...a debate has been going on as to how much the United States of America, its president, the Congress, and the American people should speak out in favor and in support of these brave Iranians...and their quest for the fundamentals of freedom and democracy that we have enjoyed for more than a couple of centuries. So, Mr. President today I, and all America pays tribute to a brave young woman who was trying to exercise her fundamental human rights, and was killed on the streets of Tehran. All Americans are with her our thoughts and our prayers for her.
Dear Obama:
This is how you stand up for human rights.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009
17:20 ||
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#1
If there was no media coverage John the RINO wouldn't say a thing.
#2
I've referred to him as an attention whore many times. I'm not going to question his motives for mentioning it on the Senate floor. I'm glad he did.
It is a mistake to assume that the ayatollahs, cynical and corrupt as they may be, are acting rationally. They are frequently in the grip of archaic beliefs and fears that would make a stupefied medieval European peasant seem mentally sturdy and resourceful by comparison.
#1
What's to understand? He's a f*cking wussy who's upset the demonstrators are getting in the way of his kissing Ahmahnutjob's ass on a daily basis. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/22/2009 18:43
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WASHINGTON -- Raised in an individualistic culture, Americans dislike the concept of the "welfare state" and do not use the term. But make no mistake, the United States has a welfare state, and its future is precarious. The true significance of General Motors' bankruptcy lies more with this welfare state than with the battered condition of American capitalism.
Broadly speaking, the U.S. welfare system divides into two parts -- the private, run by firms; and the public, provided by government. Both are besieged: private companies by competitive pressures; government by rising debt and taxes. GM exemplified the large corporation as private welfare state. In contracts with the United Auto Workers, GM promised high wages, lifetime employment, generous pensions and comprehensive health insurance. All this is ancient history: new workers get skimpier benefits.
As metaphor, GM's bankruptcy marks the passage of this model. Companies still provide welfare benefits to attract and retain skilled workers. But these shelters against insecurity are growing flimsier. Career jobs remain, but lifetime job guarantees -- whether formal or informal -- are gone. Last year, about 50 percent of male workers aged 50 to 54 had been with the same employer at least 10 years; in 1983, that was 62 percent.
Health insurance and pensions tell similar stories. In 2007, employer-provided insurance covered 177 million Americans, 59.3 percent of the population; in 1999, coverage was 63.9 percent. Since 1980, companies have gradually moved from "defined benefit" to "defined contribution" pensions, notably 401(k)s. Defined benefit plans provided guaranteed monthly payments; defined contribution plans -- just putting money into a pot -- make workers responsible for managing retirement savings.
What most Americans identify as government "welfare" are payments to single mothers, food stamps and (perhaps) Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. But that's not the half of it. Since 1960, government has changed radically. Then, 52 percent of federal spending went for defense, 26 percent for "payments for individuals" -- the welfare state. By 2008, 61 percent consisted of "payments for individuals," 21 percent for defense.
Social Security and Medicare -- programs for the elderly -- represented the lion's share: $1 trillion in 2008. Most Americans don't consider these programs "welfare," but they are. Benefits are paid mainly by present taxes; there's little "saving" for future benefits; Congress can alter benefits whenever it wants. If that's not welfare, what would be?
Pressures on private and public welfare won't abate. The economic conditions that encouraged corporate welfare have long since vanished. In 1955, GM, Ford and Chrysler accounted for 95 percent of the U.S. light vehicle sales, reports economist Thomas Klier of the Chicago Federal Reserve. With market dominance and technological leadership, the "Big Three" assumed they could pass along to customers the costs of job guarantees, high wages and fringe benefits.
Eager to defuse the class warfare of the 1930s -- and to avoid unionization -- many U.S. companies imitated the model. They, too, believed that competition would be limited and technological change could be controlled. These conceits are gone (in 2008, the Big Three's market share was 48 percent and dropping). Now, companies are hyper-sensitive to competitive and economic threats. A survey of 141 major companies by consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that 72 percent have recently cut jobs, 21 percent reduced salaries and 22 percent curtailed matching 401(k) contributions.
In theory, expanding public welfare could offset eroding private welfare. President Obama's health care proposal reflects that logic. The trouble is that the public sector also faces enormous cost pressures, driven by an aging population and rising health costs. The Congressional Budget Office projects the federal debt to double as a share of the economy (gross domestic product) to 82 percent of GDP by 2019.
Any sober examination of figures like these suggests that the system has promised more than it can realistically deliver. We are borrowing not to finance investment in the future but to pay for today's welfare -- present consumption. Sooner or later, the huge debt will weaken the economy. Nor would paying for all promised benefits with higher taxes be desirable. Big increases in either debt or taxes risk depressing economic growth, making it harder yet to pay promised benefits.
The U.S. welfare state is weakening; insecurity is rising. The sensible thing would be to decide which forms of public welfare are needed to protect the vulnerable and to begin paring others. Our inaction poses another dreary parallel with GM. It was obvious a quarter-century ago that GM the auto company could not support GM the welfare state. But the union wouldn't surrender benefits, and the company acquiesced. Inertia prevailed, and the reckoning came. The same cycle, repeated on a national scale with sums many multiples higher, would be correspondingly more fearsome.
#1
Frankly, I do NOT consider government programs Social Security and the like, which I have paid into faithfully without choice, which have earned -0- interest and paid -0- dividends since the early 1960's as "welfare."
If the government wishes to toss my payments into the general fund and operate a huge, cross-generational ponzi scheme and piss it away, I am pretty much powerless to do anything about it. It will either be there, or it will not. I'm betting on the latter, but if it returns to me $ .10 cents of thousands of dollars I have paid in...., it will damn sure not be "welfare."
#2
Besoeker: The sad truth is that government lied. It never had the authority to create Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, but it did so for pragmatic political reasons.
From the very beginning, they were efforts to turn America from a capitalist nation to a socialist one, and both political parties were complicit in the scheme, either overtly, or by refusing to tear down what had been unlawfully created.
Thus it has been an inevitable consequence of the public voting itself the treasury, that one day the bill would come due, and none would be left to pay.
So what we now face is that the US government will have no choice but to renounce its debt, SS, Medicare and Medicaid will end, and the Defense budget will be severely cut, so most of our overseas military will return home.
Domestic production will have to be recreated, because most trade will be over with the renunciation of the debt. However, credit will be only for those with 100% collateral, what today we think of as debit.
The end result will be the restoration of the pre-Frank Roosevelt economy. The only choice will be to minimize the national pain, or to drag it out.
#3
After reading Shales "The Forgotten Man" and watching the recent scenario unfold, I believe you've nearly hit the nail on the preverbial head Moose. Brown rice keeps rather well in Mason jars by the way, or so I'm told at the oriental market.
Via InstaPundit
Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.
In a letter dated June 11 an attorney for ACORN advised top whistleblowers that their unauthorized use of the organizations name could make them liable for monetary damages and injunctive relief.
ACORN executives have also changed their organizations name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign, and charges by current and former members of financial mismanagement and misrepresentation.
The new name will let ACORN leaders continue their operations without worrying about prior bad publicity, according to Marcel Reid of ACORN 8, a group of present and former members.
Josip S. recommends "People's Democratic" Something-Something. It worked for him.
Posted by: ed ||
06/22/2009
16:29 ||
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#1
In a letter dated June 11 an attorney for ACORN advised top whistleblowers that their unauthorized use of the organization's name could make them liable for monetary damages and injunctive relief.
Why waste all of those newfound taxpayer dollars on expensive litigation? Why not just have the whistleblowers quietly kidnapped and taken on an a late evening Lake Michigan cruise.
President Bush said liberating Iraq would have a regional domino effect and give people a taste for freedom and democracy. Is this what we're seeing now in Iran?
As Bush said, liberty isn't American, or British, or French. It is human. No, the morality police in Iran are not just "part of Iranian culture" as some critics of Bush have claimed. Nor are public hangings. Nor are arbitrary detentions of doctors, or Holocaust denial conferences.
Peace comes through the spread of liberalism and democracy. Whatever the "foreign policy realists" or "regime apologists" might claim, there is little doubt in my view that should Iran become a free nation the world will be a safer place for all, not just a better place for Iranians.
I have posted some videos of the Iranian uprising on my website and I would strongly urge you to watch them. They show the reality of Iran's dictatorship, a reality that many international TV networks are refusing to show. Some of these videos are disturbing but I feel they need to be watched to understand the true nature of Iran's regime and why it should never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
I have not included those which are too bloody to watch. To state the obvious, this is not some video game or Hollywood movie. These events really happened, and they happened last week, and the leader of the free world, Barack Obama, has been extraordinarily slow to criticize them.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009
16:26 ||
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#1
Unfortunately, we are playing with someone else's dominos
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 17:01
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Not if President Zero has anything to say about it.
#3
Where's that nutjob Pelosie and the rest of the idiots in DC on this? The coward Murtha is out for vengance over waterboarding, but murder in the streets is ok.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2009 17:59
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Iran's younger folk may have learned an object lesson from these "Purple fingers" we helped happen - and made sure they were clean elections as well. That's happened a couple times now in Iraq. Compared to the Saddam days, Iraq is thriving now. Awfully hard to ignore that in Iran, just across the border.
Jim Treacher: "For every minute Bush spent reading to kids after hearing about 9/11, Obama has had 1 full day to deal with the Iranian election." At least he's spent his time constructively let's go and get an ice cream! although recent polls are trending south. And he can always rely on the Blair’s Law support of Ron Paul [R-Kos].
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009
15:57 ||
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting extensively on the sale of advanced web monitoring equipment to Iran by a joint venture of Germanys Siemens and Finlands Nokia.
Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections.
Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts.
Much of this technology comes from the joint venture, which now has blood on its hands. Siemens has been there and done that (profited from fascism) and should have known better, but it didnt.
In any case, if you can construct advanced equipment of this nature, theres a good chance you know how to jam or override it. The joint venture should provide this information as quickly as possible to people and organizations that can do something about this before it is used for even more nefarious purposes (when Iran gets the bomb). Other high technology companies should immediately desist from dealing with Iran. That includes General Electric, whose record on Iran is checkered at best. Technology companies who do not do this voluntarily should be boycotted. Due to Twitter, etc., this is probably happening already. A significant number of people - myself included - will not be thinking of Nokia for their next cell phone.
Giving advanced equipment to the mullahs is sort of like handing a loaded machine gun to Charles Manson....
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009
15:06 ||
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#4
Unfortunately this is just business as usual. Companies have no nationality, no morale and no pride.
The technology in question is actually used in most advanced networks, just that usually these networks are not in the hands of one government.
But companies will not mind: Yahoo will turn over the identy of dissidents to China if sales are menaced, monitoring software will be installed on every computer exported to China.
Good thing is that the internet was designed to survive nuclear war. So new monitoring technologies will sooner or later find their match, just as Apple iPhones will be jailbreaked.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 20:41
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#5
Cell phones can be used as a bugging and locating device even when turned "off". The microphone can be remotely activated and conversations overheard even when you think the phone is not active. The only way to be safe is to remove the battery.
Eight people were arrested following the incident at Sundridge Park Golf Course on Sunday. Two youths, aged 17 and 13 were also taken to south London hospitals with head injuries. The 17-year-old is in stable condition in hospital while the 13-year-old was later discharged and subsequently arrested. Officer: "Sir, how many times did you hit him in the head?
Golfer: "I don't know 3 maybe 4. Put me down for a 3".
According to reports, the players were about to tee off on the fourth hole of the course in Bromley, Kent, when they were confronted by a group of teenagers brandishing planks of wood.
Despite the group threatening to attack them if they did not hand over their golfing equipment, the golfers apparently fought back. An eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said: "Everyone had a weapon and they were just trading blows. There's nothing like the sound of a Driver hitting the side of some Punk's punkin. Kinda rounds out the game.
"The golfers stood their ground, though. I guess because they had their clubs as protection." There is more than one reason they are called Clubs.
As well as the 13-year-old, two other teenagers were arrested, including a 15-year-old boy from Downham and a 16-year-old boy from St Mary Cray on suspicion of affray. Suspicion of Affray? That's a new one.
A 33-year-old woman, from Downham, and a 49-year-old man, from Plaistow, have been arrested on the affray charges. Can't upset the other Golfers now can we.
Officers also arrested a 53-year-old man, from Hayes, on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and a 48-year-old man, from Keston, on suspicion of causing GBH, while a 39-year-old man, from Plaistow, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct. GBH= Great Bodily Harm I guess. A Driver to the noggin will do that.
A four-iron is better. But don't use a one-iron -- not even God can hit a one-iron. Old Lee Trevino joke there. Ok, very old.
Robert Walden, Sundridge Park general manager, said there will be a full inquiry about what happened. Mr Walden said: "I cannot say who was at fault and who was not at fault yesterday. Seems to me that if the punks haden't threatened the golfers there would not have been any mayhem, ergo, the punks are at fault. English logic excapes me.
"We just do not know what happened. We will be dealing with the matter in full with a full inquiry when information is available."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We can confirm there was an incident at Sundridge Park Golf Course on Sunday, May 10 at 17:00 hrs Brilliant deduction!
"Several youths descended on the golf course and allegedly started being abusive and threatening golfers. There were several altercations between them and golfers. At one stage a large group of people, thought to be relatives of the youths, arrived at the golf course and joined in the altercation. A Free-for-all! A regular Bashing!
"Police and ambulance attended. Two youths were taken to south London hospitals with head injuries. A head is much easier to hit than a golf ball.
And perhaps easier to, um, slice ...
"A 17-year-old was in a stable condition in hospital today and a 13-year-old male was treated, but later discharged. He has a golf-ball sized lump on his punkin with the word PING indented.
"Eight arrests have been made. Seven at the scene and one this morning at a home address. All arrested are still in custody. Further arrests are expected."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/22/2009
12:48 ||
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Anybody who has ever played Gleneagles International, a nifty little 9 hole course, in San Francisco, off Sunnyvale in McLaren Park, knows how dangerous golf can be under similar circumstances. Holes, 3, 4 and 5 border "project" housing and even though it is fenced it is still easy to be confronted "for some spending money". Once I had teed off on 3 (a downhill par 4) when I saw two cop cars (lights blazing) come screaming to a halt and begin to run after two guys who jumped the fence and started running across the fairway over to the 6th fairway. Four cops had their guns out and so did the bad boyz while I was discovering the taste of bark on an eucalyptus tree that I was seriously pinned to while the gunfight got underway. It was soon resolved by a SFPD helicopter and SWAT team taking over the golf course. At least I didn't have to give up any "spending money".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 14:29
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#7
Sounds like the membership needs to expand to include a Soprano inductee. I suspect charges would be dropped [for lack of witnesses] and proper decorum returned to the holes. You'll get that when the state is more interested in 'process' and its own power than providing 'justice'.
