Iran is the new Eastern Europe during the last phase of the Cold War. Like Poland during the heady days of Solidarity in the early 1980s, the protestors are enlightened, technologically savvy multitudes crying out for universal values of democracy and human rights. As such, they have captured the imagination of liberal intellectuals in the West. Even as the United States is tied down with 200,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran promises to be the signal issue of our time.
Given that the regime could last another month or another decade, what is President Barack Obama to do? Throughout his first year in office, he's attempted the Nixonian détente approach: talk, work back channels, get the two governments to negotiate on the basis of naked national interests. That approach seems to have failed. That leaves us with the Reaganite approach: be open to far-reaching talks, as President Ronald Reagan was with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but do nothing to legitimize the Iranian system. And, throughout any discussions, adopt the rhetoric of democracy. Make it clear that Washington is on the same side of history as the demonstrators, but also make it clear that the door is open to negotiations with those in power.
And to avoid the risk of undermining the demonstrators by overt American support of them (thus catering to regime's basest conspiracy theories), Obama should talk about democracy only in general, albeit pointed, terms, without directly referring to Iran. That is, he should get the language of universal values out over Iranian air waves as much as possible: encouraging the demonstrators without specifically backing them.
We are not in control. But something wonderful has begun: nothing less than the most positive development in the Middle East since President Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem. And while that daring gesture led only to a cold bilateral peace between Egypt and Israel, the Green Revolution in Iran carries the potential to unleash a true Islamic Reformation.
Preach it, brother!
Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature's chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.
The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature's belief that "climate alarmists' carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures."
The resolution, sent to the House on a 10-1 vote, would urge the Environmental Protection Agency to drop plans to regulate the pollution blamed for climate change "until a full and independent investigation of the climate data conspiracy and global warming science can be substantiated."
"We're at the breaking point," said Rep. Kerry Gibson, the resolution's sponsor, who warned that the supply of safe and affordable food is already threatened by over-regulation. More from the Deseret News:
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2010
20:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
SAN FRANCISCO Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.
The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.
The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the expense of an elaborate espionage operation.
Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat security conference and a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's advisory council, called Tarnovsky's finding "amazing."
"It's sort of doing the impossible," Moss said. "This is a lock on Pandora's box. And now that he's pried open the lock, it's like, ooh, where does it lead you?"
Tarnovsky figured out a way to break chips that carry a "Trusted Platform Module," or TPM, designation by essentially spying on them like a phone conversation. Such chips are billed as the industry's most secure and are estimated to be in as many as 100 million personal computers and servers, according to market research firm IDC.
When activated, the chips provide an additional layer of security by encrypting, or scrambling, data to prevent outsiders from viewing information on the machines. An extra password or identification such as a fingerprint is needed when the machine is turned on.
Many computers sold to businesses and consumers have such chips, though users might not turn them on. Users are typically given the choice to turn on a TPM chip when they first use a computer with it. If they ignore the offer, it's easy to forget the feature exists. However, computers needing the most security typically have TPM chips activated.
"You've trusted this chip to hold your secrets, but your secrets aren't that safe," said Tarnovsky, 38, who runs the Flylogic security consultancy in Vista, Calif., and demonstrated his hack last week at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va.
The chip Tarnovsky hacked is a flagship model from Infineon Technologies AG, the top maker of TPM chips. And Tarnovsky says the technique would work on the entire family of Infineon chips based on the same design. That includes non-TPM chips used in satellite TV equipment, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console and smart phones.
That means his attack could be used to pirate satellite TV signals or make Xbox peripherals, such as handheld controllers, without paying Microsoft a licensing fee, Tarnovsky said. Microsoft confirmed its Xbox 360 uses Infineon chips, but would only say that "unauthorized accessories that circumvent security protocols are not certified to meet our safety and compliance standards."
The technique can also be used to tap text messages and e-mail belonging to the user of a lost or stolen phone. Tarnovsky said he can't be sure, however, whether his attack would work on TPM chips made by companies other than Infineon.
Infineon said it knew this type of attack was possible when it was testing its chips. But the company said independent tests determined that the hack would require such a high skill level that there was a limited chance of it affecting many users.
"The risk is manageable, and you are just attacking one computer," said Joerg Borchert, vice president of Infineon's chip card and security division. "Yes, this can be very valuable. It depends on the information that is stored. But that's not our task to manage. This gives a certain strength, and it's better than an unprotected computer without encryption."
The Trusted Computing Group, which sets standards on TPM chips, called the attack "exceedingly difficult to replicate in a real-world environment." It added that the group has "never claimed that a physical attack given enough time, specialized equipment, know-how and money was impossible. No form of security can ever be held to that standard."
It stood by TPM chips as the most cost-effective way to secure a PC.
It's possible for computer users to scramble data in other ways, beyond what the TPM chip does. Tarnovsky's attack would do nothing to unlock those methods. But many computer owners don't bother, figuring the TPM security already protects them.
Tarnovsky needed six months to figure out his attack, which requires skill in modifying the tiny parts of the chip without destroying it.
Using off-the-shelf chemicals, Tarnovsky soaked chips in acid to dissolve their hard outer shells. Then he applied rust remover to help take off layers of mesh wiring, to expose the chips' cores. From there, he had to find the right communication channels to tap into using a very small needle.
The needle allowed him to set up a wiretap and eavesdrop on all the programming instructions as they are sent back and forth between the chip and the computer's memory. Those instructions hold the secrets to the computer's encryption, and he didn't find them encrypted because he was physically inside the chip.
Even once he had done all that, he said he still had to crack the "huge problem" of figuring out how to avoid traps programmed into the chip's software as an extra layer of defense.
"This chip is mean, man it's like a ticking time bomb if you don't do something right," Tarnovsky said.
Joe Grand, a hardware hacker and president of product- and security-research firm Grand Idea Studio Inc., saw Tarnovsky's presentation and said it represented a huge advancement that chip companies should take seriously, because it shows that presumptions about security ought to be reconsidered.
"His work is the next generation of hardware hacking," Grand said.
BERLIN (Reuters) Four elderly Germans went on trial on Monday charged with kidnapping their financial adviser and holding him prisoner in a basement in an attempt to recover 2.5 million euros (2.19 million pounds) in lost savings, a court spokesman said.
They are accused of seizing the financial adviser, a 56-year-old man, outside his apartment in the western town of Speyer, binding and gagging him and bundling him into the boot of a car before driving him some 500 km (300 miles) to the Bavarian town of Chieming.
There they tried to force him to transfer large sums of money to them. The banker tried to escape but suffered two broken ribs from one of those charged, a 74-year-old man.
In one remittance order the banker included the message "Sell 100 Call Pol.ICE today please!." A bank employee notified police and the banker was freed by an elite commando group.
The 74-year-old man charged with being the ringleader denied kidnapping. He said they had invited the man for a "few days holiday in Bavaria."
Defence attorney Harald Baumgaertl told ARD television it was an act of desperation.
"They feared there was no legal way to get their money back and so they did what one should not do -- committed a crime."
Prosecutors in the Bavarian town of Traunstein have charged the senior citizens -- aged 60 to 79 -- with kidnapping and complicity. They face jail terms of 5 to 15 years if convicted, state prosecutor Guenther Hammerdinger told ARD television.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Ralph Boulton)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Spokesman for Rep. John Murtha says the Pennsylvania Democrat has died at 77.
Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, the first veteran of the Vietnam war and one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress, died Wednesday morning at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, after complications from gallbladder surgery. Murtha was 77.
A native of New Martinsville, W.Va., voters elected first elected Murtha to Congress in a 1974 special election that spelled impending doom for President Nixon and congressional Republicans. That fall, Democrats wrestled away 49 House seats from the GOP, reeling from the scourge of Watergate and a presidency in shambles.
Murtha rose to become the chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that controls spending for the Pentagon. Chairs of the appropriations subcommittee panels are viewed with such prestige on Capitol Hill that theyre called "cardinals." Thats a nod to Rome because of the eminence these lawmakers hold over spending for their federal fiefdom.
Murtha was also the endorsed candidate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to become majority leader when Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. But current House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) overwhelmingly defeated Murtha by secret ballot in a hard-fought leadership contest.
Murtha enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1952 and became a drill instructor at Parris Island. He served in Korea and received a Bronze Star and Two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam. He continued to be a member of the Marine Corps Reserves until he resigned as a colonel in 1990.
Murtha voted to go to war in Iraq the fall of 2002. But two years later, the Pennsylvania Democrat called for the U.S to withdraw from. Later on the House floor, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), the newest member of the House at the time, spoke in favor of the war and chided Murtha that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do." Schmidts remarks ignited a firestorm on the House floor as lawmakers rose to Murthas defense. Schmidt later said she didnt know that Murtha was a Marine. She withdrew her comments and apologized.
A hint of scandal lingered over much of Murthas career. The FBI named Murtha an "unindicted co-conspirator" in its ABSCAM sting operation in the late 1970s and early '80s. ABSCAM resulted in the conviction of five House members and one senator. The FBI recorded Murtha on videotape declining a $50,000 bribe from federal agents posing as Arab sheiks. But the Congressman did say he could be interested in future dealings.
Nicknamed "The King of Pork," Murtha also faced scrutiny for earmarking federal dollars for projects in his district. Numerous news reports lambasted the Congressman for steering money to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The facility received $150 million from Washington for upgrades despite limited commercial use. But the airport is also used for military purposes.
The Congressman also faced scrutiny for campaign contributions he and other appropriators received from the now defunct PMA lobbying firm. Murtha scored nearly $2.5 million in donations from PMA and its clients over a nearly 20 year period. The feds continue to scrutinize PMA. The Office of Congressional Ethics asked the House Ethics Committee to drop any inquiries into the dealings Murtha had with PMA.
Murtha also stirred controversy in the fall of 2008 with President Obama poised to become the first African American president. When asked about Mr. Obamas chances in his Congressional district, Murtha responded that "theres no question western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
Even though Murtha won re-election, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) carried the district over by about 1,000 votes.
Despite controversy, Murtha was beloved by his House colleagues for holding court in whats called "Murthas corner" in the rear of the House chamber. During a House vote series, Murtha could often be seen trading information or spinning yarns with fellow lawmakers. He also won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Pennsylvania's two highest honors, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.
#6
I'm thinking of having surgery (not gall bladder), but I'm very confused because I have no way to evaluate the risk-benefit. These events maake me think the risk is higher than you would think.
#8
Fester: A hot gallbladder is not to be ignored, as it can go nuclear in a hurry. Gallbladder
However, as a rule of thumb, it is far worse to procrastinate from major surgery than to worry about complications. Surgeons, despite what most people think, do not like to cut people open unless they have to. So when they have to, they mean it.
Do your research on the Internet, and talk to your doctor about your concerns, but don't ever think you can get away with "wishing it away", or just avoiding thinking about it.
Finally, this advise is x100 if you are talking about cancer. Screwing around after a diagnosis of cancer is a major killer.
#14
On a brighter note, his district will now have one of the most junior representatives in Congress during one of the deepest recessions in decades. What goes around, comes around. Party's over.
#21
I respected his service to our country, but when he got damn-near-caught in ABSCAM and then became The King of Pork and then libeled the Haditha Marines (MARINES, for crying out loud!) he lost all my respect.
#22
Now that John will be spending the future on the wrong side of the dirt, and won't be coming down for breakfast anymore, the important work is to find a replacement who can replicate the "Scott Brown" result in Teddy's former empire.
That would give Teddy and Johnny something to mull over as they toss back brimstone cocktails.
#23
He defamed our troops without proof during war, aided and abated the enemy, tried his best to rob the successful people and give to his cronies and was a general boob.
#25
The feeders at his trough would never have voted him out. Why is he still in Congress at 77 and not term limited eons ago? His whole life was a disgrace, including, I'm willing to bet, his so-called "service". Only death could stop the abuse. GOOD BYE.
#26
The one question I have, for our USMC burgers is this: as a veteran he is entitled to a military funeral; how does one refuse to serve as part of the honor guard? or is this a case of holding your nose and getting it done?
I am asking because of the slander he heaped on the Marines in Iraq.
The Obama Administration has been moving full-speed ahead on anticarbon regulation, never mind waiting for Congress to pass a bill. But now opposition is building among senior Democrats, with two powerful committee Chairmen introducing a bill last week to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from declaring that carbon is a dangerous pollutant. Better to have no jobs and no CO2? EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries. Jobs, that's what we need more of, JOBS!
This is all too much for Missouri's Ike Skelton and Minnesota's Collin Peterson, the Chairmen of the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees, respectively. Along with Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson, they are pushing a two-page bill that would amend the Clean Air Act to restore Congress's original intent and strip CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the statutory language.
This is bipartisanship we can believe in. Such legislation would vaporize the EPA's "endangerment finding" for carbon and thus require the Administration to use democratic debate and persuasion if it really wants to reshape the energy markets and impose huge new costs on American consumers. What a thought.
"If Congress doesn't do something soon, the EPA is going to cram these regulations through all on their own," Mr. Peterson said. "I have no confidence that EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act without severe harm to all taxpayers." Cramming is Congress' job!
Added Mr. Skelton: "Simply put, we cannot tolerate turning over the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions to unelected bureaucrats at EPA. America's energy and environmental policies should be set by Congress." Yes, they should be. Hmmmm...Does that apply to anything else?
The Skelton-Peterson-Emerson bill follows a similar effort by North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, not to mention Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski's coming "disapproval resolution" in the Senate that has the support of Democrats Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln.
Our one caveat here is that Messrs. Skelton and Peterson are doing the right thing for the wrong reason--specifically, to defend the ethanol industry. Their bill includes provisions that would expand the definition of renewable fuels and make it easier for corn ethanol and soy biodiesel to qualify for federal tax credits. This is despite the growing shelf of studies that common crop-based fuels increase carbon emissions because of land-use changes and deforestation. Compromise was intended by the Founding Fathers.
In any case, Ms. Jackson released final rules last week that would allow ethanol to maintain its mandate on the U.S. fuel supply, requiring her agency to back down from the more restrictive and supposedly science-based rules that it had proposed last year. Ms. Jackson insisted that EPA wasn't "dumbing down" its regulations, but her bow to the ethanol lobby revealed the death-grip it exerts on Congress.
Yet in the case of carbon regulation--an even dumber policy--we'll take what we can get. If the power of farm-state politicians ends up stopping the EPA's global-warming power grab, it would be the first good thing ethanol has done for the country.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/08/2010
13:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah! Who the hell do they think they are? They can't rip off the hicks!
I guess because of those maundering bands of snowmen toting guns .... H/T Drudge
KING, N.C. -- Authorities lifted curfew and alcohol restrictions in King on Sunday, but said a state of emergency declaration remained in effect until Monday. Authorities said the state of emergency declaration would continue until Monday 9 a.m., barring any unforeseen circumstances or severe changes.
Effective Sunday afternoon, alcohol restrictions and a curfew were lifted. All other remaining restrictions would continue until Monday, said Paula May, King police chief. Curfews and alcohol restrictions are fine in an emergency; that's a traditional government power. Other restrictions included a ban on the sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession of such items off a person's own premises. That is NOT a traditional government power.
Also on Sunday, the emergency shelter established by the American Red Cross at West Stokes High School was closed. "We appreciate the support and cooperation of everyone with our efforts to keep the citizens of King safe," May said.
The state of emergency was declared Friday due to severe weather.
#3
OK, so all you have to do is watch the Weather Chanel and base your booze and bullet purchases on the forecast; Fair to partly drunk for the next 24 hours, increasing to totally random auto fire by tomorrow night.
What's next; the Audi green pooleece commercial v. 2. 0 where the cops come before the storm to take your stuff?
#4
next up: Chief of police looking for work. The public is in no mood for nonsense of this sort, and are going to be enraged long after the snow has melted.
#6
I find it difficult to comprehend the suddenly realized need in the middle of a blinding snowstorm to procure new supplies of guns and bullets. Surely anyone who needs either that badly already has a stash. On the other hand, how on earth is the arresting officer to know whether the car spun out on the road was in the process of fetching milk for the kiddies or cherry bombs?
#7
The police were stopping cars and searching them, without warrants. Of course, when four or five armed cops surround your car and "ask" if they can search it, most people will agree rather than risk further "encouragement".
Sweden's unemployment agency has been found guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman.
A Stockholm court Monday ordered the Public Employment Service to pay 50,000 kronor ($6,700) in damages to an immigrant from Bosnia who lost his jobless benefits when he was kicked out of the program.
Citing his faith, the man had refused to shake hands with a woman when he was interviewing for an internship. The agency said his behavior was part of the reason he didn't get the position, and decided to exclude him from the program.
