Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for delivering federal money to defense contractors in his district, is now going to bat for a constituent's company that was convicted last year of illegally exporting components of military equipment.
Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, wrote State Department officials in late June urging them to meet with the president of Electro-Glass Products, a 50-employee company that was convicted in April 2007 of illegally exporting components of night-vision goggles to a company in India. The Mammoth, Pa., firm has been sanctioned by the State Department, and Murtha argues that the action threatens to put the firm out of business.
"Electro-Glass is a highly respected company known for its honesty," Murtha wrote. He said the company, which manufactures small glass rings called "preforms," would not have made the shipments "if they truly believed the shipments were in violation of the law." He added: "It will be genuinely unfortunate if they are forced to close their doors."
But Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, called the company's violation "a serious offense." The company had no license to export the items, and the government requires one to ensure "that products for military use aren't being sold to countries that might have an improper and criminal use for the product," Buchanan said. The administrative penalty is a "significant remedy," she said, "because companies that violate federal law are the type of company that the government does not want to continue in that particular business."
Electro-Glass was convicted April 19, 2007, in Pittsburgh of a felony violation of the Arms Export Control Act for its 2004 export of 23,000 rings to B.E. Delft, a manufacturer of night-vision goggles in India. The court fined the company $20,000. The State Department automatically put the company on its list of debarred companies, prohibiting it from participating in the export of defense goods and services for three years.
Buchanan said her office pushed for conviction because Electro-Glass had been counseled before, in 1994, that it needed certification to make future shipments. "The history of this company is very telling," she said. " In 2004 . . . they were charged with a criminal offense because they knowingly, willfully violated the federal statute."
In his June 30 letter to David C. Trimble, director of the Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance, Murtha wrote that the company, which relies on exports for about 25 percent of its business, deserved another chance.
Murtha has drawn criticism for securing millions of dollars in earmarks for contractors in his district and for clients of a lobbying firm run by one of his former aides. Many recipients, through employees or political action committees, donate to Murtha's political campaigns.
Electro-Glass has no federal contracts or grants and its officials have not met with Murtha or his staff, said Margaret M. Gatti, an attorney for the company. It has not received an earmark from the congressman, and its executives' names are not listed among Murtha's contributors. "They are just a constituent," Gatti said. ". . . It's just a little company that's just trying to survive."
Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said the congressman has no personal or financial ties to Electro-Glass "It is Congressman Murtha's policy to inquire into federal problems that constituents bring to his attention, regardless of the circumstances," Mazonkey said in an e-mail.
The 35-year-old company has laid off 16 employees and, if the penalty stands, "will likely be put out of business," James K. Schmidt, Electro-Glass's president, told Murtha in a June 26 memo. The company is appealing its conviction and plans to formally apply for reinstatement to the State Department next month, he said. "We want to stay legal, we want to stay aboveboard. It was an accident what happened in the first place," Schmidt said in a telephone interview.
Schmidt said he called the FBI and "they told me that India was a democracy and they should not be denied." The company later consulted U.S. customs officials and got the impression that it should not stop the shipments, he said. But officials from both the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have denied that they gave approval.
Schmidt said his company sought Murtha's help on the recommendation of Tom Balya, chairman of the Board of Commissioners in Westmoreland County, Pa., and a political ally of the congressman. "As a county commissioner I don't have that kind of ability to intervene with federal agencies," Balya said. "But certainly Congressman Murtha, particularly in light of it being defense-related -- he's one of the national leaders on the issue."
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which put Murtha on its list of the "most corrupt" members of Congress, said the congressman's entreaty to the State Department is unusual in one respect. "They were convicted in a jury trial," she said. "You know, you are a member of Congress and you are upholding the law of the United States. A conviction is a conviction."
Still, Sloan said, writing a single letter in support of a local company that is losing jobs does not seem excessive. "It seems to me there could be some legitimate reasons he did it," she said.
In his letter to Trimble, Murtha contended that the company's trouble resulted from a "miscommunication." "I respectfully request that you give every consideration to lifting the debarments placed against this company," Murtha wrote. He asked the agency to meet with Schmidt and his attorney so that they could "present Electro-Glass's case and to show their sincere efforts to ensure compliance."
Trimble, reached by telephone, said the State Department does not comment on specific cases.
Companies can seek reinstatement after one year and must show they have taken steps to prevent a problem from recurring. At least 239 companies and individuals have been automatically penalized for violating the export-control law since 1998, according to the State Department's Web site.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/15/2008 12:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Mammoth, Pa., firm has been sanctioned by the State Department, and Murtha argues that the action threatens to put the firm out of business.