Posted by: James Carville ||
06/22/2009 16:43
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#10
It would be interesting to come back to this in a few weeks, after the police have had a chance to sort things out a bit. In England it seems possible to get charged with a crime for defending oneself, but will it happen here?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 17:11
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#11
I worked there green-keeping for a spell many years ago. Even in those days, Downham was just a place one drove through and St Mary's Cray a place to be avoided. There is an East course and a West course, so, with 36 holes within the boundaries of Greater London, the place is prestigous, although I wouldn't say this is Class War, just an indication of what can happen to anyone anywhere anytime in the UK these days. Anyone can be a target for these scum.
Physician-written article about huge variations in the cost of care for no apparently good reason. This is not an issue our esteemed leaders are likely to face in their mad rush to screw up US health care and bankrupt the country.
#1
Yeah, the article goes on and on and never mentions that it's on the border (with Mexico), where the market is distorted to hell...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/22/2009 15:44
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#2
long article but worth the read. and illegals have nothing to do with it. El Paso with similar demographics and same illegal population is mentioned significantly in the first 3-4 paragraphs. prime difference in cost is the collective mindset of the physicians in the area.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/22/2009 16:24
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#3
Someone pointed out to me the other day that one reason for the high cost is that its priced by the procedure and not the result.
In other words you are paying for each procedure. prescription, bandage, crutch, miniute of physical therapy, and whatever to get your hip replacement and not for a 'hip replacement package'. And of course along with each of those item is overhead in charging, billing, etc...
If we were a car - you aren't paying for the car, but for each item, Engine, transmission, steering wheel, tires, booth babe, trunk, seats, mirrors, lights, radio, etc...
#4
ION PRAVDA > THE US ECONOMIC RECESSION IS A HOAX/US ECONOMIC INDICATORS ON THE RISE.
Also on PRAVDA > GREENLAND TO BECOME THE 51st STATE OF THE USA. ARTIC = A number of Greenies are forming an independence movement from DENMARK, + USA had been milpol interested in the island since the 1920's. INTERNAT STRUGGLE [future WAR?] FOR ARCTIC RESOURCES HAS ONLY BEGUN???
#5
The Mexican border has nothing to do with the difference in prices. In the article, McAllen TX was compared to El Paso TX.
The article takes into account the fact that procedures are priced individually (pretty much the same for all US communities), yet there are still massive differences in pricing between the two communities. Medicare, in some cases, pays by the diagnosis, not by the procedure, for some hospitalizations, but has the same rules for El Paso as it does for McAllen.
If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired Sunday.
"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda's in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television. Does anyone think this will appear on the US evening newscasts?
Does anyone think this will appear in the Early Bird?
#6
"Anything less and you risk innocent Americans."
Unfortunately, HF, I think among Bambi's crowd that's a feature, not a bug.
Since they're sure it won't affect them and they can always blame it on Bush....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/22/2009 20:26
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#7
"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans"
God willing, the nuclear weapons will fall on your turbans instead
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 20:43
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#8
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > PAKISTAN: A SUPEPROWER BY 2050!?
* SAME > THE CURRENT STATE OF IRAN'S BUCLEAR PROGRAM. Iran at current centrifuge, etc. nucopers levels can easily produce 1-2 Uranium-, low-yield Plutonium, andor "Dirty Bomb" per year, espec since 2008.
#9
ION ISRAELI MIL FORUM > ANALYSIS: NORTH KOREA'S CHEMICAL WARFARE ARMS AS GRAVE AS ITS NUKES. Group "International Crisis" believes NOKOR may have approxi between 2500-5000 tons in CHEMWAR ASSETS/STOCKPILES.
#10
NEWSMAX > SHAH'S SON: IRAN CRISIS COULD LEAD TO NUCLEAR WAR. Crushing of Iran's popular- or pro-democracy movements could induce the rise of more pro-Radiclaist, pro-Jihad/War, etc. ultra-Extremists inside Iran + ME Regions.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said Monday.
The order would be one of the strongest measures taken by a U.S. commander to protect Afghan civilians in battle. American commanders say such deaths hurt their mission because they turn average Afghans against the government and U.S. and NATO forces.
Civilian casualties are a major source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the U.S. The U.N. says U.S., NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians in the Afghan war last year.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of international forces in Afghanistan this month, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the "number of Afghans shielded from violence," and not the number of militants killed.
McChrystal will issue orders within days saying troops may attack insurgents hiding in Afghan houses if the U.S. or NATO forces are in imminent danger and must return fire, said U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Greg Smith.
"But if there is a compound they're taking fire from and they can remove themselves from the area safely, without any undue danger to the forces, then that's the option they should take," Smith said. "Because in these compounds we know there are often civilians kept captive by the Taliban."
McChrystal's predecessor, Gen. David McKiernan, issued rules last fall that told commanders to set conditions "to minimize the need to resort to deadly force."
But McChrystal's orders will be more precise and have stronger language ordering forces to break off from battles, Smith said.
#2
Oh, good - another failed idea being brought out and dusted off. Wonder how many US troops will be sacrificed THIS time. O is trying VERY hard to lose this war, and if this is how Gen. McChrystal is going to run things, they'll probably succeed. May the fleas of a thousand camels...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2009 12:52
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#3
So all they need to do is grab a couple of civs and we can't engage? Oh, brilliant...
#4
I have a sinking feeling that McChrystal was offered his fourth star at the price of sitting quietly as strategic AND tactical decisions are made by the Obamabots. This can only end badly. I think the next phase is direct White House controls/restrictions on the use of close air support of ground troops. The Obamabots are determined to see our forces defeated somewhere, and causiing a modern Gandamak would suit their plans handily.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
06/22/2009 13:29
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#5
So this has the effect of establishing safe zones for the enemies whilst the soldiers have no place that is safe? This is insane.
Do they wish to re-create and then repeat the USA defeat in Vietnam?
#8
What was our policy during the "Anbar awakening"? Or is this what McChrystal had to give up in order to pass muster with the Armed Forces committee in order to get approved. ROE's to me are all political unless you have a serious strategic and tactical reason to issue them. This is not one of them.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 13:51
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#9
The Progressives have won big here. Significant step in remaking this into the Vietnam shame.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 14:07
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#10
Disengaging when the Taliban mingle with civilians is the Military equivalent of voting "Present". Any "civilian" compound becomes a mini Cambodia.
I wonder where this strategy came from? Are war heroes like Kerry and Murtha advising Barack "Inane" Obama?
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate."
George W. Bush, Statement To Joint Session Of Congress September 20th 2001
"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
George W. Bush, September 11th 2001
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the "number of Afghans shielded from violence," and not the number of militants killed.
So the words spoken by the President of teh United States spoken after an attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor, a mass fatality attack on the continental United States, are in the end no more than empty threats in the vein of Comical Ali.
And a soon nuclear Iran is supposed to fear retaliation for an Iran-sponsored terrorist attack on any western country why?
The repercussions of a defeat in Afghanistan (which is a certainty now) will be much, much worse than those of Vietnam, and they will be felt by people in Europe and North America.
#16
Since the Taliban don't wear uniforms, they all look like civilians. Even when they are firing crew-served weapons at our guys.
We may as well just declare defeat and come home. We have lost in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/22/2009 16:35
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I was thinking the same thing Steve White. McChrystal's not an idiot and has surely studied past COIN operations. He's trying to show them that we're not after wanton destruction to win hearts and minds. Yes, it will tie our hands in some areas but it fits in nicely with a larger strategy of clearing operations area by area a la Iraq, where we move into first one then other areas controlled by the Taliban. The folks who live there get the hell out of dodge beforehand (for fear of being taken hostage by the taliban, which we all know will be a direct consequence of the 'no fire zone' policy) and go live in refugee camps the euros would love to run. Once the towns are clear we'll be fighting Taliban mostly mano a mano. As a bonus, the former residents will hate the taliban that much more when they come home and their towns are levelled in the name of Allah. Meanwhile, McChrystal's special legion are decapitating whatever commanders are dumb enough to show their faces, including in pakistan.
If we could get pakistan to truly engage from the east, it would be like opening a 2nd front and squeezing the enemy in between (pincer movement?).
It's amusing to watch the Washington political establishment feign shock, now that President Barack Obama's reform administration has used a clay foot to vigorously kick one inspector general and boot another out the door.
One inspector general foolishly investigated a friend of the president. Another inspector general audited those juicy bonuses given to AIG executives as part of $700 billion federal bailout of the financial industry.
It's a decent man-bites-dog story, at least until North Korea tries lobbing a few missiles toward Hawaii. But until that happens, the political talk shows will buzz about Neil Barofsky, the inspector general overseeing the financial bailout.
Barofsky now claims that his autonomy will be compromised if the Obama Justice Department rules that he is merely a functionary of the Department of Treasury.
"An adverse ruling ... could potentially have a serious impact on the independence of our agency and our ability to carry out our mandate," Barofsky wrote in a letter to ranking senators on Friday.
Just two weeks ago, inspector general Gerald Walpin, who watches over volunteer community programs, was fired. He investigated Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama pal and former NBA star. Walpin alleged Johnson misused $850,000 in federal youth grants.
The use of political muscle may be prohibited in the mythic transcendental fairyland where much of the Obama spin originates, sprouting green and lush, like the never-ending fields of primo Hopium.
But our president is from Chicago. Obama's Media Merlin David Axelrod and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel come right from Chicago Democratic machine boss Mayor Richard Daley. They don't believe in fairies.
Daley can't wait to be rid of his own inspector general, David Hoffman, who had the audacity to question why Daley's nephew received $68 million in city pension funds to invest. The mayor insists he didn't know anything about it. Nobody with a functioning brain believes the mayor.
The second that Hoffman's term expires, the mayor will change the locks on his office doors and move Hoffman's house plants out into the cold. Daley might even send some of the same political tough guys who helped elect Emanuel to Congress years ago, all in the name of reform.
It's the Chicago Way. Now, formally, it's also the Chicago on the Potomac Way.
One fellow who seems surprised is Walpin. He was transformed from dogged inspector general to alleged drooling incompetent last week in just a few spin cycles.
"I am now the target of the most powerful man in this country with an army of aides whose major responsibility seems to be to attack me and get rid of me," Walpin was quoted as saying.
In a letter to Congress explaining Walpin's firing, the Obama White House complained that Walpin failed to disclose exculpatory evidence that would have helped the mayor of Sacramento, and exhibited "other troubling and inappropriate conduct."
The letter, by White House counsel Norman Eisen, also left the impression that Walpin, 77, was a doddering old man just shy of dementia, describing him as "confused" and "disoriented" and all but incapacitated. I don't know whether that's true. But I do know this:
Walpin alleged that Obama's ally, supporter and fundraiser, Sacramento Mayor Johnson, played games with the $850,000 in federal money targeted for the AmeriCorps student volunteer program. Johnson allegedly paid "volunteers" to work on Democratic political campaigns, run his personal errands and even wash his car.
In an April deal with prosecutors in the Obama Justice Department, Johnson was not charged with a crime. But his St. HOPE Academy charity agreed to pay back half of the $850,000, including $72,000 from Johnson himself.
During the presidential campaign, the message expertly spun by Daley's mouthpiece, Axelrod, was that Obama would bring hope and change and transform the cynical politics of the past.
The Washington Beltway media pack, exhausted after the cynicism of the Bush years, was eager for change. Many fired up their Hopium pipes and waited, glassy eyed, for the rapture, all but chanting "Yes We Can." Now they're coming down hard.
So here's my question:
What's the big surprise? What strange, exotic land do they think Obama comes from?
Do they think Obama learned his politics in Narnia, while cavorting with gentle forest creatures, some of which have hooves and serve tea and cakes to journalists and well-mannered English schoolgirls on snowy winter afternoons?
Did Obama learn politics in Camelot, the magical kingdom where federal czars sit at a great round table, all for the good of the simple peasants? Or did he learn politics along that famous highway, you know, the one that's always paved with good intentions?
History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
[Editor's Note: Forty-nine years ago last month, the nation Israel was reestablished in the Land. Thirty years ago this month, as a result of the famed Six Day War, Israel regained Biblical Jerusalem, as well as Gaza, the Sinai, and the Golan Heights. Although these areas were part of the original mandated land, and are undeniably essential for Israel's defense, it has become strangely "politically correct" to assume that peace in the Middle East is dependent upon their yielding these lands-the so-called "West Bank"-back to their enemies which are openly committed to their eventual extermination. Continued on Page 49
#2
It's interesting to note that already in 1938 Hitler was in disagreement with his generals. Netanyahu is quoting from the Churchill Memoirs when it comes to the fortresses of the Sudetenland.
The German Wehrmacht was certainly happy with Munich, but Hitler was not. He wanted war in 1938.
Had he started a war against Czechoslovakia in 1938 that would have incurred heavy losses on the German side, this could have meant a putsch because there were many important people in the German Wehrmacht who despised him and thought his war plans crazy.
But Munich pretty much capped their knees.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 11:49
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Another thing:
Hitler later said that he lost respect of his enemies after he had seen them in Munich.
That was not the case before Munich
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 11:52
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Interesting. I didn't know the background behind the Sudetenland and how critical it was.
#5
EC didn't point out that the Czech 38t tank production was taken over by the Germans, superior to the majority of the existing German Pz I's and II's of the time. That tank would aid immeasurably in the German blitz across the French frontier in 1940.
#6
Actually it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had the Czechs ignored Munich (where they weren't invited, which was shameful in itself).
Of course, Britain and France failed to react to the Rhineland remilitarization in 1936. That was the time to finish off the Nazis
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 15:35
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#7
The western part of Czechoslovakia was Sudeten and large-majority German. The Czech government couldn't ignore that. Carving off the Sudetenland left the rest of the republic unable to defend itself.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2009 15:43
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I myself have a Czech VZ-24 rifle. This Mauser clone was built by the Czechs to defend their country, and they did not spare any expense with regards to materials or workmanship. A rifle like this would go for a couple thousand today, but I picked mine up for less than a hundred. Never issued due to the betrayal, it sat in an armory for 60 years before being dumped on the American market. A living reminder.
I meant resisting the occupation of the Sudetenland which they had every right to do since France and Britain had no right to give it away.
Actually France and Britain very much acted like the West today, feeling somewhat "guilty" that the St Germain Treaty had denied the German people in the Sudetenland (formerly Austrian-Hungarian Empire their right of self determination, which had split up Europe in 1919.
But the German Sudeten had the same rights as the Czechs, they were not suppressed at all.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/22/2009 15:58
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#8 I myself have a Czech VZ-24 rifle.
There will soon be coming a....Verordnung über Waffenbesitz im besetzen Gebiet. For those who have not previously made full disclosures, types, calibers, manufacturers and serial numbers!!! Czech VZ-24 collectors to the front of the line please! We have read your postings already.