The court ruled that the man was discriminated against because of his religion. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ruling would be appealed.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
12:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Insane, other Muslims manage to shake hands with women. And what happens when he doesn't get jobs because he won't shake hands, or won't work with women? Permanent welfare.
#3
This is one case where I would actually agree with the court.
Expressing common courtesy is one thing, but there are many people who, for a myriad of reasons, abhor physical contact, even to the point of not wanting to shake hands. And unless such contact is part of their job description, such as being a masseuse, it does not mean they cannot perform their job.
This can be a little odd. I remember a substitute teacher who was told by the other teachers to absolutely refuse to shake the hands of students when offered, because the students were trying to screw up the superior-inferior relationship of teacher to student.
If he was to make the mistake of shaking hands with the students, they would take him for a sucker, and turn his day into a living hell. He later noted that the half dozen who offered their hands were already on the list as troublemakers.
There are also a lot of non-Muslim religious people who equate such handshakes as sexual flirting, and would never touch someone of the opposite sex they were not related or married to.
#1
I thought it was a great slam against progressives, though the ad makers didn't intend it that way. And I'm sure the progressives are the ones screaming loudest this morning; this is like ripping a band-aid off for them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2010 14:54
Comments ||
Top||
#2
But the progressives think it is a great preview of how th4e world should be. So both camps are happy. Now who ran the ad?
#3
Some are cheesed, apparently, but there's at least one guy who thinks it's great for his side. Here's the money quote, you can find the dude via search engine if you like:
"The ad only makes sense if its aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police"
So both sides apparently think the other is the butt of the joke. From an advertising perspective, that's a pretty decent accomplishment.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
02/08/2010 15:15
Comments ||
Top||
Authorities arrested six suspected Taliban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way Monday to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans in Pakistan's cultural capital, said police.
The eastern city of Lahore has suffered a spate of bombings at markets and security installations in recent years as the Taliban have expanded attacks beyond their main sanctuary in the northwest. Militants have also targeted hotels and restaurants in other parts of Pakistan popular with Westerners.
The militants arrested Monday on the outskirts of Lahore included a 14-year-old boy and a prayer leader from Pakistan's Khyber tribal area near the Afghan border, said police official Zulfikar Hameed. The prayer leader was wearing a vest packed with explosives. They told police they were targeting Americans at the Pearl Continental hotel, he said.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
12:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
Hark! have those gales of laughter, Chinese accents
The Obama administration is proposing a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.
Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, planned to announce Monday that NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.
NOAA recently reported that the decade of 2000-2009 was the warmest on record worldwide; the previous warmest decade was the 1990s. Most atmospheric scientists believe that warming is largely due to human actions, adding gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
Researchers and leaders from around the world met last month in Denmark to discuss ways to reduce climate-warming emissions, and a follow-up session is planned for later this year in Mexico.
"More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it's going to affect them," Lubchenco explained. So officials decided to combine climate operations into a single unit.
Portions of the Weather Service that have been studying climate, as well as offices from some other NOAA agencies, will be transferred to the new NOAA Climate Service.
The new agency will initially be led by Thomas Karl, director of the current National Climatic Data Center. The Climate Service will be headquartered in Washington and will have six regional directors across the country.
Lubchenco also announced a new NOAA climate portal on the Internet to collect a vast array of climatic data from NOAA and other sources. It will be "one-stop shopping into a world of climate information," she said.
Creation of the Climate Service requires a series of steps, including congressional committee approval. But if all goes well, it should be finished by the end of the year, officials said.
In recent years, a widespread private weather forecasting industry has grown up around the National Weather Service, and Lubchenco said she anticipates growth of private climate-related business around the new agency.
While most people notice the weather from day to day or week to week, climate looks at both the averages and extremes of weather over longer periods of time. And understanding both weather and climate, and their changes, are vital to much of the world's economic activity ranging from farming to travel to energy use and production and even food shipments and disease prevention.
Atmospheric scientists have long joked that climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. But greenhouse warming is changing what can be expected from climate, and researchers are seeking to understand and anticipate the impacts of that change.
#1
Mr. Karl has been accused of politicizing a government (CCSP) report on temperature trends. His role in the CRU emails (climategate) has not been fully explored.
#5
Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.
Don't forget to throw in the plague of locusts and all other maladies know to man--Except the data was fudged; the scientific process was corrupted in favor of the political process. G-d almighty; just what we need another frigging governmental agency (sarc).
#6
Here is a link to all the things that have been blamed on global warming.
NumberWatch is a website that tries to combat some of the pseudo scientific hysteria in the world today.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/08/2010 18:14
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Time to gas up my snow-blower. We're getting another foot of global warming tomorrow.
#8
Since Cap 'n' Trade 'n' Steal is dead in congress, this is a blatant effort to do it all through presidential fiat. Not laws, but regulations with the same effect. And since new regs can be declared almost instantly, even if hundreds are thrown out in court, they can be instantly replaced with new, even harsher ones. Then wait two years for the next court hearing.
#13
Did the author write this with a straight face? Does he think his readers are completely unaware of the string of scandals surrounding AGW "science"? You wonder why the MSM is dying.
A body has been found inside the wheel-well of a Delta Air Lines plane after it landed in Tokyo from New York, and Japanese authorities are trying to identify the man. You're doing it wrong. You stow away to get to America (or Japan) from a third-world hellhole. What, couldn't afford the super saver rate or something? Heck it's less than a thousand bucks for EWR-NRT. They give you your own seat and everything.
The police at Narita International Airport said that the body of the apparent stowaway was clad only in a long-sleeved plaid shirt and jeans. One of these times, the stowaway will remember to bring a parka and a box lunch.
Police official Zenjiro Watanabe said on Monday that a mechanic had found the body lying inside the landing gear compartment of the Boeing 777-200 during maintenance after Delta Flight 59 had landed on Sunday night. Love that name, Zenjiro. Sounds like a carny cold-reading act.
"All we know is that he must have sneaked in just before departure, because it is impossible for him to enter the storage during flight," Watanabe said. Yeah, would be hard to leap 38,000 feet up while the plane is over the Pacific ... Another wonderful breach of security at a U.S. airport.
The police were trying to identify the man, Watanabe said. The man had no visible injuries except frostbite, and he might have died of hypothermia. Gee, you really think so, Muldoon? Nuttin' gets past Watanabe ...
The police were investigating the case both as an accident and as a possible crime.
The temperature in the plane's landing gear is known to fall to about minus 50°C during the long flight. My last flight over the pole and into Asia, I could feel how bitterly cold it was outside, even through the double-pane window. Looking down into Siberia, it looked like the most hostile place on Earth.
Similar cases have occurred in the past. In 2007, a man was found dead in the nose-gear wheel-well of a United Airlines flight that arrived in San Francisco from Shanghai. He, too, was thought to have been a stowaway. See? That's the correct way to freeze to death in a jetliner landing gear. And the guy made the right decision to cut four extra hours off his flight by going west coast - Asia instead of all the way to JFK.
#1
At 30,000 feet you will die from lack of oxygen before the hypothermia gets you. It's just so cold you won't notice you are dying until you ARE dead (OK, stretching things a bit). Landing gear compartments are NOT pressurized.
#5
But I thought the closer to the sun, the hotter it would be. And if they really cared, they should put emergency oxygen masks in those compartments - and heaters.
- dead guy
#6
There actually was a case of a guy who stowed away in the wheelwell of a jetliner from Fiji. His body temperature was in the 80's when he arrived, and he was covered with grease (from the wheels, I guess). He survived and was shipped back to Fiji.
It was on Discovery Health, on (I think) "Untold Stories of the ER." It was pretty interesting watching what they did to re-warm him.
But yeah, his case was unusual - most of them wake up dead.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2010 18:41
Comments ||
Top||
#7
most of them wake up dead.
I just hate it when that happens to me, it screws up your whole week.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed that the Zionist regime is moving on a precipice towards demise and it will soon experience annihilation.
"I am very optimistic about the future of Palestine and believe that Israel is moving on the precipice of wane and demise, and God willing its annihilation is for sure," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement Ramadan Abdullah Shallah here in Tehran.
He also called the Zionist regime's inability to dominate Gaza a miracle, and added, "Despite all its financial and political aids and after laying siege (on Gaza) for more than two years, the Zionist regime could not defeat the resistance of Palestinian people."
Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the attempts made by certain Arab governments to help the Zionist regime, and said these attempts are certainly doomed to failure as the Muslim nations always support the Palestinian cause.
Abdullah, for his part, admired the Iranian nation's vigilance against enemies' plots, and said, "Today the Islamic Republic of Iran is experiencing its best conditions and is in its strongest position."
"Everyone honors the righteous positions of Iran," he reiterated.
"Certainly the right will be victorious," he added.
#1
Christ, I hope the Israelis are running Geiger counters over every freighter within forty miles of their coasts, and every tractor-trailer at their border checkpoints. The Iranian mullahs strike me as the sorts to maybe do their atom-bomb tests on enemy soil.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/08/2010 19:07
Comments ||
Top||
#1
Had a big argument with Mrs. Uluque about what Trancredo meant when she heard him say the other night on ABC that illiterate people voted for Obama. It seems she knows people who voted for Obama who also know how to read and write. "They're not illiterate," she said, "they just wanted change."
But what kind of change? Did they really want socialism? That's what I like to ask these people. Do they even know what socialism is?
There are different kinds of illiteracy. We know that a lot of otherwise intelligent people are computer illiterate. I think what Trancredo was saying is there are otherwise intelligent people who are blissfully unaware many of the political issues facing us these days. They are the political illiterate. I'm not an expert myself but I do know that you can't overcome that kind of a problem by watching Katie Couric or scanning the headlines of the daily rag because they're just not gonna tell you much of anything.
whimper. If only Trancredo had a deeper voice. Then even Mrs. Uluque would listen to him. He says the right things but he just doesn't have the gravitas.
#2
No...no, I think he meant that they couldn't read or write. And a measurable percentage probably couldn't.
Leftist 'Heroes' often do pull that block of votes.
#4
I know, I know. bigjim and Excalibur your points are well taken. I'm not arguing that we don't have illegal aliens and dead people voting for Obama. But here in Kaliphornia you meet actual people who have been to actual colleges (I know, they're Kaliphornia colleges with liberal arts degrees, but still...) who actually voted for Obama. I know these people read because I've caught them myself with the LA Times. You see people driving Priuses with Obama bumper stickers. I'm pretty sure these people know how to read and they're not illegal or dead either (at least from the head down they're not).
#5
But what kind of change? Did they really want socialism? That's what I like to ask these people. Do they even know what socialism is?
I've asked numerous people those exact questions. The ones that will answer generally say they did not want socialism. They are also rarely ever able to define what socialism is.
The ones that will admit they wanted socialism (and there have been a few) admit that from what they have seen so far they do not like it, and don't want anymore. And then, some of the people I ask these questions of become quite hostile.
Posted by: ToeJam Football ||
02/08/2010 14:44
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Smart is usually considers analogous to IQ. There are IQs in many areas but tests only look at a subset of about 4 classes. Of these 4 somehow the average of 100 is arrived at.....
Then you consider the bell curve.... somebuddy like Tom is about 140ish on the bell curve ...
that means.... 99 percent of the people are dumber than him and %70 of the people dam sure look dumb to him. Dumb being conflated with stupid and illiterate... Yeah... most of the voters will seem illiterate to Tom.
Folks at at the 160 or higher point on the bell curve realize it's just a curve... there is no right or wrong just grey.... but don't see that the rest can't see their view...
At 200 + these folks only have small bits in common with the rest of the human race. We are all morons to them.. If you can play them a fair game of chess or something they will appreciate you as they feel for that instant of the game some commonality with the human race ...
Let's be honest ... were all human... and therefor nutz on some scale or other....
Yesterday's joint appearance with Arianna Huffington on CNN's "Reliable Sources," hosted by the estimable Howard Kurtz, gave me a chance to tell Arianna in person what most people think about her crusade against the Fox News Channel: It is silly. silly (sl)
adj. sillier, silliest
1. Exhibiting a lack of wisdom or good sense; foolish. See Synonyms at foolish.
Her focus on a word here and a phrase there is silly. 2. Lacking seriousness or responsibleness; frivolous: indulged in silly word play; silly pet names for each other.
The warning that Glenn Beck or others are "inciting" the public and that this is dangerous is silly. 3. Semiconscious; dazed: knocked silly by the impact.
The program also gave me the opportunity to say on television what I often say on radio: If I had it in my power, I'd give Keith Olbermann a 24/7 cable channel because he does more good for the center-right than almost anyone in America. counterproductive (ko̵unt′ər prə duk′tiv)
adjective
bringing about effects or results regarded as contrary to those intended
His wild-eyed craziness combined with obvious lack of knowledge about so many things make him an advertisement for conservatism, and I really hope he survives his ratings plummet. lunatic (ln-tk)
adj.
1. Suffering from lunacy; insane.
2. Of or for the insane.
3. Wildly or giddily foolish: a lunatic decision.
4. Characterized by lunacy or eccentricity.
He's the perfect example of a prompter-dependant sports announcer-turned-political commentator who digs a hole for the Left every night. Long may he broadcast. incompetent
Pronunciation: /(ˌ)in-ˈkäm-pə-tənt/
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French incompétent, from in- + compétent competent
Date: 1595
1 : not legally qualified
2 : inadequate to or unsuitable for a particular purpose
3 a : lacking the qualities needed for effective action b : unable to function properly
But what I really enjoyed saying the most was the obvious: The Beltway-Manhattan media elite still cannot figure out Fox for the same reason they can't figure out Rush or Sarah Palin. gormless
Pronunciation: /ˈgȯrm-ləs/
Function: adjective
Etymology: alteration of English dial. gaumless, from gaum attention, understanding (from Middle English gome, from Old Norse gaum, gaumr) + -less
Date: 1883
chiefly British : lacking intelligence : stupid
They are elitists who long ago lost touch with the center of American opinion and who have no way of finding their way back again because they continue to staff up with a lethal (for ratings) combination of privileged execs, liberal-to-left-wing writers and producers, and know-nothing teleprompter readers. groupthink
Pronunciation: /ˈgrüp-ˌthiŋk/
Function: noun
Etymology: group + -think (as in doublethink)
Date: 1952
: a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics
What Roger Ailes has figured out that results in the cable ratings domination by Beck, "Special Report," Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren is not string theory. string theory (strĭng´ thē`ô`rŷ)
n. 1. (Physics) A mathematical theory for describing the properties of fundamental particles, which represents the particles as one-dimensional string-like objects, which exist in the normal four dimensions of space-time plus additional dimensions, the total dimensions being ten, eleven, or twenty-six depending on the version of the theory. The properties of fundamental particles in string theory and their manner of interaction with each other depend upon the modes of vibration of the strings. The attractiveness of this theory rests in part on its ability to provide a unified treatment of gravity as well as the three other basic forces of nature, in a manner consistent with quantum mechanics. The great difficulty of doing the calculations required by the theory, however, has thus far (1999) made it impossible to calculate the observable properties, such as the mass, of known particles, such as the electron, proton, mesons, quarks, and neutron; thus there is as yet no experimental verification for the theory. The most popular version of the theory depends on a mathematical property called supersymmetry, and the theory derived form this principle is properly called superstring theory, a term which is often used interchangeably with string theory.
It begins with respect for the audience as opposed to contempt, and then adds in good humor and balance. The "Special Report" panel is the best panel in the business because it always has at least one smart and well-read lefty on it. Hannity's Great American Panel is the same. fairness n.
Synonyms: fair1, just1, equitable, impartial, unprejudiced, unbiased, objective, dispassionate
These adjectives mean free from favoritism, self-interest, or preference in judgment. Fair is the most general: a fair referee; a fair deal.
Just stresses conformity with what is legally or ethically right or proper: "a just and lasting peace" (Abraham Lincoln).
Equitable implies justice dictated by reason, conscience, and a natural sense of what is fair: an equitable distribution of gifts among the children.
Impartial emphasizes lack of favoritism: "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge" (Edmund Burke).
Unprejudiced means without preconceived opinions or judgments: an unprejudiced evaluation of the proposal.
Unbiased implies absence of a preference or partiality: gave an unbiased account of her family problems.
Objective implies detachment that permits impersonal observation and judgment: an objective jury.
Dispassionate means free from or unaffected by strong emotions: a dispassionate reporter.