No sympathy here. Commerce offers both training and resources on exporting. They also have regional offices. There are also plenty of private firms that will assist for a fee.
Sounds like a small company who saw a profitable contract, didn't feel like it could or wanted to 'play the game', and went around the rules to get it.
#3
interesting little website:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/othereetopics.htm#penalties
then click on the major cases link at the bottom of the page for recent actions. our friends in the article are not there, but lots of good reading.
agree 100% w/ Pappy about not playing by the rules.
When we last checked in on the soap opera that is Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, he had just been sprung after a night in the local hoosegow for ticking off a judge by violating the terms of his bond on perjury charges relating to his under-oath statement that he wasn't sleeping with a top aide (yes, he apparently was). And then he was arrested again on charges he assaulted a sheriff's deputy trying to serve a warrant.
Amid all those headaches -- and the very real chance his political career is going the way of auto worker jobs -- Kilpatrick asked the court's permission to hit the Denver party circuit in less than two weeks for the Democratic National Convention. Yep, the mayor is a Democratic superdelegate. And the judge said yes. But then another judge said "forget about it."
This whole sorry saga began with a party and allegations of a cover up -- and includes a stripper who turned up dead -- and has just gotten more and more bizarre. We're fascinated. Not because it's taudry, but because it falls somewhere between a Theodore Dreiser novel and "Law and Order" episode with a touch of Fatty Arbuckle tossed in.
One thing we do know is that if Kilpatrick ultimately gets to attend the Democratic convention, he'll be walking around as though he was Radioactive Man in some comic book. Unless, of course, the DNC sets aside a room for him and John Edwards, just to keep them out of the way -- and off camera.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#7
Oh right. No. Course not. Completely different when the Dhimmis do it.
Of course it's different, Steve. Democrats KNOW they're dishonest, depraved, traitorous criminals to start with. Knowing that, they can't be faulted for committing dishonest, depraved, traitorous acts. They're just acting in character, a character they're PROUD of.
Some liberal fool on Pajamas Media commented yesterday that after years of hearing from Rush that liberals were all criminals, traitors, perverts, etc., he knew that the Right was just aching to get their guns out and "mow down some libtards."
I read that comment and thought this guy doesn't understand the half of it. Bama just may be the spark that lights the fuse starting the Second Civil War.
#8
No DNC Limbo Room for Kwame. HE...has spoken. Can everyone under the bus move over and make some room?
Obama camp: Detroit mayor would be a 'distraction'
DETROIT (AP) Barack Obama doesn't want Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his legal troubles to be a distraction at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and he got his wish Thursday when a judge ordered the city executive to stay home.
A Michigan spokesman for Obama, Brent Colburn, said in an e-mail Thursday that the focus of the convention in Denver this month should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual," a reference to Kilpatrick and the two criminal cases he's facing.
Kilpatrick's lawyer, James Thomas, said high-ranking Democrats want the mayor to attend the convention. Obama spokesman Brent Colburn, however, said in an e-mail that the focus of the convention should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual."
#9
Political scandal helped push the Pubs out of power in Congress in '06. Think the same thing could happen to the Dhimmis in '08?
Oh right. No. Course not. Completely different when the Dhimmis do it.
scandal pushed the dems out in 1994. the differnce here from '06, and from '94, is that the dems havent been in power in congress very long, and dont have the presidency. Really the political landscape is different. Im pretty sure someone who wanted could find some GOP scandals in 2002 or 2004 - it wouldnt have mattered cause larger political winds go in the other direction.
BTW, call us donks, call us socialists, call us all kinds of names - but "dhimmis"??? If you call us that, and then get upset about those who call Repubicans fascists, etc, well, youre upset will truely ring hollow.
I am optimistic, in that I know both McCain and Obama dislike this kind of thing, and I know one or the other is going to win.
#2
A gifted "Here, hold my beer" moment following a thought experiment. Normal fifteen year olds would have connected their genitals to a car battery instead... or whatever the Indian version of that is.
#4
I guess tossing the stuff into the toilet is so 20th Century.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/15/2008 19:59 Comments ||
Top||
#5
It is amazing that he lived. Wicked soldiers used to put alcohol in their canteens in sub freezing weather. Then when they took a chug, it would near instantly freeze their throat, and they would be dead before they hit the ground.