The Kremlin-backed president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has been seriously wounded by a roadside bomb, sparking fears of a Chechnya-style war in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region. The assassination attempt on Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, seen as a moderating influence in the most unstable of the Russian Caucasian republics, left him fighting for his life. He was admitted to hospital in critical condition, while at least four of his bodyguards were killed. Although reports from Ingushetia were contradictory, the president's prognosis seemed grim. Doctors at the hospital where Mr Yevkurov was being treated said he was on life-support in intensive care. But a presidential spokesman said that Mr Yevkurov's life was "not yet" in danger.
Observers said that the assassination attempt was likely to trigger a swift and possibly brutal Kremlin response against Ingushetia's insurgents. "We should expect a major security offensive in Ingushetia," said a respected human rights activist with years of experience in the North Caucasus.
Ingushetia's increasingly powerful insurgency, a loose coalition of separatists and militant Islamists, has grown more daring since 2007. While summer traditionally sees a surge in rebel attacks, the violence has been relentless in the past month, with attacks reported on an almost daily basis. The insurgents claimed a high profile victim on June 10th, when the deputy head of the Ingush supreme court was killed as she dropped her children off at school. Causing even more alarm in the Kremlin, the powerful interior minister of Dagestan, a violence-plagued republic on Chechnya's southern flank, was shot dead by a sniper during a wedding five days later. Fearing that the violence was spreading, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, made an unscheduled visit to Dagestan in an attempt to shore up the Kremlin's waning authority in the region.
The attack on Mr Yevkurov represents the most overt challenge for Moscow yet. While it was swiftly condemned by Mr Medvedev as an "act of terror", analysts have long predicted increasingly volatility in the region after Russia's recognition last year of the two breakway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. At the heart of last year's war with Georgia, both republics lie just across the border from the North Caucasus. But while Russia supported the rebel administrations of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as part of a strategy of weakening Georgia, any hint of separatism on the Russian side of the border was crushed.
The Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB, has been accused of committing widespread human rights abuses, from torture to extra-judicial executions. Disappearances in Ingushetia and elsewhere have remained common. Worried that popular sentiment in Ingushetia was turning against Moscow, President Medvedev appointed Mr Yevkurov to run the republic last October. But his campaign to improve the human rights situation in Ingushetia reaped only modest dividends in the face of strong opposition from the powerful FSB. He also alienated the hardline faction of his government by pushing for reconciliation in a land dispute with the neighbouring Christian republic of North Ossetia, which, unlike South Ossetia, lies in Russian territory.
The attack on My Yevkurov is only likely to increase those divisions, stoking further instability in a republic that some analysts believe has the capacity to drag Russia into a major internal war once again.
First, a quiz. How many people attended President Obama's town-hall forum in Vermont? That would be none. Since becoming president, he hasn't set foot in a state he won by nearly 40 percentage points in November's general election.
But thousands have heard Obama speak in Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Florida, all among the 16 states he has visited since taking office. In each of those places, his margin of victory or defeat last November was fewer than five percentage points.
As recently as last week, Obama warned that the changes he is seeking in health care, energy policy and financial regulation require "taking on the status quo in Washington." And that, he told an audience of donors who paid as much as $30,400 a couple to see him, "requires the courage to look . . . beyond the next election." We never said he was strong on the courage thingy.
Yet during his first five months in office, public policy and electoral politics have come together seamlessly in his domestic travel itinerary. On nearly every trip he has taken, Obama has followed the timeworn path of presidential travel - go where the votes matter most.
Now for a little WaPo balance.
"A smart White House is a savvy mix of policy and politics, and in our democracy there's nothing wrong with it," said Ari Fleischer, Bush's first press secretary. "If you're all substance and no politics, you lose support on Capitol Hill. If you're all politics and no substance, you lose support among the people."
Fleischer added: "If people don't like it, they can move from a safe state to a swing state and see their president more."
To Missouri, for example.
With a whole nation to pick from, Obama chose to mark his 100th day in office with a town-hall forum in Arnold, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. He lost Missouri by just over one-tenth of one percentage point.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2009
06:18 ||
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#1
Someone should caution the President that overexposure can cause sunburn. He may find this continous electioneering will turn people off. I hope so.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 11:50
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#2
He can campaign all he likes. His policies are impoverishing America, and that will tell at the polls.
#3
It's not working. Daily Presidential Tracking Poll The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 33% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -1. Today is the second straight day the Presidents rating has been below zero.
Also: Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of 10 key issues, including the top issue of the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.
This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on this issue. The parties were close in May, with the Democrats holding a modest 44% to 43% edge. The latest survey was taken just after General Motors announced it was going into bankruptcy as part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration that gives the government majority ownership of the failing automaker.
Voters not affiliated with either party now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues by a two-to-one margin.
Separate Rasmussen tracking shows that the economy remains the top issue among voters in terms of importance.
Posted by: ed ||
06/22/2009 15:39
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#4
Let's hope America votes the adults in next time. No dems, No RINOs.
President Barack Obama is set to sign into law an anti-smoking bill that will give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco. Wonder if he'll celebrate this expansion of federal bureaucracy by having a smoke?
So, Barack Obama walks into a bar with a parrot on his shoulder.
The bartender says, "Nice. Can't it talk?"
And the parrot says, "Not without a teleprompter."
#8
This is just great. Give the "failed" FDA more work to do when it does not do the work it already has, such as the safety of our food & medications. Gallup poll says 52% of the electorate opposed this bill, no matter. Mindless.
Via JihadWatch
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted tough with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the full glare of television cameras this week, he had solid reason to do so. There are still 42 terror-training camps directed against India alive and kicking in Pakistan and PoK.
No! I'm shocked. Shocked!
Although 42 does seem a bit like excessive exuberance.
The latest assessment of Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), the nodal agency for all terror-related intelligence under the home ministry, holds there are 34 `active' and eight `holding' camps operational across the border.
Both Pakistan/Northern Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have 17 `active' and four `holding or dormant' camps each, says the MAC assessment, based on inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and National Technical Research Organisation, among others.
"It is estimated that around 2,200 militants are housed in these camps. After 26/11, many of these camps emptied out or relocated. Some are back to their original status now, while new ones have also come up,'' said an official.
While Pakistan is taking steps to crack down on the Taliban-al Qaida nexus, faced as it is with unrelenting heat from the US, the jihadi factory against India continues to run with impunity.
As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of "mixed'' origins.
The "active'' camps in PoK include those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Sensa, Gulpur, Forward Kahutta, Peer Chinasi, Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu, Abdullah Bin Masud, Tattapani, Samani and Shavai Nallah, among others.
The North-West Frontier Province is another hotbed of jihadi activity, with the densely-forested hilly Manshera region, in particular, housing several madrasas, which also double up as training camps. These include Jangal Mangal, Andher Bela, Shinkiari and Jalo Gali, with other NWFP camps including Boi, Oghi and Attar Shisha.
The other camps in Pakistan and Northern Areas include Muridke, Sialkot, Beesian, Garhi Habibullah and Jalogali. "Many of these camps are makeshift, which can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny. Moreover, the real leaders of the various tanzims are based in cities like Islamabad and Lahore,'' said another official.
Posted by: ed ||
06/22/2009
00:51 ||
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...the Autobus Workers Union places itself alongside all those who are offering themselves in the struggle to build a free and independent civic society. The union condemns any kind of suppression and threats.
To recognize labor-union and social rights in Iran, the international labor organizations have declared the Fifth of Tir (June 26) the international day of support for imprisoned Iranian workers as well as for the institution of unions in Iran. I think this means that the are on strike that day but I may be wrong
We want that this day be viewed as more than a day for the demands of labor unions to make it a day for human rights in Iran and to ask all our fellow workers to struggle for the trampled rights of the majority of the people of Iran.
With hope for the spread of justice and freedom,
Autobus Workers Union
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/22/2009
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#1
This is good - it widens things without giving the Basiji bastards a target.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday warned the Taliban to leave the country, since the government would not rest until every last one was eliminated from Pakistan's soil.
Talking to reporters, Malik said Taliban were neither Muslims nor Pakistanis. The nation had already said 'no' to the Taliban and now they must leave Pakistan, he added. The interior minister said the entire nation was ready to defend the country against terrorism and the days of the Taliban were numbered. He maintained that terrorists wanted Pakistan to disintegrate and the government would never let that happen.
The interior minister said a United Nations investigation team would visit Pakistan next month to probe the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The team would present its report within six months, he added.
Then you're gonna get it!
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two suspected muggers suffered bullet injuries in a "shootout" between their accomplices and members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) last night in the city's Sutrapur area. "Shootout", meaning "didn't plan on killin' anyone this early"
Rab sources said a patrol team of Rab-10 came under firing by a group of snatchers near Dayaganj bridge around 9:00pm, prompting them to fire back that ensued a gun battle between the Rab team and the criminals. "Stand and deliver..........aw crap, it's the RaB!"
After the shootout, the Rab team found the two criminals--Russel, 20, and Johnny, 22, of South Jatrabari--with bullet injuries in their legs.
In their legs? Were any Dagmushes involved?
The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where they were undergoing treatment. The Rab said the criminals were preparing for a crime. They're gonna get a crime, all right.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A bomb attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has left at least two people dead and six others wounded, an Interior Ministry official says.
The attack came on Sunday evening near a restaurant in southeast Baghdad, AFP reported.
"The bomb exploded near al-Baghdadi restaurant in Abu Disheer district," on Sunday, the official said adding that it had targeted civilians.
Earlier on Saturday, a huge bombing left over 50 Iraqis dead and injured 166 others near a Shia mosque in northern country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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The Iranian government has suffered a serious blow to its legitimacy, but that blow is not fatal. Barring dramatic and unlikely changes in the ensuing weeks, the regime will remain intact, by force if necessary. As much as we might like it to be otherwise, that is the reality Washington faces. I agree. They'll likely remain in business as an "Islamic Republic." They're not going to be the same regime when it's all over, however. They're going to have to do something, one way or the other: They're either going to have to tighten up, suppressing future dissent, or they're going to have to loosen up, which means purges and resignations, quiet or otherwise.
Critics, including many advocates of engagement with Iran, who argue that Obama's policy of negotiating with Iran has to be delayed or scrapped entirely misread the situation-as do those calling for rhetorical grand gestures from the White House. Agreed. After all this time, I'm still trying to figure why it's okay and understandable for them to snarl and snap and make demands and not okay for us to even raise our voices.
Lost in the clamor is sober reflection on how best to serve American interests, which sometimes conflict with the desire to make emotionally satisfying but ineffective and even counterproductive declarations in favor of anti-regime protesters. I'd say that "American interests" involve anything that enhances individual liberty for the inhabitants of any country, anywhere. That should be our strategy. Anything else, to include long term alliances, diplomacy, war, or peace, is tactics.
The protests were always going to face an enormous uphill battle against the government, and the Obama administration has given them their best chance for success by refusing to act as their cheerleader. It's not a binary situation. B.O. should be careful not to give the impression that the protests are something funded by the U.S., nor the product of actions by U.S. agents. But we should be unequivocally and wholeheartedly in favor of free and fair elections and the security of the populace -- starting with freedom from having knobs thumped on their heads for wanting transparent elections.
The United States will not and should not intervene with direct action. Nobody's said we should. Words are not direct actions. So far the Brits, Frenchies, Germans, and the president of Israel have somehow found the words our president has been lacking.
Consequently, provocative language from the White House would likely only incite a bloodier crackdown. The protesters are already risking their lives-it would be unconscionable for the President to put them in greater danger by making proclamations that lend them no real aid and serve only to appease his domestic critics. It is ironic in the extreme that the same critics who rail against the President for his so-called "narcissism" should demand that Obama insert himself into an internal Iranian drama with potentially disastrous consequences for the people in the streets of Iran. See above. It depends on what the provocative language from the White House involves. Our problem at the moment is that the White House, I don't think, doesn't believe that rights accrue to the individual. They're closer in philosophy to the ayatollahs, who are of the opinion that states have rights and the citizenry has obligations.
Advocates of engagement have become more skeptical of the wisdom of negotiating with Tehran in light of Ahmadinejad's re-election. However, it is precisely the hard-liners in power in Iran who will be best positioned to deliver a deal and who will be most in need of the international credibility that a deal would bring.
[More at the link] - DANIEL LARISON (Ph.D., History) is a contributing editor at The American Conservative. He also writes on the blog Eunomia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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People are ignoring the lesson of the Soviet block collapse. The regime stays in power as long as its security apparatus is willing to suppress dissent. If even a small part of the security apparatus falters then there is a rapid cascade as more and more the security people do nothing as fear of what happens after regime change grows.
The reported use of 'Arab' and foreign security to suppress dissent indicates to me we may be already be in the cascade.
Look for reports of Army/Police standing by and doing nothing to stop protests.
#3
Note where this is pubished, The American Conservative, Pitchfork Pat Buchanan's vanity rag, a publication that is sympathetic to the various Middle Eastern tyrranies (the House of Saud and the PA, to name a couple) and opposed deposing Saddam Hussein. I would go so far as to say that The American Conservative is probably in sympathy with Ahmadinejad's plans for Israel!
It may be that the bad guys will survive this round. I would, however, keep in mind a quote from that Will Collier piece I posted last week:
The reign of the ayatollahs in Iran has an expiration date, and the ayatollahs know it. Seventy percent of Iran's population wasn't even alive in 1978, and they've had enough of the mullahs and their Basij bully boys. Whether their yoke is thrown off in 2009 or in 2012 or 2020, it's going to happen, probably within the next decade or so.
I hope any sane person would agree that sooner would be better, but here's a question for all of those who are eaten up with concern over "what will they think of us?" Whenever the turn comes, what exactly will they think of us, if we turn our backs on them today? What will they think if we just hedge our bets against the ludicrous idea that we might be burning (nonexistent) bridges with the mullahs otherwise?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/22/2009 8:21
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...As I see it though, here's our problem: if Dinnerjacket wins, he's going to go all Khomeni on us because we've criticized his stealing an election. If Mousavi wins, he's actually farther out in Mooselimbland than Dinnejacket is (with the exception of wanting to get the lifestyle police off everybody's backs), and he's going to have to do some serious threatening to establish his bonafides. Either way, we don't end up much better than where we're starting. I don't normally have much sympathy for our current POTUS, but when you look at the either/or on this one, we're kinda screwed no matter what we do.
Mike
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/22/2009 9:44
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#5
"Good morning, this is the CENTCOM Revolutionary Guard Targeting Hotline, how can we be of assistance this morning."
"Pardon me a minute while I pull up our Google satellite map to confirm the location you are referring to."
"No sir, we can't guarantee we can get them all, but we can cut them down to your size to deal with."
"Well sir, just like your neighbors in Iraq, every call helps in it own way of separating the predators from the herd."
#6
It took a year of rioting to overthrow the Shah. But at the same time, there is no voice of democracy in Iran, outside of the influence of ideas from Iraq.
Other factors include Iran being something of a colonial power over its large minority regions, the Kurds, Arabs and Baluchs. If there is a major disorganization, these areas could become very unstable.