Rarely if ever will you find a Fox anchor using the term "tea bagger" because to do so is to insult the millions of activists involved in the past year of town halls, demonstrations and debates, but also those who know them and beyond that those who are interested in what they have to say. insult
Pronunciation: /in-ˈsəlt/
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French insulter, from Latin insultare, literally, to spring upon, from in- + saltare to leap -- more at saltation
Date: 1540
intransitive verb
archaic : to behave with pride or arrogance : vaunt
transitive verb
: to treat with insolence, indignity, or contempt : affront; also : to affect offensively or damagingly
And you will find Fox covering the president's stumbles and the stories about the administration's rising tide of failure. The MSM has an enormous double standard -- imagine if Palin had mispronounced the word corpsman twice in her address Saturday night or her interview with Chris Wallace on Sunday morning -- and that double standard first astonishes and then offends. offend
Pronunciation: ə-ˈfend
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French offendre, from Latin offendere to strike against, offend, from ob- against + -fendere to strike -- more at ob-, defend
Date: 14th century
intransitive verb
1 a : to transgress the moral or divine law : sin b : to violate a law or rule : do wrong
2 a : to cause difficulty, discomfort, or injury b : to cause dislike, anger, or vexation
transitive verb
1 a : violate, transgress b : to cause pain to : hurt
2 obsolete : to cause to sin or fall
3 : to cause to feel vexation or resentment usually by violation of what is proper or fitting
The refusal to cover comprehensively the president's year of serial pratfalls and his risible reflex to blame Bush confirmed for a vast segment of the American audience that the MSM remains just as in the tank for President Obama as it was for candidate Obama. When the networks cease to be infomercials for the president, they might win over some of Fox's broad and growing audience. pimp
Pronunciation: /ˈpimp/
Function: noun
Etymology: probably akin to British dial. pimp small bundle of sticks, Middle English pymple papule, German Pimpf young boy, kid, literally, little fart, Pumpf, Pumps fart
Date: 1600
: a man who solicits clients for a prostitute
There is no reason why MSMBC and CNN have to lag so far behind Fox. The audience is up for grabs every single night in America. There is no "brand loyalty" in the world of cable news. But to compete, you have to at least try to be fair and balanced. Or you at least have to be talented and smart. dumbass - Noun 1. a stupid person;
these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence:
blockhead, bonehead, dunce, dunderhead, fuckhead, hammerhead, knucklehead, loggerhead, lunkhead, muttonhead, numskull, shithead, dolt, dullard, pillock, poor fish, pudden-head, pudding head, stupe, stupid, stupid person - a person who is not very bright; "The economy, stupid!"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
11:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[24 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The way I see the cable news problem is as if someone went out and did a survey of people. They discover that 51% of the people are Democrats (this us just to get the point across the numbers aren't right, but just to illustrate there are more Rs than Ds). So every single one of them starts news operations that pander to people left of center.
Now imagine someone doing a survey and found that 51% of the people prefer chicken to burgers and so 25 chicken joints open in your town. Also imagine that they all have exactly the same menu provided by Associated Chicken.
Now imagine some wise individual opens a burger joint. You have 25 chicken joints competing for 51% and one burger joint that has 49% all to itself.
CNN doesn't really compete with Fox, they compete for MSNBC and the network news audiences. Fox's market share don't like CNN and MSNBC's product. It insults them, it alienates them, calls them stupid.
Ailes is a smart man. Arianna comes across as patronizing, condescending, self-promoting, and too clever by half.
#3
But what I really enjoyed saying the most was the obvious: The Beltway-Manhattan media elite still cannot figure out Fox for the same reason they can't figure out Rush or Sarah Palin.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu
#5
Arianna Huffington == Twit
Why does anybody on the planet take her in any seriousness....
Hell, ARNOLD, wiped her right out of a special election in the LEFT COAST!
She's a TWIT! End of Story!!
#1
UK continues the slow flush down the toilet at the hands of 7th century islamo-cockroaches. islam is eventually going to cross a line where governments take away everyone's 1st amendment rights in order to eradicate the islamists.
#5
When i was young i was not taught to hate other religions can we say the same in Islamic countries?.These kids are only repeating what they hear from their Parents/Mosque Imans!
#7
ION DAILY TIMES.PK > NOTHERN IRISH MILITANT GROUP DUMPS ARMS [publicly before "independent witnesses"]. The N. IRISH "INLA" GROUP [Irish National Liberation Front], does not apologize for its role or actions in the Northern Ireland struggle, + whom proclaims that there now exist other non-Viol avenues [read, POLITICAL ACTIVISM-ELECTORATE] by which their agenda can be achieved.
HMMMM, HMMMMM, first HAMAS doesn't apologize for its role or actions, now the INLA.
ALL MERITS OR CONTROVERSY ASIDE, IS IT JUST ME OR IS ANYONE ELSE GETTING A "GUT FEELING" THAT IRELAND, INCL. BUT NOT LIMITED TO ITS RADICAL GROUPS, MAY BE MAKING A SEVERE MISTAKE IFF IT HOPES IT CAN REGAIN NORTHEN IRELAND VIA RADICAL ISLAMISM'S MILTERR DEFEAT OF BRITAIN AND CREATION OF FUTURE "EURABIA"???
"STAND ALONE" NATIONAL SCENARIO > I gotta wonder what makes Ireland think they will be safe from Islamist takeover [2030-2100] iff Britain + EURO-ZONE do indeed go down for the Camel-count.
"Did you know that California has twice the population of New York, but five times as many welfare cases? Thirty-two percent of all welfare caseloads in America are here in California."
Ronald Reagan singled out what he called a "welfare queen" for abusing government aid. Newt Gingrich pushed welfare reform as part of his Contract With America.
Now, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, the top Republican candidates for California governor, are bringing back welfare as a key issue in their quest for primary votes. Welfare's high-profile role in the race became clear last month when Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of eBay, unveiled her first issue-specific radio ad.
"Some people worry that we're creating a welfare state," Whitman says at the start of the spot. "The fact is, California is the welfare state."
Poizner, another ultra-wealthy former Silicon Valley CEO, has made tightening welfare rules a key part of his plan to balance the state budget. Like Whitman, Poizner proposes cutting lifetime welfare limits to two years from five.
"Welfare is an example of where we're spending, in my opinion, several billion more than we should because we don't enforce the work rules and our benefit structure is too high," Poizner said in an interview. "I just don't think it should be a magnet."
Whitman declined to participate in an interview on the issues in the governor's race.
The candidates' decisions to highlight welfare match public opinion polls that have shown Republican voters particularly dislike aid programs.
In a June 2008 Field Poll, Republicans picked public assistance as the top spending area they'd be willing to cut compared with four other areas, such as higher education and health care. Only 13 percent of Democrats chose public aid as the category they'd be most willing to cut.
"At least among Republican voters, it's not tricky to talk about welfare cuts," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "There's one basic difference between the parties, and that's Republicans are a lot less likely to spend money on social programs than Democrats."
Welfare advocates point out that, until the recession, state welfare rolls had already been declining. The state's caseload has since climbed to 540,475 in September from a low of 454,956 in July 2007.
"CalWORKs (the state welfare program) has been a shrinking program, not a growing program," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. "The strong insinuation that CalWORKs is a big contributor to the budget deficit is completely wrong."
The CalWORKs program is budgeted at $5.3 billion for the next fiscal year, with about half of that coming from federal sources and the other half paid by the state and counties, according to the state Department of Social Services. General fund expenditures proposed for the next fiscal year amount to $82.9 billion.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already proposed making cuts to CalWORKs that include lowering grant levels and eliminating aid to legal, non-citizen immigrants who have lived in the country for less than five years.
In the radio ad, Whitman argues that all recipients should be required to work, saying, "If they don't, they lose their benefits." Asked why Whitman used welfare for her campaign's first issue-specific ad, press secretary Sarah Pompei answered, "There will be many different proposals for how to accomplish these goals" of cutting spending.
Poizner has estimated that his plan for overhauling CalWORKs and reducing caseloads would save the state $3.35 billion over 18 months. The plan would divert much of the federal money that the state receives for welfare to other social services.
What both candidates point out is that the state claims about a third of the country's welfare cases while holding about a tenth of the total U.S. population.
One key difference is the fact that California offers a "safety net" many other states don't for children whose parents have lost their benefits.
Whitman doesn't mention in her ad that about 40 percent of welfare recipients in the state are children.
Poizner has proposed cutting aid to the entire family when the adult recipient doesn't follow program rules.
"We're concerned about making sure that kids are taken care of but we're also concerned that adults might be using their children as a way to get at welfare benefits themselves," Poizner said. "There's a lot of fraud in the system because of exploiting kids."
#2
"Did you know that California has twice the population of New York, but five times as many welfare cases? Thirty-two percent of all welfare caseloads in America are here in California."
LA is also home to the largest homeless population, and everyone knows drug-addicted people can't possibly work. I know, let's legalize them! (sarc)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already proposed making cuts to CalWORKs that include lowering grant levels and eliminating aid to legal, non-citizen immigrants who have lived in the country for less than five years.
I take it these legal non-citizen immigrants on the dole are refugees sent and vetted by the UN. WFP donations are down so expect more to arrive soon. And again, Islamists don't allow women to work, even in aid distribution.
#4
The ugly little secret is that California has no intention or ability to stop becoming even more of a welfare state, collectively, as the default of the state government and concurrent city and county defaults will force the Obambi administration to prop up the state with other states money. Make no mistake, California is going banmkrupt, perhaps within a year or two, and when it does, what do you think this administration is going to do?
Rather that leave us to our fate (and God knows I'm trying to get out of here before it happens, Uncle Sam will pick up the tab.
Want proof?
The State Senate, in a state with an 81 billion dollar revenue stream this year and 102 billion in expenditures, teh State Senate PASSED a statewide universal health care bill that has an annual cost of $200 billion! Can you possibly need more proof of how insane the Democrats in this state are?
#5
See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > ITS NOW MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PAY OFF THE US NATIONAL DEBT.
IIUC the USG must change the Federal Reserve system + stop self-destructive deficit spending practices, but it'll will still take a long Long L-O-N-G LLLLLOOOONNNNGGGG time for the US to gener recover from the extensive damage already wrought - IS AMER WILL TO CHNAGE + ENDURE WHAT MUST OCCUR STRONG ENOUGH!?
ALTERNATIVE > LITTLE-TO-NOTHING CHANGES AS PER PCORRECT, GOOBERMINT-N-POL WAFFLECRAT-HAPPY "SPEND, SPEND, SPEND" FOREVERMORE RESULTING IN EVENTUAL USSR-STYLE IMPLOSION OF AMERICA [2030-2050].
Lest we fergit, OBAMA BUDGET > US$1.0 will be worth US$0.25 Cents + US$0.01 US Penny come 2020 = US$0.26 Cents, of which the USG will have to spend US$1.77 to match the same Dollar FMV.
"SPEND, SPEND, SPEND" YEAR 2020 = US$0.26 Cents will continue to lower, while the US$1.77 goes higher - THE USG CANNOT CATCH UP, + CANNOT AVOID ANY SORT OF HYPERINFLATION-N-WORSE ECON PRESSURES, ERGO "JUSTIFIED" ANTI-US, ANTI-DMEOCRATIC, ANTI-CAPITALISM/FREE MARKET, ETC. NATIONAL-GLOBAL SOCIALISM-GOVTISM BY DEFAULT/DEFINITION.
COMMIES + TOTALITARIANS WIN > its only an issue of how RADIC ISLAM = GOD-BASED SOCIALISTS-GOVTISTS will react to the SECULAR COMMIE "VICTORY".
#1
The starting point, aides said, would be with the proposals that passed the House and Senate.
Ok, so Oflim-flama asks Republicans How do you guys want to lower costs"? But, at this point, tort reform, drug importation, and insurance portability across state borders are all off the table. You ever get the feeling the President may not really be genuine in his outreach?
Patrick Kennedy's outburst seems less reflection of Brown's candidacy than projection of the eight-term congressman's own woes. In May of 2006, Kennedy infamously crashed his headlights-off Mustang into a Capitol Police barrier. Appearing drunk to some officers at the scene, the congressman claimed he was "late for a vote" -- at 2:45 a.m. Kennedy nevertheless avoided a field sobriety test and received a ride home. The obligatory rehab stint followed, which was followed by yet another one last June. Atop bouts with cocaine, alcohol, and OxyContin, Kennedy has battled bipolar disorder.
Kennedy's bizarre behavior may have finally overshadowed his name and fortune. A poll released last week by Providence's WPRI-TV reported Patrick Kennedy's disapproval ratings at 62 percent throughout Rhode Island and 56 percent within his district. Rhode Island state representative John J. Loughlin II, a well-funded Scott Brown-clone who has hired several of the key operatives behind the Massachusetts Miracle, announced his candidacy against Kennedy on Thursday. Should the National Guard veteran win, it would mark the first Congress without a Kennedy in almost a half-century.
Even the colorful Buddy Cianci, the ex-con "Prince of Providence," mulls a run for Kennedy's seat. "Patrick is definitely, in my opinion, beatable. He's not as strong as he used to be," the former mayor of Providence told the Boston Herald last month. "He's had a number of problems that have distracted him from the business of governing and legislating."
That's a nuanced way of saying that Patrick Kennedy is a joke. And in the midst of a 13 percent statewide unemployment rate, few Rhode Islanders find it funny anymore to send a mentally-ill recovering drug addict to the House of Representatives for another term.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
10:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Camelot was a myth to begin with, both the King Arthur version and the Jackie Kennedy version.
Tried to get John Kass's article on the passing of Ted Kennedy, which has some interesting points on the matter; and am getting an error message from the Tribune website. Try again in a day or two.
In a 40 year flashback to the glories of 1960's anti-war outrage, infamously left-wing Riverside Church in New York City is hosting a "Truth Commission on Conscience in War" next month. This special hearing, in the spirit of "truth commissions," will evidently "explore and investigate systemic injustices, political violence, and mass atrocities" by the U.S., presumably in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will "receive testimony, process their findings, and recommend strategies for change, healing, and reconciliation," while lifting "up the silenced and invisible voices of victims, offering survivors a public forum to testify to their experiences."
The "commissioners" of this "truth commission" includes a who's who of far-left religious activism. The testifiers are mostly a small circle of embittered veterans and conspiracy theorists, including former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who's still pondering possible U.S. involvement in contriving 9-11.
So the March 21-22 spectacle at dramatically gothic Riverside Church on New York's upper West Side will be an absurd theater of macabre conspiracy speculations, sanctimonious guilt trips about supposed U.S. crimes, and indignant condemnations of everyone not on the far-left who has failed to advocate full surrender to jihadist Islam. In short, it might be wonderful entertainment, if not treated too seriously. The ghost of the late William Sloane Coffin, former Riverside pastor, may even haunt the commission's somber hearing, ghoulishly chanting old protest slogans from the Vietnam War era. Coffin Still In Coffin: Film at eleven...
Among the testifiers will be Iraq War Veteran Logan Latuiri, who evidently left the military when he was not permitted to redeploy to Iraq without a gun. Recently active with Christian Peacemaking Teams [in Israel and "Palestine"] and his own anti-war group, Centurion's Guild, Latuiri announced on Jim Wallis' Sojourners blog that he is "overjoyed" to join in the Riverside Church "truth commission" extravaganza. The former soldier pronounced himself a "strict pacifist" and opined hopefully that the Riverside hearing will "build bridges" between pacifism and Just War believers.
Given the locale and organizers, the "truth commission" is far likelier to become a Stalinist-style denunciation of and trial without jury of America's supposed crimes against humanity. The project director oddly is radical feminist theologian Rita Nakashima Brock, who is more experienced in challenging the patriarchy and heterosexism than in exposing American militarism. Other commissioners include Princeton University's George Hunsinger of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture [by the U.S.], former Riverside Church pastor James Forbes, former Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) President Richard Hamm, left-wing Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center, United Methodism's Drew University Theological School President Maxine Beach, and New York's Union Seminary President Serene Jones.
Sponsors of the hearing include the Catholic Peace Fellowship, Yale Divinity School, Iraq Veterans Against the War, the United Church of Christ's Justice & Witness Ministries, the Mennonite Central Committee,
Mennonites? Oh dear.
the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and the World Christian Student Federation, among many others. The nearly same caste could easily have been assembled 25 years ago for a church rally in Manhattan for Sandinista chief Daniel Ortega. Perhaps the causes change slightly with time, but the groups remain largely the same, seamlessly moving from one bash America cause to the next.
Defending the Riverside Church hearing over which she will preside, Rita Nakashima Brock recently denounced President Obama's surge in Afghanistan as the "strongest evidence of his failure both as Commander-in-Chief and as a peacemaker." After all, Afghanistan is just "another quagmire like Vietnam," an equally "endless, poorly planned, losing war begun by one president and continued by his successors." But Religious Left activists like Brock, who portray all of Western Civilization as a dark and patriarchal, oppressive manacle on suffering humanity, cannot imagine any war in defense of America with moral merit.