OY, has the National Enquirer got stuff piled up on the future very private citizen John Edwards. Oy. And another - oy. Not only are they on the case 10 months, but they've had PIs on the case for months. Executive Editor Barry Levine tells me, "Although, as you've probably read, our organization, American Media, is under the gun, they have nevertheless devoted really big money to this."
Levine claims the huge sum they've spent on this story is only a spit to "the enormous amounts we know Edwards is spending to keep it contained. But he can't. We've followed the money trail. He bought her [Rielle Hunter] a $1 million house in North Carolina. Few days before our headlines forced him to go public, he spent $150,000 just on a private plane to whisk her to some undisclosed place. She was moved in the middle of the night. Lots of money is being spent to keep her happy and away from the media.
"We have exclusive photographic evidence, pictures, videos, hard proof to further incriminate Edwards. He doesn't at this point know what we have, which is why I'm asking that we don't reveal too much yet. And which we will use unless and until he acknowledges paternity.
"She believes they'll be together in future because Elizabeth's health concerns make it just a matter of time. Whatever he's said, in her mind the clock is running. We know this.
"Although Edwards has this loyalist Andrew Young trying to claim it's really his baby in order to take the heat off Edwards, we know that's false. Young brought his wife and children to visit this lady Rielle Hunter. Now, nobody brings his wife and kids to have a nice social meeting with his mistress. It's ridiculous.
"For now, she's following whatever script he's written for her. She's saying what she's told to say. Keeping her mouth shut. John Edwards and Rielle are in steady contact. Who knows, but as things go along, she may tire of the game. And we'll be ready.
"We're in this for the long haul. We're sitting on very exclusive material. Like a reporter monitoring a room they were in from 9:45 p.m. to 2:45 a.m. We had the big OJ stories, we broke the Jesse Jackson lovechild story, we unearthed the Clinton girlfriend stories. We'll stay on this one forever."
Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee
Lunch: Half-kilogramme (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks
Dinner: Half-kilogramme of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks
#4
A family that lived 2 doors down from me in the 1960s (in the UK) called Phelps emigrated to the USA when one of the kids got a swimming scholarship. The son, my age now (mid-50s) bore a strong resemblance to Michael Phelps.
Even more curious is Michael Phelps' father is named Fred, which was the kid I remember father's name.
Probably just a coincidence.
And I eat high protein (bacon and egg sandwich), 1000 calorie breakfasts every day and I'm thin as a rail.
Red Bull might "give you wings" but new research suggests just one can of the popular energy drink may increase the risk of heart damage.
A study of university students aged between 20 and 24 years old found that drinking one 250ml sugar free can of the caffeinated energy drink increased the "stickiness" of the blood and raised the risk of blood clots forming. The students in Australia, who represent the target market for the drink, showed a cardiovascular profile similar to that of someone with heart disease after drinking one can.
Red Bull emphatically denied today that the drink, which is distributed to 143 countries worldwide, was dangerous. In a statement, it said it had been proved safe by "numerous scientific studies", and it had never been banned from anywhere it had been introduced.
However, Dr Scott Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Adelaide University, said he was "alarmed" at the results of his survey. "After one can it seemed to turn the young individual into one with more of the type of profile you would expect to see with someone with cardiovascular disease," he said "People who already have existing cardiovascular disease may want to talk to their physician before they drink Red Bull in future."
The results shocked the 30 students tested, some of whom drank up to eight cans per night to help them stay awake to study, and many now refuse to consume the energy drink again.
Red Bull is popular among students as a means to stay awake while studying. It is also a popular party drink mixed with alcohol, with a 'Vodka Red Bull' being the drink of choice for many 18-30 year olds in nightclubs and bars around the world.
Dr Willoughby said he decided to conduct the study after recent reports of deaths in young people who had consumed large amounts of the energy drink before they died.
The high level of caffeine in Red Bull was suspected to be a contributing factor in the death of a 40-year-old man in Oxford who suffered a fatal heart attack in April after collapsing at an Asda store where he worked. In 2007 an 18-year-old British basketball player died after consuming three cans of the drink, and in July 2001 a 33-year-old Australian man died of a heart attack after drinking a pitcher of Red Bull and vodka.
"There was enough anecdotal evidence to catch my attention," Dr Willoughby said.
He plans to expand the study and test a larger number of subjects, and also aims to look into the effects of multiple consumptions of the drink as well as how mixing it with alcohol can affect the cardiovascular system.
