leader suddenly announced he would resign. Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano, announcing the health check at a regular briefing, declined to specify the medical problem.
Whiplash.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin who is reportedly a man has written to judges claiming his innocence in the so-called Clearstream smear scandal and said the case was biased in favour of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Europe 1 radio said the 23-page note, widely reported in French media, was sent this week to investigating judges who summoned Villepin for questioning on Thursday for the first time since naming him as a suspect. Villepin is suspected of using intelligence services to try to dig up dirt on Sarkozy three years before the presidential election, which his arch-rival won earlier this year. Villepin denies any wrongdoing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2007 0:48 Comments ||
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Villepin is suspected of being a manusing intelligence services to try to dig up dirt on Sarkozy three years before the presidential election, which his arch-rival won earlier this year. Villepin denies any wrongdoing.
Those two statements don't necessarily conflict. To their minds, anything they do to keep power is just fine.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
09/14/2007 7:39 Comments ||
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#4
Villepin always brings my mind to the description of Tallyrand (another French diplo-sleaze) as "shit in a silk stocking".
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was to announce Thursday the merger of intelligence and counterintelligence services to improve the response to terrorist threats, news reports said.
Alliot-Marie was to announce the creation of the DCRI, the French initials for the Central Agency for Internal Intelligence, during a visit Thursday to the new unit's nerve center, in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. The DCRI is to replace the long-standing RG intelligence and the DST counterintelligence units.
Le Figaro daily quoted observers as saying the new service would be a French version of the FBI, charged with investigating threats to the state, like terrorism, and monitoring other potential troublemakers.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to name the current head of the DST, Bernard Squarcini, as head of the new unit, Le Figaro said. No date for the possible nomination was given. Several hundred agents from the existing agencies are expected to be transferred to other police units, Le Figaro said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said Thursday that he is asking The New York Times for the same heavily discounted rate they gave MoveOn.whorg for his campaign to run an ad in Fridays paper. Oh yeah! Genius, pure genius! Rudy qualifies for prez!
Giuliani, calling MoveOn.whorgs controversial General Betray Us ad abominable, said his campaign is asking the paper for a comparable rate for an ad to run following President Bushs speech on Iraq. Smack!
The former mayor said his ad will obviously take the opposite view from MoveOn.whorg, which argued in its ad that Gen. David Petraeus is cooking the books on Iraq and cherry-picking facts that support his recommendation to keep a large number of troops in Iraq for some time. If they are a real newspaper, they won't mind. And if they aren't, whatever they decide they'll be shooting themselves in the foot! To use an appropriate arabic expression: Shah mat.
Giuliani continued to include Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (Disgraceful-N.Y.) in his criticisms for her comments that it would take a willing suspension of disbelief to accept at face value Petraeuss report on the situation in Iraq. Giuliani quite rightly interpreted Clintons remarks at a hearing earlier this week as questioning the generals integrity. (Sorry, couldn't find 'bi+ch.jpg', but after looking more closely I decided it was appropriate after all.)
We think that her attack on Gen. Petraeus was a follow-up to the MoveOn.whorg/Times attack, Giuliani told reporters in Atlanta.
Giuliani reiterated that he agrees with Petraeuss assessment of the Iraq war, and called the Democrats' MoveOn.whorgs ad attacking an American general in a time of war unprecedented. Its time for Americans to really insist that American politicians move beyond character assassination, Giuliani said. And this is exactly what they tried to do with Gen. Petraeus. Well, its one thing when power-hungry mudwrestling bimbos politicians do it to each other. Its another thing when its done to an American general who has put his life at risk to protect us.
#1
Good for him! Either they lose money on the ad, or they effectively admit they made an illegal in-kind contribution, and Rudy scores bonus points for backing Gen'l Petraeus.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/14/2007 8:10 Comments ||
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Rudy definitely shows he has the guts to be the commander in chief and calls out slime when he sees it. I sooooo want to see a Thompson/Giuliani or Giuliani/Thompson ticket for the republicans.
