Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today denied that the country's submarine is incapable of diving. Responding to a question from Penang Chief Minister and DAP leader Lim Guan Eng in the Dewan Rakyat, the minister explained that a minor fault has been rectified as the Scorpene submarines from France were still under guarantee.
"It was not that the submarine could not dive. The minor fault has been rectified,' he was quoted as saying by Bernama. Ahmad Zahid also invited Lim to go on a dive in the submarine in order to clear his doubts.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid also revealed that a paper on the investigation conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the disappearance of the two F5-E fighter jet engines is to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this month. He said that besides the PAC, the case of the missing engines was also investigated by the police. Lim had asked the minister to state the outcome of an internal inquiry as well as investigations conducted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police on the two missing engines which were traced to Uruguay. Ahmad Zahid said the case involved theft by low-ranking personnel without the knowledge and involvement of any senior officer of the Defence Ministry.
"A report on the missing engines was made to the police in August 2008, within seven months from the date their disappearance was known, and not 18 months later as claimed by (the member of Parliament for) Ipoh Timur (Lim Kit Siang of DAP)," he said. The disappearance of the engines was known four months later and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) conducted an internal inquiry, which took three months, before the police report was made, he said. Zahid attributed the factors contributing to the disappearance of the engines to the negligence of several individuals and the security regulations in force as well as the implementation of a computer system upgrading by the RMAF at that time.
Ahmad Zahid said the RMAF had stepped up the security measures and ensured that all security directives and procedures were streamlined in the effort to overcome weaknesses and prevent a recurrence of the incident. He said the disappearance of the engines did not at all affect the capability of the RMAF in discharging its responsibilities because the F5-E fighter jets were not frontline assault aircraft.
Two people were early Tuesday morning involved in a shootout with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) security personnel around its high-security facility at Byalalu near Bangalore.
The two men, who were roaming around the area, fired at the security personnel on being questioned forcing the security forces to return fire, but the duo escaped.
"Two people were seen moving in a suspicious manner outside our centre," ISRO spokesman S Satish told reporters. "The police immediately challenged them, and they opened fire in retaliation. The shootout continued for some time before the two men fled." "The police are investigating. It is up to them to see whether it was a terror attack," he added.
The duo fired at them with a small pistol, after which the security guards retaliated. The incident occurred between 3.30am and 4.00am, sources said.
The home ministry sees ISRO buildings as a high priority target for terrorists, and has beefed up security around them after warnings of possible attacks.
A top CISF official said an ISRO security man spotted the two keeping a close watch on the installation and challenged them but the duo fired two rounds at him. He retaliated and fired two rounds, he said.
"The security man then changed position and fired some more rounds. Even before reinforcements could arrive, the two fled," the official said.
The Inspector General of Police (central range) and DIG of CISF, which is in charge of security at airports and vital installations, visited the area.
The Indian Deep Space Network, commissioned in 2008 at Byalalu village near Bangalore, is the ground segment for providing deep space support for India's first Lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1.
The technical facilities in IDSN include a 32-metre Deep Space Antenna, an 18-metre Antenna Terminal, an 11-metre Antenna Terminal, Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) and a Technical Services complex.
The IDSN is the first of its kind project in India that provides ISRO the capability to handle deep space missions and also provides cross support to other deep space missions of external space agencies because of its inter-operable features and sophisticated capabilities.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/16/2010
17:52 ||
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#1
The hatred of the Amish for high tech has to stop.
#4
TOPIX > INDIA SETS TARGET OF THREE YEARS TO [completely] ELIMINATE THREAT FROM MAOISTS.
Circa Year 2012, but IMO make it 2012-2015 for good measure???
versus
SAME > SEIZED MAOIST DOC REVEALS PLAN FOR NEW ATTACKS THROUGHOUT INDIA;
and
NEWS KERALA/OTHER > REPORT: TERROR SUSPECTS CLAIM DAWOOD IBRAHIM WAS PLANNING TO BLOW UP NEW TARGETS IN MUMBAI; + INDIA TELLS PAKISTAN: STOP TERROR THREATS OR WE WILL DEAL WITH YOU.
IMO Read, INDJUH will use unilater MILITARY FORCE, ETC. AGZ PAKISTAN + PAK-BASED TERROR GROUPS.
Hamas on Tuesday called on Palestinians to launch an intifada to prevent the "Zionist plot" to take over Jerusalem.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau, urged the Palestinians to join forces against Israel's "intentions" to drive out Muslims and Christians from Jerusalem.
"What happens in Jerusalem will lead to an explosion in the region, and we are studying the response that will bring vitory for Al-Aksa Mosque," Channel 10 quoted a spokesman for the group's military wing as saying.
In a Gaza rally, senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum called on the Fatah leadership in Ramallah to assist the "resistance movements" in their struggle against "Israeli war crimes in Jerusalem."
Israeli Arab MKS also harshly criticized the government over clashes that broke out between Palestinian rioters and security forces in the capital, blaming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies for the unrest.
MK Taleb A-Sanaa (UAL-Ta'al), who visited the Aksa Mosque compound on Tuesday morning, said that "the Netanyahu government is dangerous and irresponsible, leading the area to a third intifada."
Sanaa called on the Arab League to put the issue of Jerusalem at the top of its priorities. "Jerusalem is the key to peace and the key to war," he said.
MK Haneen Zuabi (Balad) also criticized the government, calling its policy in Jerusalem "no less than ethnic cleansing."
This policy "is a strong motive for launching a third intifada, even more than [former prime minister Ariel] Sharon's Temple Mount visit [after which the 2001 intifada broke out]," Zuabi said.
"I warn the government of an escalation that will ignite the field and will lead the region to a violent conflict. We will not stand by as the Palestinians' rights, and specifically the rights of Jerusalem's residents, are trampled upon," Zuabi said.
The IDF issued a response condemning remarks by Hamas officials.
"Israel with disgust the recent contemptuous, anti-Semitic remarks of senior Hamas officials, aimed at inflaming emotions in the region," the statement read. "These tenebrous, ignorant and venomous remarks disseminated by the Hamas terror organization against Jews and Judaism, once again emphasize that Hamas is not only a violent, murderous terror organization, which has caused grief and sorrow to all nations in the region, but is also an active anti-Semitic organization whose foundation documents refer to Jews as animals and advocate the murder of Jews.
"Israel calls on intellectuals of all religions and beliefs to resolutely condemn these declarations of incitement and animosity made by the senior officials of this anti-Semitic terrorist organization against Jews and non-Jews alike," the statement concluded.
#1
I guess some ppl just like getting their ass kicked
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 17:57
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#2
because Palestinians are all for Christians in Nazareth, Bethlehem, ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 19:12
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#3
Israel calls on intellectuals of all religions and beliefs to resolutely condemn these declarations of incitement and animosity made by the senior officials of this anti-Semitic terrorist organization against Jews and non-Jews alike.
Well, that leaves out most Islamic "scholars", leftist priests, new age dumbasses, etc.
#4
SPERO NEWS OP-ED > FAYYAD'S PLAN SHOW PALESTINIANS ARE SERIOUS [about PALS STATEHOOD ee various PA Entities joining, working together on common Statehood + central PA Govt agendums].
A single-engine plane killed a jogger yesterday as it made an emergency landing on a beach.
The plane had been experiencing engine trouble for over an hour as it flew up the coast from Florida towards Virginia in the U.S. It was directed to land at Hilton Head Airport in South Carolina but at 13,000ft oil began to leak on the windshield blocking the view of the pilot and his passenger.
Then the propeller came off and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa. It was at this point that the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane hit the beachgoer who was either jogging or walking. The plane came to rest a little farther down the beach....
Posted by: Mike ||
03/16/2010
15:53 ||
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#1
As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods...
They kill us for their sport.
Posted by: William Shakespeare ||
03/16/2010 17:10
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#2
don't guess that excercise program worked out too good for the poor guy
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 18:22
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#3
sometimes running to catch your plane can be dangerous!
/runs for my room
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 19:17
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#4
Then the propeller came off Just how the heck does a propellor come off? It must be a very bad thing. Whata ya say AP?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2010 19:32
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#5
That's it, I'm done. No more jogging along the Redneck Riviera for me.
#6
Oil leaks could be anything on an engine. The Lancair is a high performance pressurized plane, single engine that is in the 300 kt speed range. It is a very impressive kit built plane. Its engine is a Continental TSIO-550, which is a 6-cyl fuel injected and turbocharged gasoline engine, air cooled. This engine is a fairly common one, IIRC, used in the Cessna 402 twin and others. It has a constant speed prop and governor system, hydraulically run through the crankshaft on engine oil.
There may be a good chance that the propeller governing system developed a seal leak and oil started spraying the windshield. Then there was a major failure in the propeller hub and a prop blade came off. There are usually 3 props on an engine like that. I would think that a prop failure like that would require an immediate engine stop, or the unbalance would have the engine tear itself off the engine mounts. A loss of an engine would screw up the balance of the plane and you could not glide it in. You would fall like a leaf.
Too bad the pilot did not ditch the plane in the sea. Flying the coast like that, I would be wearing a life jacket and would ditch it to avoid hitting someone. Sad deal. Very sad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2010 20:15
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The Obama Administration reaches out to some of the world's worst regimes in the name of their engagement policy. America and our allies watch as sanctions are eased on Cuba. Letters are written to Iran's mullahs only to see that regime start killing protestors in the streets of Tehran. Envoys are sent to North Korea as they continue to defy the world's demand to give up their nuclear weapons. The Burmese military junta's representative is allowed to travel to our nation's capital. The President's envoy for Sudan talks about giving that genocidal regime “gold stars,' while the President shakes hands with Venezuela's tyrannical leader.
In the midst of all this embracing of enemies, where does the Obama Administration choose to escalate a minor incident into a major diplomatic confrontation? With Iran, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea or Burma? No. With our treasured ally, Israel.
Last October, Secretary of State Clinton recognized Israel's desire for peace in the Middle East and praised Israel's “unprecedented' concessions for agreeing to halt settlement construction in the West Bank, a concession that did NOT include halting construction of apartments for Jews in Jerusalem. Even last week after planned construction was announced, Vice President Biden still expressed “appreciation' for the “significant' steps taken by the Israeli government to address this minor issue.
Now, however, we see the Obama Administration has decided to escalate, make unilateral demands of Israel, and threaten the very foundation of the US-Israel relationship. This is quickly leading to the worst crisis in US-Israel relations in decades, and yet this did not have to happen.
More importantly, it needs to stop before it spirals out of control. Vice President Biden should rein in the overheated Obama Administration rhetoric and chill the political spin masters' fire as they visit the Sunday media shows to criticize Israel.
Once again, the Obama Administration is missing the boat on a very, very important issue. They need to go back to the basics and acknowledge Palestinian leaders have not progressed any peace process since President Obama was elected. As Israel makes concessions (and is still criticized by the Obama Administration), Arab leaders are just sitting back waiting for the White House to further pressure Israel.
The Obama Administration needs to open its eyes and recognize that it is only Iran and her terrorist allies that benefit from this manufactured Israeli controversy. Vice President Biden was actually right when he said last week, before the construction announcement, that “one necessary precondition for progress is that the rest of the world knows...there is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to security.'
Right now, thanks to the Obama Administration, there is a chasm. It's time for President Obama to push the reset button on our relations with our ally Israel.
Posted by: Sherry for Snowy ||
03/16/2010
14:50 ||
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Will this make him Olbermann's, 'worst person in the world'?
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks "Deem and Pass," President Barack Obama is going a different route -- he's talking to Fox News.
In an "extended, exclusive" interview tomorrow he will sit down with Special Report anchor Bret Baier to make his health care reform pitch to the FNC audience. What a long, strange trip it's been.
The interview will air in full at 6pmET tomorrow and will take place earlier in the afternoon. "We welcome the opportunity to sit down with the President and try to get some specifics on the health care legislation," said Baier in making the announcement right after NoonET today on Fox News.
The history between the White House and Fox News has been a shaky one. In September he went to every major news outlet except Fox for an interview. That started things, and with FNC essentially "winning" the war it came to a head in late October with a meeting between Robert Gibbs and Michael Clemente. In November Major Garrett sat down with Pres. Obama in a round of interviews.
But now this interview is exclusive -- and very meaningful. "It's been a long time coming," said Baier.
A state appellate panel today ruled New Jersey's secretary of state must accept a petition a citizens group filed to recall U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez. The court stayed with its decision to allow Menendez (D-N.J.) to appeal its ruling.
NJ Tea Parties United and the Sussex County Tea Party have said they want Menendez, (D-N.J.) recalled from office because he votes for too much government spending.
The case -- which puts the state in the unusual position of arguing against its own law and calling part of its constitution unconstitutional -- began last fall after then-Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells rejected the committee's notice that it intended to begin a recall effort against Menendez. The removal process requires the secretary of state to approve such a notice before a recall committee can begin generating petitions.
After the notice is approved, the committee then must secure the signatures of 25 percent of registered voters of the affected district before a recall election can be held. There were 5.2 million registered voters in November, meaning the committee would have to secure 1.3 million signatures.
Menendez lawyer Marc Elias argued that the petition drive should be halted because voters do not have the right to recall a federal lawmaker under the U.S. Constitution.
Menendez will be up for re-election in 2012.
Posted by: Bob Gleanter3083 ||
03/16/2010
14:15 ||
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#1
Vote them out or throw them out; whatever comes first.
#4
If this recall does work, it would be a powerful deterent to politicians who are not responsive to the voters and who act outside of or try to sidestep the Constituted duties. Or who are corrupt.
FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) - New soldiers are grunting through the kind of stretches and twists found in "ab blaster" classes at suburban gyms as the Army revamps its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades.
Heeding the advice of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, commanders are dropping five-mile runs and bayonet drills in favor of zigzag sprints and exercises that hone core muscles. Battlefield sergeants say that's the kind of fitness needed to dodge across alleys, walk patrol with heavy packs and body armor or haul a buddy out of a burning vehicle.
Trainers also want to toughen recruits who are often more familiar with Facebook than fistfights.
"Soldiers need to be able to move quickly under load, to be mobile under load, with your body armor, your weapons and your helmet, in a stressful situation," said Frank Palkoska, head of the Army's Fitness School at Fort Jackson, which has worked several years on overhauling the regime.