Supposedly the Riverside hearing, as Brock described it in an op-ed, will thoughtfully articulate how individual military personnel should, as a religious freedom, have the "right to object to a particular war." After all, they " undertake tremendous risks and hardship to protect the nation," should not have to "sacrifice their consciences to serve," and instead should be able to "continue serving, in good conscience, the country they love." Those careful words sound nice. But in actuality, Brock and most of the others would like an emasculated military full of Christian Peacemaking Team activists, never willing to carry arms, but more than willing to perform as pacifist neutralists who obstruct all "violence."
In his Sojourners blog, Logan Laituri gave a foretaste about the "truth commission's" bent by bemoaning how in "our representative form of government, it is hard to escape even a fraction of complicity for the damage we are causing across the world." Indeed, he knows that the "military as it exists today is a system that makes it difficult to do good and very easy to do evil." Evidently, the guilt-laden spectacle next month at Riverside Church will help to ease his conscience about serving in Iraq. Even more importantly, it will help Religious left activists like Rita Brock smugly feign moral superiority not only over military personnel but most Americans, including most Christians, who are not intrinsically ashamed of their country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
10:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The MSM ought to put this on primetime. It's gotta be funnier than anything that passes for a comedy these days.
FOUR disgruntled senior citizens have faced a German court of tying up, kidnapping and holding hostage their financial adviser after sustaining heavy losses in investments in the US property market.
The four, two married couples aged between 63 and 79, as well as an alleged co-conspirator, were charged with ambushing the 56-year-old adviser, tying him up with tape and driving him across Germany, holding him hostage for four days last June.
The hostage made a bid for freedom during the 480km journey, when the kidnappers let him out of the boot of the car for air, but he was recaptured and sustained two broken ribs in the struggle.
The defendants then allegedly tied the adviser up in a cellar and forced him to sign documents promising to recoup some 2.5 million ($3.9 million) in rotten investments.
However, according to media reports, the adviser managed to encode a secret SOS message in a fax to a Swiss colleague, who called the police. A team of commandos stormed the address, which they had worked out using details from the fax. The defendants gave themselves up without resistance.
A verdict in the case is expected on March 23.
The main suspect, identified only as Roland K, faces up to 15 years behind bars. If convicted, he would be released just before his 90th birthday.
One of the suspects, 67-year-old Gerhard F, did not appear in court due to ill health.
#1
Wouldn't this story have made a great old-timey type movie? Could have starred people like the late Peter Sellers, Jackie Gleason and others of that era.
Gov. David Paterson met privately with key Democratic leaders about his re-election plans as questions swirl around the state capitol about a variety of unproven accusations involving the Democratic governor's personal conduct.
Paterson campaign spokesman Richard Fife said the weekend meetings and calls had nothing to do with the accusations but were "routine re-election campaign calls."
"The governor started making calls two weeks ago to step up his campaign effort and get ready to officially announce his re-election campaign," Fife said. "The calls were - and are - going well ... And then look what happens - a coordinated effort to stop him and spread rumors."
A Democrat close to the situation, though, said the meetings included discussions about whether Paterson would resign or announce he will not run because of the unsubstantiated claims in the whisper campaign surrounding the governor's behavior. The Democrat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
One recent New York Post article about the accusations drew a denial by Paterson's spokeswoman and a strong rebuke by the superintendent of state police.
"Perpetrating lies about the governor, his family and troopers who diligently perform their duties is a disservice to the citizens of New York," said state police Superintendent Harry J. Corbitt, a career trooper appointed to the top post by Paterson.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
09:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's the Chicago way. Obama has said that he doesn't want Paterson to run. The rumor mill is just getting started.
I have no particular affection for Paterson. He inherited a mess not of his own making.
On the other hand, I despise Andrew Cuomo (and his father). Andrew was, according to some sources, one of the leading causes of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac meltdown, starting when he was Secretary of Housing under Clinton.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/08/2010 18:09
Comments ||
Top||
With national scrutiny on ACORN and local scrutiny on the Working Families Party, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis quietly departed as state co-chair of the Working Families Party.
Lewis was a founding co-chair of the Party. According to Working Families spokesman Dan Levitan, Lewis stopped serving as co-chair "about a year ago," though many people familiar with the Party were unaware of that change and Lewis was identified as a current co-chair in an interview on WNYCs The Brian Lehrer Show as recently as September.
I think we can safely assume, then, that a rigorous definition of "about a year ago" would have bounds of unknown size subsequent to that interview last September. Well done, O Reporter!
The change in leadership comes as the Working Families Party and many of its endorsed candidates are providing extensive email and other documentation in response to December subpoenas from the United States Attorneys office in New York. Lawyers are also preparing to return to Staten Island Supreme Court on Feb. 23 for the lawsuit being brought against the WFPs company, Data & Field Services, and the campaign of now-Council Member Debi Rose by Randy Mastro on behalf of five Republican-connected residents of her Staten Island district.
The lawsuit, however, may not be the only legal action on the horizon. The trial was stopped short in January by Judge Anthony Giacobbe after Rose's treasurer, David Thomas testified that he had neither written nor was familiar with the information provided in affidavits to the Campaign Finance Board. That may result in attention from Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan--"there's a very strong possibility of a perjury case here," according to local legal sources.
More on the story, courtesy of Jegum Flunter4789, here.
Via Jihad Watch
(AsiaNews) - Because of the threats posed by the powerful Lahore Bar Association an umbrella organization of city lawyers - no Christian or Muslim lawyer is ready to take on the defence in the murder of 12 year-old Shazia Bashir, it was reported yesterday by The Pakistani Christian association that deals with legal assistance.
The girl, of Christian faith, died on Jan. 23 as a result of violence - even sexual at the hands of her employer, a wealthy and powerful Muslim lawyer in Lahore. The alleged murderess, Chaudhry Mohammad Naeem, is a former president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. The girl, just 12 years old, had worked as a maid in the home of Naeem in the last six months.
The Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) denounces that access to the courtroom where the court hearings were held against the accused was denied, because a group of Muslim lawyers (pictured) 'prevented' entry. The association is fighting - for free - for the rights of the poorest and marginalized groups has been threatened by thousands of lawyers - friends of the murderer - that promise to burn alive anyone who wants to represent the victim in court. "
M. Joseph Francis, director of Claas, asked members of civil society, political and religious leaders to rise up and take steps to "condemn this new form of terrorism" by lawyers who "should ensure justice." The Pakistani newspaper The News reported that on Feb. 4, the police conducted the accused to the courts amid "tight security. And, as usual, officials prevented journalists and relatives of victims to come into the hall for "security reasons".
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
09:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
from the wording it seems no one is willing to defend the perpetrator, however, from the tone of the article it seems either no one is willing to give evidence against the perp or no one is willing to defend the rights of witnesses
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/08/2010 14:44
Comments ||
Top||
#5
At least Iran have a decent progressive population Pakistan and their idols the Saudis on the otherhand..........!
Bailout rumor refusal - check, bank/country run - check, collateral pulls - check. If anybody tells you there is everything in common between Greece and Lehman/AIG, believe them. The latest escalation in the Greek crisis comes courtesy of Greek daily Banking News which notes that the latest nail in the Greek coffin comes from formerly major Greek players, Deutsche Bank and Unicredit, which over the past 2-3 weeks have ceased accepting Greek collateral and have pulled out of the Greek repo market altogether.
Google translation:
We came to where big banks like Deutsche Bank German and Italian Unicredit Group does not accept bonds as collateral Greek and refuse to lend in the repo market for Greek banks.
It should be noted that Greek banks say when we mean big banks too big. In the last 2 to 3 weeks 3 -4 Greek banks have been requested by Deutsche Bank and Unicredit Group to lend in the repo market, but refused on the grounds that they do not want to risk having to Greek bonds.
#3
Watch Greece carefully. That is the US in 20-30 years if we don't get Medicare, Social Security and the general socialist trend of the country addressed soon.
Once default looks inevitable for Greece, and IMO it is already (baring a German bailout), the effect will cascade for all sovereign debt. Interest rates will climb steeply for all countries that have the potential for future default.
And as interest rates climb the point of no return to default comes rapidly closer to the present. The slippery slope gets steeper and steeper.
We are already at the point where the US is buying most of its own debt cos no one else will buy it. Ditto the UK. This temporarily and artificially suppresses interest rates at the cost of future inflation.
A country buying its own debt, which means printing money to do so, will inevitably lead to hyperinflation, but I repeat myself.
#7
I'm waiting for Barry in the finest traditions of FDR, to issue an Executive Order prohibiting the private ownership of GOLD and precious metals. Everyone knows GOLD ownership has become the domain of the evil rich and famous who have wildly inflated it's true value ($ 415. per ounce) and created undue hardships on the working and non-working classes.
#9
See also BHARAT RAKSHAK > DEUTSCHE BANK SAYS:GREECE "DRESS REHEARSAL FOR THE US".
* SAME > TWENTY [Made-In-America] REASONS GLOBAL DEBT BOMB WILL EXPLODE SOON | WHICH WILL TRIGGER THE GREAT DEPRESSION II.
* SAME > TEN REASONS WHY OBAMA IS FAILING INVESTORS, + THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GOES BRITAIN.
NUTSHELL > IOW, Britain needs a ROSWELLIAN/SEVERE-IS-BEING-POLITE BAMMER BAILOUT, espec iff it hopes to avoid the econ chaos which in LT may devol into LONDONISTAN, BRITANISTAN, ANDOR EURABIA???
The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past.
Scott Lee Cohen announced his decision Sunday night at a Chicago bar.
The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.
The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who would have been paired with Cohen on the November ticket, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Sen. Dick Durbin all had urged Cohen to leave the race.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
09:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Too bad. The election would have been amusing.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/08/2010 18:11
Comments ||
Top||
The British media is reporting that a teacher in the London School of Economics' government department is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist group seeking to internally overthrow democracy and capitalism and replace it with Sharia Law. Also a feeder organization to jihad groups.
Unfortunately, the violence of groups like Al-Qaeda has caused HUT and groups like it to look less extreme by comparison and so they are not receiving the attention they deserve.
The revelation that an HUT member teaches students in a London university and preaches at a mosque attended by students is exposing the reach of the group. The London Times reports that at least two teachers in London are members or supporters of HUT. This follows an earlier report that resulted in a political scuffle in November when David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, alleged that the government had provided funds to fight extremism to two schools run by the Islamic Shakyhsiyah Foundation, which he said was linked to HUT.
Attention was also brought to the HUT in the United Kingdom in November when Azad Ali, a Muslim who has defended the group and praised Abdullah Azzam, the Muslim Brotherhood mentor of Osama Bin Laden, was chosen to serve as an advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions. On his blog, he wrote that There is no respite from the terrorist slaughter machine of the Zionist state of Israel. America and our own government have given much fuel to this machine and in fact helped to build the killing machine.'
Hizb ut-Tahrir also has a significant presence in the United States. On July 19, 2009, the American branch of the group held its Khalifah Conference in Oak Lawn, Illinois and reports say it was attended by between 300 and 700 people. Its theme was The Fall of Capitalism & The Rise of Islam.' The Investigative Project on Terrorism has footage of one imam that spoke at the conference saying that the American Constitution should be replaced by Sharia Law.
Although HUT declares itself to be non-violent and against terrorism, a former member of the organization has produced a documentary that shows leaders of the group supporting suicide bombings against Coalition forces in Iraq as well as Israel, whose right to exist they refuse to recognize. It has also praised jihad in places like Kashmir and Chechnya.
The former leader of HUT wrote in his book that anyone running a government not based on Islam should either retract or be killed even if this led to several years of fighting and even if it led to the killing of millions of Muslims and to the martyrdom of millions of believers.' FoxNews.com has also reported on a HUT leaflet from March 2009 that called for declaring a state of war against America' and the group's official stance justifying hijackings if the plane belongs to a country at war with Muslims.
Several members of HUT have gone on to become terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, so while the group may not train or dispatch terrorists, its extremism certainly motivates some recruits to act in violent ways. Although the two sides disagree on some methods, they are united in their goals.
Al-Qaeda has condemned HUT and the group has condemned the September 11, 2001 attacks, although it is unclear whether the group believes Bin Laden was behind the event or Zionist conspirators in the American government were, Take a guess which.
as many extremists believe. The group's leader in Britain said after the 2005 bombings in London that he would condemn what happened in London only after there is the promise from Western leaders to condemn what they have done in Falluja and other parts of Iraq and in Afghanistan.' It should also be mentioned that Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed, the founder of the Al-Muhajiroun terrorist group allied to Al-Qaeda, helped set up the HUT's branch in Britain before he was expelled from the group.
The ranks of HUT should be expected to grow. As Al-Qaeda's prestige wanes due to its lack of success, other groups offering different strategies for waging jihad are going to gain in popularity. Muslims that share the goal of restoring the Caliphate and spreading Sharia-based governance but have grown disenchanted with Al-Qaeda's means will find an ally they can sympathize with in HUT. Some might try to downplay the significance of HUT due to their relatively benign pursuit of jihad against the West, but they will only be rewarding the group's more intelligent campaign for the same goal.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
08:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why is HUT not banned in western countries when they seek overthrowing Western values?
Billed as "Canada's largest Muslim convention," Reviving the Islamic Spirit -- 8th Convention was held in Toronto on December 25 -- 27, 2009. Having heard the reports that 17,000 attendees from Canada and the U.S. were expected, I decided to see for myself. I also wanted to know if the convention would stress spirituality, promote moderate Islam, or offer apologias for radical Islam.
The lecture hall, with a capacity of 6,500 people, was completely full and there were still many people outside. The sales area contained around 50 booths selling Islamic clothing and books. I looked for books by reformers such as Salim Mansur, Tarek Fatah, Irshad Manji, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to no avail. Similarly, none of the speakers I heard addressed the violence of radical Islam. This gross omission about something so current and important was telling.
While waiting for another session to begin, I caught the tail end of a speech by Zaid Shakir of the Zaytuna Institute titled, "The Social Implications of Domestic Violence." Shakir did not defend the oppressive practices that are pervasive in the Muslim world, but claimed that Islam does not approve of molesting wives and children.
Let us assume here that molesting is intended to imply overenthusiastic beatings instead of sexual behaviour with inappropriate and illegal objects.
Instead, Shakir alleged, it was merely the fault of uncontrolled anger. He urged the community for help and understanding with these anger-related problems. There was no discussion of universal women's human rights or the actual treatment of women in Islamic countries.
Perhaps as some form of consolation to the women in the audience, Shakir promised that if a man beats his Muslim spouse, Allah might take his vengeance out on him. The crowd apparently found this humorous and laughter ensued.
Near the end of his talk, Shakir veered off course by stating that although the former Soviet Union was bigger than the U.S., Allah destroyed the USSR because of the invasion of Afghanistan. When he warned America to be aware of how they treat Muslims in Afghanistan lest Allah do the same thing to the U.S., loud cheers erupted from the audience. As a Canadian whose country also has troops in Afghanistan, I found this to be most disturbing.
Next up was the panel, "The New We: Muslims in Future of Western Society," featuring University of Michigan Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies Sherman Jackson (also known as Abdal Hakim Jackson) and the controversial Swiss Islamic studies academic Tariq Ramadan.
Jackson, an African-American convert to Islam, spoke first. He believes that the Muslim and Western worlds are in conflict and competition, and that only one can end up dominant. Put simply, he wants to replace Western culture with Muslim culture.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
08:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why is HUT not banned in western countries when they seek overthrowing Western values?
So I guess the preceding millenium isn't really indicative of Islam's true thinking in this matter. Or others.
The issue of terrorism is broadcast every day over the airwaves. Yet, so many of our government officials are clueless about it. How else would a leader from the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations two groups singled out by the Justice Department for their involvement in the financing of Hamas be invited to a sitting Governor's State of the State Address? Regardless of the reason for the invitation, it was a dangerous oversight.
The Islamic Society of North America or ISNA held its most recent national convention its 46th annual convention in Washington, D.C., this past year in July. Participating at the event was the normal crop of Muslim radicals. They included Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator' of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Zulfiqar Ali Shah, the former South Asia Director of KindHearts, a Hamas fundraising group that was shut down by the FBI in February 2006; and Naeem Muhammad, a U.S. staff member of Islamic Relief, a charity' that the Israeli government has claimed is a front for Hamas. The latter two participated as Moderators.'
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010
08:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's been long enough. There is no rational excuse for allowing this farce to go on. If our legal system is so out of control in this matter that we can't stop it, then start plastering it all over the news and let public opinion be the judge.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder, could it have anything to do with the "Surf & Turf Nudist Colony" in Sharjah UAE ?
/no such place
Posted by: Unereth Darling of the Huns6805 ||
02/08/2010 11:24
Comments ||
Top||
#2
In a brief statement responding to questions, building owner Emaar Properties blamed the closure on "unexpected high traffic," but then suggested that electrical problems were also at fault.
