The family of an Immigration and Customs agent slain in Mexico has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the U.S. government.
A pair of South Texas law firms representing the family of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata filed the claim June 14 and named ICE, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Justice Department as defendants. Attorneys for Zapata's parents, Mary and Amador Zapata, named several supervisors at the agencies and FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Eric Holder.
The claim notice is a precursor to a lawsuit.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Attorneys in the case, Raymond Thomas and Benigno Martinez, were out of the office and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Zapata was killed in a roadside attack near San Luis Potosi in northern Mexico in February 2011. Fellow agent Victor Avila was wounded.
A separate, $12.5 million claim citing negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress was filed on Avila's behalf.
According to the claims, two AK-47 assault rifles bought in Texas and smuggled into Mexico were used by the attackers to fire more than 90 rounds at the men. Lawyers for the agents said the government's practice of allowing U.S.-bought weapons to be taken into Mexico as part of broader gun trafficking investigations involving Mexican cartels allowed the weapons used in this case to be smuggled across the border.
In the filings, lawyers in the case allege that ATF officials in Texas knew the men who bought the two guns used in the Zapata killing were buying weapons bound for Mexico but did nothing to stop them.
h/t Instapundit
President Obamas assertion of executive privilege today is a bit like the kickoff for the NFL regular season. It doesnt end the Fast and Furious scandal; it just takes it to another level. Everything so far was the pre-season. Now people will start to pay attention.
A president doesnt assert executive privilege lightly. It is a relic from the powers of the king. Some things were not for parliaments eyes, such as national security statecraft. This new phase of the Fast and Furious scandal begins with Americans who had paid no attention to the scandal hearing the news today and asking, what are they trying to hide?
#1
This new phase of the Fast and Furious scandal begins with Americans who had paid no attention to the scandal hearing the news today and asking, "what are they trying to hide?"
Those who listen to, read, or watch the old media may be hearing this for the first time. F & F has been flying under the radar is the media. I listened to Wolf Blitzer for as long as I could tolerate him and their spin was unbelievable. They are missing the whole point of the F & F investigation--not a whit of concern about justice for Brian Terry or concern for the few hundred Mexican citizens who have been murdered as the result of F & F. The MSM is all about protecting Obama and Holder. They neglect that Issa's committee is asking for documents about Operation Wide Receiver under President Bush as well.
"It's refreshing to know that yet another scientific inquiry has confirmed what all of us who were interested in facts already knew: there is no legitimate reason to believe hydraulic fracturing will cause earthquakes," said a fracking spokeman.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/20/2012
13:37 ||
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#1
How much of this nonsense is the result of ignorant people watching "A View to a Kill"?
Plant enough explosives under San Andreas fault and cause a quake. Fracture rocks for oil extraction cause a quake.
#4
Not unlike per GWCC + Peak Oil, Peak Food, Water, Trees, Tuna/Fish, etc. the science isn't settled on Fracking.
Among other, "Globalism" + OWG-NWO as precursor to SPACE GOVT-ORDER entails advancing the levels of empirical or scientific knowledge to hereto unknown heights, in addition to testing + re-testing the premises + reliability, etc. of what we do know.
AS SAID OR INFERRED TIMES BEFORE, THE [OWG-NWO = International/Universal] GOVTS, PERTS CONSENSUS IS THAT THERE IS NO CONSENSUS.
E.g. COMET APOPHIS 2029-2036 > Various Perts say it can still collide wid Earth, yet as of 2012 the only OWG/Global Federal, Regional Trans- or Continental "Union" that is formally set up is the EU, which iff the MSM-Net + Perts is to be believed is already under high risk of "break-up" = dissolution? due to the EuroDollar Crisis + poor Global Economy.
THE SIMPSONS' CHIEF WIGGUM = DATS SOME MIGHTY EFFECTIVE OWG ANTI-SPACE ROCK "SPACE DEFENSE", LOU! Be it US GMD-TMD or Russian ASMD, etal. all of the "defensive" Missles are pointed agz one another, NOT "OUT THERE" AS PROPER UNDER SPACE GOVT-ORDER.
* FYI WORLD NEWS > UNDERGROUND CARBON CAPTURE + STORAGE COULD CAUSE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKES.
In the wake of President Barack Obama asserting executive privilege to withhold Operation Fast and Furious documents from Congress, the Department of Justice has withdrawn a second statement made to Congress because it was inaccurate.
During last weeks Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Holder had alleged that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey knew of gunwalking during the George W. Bush administration.
An attorney general who I suppose you would hold in higher regard was briefed on these kinds of tactics in an operation called Wide Receiver and did nothing to stop them nothing, Holder told Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn during that hearing. Three hundred guns, at least, walked in that instance.
After the hearing, Grassley wrote to Holder asking him to provide evidence to back up his blaming Mukasey.
Instead of being able to facilitate evidence, though, according to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassleys office, Holder and the DOJ have now retracted that statement.
This is the second time in nearly seven months that the Department has gotten its facts wrong about gunwalking, Grassley said. Attorney General Holder accused Attorney General Mukasey, without producing any evidence, of having been briefed on gunwalking in Wide Receiver. The case Attorney General Mukasey was briefed on, Hernandez, is fundamentally different from both Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious since it involved cooperation with the Mexican government. Attorney General Holders retraction should have included an apology to the former Attorney General.
In his original request for evidence that supported the statements, Grassley said if Holder could not back the claim, he owed Mukasey an apology. Holder did not include an apology in the retraction. Its unclear if the attorney general will apologize to Mukasey for the now-retracted statement. Holder spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler wouldnt answer when The Daily Caller asked her.
In his eagerness to blame the previous administration, Attorney General Holder got his facts wrong, Grassley added. And his tactic didnt bring us any closer to understanding how a bad policy evolved and continued. Bad policy is bad policy, regardless of how many administrations carried it out. Ironically, the only document produced yesterday by the Department appears to show that senior officials in the Attorney Generals own Department were strategizing about how to keep gunwalking in both Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious under wraps.
The first time Holders DOJ withdrew a statement to congress because of its inaccuracy was when now-former Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote to Sen. Grassley on Feb. 4, 2011, telling him that the DOJ and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives never allowed guns to walk. It wasnt until several months later that Holder withdrew that false statement.
All F & F news should be under 'Home Front: WoT and WoT Background, since it involves our government providing guns to narcoterrorists who then used them to kill innocent Mexican citizens and American law enforcement officers. Thx.
President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off a contempt vote against Holder by Republicans in the House.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is expected to forge ahead with its meeting on the contempt resolution anyway.
House Republicans appear to be charging ahead with a high-drama contempt vote against Eric Holder, after GOP Rep. Darrell Issa said the attorney generally failed to produce the documents he requested for the probe into the Justice Department's botched Fast and Furious operation.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Barring a last-minute document dump from Holder, lawmakers are poised to vote on a contempt resolution following debate this morning.
If the vote proceeds, Republicans have more than enough votes on committee to pass the resolution. However, Holder would not be considered to be held in contempt of Congress unless and until the full House approves the measure.
Issa and Holder have been going back and forth since last week over Issa's request for documents. Issa, R-Calif., indicated a willingness to postpone the vote after Holder indicated a willingness to make compromises and supply some documents in response to House Republicans' subpoena.
But Issa told reporters after a roughly 20-minute meeting with Holder Tuesday that the attorney general instead briefed them on the documents in lieu of delivering them.
Issa told Fox News that Holder didn't provide "anything in writing," and said the family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry wants the documents as much as he does.
"We want the documents. Brian Terry's family would like the documents that are responsive to how in fact their son was gunned down with weapons that came from lawful dealers but at the ... behest of the Justice Department," Issa told Fox News.
Weapons from the Fast and Furious anti-gunrunning operation were found at Terry's murder scene.
Issa suggested earlier Tuesday that the vote could still be up in the air.
"The deadline will always move to the last minute," said Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "We're not looking to hold people responsible. We're looking for document production."
The failed Fast and Furious operation attempted selling thousands of guns to arms dealers along the U.S.-Mexico border to trace them to leaders of drug cartels. However, many of them showed up in crime scenes.
Congressional investigators have been trying to determine if and when high-level Justice officials knew about problems with the operation.
Holder said Issa rejected what he thought was "an extraordinary offer."
"We offered the documents that we thought would resolve the subpoenas," he said. "The ball is in their court."
The contempt vote in the oversight committee will likely pass considering Republicans outnumber Democrats 22 to 16.
GOP House leadership has given Issa the green light to proceed how he sees fit, sources told Fox News, which suggests the vote would reach the House floor.
Holder called for the Capitol Hill meeting late Monday in a possible attempt to make a deal with Issa and avoid the contempt vote.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, said he after the meeting he is confident that Justice officials are not attempting a cover-up by withholding documents.
Holder's letter stated the Justice Department "has offered a serious, good faith proposal to bring this matter to an amicable resolution in the form of a briefing based on documents that the committee could retain."
Issa had demanded to see a trove of documents on the controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation. He also wants to know who prepared a now-retracted letter from Feb. 4, 2011, in which the department claimed the U.S. did not knowingly help smuggle guns to Mexico, including those found where Terry was killed.
Issa wrote back to Holder later Monday requesting he deliver roughly 1,300 documents pertaining to the Feb. 4 letter.
The letter also stated Holder needed to deliver a description of all the documents he will not produce. Issa said the log is "essential for the committee to determine whether the department has substantially met its obligations" -- a statement he repeated Tuesday after the meeting.
#4
Appears the Obama White House just kicked it up a notch, but how can he make such a declaration when some documents have already been released? Releasable documents... non-releasable documents? Sort of begs the question about White House non-involvement, does it not.