#6
And a complaint has been filed with the FEC about the ad as well. Political ads cannot be discounted, therefore the claim is that becuae it was a political ad and was discounted, therefore in violaton of that rule...
One of Hugh Hewitt's regulars was talking about that yesterday...
WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani criticized Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in a full-page ad in Friday's New York Times, accusing her of attacking Iraq war commander Gen. David Petraeus' character.
Giuliani's ad in the Times quotes the GOP candidate as saying, "These times call for statesmanship, not politicians spewing political venom."
The Giuliani ad accuses Clinton, a New York senator, of participating in a "character attack" against Petraeus, citing her comments during a congressional hearing that the general's progress report on Iraq required a "willing suspension of disbelief."
#10
This is why I love Guilani for president. He does the kinds of things we wish Bush had the balls to do. Darth thinks Rudy will team up with Freddy and make a winning ticket. Don't bet on it, Darth. Rudy will pick his running mate, and I don't see Thompson's smoke and mirrors show as able to fool the Roodster.
Thompson should join McCain in uncovering how Hillary could grab 40 million from one guy for all the democrats to share. It must be in the fine print of that pesky McCain/Feingold campaign finance law.
#13
He does the kinds of things we wish Bush had the balls to do.
AMEN and AMEN, wxjames. Watching Bush respond to criticism is like watching paint dry. My God, what a frustrating excercise. He's had HUNDREDS of opportunities to respond to the America haters and most of the time just sits on his hands.
Whether Rudy can do this on a regular basis remains to be seen, but someone needs to beat the left at their own game.
Grand Junction Bail was set today at $5 million for disgraced Democratic donor Yung Yuen "Norman" Hsu.
Bond? BOND???
Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger asked for a $50 million bond because Hsu had a checkbook that showed a balance of $6 million and because of other allegations that Hsu had bilked investors of more than $40 million in recent years.
Mesa County Judge Bruce Raaum set bail at $5 million after Eric Eliff, Hsu's attorney, argued that Hautzinger's figure was excessive and that his client's illness made him incapable of traveling far. Eliff did not elaborate on the illness.
Last week, Hsu surrendered in San Mateo, Calif., and posted a $2 million bond in connection with a 1992 felony case. He had been convicted of grand theft 15 years ago in a $1 million fraud scheme involving the sale of latex gloves. Hsu failed to show up for a Sept. 5 court hearing and was arrested the following day in Grand Junction after becoming ill on an Amtrak train while traveling from San Francisco to Denver.
He skipped bond, so now he's given an opportunity to make bond. Somebody's working magic somewhere ...
He was discharged from St. Mary's Hospital on Wednesday and booked into Mesa County Jail. Hsu is being held in administrative segregation at the jail, where he is away from other inmates and guards can maintain constant surveillance.
Eliff said that Hsu will not fight extradition to California at a hearing set for Wednesday in Mesa County District Court.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Who's going to POST the bond? No bail bondsman I know. If I were Hsu, I think I would be very nervous accepting bond and walking out of custody. It seems to me there is a good chance he knows too much about powerful and dangerous people - and I am not (necessarily) referring to the campaign contribution recipients.
#2
I am not a lawyer, so can someone explain to me how a felon who has pled guilty, jumped bail, and has lots of money, is even given the consideration of bail? I mean, if you are arrested, you are considered innocent until proven guilty, and are entitled to bail. However, if you plead guilty, run away for years, and finally get caught, you aren't innocent any more.
#3
Why not set bail and follow whoever bails him? May lead to some organization that shouldn't even be giving money, like the ChiComs. But something tells me that the MSM will not follow this trail since it leads to you-know-where (Bill and Hill).
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/14/2007 11:05 Comments ||
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#5
The $5M bail is chump change for the PLA. Expect "The Hsu" to post the gift to Grand Junction, get into the back seat of a black limo with the Hanrahan suits, and be last seen driving into the sunset. Lot of desert between there and San Mateo....
NEW DELHI: Even as all eyes were on the five-nation Malabar war games in the Bay of Bengal over the weekend, the Indian Air Force quietly conducted a massive 'realistic war games' exercise along the entire western front, focusing on launching a simultaneous blitzkrieg on multiple high-value enemy targets.