#7
I am happy this author did not exist when Reagan spoke out over Solidarity and Poland. Rhetoric of this sort ignores the cultural, economic and racial fault lines in Iran.
What happened to the Shining City On A Hill? Is it now a slinking pit of cowardice and blather? Have conservatives such as this given up on supporting freedom in the world? The reasoning this fellow gives could have been used by advocates of "Peace in Our Time" to support accord with Hitler.
Has America truly forgotten all it had learned, is freedom not worth even speaking out for?
#8
Mike, one thing would be different: there'd be a precedent that the people could decide if the mullahs were wrong. You're right, in the short term that doesn't guarantee sane rulers for Iran.
Posted by: James ||
06/22/2009 10:33
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Not so sure the mullahs will win. It is difficult to stop a popular movement that has momentum without creating more momentum.
#10
Several IRGC officers have been arrested for refusing to carry out orders. When you start depending on foreigners (Lebanese and Syrians) to stay in power, you are close to finished.
The important fact is that this battle is between Islamists. They took 400 potential candidates and allowed 4 to stand for elections (i.e. the most loyal 1%). If you have to rig the election on the most loyal 1%, you don't have a following at all.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/22/2009 11:30
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You can bet those old UH-1's drifting around overhead are manned by camera crews loyal to Dinnerjacket filming the "progress" of riot control troops and personnel.
#12
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a popular movement & look how that turned out. I have little hope that yet another revolution there will improve things much for anyone except the winners.
#13
I see "astroturfing" in play here from The Axelrod of Evil. They are covering for BHO already down playing the odds of a successful revolution and creating a skepticism of the "greens" really winning in the long run. This could very easily back-fire especially if Mousavi and his contingent do in fact succeed - it will be Merkel and Sarkozy he will naturally align with first in a toast of success.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 14:18
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#15
Revolutionary Guards commander defies Khamenei's orders to use force on protestors.
A commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been arrested for refusing to obey Iran's Supreme Leader, according to reports from the Balatarin website.
General Ali Fazli, who was recently appointed as a commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the province of Tehran, is reported to have been arrested after he refused to carry out orders from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to use force on people protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[Mail and Globe] Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to conservative rulers after a week of unrest in Iran.
State television aired interviews on Saturday with critics of the protests sparked by a disputed June 12 presidential election, urging Iranians to unite behind the government and suggesting only the West gained from Iran's troubles.
Helicopters criss-crossed Tehran and ambulance sirens wailed into the night after streets emptied of protesters who had defied Friday's stern warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against further demonstrations.
Riot police were deployed in force, firing teargas and using batons and water cannon to disperse groups of several hundred Iranians who had gathered across the city. There were fears of further violence on Sunday.
Government restrictions prevent correspondents working for foreign media attending demonstrations to report, and the scale of any injuries or arrests was unclear.
State television said a "number" of people were injured.
Mousavi, focus of the biggest protests since the Islamic Revolution ousted the US-backed Shah in 1979, said elections that delivered an overwhelming victory to hardline anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were fraudulent and must be annulled. He said the fraud was months in the planning.
Mousavi, who claims victory in the poll, told supporters he was "ready for martyrdom", according to an ally. But he said he did not seek confrontation with the authorities.
"We are not against the Islamic system and its laws but against lies and deviations and just want to reform it," he said in a statement on his website at the end of a tumultuous day.
He said if authorities refused to allow peaceful protests they would face the "consequences" -- an apparent rejoinder to Khamenei's warning that opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed resulting from protests.
"The people expect from their officials honesty and decency as many of our problems are because of lies ... The Islamic revolution should be the way it was and the way it should be," Mousavi said. The authorities reject charges of election fraud.
'Listen to the leader'
State television said rioters smashed windows of banks and burned buses. They also aired interviews with people critical of the demonstrations that have racked major oil and gas producer Iran since the announcement of the election results on June 13.
"We all should listen to our leader [Khamenei] and preserve calm," said one unnamed woman, aged around 40. "Otherwise we will make our enemies [the West] happy."
State television said Iran had arrested members of the exiled, opposition Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) it accused of "terrorist activities" including setting buses on fire and destroying public property.
Iranian newspapers carried a letter to Mousavi from Iran's police chief Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, in which he warned that officers would "decisively confront" any further unrest.
Mousavi is himself a product of the Islamic establishment that has dominated Iran since 1979 and opposing that establishment may sit uneasily on his shoulders. But the demonstrations of the last week, swelling to hundreds of thousands, appear to have acquired a powerful momentum.
Beyond the violent confrontations with police, it was a day fraught with symbolism for the Islamic Republic.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, police and state media said -- an attack likely to stir passions in a country where the father of the Islamic revolution is deeply revered. The identity of the bomber was not known.
Another reminder of 1979 came as darkness fell, when supporters of Mousavi sent cries of Allahu Akbar [God is greatest] echoing across the rooftops.
United States President Barack Obama, in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to halt an Iranian nuclear programme the West fears could yield atomic weapons, urged Tehran to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people".
"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost," Obama said in a statement.
Iran's highest legislative body said it was ready to recount a random 10% of the votes cast in the election to meet the complaints of Mousavi and two other candidates.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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A 1950 Massachusetts law says public officials can take immediate pensions if they lose an election or fail to qualify for the ballot. The State Retirement Board granted the special benefits to 10 former state lawmakers who have enjoyed early, enhanced pensions after quitting the Legislature. The loose reading of that law could cost taxpayers up to $3 million in additional costs.
MICHAEL P. LEWIS was fired as the head of the Big Dig project, but the move allowed him to more than triple his state pension, according to records. He also gets 80 percent of his health insurance for life. The pension increase was the result of a law intended to protect employees from politically motivated dismissals.
Some lawmakers took advantage of statutes to receive pensions while still working. Others enhanced their pensions by adding years at other jobs to their retirement tally.
TIMOTHY A. BASSETT was allowed to accept a job as executive director of the Essex Regional Retirement Board without giving up his $41,000-a-year state pension from a previous job. The gift came from former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, a lawmaker said. Bassett earned about $328,000 he otherwise could not have received.
Additionally, while working on the Essex County pension board, Bassett and KATHERINE O'LEARY helped one another gain pension benefits. O'Leary was granted credit toward her pension for the summers she worked as a teenager. Bassett was given a special annuity worth about $63,000 annually, the equivalent of a second public pension upon retirement. On June 4, the Essex pension board voted to rescind the annuity, a move Bassett said he requested.
LINDA BASSETT, the wife of Timothy A. Bassett, a former state representative and former Essex treasurer, collects $26,000 a year in pension benefits, even while continuing to work part time. About $5,500 of her pension is the result of her six years of volunteer service as a Lynn library trustee.
JOHN A. BRENNAN JR., a former state senator and Beacon Hill lobbyist, was allowed to fold the years he volunteered on the Malden Public Library Board of Trustees into his pension calculation. The move doubled his pension, giving him an estimated $41,088 a year. After criticism, Brennan said he would drop $22,000 in retirement benefits.
ROBERT K. LAMERE AND MICHAEL P. CURRAN lobbied the Legislature in 2002 to win pension enhancements for serving as town moderators. Lamere has a pension of about $63,000 annually, based on the 22 years of presiding over Milton's Town Meeting and 10 years as a Big Dig lawyer. For 10 years as moderator and 12 years as Canton's town counsel, Curran collects about $46,500 a year.
PAUL MCCANN left the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2005, but he earned $162,000 last year in consulting fees from the planning agency - on top of his $97,000 a year pension.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
you gotta keep raising taxes to keep up with that
#2
Well, it's all just chump change compared to the big, fat Social Security checks my Mom and Dad get.
Of course, they worked in the private sector until they were 70.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2009 6:44
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#3
Barry will end all of this corruption. Pensions and Social Security will soon be earned awarded via a 'needs based' criterion. The playing field must be leveled for all. A new pensions Zsar will soon be named to oversee this process.
#5
I don't see anything corrupt in accepting all the pension money the law will allow. I see the excessive pensions paid to public employees (especially compared to what's available for private employees) as utterly stupid, though.
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) will not be charged with perjury for statements he made about the circumstances of his appointment earlier this year to replace President Obama in the Senate.
Sangamon County prosecutor John Schmidt said in a statement that Burris's testimony to a special committee of the Illinois House of Representatives in January was "incomplete" but constituted "insufficient evidence" to pursue a perjury charge.
Some Democrats in both Illinois and Washington have sharply criticized Burris for the testimony in which he explained his appointment by then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) but did not tell investigators of his discussions with Blagojevich's brother Robert about how Burris could help raise money for the governor. The Illinois panel was questioning Burris as part of its investigation of Rod Blagojevich, who had been arrested Dec. 8 on corruption charges that included allegations of trying to sell the seat vacated by President Obama. He was later impeached by the state legislature.
Burris submitted an affidavit weeks after his testimony saying he had talked with Robert Blagojevich, leading Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and others to accuse him of giving misleading testimony initially. Durbin has said Burris should resign.
Prosecutors last month released an FBI recording of a conversation between Rob Blagojevich and Burris in which the pair discussed Burris's desire to be appointed to the Senate seat and potential fundraising. But Burris has denied any participation in a pay-for-play scheme, and he never donated money to Blagojevich after the phone call.
Burris praised the prosecutor's decision.
"This matter has now been fully investigated," Burris said. "I cooperated at every phase of the process, and as I have said from the beginning, I have never engaged in any pay-to-play, never perjured myself, and came to this seat in an honest and legal way. Today's announcement confirms all that."
The Senate Ethics Committee is still looking into the circumstances of Burris' appointment but has not yet said what exactly it is investigating or when it will reach any kind of resolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
I wonder what is the party affiliation of the Prosecutor?
Anyways, he dint do nuttin' outa line fur tChicago politiks, anyway.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2009 6:11
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#2
Thank you Sangamon County! We all know 'perjury' does not exist in Illinois, at least for Democrats.
Okay, okay, well we, we, I, I will personally do something, okay, Burris says.
Earlier in the conversation, Burris and Robert Blagojevich explored the possibility that Burris might raise campaign money on a larger scale.
I know I could give him a check, Burris said. Myself.
#4
there were probably a lot of Democrats hoping for a perjury charge than Republicans
as long as Burris is in the Senate, he is a walking, talking ethical monster and the Democrats suffer from his existence (and that of cold cash Jefferson, porkfest Murtha, Friend of Angelo Dodd, the mortgage collector Richardson, etc.)
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/22/2009 14:33
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his treasurer have dismissed calls to resign, challenging the opposition to prove claims of power abuse.
Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused Rudd of abusing his position to help secure a government loan for a friend's car-dealing business and shielding Treasurer Wayne Swan from parliamentary scrutiny over his dealings with him.
Rudd, meanwhile, said on Sunday that Turnbull must resign if he fails to produce an e-mail on which the claims are based on by Monday afternoon.
He was pointing at a controversial e-mail published in Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper on Saturday, allegedly containing the exact request from the prime minister's office in February regarding funding for the car salesman, John Grant. Grant who is Rudd's friend, neighbor and benefactor, is said to have received special attention when he applied for a government loan called "OzCar" to help his business cope with the global credit crunch.
The premier says the e-mail is forged by the opposition Liberal Party and has called on police to conduct a fraud investigation. He also issued a stark warning to the opposition leader. "If when parliament resumes in 24 hours Mr Turnbull fails to produce this e-mail, this e-mail upon which his entire case against the government is based, for authentication, he has no alternative but to stand in the parliament, apologize and to resign," he said.
Turnbull has denied his party faked the e-mail, adding that the existence of the email is immaterial. "What Rudd is doing is seeking to use the matter of this email to distract the attention of the Australian people from the fact that his treasurer had unquestionably misled parliament, there is no doubt about that," Turnbull told reporters on Sunday.
Analysts believe Rudd's relationship with the car dealer has created the 19-month-old government's biggest political crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday sent Awami League leader Abu Hasnat Abdullah to jail after he surrendered before the court in a tax evasion case in which he was earlier sentenced to nine years" imprisonment in absentia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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At least 46 Taliban were killed in various strikes during the military operation against the Taliban in the Tribal Areas and Swat on Sunday.
Military jets and artillery pounded suspected Taliban hideouts in Bajaur Agency, killing 27 Taliban, officials said. Elsewhere in the region, a local militia killed seven suspected Taliban.
Two local government officials, Iqbal Khan and Nawaz Khan, said bombs dropped from planes on targets in Salarzai town killed 13 Taliban. In nearby Charmang, shelling killed 14 Taliban, the officials said.
At least 12 Taliban were killed and seven injured as jet aircraft bombed four Taliban centres in Makeen, Kani Garam, Badar and Molai Khan Sarai areas in South Waziristan. The security forces made further inroads into the Mehsud territory in the agency.
At least seven Taliban were killed and 16 others arrested, while five soldiers were injured in the operation in Malakand, the ISPR said in an update.
A clash took place at Langer in Khawazakhela in which one Taliban was killed and six were arrested. The army also seized grenades, weapons and communication equipment.
More weapons, including grenades and rocket launchers, were seized in another clash in which six Taliban were killed and 10 apprehended, the ISPR said.
The forces set up a checkpost at Akhun Kalle Road in Dadhran.
Taliban raided a security forces vehicle on the Dakorak-Allahbad road and injured five soldiers.
Army also secured areas around Peochar, Kharkai, Kharkarai and Biha. Intense fighting between the military and the Taliban took place in Biha valley south of Chuprial.
The security forces secured areas around Barko Sar, Roringar, Nalkot, Wainai, Bartana and Pushtunat. They also commenced a clearance operation in Tirang, Thana, Allahdand and Batkhela.
In South Waziristan, the army also began an operation to secure the road from Tanai to Sarwaki that the Taliban had blocked.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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A MAN who broke his neck in a freak accident was sent home and told to take Panadol after hospital staff failed to diagnose his life-threatening injury.
Paul Curtis, 31, endured two days of increasing pain and fear after a doctor in the emergency department at Sydney's Ryde Hospital sent him away without ordering an X-ray. He went back to the hospital where another doctor ordered tests. He said Mr Curtis was lucky to be alive or not in a wheelchair. If Mr. Curtis lived in the U.S.A. he'd be well on his way to being well-to-do right now. In this case it'd be justified. If there's something that sounds like incompetence it's this.
The Carlingford man went to Ryde Hospital late on Friday May 29 after he and a friend cracked their heads during a church youth group activity. "I drove home but I didn't feel right and my housemate, a nurse, thought I wasn't looking very good," he said. "I told the hospital staff I had had a serious head collision and the nurse noticed a mark on the back of my neck. After 2 hours I saw the doctor and told him my neck was sore.
He told me I couldn't have an X-ray because the X-ray unit was shut and told me I would be fine.
He told me I couldn't have an X-ray because the X-ray unit was shut and told me I would be fine. He told me to go home and take some Panadol."