#8
Besoeker - are you making nominations for "Under The Bus"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/20/2012 11:42
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No Bobby, just saying there are strict protocols regarding the shipment of weapons by the USG across international borders. It is just beyond belief that some sort of inter-agency coordination did not take place with regard to F&F.
If no inter-agency coordination took place...then where is the US State Department and CIA outrage? Crickets.... only crickets. There is very likely much, much more to this story.
#17
I wonder if he fully understood what he was getting himself into.
The Junior Senator from Illinois is far too detached from reality to understand the consequences of any of his actions. This is just another of many moves on his part that makes that clear. His job, he feels, is to "take care of" his choom gang. That is all that gangsters know to do. This is another example of the current gangster government.
Repeat after me, Champ and Eric: it's not the crime, it's the cover-up.
Take your lumps. Release the documents. Fire some folks and reassign some more. Take the hit in the press.
All that is preferable to the festering wound that F & F has now become. Now you've got the media, even MSNBC, wondering what's going on. What's in those documents. Did Champ see them. Does executive privilege stretch to documents the White House supposedly never saw. And what's in those documents.
Nice going. You turned a sordid, small-scale scandal into a major scandal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2012 13:13
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#19
This man may have to finish out the current term as President. (doh!)
#20
I doubt it. Less than five months left until the election, it would take longer than that, particularly since there is a long summer recess, to come up with articles of impeachment and a trial. It would be faster to simply keep digging for as much documentation as they can and get it exposed to the light of day and letting the people decide in November.
#21
There were pundits during Obama's first year in office who said he would likely not finish his first term. Impeachment is most unlikely. Resignation or declination of the nomination is much more plausible. Keep an eye on the Hildebeast and Slick.
Looking from the outside, crosspatch, seems to me people decided a long time ago. To wit, Obama's core constituency couldn't care less. And the other side has plenty without F&F.
#25
They are just running out the clock, hoping for a win in November, and hoping to take the House (dreamers). I expect pardons issued that give enough cover if they do not stay in office. The damage done by this gang has permanently diminished our trust in the DOJ, State, BATFE, DEA, IRS, FBI, and many other agencies. And it was hard to even think that some of those agencies could get lower in the esteem of the American people.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/20/2012 13:55
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p.s. crosspatch, IMO, removing Holder is critical if you don't want to have a third world style elections.
#28
Whatever it takes for justice to prevail. Preventing that loser from someday being nominated to the Supreme Court would be a definate plus as well.
#29
I read somewhere that the House requested some 80,000 documents. Does executive privilege mean that all 80,000 of those documents have been seen in the White House? Again I say, if it takes 80,000 documents to run an operation like F&F it's a wonder our government can function at all. Who can possibly read that much?
#30
It is just beyond belief that some sort of inter-agency coordination did not take place with regard to F&F.
Unless, of course, we are becoming our own private Pakistain. Wheels within wheels.
I see from crosspatch's pic that I'm not the first to realize we are reliving both the Carter years AND the Nixon years simultaneously. God help us all, said Tiny Tim.
ATF has 5000 employees including 10 offices in Arizona. There are probably several dozen stores in AZ that sell firearms.
The 'don't talk about this' emails and the 'here is what to say about this' emails alone probably total ten thousand or so by themselves, if you count each recipient as a document.
Then there are the 'notes to file' and the interdepartment and intradepartmental emails which probably also total ten thousand.
It adds up.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/20/2012 14:51
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#33
John Adams said, "As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington."
#34
Like a number of commenters said: Executive privilege covers communications between the present president and others. That says a huge amount. O just put the millstone around his neck. He just threw himself under the bus.
This is not breaking into some offices. This is accessory to murder of a Border Patrol agent and hundreds of Mexican citizens by weapons allowed to go to Mexican drug cartels. These are serious charges.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/20/2012 17:07
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#35
Interesting article over at Big Government on the two types of Executive Privleges (communicative and deliberative) and how this falls under the second (and much weaker) one. Also stresses how Holder will eventually lose:
It was the tape recordings of Nixon's attempt to cover up the White House involvement in the Watergate burglary that forced his resignation. He claimed the tapes were protected by executive privilege. It took several months to get his claim of executive privilege before the Supreme Court. That's what Obama is counting on-months of delay to push this case past the election.
Obama has become an outlaw who will do anything to keep his grip on power. He has already shown a propensity toward rule edict and regulation. Watch his behavior if the Supreme Court finds Obamacare unconstitutional. We are sliding closer to dictatorship every day.
#37
"Nothing happened. And if something did happen it was Bush's fault. And if something did happen that wasn't Bush's fault, we wouldn't know anything about it. And if we did know something about it, what we know would be in these documents I won't show you. Any questions?"
Posted by: Matt ||
06/20/2012 19:47
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#38
Obama has made a habit of bypassing Congress so can't Congress do an end run on obtaining these docs? We have cyber capabilities that can remotely access computers, NSA eavesdropping and storage for 3-5 years, and DoD surveillance from space--allowing them to stonewall until the election is over is simply unacceptable.
If nothing else, enact the secret resolution (from the Wallstreet Daily):
If we do not provide against corruption, our government will soon be at an end. George Mason, Virginia Delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention and one of Americas Founding Fathers. Mason made that declaration in 1787. Or as Lawrence Lessig says in his book Republic Lost .Sometimes an institution becomes too sick to fix itself. Not that the institution is necessarily blind to its own sickness. But that it doesnt have the capacity, or will, to do anything about it.
Understanding this, the Framers added to our Constitution an ingenious escape hatch. Although its never been used in the history of this proud country, its the only plausible strategy for forcing fundamental reform to our Congress.
Were calling it The Framers Secret Resolution. But amid all the hope, a newly liberated America was struggling to find its identity. Ironically, like its British predecessor, its early political system was rife with corruption. As Washingtons powerbase was forming, greed often trumped morals. Sounds familiar, right?
In 1787, Congress convened in Philadelphia with the sole and express purpose to make it possible for the Constitution to be amended, as needed. It accomplished this extraordinary feat in two very distinct ways:
1) By Congressional mandate.
2) By calling for a convention.
To date, all 27 amendments have come forth via the traditional route, where Congress proposes an amendment and then the states ratify it.
But, as Lessig says, Sometimes an institution, like an individual, needs an intervention from people, from friends,from outside.
Knowing this, the Framers forever etched their secret resolution onto the parchment that Congress must call a convention to consider proposals to amend the Constitution if two-thirds of the state legislators ask it to. Period! In other words, Americans can, in effect, supersede Congress if the masses can somehow all get behind a game-changing idea, and influence their local leaders to move on it. Its a daunting task. However, even though its never been done, the specter of a convention alone can scare Congress into taking action...
#42
Congress can cut the purse strings at DOJ, DOS, BATFE, WH, etc. strangle these asshats. Next year? Clean house of any bureaucrats that went along with these (and other illegal/unethical) Obama Regime schemes. Time to purge
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2012 23:21
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I live in the UK, and to-day, I had an email from my MP to say that if I don't stop emailing her excerpts from various websites I visit, she will ask the local police to 'call' on me, I can only wonder on what that means, so, the truth is not wanted by the British MP's, well, what are we to do to make them wake up in the real world?
Multiple sources have told Al-Jazeera that ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak suffered a stroke and is on an artificial respirator, but that he is not "clinically dead," as previous reports had claimed. Reuters and the Associated Press also cite sources saying the deposed president is on life support.
Said another way, they're just prolonging the inevitable...
According to Al-Jazeera's Mike Hanna: "We do understand from family sources that Hosni Mubarak is improving. We believe he is still in a coma."
And rather warmed over...
Earlier, the state-run news agency MENA reported that Mubarak had been declared clinically dead upon arriving at a military hospital on Tuesday evening. "Mubarak's heart stopped beating and was subjected to a defibrillator several times but did not respond," the MENA release stated.
However, senior officials, including military leaders, have now contradicted that earlier report. Gen. Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, reportedly told CNN that Mubarak "is not clinically dead as reported, but his health is deteriorating and he is in critical condition."
Mubarak's health had been failing since he was sentenced to life in prison on June 2, after he was convicted of failing to prevent the killing of protesters in a February 2011 uprising against his rule.
Doctors at the prison hospital used a defibrillator twice on June 11 after they could not find a pulse on the deposed leader. An AP story at the time said Mubarak "was slipping in and out of consciousness, was suffering from high blood pressure and breathing difficulties, and was in a deep depression, according to security officials at the prison."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2012
07:45 ||
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#1
Ariel Sharon has been in a permanent vegetative state since January 2006. Given Egyptian medicine, I don't think Mubarak will come close to that record.
#1
no evidence for Israel helping Assad except a single unnamed 'source' who says Israel and others have given covert assistance without describing the assistance.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/20/2012 11:30
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#2
In some ways, Assads destruction would suit Tel Aviv
I emphasized the part that tells you all you need to know about the author.
#3
I have only a tiny resource these days in North Africa (as in, one person) but that person told me last night that another State is also supplying Assad with various forms of assistance: Israel.
I find that a bit hard to believe. Syria is no friend to Israel or vice versa.
Pol Pot was no friend of the US - yet we funneled aid to him after the NVA invaded Cambodia. Similarly, Stalin was no friend of the US, but Operation Barbarossa led to major Lend Lease aid to the Soviets. Hafez Assad used Arab Nationalism (of which Baathism is one variant) to unite Sunni Arabs around the notion that Alawite rule over Sunnis was legitimate and perhaps even desirable. He might even have had visions of becoming, like Muhammad, the man who unified Arabia under his personal rule. The slow but inexorable advance of Sunni Islamism has exploded any hope Assad Jr might have had of keeping Arab Nationalism in Syria alive. Where neighboring Sunni Arab countries condoned Assad Sr's destruction of Hama in the 80's, they are now actively funding and equipping the Sunni Arab rebels in Syria.