One can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, around the same as a normal cup of coffee, and 1,000mg of taurine, an amino acid commonly used in energy drinks. Dr Willoughby said individually caffeine and taurine have been shown to affect platelet and cardiac function, sometimes with beneficial results. However, combined in the Red Bull drink they had a dramatic effect on his 30 students.
"Caffeine and taurine -- both of these individually point towards being beneficial but maybe there's something quirky about the effect of the combination of the two which is causing this reaction, this is what we need to look at next," he said.
In a statement, Red Bull emphatically denied that Red Bull was dangerous to drink. "The study does not show effects which would go beyond that of drinking a cup of coffee," it said. "Therefore, the reported results were to be expected and lie within the normal physiological range."
The statement added that countries where it had been introduced had strict health procedures which Red Bull had passed. "Red Bull has not been banned in any country. There are places where it has not been authorised yet. It takes a lot of time to get a completely new product, with special ingredients in a complex composition, through all the official channels.
"Red Bull is actively pursuing marketing authorisation proceedings in various countries, including Denmark and Norway. Some of these countries have very restrictive nutrition policies concerning the supplementation of foodstuffs with certain ingredients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids."
It continued: "Last year alone, over three and a half billion cans and bottles of Red Bull were consumed in over 143 countries worldwide.
"Red Bull could only have such global sales because health authorities across the world have concluded that Red Bull is safe to consume. Numerous scientific studies in the fields of sports medicine, internal medicine and psychology confirm the claims made for Red Bull. All scientific studies are peer-reviewed, published and can be found in public databases."
Red Bull, which has the catchphrase "Red Bull gives you wings", was created in Austria in the 1980s. The company last year sold 3.5 billion cans of the drink in 143 countries. Red Bull cans carry health warnings advising customers not to drink more than two cans a day.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/15/2008 08:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And kidney stones. Anything with Creatine derivatives will do that.
#2
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > CHINA DAILY - SCIENTISTS WARN GLOBAL OXYGEN LEVELS ARE DECLINING/FALLING [Less Oxy, More CO2, + Global Pan-Enviro Changes-Desertific as per MMGW]???
D *** NG IT, CHINA DAILY SEZZES WE = WORLD NEEDS A TRULY OBJECTIVE EMPIRICAL STUDY!?
MORGELLONS = MAGELLONS > Post-Modern Life [Industrial-Bio Chemicals] is inducing MAN TO NATURALLY GROW EITHER FEATHERS OR FISH SCALES
Since 9-11/WOT [old] > WAR FOR UNITARIANISM includ UNITARIAN SOCIALISM > "BIRDMAN" WID FISH SCALES, OR "AQUAMAN" WITH FEATHERS???
CARTOON CHANNEL > HOME-EROTIC, GAY CAPITALIST LAWYER [Blue Falcon] "FLYING FISH" SWIM GUY IN TIGHTS - OWG Guy-Liner, Man-Scara, and soon-to-come Man-pons, etc. goes FULL MONTY???
Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if everybody's trying to out-green one another these days. A woman I was talking to at a restaurant the other night said she's even using Seventh Generation diapers for her baby. I don't know about you, but that seems like one really old diaper.
But such is the pressure to reduce, reuse and recycle.
As an apartment-dwelling single with nary a dependent, I can't brag about how I use cardboard diapers for my kids. Nor can I point to the energy-efficient appliances I've purchased for my solar-powered yurt, or wax sanctimonious about my backyard worm bin (I'd install one in the kitchen but my lease says no pets).
But I can do one thing to keep from being completely left in the eco-dust. It's called green dating.
Green dating officially got its start about five years ago, around the same time niche sites like LargeFriends.com and EquestrianSingles.com began cropping up faster than recycling ordinances in the city of Seattle.
GreenSingles.com, a personal-connection site for people in the environmental, vegetarian and animal-rights communities, probably has been around the longest, hooking up singles who share a "global consciousness influenced by holistic philosophies, green politics and a willingness to explore the mind, body and spirit" (i.e., tree-huggers looking for love) since 1985.
A quick search through the site - "made with 100 percent recycled electrons!" - yielded me 71 potential dates in the greater Seattle area (I'm thinking global, but dating local), including a marine biologist, a musical gardener and some guy who lives on a permaculture farm in the woods. (Does that mean he grows pot?)
Over at Green-Passions.com, brought to you by the same folks who created StachePassions, MulletPassions and TruckerPassions (what, no TrailerParkPassions?), I didn't have nearly as much luck. My search netted only four eco-friendly singles in my area, plus the site kept crashing every time I tried to check out the guys' profiles.