In'shallah Electrical Engineering. Nah, boys, I wouldn't worry about it...
#3
Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic, 55, a Slovenian writer planning to visit the city for the first time this month, said he hoped the Burj would reopen soon.
"It was the one thing I really wanted to see," he said. "The tower was projected as a metaphor for Dubai. So the metaphor should work. There are no excuses."
Hahahaha Ervin, it works as more of a metaphor than you think.
A district administrator in northwestern Afghanistan has been accused of militant links and corruption charges, officials said Monday, the second senior Afghan official to be arrested in the past week.
The allegations come amid fears of infiltration and pressure on President Hamid Karzai to crack down on corruption in the ranks.
The chief administrator in Bala Murghab, a heavily Taliban influenced area, was detained late Thursday but officials did not disclose the news until after his interrogation.
Aminullah, who like many Afghans only goes by one name, was accused of passing sensitive military and intelligence information to militants through a man who worked in his office, according to the chief prosecutor assigned to the case.
He also faced corruption charges for allegedly selling government property and cooking oil meant for poor people for personal gain, prosecutor Mohammad Nahim Naziry said.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The No. 2 leader of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood and two other top figures have been arrested by police in a dawn sweep that also grabbed 10 senior members across five provinces, police and members of the group said.
Police arrested the newly elected deputy leader, Mahmoud Ezzat, and two other members of the top level Guidance Council, Essam el-Erian and Abdul-Rahman el-Bir.
The arrests are the latest move in a wide-ranging crackdown on the group ahead of parliamentary elections this year and appear designed to cripple the organization's leadership.
The group, the country's largest and best organized opposition, had just elected a new supreme guide and deputy.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said they were arrested for engaging in banned political activitya standard government charge used against the group.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:07 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
#1
"...they were arrested for engaging in banned political activity..."
Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood should be "banned political activity."
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/08/2010 21:06
Comments ||
Top||
(Kyodo)--Ruling Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa said Monday he has asked that the United States give "sufficient time" for U.S. President Barack Obama to meet with him if it wants him to visit the country.
The ruling party kingpin made the remark amid reports that Ozawa is considering visiting the United States sometime around Japan's Golden Week holidays from late April after Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, asked him to do so when they met in Tokyo last week. "If I go over, I would expect that President Obama take sufficient time (to meet with me) and I made that request," Ozawa told a regular press conference at the party's head office in Tokyo.
He also said he would not engage in any policy talks with U.S. officials if he visits the country, underlining that his visit would be simply aimed at deepening bilateral friendship or ties between the DPJ and the U.S. Democrats.
Ozawa is expected to arrange his itinerary while taking into consideration the schedule of the ongoing ordinary Diet session.
Upon his return from his trip to Asia, Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters in Washington last Thursday that he asked Ozawa to take a delegation of DPJ lawmakers to the U.S. capital sometime during Golden Week.
In their meeting Feb. 2 in Tokyo, Ozawa and Campbell discussed the stalled issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, but did not go into detail, according to Campbell.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He also said he would not engage in any policy talks with U.S. officials if he visits the country, underlining that his visit would be simply aimed at deepening bilateral friendship or ties between the DPJ and the U.S. Democrats.
Then stay home and do not waste the president's time.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 9:39
Comments ||
Top||
#2
ed, time the President wastes is generally an improvement over other ways he would spend it.
#3
"If I go over, I would expect that President Obama take sufficient time (to meet with me)
Hand shakes and bowing, Dreams & Audacity book signing and gifting, more bowing and head nods, photo session, Toyota lecture and admonishment...we're now up to 14 minutes. That leaves you one minute Ozi.
PARIS (AP) - France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced amphibious warship and is considering a Russian request for three more, French defense officials said Monday. It would be the first major arms deal between Russia and a NATO member. French President Nicolas Sarkozy approved the sale of one Mistral assault ship after months of discussions, but then Russian naval officials submitted a request for three more, said Jacques de Lajugie, head of international development at the French arms agency DGA.
They've been talking about this for a while. The Russians have been lusting after a large assault ship they could use. For example, in the Black Sea ...
"We are in the process of examining" this new request, de Lajugie said at a news conference, predicting a decision in the coming weeks. He said the new request came not at the "political level" but from the general staff of the Russian Navy.
Among outstanding questions in the deal are where the Mistral would be built, de Lajugie said. No details about price were released.
Possessing a Mistral, which can carry 16 helicopters, would significantly increase the Russian military's capability to mount quick offensives. France sent a Mistral, which weighs 23,700 tons (21,500 metric tons) and is 980 feet (299 meters) long, to visit St. Petersburg last year in a clear sign of interest in a potential sale.
NATO members and Russia have had some small, country-to-country technology deals in the past but this would be the first sale of a major piece of equipment by a NATO nation to Moscow.
The prospect of the deal has alarmed some ex-Soviet countries.
"I believe that it's not a good idea to sell such ship to a country that has occupied another nation's territory," Temur Yakobashvili, a Georgian cabinet minister for reintegration who is in charge of issues related to separatist regions, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after the French announcement.
The Mistral can anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops on land, a capacity the Russian navy now lacks. Russia's navy chief said last year that a ship like the Mistral would have allowed the Russian navy to mount a much more efficient action in the Black Sea during the Georgia-Russia war. He said the French ship would take just 40 minutes to do the job that the Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels did in 26 hours.
Russia's Interfax news agency had quoted naval first deputy chief of staff Vice Adm. Oleg Burtsev as saying the deal "is unlikely to happen in February or March this year, but work on the matter is continuing."
President Dmitry Medvedev visits France in March. Russia has been looking at similar ships made in Spain and the Netherlands.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Russians have been lusting after a large assault ship they could use. For example, in the Black Sea ...
The problem for the Russians is that the Turks are can block the passage of any aircraft carrier thought Bosporus. So it needs to be built on the Black Sea and that means Ukrainian ship yards. But things are looking up for Putin as the re-absorption of the Ukraine is proceeding w/o western objections.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 9:35
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I seem to remember a couple of times , 'secret' russian ships/subs going under the Bosphorus Bridge with the worlds press on top, happy snapping .
They eventually learnt their lesson and moved ship building to another venue, whilst Syrian port of Tartous, aids them too. Obvious cause for concern .
Posted by: Oscar ||
02/08/2010 10:41
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Now if you did ship procurement for the Indian Navy, wouldn't you have to ask yourself why you gave the Russians ship contracts when they in turn give the French a ship contract. Heh.
#4
Russia's navy chief said last year that a ship like the Mistral would have allowed the Russian navy to mount a much more efficient action in the Black Sea during the Georgia-Russia war.
Not even bothering to hide their intentions for this ship, eh?
#5
The Mistral Sale and the Russian Information War on Georgia First Caucasian Channel began broadcasting on Eutelsats new W7 satellite on January 15th, and it only took 2 days for Russia to complain about the channel. The channel was created by the Public Television of Georgia earlier this year with a main objective "to bring truth to peoples in North Caucasus - to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan as well as to Russian republics in the Caucasus that fight against the Kremlin's armed forces." The channel was taken off the air after being up for less than two weeks.
As we watch Russia leverage their unequal national power to influence France, keep an eye on eastern European countries like Poland. This will get bigger than Russia, Georgia, and France before it is all over, and the potential for long term consequences in Eastern Europe is not trivial.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2010 14:38
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Now if you did ship procurement for the Indian Navy, wouldn't you have to ask yourself why you gave the Russians ship contracts
The Indian Navy Captain who held up a Russian Destroyer contract because of a non-working Shtil missile system died in a mysterious automobile accident while taking a morning walk.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2010 16:18
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Went to ed's link and saw a good picture of the ship in question. Dunno much about such things...assuming it has some kind of defense against anti-ship missiles but it looks like a pretty fat target. Of course, the Ruskies would scream bloody murder if somebody were to sell the Georgians some silkworms.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
08:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There have been nastier snow storms elsewhere in this nation - this year - that have got ZERO press coverage....
It's sad.
Example: I have an 89 year old aunt - on her ranch in Montana - who had 11 foot drifts in the last storm between the house and garage/barn. Average amt on the ground was about the same as D.C. got. Coverage in the press of the storm? ZERO....
#5
Dear little old lady ranchers in Montana are generally merely inconvenienced by 11' snow drifts, being accustomed to and prepared for them. The Mid-Atlantic is neither, and so 6-24" of frozen precipitation causes everything to stop dead. Therefore Montana's situation is not news, but the East Coast's is.
#7
#6 3dc, the little old lady would be substantially harder hit by the storm if she had to put up with Baltimore drivers at the same time.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-02-08 11:25
#8
"6-24 [inches] of frozen precipitation causes everything to stop dead."
2 - 3 inches of snow will cause DC to stop dead. One of the funniest experiences one of my Minnesota program managers had was visiting the Pentagon and discovering was shutting down because of 2 inches of snow. Apparently the entire Federal Gov't is like that.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/08/2010 11:54
Comments ||
Top||
#9
DC shut down during Dutch's birthday may be labeled as 'Signs and Portents'.
#10
Unlike in Montana, the traffic in the DC-Balt area is close to gridlock on many pm peak hours.
When a storm comes and a few lanes are closed (and in this case the transit system is operating at only a fraction of its capacity), opening Govt results in traffic disaster.
MT has excess traffic capacity.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/08/2010 13:00
Comments ||
Top||
#11
When it's bad up here, all "non-essential" government workers are told to stay home. So nobody shows up.
#13
At least a nephew came along with a front-end loader to remove her drifts so she could help her 400 Angus cows in the barn calf so that new generations of hi-quality steak could be avialble for the Snowmageddon sufferers to get fat on next year....
In my previous DoD job I was considered essential personnel so along with my colleagues I kept a change of clothes etc. at work in case I needed to crash on a local couch when a bad storm hit. Usually though I just inched my way over the mountain and down the icy winding road.
Mr. Lotp is still in that category and still does. I on the other hand am in a different job and no longer in such a status. Instead I have to fight Beltway traffic and bureaucrats.
For a president who ran on uplifting themes like change and hope, Barack Obama spends an awful lot of time scolding Americans about how he hopes theyll change.
He has advised parents to "replace that video game with a book and make sure that homework gets done." He has urged members of Congress not to read blogs or watch 24-hour cable news. And hes challenged lobbyists, lawmakers, bankers, journalists, insurance companies and other heads of state to do a better job.
Hes prodded people to get off the couch, eat healthier and exercise more. Hes even suggested Americans buy stocks, U.S.-made cars and energy-efficient light bulbs, while cautioning them not to max out their credit cards.
At times, having Obama in the Oval Office is like having a really powerful Dr. Phil around.
But lately, Obamas tsk-tsking has gotten him into some trouble. At the very moment hes trying to recover his declining popularity and revive his party heading into the November elections, even some Democrats worry that he risks coming off not as the inspirational figure who galvanized the electorate in 2008 but as the embodiment of a dour Democrat that turns off some voters.
Dee Dee Myers, a former White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, pointed out that, while Obama has long promised to tell people the truth even when it hurts, he needs to strike a balance.
"Part of what people liked about him during the campaign is that he talks to the American people like theyre grown-ups -- you dont have to pretend that you can eat ice cream and lose weight in order to be president," Myers said. "He did that during the campaign by appealing to hope. ... I think little of that has been lost."
Added Democratic strategist Paul Begala, another Clinton veteran, "You got to be careful about that stuff, or you become a scold."
Obama drew criticism for his unusual finger-wagging at Supreme Court justices as they sat in the House chamber during his State of the Union address. He also used the speech to once again press Congress to go public with its earmarks. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Obamas fellow Democrat, recently told him to "lay off Las Vegas" when Obama urged fiscal restraint by explaining, "You dont blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when youre trying to save for college."
The White House says Obamas admonitions, whether to the Supreme Court about campaign finance law or to Congress about pork-barrel spending, are simply part of his drive to change the ways of the capital.
"A central part of the presidents vision for bringing change to Washington is fulfilling one of his earliest campaign promises: telling people not just want they want to hear but what they need to hear," said Josh Earnest, White House deputy press secretary.
Posted by: Grotch the Scantily Clad7546 ||
02/08/2010
07:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Considering how many of the dolts in his base never miss D'oprah, it's appropriate.
#3
After Obama told Senate Democrats to turn off the computer and the TV, Reid said he took the presidents advice.
Mr. President, youve told me, suggested: Dont pay any attention to the blogs, dont listen to talk radio, dont watch cable TV, said Reid. And I follow that advice pretty good.
No wonder Senator Fossil Reid is out-of-touch, he has no comprehension of what is happening in the world.
Harry, does somebody read a newspaper to you before you go to work every day ?
An exchange of mortar shells between Somali government forces and rebels killed at least nine civilians and injured 14 others, a human rights group said on Monday. The clashes started late Sunday and continued Monday morning, the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization said.
"These casualties are from the overnight shelling. We are still monitoring Monday's casualties. The shelling was terrible," said Ali Yasin Gedi, Elman's vice chairman.
Residents said government shells targeted houses occupied by Islamist al Shabaab rebels in the north of Mogadishu. Washington says the group is al Qaeda's proxy in the region.
"We saw al Shabaab carrying their dead and injured in a minibus. But we do not know the exact figure of the deaths," Hassan Nur, a resident, told Reuters. "The government shells almost leveled houses that housed local and foreign al Shabaab people."
A government official who wanted to remain anonymous told Reuters the pro-government Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militia was meeting a government delegation in neighboring Addis Ababa. "Currently the talks are continuing. We're discussing with Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca on how best we can accommodate them both politically and militarily. If it goes well at this first stage, then we will focus on uniting forces to face on war," he said.
Two young British Muslims who have served short prison sentences for terrorism offences have spoken frankly about their views to a new BBC documentary investigation into the extent of the radicalisation of Muslims in the UK. The views of Rizwan Ditta and Bilal Mohammed, two young Muslims born and brought up in Halifax, West Yorkshire, will be anathema to the vast majority of the British people including many British Muslims.
Ditta claims: "You can go to any [Muslim] youth on the street and say, 'Do you believe in Jihad?' and he'll say 'Yes'. 'Do you believe that al-Qaeda is a terrorist movement?' He'll say, 'No'." Bilal says: "The Western world is not letting anyone live in peace. It's the West who are at war with everyone."
The two are close friends. Both received prison sentences for possessing material likely to be useful to terrorists, most of it downloaded from the internet. Ditta was sentenced to four years and Mohammed to two. Both had pleaded guilty. Mohammed has the dubious distinction of being the first to be convicted under the new offence of glorifying terrorism.
They were released last year and are now out on licence with strict conditions. Both are unrepentant. Mohammed says that he was welcomed home with flowers and presents. He claims that none of the Muslim community views him as a terrorist. "They gave me support and comfort, saying everything is alright. Don't worry, you didn't do anything."
He reminded me of the reception that many IRA prisoners received when they returned home from the Maze prison.
There are an unknown number of sympathisers who, whilst not necessarily giving direct support to al-Qaeda and its surrogate groupings, nevertheless have some sympathy with their ideology and share a sense of grievance over Western foreign policy over Israel and the Palestinians, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But Ditta and Mohammed are the angry voices of an extreme element of young British Muslims today. MI5 believes there are about 2,000 extremists in the UK who pose a potential threat
#1
Mohammed says that he was welcomed home with flowers and presents. He claims that none of the Muslim community views him as a terrorist
We are continually told its a 'minority' in the muslim community but i believe whilst the jobless youths are the vocal ones the older generation are proud of them being more ISLAMIC!
Ps The Pakistani communities are the most radical!
#3
Ditta claims: "You can go to any [Muslim] youth on the street and say, 'Do you believe in Jihad?' and he'll say 'Yes'. 'Do you believe that al-Qaeda is a terrorist movement?' He'll say, 'No'." Bilal says: "The Western world is not letting anyone live in peace. It's the West who are at war with everyone."
I just don't understand what this means. Could someone please get President Obama to explain it to me since he has decided that I can't think for myself. Or even have my own opinions. And shouldn't be allowed to vote.
#1
we need to be as strict as USA and Australia going forward.No more benefit seekers/wannabe terrorist as we have plenty already in the Pakistan/Somalian communities!
#5
Paul2, I am not entirely sure that strict would be the word I'd use in the US context. Don't know much about Oz.
In order for a foreigner to immigrate Australia without a job offer, you have to amass so many "points", which are accumulated based on your age, your command of English, and the type of skills you have.
I, a native speaker of English in my late 30s with a PhD in physics, did not have enough points to get in. (But I had a job offer and wasn't intending to stay, so that didn't apply.)
#6
Better late than never. The West should have done more to build universities in the Middle East and Africa (that taught more than religious studies), which would promote education in those areas far better than bringing a handful of students to the west to learn.
