Surprisingly the Beeb put the quotes in the title.
An Italian woman artist who was hitch-hiking to the Middle East dressed as a bride to promote world peace has been found murdered in Turkey.
The naked body of Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, 33, known as Pippa Bacca, was found in bushes near the city of Gebze on Friday. She had said she wanted to show that she could put her trust in the kindness of local people.
Worked well, didn't it ...
Turkish police say they have detained a man in connection with the killing. Reports say the man led the police to the body.
Ms di Marineo was hitch-hiking from Milan to Lebanon with a fellow artist on their "Brides on Tour" project. They had separated in Istanbul, planning to reunite in Beirut. Ms di Marineo was last seen on 31 March in Gebze. An Italian embassy official told the Associated Press news agency police tracked the man when he put a new SIM card into Ms di Marineo's mobile phone. Local media identified the suspect only by the initials MK and said he had a previous conviction for theft.
Ms di Marineo's sister, who had gone to Turkey to look for her, identified the body. An autopsy is being conducted in Istanbul. "Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust," another sister, Maria, told the Italian news agency, Ansa.
"Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust," sister, Maria, told the Italian news agency, Ansa.
At least it looks like somebody learned a valuable lesson from this.
#9
"I also wonder how many of these starry eyed dreamers have to be murdered before they wake up and realize that they're wrong."
Many. It is evolution we are observing, that is some of each species prefer learning by mistakes.
Besides, it is an indicator that it's allright with the world. I would become very concerned (and suspicious of the total control over people) if such naivists disappeared.
#10
I also wonder how many of these starry eyed dreamers have to be murdered before they wake up and realize that they're wrong.
All of them unfortunately, there have denied evidence so long it's a religion now, Starting with "Saint Pancake" and including too many others to name.
This gal is just one of the blinded to reality flock, no cure possible.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/12/2008 14:18 Comments ||
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#11
Usually these people (the term used solely for purposes of reference) get others killed.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/12/2008 14:39 Comments ||
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#13
We can set her idol up on the shelf next to St. Pancake.
Nope. THis girl was merely a dreamer and the little we know about her, she was probably a good person. An idiot but a good person.
Rachel Corrie, was full of hate. You just have to look at her face while she burned an American flag. In front of the Paleos an,d wearing a burkha. Also she didn't go to Soudan in orderr to help people who really suffer, people who are enslaved , raped, mass-murdered fior the crime of not belonging to the masters race. He went to help people who are well fed, who are themselves to blame for the little action takes against them and who want to perpertrate a genocide. Not the "aseptic" genocide of the gas chambers but a sadistic one like in Rwanda. And Rachel Corrie sided with them. Tell me with who walk and I will tell you who you are. Rachel Corrie walked with murderers and genociders.
#14
This could have happened anywhere. These folks are raised in societies where the "Rule of Law" holds, especially for the well off. For some strange reason they think that everyone has their world view. They are shocked, shocked when their faith in mankind is disproved. If they are lucky they are still alive after their educational experience.
It amazes me that the current crop of young females think they can go off by themselves without anyone else with them and that nothing will happen. It is so sad that they so often learn otherwise the hard way.
#15
Looking at the map, she didn't get far into Turkey before this happened. This should be a lesson for some moon bats about how safe they are in the west.
#20
She was lucky this hadn't already happened to her in Italy. Darwin in action. It doesn't sound like her family is surprised, although I'm sure they grieve.
tipover, had a man attempted to hitch-hike the same route in a wedding dress, I suspect the outcome would have been similar.
South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe on Saturday for talks with President Robert Mugabe on the country's election deadlock, before regional leaders meet in Zambia to discuss the crisis. The Harare talks would be the first between the two leaders since Zimbabwe's elections on March 29.
Mugabe has said he will not attend the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Lusaka later on Saturday, called by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa to try to end the impasse over Zimbabwe's disputed elections and prevent the crisis from turning violent.
The 14-member SADC has long been seen as toothless in its response to Zimbabwe's political and economic problems.
Just emulating their mentor the U.N. ...
Mbeki has been mediating between Mugabe and the MDC since last year. The SADC delegated the South African president to oversee negotiations between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC in an effort to reach an agreement that would ensure a fair and free election. The talks failed, prompting a wave of criticism of SADC and Mbeki's quiet diplomacy.
The 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader has shown no sign of giving in to those urging him to respect the results of the March 29 election.
The summit appeared to be the best chance to dissuade him from launching another crackdown on the opposition. Dozens of MDC activists and supporters were beaten by police last year in an abortive anti-government protest in the capital Harare.
Police banned political rallies on Friday as the crisis deepened over Zimbabwe's unresolved presidential election, with a senior police official warning that anyone who defies the order "will be dealt with severely."