"We geared all of our calisthenics, all of our running movements, all of our warrior skills, so soldiers can become stronger, more powerful and more speed driven," Palkoska said. The exercises are part of the first major overhaul in Army basic fitness training since men and women began training together in 1980, he said.
The new plan is being expanded this month at the Army's four other basic training installations--Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Sill, Okla., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Knox, Ky.
Drill sergeants with experience in the current wars are credited with urging the Army to change training, in particular to build up core muscle strength. One of them is 1st Sgt. Michael Todd, a veteran of seven deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
On a recent training day Todd was spinning recruits around to give them the feel of rolling out of a tumbled Humvee. Then he tossed on the ground pugil sticks made of plastic pipe and foam, forcing trainees to crawl for their weapons before they pounded away on each other.
"They have to understand hand-to-hand combat, to use something other than their weapon, a piece of wood, a knife, anything they can pick up," Todd said.
The new training also uses "more calisthenics to build core body power, strength and agility," Palkoska said in an office bedecked with 60-year-old black and white photos of World War II-era mass exercise drills. Over the 10 weeks of basic, a strict schedule of exercises is done on a varied sequence of days so muscles rest, recover and strengthen.
Another aim is to toughen recruits from a more obese and sedentary generation, trainers said.
Many recruits didn't have physical education in elementary, middle or high school and therefore tend to lack bone and muscle strength. When they ditch diets replete with soda and fast food for healthier meals and physical training, they drop excess weight and build stronger muscles and denser bones, Palkoska said.
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, the three-star general in charge of revamping all aspects of initial training, said his overall goal is to drop outmoded drills and focus on what soldiers need today and in the future.
Bayonet drills had continued for decades, even though soldiers no longer carry the blades on their automatic rifles. Hertling ordered the drills dropped.
"We have to make the training relevant to the conditions on the modern battlefield," Hertling said during a visit to Fort Jackson in January.
The general said the current generation has computer skills and a knowledge base vital to a modern fighting force. He foresees soldiers using specially equipped cell phones to retrieve information on the battlefield to help repair a truck or carry out an emergency lifesaving medical technique.
But they need to learn how to fight.
"Most of these soldiers have never been in a fistfight or any kind of a physical confrontation. They are stunned when they get smacked in the face," said Capt. Scott Sewell, overseeing almost 190 trainees in their third week of training. "We are trying to get them to act, to think like warriors."
For hours, Sewell and his drill sergeants urge on helmeted trainees as they whale away at each other with pugil sticks, landing head and body blows until one falls flat on the ground. As a victor slams away at his flattened foe, a drill sergeant whistles the fight to a halt.
"This is the funnest day I've had since I've been here!" said 21-year-old Pvt. Brendon Rhyne, of Rutherford County, N.C., after being beaten to the ground. "It makes you physically tough. Builds you up on the insides mentally, too."
The Marine Corps is also applying war lessons to its physical training, adopting a new combat fitness test that replicates the rigor of combat. The test, which is required once a year, has Marines running sprints, lifting 30-pound ammunition cans over their heads for a couple of minutes and completing a 300-yard obstacle course that includes carrying a mock wounded Marine and throwing a mock grenade.
Capt. Kenny Fleming, a 10-year-Army veteran looking after a group of Fort Jackson trainees, said men and women learn exercises that prepare them to do something on the battlefield such as throw a grenade, or lunge and pick a buddy off the ground. Experience in Iraq has shown that women need the same skills because they come under fire, too, even if they are formally barred from combat roles.
"All their exercises are related to something they will do out in the field," Fleming said, pointing out "back bridge" exercises designed to hone abdominal muscles where soldiers lift hips and one leg off the ground and hold it steady.
"This will help their core muscles, which they could use when they stabilize their body for shooting their weapon, or any kind of lifting, pulling, or something like grabbing a buddy out of a tank hatch," Fleming said.
Fleming said those who had some sort of sports in high school can easily pick up on the training, while those who didn't have to be brought along. One hefty soldier in a recent company he trained dropped 45 pounds and learned to blast out 100 push-ups and 70 sit-ups, he said.
"We just have to take the soldier who's used to sitting on the couch playing video games and get them out there to do it," Fleming said.
#2
High schools in Kaliphornia don't have towels for the kids after PE classes so the kids don't shower. So who wants to get all dirty and sweaty in PE if they can't get cleaned up afterward? Result? Fat kids. Well, that's not the only reason our kids are fat but it's one of them.
#3
"It makes you physically tough. Builds you up on the insides mentally, too."
That line alone is worth $1Billion in appropriations for all the DIs' needs and wants. Take it out of the Dept. of Education, and send the graduates back to HS as teachers, and make a poster of it.
Hundreds of Palestinians in east Jerusalem set tires and garbage bins ablaze on Tuesday and hurled rocks at Israeli riot police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. The heaviest clashes in months broke out as an American envoy abruptly canceled a visit, deepening a U.S.-Israeli diplomatic feud.
The violence spread from Arab neighborhood to Arab neighborhood across the eastern side of the volatile city. Angered by plans for more Jewish housing in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem and unsubstantiated rumors surrounding the rededication of an Old City synagogue, Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces throughout the day.
In one incident, youths hoisted a giant Palestinian flag and shouted, "We shall die and Palestine shall live."
Thousands of police, including anti-riot units armed with assault rifles, stun grenades and batons, were deployed across east Jerusalem in anticipation of the unrest.
Palestinian medics said 10 people were seriously wounded, five from rubber bullets. Israeli police said 14 security men suffered light wounds and 60 protesters were arrested.
"They are donkeys and dwarfs!" a woman screamed as riot police and plainclothes security men hauled away a handcuffed, hooded youth. Police pinned the youth to the ground, setting muzzled Doberman pinschers near them as the young man shrieked in panic.
Palestinian merchants in east Jerusalem shuttered their stores in solidarity with the protests, and Palestinian schools in the city were closed. Small clashes also took place in several West Bank towns.
The diplomatic crisis with the U.S. was sparked by Israel's announcement last week of plans for 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, which undercut a visit by Vice President Joe Biden aimed at bolstering peace talks. Palestinians claim that sector of the city for a future capital. Israel claims all of the holy city as its eternal capital.
The announcement enraged Palestinians, who have threatened to bow out of U.S.-brokered peace talks that were supposed to begin in the coming days. The Obama administration has angrily demanded that Israel call off the project.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio on Tuesday that demands to halt construction "are unreasonable as far as we are concerned." He predicted the row with the U.S. would blow over, saying neither side had an interest in escalation.
But Washington notified Israel that its special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, had indefinitely put off his trip to the region.
The State Department said it was still awaiting a formal response from Israel after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton upbraided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a 43-minute phone call Friday.
Spokesman P.J. Crowley also said a lot is riding on whether Israel agrees to take steps suggested by Clinton to underscore its commitment to the peace process and strong relations with America.
"We will evaluate the implications of this once we hear back from the Israelis and see how they respond to our concerns," he said Monday.
Netanyahu has apologized for the timing of the project's approval, but has not said it would be canceled. On Monday, he defended four decades of Jewish construction in east Jerusalem and said it "in no way" hurts Palestinians.
The feud is feeding already high tension in east Jerusalem, where Jews and Palestinians live together uneasily.
Palestinian officials had called on the public to defend Muslim religious interests in Jerusalem after the rededication Monday of a historic synagogue in the Jewish quarter of the Old City. The rededication has stoked unsubstantiated rumors that Jewish extremists are planning to take over the hilltop shrine at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But the unrest appears to reflect a deeper frustration over the yearlong standstill in peace efforts. "Israel has reached a stage where people cannot take it anymore," said Hatem Abdel Qader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "Jerusalem is witnessing the largest Jewish projects aimed at swallowing the city. This strong reaction from the Palestinian street sends a message to the Israelis that we will not accept that."
Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. Most Israelis accept the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem as part of Israel, and previous peace proposals have allowed them to remain in Israeli hands.
But the international community does not recognize the annexation and considers the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be illegal settlements. Some 180,000 Jews now live in a ring of Israeli neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, alongside 250,000 Palestinians in Arab neighborhoods.
Israel's president, Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres, warned against a deterioration of Israel-U.S. ties in a speech Tuesday.
"We must develop friendships with other nations, especially with the United States, to ensure political backing in our hour of need and military support against the dangers that face us," Peres said. "We cannot afford to unravel the delicate fabric of friendship with the United States.
This is a long read -- but you will want to read it! Obama is getting closer and closer to his Watergate moment. And Major Garrett of Fox is searching this out. These are just some pieces from the article
In a blink, Specter has raised the stakes here.
What we are now talking about is the potential for a significant unraveling of the Obama White House even as their biggest domestic agenda item, health care, sucks in most of the media oxygen.
If in fact Sestak is telling the truth, if in fact the Denver Post story about Andrew Romanoff is correct -- and neither Sestak nor Romanoff reported these offers to federal authorities -- Specter is saying both could in fact do jail time for committing a felony.
Even more remarkable is to comprehend why Robert Gibbs may now be standing at that White House podium five different times and refusing to answer questions from Jake Tapper and Major Garrett. If Sestak has told the truth, if the Denver Post got it right -- then not only is the person or persons within the White House who made these job offers in big trouble, but anybody else on the Obama White House staff who currently knows this has happened and has not reported it to the proper authorities -- the FBI, just for starters -- is, according to Specter, a potential prosecution target for "misprision of a felony." For which this person or persons could also go to jail along with whomever offered the jobs in the first place.
Quite possibly, that could include Robert Gibbs, if in fact he knows these job offers occurred.
Which is surely incentive enough for Gibbs to understand that he doesn't want to ask this question of his colleagues -- much less get an answer. An answer for which he could be legally liable. Which in turn makes it a lose-lose proposition for him to say anything -- anything beyond some version of no comment -- to Major Garrett or Jake Tapper.
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Days after Romanoff dodges Boyles and myself, Senator Arlen Specter says that if anyone gets such an offer -- and in this case that would be Romanoff in Colorado and Sestak in Pennsylvania -- and didn't report it, they could go to jail for committing a felony.
Stunningly, this would presumably also include anyone on the Obama White House staff who knew one of their colleagues had offered such a job -- which is to say committed a crime -- and didn't report it.
Let's catch up.
After the February 22nd column in this space noted what no else had yet said -- namely that the Sestak accusation was actually a charge of a federal crime -- the Washington Times checked into the story and agreed, editorializing in favor of an investigation into the Sestak/Specter/Romanoff/White House mess.
Next, our colleagues at National Review Online run a news story by former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky in which Spakovsky not only further elaborates on other federal laws that may have been broken, but adds this:
Moreover, the Justice Department has a handbook on the prosecution of election offenses published by the Criminal Division that it distributes to all of its federal prosecutors. That handbook specifies that prosecutors can also use 18 U.S.C. § 600 to prosecute corrupt public officials who use "government-funded jobs or programs to advance a partisan political agenda."
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Now, the heat begins to rise as Arlen Specter steps into the middle of all this on Friday. It should be recalled here that Specter is not just Sestak's opponent. He is a former Philadelphia district attorney and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Asked last week about Sestak's charge by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Specter replies: "That's a very, very serious charge. It's a big black smear without the specifications. But I'm telling you it is a federal crime punishable by jail, and anybody who wants to say that ought to back it up. Listen, Congressman Sestak has gotten a lot of political mileage out of that, and it's really an attack on the administration."
By Friday, March 12, as Gibbs is stonewalling Major Garrett yet again on this issue, Specter is a guest on a WSBA-radio show in York, Pennsylvania. Since the show is in York, and not on national radio or television, Specter's answer goes virtually unnoticed.
#1
When talking to friends and they wonder if Obama will be a one term president, I reply, "If he is very lucky. Most likely he will be a two year president and impeached for his Chicago corruption team."
#3
It is not the crime...it is the cover up! Hmmm...where have I heard that before?
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
03/16/2010 14:59
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#4
The Chicago union way, vote with me and I will get you a new higher paying job. Whats wrong with that??? I bet they had no idea they were breaking the law.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 15:19
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#5
It does not appear to me that Specter is the paragon of morality and ethics. That leaves the possibility of being doddering and not knowing what the wider implications are of what he is doing. This indeed might open the door for the a Watergate legal cascade directed at the Presidency.
#6
...I am...shall we say...uneasy about a couple of points in the article:
"That was your first real engagement, wasn't it?" my co-pilot "Fog" says. "
Apaches do not have co-pilots, they have pilots and gunners. The gunner - AFAIK - is not a rated pilot, though it's possible in British Army service things may be different.
my colleague, Darwin, is shouting from the back seat.
The pilot flies the Apache from the back seat. The gunner is in the front seat.
These are unusual errors for an Apache pilot to make in writing. I'm hoping there's an explanation for them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/16/2010 16:26
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#7
I don't care if it's fiction or not. I want MORE!
#8
If the story is true and not fiction, I'd say to Charlotte: "What chance did the murdered people in the WTCs, the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania have?" These are the thugs who did it. And thanks for doing your job.
#9
Not so sure about all that Mike, your right on some of it. In the US both are rated aviators, not pilots, there are flight controls in both the front and rear, and both can manage the weapons systems. You are correct that the primary gunner is the front seater, just like the ol Cobra. They tried, in the US, to put spotters-nonrated types, in OH-58d's. The program lasted a few years and was killed long before this war.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 22:00
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A JEDI believer won an apology from a Jobcentre which threw him out for refusing to remove his hood.
Star Wars fan Chris Jarvis, 31, was told he would have to leave if he did not take it down. Chris is a member of the International Church of Jediism - based on the sci-fi films - whose doctrine states that followers should be allowed to wear hoods.
But when he protested, security escorted him from his local branch in Southend, Essex. He filled out a complaint form - and received a formal letter from the JobCentre Plus branch's boss just three days later.
Wendy Flewers apologised, adding: "We are committed to provide a customer service which embraces diversity and respects customers' religion."
Chris said: "I was just standing up for my beliefs. Muslims can walk around in whatever religious gear they like, so why can't I?"
Southend Jobcentre Plus refused to comment yesterday.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "Customers may be asked by Jobcentre staff to remove their helmets and hoods for security reasons."