#2
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > JuD MILITANT GROUP [LeT faction] VOS TO TAKE BACK KASHMIR BY FORCE [Jihad]. Threatens "rivers of blood" will flow across all INDJUH.
HAFIZ SAEED > Iff the US has been defeated by Islamic Mujahideen in Afghanistan [failing to stop = defeat Afghan insurgency + 2011-2017 Obama US Mil withdrawal timetable], THEN HOW CAN INDIA ENDURE, STAY ON AS PER KASHMIR IN THE FACE OF EFFEC OR SUCCESSFUL ISLAMIC JIHAD.
* SAME > PAKISTAN: RELIGIOUS PARTIES TERM US "CENTRE OF EVIL" [throughout Nation + Region].
#1
Starting to grasp the finer aspects of international trade. Well, at least they won't be hampered by decades of judicial appeals by the usual suspects trying to stop work in the name of Gaia.
#2
The Chinese tend to position themselves for the 'long haul' so they can control their 'outcomes' (and those of others). They've pretty much controlled (through Whampoa Ltd.) both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal since 1999-2000 (on who's presidential watch was that now?)
Of course this got very little MSM 'play' and the only way I even knew it happened back then was from a relative in the shipping business.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/08/2010 11:47
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Forgot to mention that they also control a LOT of other world seaports. Google "Whampoa Ltd" and 'seaports'. (Won't even get into the materials markets they control).
Seems like their 'Starting to grasp the finer aspects of international trade' occurred a long time ago. Don't forget, the Chinese have been in 'commerce' for over 5,000 years. They've learned a thing or two.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/08/2010 11:55
Comments ||
Top||
#4
They're getting into the game awfully late, and all the good spots were gone a long time ago. Heck, America got into the game late in 1898 and was lucky to get anything at all.
#5
Don't forget, the Chinese have been in 'commerce' for over 5,000 years.
Chinese 'merchants' have been engaged in commerce for a long time but not the government. By the pre-20th Century Chinese society, merchants ranked on the lowest rung of society, below the peasants. The long history of the land was to tolerate what merchants generated but the xenophobic nature and sense of cultural superiority of the succession of dynasties meant the government acted in an insular fashion when it came to international trade. For one brief period when Zheng He explored the world did any of the Chinese regimes show significant interest beyond their immediate borders and even then the court eventually shut down the enterprise and destroyed the fleet. The European merchants and governments had to literally shoot their way into China in the 19th Century. I don't think the Mao era demonstrated much beyond exporting military hardware as a form of major commerce. So, yes the government is engaging in something that has been historically and culturally outside the standard practices of prior regimes.
#6
Don't really see the point. Yeah bigger boats can go through but the big trade companies these days have so many boats why do you need one of the big ones to transit the canal at all?
#10
Okay, that makes sense. Still oil is fungible so why do they care where the oil comes from? Also China has fewer environmentalists so why not build nuke plants and ditch the oil dependence altogether?
#12
ION SINA PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA AID TO BHUTAN [+ Nepal], TIES IWD RUSSIA WORRYING CHINA. Indian andor Indo-Russian military arms assistance to the Himalayan Kngdoms = SOuthern Tibet.
* SAME/WMF > CHINESE PREMIER WEN: CHINA-JAPAN TIES AT CRUCIAL STAGE [US-Japan FUTENMA base deal = decisive factor].
* WMF > US HERITAGE FOUNDATION: IN 2025 CHINA MAY BE THE PACIFIC'S NUMBER ONE SUBMARINE POWER, NOT THE US NAVY, WID A MODERN SUBMARINE FLEET EQUAL TO ANY FOUR OF THE REGION'S MAJOR NAVAL STATES.
#13
WMF > "CHINA'S HAWAII/PEARL HARBOR NB": CHINA TO BUILD PLA MILITARY SUPER-BASES ON HAINAN ISLAND.
GUAM-CNMI-WESTPAC caught in the middle. As per various prior WMF Artics, US BASES on GUAM,JAPAN are now widin easy reach of [improved]PLAAF H-6 strategic bombers, PLA "Second Arty" LR BMissles, + PLAN BM Subs.
#1
Sing to the tune of `Sunscreen` - Baz Luhrmann:
Drink Alcohol.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, alcohol would be it.
The long-term benefits of alcohol have been consistently misunderstood by scientists,
whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own drunken experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your alcohol tolerance.
Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your alcohol tolerance until it's faded.
But trust me, in 20 years,
you'll look back at photos of yourself puking in a gutter and recall in a way you can't grasp now
how much alcohol you drank and how fabulous it really was.
You are not as sick as you imagine.
Don't worry about where the next beer is coming from.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to pull a page three model after 15 pints of Stella.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your drink-addled mind,
like the unexpected lack of ale in the fridge on some idle Tuesday.
Drink one thing every day that scares you.
Sing badly.
Be reckless when buying other people drinks.
Don't put up with people who are reckless when buying yours.
Gargle.
Don't waste your time on shandy.
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.
The race is long and, in the end, it's only to the bar.
Make up compliments you received. Return the insults.
If you don't succeed in doing this, drink more beer now.
Keep your old ring pulls. Throw away your old cans.
Wretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know when you might dry-out in your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 when they would sober up.
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still haven't.
Get plenty of kebabs.
Don't be too kind to your liver. You'll hardly miss it when it's gone.
Maybe you'll pull, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll get some bird up the duff, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll enter rehab at 40,
maybe you'll dance the nude conga at your 75th University Reunion.
Whatever you do, congratulate yourself far too much and berate others.
Your choices are half alcohol influenced. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy someone else's body. Use it every way you can.
Don't be afraid of it or of what the lads might think of it.
It's probably the only time you'll ever pull.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but on the street with a can of Special Brew.
Ignore the directions, don't ever follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines,
just cut out the pictures and put them on your wall.
Get to know your parents. You never know when you'll have to tap them for some cash.
Be nice to your barman.
They're your best link to the bar and the person most likely to stop you getting your head kicked by a bouncer
when paralytic in the future.
Understand that favourite drinks come and go,
but with a precious flammable few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in strength and consistency,
because the older you get, the harder it will be to neck ales like when you were young.
Live in London once, but leave before it makes you a ponce.
Live in Liverpool once, but leave before everything you own gets stolen.
Dribble.
Accept certain inalienable truths:
Beer prices will rise.
Bouncers will throw you out.
You, too, will get a hangover.
And when you do, you'll fantasise that when you were young,
prices were reasonable,
bouncers couldn't catch you,
and hangovers were NEVER as bad as this.
Respect alcoholics.
Don't expect anyone else to buy you a beer.
Maybe you'll have a huge overdraft. Maybe you'll have a wealthy bird.
But you never know when either one might stop getting you p*ssed.
Don't mess too much with alcopops or by the time you're 25 you will look like a faggot.
Be careful whose cheap booze you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Cheap booze is a form of rip-off.
Dispensing it is a way of fishing old stock from the disposal, wiping it off,
painting over the sell-by date and re-selling it for more than it's worth.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran said on Sunday its Internet connections will remain slow this week due to technical problems, ahead of anticipated protests by opposition supporters. Connections have been slow since last week and some email accounts have been unavailable for several hours each day.
"The cause of the reduced Internet speed in recent days is that part of the fibre-optic network is damaged," Communications Minister Reza Taghipour told Iran's state broadcaster. "The breakage will be repaired by next week and the Internet speed will be back to normal," he added.
The Iranian week runs from Saturday to Friday.
Taghipour said the undersea optic fiber across the Gulf between the Iranian port of Jask and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates had been damaged due to shipping traffic and anchoring.
He also acknowledged that text messaging in Iran had been disrupted, blaming it on "changing software."
Iran's anti-government protesters have effectively used the Internet and SMS services to organize rallies and spread news and pictures of the demonstrations.
Opposition supporters have used every opportunity to take to the streets for protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whose re-election in June they reject as fraudulent.
They have held demonstrations alongside state-sponsored events over the past months and plan to take to the streets again on the February 11 anniversary of the Islamic revolution when annual state-backed marches are held.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Dawn] A passenger flight from Mumbai to Dubai was halted minutes before take-off on Sunday when airline staff received a telephone call claiming there were "terrorists" on board, authorities said.
The plane was grounded after the anonymous caller alleged that two passengers were members of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Mumbai International Airport spokesman said.
The Emirates aircraft, which had 356 people on board, was taken to an isolated bay where passengers disembarked and security personnel detained two people for questioning.
"The flight was on the taxi-way when the call came through which said that there were LeT suspects on board," the spokesman told AFP.
He said the rest of the passengers had re-boarded and the delayed flight would take off shortly.
Last month, India increased airport security and warned its domestic airlines about a possible hijack attempt after a tip-off from Western intelligence services.
The alert warned that flights could be targeted by groups aligned to Al-Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba.
New Delhi blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for plotting and carrying out the November 2008 Mumbai siege in which 10 gunmen targeted multiple locations in India's financial and entertainment capital, killing 166 people.
Last August an Indian businessman running behind schedule triggered a bomb scare at Delhi airport in a desperate attempt to catch his flight.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
[Dawn] Three Iranians have been arrested attempting to smuggle drugs worth nearly four million dollars into Malaysia, where trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence, a customs official said Sunday.
Customs deputy director Mohamad Subri Awang said the two women and one man were arrested on Friday with 13.6 million ringgit (4.0 million dollars) worth of methamphetamines.
A customs official found 54.54 kilograms (116 pounds) of the drugs in two bags, he said.
Mohamad Subri said the Iranians had arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Dubai.
"Since the collapse of the Dubai economy, we are seeing an increase in drug smugglers coming to Malaysia. The market here is lucrative and the demand is high," he told AFP.
Mohamad Subri said since January, a total of 10 Iranians had been detained for alleged drug trafficking compared to seven for the whole of last year.
"I like to warn drug traffickers that the punishment in Malaysia for drug trafficking is death and it includes for women also," he said.
Mohamad Subri said enforcement has been beefed-up at airports in the country especially to monitor in-bound passengers from India, Dubai and Amsterdam.
A Japanese woman appeared in a Malaysian court in late January on charges of trafficking 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamines last October which will see her executed if convicted.
The death penalty is carried out by hanging in Malaysia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran has successfully tested the prototype of its first domestically-built stealth drone, a senior Air Force commander said Sunday.
"The drone, due to its physical attributes and the material used in its body, cannot be detected by any radar," Air Force Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, the force's coordination deputy, told reporters.
He said data from the test-flight had been favorable and the Air Force will move forward with its plans for the drone, called Sofreh Mahi, meaning Manta Ray in English, Fars News Agency reported.
Brig. Gen. Nasirzadeh, however, explained that the production process will not be rushed as such complex systems need thorough analysis and exhaustive testing.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
...cannot be detected by any radar
maybe because it only flies in certain comic books?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/08/2010 1:57
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Could be a paper aeroplane.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
02/08/2010 3:45
Comments ||
Top||
#3
the drone, called Sofreh Mahi Potemkin, meaning Manta Ray Bullshit in English
#4
Brig. Gen. Nasirzadeh, however, explained that the production process will not be rushed as such complex systems need thorough analysis and exhaustive testing.
Translation:
Precision guidance, chemical and nuclear warhead arming technologies have yet to be fully developed.
#6
Brig. Gen. Nasirzadeh, however, explained that the production process will not be rushed as such complex systems need thorough analysis and exhaustive testing.
Additioal translation:
We're hoping to actually invent something like this later.
#8
Brig. Gen. Nasirzadeh, however, explained that the production process will not be rushed as such complex systems need thorough analysis and exhaustive testing.
Just how long is the gestation period for a donkey? Inquiring minds want to know.
[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in Kandahar city on Sunday, killing four policemen. The "very big bomb" was placed under a bridge and exploded as the police vehicle was passing, a senior local police official, Col Abdul Ahmad, told AFP.
"Four policemen who were bringing food to their post were killed" in the blast," Col Abdul Ahmad added.
The Afghan officials blamed Taliban militants for the "cruel" attack.
No groups, including the Taliban, have made immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Kandahar city is the capital of southern Kandahar province, which along with neighbouring Helmand is the centre of the insurgency.
As foreign and Afghan troops prepare a major military offensive in Taliban's last strongholds around Marjah, in the central Helmand, top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, says that IEDs will be their biggest threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Bangla Daily Star] Md Hafizur Rahman, the prime accused in Chittagong Arms case, in a confessional statement here Saturday night hinted at involvement of the same high officials of intelligence agencies and leaders of United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), as mentioned in his previous confessional statement.
He made the statement under section-164 in the arms smuggling case filed under the section-25/B of Special Powers Act, one of the two cases filed in connection with the seizure of the deadly consignment.
Hafiz took eight hours since 5:00pm to make the confessional statement before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mahabubur Rahman, who recorded the confession in 43 pages, said the sources.
Hafiz made his previous confessional statement under section-164 in arms haul case filed under the section-19 (ka) of Arms Act in March 2 last year that made a remarkable development in the investigation.
Contacted, Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Md Muniruzzaman Chowdhury, a senior ASP of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Chittagong zone, refused to disclose any information regarding the confessional statement.
However, sources said Hafiz made almost the same confession as he did in the arms haul case and hinted at involvement of the same persons in the case filed in connection with the ten truckloads of firearms and ammunition hauled at Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Limited (CUFL) jetty in the early hours of April 2, 2004.
In the previous confessional statement Hafiz implicated involvement of high officials of National Security Intelligence (NSI), Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the CUFL.
Investigation following the statement helped CID arrest two former NSI director generals (DGs) Major General (retd) Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury and Brigadier Gen (retd) M Abdur Rahim, former director (security) Wing Commander (retd) Sahab Uddin, former deputy director (technical) Maj (retd) Liakat Hossain, NSI Field Officer Akbar Hossain, former CUFL managing director Mohsin Talukder and General Manager (Admin) Enamul Haq.
Besides, the then home secretary Omar Faruk, former chairman of Bangladesh Chemicals and Industries Corporation (BCIC) Brig Gen (retd) Imamuzzaman and a number of government high officials were quizzed in connection with the case.
No new name came in Saturday night's confession, sources added.
Meanwhile, CID investigators on Thursday made a 7-day remand prayer against former NSI DG Maj Gen (retd) Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury in the arms haul case.
The remand prayer was placed before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Chittagong.
Hearing of the remand prayer would be held today in the afternoon, said the sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] Human Rights Watch said on Sunday that Israel has failed to properly investigate alleged crimes committed during last winter's devastating Gaza war as demanded by the United Nations.
"Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case," said Joe Stork, HRW's New York-based group's deputy director for the Middle East.
"An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks," Stork said in a statement.
About 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the 22-day onslaught launched by Israel on Dec. 27, 2008, aimed at halting rocket attacks from the Islamist Hamas-ruled enclave. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.
The U.N. General Assembly in November called on Israel and Palestinian armed groups to investigate alleged war crimes detailed in a UN report by the respected former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
But U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he had not yet determined whether both sides had adequately probed the accusations.
Last Friday, the U.N. chief received a 46-page report from Israel in which it denied violating international law but admitted "tragic results" due to the "complexity and scale" of fighting in heavily populated areas.
In his report, Ban highlighted Israel's assertion that two of its senior officers -- a brigadier general and a colonel -- were disciplined for the firing of white phosphorous shells toward a U.N. compound during the war.
Also on Friday, the U.N. secretary general was handed a preliminary report from the Palestinian side in which it said a commission had been set up to look into allegations that Palestinian militants committed war crimes.
Hamas also carried out an investigation into the conflict, and has previously absolved its fighters of any wrongdoing, saying they did not deliberately target civilians.
HRW has rejected Hamas's claims, saying that most of the rockets fired during the war hit civilian areas. "Civilians were the target," the group said, and "deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Human Rights [abuse] Watch is just doing its job of equalating the deliberate targeting and murder of civilians by Hamass with the unavoidable casualties of Human Shields / Civilian Terrorists by Israel.
Classic propaganda technique - claim the 'other side' is doing it too so as to dilute or avoid blame.
The fact remains that Israel did everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties - even to the point of dropping leaflets and 'knocking on the roof' prior to an attack - that is a well known and documented fact. While on the other hand Hamas did (and has been for 10 years) all in its power to deliberately target and murder as many civilians as it possibly can and during the war hid behind 'human shields' - which, in many cases, were effective since Israel was trying her upmost to avoid civilian deaths.
Human shields who either Hamas forced into harms way or who were, in truth, terrorists or actively-participating terrorist supporters.
Human Rights Watch, and the U.N. General Assembly, and Ki-Moon, know this. They are just attempting to give the terrorist organization 'cover'.
#2
When you lose you lose. So everybody is "failing" to examine Israeli "warcrimes"? That's because wars tend to favor the sorts who win them. Hamas lost the war, so they whine it wasnt "fair".