The opposition said it was considering whether to defy the ban and call a general strike. "We cannot accept a declaration of a police state," said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "People have just voted for change, for democracy and what do they get? This is unacceptable. This is ridiculous."
The developments came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international community's patience with Zimbabwe's regime was "wearing thin." Brown said he was "appalled by the signs that the regime is once again responding to intimidation and violence." The warning is the strongest yet from the leader of Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Prospects of resolving Zimbabwe's two-week-old election crisis appeared dim Friday after a government spokesman said President Robert Mugabe would not attend a key weekend meeting with other regional leaders.
They were dimmed as soon as it became evident Bob had lost.
It is a reversal for Mugabe, who said Thursday he would attend the one-day summit in Lusaka, Zambia sponsored by the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC). The SADC called the summit to address Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential vote, the results of which are still unknown. Mugabe's challenger, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, plans to attend.
Tsvangirai held a face-to-face meeting Thursday evening with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Johannesburg. Details of the meeting were not released, but it comes amid growing pressure on South Africa to step in and help resolve the election. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change claims he won the election over Mugabe, but the Zimbabwean government has yet to announce the results.
An MDC spokesman said Thursday that Tsvangirai would not accept a run-off with Mugabe, if one was required, because Tsvangirai won the election. Tendai Biti had previously said Tsvangirai would participate in a run-off but only under protest. Without any official results, it is not known whether a presidential run-off is required.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Didn't read his copy of the "Dictator's manual?
Chapter 1 . NEVER ALLOW ELECTIONS, even when you control both the Army and the News Media.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/12/2008 14:22 Comments ||
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Taiwan's vice president-elect met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday in the highest-level political contact between the two governments in nearly 60 years. The meeting focused on improving economic relations, a key plank in the platform that boosted incoming Vice President Vincent Siew and President-elect Ma Ying-jeou to victory in Taiwan's March 22 elections. Ma and Siew take office on May 20.
Separated amid civil war in 1949, China and Taiwan have had almost no direct contact between their governments. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if the self-governing island tries to make its de-facto independent status formal.
On Saturday, however, Hu sat down with Siew for a low-key but historic meeting on the sidelines of a business conference in the southern Chinese resort of Boao. The meeting could mark a watershed for relations that have been especially bumpy over the past eight years under independence-leaning Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian.
Siew's Nationalist Party, however, favors eventual unification with China although Ma has placed the issue on the back burner.
After exchanging pleasantries with the Taiwanese visitor, Hu said that improving relations between the sides needs efforts from both parties. "On this occasion, I am happy to exchange opinions on the cross-strait economy with Siew," he said, referring to the 160-kilometer-wide (100-mile-wide) strait between Taiwan and the mainland.
Siew, who was accompanied by a 12-member Taiwanese delegation, said that closer economic relations between China and Taiwan would facilitate regional peace and improve the lives of ordinary Taiwanese and Chinese. "Reality proves that cross-strait economic development is the common wish of people on both sides (of the strait)," he said.
Beijing refuses to recognize Taiwan's elected government, acknowledging Siew only as chairman of the Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation, a private group that seeks to build economic cooperation between China and Taiwan.
Despite the rocky political relations between the sides, their economic ties have been flourishing. Taiwanese companies have already invested more than $100 billion (63 billion) on the mainland and in 2007 bilateral trade -- heavily in Taiwan's favor -- exceeded $80billion (51 billion). Gee. No mention of how long ago this meeting was planned?
#2
I thought the Japanese were really touchy about nuclear carriers being stationed there? Midwayand Kitty Hawk were conventially power.
We can probably look forward to the Japanese Loonys going apeshit over this.
#4
They were very touchy about nuclear powered ships, but I think they've looked across the straits to North Korea and decided not to worry so much about it.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/12/2008 13:42 Comments ||
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#5
One American Carrier to protect one medium civilization?
Kinda like the "One mob, one Ranger" idea.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/12/2008 14:30 Comments ||
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Japan will not allow the squad of Chinese flame guards to intervene with the Beijing Olympic torch's progress when it arrives in a Japanese city this month, the national police head was quoted as saying on Friday.
"We should not violate the principle that the Japanese police will firmly maintain security," Kyodo news agency quoted Shinya Izumi, head of the National Public Safety Commission, as saying. "We do not know what position the people who escorted the relay are in," Izumi was quoted as saying. "If they are for the consideration of security, it is our role."
The torch is set to arrive in Nagano, central Japan, where the Winter Games were hosted in 1998, on April 26, after passing through Buenos Aires, Mumbai, and Canberra, among other cities.