Not that it really mattered. Butted up next to each match was a large ad for a hot pink waterless composting toilet. I'm all for saving water and everything, but talk about a buzz kill (not to mention a not-so-subtle reminder that my love life was in the crapper).
Undaunted, I plowed ahead and soon found a handful of other sites where a green - or even celery-colored - single could find a sustainable soul mate.
DemocraticSingles.net ponied up 86 matches from a pool of more than 25,000 environmentally and politically aware mates, including one guy interested in "trees, mountains, sex, wild birds and conversation" (or was that conservation?). Earth Wise Singles (ewsingles.com) gave me 21 candidates, among them a tall slender sensualist into environmental design and another guy hoping to find someone who likes to garden naked.
Let's hope he doesn't keep raspberries.
EthicalSingles.com is a matchmaking portal for people concerned about human rights, animal rights, pollution, global warming, genetic engineering, organic farming, timber sourcing, circus animals and a slew of other topics you'll never hear discussed on Fox News.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single ethical date in my area. At least not until I widened my search criteria by 60 years, lied about my home state and switched my sexual preference. None of which felt exactly, well, ethical.
Dateless but undampened, I surfed over to GreenSpeedDating.com, which touts itself as a new way for singles to find "carbon neutral love." Only around for a matter of months, the L.A.-based Web site recently held its first event in Santa Monica in which 16 singles hiked, biked, bused and (gasp!) drove to a bar for complimentary fruits and veggies and a raft of three-minute minidates.
Although there was nothing on the calendar for Seattle, singles across the country are encouraged to set up their own GSD events (just go to the site and click on the appropriate link). Not only will you up your chances of finding the low-impact love of your life, your $25 fee will go into a fund designed to take solar energy to rural Nicaragua.
And there are greener pastures yet.
In June, Portland's Pedalpalooza sponsored a "bicycle speed dating" event, drawing 40 single cyclists in all their helmet-haired glory. Here at home, there's SeattleGreenDrinks.org, a big green monster of a gathering held the second Tuesday of each month (for those who don't like crowds, there's the more intimate Green Lunches).
Although the group isn't a singles organization per se, there's plenty of environmentally savvy eye candy plus lots of opportunity for, if you'll pardon the expression, icebreakers ("Soooo are you as concerned about toxic sex toys as I am?")
As for me, I may decide to join one of the eco-dating sites (many offer free or discounted memberships to those who donate to green causes) or spend some quality time discussing all things organic over a biodegradable cup of green beer.
Then again I may decide to simply stick to the basics: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Surely I have to have at least one old boyfriend I can ease back into the dating picture. Heck, I've recycled before; why quibble about doing it now when resources are so tight?
Or maybe I'll ask around to see if anyone in my circle of friends has discarded some perfectly good soul mate. Instead of letting him just go to waste, I can pick him up, dust him off and see if he wants to get eco-friendly. The two of us can ditch the car (relatively easy for me since I don't have one), skip the wasteful wining and dining and go for a nice long (trash-collecting) walk on the beach.
Who knows? If we like the cut of each other's carbon footprint, we might even come back to my place for a quick game of spin the recyclable bottle.
#1
Are these really the people we want dating, then mating?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/15/2008 7:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Are these really the people we want dating, then mating?"
They'd be afraid to increase the planet's 'carbon footprint', so it would be less likely that progeny would result from their association. If they do have kids, they'd be self-centered malnourished little air-heads.
Either way, the issue would most likely be 'self-correcting' before a third generation could be expected.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/15/2008 8:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"Tree huggers looking for love"...I love it. It sounds like a song title from The Driveby Truckers. Give 'em a listen. Just sayin'...
HARROLD, Texas A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.
Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.
In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.
Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district's lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.
"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in Friday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.
"The naysayers think (a shooting) won't happen here. If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Thweatt said.
Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution."
It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers. Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee was out of the office Thursday and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, the newspaper said.
Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.
The 110-student district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.
#1
This is a good move. There'd be less shootings overall (and FAR less crime) if everyone was armed all the time. Criminals don't care about jail, they care about getting killed by an irate homeowner or other "victim".
And I'd be happy to bet any sum you can imagine that 90% of the people who go "crazy" and shoot up people for over angst or other screwloose issues wouldn't be quite so crazy if they knew that they'd get one round off then take a dozen in the back from bystanders.
I believe it was Jefferson who said "I fear the government that fears my gun."
#7
have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls."
Frangible ammo. Probably Glaser safety slugs.