Wars are murder, sanctioned and legal and that's what you do. And usually you pay lip service to how its done BUT the truth is you dont really care how they get so cold...as long as they do.
You gang up on them. You come at them while they are asleep or sitting on the toilet with their pants down. You say honey I'm home while you pour gasoline in their breakfast. Sometimes you use atomics and you film it so that future generations can clap at the movies. There IS no nice way.
You close the door when the captain isnt there and check their wounded who are gonna die "anyway". You push it as far as it will go and use a knife so there isnt any noise.
And then you write the history books and you were all heroes. And that's the kind of men you want at three in the morning. Honor is a relative thing at best. Good intentions are usually better left for bandleaders. You dont tell your mother the truth, you tell her what she needs to hear.
Soldiers are not shoe-salesmen. Dont lie to yourself. And living to be old is its own reward.
SOMEBODY is going to lose, make sure it isnt you.
Hamas can whine all they like...smile at 'em.
You know, when I heard we tortured Khalid after we shot him four times( we did, you know)...and waterboarded him while we drove him nuts throwing him up against the wall and leaving him in a freezing little box with his leg behind his ear and playing AC/DC with a sonic booster while he was spreadeagled in chains....(we did , you know)...I didnt feel an ounce of pity. I ate my breakfast and kept smiling.
We intend to win this thing. We dont care about how we win ( lie to me and I will smile back at you) and honor and justice and the "American Way" can go toot on a penny whistle.
Posted by: Shoot Back ||
02/08/2010 6:33
Comments ||
Top||
#3
And I don't really care how we win, just make sure we do before the clueless ones start bemoaning how we did it so they can assuage their cluelessly "guilty" conscience.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Egypt is to close its sea border to the Gaza-bound supplies as it reinforces the restrictions against the passage of sustenance into the strip.
Cairo has ordered a port to be built at its maritime border with the Gaza Strip, a security official was quoted by AFP as saying. The security boats there would then "prevent all future attempts to smuggle Palestinian contraband," he added.
The surveillance multiplies the restrictions Cairo has placed along the terrestrial border at a time when the coastal sliver of 1.5-million population continues to suffer from an all-out Israeli-imposed blockade which has deprived it of its basic necessities for almost three years.
Egypt has kept shut the Rafah border crossing -- the sliver's only border that bypasses Israel -- claiming that the border post is an Egyptian-Israeli crossing and should not be used without Tel Aviv's permission.
The Egyptian government is additionally building a steel wall along the Gaza border to prevent the trafficking of any goods into the strip.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said late last month that "fortifications along our eastern border are a work of Egyptian sovereignty, and we refuse to enter into a debate with anyone [about them]."
Egypt has also banned all relief convoys from using its territory to enter Gaza after causing numerous complications for the high-profile Viva Palestina convoy, which had departed for the enclave headed by British member of parliament George Galloway.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Maghrebia] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued a statement on a jihadist website threatening to execute French hostage Pierre Camatte on February 20th and Italian hostage Sergio Cicala on March 1st, international press reported on Friday (February 5th). According to terrorist website monitoring group SITE, AQIM again demanded the release of several jailed al-Qaeda members in exchange for the hostages. The statement did not mention the four other kidnapped foreigners believed held in Mali by al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Dawn] An American missionary who strode illegally into North Korea on Christmas Day and was detained by the communist regime for 43 days was welcomed back to the United States on Saturday evening in an emotional reunion with family members at Los Angeles International Airport.
Robert Park was greeted by his parents and brother in a private location at the airport after arriving on a commercial flight from Beijing. Earlier Saturday, the 28-year-old Korean-American from Tucson, Arizona, flew to the Chinese capital from Pyongyang.
The family stopped briefly for reporters as they left the airport in their car. A thin and pale Park said nothing and kept his eyes downcast while his brother, Paul Park, told reporters that he's in good condition.
''Hugging him, there didn't seem to be anything broken,'' he said.
Robert Park crossed the frozen Tumen River from China into North Korea on Dec. 25, carrying letters calling on leader Kim Jong Il to close the country's notoriously brutal prison camps and step down from power, acts that could have risked execution in the hard-line communist country.
North Korea announced Friday that Park would be freed.
The family planned to feed Robert Park spaghetti for dinner, his favorite meal growing up. Paul Park added that his brother seemed to be in good health, although he appeared to have lost a little weight.
The family didn't have time during their brief airport reunion to ask Robert Park whether he had been mistreated by North Korean officials, Paul Park said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Idiot of the day ?
Posted by: Oscar ||
02/08/2010 8:16
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well, let's hope he got that out of his system.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former Ukrainian prime minister and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, is the winner of the presidential run-off in the former Soviet state, exit polls suggest.
Yanukovich has acquired more than 48 percent of the ballots, while his main rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has collect only 45 percent.
Tymoshenko's top aide said on Sunday that it is too soon to declare the winner, claiming that massive rigging has taken place, AFP reported.
Both candidates have accused each other of plotting to rig the vote.
However, the controversial vote has been monitored by 500 international observers.
Tymoshenko has warned that she'll "rally people" if she loses the race. Yanukovich led Tymoshenko by 10 percent in the first round of elections on January 17.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The question is not who did rig the votes and who not. It is who did it better. Guess Yanukovich is a better rigger.
Also, many Ukrainians think that because they can't rely on West to come to their aid, they need to look eastward, and Yanukovich may be better choice in that regard (whether they are mistaken or not is another matter). C'est la vie.
#2
Ukraine is burdened with immutable locational obsolescence. Do these results mean we can go back to calling it The Ukraine? Ukraine sounds naked. It's as if we had begun calling Argentina Argentine.
#6
DAILY TIMES.PK > PRO-RUSSIA PARTY WINS UKRAINE ELECTIONS.
HMMMM, HMMMM, interesting historical turnabout centuries in the making e.g. "BACK TO THE FUTURE" > OWG-NWO = RUSSIA TAKES BACK EASTERN EUROPE = EURO-UNION; whilst the MUSLIM SARACENS finally takeover POST-CHARLES MARTEL/TOURS FRANCE, + REMAINDER OF [non-Russ]CONTINENTAL EUROPE, + LOOK FORWARD TO INVADIN' ENGLAND.
[Asharq al-Aswat] For the third time in a matter of months, contradictory statements have been issued by the Pakistani authorities and the CIA on the one hand, and the Pakistani Taliban movement on the other. As soon as Islamabad announces the killing of Pakistani Taliban Chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who is also an Al Qaeda ally and the prime suspect of a series of bombings and security operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Taliban rushes to release a video or voice recording on the internet featuring Mehsud refuting claims of his death and emphasizing that new operations are on the way. Mehsud's fate was a source of controversy over the past period after some reports indicated that he was the target of two drone attacks.
When the Pakistani authorities distribute photos of raids on mountainous areas to confirm the elimination of the Pakistani Taliban leadership, the movement reacts by releasing footage to refute claims that the man has been killed.
Therefore, as battles and bombings continue on the streets, the media war is never far away from the AfPak front in the style of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
It seems that the repetitive announcement of Mehsud's killing serves as a tool to make him reappear again, and he, in fact, responds to this, unaware of the intentions of the authorities inside or outside of his country. The man loves the images and the media and is probably attempting to imitate Osama Bin Laden in his performances and his appearances in front of the camera, and admires the stories of Osama's cruelty and tyranny towards his opponents and victims.
In dealing with the media, Hakimullah Mehsud relies on the expertise he acquired as spokesman for his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud. This role made him a well-known character as a result of his direct contact with journalists and the numerous interviews he gave. He seldom refrains from giving interviews and is at the forefront of the Taliban scene in the Waziristan province following the assassination of former leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Even in the video recording that featured the Jordanian suicide bomber Humam al Balawi, who blew himself up at a US base in Khost killing a number of CIA agents at the beginning of this year, Hakimullah Mehsud appeared next to him as if he were the godfather of that operation, even though al Balawi planned the operation alone (and this came to light later). But al Balawi wanted to butter up the Pakistani Taliban.
Both announcements (of the killing and the denial) show an apparent use of modern tools of communication as part of a battle that should first start with verifying whether or not it's worth engaging in. To make the media a tool for exchanging messages in such an overt manner is to move away from the real professional essence of what the media is intended for. But it seems that this is not the case when it comes to the issue of the Taliban.
Is it down to the media to carry out this task? Is exclusiveness more important than verifying news? Or should verification and the truth take precedence over the matter of getting a scoop?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Iran said Saturday it arrested seven people, including two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives, who planned to stoke unrest and violence on a march scheduled for February 11.
The rally on Thursday will commemorate the 31st victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Intelligence forces, according to Borna News Agency, arrested the men who had plans to leave the country for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then head to the United States.
According to the report, some of those arrested work for the US-backed Radio Farda, a Persian language station based in Prague and Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Dawn] Police arrested seven militants, including an important militant commander, during raids in Nowshera, DawnNews reported. The key militant commander known as Tahir, alias Ibne Qasim, was arrested from Hakeemabad. One of the arrested men was identified as Maulana Rashid Ahmed of Swat for his alleged links to the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) has strongly condemned the thrashing of Prof Tahir Malik by Brig (retd) Obaidullah Ranjha at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML).
In a statement, Prof Kaleemullah Barheech (President), Dr Abdul Quddus Suhaib (Vice-President) and Badar Soomro (General Secretary) condemned the harsh treatment of an academician by a retired military officer, who was "illegally appointed" in the NUML.
Calling it a mean and shameful incident, the FAPUASA office-bearers called for immediate removal of Ranjha from the post of the registrar.
They regretted that FAPUASA had already demanded the appointment of serving professors as vice-chancellors in the universities but the demand had not yet been accepted by the Higher Education Commission. They reiterated the demand of removing ex-army officers and retired bureaucrats from the top positions, including administrative ones, from all universities in the country.
The federation warned that it would start a protest campaign in all universities if the retired brigadier was not immediately removed from the post of the registrar, NUML.
Academic Staff Association, Quaid-i-Azam University, also strongly condemned the incident of violence against a professor at NUML.
Reacting strongly to the drama, Dr Eatzaz Ahmad, President ASA, recommended immediate dismissal of Brig (retd) Ranjha from service. He said the practice of appointing Army officers as administrative heads of universities is an insult to academics and this practice should be ended.
He also appealed to President Asif Zardari and governors of the four provinces, who are chancellors of public-sector universities, to remove all Army officers from universities so that they can function as independent academic institutions.
The ASA head said if the NUML registrar was not removed, the QAU ASA will soon formulate a course of action.
Dr Gulraiz Akhter, ASA Secretary, QAU, said Brig (retd) Ranjha should be immediately suspended pending the inquiry. He said no one expects such behaviour from the educated people and that also against an academician.
Another QAU faculty member said even in the universities run by armed forces, the VCs or rectors should be academicians. He said if the HEC envisages VCs in public sector universities to be those possessing the qualifications required by a full professor, including a PhD degree, the same criteria should be applied to universities like NUST, NDU, Behria and Air Universities. Otherwise, he said, the HEC should cancel their charters and revoke degree awarding status of such institutions.
QAU alumni association, Quaideen, also condemned the brutal treatment of a respected professor, who is also a member of Quaideen at the hands of an ex-Army officer. They expressed dismay and surprise that the incident is taking place at a time when the country is being run by a democratic government.
Talking to The News, Asif Noor, secretary of the alumni, appealed to President Zardari to remove all ex-Army officers from academic and administrative posts by acting as chancellor of federal universities, especially from NUML as per standards already set by the HEC for the post of vice-chancellors/rectors.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Iran Press TV Latest] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday that Damascus would stand by Beirut, should Israel launch another war on Lebanon.
"Syria will stand alongside the government and people of Lebanon against any possible Israeli aggression launched on Lebanon," Assad said Sunday in a meeting with visiting Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Damascus, AFP reported.
Assad and Berri discussed "repeated Israeli threats on countries in the region and Israeli extremism which can kill chances for peace and bring war to the region," official Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Officials in Tel Aviv recently reiterated threats of war against both countries, which still have parts of their territories occupied by Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has recently said that Syria should clinch a peace deal with Israel or find itself in a "full-fledged war" with Tel Aviv. A few days later hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened Assad with another war in which "his family will lose power" on top of a military defeat for the country.
Late last month, an Israeli minister predicted a third attack on Lebanon, which has already suffered deadly Israeli raids in 2000 and 2006.
The head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt recently said they would stand by Syria in the face of what he called 'a frenzied Israeli attitude.'
The Leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has also expressed his support for Syria's anti-Israeli stance.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
The U.S. Census Bureau will squander $2.5 million on a half-minute Super Bowl ad starring D-list celebrity Ed Begley, Jr., plus two pre-game blurbs and 12-second "vignettes" featuring Super Bowl anchor James Brown. It's a drop in the Census boondoggle bucket (otherwise known as the tax-subsidized National Democrat Future Voter Outreach Drive). The Obama White House has allocated a total of $340 million on an "unprecedented" promotional blitz for the 2010 Census. That's on top of $1 billion in stimulus money siphoned off for increased Census "public outreach" and staffing. In all, the Census will triple its total budget from 2000 to $15 billion. Snippet. More at the link. Did anyone else here hit rewind on the DVR to watch it again and STILL ask, "WTF????"
#1
...And as you might have expected, it was the only thoroughly unentertaining one in the bunch - not to mention the fact that it's been running in most major markets for a week or so already.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/08/2010 4:49
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Stealth stim program for the dimishing MSM, sock puppet of One Party? Can't wait to see their banner on the right side of the Burg. Heh.
#4
In professional baseball the finals are referred to as the 'World Series'. It's on the 'Little League' side that the finals are truly a world series. Don't even get started with all the commercial joints that refer to themselves as 'world famous'.
#5
Of course. Do you really think there is a team that could challenge us? That's why we play games no one else can understand. You probably think the Bay Bombers don't deserve to be World Chanpions either.
[Quqnoos] Thousands of people are leaving their homes ahead of a major military operation in southern Afghanistan. A huge force of US Marines leading NATO and Afghan soldiers is expected to launch a massive operation in Helmand's central district of Marjah -- a main Taliban stronghold -- in the coming days.
"The government of Afghanistan will reclaim Marjah as one of its own," said the British commander of the operation, General Nick Carter.
The assault is known as Operation Mushtarak -- Dari for "together", as Afghan troops will also play a pivotal role -- and has been flagged by military officials for months to either repel or draw in the enemy.
Taliban leaders say they are massing fighters around Marjah in preparation for a bloody battle. "We are in control and ready to fight," said purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Mushtarak echoes assaults last year -- the British Operation Panther's Claw and the Marines' Operation Dagger -- seen as successfully eradicating militants who had controlled other poppy-growing regions in Helmand province.
Preparatory operations around Marjah, south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, have been going on for weeks, with leaflets dropped on the area from NATO helicopters warning residents of the assault to come.
Habibullah, 48, said he and his family left Marjah for Lashkar Gah two months ago to escape the violence.
"There are a lot of Taliban there. They are violent towards us, accusing us of spying for the foreign forces, demanding food all the time," he told AFP.
"There are still people living there and the Taliban are still in control, but there has been a lot of fighting, with gunfire and bombings, and lots of soldiers have been coming in to fight the Taliban and then leave," he said.
Operation Mushtarak comes after US President Barack Obama announced in December his plan for a troop surge. The US and NATO are deploying an extra 40,000 troops, on top of the 113,000 already in Afghanistan, as part of the surge, with most heading to the southern battleground.
Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan told a global security conference in Istanbul last week the situation in Afghanistan is serious but no longer deteriorating because "we have made significant progress... and we'll make new progress in 2010".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Sounds pretty much like the Fallujah model to me. We told them we were coming which gave the civilians time to flee. The next thing we will be hearing about are short little in-out operations.
#2
I just hope we do not destroy too many baby milk factories, and shoot up too many weddings.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
02/08/2010 3:49
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Taliban leaders say they are massing fighters around Marjah in preparation for a bloody battle. "We are in control and ready to fight," said purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location...
...in Pakistan. Don't worry guys, he's there in spirit with you, but has really really important business elsewhere.
[Quqnoos] An Afghan police commander has been arrested as part of a ring that planted roadside bombs, NATO-led forces said on Sunday. International troops and Afghan security forces arrested the police commander in Mahmud Raqi, the capital of Kapisa province, north of Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
"A known IED facilitator, he has been involved in the storage, distribution and installation of IEDs on the roads surrounding Mahmud Raqi," ISAF said in a statement.
"He is also involved in bribery and corruption related to road refurbishment. He has been clearly linked to criminal activities including a murder during the summer of 2009," the statement noted.
