LOL - consider the source, but they must have the goods to be this blatant. There are two America's one with Mrs. Edwards and the other with his mistress? Where were the MSM on this? This story's been out there for some time
Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
The married ex-senator from North Carolina - whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer -- met with his mistress, blonde divorcée Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 - and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn't leave until early the next morning.
Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.
But a months-long NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation had yielded information that Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own.
The NATIONAL ENQUIRER broke the story of Edwards' love child scandal last year, when Rielle was still pregnant and Edwards was still considered a strong candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Both parties denied the NATIONAL ENQUIRER report and a close friend of Edwards' came forward and said he was the father of Rielle's baby. But sources told the NATIONAL ENQUIRER a far different story - they revealed that Edwards was engineering a massive cover up of his shocking infidelity.
Sources came forward after that story appeared and told The NATIONAL ENQUIRER that Edwards and Rielle had met secretly several times, so that he could see his baby and continue his relationship with Rielle.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008
19:19 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 19:25
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#2
Perfect! While his wife is here in Chicago with Lance Armstrong promoting a "stand up to cancer" event here in Chicago.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-illinoissportstod,0,4488986.story
Let me suggest a 10 in Lodge frying pan, Elizabeth, for starters and then move on to the really nasty stuff.
#3
look, when I said "prove it", it was a joke, k???
Posted by: Gary Hartpence ||
07/22/2008 19:43
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#4
this is the best part:
Senior NATIONAL ENQUIRER Reporter Alexander Hitchen asked Edwards why he was visiting Rielle and whether he was ready to confirm that he was the father of her baby.
Shocked to see a reporter, and without saying anything, Edwards ran up the stairs leading from the hotel basement to the lobby. But, spotting a photographer, he doubled back into the basement. As he emerged from the stairwell, reporter Butterfield questioned him about his hookup with Rielle.
Edwards did not answer and then ran into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER about what he was doing in the hotel. A group of hotel security men eventually escorted him from the men's room, while preventing the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporters from following him out of the hotel.
someone else noted that the sight of a potential DONK VP (and previous DONK POTUS candidate) hiding in the restroom to avoid the press is sooooo delicious. What an asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 20:18
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#5
"To be with another woman, that is French.
To be caught, hmm, hmm, that is American."
This will cause the green's heads to explode
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management today published proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the western United States.
In keeping with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, the BLM is proposing regulations that would provide the critical "rules of the road" on which private investors will rely in determining whether to make future financial commitments to prospective oil shale projects.
"As Americans pay more than $4 for a gallon of gasoline and watch energy prices continue to climb higher and higher, we need to be doing more to develop our own energy here at home, through resources such as oil shale," said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. "Instead, I find it ironic that we are asking countries halfway around the world to produce more for us."
Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter from which oil may be produced. The regulations would provide for a thoughtful, phased approach to oil shale development on public lands in the West. Commercial development of oil shale will not begin until it is technologically viable, which is not expected for several years.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is only publishing proposed regulations at this time because the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2008 prohibits the agency from using FY2008 funds to prepare or publish final regulations. The President has called on Congress to remove the ban on finalizing oil shale program regulations.
Before any oil shale leases are issued, site-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis would be completed on the proposed development. Once a lease is issued, the lessee will also have to obtain all required permits from state and local authorities, under their respective permitting processes, before any operations can begin.
The proposed leasing regulations incorporate provisions of the Energy Policy Act and the Mineral Leasing Act relating to: maximum oil shale lease size; maximum acreage limitations; rental; and lease diligence. The rule will also propose a range of royalty rate options, and will ask for public input on the royalty provisions. The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed rules.
The regulations address provisions of the Energy Policy Act that establish work requirements and milestones to ensure diligent development of leases. Standard components of a BLM leasing program -- including lease administration and operations -- would be included, as well as additional NEPA documentation requirements for lease applicants.
In remarks last month calling on Congress to expand domestic energy production, President Bush noted the "extraordinary potential" of oil shale resources on public lands in the West. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. holds more than half of the world's oil shale resources.