From here on, he will have to seek allies among non-Sunni Arab communities and any foreign country that will help him, no-questions-asked. Israel is one of those countries. A Muslim Brotherhood government in Syria is terrible for Israel, given the possibility that Egypt and Syria could then perhaps attempt to revive the corpse of the United Arab Republic that was mummified all those years ago, except as a caliphate.
A man claiming to be an Al-Qaeda terrorist militant seized four hostages at a bank in the French city of Toulouse on Wednesday and wants to negotiate with an elite police unit. The man fired a gun and wants to talk to the Raid police unit that gunned down Al-Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah in March following a siege of his apartment in the same city after he went on a killing spree.
#2
Exchange the hostages for Merah's dear ol' Dad and his attorney
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2012 9:42
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Toulouse siege: 'al-Qaeda militant is schizophrenic' A gunman who has taken three hostages in a bank in the south western French city of Toulouse is mentally ill and has been named as Boumaza, police said.
The man, aged 26, has been described as a schizophrenic by the local authorities but has told police that he is a member of al-Qaeda.
After one hostage was released this afternoon, the armed man spoke to his sister during negotiations with the police but continues to hold three hostage.
The gunman insisted that he was motivated by "religious motivations" and had not carried out his attack with the motive of robbery or money.
The sister of the hostage taker told local media that my brother is enraged. He was placed in Ddass (care of the social services) when he was little, has the rage and is afraid of the outside world, she said.
A Jordanian television producer and his two Filipino assistants who had been reported missing in the southern Philippine island of Sulu have contacted local authorities to say that they are fine and filming a documentary about the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
Bakr Atyani, Al-Arabiyas bureau chief in Pakistan, phoned Sulu Governor Sakur Tan and told him that they are still filming in the hinterlands of Patikul town. The trio escaped from their hostel in Sulu to secretly meet up with terror leaders in Patikul, despite warnings by officials not to interview the Abu Sayyaf.
Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo has confirmed that Atyani contacted Governor Tan. He said he would ask the Bureau of Immigration to deport Atyani and ban him from returning to the Philippines once they complete the clandestine interview with the Abu Sayyaf.
Atyanis group arrived in Sulu on June 11 and interviewed Tan and other government officials as cover for their true intention. Tan has repeatedly warned journalists not to interview terrorist groups or coordinate with authorities if they wanted to cover or film local events.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/20/2012
05:55 ||
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#1
Does anyone find it interesting that news crews can always seem to find these people but law enforcement / military can chase them for decades without finding them?
I noticed the same thing about drug dealers. Police can't find them but any 16yo kid can find one in minutes.
Washington - Up to 27 million people are living in slavery around the world, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton estimated on Tuesday as the US unveiled its annual report into human trafficking.
But the report showed that as governments become more aware of the issue, instigating tough new laws and programmes to help victims, progress is being made in wiping out what it called the "scourge of trafficking".
"The end of legal slavery in the United States and in other countries around the world has not, unfortunately, meant the end of slavery," said Clinton.
"Today it is estimated as many as 27 million people around the world are victims of modern slavery, what we sometimes call trafficking in persons," she said at the unveiling of the report at the State Department.
"Those victims of modern slavery are women and men, girls and boys, and their stories remind us of the kind of inhumane treatment we are capable of as human beings," said Clinton.
"Whatever their background, they are the living, breathing reminders that the work to eradicate slavery remains unfinished."
#1
Wait a minute. I thought that, according to Jesse Jackson, Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton, and the rest of the race based group, slavery existed only in the United States. How can slavery exist today in other parts of the world?
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/20/2012 7:56
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#2
The right should take count of those living in states where the government extorts > 50% of GDP.
#6
A stopped clock, people. Human trafficking is, in fact, a real problem. And as if that weren't bad enough, many of the children kidnapped are forced into prostitution.
#8
The right should take count of those living in states where the government extorts > 50% of GDP.
No need to stop there, we're all pretty much serfs on Uncle Sam's plantation now. The only political decisions left are who gets to be the house boy & who'll be required to go out and work the fields.
[Dawn] THE masks are off and daggers drawn. Pakistain's democratic process may once again become a part of history, leaving the world to wonder how we could so willingly poison ourselves in the belief that it would lead to better days.
Those in power have consistently let their people down -- ruthlessly. But no one is being fooled. They may feel helpless in the face of manipulation by everyone trying to save their skins -- the judiciary included -- but as the courts have often held themselves the truth does eventually prevail.
In the meanwhile, the country is headed for another phase of political instability that may finally lead to yet another autocracy. Sense may prevail at the end, but in the process, many heads will roll and hopes will be demolished. These are sad days for Pakistain.
Four years of democratic rule have given people little to rejoice about. Memories of dark nights and empty stomachs will begin to symbolise democracy. Political parties will be judged by their rowdy TV shows and insincerity. The judiciary remained the only institution in which people put their faith. Over the years that too has eroded. Many judgments appear self-laudatory and judged with different yardsticks. Those who follow constitutional rulings may disagree on every aspect of the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court (SC), but there is ample evidence to show that the standards applied in the selection of suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... cases, the admissibility of cases under Article 184(3) and the process adopted do not follow similar criteria...
Sadly, the democratic process may prove shortlived. The establishment has played its cards well. It has masterfully used the hands of civilian institutions to cut each other down to size.
There will be no winners as the one who survives will also suffer in isolation. A mere stroke will paralyse the victor too. After all, democracy rests on all three pillars of the state and no one pillar alone can bear the weight of this complex system. We are moving fast in this unfortunate direction and unless we reverse it now, it may be too late.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2012
00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2012
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Rossana Podesta [Italian] aka Helen in "Helen of Troy (1956)" aka Nausicaa in "Ulysses (1954)" aka Shuah in "Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)" aka Hera in "Hercules (1983)" aka Antea in "Slave of Rome (1961)" aka Costanza Varno in "Raw Wind in Eden (1958)" aka Cocò Lampugnani in "Homo Eroticus (1971)" (age 78)
#4
Hey we got close on Holder. This is cause for celebration. A big thank you to Fred, GolfBravoUSMC and the Mods. This is after hours so here I go, but I will send in a check to help the efforts also.
First, there was the Trayvon Martin boondoggle a few months ago.
Then yesterday, evidence of some creative editing regarding Mitt Romneys visit to a Wawa in Pennsylvania.
Today, we have Andrea Mitchells spectacularly lame followup to criticism of the Romney clip edit which amounted to Ms. Mitchell saying, with a sigh and a frown, Oh, bother. Fine. Heres what we left out. She failed to acknowledge what the criticism entailed; she neglected to point out how the editing misrepresented the event being covered; and she offered nothing resembling an apology or an admission of responsibility for something that was, as a matter of fact, irresponsible.
Im tired. Truly. Ive grown weary of trying to defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable. For years, people have stomped their feet and pounded their fists and snorted Liberal media bias! and Ive always tut-tutted and shooshed them and said, No, no. Calm down. They meant well. It was just a misunderstanding. A mistake. These things happen. I spent over 25 years working in the oft-reviled Mainstream Media and I saw up close and personal how the sausage was made. I knew the people who wielded the knives and wore the aprons, and could vouch (most of the time, anyway) for their good intentions.
But now?
Forget it. Im done. You deserve what theyre saying about you. Its earned. You have worked long and hard to merit the suspicion, acrimony, mistrust and revulsion that the media-buying public increasingly heaps upon you. You have successfully eroded any confidence, dispelled any trust, and driven your audience into the arms of the Internet and the blogosphere, where biases are affirmed and like-minded people can tell each other what they hold to be true, since nobody believes in objective reality any more. You have done a superlative job of diminishing what was once a great profession and undermining one of the vital underpinnings of democracy, a free press.
#4
Take away the boodle and they hate you. Mitt has said... "we can no longer afford to subsidize NPR, it must use advertising to support itself like other media outlets."
Deacon Greg Kandra is a Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. A veteran broadcast journalist, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News in both New York and Washington. He now serves as the Executive Editor of ONE, the acclaimed magazine published by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA). In addition to receiving two awards from the Catholic Press Association, Deacon Greg has been honored with every major award in broadcasting, including two George Foster Peabody Awards, two Emmy Awards, and four awards from the Writers Guild of America.
#8
You have done a superlative job of diminishing what was once a great profession and undermining one of the vital underpinnings of democracy, a free press.
As in the 'oldest profession'? Once again I'll point out the confusing the means of technology (circa 1792), the printing press, with the intent, free flow of information. It's the same confusion advocates try and often get away with in dealing with immigration in that there is legal and illegal immigration. They engage in dishonest rhetoric conflating the two concepts together in desperation to advance their agenda.
#11
Dressage has been considered the ultimate form of horsemanship for more than 2500 years. The horse Olympics has been one of the premier equestrian events in the world for more than a century. I wonder if NPR knows how many millions of people they have just insulted around the world. Attacking Ann Romney in the United States is not a good idea. Attacking her on the world stage is just stupidity. This will not only be bad for NPR but also a blight on Obama. Like the Deacon said, "What the hell is wrong with you people".
#12
We know what's wrong with them....they're liberals - A terminal disease that's nearly un-curable and results in millions of deaths around the world.
Apparently the snobbery horse ballet was important enough for no other than General George S. Patton to raid Czechoslovakia to save the historic breed.
They had a show out here in good ole John Wayne land...for a packed house.
Yeah, insulted every member of the horse clans. Movie Warhorse - horse ballet. Heroic charge during battle of Helms Deep - horse ballet.
#15
They have also insulted my wife. She was an equestrian when I met her and after several years I actually learned which end of the horse went first.