I think this is a great idea. It will certainly make them safer from outside attack than they would otherwise be.
It's nowhere near as necessary in this case as it would be in the inner-city schools. There the danger comes less from outsiders than from the students themselves. Most of those schools need not only a few shootings of students by teachers but a good round number of floggings for both students and parents (or at least the parents who can be found). It's the lack of discipline in those places that is the most deleterious factor in their lack of ability to properly educate the students.
#8
I reload, I very highly recommend the "FBI" load, it's a slight overcharge of propellent pushing a relatively lightweight (125 Grain) SWC(Semi wadcutter) bullet.(Think of a trunciated cone, no point)
The idea is to NOT penetrate the body and kill somebody a block away.
Very flat trajectory, very high speed (1150 or so Feet per second), and no extra recoil. It's what I load and keep in my .38.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2008 20:15 Comments ||
Top||
#9
TW - he's saying if the gov't is doing it's job right by the const' then the gov't need not fear an armed populace because though armed, they would have no cause to revolt.
#10
If you're carrying concealed, you NEVER carry reloaded ammo. You carry brand new "Personal Defense Ammo" or you call the local police department and ask what they use and why and carry that.
Carrying reloaded ammo and using it is bad news when the lawyers get involved. Because no matter WHAT load you use, they're going to play it as "designed to horribly kill people".
HAVANA, Cuba, August 12 (acn) A multi-sectorial Cuban delegation headed by Army Corps General Leopoldo Cintra Frias has just ended a six-day visit to Angola, during which bilateral relations were examined. The Cuban leader, received by Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, met with various ministers with whom he analyzed existing cooperation agreements between the two countries in the fields of health, education, civil construction among other sectors, reports the Cuban Foreign Ministry's website.
Cintra Frías also visited an eye clinic in Benguela, as well as other Angolan cities where Cuban and Angolans are carrying out the national reconstruction program.
HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 8 (acn) Tanzanian Vice President Alí Mohammed Shein paid tribute to Ernesto Che Guevara, placing a wreath at the pantheon to Cuban internationalists in Havana's Cristobal Colon Cemetery.
In press statements, the African leader spoke about the role played by Che in the struggles for independence in Africa, where many Cubans died and demonstrated their bravery in their fight against apartheid, under the guidance of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He said that his visit to Havana, which began on Wednesday, will help strengthen relations between the two countries that date back more than four decades, and added that it is a prelude to the Cuba-Tanzania Intergovernmental Joint Commission, to be held in Havana during the last two weeks of September.
Mohammed Shein highlighted Cuba's cooperation with his country where 22 Cuban doctors are presently offering their services and 2 teachers are working with the Yes I Can literacy program. The physicians also give classes at Zanzibar's School of Medicine.
During the ceremony, the distinguished guest was accompanied by a representative from the Cuban Foreign Ministry's Department of Sub-Saharan Africa, Ivan Mora, and by the deputy director of the provincial office of the combatants Juan Carlos Gisbert.
Ali Mohammed Shein is on an official visit to Cuba, following an invitation by Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo; he will stay on the island until August 10.
Cuba and Tanzania established diplomatic relations in 1962 and maintain close links of friendship and cooperation.
More than 300,000 consultations and 5,227 surgeries have been performed and 7,028 lives have been saved by way of the Integral Health Program in the sister African nation. One hundred and ninety-nine students from Tanzania have graduated in Cuba.
I looked for a penguin or Monty Python Knights of the Round Table graphic, to no avail.
A penguin who was previously made a Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Army has been knighted at Edinburgh Zoo. So there is a Fisher Knight instead of a Fisher King.
Penguin Nils Olav has been an honorary member and mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard since the 1972. Over the years, he has been promoted through the ranks after being adopted by Royal Guard who visited the zoo.
During the ceremony, Nils had a sword dubbed on each side of his head, where his shoulders should be, to confirm his regimental knighthood. "I dub thee sir Aptenodytes Patagonica."
A crowd of several hundred people joined the 130 guardsmen at the zoo. A citation from King Harald the Fifth of Norway was read out, which described Nils as a penguin "in every way qualified to receive the honour and dignity of knighthood". How would that work out? Greenpeace would have a fit if it were for slaying monsters.
The guardsmen come to see Nils every few years while they are in Edinburgh performing at the city's Military Tattoo.
The proud penguin was on his best behaviour throughout most of the ceremony, but shortly before the ritual was concluded and possibly suffering a bout of nerves he was seen to deposit a discrete white puddle on the ground.