The largest known deposits of oil shale are located in a 16,000-square mile area in the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Shale formations in that area hold the equivalent of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Federal lands comprise 72 percent of the total surface of oil shale acreage in the Green River formation.
"Oil shale is a strategically important domestic energy source that should be developed to reduce the nation's growing dependence on oil from politically and economically unstable foreign sources," said BLM Director James Caswell.
Throughout the process, the BLM will collaborate and consult with affected states, tribes and local governments to ensure that their interests and concerns surrounding the oil shale program continue to be addressed. For instance, the site-specific NEPA analyses would include the same opportunities for public involvement and comment that are part of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement process.
The regulations are just one of several steps designed to harness these vast energy resources. The BLM has also issued research, development and demonstration (RD&D) leases for five oil shale projects in Colorado's Piceance Basin and one in Utah. The BLM is also preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement that would amend several resource management plans to open lands for application for potential oil shale leasing in the future.
The Oil Shale Regulation on the electronic desk of the Federal Register today is at
http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-16275_PI.pdf
#1
LOL at the graphic, DV!!! Using FF3, I can't link Fred's graphix
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 19:29
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#2
might wanna see what the Congress passes (against their will) to protect their phony baloney jobs
/Gov. Le Petomane
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 19:53
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#3
up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the western United States
CIA Factbook Oil reserves (Billion barrels):
World 1,331
Saudi Arabia 264
Canada 179
Iran 138
Iraq 115
Kuwait 101
United Arab Emirates 98
Venezuela 79
Russia 60
Libya 45
Nigeria 37
Angola 25
United States 22
Looks like the list will have to change. And don't forget the 86 billion barrels of sweet, sweet crude lying offshore. But according to our Primitivists, we STILL can't drill (or dig) our way out of the problem.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 20:01
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#4
Forgot. Some estimates have potentially recoverable US oil shales at 2,500 billion barrels. Then there is the technically challenging Bakken oil formation with 4 billion (e.g. same as ANWAR) with some estimates stating there is up to 500 billion barrels lying within Bakken, with the amount recoverable going up as technology improves.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 20:19
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#5
ed, the list you got there is oil what is pumpable reserves, oil shale isnt oil, can be oil with enough energy and hydrogen input, but it isn't oilrigbht now. With enough nukes it's do able tho.
Posted by: Billie Sol Estes Rockets ||
07/22/2008 21:19
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#6
Yep. Is not listed a classical "oil reserves", but it is readily accessable hydrocarbons that can be turned into petroleum. Much like tar sands. That the amount of American shale is twice the entire world's oil reserves is extraordinary. It's fortunate that the entire US midwest was an ancient shallow seabed. If only we could get the Luddites out of the way, though running them over flat is looking to be a more and more attractive option.
The current recoverable Bakken oil is listed at 1%. That will go up as technology advances.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 21:26
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THE Taliban has been dealt a crippling blow after their leader in Helmand province surrendered fearing the SBS were about to kill him next.
Mullah Abdul Rahim handed himself in to Pakistani police over the border from Afghanistan late on Saturday evening, The Sun has exclusively learned.
One of Top Five most wanted Taliban bosses, Rahim gave himself up after two of his senior henchmen were killed within two weeks by the elite Navy special forces unit. Rahim answered directly to one-eyed Taliban boss Mullah Omar.
He was taken into custody in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where senior Taliban leadership are in hiding, intelligence sources revealed. British commanders last night dubbed Rahims surrender as a massive breakthrough that would plunge militant force in Helmand into disarray.
British forces spokesman in Helmand Lt Col Robin Matthews said: The Talibans senior leadership structure has suffered a shattering blow. They remain a dangerous enemy but they increasingly lack strategic direction and their proposition to the Afghan people is proving ultimately negative and self-defeating."
Helmand governor Gulab Mangal last night appealed to all remaining Taliban fighters in the province to lay down their arms. He said: This is a great message for Helmand province. I advise all those Taliban who are engaging with terrorist actions that the fighting has no benefit. So this is the time to join with the Islamic Republic and choose a good, right and honourable way.