The exercise, 'Abhyas', which was much more operationally relevant than 'Malabar', was launched on Monday with scores of fighter jets, attack helicopters, mid-air refuellers, transport aircraft and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) taking to the skies.
If the Malabar war games were all about building "interoperability" with American forces, 'Abhyas' was structured around the concept of "hitting the political will" of an adversary (read Pakistan) and ensuring "clear-cut advantages" at the termination of a conflict. Western Air Command (WAC) chief Air Marshal P S Ahluwalia "activated" almost all the airbases under him for the power-packed exercise, which ended on Thursday, said sources.
The most operationally significant IAF command, WAC stretches from Ladakh right up to Bikaner, covering an area of about 4,00,000 sq km. It controls 18 important airbases, among them Srinagar, Leh, Thoise, Awantipur, Ambala, Amritsar, Halwara, Bikaner, Nal and Udhampur. Taken together with the Army's 'Ashwamedh' war games in the Thar desert earlier this year, the 'Abhyas' exercise clearly indicates that the armed forces are now testing their "pro-active war" strategies.
It was 'Operation Parakram', the ten-month troop mobilisation on the Indo-Pak border after the December 2001 parliament attack, which drove home the point that slow mobilisation will just not do any longer.
The idea now is to mobilise fast and strike hard. This will not only ensure surprise in enemy ranks, but also give the international community less time to intervene.
During the 'Abhyas' exercise, the Red forces simulated the "mirror reflection" of Pakistan bases to take on the incoming "offensive air waves" of Sukhoi-30MKI, Jaguars, MiG-21 Bison and Mirage-2000 fighters from the Blue forces.
The "military objectives" of three Army commandsSouth-Western Command at Jaipur, Northern Command at Udhampur and Western Command at Chandimandirwere also dovetailed into the exercise to bolster operational synergy.
This is in tune with the concept of the primacy of air power in 'shaping' the battlefield in such a way that the Army, as also the Navy, can carry out theirdesignated tasks.
The objective, of course, is to build an integrated air and land war-fighting machinery to take care of any exigency in the entire western theatre, with both the Army and the IAF acting in close coordination with each other as one organic whole.
All this comes at a time when the IAF squadron strength is dwindling, down to just about 30 (with 12 to 18 jets in each) from a sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons.
Pakistan, on the other hand, is getting 18 new F-16s from the US, apart from upgrades of its 34 existing F-16s, and also plans to acquire as many as 250 JF-17 'Thunder' fighters from China.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/14/2007 00:00 ||
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Call me when they get around to Operation Kama Sutra.....
A former ABC News consultant fired last year because he couldn't authenticate academic credentials is at the center of a new dispute over apparently faked interviews with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Gates and others. The consultant, Alexis Debat, quit the Nixon Center, a Washington think tank, on Wednesday after Obama's representatives claimed an interview with the senator appearing under Debat's byline in the French magazine Politique Internationale never took place. The interview quoted the Democratic presidential candidate as saying the Iraq war was "a defeat for America."
Pelosi, Gates, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg all said they never gave interviews that appeared in the magazine under Debat's byline, ABC News' Web site, the Blotter, reported on Thursday.
Debat acknowledged to The Associated Press on Thursday that he never conducted any of the interviews published under his byline. He said he hired another reporter, Rob Sherman, to conduct the Obama interview. He said he translated the remarks and sent them in to the French journal, which published it under Debat's byline.
Continued on Page 49
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.
Two members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) were injured in a mob attack in the city's Mirpur area yesterday morning. The injured are ASI Kamran, 30, and Safayet Hossain, 30, of Rab-4. 
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin 
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was to announce Thursday the merger of intelligence and counterintelligence services to improve the response to terrorist threats, news reports said. 
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said Thursday that he is asking The New York Times for the same heavily discounted rate they gave MoveOn.
Giuliani reiterated that he agrees with Petraeuss assessment of the Iraq war, and called 