A phalanx of large and physically fit Chinese men in blue-and-white track suits has been trotting besides the torch along its ambitious global torch route and turned off the flame several times in Paris earlier this week. Chinese state media have reported that the "flame protection squad", consisting of some 70 members of China's People's Armed Police, has been employed by the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee to safeguard the fire for 24 hours a day.
But the squad's heavy-handed approach in managing the torch relay -- which has been a magnet for chaotic demonstrations in London, Paris, and San Francisco over China's human rights record and recent government crackdown on monk-led protests in Tibet -- has made some uncomfortable.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said Australia, not China, would be the one to provide security for the flame when it comes to his country..
Despite heightened security concerns, Japan's Olympic Committee was quoted as ruling out the possibility of shortening or making any other changes to the torch relay in Nagano.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 10:01 ||
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"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.
And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations" Said in a speech to billionaire/millionaire fundraisers in San Francisco...go figure? Man of the little rednecks peepuls
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The largest nest of race baiters, race pimps and racist bastards in America today are Obama and his Klan with a Tan, the olde school Commies, and the olde hard Left.
How many Illegal immigrants have to VOTE each election before you feel that your Citizenship or Citizen-Status has been eroded?
How many enumerated rights in the US Constitution have to be restricted and abrogated before you feel that your Citizenship or Citizen-Status has been eroded?
How many US Veterans have to be short shifted when in Need because Billions of Dollars were spent on Illegal Immigrants instead of being spent on our BEST Men and Women who were promised when they served this great Nation in time of need before you feel that your Citizenship or Citizen-Status has been eroded?
How many of your hard earned dollars have to be spent on Illegal Immigrants without asking you for your permission before you feel that your Citizenship or Citizen-Status has been eroded?
How many BILLIONS of Dollars have to be borrowed then spent to Fund the Tidal Wave of Illegal IMMIGRANTS for Police Services, ICE, DEA, Border Patrol, Courts, Prisons, Jails, Hospitals, Clinics, Food Stamps, Public Services, Public Infrastructure, Schools K-thru-free University admissions, ETC. before you feel that your Citizenship or Citizen-Status has been eroded?
#2
"
Yep, Barry's correct- if only that ignorant white trash out in the boondocks would surrender their firearms, worship the state, and just accept the fact minds greater than theirs can rule benevolently, he could get the ol' American Ball rolling again."
Best of the comments at the article, and there are lots of good ones.
For insight as to how dangerously elitist and bigoted the Obamanauts actually are, read the bad comments too. This guy MUST not become president. It's not a stretch to say it could promote a civil war.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/12/2008 7:22 Comments ||
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#3
I don't own a gun, I don't go to church, I didn't get a chance to vote against gay marriage because your Mini Me clone up here in Massachusetts denied me the chance. We've got Barack Obama Lite up here right now. It isn't pretty.
#4
Think black vs everyone else relations are bad now? Elect 'Bama and see how much worse it can get. He's got "Allende" written all over him.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/12/2008 9:30 Comments ||
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#5
This must be the thoughtful, open and honest dialogue on race that is the promise of a BO candidacy promises. I am not a disenfranchised hick millworker gun/religion nut, yet I find these comments strangeling unhealing. I must be one of those racists like his gramma...
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/12/2008 10:24 Comments ||
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#6
Need to type w/fingers not toes... What I meant to say was:
This must be the thoughtful, open and honest dialogue on race that is the promise of a BO candidacy. I am not a disenfranchised hick millworker gun/religion nut, yet I find these comments strangely unhealing. I must be one of those racists like his gramma...
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/12/2008 10:25 Comments ||
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#9
This guy MUST not become president. It's not a stretch to say it could promote a civil war.
We're headed that way anyway. Him being elected will make it happen faster. But, I really don't think he'll win the General election if he gets the nomination.
Posted by: Ho Chi Phomorong4929 ||
04/12/2008 11:50 Comments ||
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#10
The dem left is fixating on "vietnam" when it should be remembering "mcgovern..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/12/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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#11
MUNCIE, Ind. - Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that comments he made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion" were ill chosen, as he tried to stem a burst of complaints that he is condescending. "I didn't say it as well as I should have," he said.
You know, in a way that wouldn't piss off typical white people ...
They only thing funnier then this is Hillary trying to cash in by sounding like she'll be down at the local bowling alley sucking down shots and beers tonight and, hey, why don't ya join me and we'll talk about huntin and watch the hockey game...
#12
This is how McCain can get away with his dumbass immigration policy. He knows the donks are gonna self destruct. All McCain has to do is avoid any major screw ups and let Osama keep talking like this and he wins. The donks are on a fast track toward becoming totally irrelevant.