As The Sun also revealed, Rahims deputy for northern Helmand Mullah Bishmullah was shot dead by SBS commandos on July 13. And expert bomb-maker Mullah Sadiqullah was assassinated by a Hellfire missile fired into his 4x4 by an Apache gunship helicopter on June 26.
A few hours after Rahim surrendered, British forces claimed their third senior scalp in Helmand. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Taliban commander for the northern Musa Qalah area, Mullah Sheikh, was killed in a Hellfire missile strike fired from an unmanned Reaper drone flown by the RAF. Sheikh was attacked and killed by three henchmen as they walked in fields 15km north of Musa Qalah.
In February last year, Mullah Rahim boasted that the insurgency had 10,000 fighters ready to launch a fierce offensive in the spring "as the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green."
It was thought he had been killed in an air strike last July in northern Helmand, but he narrowly escaped.
#1
I don't know, sounds to me like his 'surrender' is more like admittance to his allies safe house to keep him out of the reach of the SBS. He will just direct his troops from the safety of his new perch.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/22/2008 17:05
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#2
WM, I agree. Pakis ought to hand him over to the Afghanis.
Taliban Suicide Bomber Dead
Details:
Importance Low
Means of Death Suicide Bomber
Date of Death Feb. 27, 2007
Location of Death Bagram, Afghanistan
Affiliation Taliban
Role Suicide Bomber
Gender Male
********************************
So this must be another Heap of Pompus.
Note: This is a Brit Paper waxing on about a British commanders Report.
There is a reason that British Units have soo many officers... 1/2 of them work the press and the other half press the flesh of any visitors to keep PR smooth and on top.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 17:49
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#5
So this must be a Pompous Heaps who can't spel.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 17:53
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NBC reporter blasts "empty suit" B. Hussein Obama for excluding press,who traveled with him on taxpayers dollars, who might ask him tough questions.
Andrea Mitchell criticizes Obama's media manipulation during his war zone trip, saying he's conducting what some would call "fake interviews," adding we dont' know what's really going on because the media has been excluded.
#1
OH yeah. How DARE he exclude the kingmakers from his imperial audience. We're not talking about the hoi polloi here. This is the media he's snubbing now! /sarcasm
I don't know if I'm going to laugh or cry if Sen. Clinton steals the nomination from him. But he sure deserves to have it stolen.
#4
From this, approved for release clip, I'd say the junket has been highly choreographed, to include the hoops session. Probably months in the making. He is simply checking the box. He's visited a Forward Operations Base (FOB) somewhere. I do not recognize the gymnasium. But I DO recognize the 'rear area' .....US Army Public Affairs approved inclusive, multi-cult, made for TV audience which lacks anyone wearing Individual Body Armor (IBA) or carrying a weapon. Also lacks the presense of veterans, US civilians, ie, contractors, of which there are tens of thousands. The absense of warfighters and men at arms is quite obvious. Sickening actually, but like Senator McCain said, "it is what it is."
Obama arrived in Iraq on Monday for what is described as a fact-finding mission. However, its hard to believe Obama is actually searching for facts in Iraq, nor will the facts he finds change his position. The position he chose for himself, as well as all the comments he has made so far about Iraq, reflect a disregard for facts, and there is no reason to expect a change now.
This visit, for Obama, is just a necessary evil part of an electoral campaign and not a sincere fact-finding mission. The fact that Obama made Afghanistan his first stop (after arriving in Kuwait, just next door to Iraq) suggests that its his electoral campaign that sets his priorities when it comes to the war on terrorism, not the actual map and course of the war.
Obama is lucky in that his host, Prime Ministe Maliki, is also going through an election season. Hes even luckier that Maliki has been convinced by the close circle around him that Obama is going to win the American presidential race. The state-owned Al-Sabah quoted a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, as saying: The change in the prime ministers position has to do with his own perception of the political developments in the United States Maliki thinks that Obama is most likely to win in the presidential election and that he will withdraw his countrys troops from Iraq as he pledged in his campaign. The official added that Maliki sees that hes got to take preemptive steps before Obama gets to the White House.