She was certified to teach up to elementary dressage (equivalent of the dressage component of 3 day eventing, one more mistake in the article) by the State of Massachusetts. And yes that was just one more $ grab by the Dems. like you need a license to teach riding. But still it is expensive to own a horse but it can be done by most anyone with a little land and "all" it takes is hours of back breaking labor and worry.
These ba$tards should be tarred afeathered and dropped off in the Marianas Trench.
#16
More and more people are on to these 5th columnists of the 4th estate lame stream media. If the MSM propagandists go broke because no one pays attention anymore and they all lose their jobs, it is deserved for the pack of lies they are trying to peddle. There is little difference between Hitler's & Goebbel's Nazi press or Pravda of the Communist USSR.
#17
"Apparently the snobbery horse ballet was important enough for no other than General George S. Patton to raid Czechoslovakia to save the historic breed."
For history buffs it is a great story to google. Patton knew of their heritage, and also knew the Russians would eat them. His decisions saved the breed.
[An Nahar] Gun battles between security forces and suspected Islamists in Nigeria's Damaturu have killed at least 34 people, including three coppers and a soldier, a hospital source said Tuesday.
"So far we have 34 dead bodies in the morgue," said the senior hospital official after the fighting broke out Monday and continued Tuesday in the northeastern city now under round-the-clock curfew. "The figure is likely to rise.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] At least six people were killed in incidents of violence in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported on Tuesday.
Those killed included a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) and a holy man.
A body was found stuffed in a gunny bag in Korangi's Chamra Chowrangi. The man had been kidnapped and then murdered.
Moreover, another body was found in Federal B Area's Jauharabad neighbourhood. The victim's hands and feet had been tied.
In another incident, bodies of three men were recovered from a stationary car on Mirza Adam Khan Road in the city's Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... Town.
The three victims, who were residents of Bloody Karachi's North Bloody Karachi area, had been tortured and then rubbed out.
One of the victims from the shooting incident in Lyari was an active worker of the MQM.
Furthermore, unknown gunnies had rubbed out a holy man in the city's Nazimabad area.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2012
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Top|| File under:
Thousands of people are starving to death in North Korea's South Hwanghae Province even though it is the country's rice bowl, according to a defector.
Just because they labor over it and grow it doesn't mean they get to eat any of it. Silly people...
"Villages in remote mountains can resort to slash-and-burn farming to survive, but in lowland areas where there are only cooperative farms, 30 to 40 people in each village starve to death every year," said Choi Myong-chol (not his real name), who used to handle crop harvests in Haeju, South Hwanghae Province. "The reason is that their entire harvest is confiscated," he told the activist website NK Reform.
The Tokyo Shimbun reported in April that 20,000 North Koreans starved to death in South Hwanghae Province after Kim Jong-il's death. "The reality there is that farmers have no choice but to hide rice during the harvest to survive," Choi said. This has happened every year. "This year, authorities appear to have taken extra measures to seek out rice the farmers had hidden," he added.
Choi said the reason for the starvation is the unrealistic crop output goals set by the regime every spring. Cooperative farms in South Hwanghae Province are ordered to produce six tons of rice per 10,000 sq. m, of which the farmers are promised two tons. But the actual amount that is harvested is only two to four tons, which leaves nothing for the farmers.
Harvested rice is distributed first to elite security and intelligence forces and then to ordinary soldiers. Farmers steal rice even under close watch because they would starve otherwise. They apparently steal between 1.5 to 2 tons per 10,000 sq. m of farmland, or about half of the crop.
Wreckers...
The regime is aware of the practice and sniffs out and confiscates around 30 percent of the stolen rice, leaving some 5,000-7,000 people to starve to death every year in the region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
"5000-7000 people ... every year" > IIUC, short of de facto econ integration + ultimately reunification wid the ROK, oer time the DPRK may have no choice but to import massive numbers of Chinese nationals as Farmers. etc. to replace those whom starved to death = too weak to work???
And once again, Virginia, we learn why the DPRK wants Nukes, + why it may be in the ROK's strategic = "core"? interests to [covertly] want the DPRK to have Nukes???
The health department in Saint Mary's County confirms the skunk that bit a diner at a restaurant last week was rabid.
It happened Thursday at the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant in California, Maryland. The animal wandered into the building and bit a woman on the foot.
Mad Cow was the other alternative. Rabies is treatable.
This is the sixth animal from St. Mary's this year to have a confirmed case of rabies.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Looks like a County or Multi-County Critter Hunt is in order.
(Sh.M.network)-Somali cabinet ministers held an extra ordinary meeting in Mogadishu and discussed the illegal roadblocks placed in parts of the city and its surrounding locations in the past 20 years of conflict and disorder.
At the end of the meeting, Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed (Jahweyn), the information minister for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), told news hounds that Somali government ruled the road blockades to be illegitimate.
Mr. Jahweyn said that Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, has held a meting with the national security agencies and as well as the Somali people in Mogadishu, and spoke about the latest illicit roadblocks being put in place in Banadir region and several locations beyond Mogadishu, where Al shabab withdrew last month.
"The cabinet ministers of Somali government have today agreed unanimously to take strict measures against the disturbing illegal checkpoints in Mogadishu and nearby villages under TFG control," said Somali information minister, Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed (Jahweyn).
This statement comes as Somali drives complained about an illegal money taken through the streets in Mogadishu and its neighborhoods by gunnies dressed in government uniform.
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[Dawn] The lawyers observed boycott of courts here on Monday to show solidarity with the judiciary and Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, resolving to foil any conspiracy hatched against the superior judiciary.
A joint meeting of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) unanimously adopted a resolution stating that they wouldn't tolerate anyone to defame and ridicule Supreme Court of Pakistain and Chief Justice of Pakistain.
The meeting, chaired by PHCBA president Abdul Lateef Afridi, appreciated Supreme Court for passing a right order in the suo moto case of Dr Arsalan Iftikhar and referring the case to government for inquiry.
"We demand that an impartial and independent inquiry should be conducted into allegations of Malik Riaz against Dr Arsalan. If the accusations are found correct, both should be punished according to law," the resolution said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] WHERE cities are forever smarting under violence and where the grip of the law is loose, it is not unusual for citizens to act as police and judge. With faith as a motive the mix becomes lethal and the protesters turn into a vigilante mob with ready justifications for murder. Mob justice has been witnessed in several places, and lately the vigilantes have appeared in the lawless streets of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and near Quetta. On Sunday, a mob attacked a cop shoppe in Bloody Karachi, angered by the alleged blasphemous act of a man -- reportedly a drug addict -- who had been booked and enjugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! by the law-enforcers. The police managed to disperse the raiders with aerial shooting of bullets and firing teargas shells, even though the situation was tense enough for Rangers to have been called in. Given the prevailing atmosphere, this was an instance where an ugly incident was avoided. A similar angry raid on a cop shoppe near Quetta which was holding a blasphemy suspect on Saturday turned more violent. It ended in the death of one protester and caused bullet injuries to no less than 19 men, eight of them coppers.
Such incidents are linked in no small part to the blasphemy laws on our books and the increasing atmosphere of religious intolerance that is crowding out all voices of sanity. Moreover, a judicial system which has failed to deliver has aggravated the general frustrations of a society that has increasingly come to feel that for its grievances to be addressed adequately, it must take the law into its own hands. Rights activists, both in Pakistain and abroad, have time and again questioned the inability of governments in the country to effectively check these violent protests that have a tendency to get out of control and to result in acts of extreme brutality. Quite often, it has been noticed, the law-enforcers fail to fully anticipate the repercussions of holding a blasphemy accused and are late in putting remedial measures in place. While theirs is certainly a sensitive job, they must take all precautions to protect a suspect from the anger of the mob.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Karachi [+ rest of Pakland] having severe, seemingly routine = permanent? Power, Water, + Gas shortages doesn't help.
Cities have low or no Central Air, no Cold Water, Ice [Sewer?], + no fuel for Cars, Trucks, etc.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan ranked #13 on the list of Failed States.
RICH GET RICHER, POOR GET POORER = TALIBAN, AL-QAEDA = MILITANT TAKEOVER OF COUNTRY + NUKES COME 2014 OR SHORTLY AFTER [electorally, or violently]???
* E.G. IIRC TOPIX [old]> MINISTER:IMPORT OF LNG COSTS PAKISTAN US$1.0BILYUHN MONTHLY.
#2
Them you have articles like this one, claiming to show that NHS 'clears beds' and 'saves money' with a method that results in euthanasia of the elderly. And not necessarily with the approval of the family.
Another Democrat facing a close re-election contest is skipping the Democratic National Convention this summer.
Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Critz will not appear at the gathering of Democrats in Charlotte, N.C., to officially re-nominate Obama for president, Shira Toeplitz of Roll Call reports.
Critz spokesman Matthew Mazonkey did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller on Tuesday.
On Monday three prominent West Virginia Democrats -- Sen. Joe Manchin, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Rep. Nick Rahall -- announced they are not attending the September convention.
[Dawn] Four proclaimed offenders were killed in a 'suspected' shootout with the CIA police at an outhouse near T-4 locality of Islampura early Monday.
Police claimed that suspects were involved in murder, dacoity, kidnapping for ransom and other heinous crimes and were wanted by Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and Lahore police in a number of cases.
Clearly not amateurs...
According to police, an under-investigation accused, Muhammad Attique alias Balokan,
No doubt that's cooler in the original Urdu.
disclosed that his three accomplices Zahid alias Raju, Altaf alias Tafa and Sadiq alias Babbi were involved in a number of heinous crimes in Lahore and they took shelter in the tribal area after committing crimes.
Correction: original Pashto.
He said presently his accomplices were hiding at an outhouse of Chaudhry Abid and could be arrested after a raid.
"The Number Three pliers for this one, Corporal Md."
"Yessir, Sergeant Mahmudullah! And some biscuits to go with your tea at the break -- you'll want to rebuild your strength, sir."