#13
I'm voting for McCain because there is no other choice....but more fundamentally, the choices in this election point out the consequences of allowing the unimpeded importation of minorities to outweigh the citizens of this nation and steal out birthright by the democrat party. Couple that with the total domination of the educational system by two generations of progressive socialists, products of the university system of tenure which allowed the socialists to burrow in, and then reveal their true colors, and finally, the tactic of class/race warfare that sustains voting blocks based on "culture" intead of integration, and we get here. I dispair for the future of the Republic and see Obama as just the next step down the slow, painful path of disintegration and decline. We are a de-industralized, debt-ridden, self-absorbed nation, riding the last remnants of super-power status. We face some of the most daunting threats since the early days of the Revolution against Britain, and the vast majority of our fellow citizens think this communist in sheeps clothing is the answer? God Help Us.
#14
All McCain has to do is avoid any major screw ups
And that's what the donks are depending on, cause it's a mighty tall order for Johnny Mac. You can bet we'll be hearing a lot about Jacksonville come October.
#18
All the talk about a revolutuion against people like Obama and Clinton has been growing since McGovern ran for office in 1972. It hasn't reached the tipping point yet, but an Obama or Clinton presidency could change that. I hope the Donks have someone with enough intelligece to see that such an outcome is possible, and enough common sense to understand that they are killing themselves before an entire generation. Queen Nancy and Lord Haw Haw Reid are digging their graves as fast as they can. They need Barrack or Hitlery to win the presidency so they can bring in the really HEAVY equipment, so they can bury the entire Democratic Party.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/12/2008 14:28 Comments ||
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#19
The GOD of Israel is YOUR problem, Obama.
My suggestion is to remember your life right now, Because there is no where to go but down.
My feelings exactly...he comes from nowhere, merely to show that Hillary isn't that bad by comparison(which is perhaps true, but either of them can take us closer to 1917).
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2008 21:43 Comments ||
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#23
Aris is amazing, really.
He's so desperate to show us he is a tin-plated jerk knows nothing about Americans, he even sneaks in to do it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/12/2008 22:13 Comments ||
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#24
If you want to be talking about a new Civil war, then you ought realize which American president you're unwittingly comparing him to.
If you know your US History (and I doubt it), that would be James Buchanan, dipshit. The south was already seceding under his administration, but not willing to go to war. Lincoln was willing to keep the union intact and was willing to fight for it, so the south fired on Fort Sumner after Lincoln won.
So, next time do some research before going off half cocked (like usual) and making yourself look like an idiot (like usual).
#25
"If you know your US History (and I doubt it), that would be James Buchanan, dipshit."
Buchanan exists in Bush's place in the analogy.
Buchanan was loved by the southern secessionists - as he kept supporting them in policy and wasn't going to do anything to oppose them.
Lincoln was the inexperienced senator the Southerners despised, whose election they considered a declaration of war on the South.
Now when people speak about a rebellion and second civil war if Obama comes into power, it's not because Obama will please the rebels too much (like Buchanan did), it's because they hate him too much (like Lincoln did).
So yeah, your parallel with Buchanan kinda fails sorely. Buchanan/Bush are the ones that please the secessionists who'll rebel against Lincoln/Obama.
But ofcourse you're right on one thing -- it won't be Lincoln/Obama's fault, the division is much more the fault of Buchanan/Bush.
#26
Aris, if you think Obama is so wonderful, you can have him. I understand y'all like America-hating socialists over there anyway.
Sane people in this country want a President that actually likes this country. That leaves out both the DemoncRat candidates, but especially Obamadamadingdong.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/12/2008 23:38 Comments ||
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#27
"Aris, if you think Obama is so wonderful, you can have him."
No, alas, I can't. Greece hates liberals even more than America does.
"Sane people in this country want a President that actually likes this country."
Conservatives by definition want to conserve the status quo, so they need like it.
Progressives want the country to (duh!) progress, so by definition they dislike the status quo.
So it's only conservatives that are shocked, SHOCKED, when a politicians talks about their nation's problems.
Hillary Clinton and John McCain both ripped into Barack Obama Friday for reportedly saying residents of small-town America cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them out of bitterness over lost jobs, a remark his opponents interpreted as arrogant.
The Huffington Post reported that Obama made the comments while speaking to a group of wealthy California donors in San Francisco over the weekend. The Post quotes him specifically singling out towns in Pennsylvania, where hes trying to woo voters and overcome Clintons lead in the polls before the states April 22 primary.
The comments, which can also be heard in an audio recording later posted on the Huffington Web site, immediately became fodder for the campaigns of Clinton, Obamas rival for the Democratic nomination, and McCain, his potential Republican challenger. Pennsylvanians dont need a president who looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, Clinton said Friday afternoon at a campaign stop in Philadelphia. She said the Pennsylvanians shes met arent bitter, but resilient and positive.