#1
I would not like the idea of traveling 100 miles with a big ass target painted on me. Good story and I like soldiers who aren't shy about throwing some expletives out there when required.
The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill. Is that a threat or a promise?
A one-night presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds which would otherwise take months to accumulate through cold-calling by campaign volunteers. And this is a bad thing? If I was a democrat in a tight race and I knew people were P.O.'ed at the bill, I would run like hell from it and campaign on it. Rest at link
#1
The Telegraph.co.uk must be one of those “news” organizations that believe it’s more of a technicality then a rule to actually list their sources.
#3
Why does the image from Enemy at the Gates with the commissars herding the sheep prols into the killing zone come to mind? You're all cannon fodder for the glory of the Socialist state!
#4
"Under the ruling of the Supreme Court, any lobbyist could go into any legislator and say, if you don't vote our way on this bill, we're going to run a million-dollar campaign against you in your district. And that is a threat to our democracy."
Irish authorities said Tuesday they have charged two men who were reportedly part of an international plot to kill a controversial Swedish cartoonist.
The two men appeared in Waterford District Court on Monday night, the Courts Service of Ireland said. While the service refused to confirm whether their case is related to the alleged plot, Irish and British media outlets including The Irish Times reported the connection.
The first man, Ali Charaf Damache, was charged with making a menacing call to an individual.
The other man, Abdul Salem Monsour Khalil al Jahani, was charged with failure to produce a valid passport or other valid document to establish his identity, contrary to the Immigration Act 2004.
The Irish Times reported that al Jahani admitted telling investigators he gave a false name when he came to the Republic of Ireland to claim asylum in July 2001.
Both men were remanded into custody until their next court appearance Friday.
#1
ION SINA/CINA MOWCOW TIMES > FIVE REASONS WHY RUSSIA ISN'T CHINA.
* SAME > OPEC NOT THREATENED BY RUSSIAN SHIPMENTS TO ASIA; + GORBACHEV'S ABANDONED "EUROPEAN HOME"; + RUSSIAN CORRUPTION MAY FORCE WESTERN FIRMS TO QUIT ["unsympathetic" anti-US-WESTERN, COLD WAR-style, Russ Govt-Company Mgt stone-facing, obstruction, ignorance, etc]???
#1
> But at least when we've had celebrations of president in schools in the past the president in question at least had the decency to have already left office or even died
Rheterotically speaking then this PropObamaganda is acceptable.
#2
Musically a pastiche of mediocre film score exerpts as the composer attempted to apply everything he'd learnt from books of theory and composition. Textually full of fatuous posturing in the style of the worst of the Beat poets. Granted, the composer was handicapped by his choice of text -- Obama's autobiography, really? -- but he could have chosen less extended excerpts that conveyed his meaning without boring the listener into delta wave sleep.
What could be a greater guide to a man's true nature, than those from whom he seeks spiritual counsel?
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2010
08:14 ||
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#1
No matter which way he turns our president always ends up on the far left side of things. If this guy is broadly exposed I wonder who the next spiritual leader will be....
UK police investigating the disappearance of a 41-year-old man said they "cannot rule out the possibility of murder" after his thumb was found in a street. Sky News reported Mahmood Ahmad was last seen leaving his job at a kebab house in Aldgate, London, in the early hours of March 7. There's the reason I don't eat kebabs - mystery meat.
A thumb found by a member of the public in Ilford, Essex, three days later has now been confirmed by forensic tests as belonging to the Watford man. Police are treating Mr Ahmad's case as kidnap but said murder could not be discounted. I grew up in Essex and left at the very earliest opportunity. Bad sh!t happens there.
Detective Chief Inspector Melanie Burn, from Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said Mr Mahmood "may well be injured and need urgent medical help". OTOH it may well be too late for even tardy medical help.
If he's missing a thumb, the injury is certain, as is the need for medical help. But three days is a little late for urgency.
Mohammed Riaz, 33, has been charged with kidnap, false imprisonment, harassment and dwelling burglary in connection with the case. He is in custody awaiting his trial. But obviously not singing like the proverbial canary.
Police have arrested a further four people, one woman and three men, who are being questioned by officers. "You see this thumb? Well we are looking for its matching twin."
"It's a right thumb, innit? Mine's here, on my hand -- that good enough, officer?"
#1
"My favorite African story actually happened after I left the country. An American executive took a job over there, and on his very first day, the newspaper headlines read: "Three Headless Bodies Found".
The next day: "Three Heads Found".
The third day: "Heads DonÂ’t Match Bodies"."
-- The Other Side of Kim
Rival prison gang members, including warring white supremacist and Hispanic groups, are brokering unusual criminal alliances outside prison to assist Mexican drug cartel operations in the U.S. and Mexico, federal law enforcement officials say.
The groups, including the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, remain bitter enemies in prison, divided along racial and ethnic lines. Yet outside, the desire for profits is overcoming rivalries.
Most are involved with drugs, but officials say members also are moving into human smuggling.
Continued on Page 49
#2
We can't be bothered with such trivia, we are obsessing about shoving health care down the throats of the American people--after all we know what's best for them.
Signed the Pelosi-Obama Democratic supremacist gang
#3
if you had $20,000 in a Latin american country why would you want too come too the US? couldn't you live pretty well down there with that kind of money?
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 20:30
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#4
Muslim prisoners are repor setting up SHARIA RULE inside the UK PRISON SYSTEM???
* SPERO NEWS > RADICAL ISLAM MAKING INROADS ADMONG LATIN AMERICA'S PEOPLES [rising numbers of converts including dedication to JIHADISM].
and
TOPIX [old] > ISLAMIST GROUPS SETTING UP IN CHIAPAS/NEAR MEXICO-GUATEMALA BORDER.
Adolf/Jozef Ahmed's Camel wants a [spicy] BURRITO > DEMANDS FUTURE POST-AMERICA EURABIA INVADE IRELAND TO GET IT!
"No one's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." - Mark Twain
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it. And if Mark Twain were alive today, he wouldn't know where to begin.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers "deem" the health-care bill to be passed. Cool! Bait and switch! Continued on Page 49
#2
They're adding an entirely new dimension to the term..."Stuck on Stupid."
Barry and Pelosi need a huge infusion of tax dollars over the next few years and this is their plan to make that happen. Healthcare reform is a convenient facade, nothing more. If they can fund the abortion of a few million future recipients along the way and make selected college students beholding to their largesse, so much the better.
I'm very much afraid that November is the last chance for number 2 to work. If the tyrant wannabe in the WH and his slimy minions are willing to go to these lengths to impose their will. A win in Nov. would give them all the motivation they need to totally rewrite electoral rules and "deem" them passed.
#9
Sure they can, but not after the billions of pork that will kill this nation is spent.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 15:22
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#10
Repeat after me, "Medicare." Wildly unpopular on the right when signed and still going strong @ 1000x its maximum projected cost. The only way this will differ is that it will be bigger.
#11
There are three million, 300 thousand, 287 bridges, tunnels, power stations, locks, dams, power pylons, and large culverts in the United States. A force of 2500 people, with the appropriate knowledge and the support of the local populace, can bring any part of the United States - or the entire nation - to its knees. Congress does not have the power or ability to stop it - only the American people. When the "ruling class" pisses off the only group that can actually protect those vulnerable points, they've set themselves up for for defeat. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all the other lawyers in Washington know jack sh$$ about actually running the infrastructure of this country. I think it's about time they learned just how much the REAL people in this country despise them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2010 21:43
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#12
OP - dial it back, k? You have power in votes, power in influence via pressure, but.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 22:06
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#13
Frank G, he may be voicing the thoughts of a lot more people than you think; I've heard similar in emails forwarded to me by others and previous mentioned it with disclaimers. I have heard it put this way from a larger number of people than ever before: Soap box has failed, ballot box is failing (with this end run around representative government), so the jury box (SCOTUS striking it down) is the only thing standing between us and the cartridge box if they do pass this monstrosity that changes the fundamental relationship between the governed and the government.
It is important to hear that sort of thing, if for no other reason that as a warning -- as long as there are no direct person threats or calls to overthrow the legal government.
One thing to notice about OP's analysis is that the most vulnerable areas are the urban areas which are liberal strongholds. That means people thinking in that manner may be even less inclined to restrain themselves if push comes to shove.
And that scares the hell out of me. Enough to where I am considering moving out of the suburban west to the areas where I know the hills and the people well, and have a lot of relatives. That isn't the main reason, but it is enough to be at least a factor in risk analysis.
(Colorado has changed, and I no longer feel like its home - and I want to get back to my Blue Ridge to be buried with my ancestors)
#15
I moved out of Colorado when the Califonicators came in and started the same crap that had fouled their previous nest. When previously mainstream parts of the state started feeling like The Peoples Republic of Boulder it was time to head out. the scary talk i hear is coming more from the folks i still have contact with in CO. plenty of it out here in GA, but not the same urgency fwiw
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/16/2010 23:01
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Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had a little political advice last week for President Obama and the Democrats: Don't pass the president's health care legislation because you would risk losing in the midterm elections.
Mr. Obama laughed about it afterward. “I generally wouldn't take advice about what's good for Democrats' from Mr. McConnell, he told an audience in Pennsylvania. But he conceded that “that's what members of Congress are hearing right now on the cable shows and in sort of the gossip columns in Washington.' He went on to argue that the issue should be what's right, not the politics. What's "right" would be for my representatives to vote "NAY" on the HC Takeover bill in its present form and rework it to take care of the stuff that really needs to be taken care of. What's right would be to stop trying to twist a problem with an "easy" fix into another government bureaucracy. What's right would be to cut government by two-thirds.
But this is Washington and politics are never far from the surface, especially at a decisive moment like this. If the schedule being mapped last week holds – and Mr. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, said on Sunday that it would — the fate of the president's health care plan should be decided within the week. “I believe we will have' the votes, Mr. Axelrod said on ABC's “This Week,' though Republicans and even some Democrats have questioned whether the votes are there now.
But the plan's fate could depend on how a couple dozen Democratic congressmen answer the questions Mr. McConnell and Mr. Obama raised: Would passing health care devastate Democratic chances in the fall? Would rejecting it devastate a Democratic presidency?
Washington is already debating how pivotal the vote will be to his presidency. Mr. Obama has devoted vast energy and political capital over the last 14 months to get to this point, the presidential equivalent of an all-in bet on the poker table. Should he fail to push his plan through a Congress with strong Democratic majorities, it would certainly damage his credibility as a leader for months, and maybe years. Already the fight has scarred Washington, leaving behind a polarized and angry political elite and questions about whether the system is broken.
If Mr. Obama falls short on health care, his hopes of passing other ambitious legislation like an overhaul of immigration and a market-based cap on carbon emissions to curb climate change would seem out of reach, at least for the rest of this year. Much of Washington would question whether he is weak, some Democratic candidates would run away from him and Mr. Obama would be forced to consider a narrower agenda like that pursued by Bill Clinton after his own health care drive collapsed.
At the same time, passing it has its risks too. While a bill-signing ceremony in the Rose Garden would provide at least a short-term boost to a beleaguered president, Republicans have made clear that the legislative procedure Democrats are using to avoid another filibuster would so anger them that they would not cooperate on other major initiatives this year.
“If they jam through health care,' said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, then Democrats will have “poisoned the well' on other issues. He was interviewed Sunday on ABC's “This Week.'
An immigration proposal he has been working on with Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, would likely fall victim to the worsened environment, he said.
If Mr. Obama and the Democrats succeed, the challenge over the next eight months will be to convince the public that the program is better than polls suggest they think it is. And while some of its features would take effect right away, particularly popular limits on abuses by insurance companies, much of its impact in terms of coverage for the uninsured would not kick in until long after the fall election.
“If and when this is passed, Democrats will run aggressively on this,' said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “We relish the idea of Republicans running on the Tea Party mantle of repeal.'
But Karl Rove, the former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, said Republicans relish the fight as well. “If they pass it,' he said about the Democrats, “they're dead in the polls.'
Past presidents have suffered the consequences of big initiatives. Mr. Bush failed to get a Republican Congress to approve his overhaul of Social Security in 2005, undercutting his ability to pass other major proposals for the rest of his term. In hindsight, Mr. Rove said he wished the Bush White House had led off the second term with immigration and chalked up a bipartisan victory before moving on to Social Security.
The more salient precedent remains Mr. Clinton's health care drive, which ran aground in a Democratic Congress in his first term. The debacle fueled the electoral sweep that handed Congress to the Republicans in 1994. Democrats have bitter memories. “A lot of them have P.T.S.D. from 1994,' said a White House official, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Among those who lost reelection that year was Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania who cast the deciding vote on Mr. Clinton's budget package, which cut the deficit through spending cuts and a tax increase on the wealthy.
The former congresswoman, who now goes by Marjorie Margolies, recalled last week that she had boiled down her explanation of her vote to four minutes. The problem was that her opponents had boiled down their criticism of her to a 30-second advertisement. “It's very hard to push back on that 30 seconds and that's what these members are going to face and that's what these members are scared about,' she said.
Rahm Emanuel, a former top adviser to Mr. Clinton who now serves as White House chief of staff, has often said Mr. Clinton's problem was not taking on health care but losing on health care. Unlike Mr. Rove, Mr. McConnell and other Repubicans, Thomas M. Davis III, a former congressman who served in the Republican leadership, said failure to pass health care would be worse for Democrats than passing it.
“If they pass nothing, their base — the college professors, the African-Americans, all the surge voters who put them there, they just walk,' Mr. Davis said. “You don't want to think about it.' The best option at that point for Mr. Obama, he added, would be to push through a narrower health care bill and argue to the base that at least he tried for the more expansive version.
Still, for all the potential consequences, it is probably too hyperbolic to suggest the presidency rides on this moment. If he fails this week, Mr. Obama could still recover. Even a weakened president has enormous capacity to set an agenda. For all the damage Mr. Clinton absorbed from the failure of his health care plan and the Republican takeover, he eventually found his footing again and won re-election handily.
Of course, he and Mr. Bush both recovered from early troubles in part because of leadership during moments of crisis — Mr. Clinton after the bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and Mr. Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That may be harder for Mr. Obama, who inherited crises from the start in the form of two wars and an economic meltdown. The botched Christmas Day bombing suggested that Mr. Obama might face recriminations in case of a new crisis.