At this, CIA SP Muhammad Umar Virk constituted a raiding party headed by SI Muhammad Akram of Civil Lines division CIA. As the team reached the spot, the suspects opened fire on police which resulted in serious injuries to accused Attique alias Balokan of Misri Shah.
The raiding party returned the fire which continued for about an hour. When the firing from suspects stopped, police found accused Altaf alias Tafa and Sadiq alias Babbi, both brothers and residents of Ferozewala, dead on the spot while their third accomplice Zahid alias Raju seriously injured. He also expired while being taken to a hospital.
Police recovered four Kalashnikovs, Rs2 million, several bullets and three pistols from the spot.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 324/353/186 PPC and AO 13/20/65.
However, not a single policeman was injured in the shootout and only the arrested suspect, what police claimed, suffered injuries in firing of his accomplices.
Astounding.
A source in the CIA police said that suspects had been in police custody for one month and were killed in a staged encounter.
Pshaw! And again I say pshaw!
According to a police record, at least 38 cases were registered against the suspects in Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and Lahore districts.
No one can say they weren't dedicated to their craft...
As many as 27 cases were registered against Zahid alias Raju, six each against Altaf alias Tafa and Sadiq alias Babbi, and five against Attique alias Balokan.
The suspects were involved in the murder of two persons in the Ferozewala police station area; abduction of Misri Shah trader Ijaz Butt's son Talha and his release after receiving Rs4 million and several other heinous crimes, including a police encounter in Badami Bagh which resulted in the killing of SI Naveed Bhatti.
Attique was in the custody of Civil Lines (CIA) while three others were captured by the Cantonment CIA.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] A UN expert on Tuesday urged Washington to clarify its rules on hunting Taliban and other suspects amid a "dramatic increase" in the use of drone attacks.
The US government has carried out assassinations in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistain, Somalia and Yemen in raids and Arclight airstrikes and used unmanned drones, a report by investigator Christof Heyns said.
"The Special Rapporteur reiterates his predecessor's recommendation that the government specify the bases for decisions to kill rather than capture 'human targets' and whether the state in which the killing takes place has given consent," said Heyns.
In the document Heyns, special rapporteur on extrajudicial and summary executions, provides an update on steps taken by the United States to implement the recommendations of a 2009 report.
"No information has been made available on substantial changes to procedures ... to ensure that strikes targeting Taliban fighters were based on reliable information and did not cause unnecessary suffering and damage to the civilian population," he said.
"The Special Rapporteur again requests the government to clarify the rules that it considers to cover assassinations," the report adds.
About 300 drone strikes have been carried out in Pakistain since June 2004, according to the document.
It cited figures from the non-governmental Pakistain Human Rights Commission which said that US strikes were responsible for at least 957 deaths there in 2010.
"Although figures vary widely with regard to drone attack estimates, all studies concur on one important point: there has been a dramatic increase in their use over the past three years," said the report.
"While these attacks are directed at individuals believed to be leaders or active members of al Qaeda or the Taliban, in the context of armed conflict, in other instances civilians have allegedly also perished in the attacks." Heynes also said Washington should specify the safeguards it has in place to ensure in advance that assassinations comply with international law.
"The Special Rapporteur is seriously concerned that the practice of assassination could set a dangerous precedent, in that any Government could, under the cover of counter-terrorism imperatives, decide to target and kill an individual on the territory of any state if it considers that said individual constitutes a threat," the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(Sh. M. Network)-Witnesses say the body of a young headless man was on Tuesday found dumped at a street in northern Mogadishu, Somalia.
A witness who saw the Headless corpse confirmed to Shabelle Media via phone from Wajeer village in Karan district that beheaded man was newcomer in the area from Yemen three days ago.
"He's a Yemeni alright. I'd know those collarbones anywhere."
A Yemeni? How odd. Was he a smuggler, a job hunter, or Al Qaeda?
"We shocked and terrified the slaughter of this man because of the executioners put the knife they carried out the action on the body after beheading him unkindness," said a local resident under anonymity.
The motive and the identity of the slayers are yet to be established. Hmmm... Who in Somalia chops the heads off people? I can't seem to recall...
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
Update 3:30 CST
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has approved a resolution holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
The measure now goes to the full House.
Attorney General Eric Holder did not produce any of the documents he and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa agreed on. The Department of Justice agreed to hand over 1300 pages in order to postpone tomorrow's contempt vote. Chairman Issa demanded them by Wednesday morning.
Wednesday morning came and went. Mr. Holder turned up to the 20 minute meeting empty handed as well. Instead Mr. Holder briefed Chairman Issa and others on the documents.
Chairman Issa released this statement after the meeting:
I had hoped that after this evening's meeting I would be able to tell you that the Department had delivered documents that would justify the postponement of tomorrow's vote on contempt. The Department told the Committee on Thursday that it had documents it could produce that would answer our questions. Today, the Attorney General informed us that the Department would not be producing those documents. The only offer they made involved us ending our investigation.
That's not an offer, that's a demand. One would think the Attorney General of the United States should know the difference.
While I still hope the Department will reconsider its decision so tomorrow's vote can be postponed, after this meeting I cannot say that I am optimistic. At this point, we simply do not have the documents we have repeatedly said we need to justify the postponement of a contempt vote in committee.
#2
Holder's failed performance yesterday should harden the resolve of the Ovesight Committee. The ATF whistleblower was on the teevee last night discussing the internal cover up. None of this will end well.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2012 8:24
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#6
John Boehner might not though Frank. Whether the whiffle-ball of a Speaker goes through with bringing it to the House floor is a toss-up at best.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/20/2012 9:42
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#7
Ah. switched on Fox to see what the Committee vote count was, and find out Executive Priviledge has been evoked on the Documents Issa requested. Wonder what dirt Holder had on Obama to get him to do that?
Posted by: Charles ||
06/20/2012 10:13
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#8
Even with no dirt, the premise of Obama is that he is infallable.
#11
if he wasn't in on it, why wouldn't he throw Holder under the bus?
Because he needs Holder to win the elections: every place where Romney won by a small margin will be investigated for due to complains of electoral irregularities---and guess what will be found?
#12
Boehner has scheduled a full house vote next week on Holder's contempt citation coming out of the House Oversight and Reform Committee chaired by Issa.
#13
Interesting comments from 15 May by Larry Pratt at Gun Owners of America. Of course this is well prior to Obama's "Executive Privilege" announcement.
#14
I watched/listen all day -- man, those Dem came loaded! Every other word, from each one of the was "previous administration".....
Even wanted to call up everyone way back to get "The Whole Story. We are voting on only part of the story. Must call up before this body, everybody, etc, etc, etc...."
Best line I heard? "Sounds like Bush is running for re-election."
Dems had to be told over and over and over, the contempt vote is about Holder not submitting the documents that he was subpoenaed to do."
They still don't understand the word subpoenaed.......
#15
Points back to potential US State involvement. I wonder how long the Hildebeast can remain overseas and out of the spotlight?
As early as October of 2009 the CIA and the DEA had sent complaints about the Fast and Furious operation through their respective chains of command, eventually making their way directly to the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House. Klik
[Dawn] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... says seven attackers have stormed a base of the US-led coalition in Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan.
The coalition says the attackers breached the outer security of the base on Tuesday in Shah Wali Kot district, but were then killed by guards at the compound.
Provincial front man Javid Faisal says initial reporting indicates that at least one foreign worker was killed and two other foreigners were maimed, but this could not be independently confirmed.
Earlier, Afghan officials said three Afghan coppers were killed when their checkpoint was attacked Tuesday in Kandahar city.
And US and Afghan officials say three individuals dressed in Afghan police uniforms turned their guns on coalition troops Monday in Zhari district of Kandahar province, killing one NATO service member and wounding several others.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TALIBAN CARRY OUR RARE FRONTAL ATTACK ON US BASE [Kandahar] IN AFGHANISTAN.
* SAME > RELATIONS BETWEEN US + PAKISTAN ON BRINK OF DISINTEGRATING.
versus
* Also from SAME > TIME IS UP: MILYUHNS [+ Dilyuhns] OF AFGHAN REFUGEES IN IRAN + PAKISTAN FEAR RETURN TO THEIR BATTLE-SCARRED COUNTRY.
2014.
ARTIC > UNO = denotes that 1/5th of all Afghans on Planet earth are considered "displaced", e.g. 2.7Milyuhn in Pakistan alone of whom only 1.7Milyuhn have legal Pak status.
* SAME > WAZIRI "OASIS" [Wana, S. Waziristan = "peaceful"] BRACES FOR [PAK Army] ATTACK, due to spark in TTP-led local or nearby attacks.
[An Nahar] Authorities on Tuesday have released nine Islamists locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in Roumieh prison after at least four years of imprisonment.
Two Paleostinian Islamists were not immediately freed, but handed to the Internal Security Forces.
Fourteen Islamists were initially locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! over alleged links to the Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. terrorist network that fought deadly gunbattles with the Lebanese army in 2007.
Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat ordered on Monday the release of the detainees on a LL500,000 bail each for lack of evidence of their involvement in the festivities.
Al-Jadeed said that Prime Minister Najib Miqati will pay the bail of each of the Islamists.
Some Islamists told the television station that they were locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! without trial, accusing the state and judiciary of neglecting their case and wrongfully imprisoning them.
They demanded that justice be granted to all detainees in Leb and that all Islamists be released from prison, reported al-Jadeed.
One released detainee estimated that some 180 Islamists are currently held in Roumieh prison.
The National News Agency said however that some 100 Islamists are currently in the jail, including 15 Lebanese nationals, three Saudis, two Yemenis, a national from each of Russia, Germany, and Turkey, while the rest are comprised of Syrians and Paleostinians.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Read the 911 phone account: the dad tried to get the guy to to hospital. Between that and the fact that the guy's pants were down around his ankles when the dad caught him with the young girl, well, no TX jury would convict.