Drawing a polite veil over that, Darren McGarry, animal collection manager at the zoo, said afterwards: "It went extremely well and we are delighted that the Norwegian Guard honoured Nils Olav with a knighthood.
"We all enjoyed the occasion and Nils was a perfect penguin throughout."
British Major General Euan Loudon officiated at the ceremony. Well, modern Major Generals do have information vegetable, animal, and mineral.
Mr McGarry, added: "Nils always recognises the Norwegian guardsmen when they come to visit him.
"He loves the attention he receives at the ceremony and takes his time inspecting the troops."
Nils has also received medals for long service and had a 4ft bronze statue built in his honour. Does he also trumpet the commands in the Parade of Penguins?
Guardsman Captain Rune Wiik said: "We are extremely proud of Nils Olav and pleased that an enduring part of the Royal Guard is resident in Scotland helping to further strengthen ties between our two countries."
However, the penguin honoured on Friday is unfortunately not the original Nils Olav. He died in the 1980s and was replaced by a two-year-old penguin at the Zoo.
Norway presented the zoo with its first king penguin in 1913, the year of its opening.
David Windmill, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the charity that owns Edinburgh Zoo, said: "We have a long-standing history with the Norwegian King's Guard and it is something we are extremely proud of."
Another section of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony has been exposed as faked - the children supposedly representing the country's 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that there really is no China. It's a fake.
The children accompanied the soldiers carrying in the national flag at the most solemn moment of the ceremony. They were dressed in costumes associated with the country's ethnic minorities, including those from troubled areas such as Tibet and the muslim province of Xinjiang. Such displays of "national unity" are a compulsory part of any major state occasion.
But the children were all from the Han Chinese majority, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the population and is culturally and politically dominant, according to an official with the cultural troupe from which they were selected. "I assume they think the kids were very natural looking and nice," Yuan Zhifeng, deputy director of the Galaxy Children's Art Troupe said.
The official guide to the opening ceremony said that the children did not just represent but "came from" China's ethnic groups. "Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups," it said.
This point was put to Wang Wei, executive vice-president of the Beijing organising committee at a press conference today. "I think you are being very meticulous," he said. He said it was "traditional" to use dancers from other ethnic groups in this way. "I would argue it is normal for dancers, performers, to be dressed in other races' clothes," he said. "I don't know exactly where these performers are from." "I think some were from Tonga. And there were two from Finland -- Lapplanders, I think..."
The initial triumph of the opening ceremony has already been clouded by revelations that the little girl who sand "Hymn to the Motherland", a patriotic Chinese anthem, was lip-synching to the pre-recorded voice of another girl who had been told she was not pretty enough to appear. The "footprint fireworks" shown on television were also pre-recorded and digitally enhanced.
The discovery that the children representing ethnic groups as diverse as Mongolians and members of the Li group from the south-western mountains were all in fact Han will hardly be noticed in China, where such practices are normal.
Nevertheless it is a sign of how sensitive ethnic relations in China are. At national Communist Party and state congresses, while the Han Chinese delegates all wear suits, carefully chosen members of ethnic minorities are told to wear traditional costume. "Minority dances" are a regular part of state-sponsored entertainments, with performers coming from all over the country without having to belong to the relevant group.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/15/2008 08:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ChiComs stole the idea from Stalin....he even invented "authentic" (fake) national anthems and dances for his Asian vassal states.
An Edmonton-based adult film producer has won federal government approval for a new pornography channel with an unusual twist: half of the content is to be Canadian.
Shaun Donnelly's Real Productions received the OK from the CRTC on Wednesday to operate a digital cable channel -- called Northern Peaks -- that is billed as "Canada's first adult video channel programming significant Canadian content." Real Productions, based in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, says it owns the largest library of Canadian made pornography at more than 200 titles. "Yeah, they're, like, naked as an egg, eh."
According to the conditions of the licence, Northern Peaks must devote 50% of its broadcast time to Canadian productions. A CRTC spokesperson said yesterday that to the best of his knowledge, it is the highest Canadian content level ever for an adult channel. "I've always found there's a real turn-on to watching and knowing it's people you could run into in the grocery store," he said. (thereby combining the concepts of "naked" and "eggs" in a way that . . . eeew, I don't wanna go there.)
Posted by: Mike ||
08/15/2008 14:55 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How ya gonna know? They gonna have maple leaves tattoed on their asses?
Ruqayya Jafri, 83, has suffered two geographical partitions in her lifetime.