But he has the benefit of time and residual personal popularity, not to mention an opposition with its own challenges. “I don't think this will bring down the Obama presidency,' said Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. “People understand that there's a Congress and there are other issues and no matter how much of a hit the Democrats take in the elections this fall, there's still a lot of things he can do in the next three years.'
The problem for Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards added, is that he has raised the stakes himself so high. “If he says this is make-or-break and my presidency depends on what the American people think of this issue,' he said, “then he's putting himself in a bad spot.'
#1
"If Mr. Obama and the Democrats succeed, the challenge over the next eight months will be to convince the public that the program is better than polls suggest they think it is."
What the Democrat leadership is proposing to their rank and file is a sales technique called the “post close”. It's the practice of reinforcing benefits and positive emotions after an agreement. The goal is to mitigate what’s commonly referred to as “buyers remorse”. However, its success is predicated on the assumption that, regardless of enthusiasm, there was indeed an original agreement. In this case, Obama has tried to sell this dog for months and still hasn’t closed the deal. Which means there is no amount of after-the-fact-jawboning that will convince a reluctant electorate they didn’t get screwed. Good luck with that folks and take one for the big guy.
#3
I'm not clear on when the taxes, fees, etc. begin on this. If it isn't going to be right away there will be some space for Obama's allies in the media to say, "look the sky hasn't fallen" and there is plenty of time to amend.
One of the things to watch will be the number of companies that decide to stuff their existing health care plans and pay their employees a bonus and let the publically subsidized plans pick them up (or newly formed companies that decide not to have health care plans and make every employee a contractor)
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 13:34
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#4
SPERO NEWS > BRITISH "THRACE" THINK-TANK ECONOMIST HALLIGAN: US POTUS OBAMA "PLAYING WID FIRE" OVER CHINESE CURRENCY | OBAMA AT GREAT RISK OF STARTING MAJOR US-CHINA TRADE WAR OVER YUAN CURRENCY POLICIES.
Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.
The letters A, C, O, R and N are coming off office doors from New York to California. Business cards are being reprinted. New signs with new names are popping up in front of offices.
The breakaways are trying to shed the scandal that emerged six months ago when videos showed some ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. But while their names are different, most groups have kept the same offices and staff.
That, critics say, means the groups really haven't started anew and severed all ties to ACORN, which faced accusations of mismanagement and rampant voter registration fraud well before the video brouhaha sent even longtime Democratic backers scattering. Ay-Pee. Rest @ link.
Ay-Pee. You know the drill.
Obama administration's fierce denunciation of Israel last week has ignited a firestorm in Congress and among powerful pro-Israel interest groups who say the criticism of America's top Mideast ally was misplaced. To put it mildly.
Since the controversy erupted, a bipartisan parade of influential lawmakers and interest groups has taken aim at the administration's decision to publicly condemn Israel for its announcement of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting on Tuesday and then openly vent bitter frustration on Friday. Shooting from the hip again, doofus?
With diplomats from both countries referring to the situation as a crisis, the outpouring of anger in the United States, particularly from Capitol Hill, comes at a difficult time for the administration, which is now trying to win support from wary lawmakers - many of whom are up for re-election this year - for health care reform and other domestic issues. Hee hee! Now where did I put my dancing shoes?
#1
this is probably not going to affect the health care vote
however, it will take a toll on the Democrat fund raising for this year and maybe the next two also.
Some of the big givers to the Dem party (DNC, Congressional funds) are pro Israel.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 11:12
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#2
only if the Jewish Democrats are willing to make the Donks pay for their perfidy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 11:54
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#3
for example, Haim Saban (co creator of Might Morphin Power Rangers) has been a mega giver to the Dems (and raised lots and lots to the Hillary campaign in 2008) but I wouldn't be surprised if he sits out the Obama Admin (in fact, I'll bet he has called Hillary to complain).
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 12:22
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#4
this is probably not going to affect the health care vote
however, it will take a toll on the Democrat fund raising for this year and maybe the next two also.
Some of the big givers to the Dem party (DNC, Congressional funds) are pro Israel.
My big suspicion? They like to pretend that they're pro-Israel.
_Just_ like the Democrats like to pretend they're pro-strong economy, pro-job creation, pro-health-care....
They probably wake up in the morning and tell themselves they're only trying to save Israel from those insane fanatics trying to build a couple of apartment blocks.
Police are hunting for two men suspected of killing Bannang Sata police chief Colonel Sompian Eksomya, fatally wounding a senior sergeant major, and injuring two other officers at Yala in the deep South last Friday. The suspects were identified as Matorhae Silae, 31, and Yukeebeulee Jehdeemae, 31. Both are also wanted for a number of other security-related crimes.
Police believe the suspects went into hiding along the borders shared by Bannang Sata and Krong Pinang districts after they staged the bomb attack and opened fire on Somphian's pickup last Friday.
Sompian was killed in the attack along with Pol Sen Sgt Major Sophon Intaraboworn. Two other police on patrol in the same pickup were also hurt.
Sompian worked hard for the safety of locals in his area throughout his career. The 59-year-old had been based in the deep South for four decades and his dedication had won him love and respect from local people.
Sophon's widow Somjit said her husband had intended to serve until he retired or received a posting elsewhere.
Funeral rites will be held at Wat Phutthaphum, a royal monastery, in Yala.
"I don't want to see such tragedy strike any other family. I hope people in the deep South will have love for one another and stay united. Please look at the policemen who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation," Somjit said.
The National Police Bureau has offered Bt440,000 in compensation to Somjit's family in addition to financial assistance for his funeral. Sophon will also be awarded the rank of police colonel with a posthumous salary rise (for his pension).
Somjit will be recruited to the police force and assigned to clerical duty. Her 14-year-old son, Natthanon, will get scholarships until he earns a bachelor's degree. He will have the right to join the police force if he wishes. "I want to be a policeman like my dad. I want to serve the country," Natthanon said.
Sophon was clearly not the last victim in the ongoing wave of violence in the deep South. Late on Sunday night, Pol Sen Sgt Major Jehsoh Hayeesamoh was shot dead just as he was preparing to leave a teashop close to his home in Pattani's Mayo district. Jehsoh, 54, was shot twice.
Witnesses said his attackers rushed at him on two motorcycles and shot him in the head. "After he fell down, they fired another shot to make sure he was really dead," a witness said. "They also took away his gun". At the time of the shooting, there were more than 20 customers in the teashop.
Iran's supreme leader is attempting to extinguish an annual event celebrating the last days of winter and the Persian calendar year, and the government is strengthening its security presence in the days leading up to a major holiday, Iranian media reported.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday urged Iranians to dismiss the ancient practice of fire jumping and feasting on Chaharshanbe Soori, a festival held on the eve of the last Wednesday before spring -- this year, March 16. The activities date back thousands of years. The festivities have no basis in Islam, and can cause "harm and corruption," Khamenei said in a statement published by Iranian news sites. "It is appropriate to avoid it," he said.
The celebrations lead up to Norooz, the holiday that marks the first day of spring and the Persian new year. Norooz falls on Saturday this year. Iran is beefing up security to ensure "order and calm" during the two-week period celebrating Norooz, stationing 200,000 security personnel across the Islamic republic, according to Raja news, the official new site of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the eastern city of Mashad, the chief prosecutor said those who engage in "disruptive behavior" during Chaharshanbe Soori would face "strong consequences."
It's a precaution that's become increasingly commonplace in Iran, especially in advance of holidays, as the government continues to warn against political demonstrations that have emerged since last summer's disputed presidential elections.
[Dawn] A suspected Al-Qaeda chief was killed in a new wave of Yemeni air raids against the branch of the global terror network thought to be behind a botched US airliner bombing, an official said.
Jamil Nasser Abdullah al-Ambari, 25, believed to be the leader of Al-Qaeda in southern Abyan province, was one of two militants killed in the overnight raid, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity. Ambari had figured on a list of wanted militants, but the official did not disclose the name of the other dead person.
The defence ministry had said earlier that an air strike killed two senior Al-Qaeda members on Sunday night in Abyan's Moudia district. "Our air force carried out a raid on terrorist elements who were planning attacks on vital installations (and) two Al-Qaeda leaders were killed," said a report on the ministry's 26sep.net news website.
Yemen's air force launched a second successive day of air strikes on Monday, targeting a suspected Al-Qaeda training camp in the same area, the defence ministry said. A brief ministry statement said the raids were carried out in Moudia, but did not confirm whether anyone was killed or wounded in the latest strike.
A security official, who asked not to be named, said the disfigured remains of those killed in the strikes had been transported to the capital for DNA testing, and suggested the death toll could be as high as nine people.
Yemen has sophisticated medical labs capable of doing sophisticated DNA testing? Wonders never cease.
Moudia residents reached by telephone alleged the raids caused civilian casualties, but fell short of giving figures. Some said they fled their homes in fear of being targeted by the strikes.
Jet fighters swooped at a low altitude over the town, part of a province that is dominated by southern separatists who are demanding the secession of the regions of former South Yemen. The air raids were the first since January 20, when Yemeni warplanes pounded the house of Ayed al-Shabwani, a local Al-Qaeda chief in the province of Maarib, east of Sanaa. Shabwani himself was believed to have been killed a week earlier along with five other suspects in an air raid in the north of the country.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Yemen's local branch of Al-Qaeda, had denied then that any of the six militants were killed in the attack on three 4x4 vehicles in a remote desert area.
Yemen has intensified operations against AQAP, which claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US airliner. Some 34 suspected AQAP militants were thought to have been killed in an air strike which targeted a suspected training camp in Abyan on December 17. Many civilians were claimed to have been killed in that attack. On December 24, security officials claimed 34 more AQAP militants were killed in a strike that targeted a meeting of Al-Qaeda members in Shabwa province, 650 kilometres east of Sanaa.
Earlier this month, a security official said 11 men were arrested in the capital Sanaa on suspicion of plotting attacks for Al-Qaeda. In February, security forces arrested three suspected Al-Qaeda members and killed seven of its leaders, including the group's top commander in Yemen, Qassem al-Rimi, and Abdullah Mehdar, an Al-Qaeda chief in Shabwa province, officials said.
The United States has reportedly supplied Yemen with intelligence and other support in its operations against Al-Qaeda. But US President Barack Obama has said he has "no intention" of sending in troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Malaysian girls aged 10 and 11 who were wed to middle-aged men have been separated from their husbands as their cases are investigated, religious officials said Monday.
The girls were married off last month by their fathers, who said they were following religious edicts, said deputy head of northern Kelantan state's religious department Mohamad Abdul Aziz Mohammad Noor.
He said Samsudin Ajaib, who is also being investigated on suspicion of leading a religious cult, married 11-year-old Siti Nur Zubaidah and also gave away his 10-year-old daughter to a family friend.
"Both girls have now been separated from their husbands," Mohamad Abdul Aziz told AFP.
He said that a religious Sharia court had separated Samsudin's daughter from her husband while Siti's father had applied to the court to annul her marriage.
He said state religious authorities were also investigating Samsudin for his links to an alleged Islamic sect. Unauthorized Islamic sects are frequently the target of crackdowns by Malaysian authorities.
Islamic law (Sharia) runs in parallel with civil law in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Kelantan state allows under-age marriages if religious officials give permission.
Siti's mother told the Star daily that shortly after the marriage, her daughter was found outside a mosque in the nation's capital and was now being treated in hospital.
"He asked for our daughter to be married to him as she would be put under his care while attending religious school," Siti Sarnan Mat Ail told the paper.
She would not comment on whether the marriage was consummated, but said her daughter was in a state of shock and traumatised by the events.
Women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil urged action against Samsudin and the religious sect, saying it promised "heavenly rewards" for child marriages, the New Straits Times reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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At least the special wrapper for human rights is noticing ...
The United Nations special investigator for human rights in North Korea says the country's government has created a pervasive "State of Fear," which strips the population of all rights and freedoms. The investigator, whose mandate ends in June, has just submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council, which takes stock of the situation in North Korea during the past six years.
The UN Investigator, Vitit Muntarbhorn, presents a bleak assessment of the human-rights situation in North Korea. During the past six years, he says he has witnessed numerous harrowing and horrific abuses perpetrated against the population.
"Such as public executions, such as all kinds of malpractices in prison against women, asylum seekers, collective punishment, torture, etc. of which there are many, many reports," said Vitit Muntarbhorn.
Muntarbhorn says government policies are distorted in favor of militarization and the ruling elite. He says the government uses food to keep control over the people and to make them dependent on the state. He says there has been a general decline in health care and education. He says children are forced to plow fields, cultivate poppy and engage in other slave-like work.
The UN investigator says he has interviewed scores of women, children and men who have sought refuge in South Korea. He says the stories he has heard are terrible, particularly those related by women.
"The majority of the interviewees, scores and scores that I had access to, have been women who have been through various, multiple traumas along the way," he said. "Trafficked, smuggled, having to pay US$3,000, promised to pay upon arrival in the final destination country. Sometimes they are tortured, punished if sent back to the country of origin, then they leave again. Sometimes they end up in forced marriage and they are trafficked again, smuggled again before they arrive in a destination country."
The UN investigator says he has reports from different sources that indicate North Korea operates many huge camps for political prisoners and their families. He says they often are held there in perpetuity.
He says many people die through hunger and slave labor, through brutality and atrocity. What he doesn't say is what the UN should do about all this ...
A North Korean representative accuses the United States, Japan and the European Union of being behind this hostile report. He says these countries are resorting to this despicable and sinister back-door approach to cover their own gross violations of human rights, such as the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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Probably twice as much as the food aid being sent
when fringe benefits taken in to account.
That being said, are there any 5 star hotels in NK , im pretty sure Ryugyong Hotel doesnt fit the bill for our lavish taste Human Rights Council
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 11:37
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#4
Why the surprise, UN? This crap has been going on in North Korea since shortly after the 1953 armistice. There isn't an African or South American dictatorship as total or as ruthless as North Korea - not even Zim-b0b-way. If the UN is just now noticing, who woke up their Rip Van Winkle?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2010 14:10
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#5
But how can they be a bad country, Bush is no longer President? Madeline halfbright said they were big fat happy fun time.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen's security forces have detained an Iranian ship in Yemeni coastal waters off the island of Socotra over suspicions about its cargo, and the crew members are under investigation, state media said on Monday.