#1
I commend the press for not identifying the family involved, but then not once but twice, give the name of the neighbor that 'lives across the street.'
but at least they didn't id the little girl.
and good for dad for protecting his family.
[An Nahar] Nigeria's main Christian body on Tuesday said attacks attributed to Islamist group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... suggested a "systematic religious cleansing" and harshly criticized the government over its response.
"The bombings are clear indications that the Jamaatu Ahlisunnah Lidda'awatiwal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, has declared war on Christians and Christianity in Nigeria," a statement from the Christian Association of Nigeria said.
"In fact, the pattern of bombings and gun attacks suggests to us a systematic religious cleansing which reminds Christians of the genesis of a Jihad."
The group also harshly criticized Nigeria's government for what it described as a befuddled response to Boko Haram's insurgency, which has killed hundreds.
"Since these terrorist acts began, nothing the president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has done has been reassuring that the end to this spate of bombings and gun attacks is in sight," the statement said.
"On the contrary, his utterances after each bombing and killings, even if unwittingly, seem to have cast a hallmark of weakness on his presidency and an escalation of the terrorist acts."
Three suicide kabooms hit churches in Kaduna state in Nigeria's north on Sunday, leaving at least 16 dead and sparking reprisals that saw Christian mobs roam the streets with machetes, burning mosques and killing dozens more.
A total of 52 people were killed in the violence.
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[An Nahar] Eight Turkish soldiers and 10 Kurdish rebels were killed early Tuesday in festivities in southeast Turkey, the local governor's office said.
Eight Turkish soldiers were killed and 16 maimed when members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked an army post at Yesiltas, near the border with Iraq and Iran, the governor's office said in a statement posted on its website.
"Operations are continuing in the region. According to preliminary findings, 10 Orcs and similar vermin were rendered ineffective," it added, a term often used by Turkish officials and security forces to refer to rebel deaths.
A group of Kurdish rebels probably crossed into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq to attack the army post at Yesiltas, local security services said.
The NTV news channel said ground troops and combat helicopters were pursuing the assailants.
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(Sh. M. Network)-Somali government soldiers have on Tuesday exchanged heavy gunfire with gangs in Mogadishu, reports and Witnesses said.
Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed Abukar, the police chief of Hodon district for Somali government, told Shabelle Media that the combat sparked after the security forces attacked on an armed bloc dressed in army uniform, taking illegal money at a checkpoint in Mogadishu's district.
"The security forces have placed in long-term storage You have the right to remain silent... a gang during the operation and handed him to Somali military court to face the justice over his involvement in robbing action against civilians inMogadishu," said Abukar.
It is not the first time that government soldiers disagreed and exchange gunfire in Mogadishu.
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[An Nahar] Unknown attackers threw two grenades at NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... barracks at the tense border between Kosovo and Serbia early Tuesday but there were no casualties, NATO troops said.
"At 4.00 am this morning (02:00 GMT Tuesday) two hand grenades were thrown at the KFOR Compound ... at the Brnjak crossing point," in northern Kosovo, the NATO-led KFOR mission said in a blurb.
"One went kaboom!, the other remained dead in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. One KFOR soldier has received slight hearing loss, no significant material damage has been reported," it added.
KFOR peacekeepers have shut the crossing "until further notice" and called in experts to remove the unwent kaboom! grenade.
Tension in northern Kosovo, almost exclusively populated by Serbs who do not recognize the government in Pristina, has flared again since KFOR moved in to remove Serb-erected roadblocks earlier this month.
KFOR forces have been maintaining the security at the border between Kosovo and Serbia and in ethnically mixed areas around the flashpoint city of Kosovska Mitrovica and small ethnic Albanian pockets in the Serb-majority north.
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European leaders are poised to announce a £600 billion deal to bail out Spain and Italy, it emerged at the G20 summit on Tuesday night.
Speaking before the meeting, François Hollande, the French president, said: 'Its not on growth. It will be more on mechanisms that allow us to fight speculation.' Photo: AP By Robert Winnett, Political
Two rescue funds are to be used to buy the debts of the troubled economies, the cost of which have reached record highs in recent weeks.
It is hoped that the move, which represents a substantial shift in policy for Germanys chancellor, Angela Merkel, will send a strong signal to financial markets that Europes biggest economy is finally prepared to back its weaker neighbours.
Mrs Merkel and other European leaders have come under intense pressure at this weeks G20 summit to take radical action to stem the growing euro crisis which has pushed up the cost of Spanish bonds to unsustainable levels. The communiqué issued at the end of the G20 summit, which finished in Mexico last night, said that European leaders had agreed to take action to bring down borrowing rates.
Under the proposed deal, two European rescue funds the £400 billion (500 billion) European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the £200 billion (250 billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will buy bonds issued by European countries.
Previously, money in these funds which has been provided by members of the single currency has been used to bail out smaller European countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Governments in these countries were offered money directly in return for agreeing to austerity programmes. Under the new plan, the money in these funds will not be given directly to governments but will instead be used to buy up debts on the financial markets.
An illegal immigrant who passes the bar exam and demonstrates good moral character should be eligible to practice law, the State Bar has declared in a court filing.
The bar, which oversees California's 225,000 lawyers, told the state Supreme Court on Monday that federal law leaves regulation of the legal profession largely up to the states and does not appear to prohibit Sergio C. Garcia, 35, of Chico from obtaining an attorney's license.
Garcia was 17 months old when his parents brought him to the United States from Mexico. He returned to Mexico with them at age 9, came back at 17, put himself through college and law school and passed the bar on his first try in 2009. He has been working as a paralegal.
His father, now a legal U.S. resident, sponsored Garcia's application for legal status and a green card in 1994. Garcia told an interviewer last year that he expects to wait another five to 15 years for approval.
In the meantime, the bar has certified his moral fitness to practice law, but the state's high court, which licenses attorneys in California, put his application on hold last month and said it would use the case to decide whether undocumented immigrants are eligible to practice law. A similar case is pending in Florida.
#1
Well, at least he appears to be an honest illegal immigrant. If it turns out he lied on his bar application or gets into trouble over insurance fraud, he can always surrender his license.
#2
An illegal immigrant who passes the bar exam and demonstrates good moral character
I think there's something wrong with that part of the sentence...
#4
I'm surprised they went here before formally adopting race-based grading on the bar exam. This would seem the logical next step after that policy is put in place.
South Korea and the U.S. are reportedly planning to combine their separate missile defenses here. Seoul is saying that the combined system will not be integrated into the U.S.-Japan missile defense system, but a certain degree of integration seems inevitable since the U.S.' missile defense systems in South Korea and Japan are linked.
The two sides are considering linking Seoul's air and missile defense cell, which will be built in Osan, Gyeonggi Province in late December, with the U.S. Forces Korea's Patriot air defense missile system.
The foreign and defense ministers of the two countries in Washington last Friday "agreed to seek ways to strengthen combined defense posture against a mounting threat of missile strikes from North Korea," a government source here said.
"From now on, the two countries will cooperate in detecting and identifying North Korea's missile bases and facilities while continuing to discuss the extension of the range of Seouls ballistic missiles and the number of anti-air missiles the two countries would keep," the source added.
The new combined system will include PAC-2 Patriot missiles, medium-range Cheolmae-2 surface-to-air missiles, Hyunmu-3 cruise missiles and Aegis destroyers from South Korea, and USFK's PAC-3 Patriot missiles and surveillance systems.
But the source said this will be "different" from the U.S.-Japan missile defense system against long-range ballistic missiles. "The U.S.-South Korean system will combine air defense and surveillance systems of our military and the USFK, whose operational range covers only the Korean Peninsula."
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06/20/2012
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#1
Well alrighty then - America's GODZILLA [Matthew Broderick's], Nippon's GODZILLA, ETAL. + ROK's GORYEA/GOJURYEA monsters all together agz China's ????
PAUL BUNYAN + BLUE OX "BABE"???
Did Beijing Cinema ever dev a Bambi-crushing Giant Monster???
[Dawn] Eleven Taliban suicide kaboomers struck two Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... bases in Kandahar province on Tuesday, after gunnies in police uniforms killed a coalition soldier, officials said.
Seven gunnies stormed a joint Afghan-NATO base in Shah Wali Kot district at around 3:30 am, sparking a 30-minute shootout that left all the attackers dead, Kandahar governor's front man Jawed Faisal said.
NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the attackers breached the outer perimeter of the base but no coalition soldiers were killed.
But Faisal and provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq both said a foreigner had been killed and two maimed, with Faisal describing the fatality as a civilian contractor. Their nationalities were unclear.
Hours later, four gunnies wearing police uniforms struck a police and NATO base in Kandahar city, triggering a firefight in which four officers and the attackers were killed, Raziq told AFP.
Nine coppers were maimed, he said.
Police witnesses said the attackers all had the uniform and equipment of regular officers, and were led into the base by a police captain who fled afterwards. Two other officers were tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! over the assault.
Tuesday's attacks came a day after men wearing Afghan police uniforms opened fire on NATO soldiers in Kandahar, killing one before fleeing.
That incident brought to 23 the number of Western troops killed in 17 so-called green-on-blue incidents so far this year in Afghanistan, where 130,000 foreign soldiers are helping Kabul fight a Taliban insurgency.
"The International Security Assistance Force confirms that three individuals in Afghan police uniforms turned their weapons against coalition service members in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing one ISAF service member," the alliance said.
A police official in Zhary district said the dead soldier was American, but there was no immediate confirmation.
ISAF gave no further details of the incident or the soldier's nationality, though most coalition forces in Kandahar are American.