By Monday his condition had worsened and he returned to the hospital where another doctor ordered an X-ray and a CT scan. With the break detected, he was put in a brace and sent by ambulance to Royal North Shore Hospital, where he later had surgery and a plate inserted in his spine. "I was crapping myself when they told me my neck was broken - I had been walking around like that for two days," Mr Curtis said. "There was a chip out of my spine and the doctor said it was lucky it hadn't severed my spinal cord."
A Ryde Hospital spokeswoman said Mr Curtis had not complained of a loss of consciousness and told emergency staff he had taken Panadol for the pain. She said hospital records from the Friday night did not show any discussion about an X-ray but said radiologists could be called back to the hospital after 11pm if required. Hospital records showed he returned to Ryde at 9.08am on the Monday, and was in an ambulance en route to Royal North Shore at 9.21am.
Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said: "It was nothing more than luck that saved this man from sustaining further damage as a result of not being treated properly - quite frankly the fact he was sent home with the injuries he had is enough to send shivers down the spine.
I wanted to say that last bit. But those Aussies are quick off the mark.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
For those keeping score, Panadol is an OTC non-aspirin analgesic- Tylenol, in other words. What part of 'serious head collision' didn't set off alarm bells in the doctor's mind?
#4
That's part of the protocol these days. Something's wrong with that protocol, then. I have only seen 2 cervical fractures in 20 years in the ER. One came in paralyzed from the neck down, in a C-collar on a backboard, that was obvious. The other one walked in with his head at a slight angle, c/o neck pain from an injury a couple of days earlier, with no history of LOC or neurological deficit. That fracture was significant & turned over to a neurosurgeon.
Then there was the story my friend the ex-cop told me. A pickup truck collided with something & a cop went out on the car. The driver was sitting on the truck's bed. He said a few words to the cop as he approached. The driver jumped down to the ground, collapsed & died immediately as he severed his own spinal cord from the fracture he had.
I wonder if the protocol will stand up in court as a defense for the "care-giver."
#5
In the new socialized health care system in the U.S, Pandadol will become the treatment of choice for cancer, swine flu, other pandemics, black lung, heart disease, etc. The upside is that everyone can afford Panadol.
[Jakarta Post] An anti-terrorist team from the National Police detained a terrorist suspect, Saefudin Zuhry, in Tritih village, Cilacap regency, Central Java on Sunday, tempointeraktif.com has reported.
Banyumas Police chief Comr. Muhammad Ghufron confirmed the arrest after he received a report from the Cilacap Police chief. "The team caught the suspect without coordinating with local officials," he said.
He added that he did not know yet in which terrorism case the suspect was involved. "Thus far, I only know the name of the suspect and where he was arrested," he said.
Huzameah, a witness and the suspect's neighbor, said as many as 12 officers caught the suspect after he had attended a Koran study meeting. "We admit he was an introvert and seldom mingled with others, but we never thought the police would arrest him," Huzaemah said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Somalia's Al-Shabaab militant group warned Sunday against any foreign military intervention after the government pleaded for help. "We are sending our clear warning to the neighboring countries ... send your troops to our holy soil if you need to take them back inside coffins," Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali said in Mogadishu.
Nobody else gets to play with our toys.
Ali's comments came a day after Somalia's parliament speaker called on neighboring countries to urgently deploy troops to prop up the government.
Ethiopia's communications minister told AFP its troops could not intervene without an international mandate. But residents of Beledweyn, some 300 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu and close to the border with Ethiopia, reported seeing Ethiopian soldiers near the town.
Hardline Islamist insurgents, on an offensive since May 7 to oust a UN-backed transitional government led by Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, have this week stepped up attacks. The drive against Sharif's administration has been spearheaded by the Al-Shabaab militant group and the more political Hizb al-Islam (Party of Islam) of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former Sharif ally.
Three high-profile officials, including a security minister, have been killed this week. In Mogadishu, civilians continued to flee the city in record numbers Saturday.
"The government is weakened by the rebel forces," Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohammad Nour told reporters. "We ask neighboring countries - including Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen - to send troops to Somalia within 24 hours," he said. "We have a state of emergency in this country today because foreign fighters from all over the world are fighting the government."
An Al-Qaeda operative from Pakistan was commanding the fighting in Mogadishu, said Nour, adding that without help from its neighbors, "the trouble caused by these foreign fighters will spill to all the corners of the region."
But Ethiopian Communications Minister Bereket Simon told AFP Saturday: "Any further action from Ethiopia regarding Somalia will be done according to international community decision."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Straits Times] UNIDENTIFIED men hurled two grenades near a crowded town plaza where a beauty contest was being held in the southern Philippines, killing at least one person and wounding 31 others, police said on Sunday. The attack happened late Saturday in Maasim, Sarangani province, about 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) south of Manila, police chief Abraham Madrid said.
More than 100 policemen and army troops from nearby regions will be deployed to secure Maasim township, which will celebrate a religious festival Sunday, officials said.
Mr Madrid told The Associated Press that investigators were trying to determine if Muslim guerrillas suspected in a bombing last August that killed two people in the predominantly Christian town of more than 30,000 were behind Saturday's attack.
He said two men hurled one grenade each: one at a group of men who were playing a card game at a table, the second at another group of men at a karaoke bar, near the Maasim town plaza, where a beauty contest was being held. At least one person was killed and 31 wounded. The injured were being treated in two hospitals.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas last year attacked several predominantly Christian town in the region to protest a failed autonomy deal with the government. The rebel attacks led to the collapse of Malaysian-brokered peace talks and prompted a major military offensive.
The 11,500-strong rebel front has been fighting for decades for self-rule by minority Muslims in the country's south.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Jakarta Post] An eerie calm settled over the streets of Tehran Sunday as state media reported at least 10 more deaths in post-election unrest and said authorities arrested the daughter and four other relatives of ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran's most powerful men.
The reports brought the official death toll for a week of boisterous confrontations to at least 19. State television inside Iran said 10 were killed and 100 injured in clashes Saturday between demonstrators contesting the result of the June 12 election and black-clad police wielding truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.
Iran's regime continued to impose a blackout on the country's most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But fresh images and allegations of brutality emerged as Iranians at home and abroad sought to shed light on a week of astonishing resistance to hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital.
It said doctors had been ordered to report protest-related injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously injured protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.
"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable," said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign, denouncing the alleged arrests as "a sign of profound disrespect by the state for the well-being of its own people."
"The government of Iran should be ashamed of itself. Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions," he said.
State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other family members were arrested late Saturday. It did not identify the other four.
Last week, state television showed images of Hashemi, 46, speaking to hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. After her appearance, hard-line students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.
Rafsanjani, 75, has made no secret of his distaste for Ahmadinejad, whose re-election victory in a June 12 vote was disputed by Mousavi. Ahmadinejad has accused Rafsanjani and his family of corruption.
The influential Rafsanjani now heads two very powerful groups. The most important one is the Assembly of Experts, made up of senior clerics who can elect and dismiss the supreme leader. The second is the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council, which can block legislation.
His daughter's arrest came as something of a surprise: Just Friday, Khamenei had praised Rafsanjani as one of the architects of the revolution and an effective political figure for many years. Khamenei acknowledged, however, that the two have "many differences of opinion."
Thousands of supporters of Mousavi, who claims he won the election, squared off Saturday against security forces in a dramatic show of defiance of Khamenei.
Underscoring how the protesters have become emboldened despite the regime's repeated and ominous warnings, witnesses said some shouted "Death to Khamenei!" at Saturday's demonstrations -- another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the virtually limitless authority of the country's most powerful figure.
Sunday's state media reports also said rioters set two gas stations on fire and attacked a military post in clashes Saturday. They quoted the deputy police chief claiming officers did not use live ammunition to dispel the crowds.
Iran has also acknowledged the deaths of seven protesters in clashes on Monday.
State media also reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Saturday killed the attacker and injured five other people.
There was some confusion about the death toll. English-language Press TV, which is broadcast only outside the country, put the toll at 13 and labeled those who died "terrorists." There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Amnesty International cautioned that it was "perilously hard" to verify the casualty tolls.
"The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation," Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, Drewery Dyke, told The Associated Press. "In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off."
Iran has imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report.
Reporters Without Borders said 20 journalists were arrested over the past week. The British Broadcasting Corp. said Sunday that its Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country. The BBC said its office remained open.
Also Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a news conference where he rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about reports of voting irregularities in hardline Ahmadinejad's re-election -- a proclaimed victory which has touched off Iran's most serious internal conflict since the revolution.
Mottaki accused France of taking "treacherous and unjust approaches." But he saved his most pointed criticism for Britain, raising a litany of historical grievances and accusing the country of flying intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a "very transparent competition."
That drew an indignant response from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who "categorically" denied his country was meddling. "This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world," Miliband said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, urged Iran anew to conduct a complete and transparent recount, and Italy called on the regime to find a peaceful end to the dispute.
In Washington on Saturday, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people." He said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom" -- an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.
Saturday's unrest came a day after Khamenei sternly warned Mousavi and his backers to all off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting." Delivering a sermon at Friday prayers attended by tens of thousands, Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad, calling the result "an absolute victory" that reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end their street protests.
Mousavi did not directly reply to the ultimatum.
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become "exhausting, bothersome and intolerable." He threatened a more "serious confrontation" if protesters return.
On Sunday, former reformist president Mohammad Khatami called for the formation of a board to decide the outcome of the disputed election, and urged the release of detained activists and an end to the violence in the streets.
The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#3
We (Allied forces) airdropped millions of cheap pistols to the underground in WW2, why not do it again, over Tehran, with small Green parachutes to show who's to get them?
Yeah, Yeah, we'e guided by a communist/socialist COWARD this time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/22/2009 14:17
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[Geo News] Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Sunday said the UN mission tasked with the investigation of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's assassination will arrive in Pakistan next month and present its report within six months. Talking to media here, the Minister said the investigation will be carried out in a transparent manner and the process of probe will not be kept undisclosed. "The murders of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will be brought to justice," he asserted. Rehman Malik said the nation has woken up and now the days of Taliban are numbered. "The whole nation has said Â'no' to Taliban and now they have no other choice than to leave this country," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Times of India] Seven Maoists were gunned down in "retaliatory action" by security forces after Naxals blew up a truck, killing 11 CRPF personnel in Chattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said on Sunday.
Eleven CRPF personnel died while 11 others, including the truck's driver and cleaner, sustained serious injuries when the vehicle which was bringing them back to Tonagapal, was blown up in a landmine blast at Kokanara village on Saturday, nearly 375 kms from here, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, T J Langkumer said.
Security personnel, who were travelling in another truck and jeep ahead of the ill-fated vehicle, retaliated, gunning down seven Naxals.
All the bodies have been recovered, the IG said. After police received information that the Naxals had burnt down a truck involved in road construction work near Kokaner village, a 53-member joint police-CRPF team reached the area yesterday.
They were returning on two trucks and a jeep when the convoy was attacked by the naxals, who blew up one of the trucks and exchanged fire with the personnel, police said The injured have been admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur.
Condemning the Naxal attack, Chief Minister Raman Singh said the government had taken serious note of the "cowardly and inhuman" action of the extremists. "No democratically elected government can tolerate such violence," he said and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
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06/22/2009
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Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters on Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world was sympathetic to Iranian election protesters but added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehran's policies. Peres suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders. "Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders. If the protests continue, Peres said, "hopefully the poor government will disappear". "I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians' desire for freedom," Netanyahu said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the disputed June 12 election. "I think it's too early to say what will transpire in Iran and on the international stage," said Netanyahu, who spoke from Israel. He reiterated Israel's position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
If this uprising succeeds, I hope they remember their friends.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 12:15
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.
The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.
"Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.
The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.
The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.
Three of the four candidates contesting in last Friday's presidential election cried foul, once the Interior Ministry announced the results - according to which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner with almost two-thirds of the vote.
Rezaei, along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported more than 646 'irregularities' in the electoral process and submitted their complaints to the body responsible for overseeing the election -- the Guardian Council.
Mousavi and Karroubi have called on the council to nullify Friday's vote and hold the election anew. This is while President Ahmadinejad and his Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli have rejected any possibility of fraud, saying that the election was free and fair.
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#1
setting the bar for ACORN
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/22/2009 1:07
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#3
Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said>
#5
this shows another reason why Obama has to be cautious
the Mullahs are only doing big time what the Dems are doing small time
- dead voters
- felons
- illegal aliens
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/22/2009 8:11
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#6
An interesting factoid someone mentioned, is that it took over a year of rioting for the Shah to be overthrown.
And comparatively speaking, SAVAK, the Shah's secret police, was as incorporated into society as much as the STASI were in East Germany. Almost 1/3rd of all Iranian men had some connection to SAVAK. Compared to that, the Mullah's enforcers are tiny in number.
#7
The mullahs got the religious control thingee on their side. They don't need as many enforcers. That may change. It seems the people in Iran are really, really p*ssed that their votes don't count.
#8
the mullahs are able to steal charitable donations because of the religion
they have also been able to get many businesses to be partially owned by the IRGC
two big advantages
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/22/2009 10:41
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#9
Anonymoose, I think it took so long for the Shah to fall because he tolerated the demonstrations early on and didn't crack down really hard because he didn't want to be seen as a brutal dictator. Jimmuh Catah and the US Gubmint had something to do with that. I think if he had really knocked a lot of heads things would be different. This time the Mullahs will not be so loathe to get really nasty. I look for the Mullahs to win. Hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/22/2009 12:10
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#10
I doubt there was even a vote count--the fix was in; why bother actually counting the votes when you can "just say" you counted the votes? The outcome was known before the election.
India? That's quite a distance to go just to hide out from the authorities.
[Maghrebia] Indian security services arrested the son of the founder of Algeria's dissolved Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), Abbasi Madani, for alleged involvement in the deadly 1992 bombing of Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport, Echorouk reported on Saturday (June 20th). Salim Abbasi, a Qatari citizen, was arrested in Bombay last Wednesday.
Goodness! Bombay has quite a nice little hospitality industry going.
Whoops! I almost forgot, India changed the name of the city to Mumbai. Sorry 'bout that, guys.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Geo News] Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahle Sunnat Pakistan held a meeting and decided to make Chairman Rute-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman as the Secretary General of the Tanzeem in place of Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi, Principal Jamia Naeemia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] In a sensational revelation, a member of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) has said the militant group took part in the Kansat movement in April 2006 because they felt betrayed by the then BNP-led coalition government.
The JMB part-timer or gayeri ehsar, interviewed by The Daily Star, also said the militant group has opened two new offices in greater Rajshahi and greater Bogra alongside taking up new strategies to recruit members.
JMB became involved in the second round of the four-point Kansat movement in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj on April 21, 2006. A leader of the movement who had prior contacts with the militant group used 500 local JMB full-time and part-time members to destroy government property and set alight several government cars. The JMB members then left the Kansat movement.
The BNP went back on the pledge to protect the organisation.