The ship, which state media said had entered Yemeni waters illegally, was held after fishermen reported its presence to authorities. The crew, 15 Pakistani sailors and an Iranian captain, are being investigated and the ship searched. "The security apparatus in the Socotra archipelago does not rule out that the Iranian ship may have been involved in smuggling drugs to Yemen," the Defense Ministry's online newspaper said. It did not say when the ship was detained.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Indonesia's largest Islamic organization on Monday condemned protests by hard-line groups against U.S. President Barack Obama's planned visit to the mainly Muslim country.
Nahdlatul Ulama deputy chairman Maskuri Abdillah said the visit would strengthen frayed ties between the United States and the Muslim world.
"We call on all Muslims in Indonesia not to join any protest rejecting the visit of President Obama to Indonesia," he told AFP.
"This call has been made following our concerns about a number of protests by some Muslim groups who stand against the visit.
"We must welcome Obama as his visit will be positive in terms of the U.S. relationship with the Muslim world."
Thousands of demonstrators from radical Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir, which aims to establish an Islamic caliphate, rallied against Obama on Sunday, tearing U.S. flags and calling America a terrorist state.
Such groups have little support in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country where Obama lived for four years as a child.
He is scheduled to leave the United States on March 21 for the trip, which will include stops in Guam and Australia.
The visit is expected to build on a speech Obama gave last year in Cairo, in which he promised to mend fences with the Islamic world after years of discord under the previous administration of George W. Bush.
"Obama has a different personality to his predecessor George Bush. Obama has the political will to improve U.S. ties with the Muslim world," Abdillah said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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Netanyahu consulted Sunday with the forum of seven senior cabinet ministers over a list of demands that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made in a telephone conversation Friday. Haaretz has learned that Clinton's list includes at least four steps the United States expects Netanyahu to carry out to restore confidence in bilateral relations and permit the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
1. Investigate the process that led to the announcement of the Ramat Shlomo construction plans in the middle of Biden's visit. The Americans seek an official response from Israel on whether this was a bureaucratic mistake or a deliberate act carried out for political reasons. Already on Saturday night, Netanyahu announced the convening of a committee to look into the issue.
2. Reverse the decision by the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee to approve construction of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo.
3. Make a substantial gesture toward the Palestinians enabling the renewal of peace talks. The Americans suggested that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners be released, that the Israel Defense Forces withdraw from additional areas of the West Bank and transfer them to Palestinian control, that the siege of the Gaza Strip be eased and further roadblocks in the West Bank be removed.
4. Issue an official declaration that the talks with the Palestinians, even indirect talks, will deal with all the conflict's core issues - borders, refugees, Jerusalem, security arrangements, water and settlements. It's sounding more and more like the Guns of August. And all the time Iran gets closer and closer to its first test. And the Paks want to start a war with the Indians that really does make the dominoes fall. And a community organizer sits atop the greatest military machine in history trading honor he doesn't have for a peace he won't maintain.
#2
When Netanyahu stops laughing and his staff get off the floor from another gutbuster by the coward in chief, He will of course get himself composed and issues a statement. It will read that Israel will look into Hillary's request, giggle giggle, and get back to her once they come to resolution on it oh, in say about two years. BWHAHAHA!!! Stop it! I'm gonna pee if you make me laugh any harder. Oh, and send that rummy VP over again so our junior staff can have some more fun with press releases!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 0:32
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#3
Decisions, decisions...
1) Do as Obama (not the USA - Obama) wishes and get treated like he treats the British (i.e. like stale, smelly, sh*t).
2) Tell Obumble to kiss off and take a flying F and get bowed and scrapped to by Zero and company.
#5
Toldja that the Waffler in Chief would have a Grade A hissy fit. Why even now his ears are all a-twitter because 'nobody pays me any mind. And I won the election and everything.'
What a bunch of douchebags.
#8
I've been thinking that Obumble might try to time some military action (or feint) in the middle east in an attempt to help Dem chances of surviving midterm elections. If so, the wrong move here will put a serious crimp in his plans. And even if not, I would't be surprised if Israel could form and time their response to make things even worse for Dems.
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > ISRAELI HISTORIAN: ISRAEL COULD FIND ITSELF FORCED TO WIPE OUT EUROPE, espec iff Tel Aviv deems the nation's demise or end is near. ARTIC - Historian argues that ISRAEL BELIEVES EUROPE IS A "HOSTILE TARGET".
#14
The Americans Obama seek an official response from Israel on whether this was a bureaucratic mistake or a deliberate act carried out for political reasons.
The Obama Administration Bureau of political acts investigating a bureaucratic mistake? Something akin to Charles Manson investigating a parking ticket. Total rubbish!
#15
Does anyone actually listen to Hilary or Obama, apart from at comedy hour ?
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 7:48
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#16
Does anyone actually listen to Hilary or Obama, apart from at comedy hour ?
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 7:48
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#17
ack - itchy trigger finger again , please delete this and #15
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 7:49
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#18
It WAS stupid and shortsighted of Israel to announce the expansion when Biden was on his visit.
It seemed like a direct slap to the president.
I'm counting down the days until I get to vote Obama out of office, but Israel needs to value the relationship between the countries, and not shiat on a particular president.
They need to value their long-term relationship with their allies more. They don't have many.
#19
I understand where you're coming from, Mizzou. What I believe to be the more likely scenario is that the announcement was quite deliberate in its timing.
Throwing down the gauntlet, as it were, and forcing your opponent (in this case, us) to show where he stands. Act a little rude and you'll often get your opponent's true feelings to stand out.
The Israelis needed to know.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/16/2010 8:23
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#20
They're not going to quietly get into the boxcars again for anyone.
#21
They're not going to quietly get into the boxcars again for anyone.
That's true of the Settlers, but American Jews and their international equivalents still happily vote for the Obamatron and the Dems.
Were I a younger and fitter man, I'd seriously think about joining the West Bank Settlers. They are the front line against everything that would drag this world into chaos.
#22
Now, I wonder why Obama needs to have a crisis with the Jewish state right now? Could it be that he's trying that tried and true method of dealing with economic problems?
#23
I've been thinking that Obumble might try to time some military action (or feint) in the middle east...
Gorb, I'm afraid that the military action that a$$hole would want to take is a US takeover of the borders of Israel as they have been talking about to "further the peace process".
#26
just read the ticker going across the bottom of CNN and you will see how anti semitic most their viewers are
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 18:10
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#27
the Admin is trying to walk it back after talking "tuff and shit". Oren is sticking to his "crisis" comparison. Our O-amateurs and Arabists in the State Dept got themselves worked up and now are looking to say "well, he started it!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 18:54
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#28
My dad always taught me to not make more enemies than I could watch. Too bad Obumble's step-dad didn't impart such wisdom to him when he was younger. Obumble is making an awful lot of enemies, internally and externally. That's extreme stupidity in any form, but especially in politics.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2010 19:16
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Monday that she is leaning toward using a "deeming" mechanism to push health care reform across the finish line.
The Speaker, in a press briefing with progressive media in her Capitol office, said that three options were under consideration. One of them involved a vote on the Senate health care bill, followed by a vote on a reconciliation package. "Nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill," she said. She wouldn't rule out that option, she said, because there is no official bill language yet, which she said she needs first before she makes a decision on process.
A second option would entail a vote on a rule followed by a vote on the reconciliation package. The Senate parliamentarian, Pelosi said, has told Democrats that such a strategy would not be acceptable, because the Senate bill must pass the House before the reconciliation amendments can.
So the third option is to write the rule so that the passage of the reconciliation package deems the Senate bill to also have passed, a parliamentary maneuver she said the Senate parliamentarian had said was acceptable.
It's a technical distinction and Democrats hope that it's deep enough in the weeds that average voters will focus instead on the substance of the legislation instead of the confusing process. Asked if she had firmly decided to pursue the third option, she answered, "I like the third one better."
Pelosi said she expects the Congressional Budget Office to return with a cost analysis of the final amendments shortly, at which point she'll call for a vote.
"Get the bill," she said, punching her fist into her hand. "Go for it."
#3
Dang it CrazyFool, you know that's next on the list.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/16/2010 1:56
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ION MACAU DAILY TIMES > [POTUS Bammer] MANY AMERICANS HAVE LOST FAITH IN THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT. It existed before the Bammer became POTUS, + had been getting worse since He did.
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, IMO by the Bammer's own [indirect] admission, he has failed thus far as POTUS to redeem the credibility + image of Washington + USGovt in the eyes of mainstream America.
#5
November is going to be a methodical Nanny Beating. Its going to be a one way slow motion messy brutal sadistic blood smeared squealing grind. And when its over its going to go on echoing in hell for the Doinks.
#9
If you subtract out those who do not work but are subsidized by socialism and those who work for the state, the reminder are less than the average of Americans. Enough though to make sure that Nancy's cannon fodder will pay dearly at the polls in November and beyond.
#10
I regret that I do not now who wrote the following:
For decades pundits have been saying that the New Orleans Saints were so bad at playing football that Hell would freeze over if the Saints ever won The Super Bowl.
On Sunday, February 7, 2010 the Saints won the Super Bowl.
On that same Sunday, Washington D.C. was paralyzed under several feet of snow and the Government was shut down.
Question: Do we now have indisputable proof of the existence and location of Hell?
I'm very much afraid that November is the last chance for number 2 to work. If the tyrant wannabe in the WH and his slimy minions are willing to go to these lengths to impose their will. A win in Nov. would give them all the motivation they need to totally rewrite electoral rules and "deem" them passed.
Be afraid, be very afraid. CF is not being funny, he is being honest.
#13
If I said what I'm thinking, I would get "sinktrapped" for certain. Health care reform is not about "health" or "care." It is a sheer grab for power by the Demoncrats. It is just pure evil, arrogance and a disregard for the voters. I have never seen such rough shod gangster politics. The vote will be close. I hope some of the fence straddlers in the Democratic Party do the right thing and vote "NO". This bill will break the bank. It will be an albatross around the necks of the American people for generations to come. Our children's children will be paying for this bill. The country will never recover from it and we will be headed the way of third world countries.
#14
Hell indeed. It does seem as if the very devil himself is biting their butts because they are desperate to cram this thing down our throats no matter what. It's pretty scary.
And the longer this drama goes on I think the more desperate Obummer will become. He's been at it now for over and year and so far he has nothing to show for it. He hasn't accomplished a single thing yet as president so if health care fails he will be widely perceived as a failed president. There's no telling what he might do to avoid that.
#15
And those poor fence sitting donk representatives who are being called into the Oval Office are gonna get their arms twisted every which way. Imagine the calculations going through their heads. Do they dare defy this man? Is he gonna be a one term president shuffling back to Chicago with his tail between his legs or is he gonna pull it together and then screw the hell out the guys who said no to him? Will they survive this battle with their principals in tact or will they compromise? And if they compromise will they lose their next election?
Squirm, you guys. Think about it and then squirm some more.
#18
Confusing? You mean like when people should follow y'alls rules when you cannot follow your own?
Seems to be a big deal recently taking old movies and remaking them. Perhaps a filmmaker out there could re-do 'Day Without a Mexican' into 'Week Without a Taxpayer'? Heck go big time 3d special effects and make it a month.
[Dawn] Police said that they have uncovered a cache of bomb-making equipment and more than 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of explosives in an empty shop in the blast-battered city of Lahore on Monday.
Police Superintendent Ali Nasir says two suicide jackets, 16 hand grenades and hundreds of bullets were also found.
Police raided the shop Monday after a tip from the owner, who told authorities he'd become suspicious because his new tenants had never opened for business.
Police Chief Parvaiz Rathore said that while the investigation was not yet complete, ''we believe the recent terrorist attacks in the city have been originating from this place.''
Lahore has been battered by a string of explosions in recent days. The discovery was made near where five small bombs exploded Friday evening - hours after two suicide bombers killed 55 people in Lahore in coordinated explosions that also wounded about 100 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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#1
NEWS KERALA > US OFFICIAL: LeT HAS 20 TARGETS IN INDIA, out of possible 320 potens WORLDWIDE targets discovered in a list by POST-MUMBAI/26-11 nvestigative authorities.
* SAME > LAHORE BLASTS: TERROR RETURNING TO DEVOUR ITS OWN CREATORS. PAK Govt-Army forced to turn agz many of the same Terror Groups it had supported andor helped create???
#2
Police said that they have uncovered a cache of bomb-making equipment and more than 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of explosives in an empty shop in the blast-battered city of Lahore
one wonders why they took them out of the mosque in the first place. seems to really up the risk of discovery
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/16/2010 17:22
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A breakaway Iraqi Shiite militia has denied allegations that it tortured a Briton it held captive for more than two years, U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported on Monday.
The League of the Righteous -- a splinter group from the former Mahdi Army of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr which led two uprisings against U.S.-led troops in 2004 -- said the allegations were "false", SITE said.
Peter Moore, who was held by the League from May 2007 to December 2009, said in interviews last week that the group tortured him.
The League posted a 47-second video clip on its website on Sunday in which "Moore plays with a small child, watches television, eats and exercises," SITE said. The group "claims his treatment is just as the 47-second video clip depicts," the monitoring group added.
In an interview broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 News on Thursday, Moore said he was left "screaming in pain" during a torture session which ended with him hanging from a door by a pair of handcuffs.
Moore said he endured several mock executions and spent two years of his captivity on his own, living in cramped rooms and guarded by a rotating group of insurgents
Three of Moore's British guards were killed by their captors, and the fourth was believed to have been killed although his body was never returned.
Moore said his kidnappers made it clear they wanted several leaders of their group held by the Americans to be released in exchange for him. Several of the group's members were among batches of Iraqis freed from U.S. detention and eventually, at the end of December, Moore was driven to a rendezvous with an Iraqi MP and told he was being released.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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#1
well, of course, we should believe these guys, cuz they're all holy and shit
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 18:52
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Two bomb explosions rock Nigeria's southern oil-rich city of Warri just outside the site of talks over granting amnesty to militants in the area.