An increasing number of Afghan troops have turned their weapons against NATO soldiers as the decade-long insurgency has progressed.
Some of the assaults are claimed by the Taliban, who say they have infiltrated the ranks of Afghan cops, but many are attributed to cultural differences and antagonism between the allied forces.
The last such incident occurred in May, when Afghan coppers killed two British soldiers in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... The US-led ISAF has taken security measures in response to the shootings, including assigning "guardian angels" -- soldiers who watch over their comrades as they sleep.
Tuesday's violence came as Afghanistan's attorney general accused Pakistain over an unprecedented bloody sectarian suicide attack in Kabul last December that killed more than 80 Shia Mohammedans on their holiest day.
Eshaq Aloko said the assault was planned in Pakistain's northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and criminal masterminded by "some spy agencies in our neighbouring countries".
On Monday, a Taliban roadside kabooming killed eight civilians, including women and kiddies, in the southern province of Helmand, the interior ministry said.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... condemned the civilian deaths, saying the attack showed the beturbanned goons' "true face of brutality".
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[An Nahar] President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... on Tuesday held emergency talks among top leaders in his main ruling Pakistain People's Party after the Supreme Court disqualified the prime minister from office.
Television footage showed Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... and Zardari's son, party co-chairman, Bilawal, gathered in the heavily guarded presidency in the capital Islamabad.
Officials were tight-lipped on how the president would respond to the Supreme Court's announcement that followed Gilani's conviction on April 26 for contempt over refusing to reopen corruption cases against Zardari.
"President Zardari is presiding and Prime Minister Gilani is also attending, to assess the situation," a government official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
The president also summoned heads of coalition parties to the presidency for further talks at 8pm (15:00 GMT), the official added.
The Supreme Court on April 26 convicted Gilani for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against Zardari in a highly politicized case. Under the constitution, anyone convicted of defaming or ridiculing the judiciary is barred from being an MP.
The matter fell first to the speaker of parliament, a member of the main ruling Pakistain People's Party, who on May 24 announced that there was "no question of disqualification".
Gilani subsequently decided not to appeal his conviction in a move interpreted as an effort not to antagonize the court into disqualifying him.
But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court did so anyway.
"Yousuf Raza Gilani is disqualified from membership of parliament from April 26, the date of his conviction. He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistain," said chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry, reading the order.
"The Election Commission shall issue a notice of disqualification and the president is required to take necessary steps to ensure continuation of democratic process," he added.
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[Dawn] Afghan authorities on Tuesday said "regional spy agencies" were behind a rare suicide kaboom targeting Shia Moslems that killed more than 80 people in a veiled reference to Pak intelligence.
Attorney General Eshaq Aloko said two men had been placed in long-term storage You have the right to remain silent... over the December attack, which struck a crowd of worshippers on Ashura in Kabul.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... blamed Pak sectarian myrmidon outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... for the atrocity, which was unprecedented on such a holy day, and urged Islamabad to act.
Aloko said the attack was planned in Pakistain's northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, by "regional spy agencies" aimed at "provoking sectarian violence".
"Although the Jhangvi group grabbed credit, it was criminal masterminded by some spy agencies in our neighbouring countries," Aloko said.
Afghans blame Pakistain for fuelling much of the violence in their country, where the Taliban are leading a 10-year insurgency against the government and 130,000 Western troops.
The prosecutor said one of those placed in long-term storage You have the right to remain silent... came from Afghanistan's Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province, which borders Pakistain's krazed killer-infested tribal belt, and was paid 10,000 Pak rupees ($100) to bring two suicide attackers to Kabul.
"One attacker went kaboom!", the second fled the area," Aloko said.
He said the two placed in long-term storage You have the right to remain silent... men both confessed over the plot and the case was now closed.
The kaboom happened at the entrance to a riverside shrine, where hundreds of Shias had gathered.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in the Afghan capital in three years.
"The case is closed for us now. We have completed our investigation, and the case will be sent to the court," Aloko said.
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[Financial Times] Britain could become the first country to fly a tourist around the moon, after an Isle of Man-based company announced that it would be ready to take passengers on private lunar expeditions by 2015.
Excalibur Almaz will charge wannabe astronauts an average of £100m for a six-eight month journey exploring deep space. I think I'll wait until the prices come down a little.
Three wealthy individuals, or astronauts from emerging powers will be crammed into a reusable capsule the size of a waste skip and launched by rocket to a space station. After the two vehicles link up, they will travel on to the Moon.
"It is like how private British companies led expeditions to the South Pacific in the 17th century," said Art Dula, founder of Excalibur Almaz. "We've just gone from seafaring to spacefaring."
The company, run by Americans, chose to be based in the Isle of Man because of the island government's commitment to the space industry, which ministers forecast will soon make up more a third of its gross domestic product. The lack of corporation tax and proximity to the City are also advantages.
Unlike SpaceX, its US rival, Excalibur Almaz has not received any American government subsidies. Its biggest advantage is its second-hand Soviet spacecraft which have helped Excalibur Almaz avoid the laborious process of developing and testing new equipment.
Mr Dula, a long-time space enthusiast, bought the kit from Russia after working as a patent lawyer in the industry. He and his business partner are the only investors in the company, which started in 2005.
The entrepreneur says this should help the company take passengers deeper into space than competitors such as Virgin Galactic. Sir Richard Branson's venture will only allow tourists to orbit the earth, though its price is also less stellar, at £200,000.
James Oberg, a space flight consultant, said there were other companies exploring lunar missions, including as yet anonymous players but that none could start sending people as early as 2015.
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#1
"British companies led expeditions to the South Pacific" > Uh, uh, HIS/HER MAJESTY'S STARSHIP HMSS "BOUNTY"???
Good for the UK - I still would like to see the Bammer openly call for a US return to the Moon, ASAP or circa 2020 ala Newt. Mama Russia has two Space Shuttles thats never been used in space + can be refurbished by the US-Allies.
#3
The Almaz capsules were made in 1968-1975 time period. My bet.. All the wiring harness is ready to loose insulation with just a tap. All the rubber tubes are brittle and cracked. All the plastic is well by it's use by date and dissimilar metal to metal contacts are all corroded. They are just too old to be used!
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/20/2012 4:23
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[buzzfeed.com] DeWitt, Mich. -- The protesters popping up at Mitt Romney's rallies throughout Michigan Tuesday look like run-of-the-mill grassroots liberals -- they wave signs about "the 99 percent," they chant about the Republican's greed, and they describe themselves as a loosely organized coalition of "concerned citizens."
That's how you know it's a real grass-roots organization, when everyone has the identical sign and chant in unison...
They're also getting paid, two of the protesters and an Obama campaign official told BuzzFeed.
That's one way of cutting unemployment. Perhaps Champ could hire a few hundred thousand; he could then actually claim he created some jobs...
At the candidate's afternoon stop outside a bakery in DeWitt, a group of about 15 protesters stood behind a police barricade, a few of them chanting in support of Obama. Asked why he was protesting, a man dressed in a grim reaper costume pointed a reporter to a pair of "designated representatives" standing in the shade.
"I can't talk, you gotta get one of those people over there to talk to y'all," he said. "They're the ones who can talk to reporters."
Neither of the representatives agreed to give their names, but two protesters said they were getting paid to stand outside of the rally, though their wage is unclear: one said she was getting $7.25 per hour, while another man said they were being paid $17 per hour.
Meanwhile, about 50 feet away, another protest had been organized by local Democrats in conjunction with the Obama campaign. A campaign official told BuzzFeed they had nothing to do with the other group -- which he said he believed they had been sent by the labor-backed "Good Jobs Now" -- and confirmed that they were being paid.
"I mean, it's a free country, they can go anywhere they want, but they're not with us," the official said.
The protesters also made an appearance at Romney's rally in Frankenmuth earlier in the day. There, a young man who identified himself only as Demarcus stood with a group of about five others, stopping reporters after the candidate's speech and saying they were there "to represent the 99 percent and tell Romney to stand up for us." He said he was from the group, "Good Jobs Now," but did not indicate whether he was being paid.
Brittany Smith, a spokeswoman for Good Jobs Now, confirmed that they had protesters at the events, but said their "activists are NOT paid to protest. We are a statewide community advocacy group."
The politics of heckling has been a point of frequent debate lately, with both campaigns allowing demonstrators to derail public events in recent weeks.
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#1
one said she was getting $7.25 per hour, while another man said they were being paid $17 per hour.
Equality between wages/sexes is another Democrat sham.
The halting of a Russian ship bound for Syria that was believed to be carrying weapons and attack helicopters should act as a warning to others looking to supply arms ot the Assad regime, William Hague warned.
The MV Alaed was about 50 miles off the north coast of Scotland when it changed course, British officials said.
The change came after a British government intervention led the ship's insurers to withdraw cover for Russian firm that owns the vessel.
The Foreign Secretary told MPs that the fate of the Alead should act as a warning to others considering supplying arms to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"I am pleased that the ship that was reported to be carrying arms to Syria has now turned back apparently towards Russia," Mr Hague said. "We have in place a European Union arms embargo on Syria. We discourage anyone else from supplying arms to Syria. We have had discussions with Russia about that specifically."
It was the sausage that was frozen, not the sausage-wielding thief, if that means anything...
A Massachusetts man has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to attacking a bicyclist with sausage links and a wrench before making off with jewelry and the bike.
See, da jools and da bike, dey came right at me. Dey even followed me down da alley. Wotsa guy supposed ta do?
Michael Baker, of Holbrook, was arraigned Monday on charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
The wrench or the sausage links?
This is Massachusetts. Do you know how much fat and salt are in those sausages? The guy's lucky if they don't double the jail time on that basis alone.
in connection with the Sunday morning attack. The Enterprise of Brockton reports that Baker's lawyer says his client was trying to defend himself from the alleged victim. Bail was set at $1,000.