McCain adviser Steve Schmidt called Obamas statement remarkable and extremely revealing.
It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking, Schmidt said. It is hard to imagine someone running for president of the United States who is more out of touch with average Americans. Schmidt also said it shows Obama views the people hes trying to relate to with contempt.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama denies his white DNA. That is the worst sort of condescension.
Why "cling to guns"? In dozens of court findings, judges have denied that police bear an obligation to protect the public. Ergo: protect yourself with appropriate means.
#2
This has much less to do with Obama denying his white DNA than his telling San Francisco limousine liberals what they want to hear. He's arrogant enough to believe that he can say anything to anyone and never be called on it ... sad thing is it appears that he's correct.
#3
Whadda ya expect? A marxist empty suit that spouts crap the media not only loves to hear but believes explicitly.
I'm a half drunk Bircher, I think I have a better chance of becoming President.
#5
I hope, hope, hope the Dems are stupid enough to run Obama as their candidate. They'll be setting themselves up for a world-class butt-kicking. I'm talking McGovern-style butt-kicking. VDH called it the same way and I'd bet big bucks he's right.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/12/2008 9:34 Comments ||
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#6
Geez dont take it so personally Mr. and Mrs. Blue Collar. Are you really shocked to learn that liberals view Small-town, USA as just another demographic to be manipulated? Just remember, in the rough and tumble world of identity-politics no group is immune. It just so happens this was a fund-raiser with wealthy San Francisco academic-types. Really its nothing personal. Its just that West-coast Progressives seem to warm up to the stereotypes about you folks as being a bunch of rural rubes. You see it kinda makes them feel superior .and thats when they tend to loosen up their purse strings. And dont forget, Senator Obama has all kinds of speeches for you guys too. You may have heard the one about Wall Street vs. Main Street. Its a good-un. And if his speech about the evil corporate CEOs and their elite cronies doesnt make you grab for your checkbook you best be talking to the closest union representative. So buck-up and get ready for some Change.
Crolusing tse Tung2778,
Senator Obama has said Saul Alinsky was an enormous influence on his political philosophy. In Alinskys book Rules for Radicals he said Organization for action will now and in the decades ahead center upon America's white middle class. I could be off base but personally I detect a pattern.
On the other side is the older generation, whose members are not less confused. If they are not as vocal or conscious, it may be because they can escape to a past when the world was simpler.They can still cling to the old values in the simple hope that everything will work out somehow, some way.
Saul Alinsky - Rules for Radicals
"Like the anger within the black community, these resentments arent always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition."
Barak Obama - Speech on race relations 2008
"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations
Barak Obama Fundraiser speech 2008
#9
I'm willing to bet very few of those religous, gun-toting rednecks go to a church where the pastor rants about conspiracy, Jews and hating AmeriKKKa. They may be residents of small towns, but that does not mean they are small-minded.
India has opted for an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and the heirs of the Nizam or ruler of Hyderabad State, once the worlds richest man, to resolve a piquant six-decade old dispute over a million pounds.
The money, which has lay in a London bank account since 1948, has since grown to around £30 million. Known as the 'Hyderabad Funds Case, the dispute centres around £1,007,940 and nine shillings that were transferred in 1948 from the Nizam of Hyderabad to Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, the high commissioner to London of the newly-formed Pakistan.
As the Muslim ruler of Hyderabad, a south Indian principality, the Nizam was wavering over whether to join Pakistan or India. Meanwhile, his finance minister arbitrarily signed over the money to the Pakistan diplomatic account in the same bank in London.
A cable sent by the Nizam, requesting the funds be transferred back was ignored, sparking legal action. Soon after the Indian army annexed land-locked Hyderabad, that today is the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
In 1957, the case reached the House of Lords, which ruled that the account could only be unfrozen with the agreement of all involved parties. But Indias federal cabinet has now approved an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and the Nizams descendents within 18 months, federal science and technology minister Kapil Sibal announced yesterday.
We decided to restart the negotiation process with Pakistan to know how much the private beneficiary should get and what would be the distribution between the two governments Mr Sibal declared.
The case is further complicated by the late Nizam having sired over 100 illegitimate children from 86 mistresses who may lay claim to the fortune as rightful beneficiaries. But the Nizams grandson, now living in Istanbul in a small apartment after having lost most of his family fortune in India and Australia, is likely to be one of the main parties in the negotiations.
The Nizams surviving 173-piece jewel collection, that is periodically displayed at various museums across India includes the legendary 187.75 carat Jacob diamond, the worlds fifth-largest diamond which is valued at over £100 million.