The part-time JMB member also said the outfit decided to take part in the movement to unsettle the then BNP government as the BNP went back on the pledge to protect the organisation and annihilate the Sarbaharas. The pledge was given to executed JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai before the organisation was deployed under the banner of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB). This sense of betrayal led JMB members to single out government property and vehicles for attacks in Kansat.
The Kansat movement started on January 2006 after locals brought allegation of irregularities against the local Rural Electricity Board officials and irregular power supply.
They prosecuted a bombing campaign because of power black-outs? That's certainly a different approach.
The Bugtis do something similar with pipelines ...
JMB'S CURRENT STATUS
The part-time JMB member told The Daily Star that despite being weakened by the government crackdown, the outfit is still using different border routes in Chapainawabganj and Jessore to smuggle in bomb-making materials and small arms from India.
Saifullah, Abdur Rahim and a few other members are in charge of smuggling in bomb-making materials through different border routes of Chapainawabganj and bringing them to a recently opened office about 12-13 kilometres east of Rajshahi sadar.
Another office has been opened in an area between Bogra and Joypurhat districts for the same purpose. Houses of JMB workers have been hired for setting up the two offices. The owners of the houses look after the materials.
The JMB member said recruitment has been stalled since JMB's leadership was recast last November. They are including those related to JMB members through blood or marriage while both old ehsar and gayeri ehsar members are being accepted if they want to be active again, he said.
Shura member Bhaigna Shahid, who can make 12 bombs in an hour using electric circuits, had his bodyguard Russel arrested in Bogra two months ago. Shahid has revived his activities in Bogra.
The JMB is planning attacks in several important districts including Dhaka to embarrass the government, the gayeri ehsar said, adding that recce would be done before implementation of the plan.
This article starring:
Abdur Rahim of Chapainawabganj
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
"Bhaigna" Shahid
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Hossain alias Shakil
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Mahfuz from Pabna
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Saifullah of Chapainawabganj
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Shaikh Abdur Rahman
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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For the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, money is coming mostly from extortion, crime and drugs, an AP investigation claims. Funding for the Al Qaeda is more diverse and included money from new recruits, donations from sympathisers, and a cut of profits from honey dealers in Yemen and Pakistan.
Honey dealers? That sounds a bit picayune, compared with being the world source of opium, f'r instance.
"With respect to the Taliban, the narco-dollars are a major, if not majority, of their funding sources, and I think add in there as well extortion and kidnapping," said Juan Carlos, a former US National Security Council adviser on terrorism who now works at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country in the world. The Taliban charge drug kingpins to move opium through their territory. The United Nations estimates their annual cut to be more than $300 million.
'Taxes': The Taliban refer to extortion money as tolls, taxes or zakat. Money from drugs and criminal gangs makes up roughly 85 to 90 percent of Taliban revenue, estimates John Solomon of the US Military Academy's Counter Terrorism Centre. In Pakistan, the NWFP governor puts the Taliban's annual earnings at roughly Rs 4 billion.
Taliban soldiers are paid nearly $100 a month, more than the average Pakistani policeman. A Taliban commander gets more than $350 a month.
The informal money transfer system known as hawala or hundi is flourishing in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the US. Former prime minister Shaukat Aziz said more than $5 billion went out of Pakistan every year through this system, which operates without regulation.
In three of the last five years, the top source of money transfer into Pakistan through hawala has been the US, a security official said.
After September 11, 2001, the financial crackdown closed some of Al Qaeda's sources of funding. But with the help of the hawala system, it has since re-established its money line.
Over the last two years, it has turned up the call for donations, told new recruits to bring money with them, and shown signs of being more frugal. This can either mean that it is saving up for another 9/11-style attack, or that the crackdown has curbed its fundraising ability.
Estimates of Al Qaeda's annual spending vary wildly from $300 million to as low as $10 million.
Carlos said its main expenses were payments to families; food and shelter to maintain operations; travel and logistics; money for cells engaged in plots; bribes, and expenses for long-term plans like anthrax research.
Some charities with alleged Al Qaeda connections have renamed themselves. In Kuwait, the Revival Islamic Heritage Society, believed by the US to be heavily financing Al Qaeda, is still operating.
Because of demands from the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan has removed restrictions on the amount of money that can be brought into the country. It has limited to $10,000 the money that can leave the country, cracking down on some of the biggest hawala dealers.
"Once the money is inside the country, it is difficult to locate it. Smugglers and transporters help finance the Taliban either out of sympathy for their cause or because they are being forced to give a share," said a security official.
A cartel of honey dealers is back in business, laundering money and moving drugs but the scale is smaller than in 2001. A former fighter with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told AP honey is sent from Pakistan with an inflated price tag to markets in the Middle East and the profits sent by courier to Al Qaeda. Honey dealers in Peshawar said that there was no Al Qaeda link to their sales. But one honey dealer said the outlawed Al Shifa Honey Press was still operating in Punjab. He said he knew of no Al Qaeda affiliation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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If Pakistan's battle against the Taliban seems difficult, a much tougher challenge lies ahead: deciding what to do about the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT).
Security experts from the United States and India believe the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency could shut down the group accused of carrying out the Mumbai attacks -- if they choose to do so. "The Pakistan Army could do it and the ISI could tell them where to find those guys in a heartbeat," said Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who led a review of strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan for President Barack Obama.
Asset: "If they wanted to shut them down they could," said B Raman, a former Additional Secretary at India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). "They can do it, but they don't want to do it because they look upon it as a strategic asset."
But Samina Yasmeen, a professor at the University of Western Australia who is researching a book on LT said the reality on the ground might be more complicated.
Over the years, she said, LT had given birth to splinter groups, which had broken free both of the Pakistan Army and the ISI, and even from the LT leadership. "There are elements within the Lashkar that are not under the control of the army anymore. They really moved on a trajectory that people did not expect," she said. "After 9/11, there was a section that emerged within the Lashkar that may not be under the control of its own leadership."
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pushed LT to the top of the agenda last week by effectively telling President Asif Ali Zardari that India would not re-open peace talks until Islamabad acted against the banned organisation.
He seems to have won support in the West, where LT is thought to be, potentially, as big a danger as Al Qaeda. "I think we have to regard the LT as much a threat to us as any other part of the Al Qaeda system," Riedel said.
Like many extremist groups, LT was born out of CIA-backed jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and then began operations in Kashmir in 1993, Indian analysts say.
According to Raman, LT had a larger presence in the country than the Taliban, and a charitable wing, the Jamaatud Dawa, carries out humanitarian work.
With land, property and madrassas across the country, LT collaborated with Al Qaeda while also offering its training infrastructure to Pakistanis from the diaspora, he said.
But unlike other groups, it has been scrupulous in avoiding attacks in the country, thereby avoiding the wrath of the army that has now turned on the Taliban.
For security analysts, the two questions are whether the army and ISI can close down LT, and if they want to do so -- the assumption being that this would have to be done by the country's military rather than the civilian government. Riedel said he believed the capability was there, but said taking on LT would be hard. "It's become more and more difficult but I would not underestimate ISI's knowledge base. They would be able to bring people in," he said.
But Yasmeen said more problems could be created by targeting the leadership. "You limit their ability to have some possibility of controlling those below. The risk of splintering increases," she said. Analysts said giving up LT, seen as a "force multiplier" in case of an invasion by India -- rather like citizens trained in civil defence -- would be another step altogether.
Would the army chief turn against LT? "My sense of Kayani is that he is very pragmatic. He hasn't accepted that India is not a threat to Pakistan," said Yasmeen. "From Kayani's point of view, does he want to deny himself the possibility of using all trained and semi-trained people?"
That question returns to the Catch 22 of India-Pakistan relations. Without peace, Pakistan may never fully turn against LT. And India will not offer peace talks until it does so.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
Ah! There is no end of mud in a pig pen.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 11:51
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Seven policemen and a demonstrator were wounded when a protest by Israeli Druze outside the premier's office turned violent on Sunday, police said. Hundreds of Israel's minority Druze population gathered in central Jerusalem to demand better treatment from the government, pelting police with eggs and shouting slogans in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian.
Russian?
"Equality for Druze and Jews" and "no to racism" were among the calls from the crowd, which a police spokesman estimated at 800 people.
Security forces said they had begun talks with Druze leaders, who had a permit for the protest, in the early hours with the hope of forestalling violence. But some demonstrators seemed to have arrived prepared for an altercation, with Druze youths seen passing forward crates of eggs before bombarding a cordon of policemen ranged three-deep behind a concrete barrier.
Police said they responded when other objects, including a bottle, were thrown. Officers leapt the low wall and battled demonstrators with truncheons, arresting three in the ensuing brawl. All those injured were treated at the scene, the spokesman said.
During the fighting, several politicians, including Interior Minister Eli Yishai, addressed the throng in an effort to bring calm - but without success.
Israel's Druze, who according to government statistics number 104,000, claim authorities have misallocated budgets at their expense and failed to invest in Druze-populated areas in Israel's north.
Followers of a breakaway sect of Shiite Islam and concentrated in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, the Druze are not considered Muslims by most of the Islamic world. Israel's Druze have long been supportive of the Israeli government.
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06/22/2009
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Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi on Saturday night told his supporters he was ready for martyrdom, and demanded that the entire disputed election be annulled.
He dramatically raised the stakes in the standoff with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after publishing a letter to the country's highest electoral authority in which he cited examples of electoral fraud to support his "undeniable right" to call for a re-run of the election.
Mr Mousavi made his defiant call during a speech delivered in southwest Tehran, according to an ally, who telephoned a western news agency shortly afterwards to report: "Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path."
A witness told Reuters that Mr Mousavi had called for a national strike if he was arrested.
It was an unprecedented act in defiance of Ayatollah Khamenei, who has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the June 12 election and on Friday ordered an end to protests by demonstrators who say Mousavi was the winner.
It came as a few thousand protesters defied threats of bloodshed from Iran's rulers and attempted to march through central Tehran - only to be beaten back by riot police. Heavily armed police and militia flooded the streets and used tear gas and batons to attack them.
Only an estimated 3,000 dared to show themselves, far fewer than the hundreds of thousands who filled the streets during the last few weeks. The two main protest leaders, Mr Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who were beaten by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed poll nine days ago, had both called off their official rallies.
Earlier in the day, the pair had been offered a minor concession when the Guardian Council, which supervises elections, promised to recount 10 per cent of the votes to check for election fraud - a suggestion that had previously been dismissed by protesters as a cynical ploy to buy time.
In their first real show of force since massive street rallies erupted in central Tehran last week, the authorities deployed thousands of riot police and plainclothes Basij militiamen in the city centre. Helicopters buzzed menacingly overhead.
As protesters began to gather near the university campus, chanting "death to the dictatorship", the police set upon them with baton charges, water canons and tear gas.
"Lots of guards on motorbikes closed in on us and beat us brutally," one protester said. "As we were running away the basiji (militia) were waiting in side alleys with batons, but people opened their doors to us. Iran has become Palestine."
Another report described gunfire at a rally and at least one casualty. Separately, there were reports that a man had died in a bomb attack at the Ayatollah Khomeini shrine a few miles south of the city - likely to have been launched by one of the ethnic separatist groups that have carried out periodic attacks in Iran.
Yesterday's violence and Mr Mousavi's continued defiance came after a week of the biggest street protests seen in Iran for 30 years - and divisions between hardliners and reformists that mean the country may never be the same again.
Cordons of riot police, dressed in their military green uniforms with white stripes down the trouser legs and wearing heavy black helmets, stood in lines three deep along Enqelab (revolution) and Azadi (freedom) streets.
Together, the two roads form a long east-west highway bisecting the centre of the city and running past the main gates of Tehran University, a scene of turmoil throughout Iran's modern history. It was along this street that millions of people surged to accompany Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he returned from exile to usher in Islamic rule in 1979.
According to a regular participant in last week's demonstrations, the protesters yesterday hoped to form large groups in side streets before bursting onto the main highway, thwarting attempts to disperse them. Unconfirmed video footage posted online showed groups of people charging through the streets as teargas and smoke from a burning car swirled around them. Riot police and men with sticks could be seen in the background.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
For this to work the military or the police must refuse to attack peacefull protests and stand up to defend them against the Basij.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2009 13:36
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#2
Sad to say but I think the mullahs have won. Violence, as the world saw in Tiananmen Square, is the ultimate trump card these days.
#7
Why is there always some idiot posting in the comments section trying to use semi-"right" reasons to justify what's basically waffle-eating-surrender-moneky policies and to sell out the Iranian _people_ to the Mullahs?
The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy - not necessarily my friend.
The protestors are pushing for Moussavi - who's as bad as any now in power. Feel sorry for the demonstrators who will be killed and beaten before any change occurs and then betrayed immediately thereafter.
#9
Many said the same about Solidarity. And Yeltsin. And those taking over from Coucescu in Romania.
Mousavi is transitional at best - and transformational if he is lucky.
Its not the man, its the movement. If Mousavi get power, it will be next to impossible to implement the SAVAK-style police state the current Mullahs are trying to maintain. Principally because the IRGC will have fragmented and no longer be capable of being the hammer.
Xenophone and others are simply stupid and wrong -- IF the revolution succeeds, it will shatter the current structure (big IF).
A chief figure in the fight for the state Senate on Saturday invoked Jesus Christ while another proclaimed himself the target of a political "jihad."
Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens), who briefly aligned himself with the Republicans before jumping back across the aisle to deadlock the Senate 31-31, appeared with other lawmakers at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Speaking on Sharpton's radio show, Monserrate commented, "You know, I'm never gonna compare myself to anyone in the biblical context."
And then ... he did.
"I remember Jesus himself, when he saw that in the temple there were merchants setting up shop, [he] began to turn over a few tables along the way ... to get the people's business done right," Monserrate said. The former cop later added, "If it costs my election one day because I decided to turn over a table or two and say business gotta be done different, then so be it."
Sharpton quipped that Jesus had a little inside information. "Always make sure you've got your resurrection guaranteed before you start getting crucified," he said as the audience erupted in laughter.
Monserrate and other senators, union leaders and civil rights organizers, spoke with Sharpton yesterday and pledged to support a temporary power-sharing agreement between Democrats and Republicans so the Senate can act on crucial bills before this year's legislative session closes tomorrow. Gov. Paterson has the power to call the Legislature into special session if necessary.
Addressing a Latino advocacy group in Albany, state Sen. Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) said he was the victim of a "jihad," but predicted a compromise would get the Senate functioning again within 48 hours.
Espada - who grabbed new power after aligning himself with the GOP in a June 8 coup - also insisted any deal would have to recognize him as temporary Senate president. "I'm the only senator that has 32 votes" for the presidency, Espada said. "We have to respect that, because otherwise we give in to this rather incredible campaign, a jihad, that's been launched against me to undo the results of a lawful election," he added.
Espada said he'll honor his commitment to the GOP - but hedged on whether he still supports Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) as the number two person in the Senate.