A provincial official told Quqnoos that foreign forces have arrested Col Abdullah Wahab, the second top police official in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran will tell the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday of its plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi told state television on Sunday, adding that the process will begin on Tuesday.
"We will inform the IAEA in a letter tomorrow (Monday) of our intention to enrich uranium to 20 percent," Salehi told the Arabic-language Al-Alam television, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The higher enrichment will begin at the Natanz plant from the day after tomorrow (Tuesday)," he added. Natanz is in the central province of Isfahan.
Salehi's remarks came hours after hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered him to begin higher uranium enrichment, raising the stakes in a dispute with the West days after seeming to accept a U.N. drafted nuclear deal.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the Islamic Republic can make fuel enriched to 20 percent itself if there is no agreement on obtaining the material from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Because of upheaval in the country they are desperate for war to get the people behind them!
#2
OTOH PAKISTANI DEFECE FORUM POSTER > opines that, as per Thread sources, Iran already has approxi 135 NUCLEAR WEAPONS [500KT-2MT yield] as purchased from an Iran-friendly foreign country?
versus
* SAME > HINDU EXTREMIST GROUPS RING ALARM BELLS AROUND THE GLOBE. ARTIC > certain Hindu groups are NOT above being like Radicalist MUSLIM Groups + forcing local CHRISTIANS, OTHER TO CONVERT TO THEIR -ISM UPON PAIN OF VIOL, NEVER-ENDING PERSECUTION ANDOR DEATH.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Yemen has arrested a man suspected of threatening to bomb foreign embassies in the capital Sanaa and to assassinate Yemeni political and military leaders, state media reported on Sunday.
In early January, the United States, Britain and France temporarily closed their Yemen embassies to the public due to concern over possible militant attacks.
The 42-year-old man, who was detained in Sanaa, had in his possession a mobile phone containing speeches and songs of Yemen's northern Shi'ite rebels, the interior ministry said on its website.
Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is battling a rebellion to its north from rebels belonging to the minority Shi'ite Zaidi sect who complain of marginalization but is also in the throes of a crackdown on al Qaeda.
The Yemen-based regional wing of the global militant group claimed a failed bomb attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December.
The West and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda will take advantage of Yemen's instability to spread its operations to the neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and beyond. Yemen itself produces a small amount of oil.
On Saturday, Yemen said it had handed over a timetable to the northern rebels to implement the government's ceasefire terms.
The country is also struggling to contain simmering unrest from a southern secessionist movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
DAILY TIMES.PK > AL QAEDA IN YEMEN CALLS FOR JIHAD. AQIY/AQAP complaining about ZIONIST US
"ESPIONAGE PLANES" = ARMED UAV DRONES KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIANS, hence need for local Yemeni Muslims to engage in Armed-Viol Jihad for self-defense.
#2
My mother was always proud to have shared a semi-private room with Audrey Meadows when I was born. Mom had a couple of Christmas cards from her in the late 1940's. Don't know what happened to them when Mom sold the house and moved into a nursing home.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2010 14:43
Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] A woman planning to stand in Iraq's March 7 general election was gunned down on Sunday in the restive northern city of Mosul, police said, just days before campaigning is officially due to start.
Suha Abdul Jarallah, a candidate on the list of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, was shot dead as she left a house in the Ras al-Jadda neighborhood in central Mosul, 350 kilometers (218 miles) north of Baghdad.
"She was getting out of a relatives' home when she was shot dead by an unidentified gunman who then fled in a car carrying two other men," police said in a statement.
Intissar Allawi, a relative of Allawi, said Jarallah's killing was politically motivated.
"Obviously it was," she told AFP. "These are independent and national people who are targeted to prevent them from standing in the general election."
Campaigning for the delayed poll, the second parliamentary vote since the U.S.-led ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein, is set to begin on February 12.
The past week has been dominated by a row over a judicial panel's decision to allow around 500 candidates accused of having links to Saddam's outlawed Baath party to stand after all, having previously been banned from the ballot.
Iraqi MPs plan to meet on Monday to debate the matter after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who branded the ruling "illegal," recalled parliament.
Allawi, a secular Shiite and a former Baathist, was provisionally appointed premier by Washington in June 2004 and held the post for just under a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
[Ma'an] A security guard at the Egyptian construction site of the subterranean wall was left in critical condition when unknown assailants opened fire on Saturday, security sources said.
The security guard sustained a gun shot wound to his back when a group of men in a car fired live bullets on a commercial street in the As-Safa neighborhood of the Egyptian part of Rafah city, the sources said.
The assailants fled the scene before the arrival of Egyptian security forces, they said, adding that "security forces are working on identifying the perpetrators."
The injured was transferred to the Al-Arish Hospital and was described as being in a critical condition, the sources concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
Go with what you know, PB.
Look at the foot path on the right, is that two feet or three wide?
Look at the crossover in the distance, the dirt is high enough to walk over the buried piers, but not so high that the loose soil would require masses more. What's the texture of the dirt there?
Look at the ridges in the dirt in the foreground on the right, are those parallel scores from a tracked vehicle? Maybe the pile driver? what's the width of a track plate?
Look at the shadow falling from left to right and how the high wall on the left doesn't block it. How is your geometry, what's that angle? What latitude is the wall location? What's the highest the sun could be at this time of year? The lowest?
I would guess the trench is 5-8 ft deep, the steel piers pushed into the ground come in 6-8 foot sections and the plan is to top the buried ones with another set then cement the trench because there is no huge pile of dirt running the length of it.
We've had a few problems lately with civil discourse here on the Burg. Nothing we can't handle, but allow this post to serve as a gentle reminder of the bright lines we mods draw on comments:
Racist and racially provocative language on the Burg is banned. Regulars who engage in this will be redacted as a warning. Further offenses lead to banning. For visitors, banning is the first step.
Many different people read the Burg. Some are in governance or the military. Some are outside the US. The Burg punches above its weight. We are read by people who matter. No one wants to read racist garbage. So don't do it.
Likewise, frank misogynist language and images are banned. We at the Burg enjoy our cheesecake images (beefcake for the women regulars also is fine), but there's a difference and any reasonable person knows what that limit is. Don't cross it.
Anti-religious bigotry gets you into trouble real quick. It's okay to be against Islamicists; those folks are thugs and a threat. It's okay to be against Christian Identity types who want most all of us dead or in chains. But don't confuse such groups with the larger groups of decent, civil people with religious belief -- or no religious belief. Our beef is with the terrorists and their sympathizers.
Threats against American citizens and law-abiding, civil Westerners are banned. Regulars who engage in this will be redacted as a warning. Further offenses lead to banning. For visitors, banning is the first step.
Threats made against Americans, and civil Westerners in general, are one of the things that can get the Burg into trouble. That creates problems for Fred. Don't do it. This rule does not extend to jihadis, thugs and general miscreants around the world -- if you want to double-tap Osama, I'll spot for you.
Abusive language towards others on the Burg will be redacted. Sometimes tempers flare, and we mods have an understanding and tolerance for the occasional dust-up. There are limits. The Auto Bartender will bring out the clue bat when needed.
As always, we thank you for reading the Burg. It's our pleasure and privilege to make it available.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And if you don't get it after all that, we'll take Dave D off his meds and let him chew thru the straps.
#3
seems to me the comments form yesterday were more of the 'poor taste' than 'malicious intent'. that is not however the issue. people come to the 'burg to read insightful and educational discussion that cannot be redily found other places. the decor of the place and overall quality needs to be maintained, and i thank the mods for the work they do. gonna hit the tip jar on payday as this is one of the very few places i have on my 'must read' list. i have crossed over to the dark side once, and been gently reminded of the boundaries and appreciated the guidance.
thanks for keeping the burg a place worth coming to.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/08/2010 1:48
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Were going to check if I were evah sinktrapped, but the thing is stuck on the current date. Maybe I nevah were... easy to assume now! ;-)
Posted by: Oscar ||
02/08/2010 6:49
Comments ||
Top||
#10
Well said, Steve White. And you might have added something like, "It is fine to take issue with the foreign or domestic policies of the United States of America or with the wisdom of our president in making these decisions, but not to make unsupported snarks about his loyalty to the nation. That is disrespectful to the office and to those who do not share your political opinions but are as concerned as you are about national security."
Well no, I won't go that far. Most readers respect the Office of the Presidency. Those that don't are welcome to their beliefs. Those that think that the current President is somehow disloyal to the country can defend their statements -- they'll have to be good at it or suffer the humiliation that comes with saying something that one can't support.
An American politician, any office, either party, is fair game for what they say, do, and don't do. Ditto for non-American western politicians. Snark as you like. Just don't threaten their lives.
#11
Bright Pebbles, we use the term 'redact' because what we do with comments is indeed to 'edit/revise' them rather than simply remove them.
2x4 and others - this is how you know if a comment of yours was redacted. Instead of what you wrote you will see the following text (or something close to it):
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in banning.
This replacement text is highlighted by the color of the mod who took the redaction action.
#14
but not to make unsupported snarks about his loyalty to the nation.
....to the "loyalty" suggested amendment, might we add as "off-limits" his lofty chin, condescending lectures, telepromptitis, narcissism, strange friends, and veracity.
I just think if you remove all the content of a post then the word "remove" is more apt than "redact". They're not really synonyms, and it's nice to try and prevent word-meanings from sliding.
I'm just a programmer so one-token (word) should do one thing in my book.
#17
Pebbles, in this case, the post is preserved, though in the sinktrap area. There are posts that are removed for real, usually signified with a state patrol officer stating the reason. ;-)
#18
but not to make unsupported snarks about his loyalty to the nation.
I was not aware that such comments were out of bounds. The 'Burg is certainly not a conspiracy site (nor should it be) but our chief executives associations with people who are self-identified anti-Americans and communists are a matter of the public record.
Such comments may not be especially helpful, however, and I do try to stay relevant and on topic, FWIW.
#19
I'm just a programmer so one-token (word) should do one thing in my book.
My own research includes computational linguistics/natural language processing and all I can say is, good luck with that! ;-) The fancy word is 'polysemy' ... and that doesn't get near the issues associated with irony, metaphor and snark .....
The Chomsky hierarchy is a poor fit for natural language, which is pretty clearly not context-free. FWIW ;-)
#20
There are enough people in Washington that deserve to be introduced to a rope and lamp post that any such comments could well take over the Burg and turn it into a semi-conservative Puffington Host. That would be a great loss to all of us who visit here regularly. I know I press the line quite often, but if I ever slip OVER it, I expect to be sink-trapped, and deservedly so.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2010 14:45
Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday the destruction of Israel was "imminent," and called for continued resistance against the Jewish state, state media reported.
"I am very optimistic about the future of Palestine and believe Israel is on the steep path of decline and deterioration," Khamenei told Ramadan Abdullah, the secretary general of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.
"God willing, its destruction will be imminent," the Islamic republic's all-powerful leader said. "Continued resistance and hope for victory should be taken into consideration."
Iran does not recognize Israel, and is a staunch backer of Palestinian Islamist militants.
Tensions have soared between Iran and Israel over the past five years since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power.
Ahmadinejad has drawn international condemnation by repeatedly predicting that Israel is doomed to disappear and dismissing the Holocaust as a "myth."
Israel, the sole if undeclared nuclear power in the Middle East, has called for tougher action against Tehran over its controversial atomic program and accuses it of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
LOL, if this is code language for 'we're gonna nuke Israel as soon as we are able,' I think he is forgetting about the rain of nukes that will fall on him in response.
More likely, just more saber rattling to try to distract the increasingly unruly masses.
Posted by: Karl the Fat ||
02/08/2010 0:54
Comments ||
Top||
#2
This is probably more to do with shiite eschatology, the return of the whatever iman, etc, rather than a threat to actually do something.
#7
What say you UN about a member country saying that about another member country? Oh, youre still busy writing Anti-Semitic graffiti at the moment and cant answer?
#8
#2 This is probably more to do with shiite eschatology, the return of the whatever iman, etc, rather than a threat to actually do something.
Posted by: phil_b 2010-02-08 01:14
Glen Beck had an interesting segment on his program one day last week (I forget which day) on this subject, and explained how Ahmadinejad is a "12th'r". Someone who believes in the return on the "12th iman" as a precursor of the triumph of the world wide caliphate. Kinda' like the "end times" believers in Christianity, except 12th'r will go to any means to accelerate the 12th imans' return.
#9
We can build an Avitar... we have the technology... unfortunately... He is ugly... But he will say and do what we want him to say and do...
-Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The sources did not provide the exact ultimate destination of the missile boats. However, Egyptian maritime sources quoted in the Arab media estimated that both ships were headed to the Persian Gulf and may reach it within four days. The veracity of these estimates is unclear.
The sail through the Suez Canal was coordinated with Egyptian authorities, which reportedly adopted strict security arrangements to ensure the safe passage of the two Israeli ships. According to Arab media, Egyptian forces prevented any vessels from passing through the Canal and also stopped the vehicular traffic on the road leading to it.
According to the reports, one Israeli missile boat already passed through the Suez Canal in June and July of last year. In one case, the Israeli ship was said to have been accompanied by an Israeli submarine.
Last week, Egyptian newspaper al-Shuruq reported that the US has been holding extensive maneuvers in the Persian Gulf, including some across Iran's shores. The report was based on information provided by senior Egyptian sources.
In addition, the newspaper reported that Israeli vessels have been mapping the Persian Gulf's waters in the past six months in cooperation with American forces belonging to the Fifth Fleet. However, it appears the report regarding Israel was baseless, and that it was leaked in an attempt to gauge Jerusalem's response.
#2
No, I gather just the last bit, about mapping. This would be their version of "take it with a grain of salt". That is, part of the information is likely true, but they can't help but editorialize, like most of the MSM here.
As Israel keeps threatening the regional countries with war, Egyptian maritime sources say the Israeli navy has deployed two missile ships to the Persian Gulf.
Citing the sources, Yediot Ahronot reported Saturday that two Israeli missile ships passed through the Suez Canal en rout to the Red Sea on Thursday morning. The sources said the ships are expected to reach the Persian Gulf within the next four days. Just in time for the 11th ...
According to the report, Cairo adopted tight security measures to ensure the safe passage of the Israeli ships through the canal.
The waterway, which had not previously been used by Israeli vessels for intelligence reasons, was traversed for the first time in June 2009 when a Dolphin-class submarine (a nuclear German-made submarine) reportedly sailed from the Mediterranean to reach military exercises in the Red Sea. Diesel-electric, you idiots, not nuclear.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
it could be carrying something nucular, Dr. Steve :-)
/sp
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2010 21:51
Comments ||
Top||
[Ma'an] Ibrahim Ramadan, a Palestinian Authority Preventative Security official, denied on Sunday that Israel and Palestinian security forces coordinated the arrest of an Al-Qaeda cell in the West Bank.
His comments follow reports in Israeli media that both the PA and Israeli security forces recently arrested members of radical Islamist groups with links to Al-Qaida and global jihadists in various parts of the West Bank.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz the largest arrests were made in the town of Qabatiya near Jenin, where six people were detained.
"Those detained were unarmed and were arrested before they could carry out any attacks," the daily reported, having quoted a PA security source.
Ramadan said that a Preventative Security spokesman would imminently comment on the media reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2010
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
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.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries.
In a 40 year flashback to the glories of 1960's anti-war outrage, infamously left-wing Riverside Church in New York City is hosting a "Truth Commission on Conscience in War" next month. This special hearing, in the spirit of "truth commissions," will evidently "explore and investigate systemic injustices, political violence, and mass atrocities" by the U.S., presumably in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will "receive testimony, process their findings, and recommend strategies for change, healing, and reconciliation," while lifting "up the silenced and invisible voices of victims, offering survivors a public forum to testify to their experiences."
The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past.
For a president who ran on uplifting themes like change and hope, Barack Obama spends an awful lot of time scolding Americans about how he hopes theyll change.
An exchange of mortar shells between Somali government forces and rebels killed at least nine civilians and injured 14 others, a human rights group said on Monday. The clashes started late Sunday and continued Monday morning, the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization said.
[Dawn] Police arrested seven militants, including an important militant commander, during raids in Nowshera, DawnNews reported. The key militant commander known as Tahir, alias Ibne Qasim, was arrested from Hakeemabad. One of the arrested men was identified as Maulana Rashid Ahmed of Swat for his alleged links to the Taliban.
[Quqnoos] Thousands of people are leaving their homes ahead of a major military operation in southern Afghanistan. A huge force of US Marines leading NATO and Afghan soldiers is expected to launch a massive operation in Helmand's central district of Marjah -- a main Taliban stronghold -- in the coming days. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] A woman planning to stand in Iraq's March 7 general election was gunned down on Sunday in the restive northern city of Mosul, police said, just days before campaigning is officially due to start.
To all readers,