The seventh and last Nizam found the duck-egg-sized diamond hidden in his fathers slippers and used it as a paperweight. The dazzling display also includes strings of rare grey pearls, broaches, buckles and sarpechs or turban ornaments worn by Indian princes as a mark of high distinction, studded with rubies, emeralds and diamonds. One paisley-shaped serpech is encrusted with six large Colombian emeralds set amidst a gaggle of diamonds which alone weigh more than 300 carats.
The collection, which covers the period spanning the 18th and early 20th centuries was considered so large at the time of Indias independence in 1947 that it was believed its pearls alone could cover the pavements of Londons Piccadilly Circus. But the master of this wealth was a miser who dressed like a tramp wearing crumpled pyjamas and a tattered fez and ate his meals off a tin plate.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 09:51 ||
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NEW DELHI - A passenger train service between India and Bangladesh, suspended more than four decades ago, will resume next week, the Indian government said in a statement said on Friday. The new train service will start on April 14. The agreement will strengthen bilateral relations and provide an alternative mode of passenger transport, the statement said.
Passenger train services between the two countries were suspended after a war between India and Pakistan in 1965, when Bangladesh was the eastern province of Pakistan. Bangladesh became an independent country in 1971. Thousands of people on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border have relatives on the other side, and many Bangladeshis also travel to Kolkata, capital of Indias West Bengal state, and other Indian cities to seek medical treatment.
Bangladesh and India signed a deal on July 12, 2001 to resume a direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata, but it was delayed because the two sides were wrangling over security arrangements. Dhaka had now accepted an Indian demand that a box-type fence would be constructed along the railways passage through the no-mans land between Bangladesh and India to ensure security and stop smuggling or illegal migration.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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HONG KONG: Chinese military journals have in recent days and weeks ratcheted up the tough talk against India, accusing it of going on the same old path of confrontation with China as it had in 1962.
The stepped-up and excessively shrill attack coincides with the unrest in Tibet, and what distinguishes it is that perhaps for the first time, the commentaries have singled out India for harsh criticism.
Given the Chinese-language commentaries were published in official journals, they must be presumed to have official endorsement, in which case they reflect a disquieting picture of official Chinese thinking on strategic affairs vis-à-vis India at a time when the Tibet unrest has manifestly strained relations between the two countries.
An article on the web site of the Beijing-based China Institute of International Strategic Studies, authoured by Zhongguo Zhan Lue (meaning China Strategy, believed to be a pseudonym for a high-level Communist Party cadre), is particularly noteworthy for its hysterical tone and over-the-top jingoism. Provocatively titled A Warning to the Indian Government: Dont Be Evil!, the article claims that just as in 1962, when the Indian government misjudged the situation and precipitated a war on China with the support of the two superpowers, today India is on the same old path of confrontation with China.
Today, however, claims the author, the Peoples Liberation Army has a stronger presence in Tibet after decades of deployment of high-altitude combat brigades, and will not pull back 30 km (as it had in 1962). In the past decade, India had accelerated its military build-up, including N-weapons potential, and was looking beyond Pakistan to realise its ambition of becoming a regional and global big-power, the article maintained. India considers China as its biggest obstacle to realising that aspiration, it added.
To deal with this imaginary enemy, India was stationing its border troops, carrying out military exercises to suppress Chinas preparedness, and was importing arms for use against China. India, the author adds, should not respond to kindness with treachery.
India, the article further says, is a very arrogant country, and so are its people.
The author recalls the experience of a Chinese scholar who, on a visit to Mumbai, wanted to see the night skyline, but could only see empty darkness, and a slum. Worse, an Indian scholar asked him if Shanghai had as many high-rises. Noting that Shanghai had over 1,000 high-rises, the author says that similar experiences on that tour led Chinese scholars to conclude that Indians were given to excessive hubris.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Actually, the Indian economy is yielding high growth rates. And they can credit US development models for same.
The Beijing Olympics looks like its toast. However, the LA Olympics was a laugh riot without the Soviet Bloc. Sometimes a blowout is fun; not fair, but fun.
The CPMs (Communist Party of India (Marxist)) anachronisms reach a frightening level: rice farmers are starving because the party says, no machines. KA SHAJI reports
THE CPMS time-warped ideas are reaping a bloody harvest for Keralas rice farmers. The partys peasants unions have been boycotting machines for years, insisting that the sickle is revolutionary both as tool and idea. Ask local Congress leader and rice farmer Shaji Cherukad, and hell tell you that raising a banner of revolt in the Red bastion of Alappuzha is a recipe for starvation. Cherukad lent his fields for a symbolic protest by Congress leaders against the CPM unions refusal to allow farmers the use of cutting and threshing machines.