Monserrate and Espada's comments raised eyebrows. "When Hiram compared himself to Jesus, I vomited a little," snarked one lawmaker present for Monserrate's address. And a flabbergasted Senate Democrat said "the longer [Espada] runs around the state sounding like Idi Amin, the more he's alienating Republicans, Democrats and everyone else."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
You have to understand that this is New Yawk politics and governance. Next to California and Illinois it is the most dysfunctional legislative system in the country if not the world. Go and look up the states with the highest taxes, most corruption and lowest educational test scores and you'll see that they are democratic party cesspools just like New Yawk.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 14:11
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#2
The traditional name for the NY Capitol building is The Cave of the Winds.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/22/2009 21:30
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The possibility that the 2002 killing of 11 French engineers, who died alongside three Pakistanis when a car packed with explosives was rammed into their minibus in Karachi, may have been carried out to avenge a failure by Paris to pay commissions to Pakistan on a deal involving submarine sales is shocking.
"Commissions". So that's what they call it nowadays.
See what happens when the man doesn't get his ten percent?
The act of terrorism, close to a five-star hotel, had till now been blamed on extremist militants.
Had it been near a two-star hotel, that would've been different, of course.
An ATC court in 2003 had indeed found two men linked to a 'jihadi' group responsible, although they have since been acquitted by the Sindh High Court due to a lack of proof.
The attack was carried out to punish the French for stopping commission payments. These ended in 1995, after French President Jacques Chirac assumed office. The recipient of the payments on the Pakistan end of the line is stated to have been a certain Asif Ali Zardari, at the time a minister in his wife's second government. Rogue elements in the intelligence agencies are thought to have been involved in the attack, deliberately disguising it to look like the doing of militants.
French investigators and the relatives of the victims seem confident about the dirty deals theory. They claim to have compiled some evidence that suggests that the attack was carried out to punish the French for stopping commission payments. These ended in 1995, after French President Jacques Chirac assumed office.
It took eight years to devise a sufficiently severe punishment? Perhaps if they super-cooled their brains, they'd be able to think faster.
The recipient of the payments on the Pakistan end of the line is stated to have been a certain Asif Ali Zardari, at the time a minister in his wife's second government. Rogue elements in the intelligence agencies are thought to have been involved in the attack, deliberately disguising it to look like the doing of militants.
The entire story in many ways seems ludicrous, especially as the killing took place seven years after the money stopped flowing in.
So I'm not the only one who noticed.
That it happened at a time when Zardari had no place in power and the ruling setup was led by General Pervez Musharraf also raises questions as to its authenticity. But the fact is that most of us will, somewhere in our minds, harbour the suspicion that the French may have stumbled across the terrible truth. Corruption in defence deals is well-established. It takes place in many parts of the world. The Bofors scandal of the 1980s, allegedly involving massive kickbacks to Indian politicians who included former prime minister the late Rajiv Gandhi, shook that nation. Though Gandhi was cleared by a court, echoes from the case can still be heard. Accusations of massive corruption have been heard still more frequently in Pakistan, and the submarine affair acts as a reminder that the president of Pakistan, in a previous incarnation, was known as 'Mr Ten Percent'.
The French probe is of course still to be proven before courts. At the moment it consists of little more than allegations. But the spectres it raises are terrifying. If indeed agency elements have been engaged in mimicking extremists, new dilemmas open up about other murders and other attacks. These are an indication of the dangers we live with and the fact that through our country, many currents flow. A number of them are still unchartered. We must hope the latest case with its startling disclosures can shed light on some of these. At the same time, Pakistan must do all it can to demonstrate the French case is based only in the imagination of lawyers. The damage from it has already been done. It needs to be seen if some of it can be deflected and the name of those named in it cleared.
Byzantium had nothing on Pakistan. I think my brain would break if I lived there.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/22/2009
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"Byzantium had nothing on Pakistan. I think my brain would break if I lived there."
Four people, including two women, were killed after armed assailants opened fire on the residence of tribal leader Wadera Wazeer Khan in Dera Bugti on Sunday, a Sui police official said. He said the victims could not be identified. The motive behind the killings could only be ascertained after an investigation into the killings, he said. Police have registered a case against unidentified assailants and begun investigations, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Senior US Republican Senator Richard Lugar maintains that the post-election mayhem in Iran should not stop Washington from sitting at the negotiation table with Tehran.
The Indiana Senator, appearing on the CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday said that the US should enter talks with Iran to persuade the country to abandon its nuclear program.
"We would sit down because our objective is to eliminate the nuclear program that is in Iran," Sen. Lugar said.
Lugar said that President Barack Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should brace themselves for a possible meeting with their Iranian counterparts.
And what exactly are we supposed to 'offer'? Because you know the Iranians won't offer a thing. After they put down the June 12 revolution (assuming they do) the Iranians aren't going to be in a mood to offer America anything except the back of their hand. Khamenei in particular will be looking to show his supporters that he has Iran's foreign policy firmly under control, and that means giving us exactly nothing.
The Republican, who is a member of the foreign relations committee, reiterated that the present unrest in Iran should open a new window of opportunity for the United States.
"We really have to get into the nuclear weapons. We have to get into terrorism of Iran in other areas of the Middle East. Now we have new opportunity in which we might very well say, 'We want communication with Iran. We want openness of the press. We don't want to have to use Twitter. We want the press on the ground.'"
"In order to have any kind of a relationship, we need to be able to talk to people, hear from people, argue with people," Lugar added.
Again, a 'relationship' pre-supposes that we, the West, are going to offer Iran something to turn them away from nuclear weapons and terrorism. What exactly do you propose, Senator? Let's hear it.
Iran has lashed out at Western countries, including the US and some European states, for their efforts to dramatize the post-election unrest in the country and capitalize on the Issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
Why bother. Give the iranian gov't a blanket statement - "seeking nuclear arms would be a bad idea for you." case closed. I'd then tell the israelis through back channels to make the strikes count, since we're going to get blamed in any case.
#2
Did Lugar notice the 3.5 years of EU talks and results? Perhaps Richard Rino should move in with Arlen S. and sit down there to collect his unearned paycheck.
#3
'We want communication with Iran. We want openness of the press. We don't want to have to use Twitter. We want the press on the ground.'"
Translation:
We want uninterupted Obama Administration coms and spin with Iran. We want openness of the State Run Media, both theirs and ours. Like Fox, Twitter cannot be controlled easily by the government. Therefore it is useless. We want 'selected' media and press outlets on the ground.
#4
If we sit down and talk with the current regime, it may not be there much longer. Besides, why legitimize this corrupt regime by talking with them. The Iranian people who are out in the streets protesting and dying don't think the regime is legitimate. Talking with the current regime has been pointless to date and has yielded zero. They are going to do what they want to do regardless.
#5
"Coexistence with a nuclearized, fascistic theocracy in Iran is impossible even in the short run. The mullahs understand this with perfect clarity. Why can't we?"
Christopher Hitchens
Sen. Edward Kennedy is going to bat in a new TV campaign ad for longtime pal Sen. Christopher Dodd, who faces a tough re-election fight in Connecticut. "Dodd: He's not as corrupt as some!"
The Massachusetts Democrat praises Dodd as his closest partner in the fight for health care reform in the 30-second ad that will begin airing in Connecticut on Sunday.
Kennedy makes a direct pitch to voters about a cause he's championed for decades and considers to be his life's work.
"Quality health care as a fundamental right for all Americans has been the cause of my life, and Chris Dodd has been my closest ally in this fight," Kennedy says in the ad. "Today more than ever, we have a real opportunity to bring health care reform to Connecticut and all across America, and I believe that with Chris Dodd's leadership, our families will finally have accessible, affordable health care."
Kennedy, who chairs the Senate health panel, has been battling brain cancer for more than a year. In recent weeks he has been at home in Hyannis Port, Mass.
Kennedy has made Dodd his point man on health care reform. As the Senate seeks to craft a breakthrough on health care, Dodd is managing the bill in Kennedy's absence and working closely with Kennedy's staff.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
"Chris Dodd makes the best waitress sandwiches!"
/Ted "The Bread" Kennedy
Posted by: ed ||
06/22/2009 1:06
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#2
200 yrs ago both of these buffoons would've been tarred/feathered by self respecting new englanders. (and Ms. Kopeckney would've never accepted a ride in Theodore's carriage) What a joke we've become.
#3
Sounds like his brain cancer has gone way past the fat head section, beyong the windmills in his mind, and into the C.Dodd graft zone. May they both lose.
#8
There is still a stain on the carpet at "La Brasserie" and glass shards in the carpet at "La Colline". What a pair of boozers and womanizers. Death can't catch up fast enough for them.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/22/2009 13:59
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#9
Was that graphic really necessary? It's just before lunch time here and now I've lost my appetite.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A report says that about 22% of the medications donated to the Hamas health ministry were either expired, refined or unfit for consumption.
A mark of the donors' esteem.
Basim Na'im, Palestinian minister of health, made the comments on Sunday, while attending a workshop on reconstructing the health facilities in the Gaza Strip.
He explained that certain medications have become abundant, while others remained rare due to the donors' inappropriate selection. One report says that a few months ago, the Palestinian customs officers had to dispose of medicines unsafe for human consumption in the West Bank city of Beit-Lahm (Bethlehem). Na'im did not say when the bad medicine had arrived or where they had come from.
He pointed out that the Union of Arab Physicians began a distance-training program for Gazans who work in the health sector. The health minister noted that Dr. Muhammad At-Tawil from Qatar had announced that his country's willingness to host a conference for training health sector workers in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
Donated meds are not always what they seem. Expired on the label does not always mean trash, you can look them up on their web site and in almost all cases they have extended life. Same goes for consumables. For a customs officer to dispose of them is ususlly a sign some clerk just reading the labels and not really checking.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2009 11:03
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#2
the Union of Arab Physicians began a distance-training program for Gazans
Because even Snake Plissken refuses to go to Gaza?
The Labor Department reported yesterday that Oregon's unemployment rate soared to 12.4% in May, the nation's second highest after Michigan's 14.1%. What to do? If you're the geniuses in the state legislature in Salem, you naturally raise taxes.
Last week the legislature approved a $2 billion tax hike on personal income and small businesses that haven't already left the state. The highest tax rate on income above $500,000 would climb to 11% -- up from an already high 9%. Oregon will soon boast the second highest income tax rate in the nation, moving ahead of California (10.55%), and only slightly behind New York City (12.6%). Corporations will pay a 7.9% tax on gross receipts, up from 6.6%.
But that isn't the worst of it. Another revenue raiser will tax hospitals and private health insurance premiums. That's a good way to encourage private employers to drop their health coverage for workers.
In Oregon, as in so many states this year, lawmakers had to choose between reducing the growth of spending and raising taxes. No contest. So government spending will climb by about $2 billion, or almost 4%, which is on top of a 21% increase in the 2007-08 biennium budget. The sliver of good news is that taxpayer groups like Americans for Prosperity of Oregon are promising to put these taxes before the voters in a referendum this year or next. Since Salem's politicians seem intent on following California's, maybe Oregon's voters will do the same and just say no.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
I wonder how many garden/granola variety Kalifornians have moved to Oregon in recent yrs and have brought their voting tendencies w/them.
No offense intended to our conservative CA rantburgers who are on the fore front against tax tyranny.
#3
At least Oregon has no sales tax for the moment.
--- What would be real news is if a state in trouble like Oregon actually cut its spending back to a year 2000 level.
#4
Thanks, Fred for bringing this up. It is a very nice summary of the political and economical mess that I live in. The county I live in has nearly as high an unemployment figure as Michigan. Our unemployment stats have been higher than the nation's for as long as I can remember - several decades, at least. The majority of people here see themselves as living in a progressive state, instead of a perpetual state of regression. There is a large minority who see things more clearly, but we are firmly a minority. I don't see that we can or will change until a majority of our voters accept the reality that we, collectively, caused the mess we are in and we, collectively have the power to change that. It will just take some honest self examination. Wont happen soon, if ever.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/22/2009 11:35
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#5
On the flip side of this issue
The County Road Association of Michigan warns that 21 of 83 Michigan counties will have to cut back on projects because they wont have the money to pay their required share for the roadwork generally a 20% match with federal funds in 2010-2012.
In my part of Ohio for the last 3 years I have noticed a cutback in road salting & plowing in the winter and a worsening of road surfaces in areas maintained by the cities & counties. This has not made the local news yet.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Expediency Council head Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh, has been released after being briefly arrested for participating in an illegal rally in Tehran.
Faezeh Hashemi along with four other members of the former president's family had been reportedly arrested for having participated in an illegal rally "in [Tehran's] Azadi Avenue and inciting and encouraging rioters" on Saturday.
Rafsanjani's daughter was the last of those detained to be released on Sunday evening.
The other four, which included Faezeh's daughter, Hossein Mar'ashi's wife, daughter, and sister-in-law -- Mar'ashi is a cousin to Hashemi-Rafsanjani's wife -- were released earlier on Sunday.
Moreover, Hashemi-Rafsanjani's children are reportedly barred form leaving the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Maghrebia] In an internet statement, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for last week's terrorist ambush near Bordj Bou Arreridj that claimed the lives of 24 Algerian gendarmes, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Saturday (June 20th).
In related news, several gendarmes killed in the attack were buried Friday evening in Khenchla, Batna, Ettaref, Guelma, Skikda, Jijel and Souk Ahras. Local press reported a heavy turnout by civilians wanting to express their support.
Which is as it should be, the sign of a healthy society.
Among the victims interred was a young man whose family had discouraged him from enlisting. According to Echorouk, he told his father that his "dream was to become a gendarme".
May he and his fellows find themselves in the afterlife they'd hoped for, and may their memory bring comfort to those they left behind.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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When longtime dictator Omar Bongo died last week, he left behind at least 66 bank accounts. The first family owned 45 homes in France, including at least 14 in Paris and 11 on the French Riviera. And they boasted of 19 or more luxury cars, including a Bugatti sports model that cost the Republic of Gabon $1.5 million.
But most of the country Bongo governed for 41 years is still covered in jungle. A third of its people live in poverty so dire that some dig through the trash dump to feed their children. The contrast makes it all the more striking that hundreds of thousands of those people lined the streets of the capital this week to bid goodbye to the 73-year-old ruler who bled their country dry.
Women wept and waved signs that said, "Merci Papa" - thank you, father. Businesses put up billboards with messages of loss, such as: "Gabon weeps." On a continent that has seen more than its share of presidents-turned-dictators, Gabon is perhaps one of the best examples of what analysts call "the chief complex." So long was Bongo in power that his countrymen came to view him as a hereditary chief, a man whose authority is unquestioned.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[6 views]
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#1
anytime you've had a bad day, just remember you can than the Almighty for not letting you be born in this sh^t hole of a country.