The blasts took place minutes after a bomb threat issued by the region's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
According to eye witnesses, two car bombs went off minutes apart from each other outside the state governor's office, prompting the delegates to run for their lives. One person was killed, police said.
MEND said the explosions were meant to "announce our continued presence" and warned of renewed attacks against the oil industry in the coming days, threatening firms such as French energy giant Total that have so far avoided significant strikes on their infrastructure.
Government officials had gathered at the place to discuss the implementation of an amnesty program brokered last year. Several armed groups recently agreed to the terms of the amnesty program, but some MEND leaders rejected the government's offer.
The blasts were a major setback for Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan as his government is trying to calm ethnic tensions in the center of the country.
Armed groups have for years caused havoc in the oil-rich Niger Delta by carrying out a wave of assaults on oil installations. They complain that despite vast oil output in the area, the region has remained poor and undeveloped.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has US$4 billion hidden in secret accounts in European banks to continue his lavish way of life if he is forced to flee the country, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
"The money is the profits from impoverished North Korea selling its nuclear and missile technology, dealing in narcotics, insurance fraud, the use of forced labour in its vast gulag system, and the counterfeiting of foreign currency," the British daily said. "Much of the money was held in Swiss banks until authorities there began to tighten regulations on money laundering."
"Kim's operatives then withdrew the money -- in cash, in order not to leave a paper trail -- and transferred it to banks in Luxembourg," it added. Why not seize it all? We could establish a trust account for the people of North Korea to be cashed in on the day of their liberation.
Swiss banks kept customers' account information in closely guarded secret even in the case of criminals until Switzerland signed information exchange agreements with the U.S., France and other countries after the G20 summit in London last April warned that sanctions could be imposed on nations that refuse to cooperate.
"I believe this is the most extensive money-laundering operation in the history of organised crime, yet the final destination of the funds has not been given the proper attention it deserves," the daily quoted Ken Kato, the director of NGO Human Rights in Asia, as saying. "Somewhere in the world, there are bankers who are earning a large sum of money by concealing and managing Kim Jong-il's secret funds, and at the same time almost 9 million people in North Korea are suffering from food shortages." Why don't we name the bankers?
A South Korean intelligence officer said, "If they know about this money, the starving North Korean people will rise in revolt against the regime." Why don't we tell them?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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#1
I believe this is the most extensive money-laundering operation in the history of organised crime
Not even close, dude. Try some $40 BILLION by Putin over the last decade. Or look at the sums stolen by Suharto, or Mobutu, or Collor in Brazil, or the Salinas clan, or Fidel over the last 50 years, or Arafat, or...
#3
...or the 'smart' people who got their 'paid for' Congresscritters to bail them out of unbacked securities gambling losses in 2008-9 and are rewarding themselves with bonuses today. We're reaching hundreds of billions looted.
[Maghrebia] Algerian security forces on Sunday (March 14th) arrested a father and son for allegedly supporting terrorists in the Tizi-Ouzou region, Tout sur l'Algerie reported Monday. The employee of the Technology and Agronomy Institute and his son are charged with supplying logistical support to armed terrorist groups. Gendarmes reportedly recovered a "significant" sum of money during the search of the suspects' home in Boukhalfa and have not ruled out possible charges for money laundering, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
ION TOPIX > NORTH AFRICAN STATES TO MEET ON RISING AL QAEDA THREAT [Sahara-Sahel regions].
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear on Monday settlement building in east Jerusalem would continue, in a move likely to further heighten tensions with key ally the United States.
"Construction will continue in Jerusalem as this has been the case over the past 42 years," he told members of his Likud party. Israel occupied mainly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.
Israel's go-ahead last week for the construction of 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem infuriated Washington, particularly since it coincided with a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden aimed at promoting renewed peace talks with the Palestinians.
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03/16/2010
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BANGKOK — Antigovernment protesters shut down parts of this capital on Monday, but appeared a long way from achieving their goal of forcing the Thai government to step down. Shops and offices on the northern outskirts of Bangkok closed for the day as convoys of red-shirted protesters converged on a military base that had become a sort of field headquarters for government leaders, including Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Grenades fired at another army camp in Bangkok wounded two soldiers and highlighted the risk of further violence during the protest, which has drawn at least 100,000 people, many of them farmers, to a neighborhood of ministries and government offices in Bangkok.
The relatively high turnout by protesters, who call themselves the Red Shirts, has underlined divisions in Thailand between the rural poor and the Bangkok establishment, as well as the enduring popularity of the billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup.
The strategy of the Red Shirts appears to be to disrupt the functioning of government for as long as possible, in the hope that the prime minister blinks. “It's a game of chicken,' said Gothom Arya, director of research at Mahidol University in Bangkok. “They are saying, ‘We will bring you to the edge and see who falls first.' '
Prime Minister Abhisit had said that he would not agree to the protesters' demand that he dissolve Parliament, but said Monday that he was open to compromise. “Asking for the dissolution of Parliament before noon in exchange for a halt to the demonstrations, we all agreed it can't be done,' he said on television, The Associated Press reported. “However, it doesn't mean the government coalition parties and I won't listen to their ideas.'
But it remains unclear how long opposition leaders can sustain their protest. Unlike their rivals, the royalists known as the Yellow Shirts, the Red Shirts have less support in Bangkok. Some protesters said they were running out of money. Others said they were receiving support from friends and families in their hometowns. A local radio station has organized donations to sustain them in Bangkok.
The radical street politics of recent years are a measure of how the parliamentary system is failing to resolve the deep-seated divisions in Thai society. The Yellow Shirts took over the airport for a week in 2008 and occupied the prime minister's residence for several months that year, and there were violent clashes between the military and the Red Shirts last April.
On Monday, the Red Shirts announced a new tactic in their quest to unseat the government, a plan to collect blood from protesters and splash it outside the prime minister's office.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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#1
To add bit of local insight - the "parts of this Capital" that were shut down on Monday represented about 0.5% of Bangkok - at most.
Bangkok is a huge city - greater Bangkok covers probably something like 400 square miles - and the remaining protesters numbered about 60,000 people - enough to fill up a medium-sized sports stadium.
I live and work in Bangkok, and there was nothing remarkable going on in any parts of the city that I transit.
Basically, a group amounting to 0.1% of the population is trying to intimidate the sitting government into resigning. Fat chance.
The Thai government handled itself masterfully on Monday - it really did a great job of defusing potential violence, while remaining even-handed.
The press is pushing for sensationalism - but under 95F heat and high humidity, the protest is going to dissolve on its own within another day or two.
Story not yet elevated to WoT status, though that's what the drug war in Mexico is, until we learn whether Ms. Enriquez was specifically targeted.
Dozens of officials from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other U.S. agencies joined an investigation Monday into the killings of three people tied to the U.S. Consulate in the Mexican city of Juarez, scrambling to determine whether the slayings marked an escalation in the region's drug war or were simply cases of mistaken identity, officials said.
Lesley Enriquez, 35, who worked in the consulate's citizens services section, was believed to be the first American consulate employee to have been killed in apparent Mexican drug violence since 1985, when DEA Agent Enrique Camarena was tortured and murdered. Enriquez and her American husband were gunned down near the Santa Fe bridge into the United States about 2 p.m. Saturday, as their infant daughter cried in the back seat, unharmed but terrified.
About the same time, assailants in a different part of the city killed the husband of a Mexican who works at the consulate. That victim, identified in Mexican media as Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37, had been at the same children's birthday party as Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs. The American couple and the Mexican victim had been traveling in white vehicles.
FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons in El Paso, across the border from Juarez, said investigators had not determined the motive for the shootings. But, she said, "at this point we don't have any indication the victims were targeted because of their employment at the consulate." How many thousands of Americans cross the border daily, and the hard boys just happen to whack a consulate employee? Just what did Ms. Enriquez do in 'citizen services'?
In a sign of how seriously the Mexican government regards the case, Attorney General Arturo Chavez Chavez traveled to Juarez on Monday to oversee the investigation, according to El Diario, a newspaper in the city. Mexican President Felipe Calderón and President Obama expressed indignation at the murders.
U.S. agencies, including the FBI, DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are assisting Mexican authorities by providing intelligence and interviewing witnesses in the United States, Simmons said.
A Mexican official familiar with the cases said there were two main lines of investigation: whether the shootings were "a direct message to the U.S." or were instances of mistaken identity. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is continuing.
Violence involving rival drug gangs has become so severe that the State Department recently authorized U.S. personnel in six consulates in northern Mexico -- including Juarez -- to send their family members out of the area until April 12.
At least 18,000 people have been killed in Mexico since December 2006, when Calderon declared war on the country's drug traffickers. The U.S. government has committed to spending more than $1 billion to assist the Mexican effort.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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Story not yet elevated to WoT status,
Not WoT but FSA: Failing State Alert. Lot of that about, and most of it unrelated to Islam. But nearly all of it related to the increasing criminalization of so many of the non-western world's regimes. Off the top of me head, here's a short list of bandit regimes where
-- the government doesn't govern
-- rule of law is sporadic at best
-- the state has been effectively criminalized
-- to the extent the nation has advanced scientific-technical capabilities, it is a sieve for international WMD traffickers like AQ Khan's network
Top of the list is GazPutin's criminalized Russian regime, followed closely by the Ukrainians, Byelorussians, and Kazakhs. The mullahs in Iran lack the Russians' flair for theft-- millions, not billions-- but the pattern's the same: steal, bully, torment and cause mayhem. In the next tier are the Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians and the more chaotic latins, esp the Argentines and of course the Cubans and Venezuelans. And then there's nearly all of Africa and the middle east.
#3
I listened to Juan Williams on Fox. Williams is a liberal Democrat who was in Mexico City in the last week. He said this is being under-reported. He said that all of Mexico is a war zone and anywhere you might be you might get caught in a cross-fire. The mayor of Juarez goes over to El Paso to sleep every night because he fears for his safety. I don't see this getting any better without strong leadership on both sides of the border. Basically war has to be declared on the drug gangs and they need to be eradicated.
#5
Not WoT but FSA: Failing State Alert. Lot of that about, and most of it unrelated to Islam. But nearly all of it related to the increasing criminalization of so many of the non-western world's regimes.
In March last year South Korea gave US$3.8 million worth of aid, including $400,000 in cash and building materials, to North Korea to build a center for inter-Korean video-link family reunions in Pyongyang. But North Korea has not even started construction on the site, it was known on Sunday.
The donation violated a ban on cash aid to North Korea, but South Korea's Ministry of Unification said at the time that there would be no room for suspicious dealings because the North agreed to inform the South where the money was spent and the South agreed to visit the construction site to find out whether the money and materials were used properly.
It has been almost a year since the aid was delivered, but it is not clear what the North has done with the cash and building materials. The South Korean government has demanded that it be allowed to visit the construction site, but the North has brushed off the requests, saying it will show the site "next time" or after the center is dedicated.
Explaining the cash aid at the time, the South Korean government said the money was to be used to purchase LCD monitors and computers which are needed for the video reunion center but cannot be shipped to North Korea according to U.S. Export Administration Regulations.
But many experts believe that argument was just an excuse to give Pyongyang the cash. Seoul could have solved the problem by consulting with the U.S. as it did with the Kaesong Industrial Complex, or it could have bought the equipment for Pyongyang in China.
Song Dae-sung, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, a private non-profit think-tank in South Korea specializing in security, national unification, and foreign affairs, said, "The cash aid sent to the North may have been used for three purposes -- slush funds for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, funding for the North Korean Army or funding for the North Korean Workers Party. It may also have been used to fund clandestine North Korean operations in South Korea or for military purposes."
On eight occasions from early April to late August last year, South Korea delivered to the North building materials such as cement, iron bars, electric cable, tiles, drills, adhesive glue, interior furnishings, elevators, and air-conditioning and heating equipment. It also sent 10 buses and six Rexton SUVs.
When sending the materials, Seoul demanded five times that the North allow South Korean officials to visit the construction site and provide details on where the materials were used. All such demands were rejected.
However North Korea reportedly showed South Korean officials a vacant lot in November last year, indicating that construction still had not begun. An official with a construction firm said, "North Korea must have already used the cement, iron bars and cable for other purposes since they become useless five to six months after leaving the factories."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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MACAU DAILY TIMES > FOOD SITUATION WORSENS [again] IN NORTH KOREA, forcing Pyongyang to reopen select markets in order to attempt to alleviate the new shortages.
DRPK Ruling elites are able to cream off the top - hwoever, those below must rely on eating low/poor-quality rice porridge, or corn, or else forage for their own Personal, Family foodstuffies.
We could just strangle Kimmie and save the snooping around on the banks ...
The U.S. envoy charged with UN sanctions, Philip Goldberg, is still trying to block North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's cash flow, even as Washington has agreed to talks with Pyongyang aimed at persuading it to return to nuclear negotiations.
North Korea invited U.S. North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth on Aug. 4, when former U.S. president Bill Clinton was in Pyongyang to win the release of two American journalists. The same day, Goldberg was on his way to Moscow, where he met Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin and reportedly asked Russia to crack down on a mafia gang based on a tip-off that it had been involved in the laundering slush funds for Kim Jong-il.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities believe that North Korea recently earned a lot of foreign currency by smuggling ivory from Africa and distributing fake Viagra as well as selling drugs and circulating counterfeit dollars.
The North allegedly laundered money or operated secret bank accounts with the help of the Russian gangsters after it became practically impossible for the North to carry out normal transactions using the real names of top officials or agencies. Russia then passed an advisory circular which the U.S. had sent around Russian banks.
According to the source, North Korea expanded arms exports even after UN Security Council Resolution 1874 took effect in the wake of its second nuclear test on May 25. "North Korea has developed new markets in Africa and Latin America, in addition to expanding exports to its existing markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East," the source said. "It seems the North is mainly exporting small vessels such as Hovercraft and patrol boats and Air Force equipment including radar and GPS to Africa and Latin America."
Goldberg then visited China in late October to persuade his hosts to implement sanctions against the North. He pledged to concentrate on blocking any money flow related to weapons of mass destruction. There are fears that the sanctions lost their bite when China in early October promised the North a massive aid package, but some experts disagree.