The bicyclist tells police the assailant swung the string of sausage links at him before hitting him with the wrench.
Police say Baker was caught a short time later with the bike and a wrench. Police later found that sausages and other food had been stolen from a food stand at the Brockton Fairgrounds.
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#1
The suspect was hauled away in a patty wagon and grilled by police investigators.
SEOUL -- A severe dry spell in North Korea is expected to exacerbate chronic food shortages in the poverty-stricken nation where the U.N.'s food agency says 3 million people are in urgent need of food aid, a South Korean expert said Wednesday.
If you try to feed them the Nork army will steal it all...
The amount of cereal crops harvested in the June-July season is forecast to sharply drop due to the unusually long drought, said Kwon Tae-jin, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute in Seoul, in a report.
"Because of severe drought, North Korea is expected to run into a big problem in harvesting corn this year," Kwon said, adding it could prompt the price of other crops to rise.
Harvesting of other crops such as wheat, barley and potatoes is also expected to "significantly fall," Kwon said.
According to a report by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which was posted on its Web site on Monday, drought has affected some 17 percent of North Korea's total farmland.
"Any drop in production is likely to add to the shortfall of food supplies and worsen food insecurity in the country," FAO said in the report. The FAO report concluded that, "Three million vulnerable people, mainly living in the five most food-insecure provinces of Ryanggang, Chagang, North Hamgyong, South Hamgyong and Kangwon, are in urgent need of international food assistance, due to an inadequate food production."
Such assessments were at odds with the stance of the South Korean government. Commenting on North Korea's food shortages on Tuesday, Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said, "Our general assessment is that (the North's food situation) is not so serious as to fall into a level of crisis."
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[Reuters] Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for three decades until overthrown by a revolution in the "Arab Spring" last year, was declared clinically dead by his doctors on Tuesday, the state news agency MENA said in a report confirmed by a hospital source.
Mubarak was 84 and had been sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
"Former president Hosni Mubarak has clinically died following his arrival at Maadi military hospital on Tuesday evening," MENA said, quoting medical sources.
"Mubarak's heart stopped beating and was subjected to a defibrillator several times but did not respond."
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#1
Died in prison. A lovely end to a lovely man. I can only imagine what it was like for him to wake up in jail for the first time.
Top security officials denied reports by Egyptian state media Tuesday that former President Hosni Mubarak whose health reportedly had been deteriorating since he was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison was clinically dead, saying instead that he was unconscious and had been placed on life support.
In any case, Egypts fourth president, now 84, appeared to be entering his final days, just after Egypt concluded its first free presidential election to name his successor. Initial results suggested that Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi had prevailed narrowly in last weekends runoff, marking the end of a state governed by former military commanders and the start, many hoped, of democratic reforms.
[An Nahar] Troops pounded and raided rebel strongholds across Syria and festivities erupted in Homs on Tuesday as 36 people were killed in violence nationwide, a watchdog said.
Regime forces clashed with rebels before dawn in Homs where a soldier was killed amid "intermittent shelling" of the central city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Columns of black smoke were seen rising from the area," the Britannia-based group said.
A commander of the Free Syrian Army from Baba Amr said the situation was "very tough" in the district of Homs which regime forces seized back from the rebels in March after a month of relentless shelling.
"We are still fighting, but we haven't made it into Baba Amr today. Our aim is to take the district back," Nasser Nahhar told AFP via Skype.
The Local Coordination Committees activist group said troops bombarded the rebel-held town of Rastan, in Homs province, from dawn with "fierce and continuous shelling."
The Observatory said a civilian was killed in Rastan, which government troops have been trying to take since February.
In the city of Homs, four people, including two rebels, were killed, the watchdog added.
Hama's Arbeen district was also pounded late Tuesday as three civilians were rubbed out in another part of the central city, while a loud blast was heard in the Andalus area.
"Something big is happening in Hama right now. We're afraid of what might happen here," an activist who identified himself as Abu Ghazi al-Hamwi told AFP via Skype.
In the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, regime forces killed three civilians in Al-Jura neighborhood, the Observatory said.
Elsewhere in the same province, Syria's oil hub, a pipeline was bombed, the watchdog said. An oil pipeline in Homs province was also attacked, it added but gave no further information.
In the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , one protester was rubbed out, while regime forces also carried out raids and arrests in Syria's second city.
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, a rebel was killed in festivities with regime forces.
Troops also shelled Douma, on the northern outskirts of Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... , killing five people, and also pounded Qalamun district in the same province.
And in the northwestern province of Idlib, violent festivities broke out between regime forces and rebels in a village on the Turkish border. Activists said troops used artillery.
The Observatory said there were reports of army defections following the festivities, adding 18 regime troops were killed on Tuesday.
The latest violence comes after dozens were killed on Monday, while according to the Observatory more than 14,400 people have died since the revolt against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... broke out in March 2011.
The Observatory says most of the dead are civilians, but it counts rebel fighters who are not deserters from the army as civilians.
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[Yemen Post] Ali Nasser Mohammed, the former South Yemen President, urged President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... to uproot terrorism from Yemen and offered him, the army, the martyr's family as well as all Yemeni people his sincere condolences on the death of the Southern Military Region commander, Salem Qatan, who was killed on Monday by al-Qaeda jacket wallah in the southern port city of Aden.
In a blurb, Mohammed condemned the attack that targeted Qatan in Aden and said that the attack came as retaliation for the recently defeats of the turban group in the southern provinces of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and Shabwa by the Yemeni army.
He further hailed the role of the armed forces in the victory over al-Qaeda in the southern part of the country, arguing that this victory will help Yemen restore stability and security.
"The suicide kaboom that killed Qatan will be added to the black record of the terror network as it killed both soldiers and civilians in Abyan, Shabwa and elsewhere in Yemen," said Mohammed in the statement.
He called for mobilizing all the national and international community efforts to eliminate the terror network of al-Qaeda and eradicate it right from the roots, stressing terrorism will not be eradicated from Yemen unless all the national and international efforts are unified in order for Yemen not to be a failed state that threatens the national, regional and international peace and security.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2012
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A number of friends and high-profile supporters posted £240,000 bail for Mr Assange, including film firector Ken Loach, filmaker Michael Moore, investigative journalist John Pilger and Jemima Khan, who could now lose their money.
Asked whether she was "on the hook" for his breach of bail, Khan replied on Twitter: "Yes. I had expected him to face the allegations. I am as surprised as anyone by this."
[An Nahar] Militants from the armed wing of Gazoo's ruling Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement on Tuesday said they had fired 10 Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.... at Israel in a rare show of force after Israeli raids killed six.
"This is our answer to the Zionist crimes. It will continue if they carry out more strikes on Gazoo," a statement said, with a front man confirming it was the first time they had fired such longer-range rockets at Israel since April 2011.
The Israeli military said that 11 rockets had hit southern Israel since midnight, but could not confirm whether all of them were Grads.
The announcement came as the air force carried out another air strike on the central town of Deir al-Balah, targeting two men on a cycle of violence. One of them was critically injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2012
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#1
As of a few minutes ago the number of missiles was 40+; one of them landed near Beersheva.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/20/2012 6:55
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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.
Rooters. National Research Council study. 
Multiple sources have told Al-Jazeera that ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak suffered a stroke and is on an artificial respirator, but that he is not "clinically dead," as previous reports had claimed. Reuters and the Associated Press also cite sources saying the deposed president is on life support.
A man claiming to be an Al-Qaeda 
THE masks are off and daggers drawn. Pakistain's democratic process may once again become a part of history, leaving the world to wonder how we could so willingly poison ourselves in the belief that it would lead to better days.
Seriously.
Gun battles between security forces and suspected Islamists in Nigeria's Damaturu have killed at least 34 people, including three 
At least six people were killed in incidents of violence in 
The health department in Saint Mary's County confirms the skunk that bit a diner at a restaurant last week was rabid.
The lawyers observed boycott of courts here on Monday to show solidarity with the judiciary and Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, resolving to foil any conspiracy hatched against the superior judiciary.
Four proclaimed offenders were killed in a 'suspected' shootout with the CIA police at an outhouse near T-4 locality of Islampura early Monday.
[Dawn] A UN expert on Tuesday urged Washington to clarify its rules on hunting Taliban and other suspects amid a "dramatic increase" in the use of drone attacks.
(Sh. M. Network)-Witnesses say the body of a young headless man was on Tuesday found dumped at a street in northern Mogadishu, Somalia.
Najib Miqati
Nigeria's main Christian body on Tuesday said attacks attributed to Islamist group 
(Sh. M. Network)-Somali government soldiers have on Tuesday exchanged heavy gunfire with 
South Korea and the U.S. are reportedly planning to combine their separate missile defenses here. Seoul is saying that the combined system will not be integrated into the U.S.-Japan missile defense system, but a certain degree of integration seems inevitable since the U.S.' missile defense systems in South Korea and Japan are linked. 
[Dawn] Eleven Taliban 
Asif Ali 
Afghan authorities on Tuesday said "regional spy agencies" were behind a rare 
[Financial Times] Britain could become the first country to fly a tourist around the moon, after an Isle of Man-based company announced that it would be ready to take passengers on private lunar expeditions by 2015.
DeWitt, Mich. -- The protesters popping up at Mitt Romney's rallies throughout Michigan Tuesday look like run-of-the-mill grassroots liberals -- they wave signs about "the 99 percent," they chant about the Republican's greed, and they describe themselves as a loosely organized coalition of "concerned citizens."
Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for three decades until overthrown by a revolution in the "Arab Spring" last year, was declared clinically dead by his doctors on Tuesday, the state news agency MENA said in a report confirmed by a hospital source.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