With each passing decade, he consolidated power. He turned his country into a single-party state. Until 1990, he was the only candidate in elections. When opposition parties formed, he allegedly had supporters bussed from town to town to vote multiple times. In 2003, Bongo changed the constitution to get rid of term limits so he could continue running for life.
#5
Death of President Omar Bongo Ondimba
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2009
Statement by the President on the death of President Bongo of Gabon
I am saddened to learn of the death of President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon.
President Bongo played a key role in developing and shaping the strong bilateral relationship that exists between Gabon and the United States today.
President Bongo consistently emphasized the importance of seeking compromise and striving for peace, and made protecting Gabons natural treasures a priority. His work in conservation in his country and his commitment to conflict resolution across the continent are an important part of his legacy and will be remembered with respect.
On behalf of the United States government, I offer my condolences to his family and to the people of Gabon.
#6
I wonder if he meant it the way it sounds: "made protecting Gabons natural treasures a priority" (by investing them in France...). BBC had another column on Bongo and others: Big men do not die.
Posted by: James ||
06/22/2009 10:12
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Did he load up his U-Haul and take his toys with him?
[Geo News] Jama'at Islami General Secretary Liaquat Baloch Sunday said the US, Israel and India are fanning sectarianism in Pakistan and Iran under a plan.
Because Israel really cares about the denizens of the far end of the Indian subcontinent. Honestly, you just can't make this stuff up!
Talking to media at Karachi Airport, he said they want to divide the Muslims on the basis of differences between various schools of thought.
Like other humans, the Muslims need no outside help to divide themselves.
All the parties in Sindh government have majority in Karachi; however, the people here do not have facilities including water, power, and law and order.
Why should this year be different from any other year?
Baloch urged the government to privatize Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to give it direction.
Addressing the Ulema Convention under aegis of Jama'at Islami Central District, Liaquat said the religious parties will have to rise to the occasion to combat the conspiracies waged against Islam under the present circumstances. He demanded the government to stop the military operation in NWFP province and the IDPs to be rehabilitated in their areas. Talking to journalists, he said his party does not believe in armed struggle.
Then his lips fell off.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The sudden projection and tall claims of an anti-Baitullah Mehsud militant leader from South Waziristan, Qari Zainuddin Mehsud, have created many questions in the diplomatic circles of Islamabad.
In interviews to various media organisations on Thursday, Qari Zainuddin and his deputy Haji Turkistan had alleged that Baitullah was an American and Indian agent, he had killed Benazir Bhutto and that the real Jihad was going on in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan. Many diplomats contacted Foreign Office and Interior Ministry officials as well as media persons, seeking answers to their questions. Some Western diplomats were particularly confused over the claim that Baitullah was an American agent and that he had killed Benazir Bhutto. These diplomats were asking a question that if Baitullah was involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, does that mean that the American authorities were also involved in the conspiracy.
An East European diplomat also asked that on one side President Asif Zardari visited the Nato headquarter in Brussels while on the same day the Pakistani establishment allowed Qari Zainuddin to speak to the media, defending Jihad against Nato troops in Afghanistan.
Qari Zainuddin had claimed in an interview that he had developed differences with Baitullah after the death of Abdullah Mahsud. However, the story of the real differences between the two is full of allegations and revelations. According to some sources very close to Qari Zainuddin, the Pakistani establishment wanted to kill Abdullah Mehsud because he was involved in the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers. The establishment hired the services of Baitullah in 2005 against Abdullah, who had spent 23 months in Guantanamo. Abdullah was finally killed on July 24, 2007 in Zhob. Close aides of Abdullah alleged that Baitullah had helped security forces in tracing him. One Masoodur Rehman Mehsud had once alleged that Baitullah had killed Abdullah. In the meantime, Baitullah killed Masoodur Rehman through a remote control bomb in South Waziristan.
These tribal elders see no difference between Baitullah and Zainuddin. They fear that the establishment had first used Baitullah against Abdullah, and now they were using Zainuddin against Baitullah and ultimately both of them would be killed.
Qari Zainuddin is the elder son of Masoodur Rehman Mehsud and he has decided to take revenge for the murder of his father.
He is heading the Abdullah Mahsud Group. He is a former Khasadar (member of the tribal police) and active in Shakai area of South Waziristan. He killed Yahya, the younger brother of Baitullah Mehsud, on October 27, 2008 in Bannu. In retaliation, Baitullah killed a close aide of Qari Zainuddin, Muhammad Yousuf, on October 29, 2008 in Tank area.
Zainuddin recently contacted some Mehsud tribal elders but most of them are reluctant to cooperate with him. They question that if Abdullah was killed by Pakistani security forces then why the leader of his group was cooperating with the establishment? These tribal elders see no difference between Baitullah and Zainuddin. They fear that the establishment had first used Baitullah against Abdullah, and now they were using Zainuddin against Baitullah and ultimately both of them would be killed. They also fear that Qari Hussain will replace Baitullah as the new Taliban commander.
Many Mehsud tribal elders were contacted by the political administration of South Waziristan, seeking help for Qari Zainuddin. One tribal elder had reportedly told an official of the administration: "Don't fool us. President Zardari is assuring cooperation to Nato and you are asking us to cooperate with a person who is asking us to go and fight Nato in Afghanistan".
This article starring:
ABDULLAH MAHSUD
TTP
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
TTP
HAJI TURKISTAN
TTP
MASUDUR REHMAN MEHSUD
TTP
MUHAMAD YUSUF
TTP
QARI ZAINUDIN MEHSUD
TTP
YAHYA MEHSUD
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] At least 12 police officers have been killed in a blast caused by a landmine believed to have been planted by suspected Maoist rebels in central India.
The attack took place late Saturday when a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) team of about 40 security personnel was patrolling Tongapal, some 500 km (310 miles) south of the state capital Raipur and a hotbed of rebel activity.
"The men were on their way back when their vehicle ran over a landmine," T.G. Landkumer, a senior police officer in the state, told AFP.
He added that seven of the rebels were also killed in an exchange of gunfire after the blast, which left at least 12 police officers dead and 12 others injured.
The assault comes amid efforts by Indian security forces to quell a Maoist-led uprising in the eastern state of West Bengal, where security forces are battling to retake control of hundreds of villages.
In one of the most brazen attacks in recent years, a large band of armed rebels moved into the Lalgarh region -- a heavily forested area some 130 km (80 miles) from West Bengal's capital Kolkata -- earlier this week, driving out poorly armed local police and seizing control of villages in a 20 square mile (52 square km) radius.
On Sunday, West Bengal's Inspector General of Police Raj Kanojia said that operations to flush out the rebels were ongoing without giving further detail.
Based in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh, India's Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor tribal people and landless laborers. The ultra-leftist rebels have recently expanded their influence in the rural areas of the east, central and southern India.
Thousands have been killed in Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967 and which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as one of the gravest threats to Indian security.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] North Korea has accused US President Barack Obama of plotting a nuclear war on the communist nation by reaffirming a US assurance of security for South Korea, the North's state media said.
In a first official response to last week's US-South Korean summit, the state-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said in its Saturday edition Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak "are trying to ignite a nuclear war".
"The US-touted provision of 'extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella' (for South Korea) is nothing but 'a nuclear war plan,'" Tongil Sinbo said. It said it wasn't a coincidence that the United States has brought "nuclear equipment into South Korea and its surroundings and staged massive war drills every day to look for a chance to invade North Korea."
Pyongyang has created weeks of tension by conducting a second nuclear test and test-firing missiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
Will somebody please tell Kimmy to quit eating those hashish balls his embassies usually sell?
#9
**LATEST** CHINESE MIL FORUM > "RODONG SIMNUN" ARTICLE [Newspaper of the Workers] > KIM JONG-IL: WE WILL WIPE OUT ONE-THIRD OF JAPAN/JAPAN WILL BE TURNED INTO A "SEA OF CARNAGE". MAJOR GOVT + CIVILIAN-ECON CENTERS = TOKYO, OSAKA, YOKOHAMA, NAGOYA, + KYOTO, etal. = approxi 1/3 of Nippon's population + industry???
POSTERS > NOKOR "DECLARATION OF WAR?", + TOKYO [Japan's Govt.]WILL CEASE TO FUNCTION IF A "URANIUM-STYLE BOMB" GOES OFF IN THE CITY.
The first week of former Rep. William Jefferson's (D-La.) corruption trial was dominated by testimony from the head of a telecommunications firm who said he paid thousands of dollars to the lawmaker for his influence.
Kentucky businessman Vernon Jackson said Jefferson used his office to secure multimillion-dollar deals for the telecommunications firm iGate, and enriched himself in the process.
Jackson is a star witness for the prosecution, which claims Jefferson used his office to help iGate in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Jefferson faces a maximum of 235 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Jackson took the stand in a green prison jumpsuit Tuesday through Thursday and is expected to continue testifying on Monday. He's serving a seven-year, three-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to bribery charges involving Jefferson.
Jackson paid $500,000 to a consulting firm, the ANJ Group, owned by Andrea Jefferson, the congressman's wife. But Jackson testified the money was intended to get the lawmaker's help. Prosecutors argued that these payments were thinly-veiled bribes.
"I was paying him to use his office on behalf of iGate," Jackson testified, referring to the then-congressman.
Jackson suggested if he had refused to agree with any of Jefferson's terms, Jefferson would have stopped helping iGate.
"I didn't want to alienate him because I believed he could take steps to impede my company--even put us out of business," Jackson said.
Jefferson's defense team argues the payments were legitimate consulting fees paid for his wife's services to iGate. During its cross-examination of Jackson, the defense sought to show that the Jeffersons' dealings with iGate were always through ANJ.
Jefferson's defense said the former congressman made no "official acts" on behalf of iGate and that Jefferson and his family did not benefit materially because of acts Jefferson made as a congressman. They emphasized ANJ's business relationship with Jackson and iGate.
Jefferson lost his bid for reelection last fall to Republican Joseph Cao. He previously had won reelection, even after the FBI found $90,000 in unmarked bills in his fridge and linked him to a bribery scheme. Jefferson was indicted in 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2009
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#1
Hey, it's just Donk pay to play. Where's the harm?
Jackson, who is black, felt that Jefferson -- a member of the Congressional Black Caucus with a reputation for promoting African-American business ventures -- could help him.
Indeed, Jackson testified that Jefferson set up a meeting with Army officials attended by two other members of Congress, in which the Army agreed to test Jackson's technology with an eye toward purchasing it.
After that meeting, though, Jefferson told Jackson that he could not continue to devote as much time to iGate unless Jackson agreed to hire a business consultant. And Jefferson had a specific consultant in mind: his wife Andrea.
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.
As Bush said, liberty isn't American, or British, or French. It is human. No, the morality police in Iran are not just "part of Iranian culture" as some critics of Bush have claimed. Nor are public hangings. Nor are arbitrary detentions of doctors, or Holocaust denial conferences.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two suspected muggers suffered bullet injuries in a "shootout" between their accomplices and members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) last night in the city's Sutrapur area.
The Iranian government has suffered a serious blow to its legitimacy, but that blow is not fatal. Barring dramatic and unlikely changes in the ensuing weeks, the regime will remain intact, by force if necessary. As much as we might like it to be otherwise, that is the reality Washington faces. 
A 1950 Massachusetts law says public officials can take immediate pensions if they lose an election or fail to qualify for the ballot. The State Retirement Board granted the special benefits to 10 former state lawmakers who have enjoyed early, enhanced pensions after quitting the Legislature. The loose reading of that law could cost taxpayers up to $3 million in additional costs.
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) will not be charged with perjury for statements he made about the circumstances of his appointment earlier this year to replace President Obama in the Senate.
At least 46 Taliban were killed in various strikes during the military operation against the Taliban in the Tribal Areas and Swat on Sunday.
A MAN who broke his neck in a freak accident was sent home and told to take Panadol after hospital staff failed to diagnose his life-threatening injury.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Somalia's Al-Shabaab militant group warned Sunday against any foreign military intervention after the government pleaded for help. "We are sending our clear warning to the neighboring countries ... send your troops to our holy soil if you need to take them back inside coffins," Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali said in Mogadishu.
[Straits Times] UNIDENTIFIED men hurled two grenades near a crowded town plaza where a beauty contest was being held in the southern Philippines, killing at least one person and wounding 31 others, police said on Sunday. The attack happened late Saturday in Maasim, Sarangani province, about 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) south of Manila, police chief Abraham Madrid said.
[Geo News] Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Sunday said the UN mission tasked with the investigation of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's assassination will arrive in Pakistan next month and present its report within six months. Talking to media here, the Minister said the investigation will be carried out in a transparent manner and the process of probe will not be kept undisclosed. "The murders of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will be brought to justice," he asserted. Rehman Malik said the nation has woken up and now the days of Taliban are numbered. "The whole nation has said Â'no' to Taliban and now they have no other choice than to leave this country," he said.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters on Sunday, saying the young should "raise their voice for freedom", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world was sympathetic to Iranian election protesters but added it was unclear whether the unrest would spur change in Tehran's policies. Peres suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders. "Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders. If the protests continue, Peres said, "hopefully the poor government will disappear". "I have no doubt everybody in the world is sympathetic to the Iranians' desire for freedom," Netanyahu said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' when asked about the street demonstrations that have erupted in Iran since the disputed June 12 election. "I think it's too early to say what will transpire in Iran and on the international stage," said Netanyahu, who spoke from Israel. He reiterated Israel's position that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas. 
Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi on Saturday night told his supporters he was ready for martyrdom, and demanded that the entire disputed election be annulled.
It just keeps getting weirder.
Sen. Edward Kennedy is going to bat in a new TV campaign ad for longtime pal Sen. Christopher Dodd, who faces a tough re-election fight in Connecticut.
Last week the legislature approved a $2 billion tax hike on personal income and small businesses that haven't already left the state. The highest tax rate on income above $500,000 would climb to 11% -- up from an already high 9%. Oregon will soon boast the second highest income tax rate in the nation, moving ahead of California (10.55%), and only slightly behind New York City (12.6%). Corporations will pay a 7.9% tax on gross receipts, up from 6.6%.
[Maghrebia] In an internet statement, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for last week's terrorist ambush near Bordj Bou Arreridj that claimed the lives of 24 Algerian gendarmes, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Saturday (June 20th).
[Geo News] Jama'at Islami General Secretary Liaquat Baloch Sunday said the US, Israel and India are fanning sectarianism in Pakistan and Iran under a plan. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The sudden projection and tall claims of an anti-
[Iran Press TV Latest] At least 12 police officers have been killed in a blast caused by a landmine believed to have been planted by suspected Maoist rebels in central India. 
[Bangla Daily Star] North Korea has accused US President Barack Obama of plotting a nuclear war on the communist nation by reaffirming a US assurance of security for South Korea, the North's state media said.
The first week of former Rep. William Jefferson's (D-La.) corruption trial was dominated by testimony from the head of a telecommunications firm who said he paid thousands of dollars to the lawmaker for his influence.