Prof. Cho Young-ki of Korea University said, "The U.S.-led financial sanctions will deal a blow especially to Kim Jong-il's slush funds and the North's munitions economy. Unlike in 2005 when it sanctioned Banco Delta Asia, the U.S. now seems to have found a way to inflict pain on the North while not allowing it to openly resist."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently believes Golberg's efforts have been successful, saying Monday that North Korea now wants dialogue because nations of the six-party talks are taking concerted action in implementing sanctions against the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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ION MACAU DAILY TIMES > {Chin Premier Wen Jiabao] US HAS VIOLATED CHINA'S SOVEREIGNTY, wid its recent arms sales to Taiwin + its welcoming of the Dalai Lama to the WH.
* WMF > PAKISTANI MEDIA: CHINA'S MAIN ARMORED FORCES ARE NO MATCH EVEN AGZ THE TALIBAN [armed wid RPGS].
First guess, China, as a hedge in case they need a puppet in North Korea someday. Second guess, Kimmie, in case plans with #3 son fall through. Third guess, Uncle Sugar, just because we're dumb that way.
Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, is apparently living with his wife and son in Macau in a luxury villa he bought 10 years ago. There are separate homes in downtown Macau for his bodyguards. He frequents the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel and is often seen in the hotel's casino, restaurant, bar and sauna. A night in a suite there costs US$460 a night.
In 2001, Kim Jong-nam was deported from Japan when he was caught trying to enter on a fake passport, apparently to visit Tokyo Disney Land. At the time, Kim was wearing a Rolex watch, Aigner belt and A. Testoni shoes, and the two women accompanying him carried pure gold Chanel accessories and Louis Vuitton bags. Few North Koreans will know these brand names, and each of these items cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
In 1998, Kim Jong-nam sneaked into Japan and had a few drinks at a notoriously expensive bar in Tokyo's Akasaka district, according to the account of a barmaid. Kim Jong-il's second son Jong-chul, meanwhile, reportedly followed Eric Clapton on tour through Germany, attending four concerts in different cities.
South Korean employers pay North Korean employees in the Kaesong Industrial Complex $59 a month. North Korean authorities take 30 percent of that salary and the workers take home $41 worth of goods (not in cash). And in actual foreign exchange rate terms, the average North Korean worker makes about $1 a month. An ordinary North Korean worker must slog 460 months to cover Kim Jong-nam's Macau hotel stay for one night, and a Kaesong worker 11 months. It's difficult to calculate how many North Korean workers must toil and sweat to finance Kim's gambling, drinking and shopping. How many workers must toil to support Kim Jong-chul's tour through Europe to hear Eric Clapton?
Using the six-party nuclear talks as a pawn, North Korea is demanding access to $24 million of its assets frozen in a Macau bank account. This is part of a slush fund North Korean officials are managing and is used as spending money for the communist country's ruling elite, including Kim Jong-nam. Pro-North Korean officials in South Korea are trying to turn a blind eye to this eyesore while spending tens of billions of won (US$1=W937) operating 15 truth-finding commissions to rake up the past.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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He stashed away a rainy day fund while he was still the favored son. What's so hard to understand about that?
#2
not toomention all the money he made stealing the AID (food) and selling it
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 18:16
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I'm sure Kim Jong-Nam is a key player in North Korea's arms export business, and rakes in a tidy sum from playing these games. I also believe that some of what he's doing is finger-in-the-eye behavior against Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US. He may also be a foil to divert attention from someone engaging in far more nefarious activities.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2010 18:51
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#4
The Chicoms could shut Kimmie down, but they find him useful in making trouble for the civilized world. Kimmie is a symptom of a bigger proxy problem.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2010 21:49
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Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, has brought most American Special Operations forces under his direct control for the first time, out of concern over continued civilian casualties and disorganization among units in the field.
"What happens is, sometimes at cross-purposes, you got one hand doing one thing and one hand doing the other, both trying to do the right thing but working without a good outcome," General McChrystal said in an interview.
Critics, including Afghan officials, human rights workers and some field commanders of conventional American forces, say that Special Operations forces have been responsible for a large number of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan and operate by their own rules.
Maj. Gen. Zahir Azimi, the chief spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said that General McChrystal had told Afghan officials he was taking the action because of concern that some American units were not following his orders to make limiting civilian casualties a paramount objective.
"These special forces were not accountable to anyone in the country, but General McChrystal and we carried the burden of the guilt for the mistakes they committed," he said. "Whenever there was some problem with the special forces we didn't know who to go to, it was muddled and unclear who was in charge."
General McChrystal has made reducing civilian casualties a cornerstone of his new counterinsurgency strategy, and his campaign has had some success: last year, civilian deaths attributed to the United States military were cut by 28 percent, although there were 596 civilian deaths attributed to coalition forces, according to United Nations figures. Afghan and United Nations officials blame Special Operations troops for most of those deaths.
"In most of the cases of civilian casualties, special forces are involved," said Mohammed Iqbal Safi, head of the defense committee in the Afghan Parliament, who participated in joint United States-Afghan investigations of civilian casualties last year. "We're always finding out they are not obeying the rules that other forces have to in Afghanistan."
"These forces often operate with little or no accountability and exacerbate the anger and resentment felt by communities," the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan wrote in its report on protection of civilians for 2009.
#1
This implies they were not under his control? Who controlled them? Why were they allowed to under the control of anyone except the Theater commander?
This all sounds like political hogwash aimed at bluffing the Afghans into relaxing. McCrystal had control of SOF, he was the commander of all forces after all.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 0:25
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"These forces often operate with little or no accountability and exacerbate the anger and resentment felt by communities," the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan wrote in its report on protection of civilians for 2009.
#4
49 Pan, lex: I'm not so sure his control was direct, because of SOCOM rules. As commander, USFOR-A, he would have been in overall command, by operationally, he would have likely needed to go through Admiral Eric T. Olson, at their headquarters at MacDill AFB, near Tampa.
#5
A, Your right to an extent. SOF units are operationally controlled by the geographic commander, McChrystal while ADM Olsen still owns them. The SOCOM, USASOC mission is to suppot the geographic commander not operate around him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 11:31
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#6
“(4) Except as otherwise directed by the Secretary of Defense, all forces operating within the geographic area assigned to a unified combatant command shall be assigned to, and under the command of, the commander of that command. The preceding sentence applies to forces assigned to a specified combatant command only as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense.
“(b) CHAIN OF COMMAND.-unless otherwise directed by the President, the chain of command to a unified or specified combatant command runs-
“(1) from the President to the Secretary of Defense; and
“(2) from the Secretary of Defense to the commander of the combatant command. - Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986
#7
The NY times is quite lazy. I believe to what they allude to was reported by the washington compost the day before: "The Marine approach - creative, aggressive and, at times, unorthodox - has won many admirers within the military. The Marine emphasis on patrolling by foot and interacting with the population, which has helped to turn former insurgent strongholds along the Helmand River valley into reasonably stable communities with thriving bazaars and functioning schools, is hailed as a model of how U.S. forces should implement counterinsurgency strategy. But the Marines' methods, and their insistence that they be given a degree of autonomy not afforded to U.S. Army units, also have riled many up the chain of command in Kabul and Washington, prompting some to refer to their area of operations in the south as "Marineistan." They regard the expansion in Delaram and beyond as contrary to the population-centric approach embraced by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, and they are seeking to impose more control over the Marines."
The first thing that went through my mind was McCrystal is wrong as is the UN.
#8
"These forces often operate with little or no accountability and exacerbate the anger and resentment felt by communities," "We're always finding out they are not obeying the rules that other forces have to in Afghanistan."
Angers me to see the spin that our special forces kill a higher number of civilians, and are portrayed as out of control, or loose cannons.
Our special forces are the best of the best and I am sick and tired of seeing our guys bashed constantly including our three SEAL's accused recently.
And really, how many are insurgents and retreat and come back presenting themselves as civilians anyway.
How about standing up for our guys putting their life on the line every time they go out there to protect our freedoms. This PC crap is just that, crap.
end rant, this time. (I find myself ranting more and more every day).
Posted by: Jan at work ||
03/16/2010 16:51
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#9
TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > US SPECIAL FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN NOW [mostly] UNDER NATO.
and
SAME > US SETS UP PRIVATE MILITARY FORCE TO HUNT DOWN MILITANTS.
The Spanish judiciary has issued international bench warrants against several members of Basque terrorist group ETA and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), for alleged assassination plot against high-ranking Colombian government officers. Excellent! Do some more digging because I'll bet the ETA and FARC have even deeper connections with Oogo ...
As reported by court sources, Judge Eloy Velasco, of the Spanish National Court issued last week bench warrants against six presumed ETA members, including Arturo Cubillas Fontan, who held an incumbency at the Venezuelan government, and five FARC members, Efe quoted.
Judge Velasco indicted last March 1, indicted six ETA members and seven FARC members, and gave an indication of their alleged links with the Venezuelan government.
According to the sources, the judge did not order the detention of the two FARC members because one of them is dead, and because the only woman facing trial, Remedios GarcÃa Albert, is in Spain.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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I'd like to see a meeting with the FARC trying to pronounce ETA names
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 19:08
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Israel's envoy to Washington said ties between the two allies have hit "the most severe crisis since 1975" over Tel Aviv settlement plan that embarrassed the US administration at a time that it was promoting indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.
"Israel's relations with the US are facing the most severe crisis since 1975," Israel's Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said on Monday.
Israel's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on Oren's remarks.
The year 1975 witnessed a major crisis between the key allies over the US calls for a partial withdrawal from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, then under Israeli occupation.
Israel's settlement plan to build 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem (al-Quds), which was announced during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden aimed at promoting indirect peace talks with the Palestinians, ignited a new crisis between the two sides.
US administration officials including Biden, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior presidential advisor David Axelrod have slammed both the new construction and the timing of the announcement as insulting and destructive to peace efforts.
In American media the move was deemed as a "slap in the face" of US President Barack Obama's administration.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced regret on Sunday for what he described as bureaucratic happenstance, saying "We know how to deal with these situations -- with equanimity, responsibly and seriously."
Israeli media reported that Clinton, in a telephone call to Netanyahu on Friday, demanded he reverse the decision to construct the settler homes at Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem (al-Quds). Israel, however, declined to comment.
In Washington, the influential pro-Israel lobbying group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, called on the White House to take immediate steps to defuse tension with Israel.
A US envoy is expected back in the region later in the week to try to get peace talks, suspended since December 2008, under way.
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas, however, refused direct or indirect negotiations without a complete settlement freeze.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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Israel know one thing for certain, America will be at her side, however reluctanly, by our prez O. They also know that he will not last forever in office, read voted out, and they will not piss off the American supporters. They will go it alone until those crazy Americans figure it out.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 0:36
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#2
Israel outlasted Ford and Carter (remember those clowns?). They'll outlast this clown. 560 days to go.
#3
You can see the fear in the Liberal's eyes. They know what they dont want to know...and they are out in the open. Its later when they have a broken thumb and at least ten inches of slit open belly fat and trying to push a large curl of lower bowel back into the cavity..that they know its going to get dark and then...twenty hyenas and no Jesus.
#6
I guess no one told Obama, and Clinton has forgotten. On his very first visit to USA as Israeli PM, his first term, Bibi spoke to Congress about phasing out USA aid to Israel. A move that aroused considerable heat in Israel[1]---now he can get his way without any domestic opposition.
[1] Jews survived 2000 years of Diaspora by finding powerful patrons---the psychological need is very fundamental.
#7
fwiw, the WaPost editorial today counseled Obama to retreat from his confrontation with Israel (and blame Obama for the 'blunt and undiplomatic' Clinton phone call.
I expect other newspaper have similar editorials.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 11:42
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Lest we forget the Israelis have their friends in the US press corps. This could boomerang badly for the Big O. I certainly hope it does. What a tool that man is. This issue with Israel is all smoke and mirrors, created to bully them and nothing more.
#9
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas, however, refused direct or indirect negotiations without a complete settlement freeze.
What has gotten lost in the shuffle here is that a settlement freeze has never been a prerequisite for negotiations until after President ObamaÂ’s Cairo speech. Also, when Secretary Clinton tried to soften the bungled language the Arab League pulled the rug out from under her cankles. ThatÂ’s no excuse for IsraelÂ’s ill-timed announcement but the situation should viewed in the context of recent events.
#10
I wish it were only 560 days. (2x365) + (10x30) = 1030... right? til Jan 20 2013
there's an f'n leap year in there too somewhere
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 18:57
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What has gotten lost in the shuffle here is that a settlement freeze has never been a prerequisite for negotiations until after President Obama's Cairo speech. Also, when Secretary Clinton tried to soften the bungled language the Arab League pulled the rug out from under her cankles. That's no excuse for Israel's ill-timed announcement but the situation should viewed in the context of recent events.
If she doesn't like the water she's carrying she can always stop carrying it. IMHO.
Until then, I think we can safely assume she agrees with Zero about the situation.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A group of hardliners besieged the Tehran home of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, shouting death slogans and calling for him to be put on trial, reports said on Monday.
The Fars news agency identified the small but vocal crowd which gathered on Sunday outside the building where Karroubi lives as "students and families of martyrs" of the Iran-Iraq war.
Pictures carried by the pro-government Borna news agency showed the building had been defaced with red coloring and slogans pronouncing "Death to Karroubi" had been scribbled on the walls.
The walls had also been plastered with death slogans against main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and former president Mohammed Khatami.
"We want the judiciary to put the leaders of sedition on trial as soon as possible," Fars quoted the protesters as saying. They also denounced Karroubi as a "hypocrite" -- the term used by Iranian officials for the enemies of state.
Some brandished placards that read "Karroubi is a Mossad agent" -- linking the two-time former parliament speaker to the intelligence service of Iran's arch foe Israel.
A relative of Karroubi confirmed the incident to AFP and said the cleric would soon make a statement.
Karroubi and Mousavi have led a protest movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after his June re-election, which they reject as massively rigged.
Karroubi was attacked by hardliners during Iran's annual revolution day rally on Feb. 11 and his car was shot at earlier in January in the city of Qazvin west of Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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Pakistani forces have arrested a top Pakistani Taliban leader, Qari Shabbir, in Faisalabad on Sunday.