One, in 1947, left her with a sense of partial triumph and a dream that somehow soured too soon. The other, in 1971, gave her a shock from which she is still recovering. Between the two events, she progressed from a student leader to a member of Pakistan's national parliament, where she was instrumental in organising opposition to General Ayub Khan, Pakistan's first military ruler in the 1960s. But she feels her career as a high achiever has done little to ameliorate her own plight as the forgotten matriarch of a divided house.
Born in 1925 to a lawyer in Sirajganj town of Rajshahi in East Bengal, Mrs Jafri spent the prime of her youth organising the women students' wing of the All India Muslim League in Calcutta, where she went to college. "My father was a colleague of known Muslim League leaders like Fazlul Haq and Husyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. When they visited Rajshahi, they used to stay at our residence. So I grew up in a dense political environment." She studied up to high school at home, in keeping with the Muslim sensitivities of the time. But then opportunities opened up to her. The nearest girls' college was in Calcutta, and there was no separate hostel for Muslim girls. "My father could never have agreed to send me there," she says.
To her good fortune, the Bengal government set up what was then called a purdah (veil) college, the Lady Brabourne College, which also had a hostel. The college was established in 1939, the year Mrs Jafri finished her high school studies. Permission from her parents to attend was not long in coming. She considers the following eight years as the best part of her life. "I cherish every moment of that life," she says. "There was freedom, and a lot of work to do. Transport was cheap, there was a tram service, and there were friendly people all around. I cannot recall a single Calcutta street, lane or by-lane where I did not leave my footprints."
During this period, she emerged as a student leader, social worker, newspaper columnist, election campaigner and a broadcaster. She also fell in love with a fellow student leader from West Bengal, whom she married in 1946. The partition of India in 1947 brought triumph, but there was a sad subtext to it. "Calcutta and Assam, which we had always considered a part of the eastern wing of our new country (Pakistan), went to India."
Her group had to shift to Dacca, the capital of East Pakistan (later to become Bangladesh), which few of them had seen before. "There was a feeling that we had been robbed of a part of our victory, but not the entire victory. We had achieved something too. "But the secession of Bangladesh in 1971 was a full blown shock, in which we lost everything." She feels the seeds of secession were sown as early as 1948, when united Pakistan's first governor-general, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, told a students' gathering in Dacca that only Urdu would be the national language of Pakistan.
This gave birth to the Bangla language movement, and agitation erupted in 1951, causing political re-alignments that led to the complete elimination of the Muslim League from East Pakistan. Mrs Jafri, then running a school in Dacca and raising a family, joined Suhrawardy's Awami League and was also quietly working in the background for this new movement. In 1962, she was able to beat Gen Ayub's restrictions on political parties and was elected to a women's seat in the national parliament, where she emerged as a firebrand campaigner for Bengali rights.
"I spent three years at the parliament trying to tell the rulers they should not spend all the East Pakistani money for development in West Pakistan. I tried to warn them that there was already smoke in East Pakistan, and there would soon be fire." But in the West Pakistan of the 1960s, no one seemed to be in the mood to heed such advice. When Bangladesh seceded, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was in hospital for several weeks. As a member of parliament, Mrs Jafri had her first chance to visit West Pakistan, where all the infrastructure of state she had fought for was located. The parliament then used to meet in the city of Rawalpindi.
She didn't like the place much. "The first thing I noticed here was that men looked at women with lust, something I had never experienced in Bengal. And then there was bonded labour due to the domination of feudal lords." But this is the land where she has remained. She was widowed in 1956, and married a West Pakistani journalist 10 years later. A widow again, she now lives in Karachi with two daughters, while her only son and the rest of the family live more than 3,000 miles away, in her native Bangladesh. "Often, I lie awake all night, thinking about my life. I have much to thank for, but the divisions I have suffered hurt me. They prick my heart."
Posted by: john frum ||
08/15/2008 14:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Tune in again tomorrow for another episode in our neverending series "Pakistani Tales of Woe"...
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.
OY, has the National Enquirer got stuff piled up on the future very private citizen John Edwards. Oy. And another - oy. Not only are they on the case 10 months, but they've had PIs on the case for months. Executive Editor Barry Levine tells me, "Although, as you've probably read, our organization, American Media, is under the gun, they have nevertheless devoted really big money to this." 
Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if everybody's trying to out-green one another these days. A woman I was talking to at a restaurant the other night said she's even using Seventh Generation diapers for her baby. I don't know about you, but that seems like one really old diaper.