The Congress state leadership turned up in full strength to deploy a giant harvesting machine on Cherukads farm in the Kuttanad region, and offered the gathered mediapersons some defiant bytes. But no sooner had the ceremonies ended that Cherukads woes began. Those in charge of operating the machine fled fearing the CPMs wrath, and the farm workers avenged this assault on peasants unity by boycotting Cherukads farm. Twenty days after the harvest date, the crop lies uncut and rotting. What makes the situation bizarre in the Alappuzha-Kuttanad region, once called Keralas rice bowl, is that the embargo on machines has meant a severe shortage of farm hands.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Meanwhile in Thailand rice farmers are literally riding shotgun on their combines so the harvest doesn't get hijacked. But of course to make money on food is criminal.
Posted by: bruce ||
04/12/2008 18:37 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD: Five Pakistani academics have been dismissed by the Punjab University for plagiarising a nuclear research paper from the findings of a prestigious Geneva-based scientific institute.
The dismissal of the lecturers from the university's Centre for High Energy Physics has shocked academia across the country.
The head of the centre, Fazl-e-Azeem, was sacked along with his colleagues Rashid Ahmad, Sohail Afzal Tahir, M Alam Saeed and Maqsood Ahmed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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ION RUMORMILLNEWS > SCIENTISTS PROPOSE TO GEO-ENGINEER THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - CHEMTRAILS?; + NEWSVINE > MAGNETIC STORMS FROM SPACE AND GROUND.
The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.
"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday.
"I think we've fully addressed anybody's concerns," Chertoff added in remarks last week to bloggers. "I think the way is now clear to stand it up and go warm on it."
His statements marked a fresh determination to operate the department's new National Applications Office as part of its counterterrorism efforts. The administration in May 2007 gave DHS authority to coordinate requests for satellite imagery, radar, electronic-signal information, chemical detection and other monitoring capabilities that have been used for decades within U.S. borders for mapping and disaster response.
But Congress delayed launch of the new office last October. Critics cited its potential to expand the role of military assets in domestic law enforcement, to turn new or as-yet-undeveloped technologies against Americans without adequate public debate, and to divert the existing civilian and scientific focus of some satellite work to security uses.
Democrats say Chertoff has not spelled out what federal laws govern the NAO, whose funding and size are classified. Congress barred Homeland Security from funding the office until its investigators could review the office's operating procedures and safeguards. The department submitted answers on Thursday, but some lawmakers promptly said the response was inadequate.
"I have had a firsthand experience with the trust-me theory of law from this administration," said Harman, citing the 2005 disclosure of the National Security Agency's domestic spying program, which included warrantless eavesdropping on calls and e-mails between people in the United States and overseas. "I won't make the same mistake. . . . I want to see the legal underpinnings for the whole program."
Thompson called DHS's release Thursday of the office's procedures and a civil liberties impact assessment "a good start." But, he said, "We still don't know whether the NAO will pass constitutional muster since no legal framework has been provided."
DHS officials said the demands are unwarranted. "The legal framework that governs the National Applications Office . . . is reflected in the Constitution, the U.S. Code and all other U.S. laws," said DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner. She said its operations will be subject to "robust," structured legal scrutiny by multiple agencies. Welcome to the fishbowl.
#4
I have to say this has little to do with terrorism and lots to do with spying on everyone else. Welcome to guilty until we get you to court where you have to prove you are innocent against the full weight of the whole federal government. This is a fascist wet dream come true.
A prominent German institute has said it plans to redefine the kilogramme, following concerns that the current standard kilo has been shedding weight. Over the next two years researchers at the German National Metrology Institute (PTB) in Braunschweig plan to count the atoms in two pure silicon spheres that are 10-centimetres in diameter. One of the spheres, the most perfect of their kind in the world, arrived in Braunschweig on Friday. The other will go to researchers in Japan.
"The former reference object is no longer exact enough," said faculty leader Peter Becker on Friday.
The old platinum alloy standard kilogramme - the original from 1889 - is housed in vault near Paris, France, and is slowly losing weight, though it's barely measurable, Becker said. Scientists aren't sure why.
PTB researchers will count atoms in the new silicon spheres with the highest possible accuracy to create an equation for a new definition of the kilogramme.
The five-year assembly took place in St. Petersburg, Berlin, and the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod and cost a total of 2 million.
Becker said time is short to finish the project, because researchers in Switzerland and Britain are currently using other methods to solve the same problem. "Of course we hope that our definition of the kilogramme succeeds," he said. "But the final decision is up to the politicians."