Qari Shabbir is said to be a close associate of recently killed extremist Dr Moaz Elias Umar Kundi. Shabbir has been shifted to an unknown place for investigation.
Sources told Geo TV that he provided logistic support to the militants in the Punjab. However, police has denied his arrest.
The arrest comes in a series of detention of both Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan over the past one month. Pakistani forces nabbed Afghan Taliban No 2, Mullah Baradar, who was on the day-to-day command of militant operations in Afghanistan.
This article starring:
Mullah Baradar
Qari Shabbir
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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Federal prosecutors oppose a bid by lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to delay his corruption trial until November. Blagojevich is charged with conspiring to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama and other misuses of his office. I think early October is a fine time to open the trial ...
Blagojevich's lawyers last week asked to postpone the trial from June 3 because the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to limit or throw out the "honest services" fraud law. They also cited a voluminous amount of evidence turned over by prosecutors in recent days.
In their filing Monday, prosecutors contended that neither argument by the defense is persuasive, "particularly in light of the strong public interest in resolving this case as expeditiously as possible."
Blagojevich's repeated public statements against the case have heightened that interest, the government contended.
"The charges in this case allege that the defendant engaged in a longstanding and pervasive abuse of his power as the governor of the state of Illinois," the prosecution said. "The defendant has repeatedly and publicly challenged the legitimacy of the charges against him. As a result, the public has a strong interest in the expeditious resolution of the charges."
Prosecutors argued that no matter how the Supreme Court rules on the "honest services" law, the underlying evidence against the former governor would remain the same at trial.
Blagojevich is charged with conspiring to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama and other misuses of his office. Part of the indictment depends on the controversial fraud statute that requires elected officials perform their duties honestly. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the statute early in the summer.
Prosecutors also dismissed the defense claim that it has been overwhelmed with evidence from the prosecution. By the time the trial would begin in early June, the defense would have had months to review all the material, they said.
The issue will be before U.S. District Judge James Zagel on Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010
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UK slang - To blag,
To convince by rhetoric; to gain acceptance or approval through persuasive banter or conversation; trickery; keenly persuasive; to scrounge by means of conversation.
[Iran Press TV Latest] One person has been killed in an early morning rocket attack on the largest US military hub north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, NATO says.
The US military did not give details of the Monday attack on Bagram Air Field. It also did not say whether the victim was from the military personnel or a civilian at the base.
A local police chief in the Bagram district of Parwan province said one rocket was fired about 4 am on the base, but a Taliban spokesman told the Associated Press that two rockets targeted the base.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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#2
BS meter's sky-high on this one. The Saudis and the other arabs know that the US military is the only thing keeping their corrupt, weak, decadent, oil-fed dictatorships from being overthrown by any number of violent organized revolutionary groups, from the Muslim Brotherhood to AQ and others.
Bottom line: we're the security guards for the House of Saud, the Hashemite dynasty and the Mubarak dynasty. They don't give a f&&& about the Palestinians. They care intensely about preserving their power. Hence our indispensability, regardless of the degree of US support for Israel.
To even hint otherwise is unbelievably gullible journalism.
#3
Obananna is a very intelligent kinda guy. He understands why Biden came back to the US with poo smeared all in his best Tie. The Israelis did it on purpose and they dont respect The ONE or his gaggle of douchebags.
I dont feel bad about it because I KNOW Skinny is an arrogant fool and doesnt represent me or my country. He's on his own and we can safely disown him after we flush him. And in November we WILL flush his policys at the Polls. And the whole world will see us do it and Obama will drift for the next three years like a turd in the bowl. And the Doinks will just have to use air freshener.
Obama is useless. And Biden got what he really deserved. Rot in your chair, Skinny.
#4
The January Mullen briefing was unprecedented. No previous CENTCOM commander had ever expressed himself on what is essentially a political issue; which is why the briefers were careful to tell Mullen that their conclusions followed from a December 2009 tour of the region where, on Petraeus's instructions, they spoke to senior Arab leaders.
I label the above para absolute total BS. The next bit about going direct to the WH with a UCP change, BS as well. The closing sentence;
America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers. Maybe Israel gets the message now.
This is absolute and total BS which violates the age old mission first tenant. Furthermore, Israel has long had the Obama "message."
This article attempts to connect a highly respected military leader's alleged actions, comments and unsuccessful UCP change as evidence of a Palestinian linked weakening of US standing in the region. If any weakness in the Arab world is detected it is due to POTUS and his inaction with reference to Iran, not our continued strategic interests or position concerning Israel or the West Bank. Blaming Israel for regional instability is a tired old theme. Linking the highly popular General Petraeus to failed efforts may, for obvious reasons, be an entirely new developing theme.
#6
A couple of things to consider when reading this article. First, and assuming the facts are true, Petraeus' motivations are not and can not be known unless he himself tells us. Which won't happen. Second, there may be a lot of truth in there. We don't know. Petraeus has access to a lot of real information. Information brought to him by boots on the ground who have no reason to run it through a political filter. Information gathered over tea while talking about this and that. It would be very interesting to know what he knows.
#7
What is true is that everybody thinks they can roll Barry. And they can. And they will. More and more often. Until one day he stupidly decides not to roll. Then dominoes start falling.
#8
The only reason Biden came back "with poo smeared all in his best Tie", BlackBart, is because Obama admin was looking for an excuse to provoke a crisis.
p.s. Anybody who's offended by Jews building homes in Jerusalem---can go engage in auto-copulation.
Ditto anybody who proposes to save American lives by sacrificing Israeli.
#9
The level of cynicism in the ME is sky high, and always has been, except among the losers. The Israelis see that Obama is incredibly weak, so they are making hay while the sun shines.
Good for them, and the more, the merrier. One of the worst aggravating factors in the ME is when the Israelis use half-measures and futz around with their interests. They should have long ago been expelling Paleos into Egypt or Jordan at the drop of a hat.
#12
It must be remembered that the current vice president has long proclaimed himself, and campaigned as, Israel's best friend. He probably is the only one in President Obama's circle -- Rahm Emmanuel most certainly is not, despite his ancestry, nor Secretary of State Clinton, despite positions she took as New York's junior senator.
#13
On reading the article, the one thing that strikes me is that only Arab opinions were solicited. Nobody seems to have talked to the Israelis to see what they think about America's strengths and weaknesses, whether Obama's America is an honest broker in the difficulties Israel has been having with the Palestinians or acts to support the Arab view. I find it hard to believe that so perceptive and clever a soldier as General Petraeus would seek out answers to only one side of the equation, and present the results without giving perspective.
One wonders if this article isn't another step as the Obama administration tries to do an Alinsky on Israel.
"America's relationship with Israel is important,but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers."
"What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace."
Some thoughts re these quotes:
Contrast the 1st quote with the Obama administrations policy in Afghanistan (McChrystal's ROE):
"America's relationship with the Karzai regime Afghanistan is important. So important in fact that we'd rather sacrifice American soldiers than kill Afghan illegal combatants and war criminals civilians. We are in Afghanistan to serve the Afghan people"
As for the 2nd quote:
The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right to speak out against Islam, thereby contravening sharia law.
The OIC countries have officially demanded that non-Muslims in the west be subjected to sharia restrictions on free speech.
By not repealing the 1st Amendment the US is undermining the security of NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Think of Afghans watching a youtube clip showing an American abusing a Koran. Think of the same Afghans learning that the US government will not punish such expression. They might take out their anger on NATO troops in their neighborhood.
That argument is no less persuasive than the Biden quote.
Of course I'm not advocating a surrender of western civil rights to Afghan sensitivities.
The ultimate objective of "Enduring Freedom" is the preservation of "Freedom" after all.
in the same issue of The Sun that had an article on the need for larger bras in Britain
AN invisible star may be circling the Sun and causing deadly comets to bombard the Earth, scientists said yesterday.
The brown dwarf - up to five times the size of Jupiter - could be to blame for mass extinctions that occur here every 26 million years. The star - nicknamed Nemesis by Nasa scientists - would be invisible as it only emits infrared light and is incredibly distant.
Nemesis is believed to orbit our solar system at 25,000 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.
As it spins through the galaxy, its gravitational pull drags icy bodies out of the Oort Cloud - a vast sphere of rock and dust twice as far away as Nemesis. These "snowballs" are thrown towards Earth as comets, causing devastation similar to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Now Nasa boffins believe they will be able to find Nemesis using a new heat-seeking telescope that began scanning the skies in January.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010
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#1
It would be nice if someone put up a brown dwarf way out here in the sticks; I'm tired of having to drive all the way to Alpha Centauri to get my nonesuch dioxide out of the photosphere of Proxima.
#6
"The brown dwarf - up to five times the size of Jupiter - could be to blame for mass extinctions that occur here every 26 million years."
Sounds just like something someone in the family deposited in the toilet that wouldnt go away on Sunday.
Suprisingly noone would admit to it .
Eerie similarities in the article and fact !
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 11:41
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#7
Nice reference xbalanke! Betcha not too many here at the Burg get it. Saw Phil's 70th birthday show Friday. Awesome. They played 3 sets and went until 2:15 (I left at 1:30)
#9
remoteman: I knew a few would get it, but I was curious who'd be the first to note it.
And I'm officially jealous! I'll have to check for that show on archive.org in the near future. I have to wait till June to see them, but I'll be taking my kids who are big fans too.
#10
70 for Lesh was even noted on Imus on the Fox Business Network. an.... I felt old, and I'm 50
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 21:17
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#11
THe PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US, FUTURE OWG-NWO which the "powers that be" seemingly won't confirm or deny intentionally promoting is more at risk from THEIR OWN PERT(S) MATH, MODULAR MISKLAKULATIONS = ERRORS AS PER COMET APOPHIS 2029-2036 + ASSORTED 1990's RUSSIA-DISCOVERED SPACE ROCKS + SOLAR PHENOMENAE.
Once again, to paraph a CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE GENERAL > "UNION/YANKEE GENERAL MCLELLAN MAY HAD BROUGHT THE MIGHTY, SUPER-DUPER SIZED,SEEMINGLY IVINCIBLE GRAND/GREAT ARMY OF THE POTOMAC TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE, BUT HE ALSO BROUGHT HIMSELF".
When I was in the service, we stopped SOviets + aligned dead in thier tracks all around the World - now that I'm not, MSM-NET > Communism + Socialism-Govtism is taking over America.
NATIONAL-GLOBAL REGRESSIONISM > OWG Mighty USSA versus OWG Weak US Republiks of Amerika Global SSR.
"SOVIET AMERIKA" OWG SCENARIO > WILL A ECON, GEOPOL TRUBLED AMERICA = AMERIKA, + ANY DESIRED OWG-NWO + CWO-SWO, HAVE THE POLITICAL PRIORITIES + UNIFIED CONSENSUS, ETC. TO HAVE THE POTENT ECONOMY + CORRECT MATH + FIREPOWER, ETC. TO EFFECTIVELY STOP BOTH EARTH-, SPACE-BASED THREATS TO THE NEW GLOBAL ORDER???
The Cold War USSR had highly trained, profesional, top-notch US-World recognized Perts whom in the end were NOT able to save their own Country + CCCP, etc. System from itself.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Sunday Herald has reported that hundreds of powerful US "bunker-buster" bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia.
In January, the US government signed a contract to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island, the Scottish newspaper wrote on March 14.
According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 "Blu-110" and "Blu-117" bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Crucially, the cargo included 195 smart, guided, Blu-110 bombs and 192 massive 2000lb Blu-117 bombs.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran's nuclear facilities, added the newspaper.
There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.
Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius.
The Sunday Herald reported in 2007 that stealth bomber hangers on Diego Garcia Island were being equipped to accommodate bunker-buster bombs.
Although the story was not confirmed at the time, the new evidence suggests that it was accurate, the latest edition of the Sunday Herald said.
A shipping company based in Florida, Superior Maritime Services, will be paid $699,500 to carry many thousands of military items from Concord, California to Diego Garcia.
"The US is not publicizing the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely," the Sunday Herald quoted Dan Plesch, the director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London, as saying.
"The US... is using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran's actions," he added.
According to Ian Davis, the director of the new independent think tank NATO Watch, the shipment to Diego Garcia is a major concern. "We would urge the US to clarify its intentions for these weapons, and the Foreign Office to clarify its attitude to the use of Diego Garcia for an attack on Iran," he said.
The British Ministry of Defense has said in the past that the US government would need permission to use Diego Garcia for offensive action.
However, the US military used Diego Garcia as a base to attack Iraq in 1991 and 2003.
About 50 British military personnel are stationed on the island and over 3,200 US troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010
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#1
Seems to me the BLU-117s are too small to make much more than a dent. Bunker Busters didn't do much more than rattle the dishes in Saddam's bunkers, and Iran's are newer.
#4
One thing the Mad Mullahs might want to think about is that, if the health care bill fails, Obummer is gonna need something to do that can make up for that failure. His ego will demand it. I mean, how would you like to go through the next two years as the main player on the world stage with everybody thinking that your are impotent and comical?
So if the guy is frustrated and humiliated and looking for something to make himself feel better he might just set his sights on bombing the hell out of Iran.
#5
If only Obama was capable of something like that...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/16/2010 15:12
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#6
"His ego will demand it. "
I've heard of off the wall theories like astro-cartography and locational astrology...LOL...
Maybe EGO cartography needs to be added as a new age discipline--there might even be $ in it. Cause Obummer has an entire universe of satellite idiots orbiting round him, that is for sure.
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.
FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) - New soldiers are grunting through the kind of stretches and twists found in "ab blaster" classes at suburban gyms as the Army revamps its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades.
Hundreds of Palestinians in east Jerusalem set tires and garbage bins ablaze on Tuesday and hurled rocks at Israeli riot police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. The heaviest clashes in months broke out as an American envoy abruptly canceled a visit, deepening a U.S.-Israeli diplomatic feud.
The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had a little political advice last week for President Obama and the Democrats: Don't pass the president's health care legislation because you would risk losing in the midterm elections. 
Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Monday that she is leaning toward using a "deeming" mechanism to push health care reform across the finish line. 
The Spanish judiciary has issued international bench warrants against several members of Basque terrorist group ETA and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), for alleged assassination plot against high-ranking Colombian government officers. 