But the new formula, regardless of which team succeeds in establishing a new kilogramme definition, won't have a commonplace purpose. "Our work serves precise measurements," Becker said. "No one should fear that the contents of their shopping bags will suddenly be heavier."
#4
Becker said time is short to finish the project, because researchers in Switzerland and Britain are currently using other methods to solve the same problem. "Of course we hope that our definition of the kilogramme succeeds," he said. "But the final decision is up to the politicians."
Like, are we talking abount Gordon Brown, Angie Merkel, Berlusconi, et al. coming together to define the kilogramme?
#5
The old platinum alloy standard kilogramme - the original from 1889 - is housed in vault near Paris, France, and is slowly losing weight, though it's barely measurable, Becker said. Scientists aren't sure why.
let's see, Weight= Mass X Gravity. Apparently, one of those changed... if not the mass, perhaps the gravity? Makes me light-headed!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2008 14:10 Comments ||
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The old platinum alloy standard kilogramme is slowly losing weight. Scientists aren't sure why.
#7
Frank, I'm pretty sure that gravity has increased, if my bathroom scale is anything to go by.
How often do they pick up the standard kg? Every little scratch will transfer some atoms back and forth, and since platinum is denser than most things the standard weight should see a net loss.
Posted by: James ||
04/12/2008 15:00 Comments ||
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For the chemists or metallurgists out there. How stable is Platinum? Might loss come from handling per James and perhaps from long term decay? We can measure down to really small increments nowadays using tech undreamed of in the days these Standards were developed.
In 1958 the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations agreed upon common definitions for the pound and the yard. The international avoirdupois pound was defined as exactly 453.59237 grams
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 16:28 Comments ||
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John, but would that not mean that 1 kg = xactly 2.204062262185 lb?
SACRAMENTO - Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way. The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That's an increase of about 1,500 percent.
Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction. "The people who use alcohol should pay for part of the cost to society, just like we've accepted that concept with tobacco," Beall said.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/12/2008 11:03 ||
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One more reason to bail outta' California for Oklahoma (less than half the cost of living despite having a median income that's about the same as where I live).
Anybody know what a beer costs in Broken Arrow or Tulsa at a decent bar (not necessarily a high end establishment, but not a dive either)? I've got a 3-bedroom, 2 bath house back there in about 3-4 months for $700/month (paying $1450/month for the same basic house in CA).
#3
Relax -- this is a classic political shakedown -- here's the grift: 1)threaten a $1.80 tax 2) reap "campaign contributions" from the beer distributors 3) compromise by levying a mere $.50 tax ("a fraction of what we wanted!") 4) note the regressive nature of the tax to give more goodies to illegal aliens ("they pay taxes like the rest of us, only more!"), 5) Greg moves to OK, sadder by wiser and 6) rinse/repeat in two years.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/12/2008 14:36 Comments ||
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compromise by levying a mere $.50 tax
Let's see...that'll push a 16 oz Coors Light at my favorite bars to $3.50 abd $3.00, respectively. It'll push a beer at the ballpark to something like $7.50. Good designer beers out here run about $4.00 for a 16-22 oz glass so you're looking at $5.00 a glass there at least.
Tack the extra $0.50 onto wine and hard liquor and you might as well be $10 for a beer and a shot.
It's typical graft (grift is right!) at the state level - nobody in their right mind in this state should think that any of the taxes taken in by this will go anywhere except into some state Senator or Assemblyman's special pork project and from there right into his or her pockets.
#5
No chance in hell of passing or even seeing a serious hearing, and that is according to the LA Times who loves crap like this and would be behind it 100%.
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.
Prospects of resolving Zimbabwe's two-week-old election crisis appeared dim Friday after a government spokesman said President Robert Mugabe would not attend a key weekend meeting with other regional leaders.
Hillary Clinton and John McCain both ripped into Barack Obama Friday for reportedly saying residents of small-town America cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them out of bitterness over lost jobs, a remark his opponents interpreted as arrogant.
NEW DELHI - A passenger train service between India and Bangladesh, suspended more than four decades ago, will resume next week, the Indian government said in a statement said on Friday. The new train service will start on April 14. The agreement will strengthen bilateral relations and provide an alternative mode of passenger transport, the statement said.
A prominent German institute has said it plans to redefine the kilogramme, following concerns that the current standard kilo has been shedding weight. Over the next two years researchers at the German National Metrology Institute (PTB) in Braunschweig plan to count the atoms in two pure silicon spheres that are 10-centimetres in diameter. One of the spheres, the most perfect of their kind in the world, arrived in Braunschweig on Friday. The other will go to researchers in Japan.
SACRAMENTO - Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way. The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That's an increase of about 1,500 percent.