This is why both men have appeared to be in perfect harmony recently; one lending generous support to the other. But this is not solid harmony because both men are acting like this due to mere speculations and/or flawed advice from their aides during critical moments in election seasons. Maliki, for example, knows very well that had Obamas vision for Iraq been adopted two years ago, he wouldnt be enjoying the position and power he does today, and the progress in Iraq wouldnt have been achieved.
The call for disengagement in the way Obama proposes (and Maliki cautiously endorses) is based on a vision that goes no further than the upcoming elections in both countries and thus an indicator of dangerous selfishness. The two men are gambling with victory against true enemies of their nations in the hope of achieving victory against personal electoral foes. The obvious confusion in Malikis recent statements forced government spokesmen and top officials to appear several times to correct or retract what he said. This indicates that much of what Maliki is saying these days is for personal/partisan electoral purposes and does not represent the strategy of the state of Iraq.
The problem with Obamas vision for the future of Americas role in the region is that his understanding of the war and the consequences of victory or defeat is stagnant and superficial. He hasnt changed his proposed policy despite all the changes on the ground over the course of the war. He says that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the main front in the war on terror and backs this claim with the recent increase in violence over there. This raises the question of why he didnt see Iraq as the main front when Al-Qaeda was wreaking havoc on Iraq and not only redirected almost all of its resources and fighters to the country but even declared it an Islamic state.
The road to Quds [Jerusalem] passes through Karbala, Khomeini said in the 1980s. We must not forget that Jerusalem is a stones throw from Baghdad, Zawahiri said two years ago.
History proves that every terrorist and extremist in the region sees Iraq as the epicenter of their war. Neither Khomeini nor Zawahiri had Jerusalem as a priority. The priority has always been Iraq; thats why one wanted to export the revolution and the other sought to establish the Caliphate in Iraq.
Obama insists that he wants to end the war, as if that would achieve victory. This too indicates a lack of understanding of the nature of the war. Victory in a war on terror requires first and foremost that the ideology of extremists be made unattractive in the hearts and minds of the peoples of the region. The people are the center of gravity in a war of this type, and the winner is the one that attracts the people to his side. This goal can only be achieved by presenting a successful model for stability, liberty, and prosperity; a model that proves beyond a doubt that the people have a path that can lead to a bright future a choice other than status-quo dictatorships and suicidal ideologies of extremism.
Terrorism cannot be defeated by killing Bin Laden or even killing every single existing member of Al-Qaeda, especially considering the decentralized structure of terrorist organizations. Terrorism can be defeated by offering a model for a bright future that gives people who have suffered for so long hope and saves them from despair.
Iraq is now closer than ever to becoming this model, and victory in this chapter of the war is within hand unless Obama succeeds in ending the war his way
#1
Terrorism cannot be defeated by killing Bin Laden or even killing every single existing member of Al-Qaeda, especially considering the decentralized structure of terrorist organizations. Poverty and crime can be defeated by offering a model for a bright future that gives people who have suffered for so long hope and saves them from despair.
FACT FOUND: This is the pablum of socialism and victimization direct from the pulpits of Lenin, Marx and the reverend Wright. He'd do better to stick to basketball.
#2
Beez, he is totally blind to religious extremeism. That could be because he is not really religious himself. He cannot fathom a society that is totally dedicated to eradicate anyone who does not conform to their religious beliefs. If you vote for "Hope and Change" you better hope you have more than change left after you get your paycheck.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 19:05
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U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel is repeating calls for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, saying at a news conference in Jordan today that even the Iraqi government wants U.S. combat forces out by 2010.
The Nebraska Republican is accompanying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on an overseas trip.
Hagel says Iraqi leadership understands that the Iraqi people will determine the nation's future. He says it's time for the United States to start accepting the nation's sovereignty.
Hagel is a dishpit: Iraq has been sovereign since 2004. It's had an elected government and a constitution these past several years. We're there currently on a UN mandate and will work with the sovereign Iraqi government on a forces agreement. We'll leave when they want us to leave. It seems that both Obama and Hagel, on a fact finding mission, have forgotten a few basic facts.
Hagel's opposition to the Iraq war -- and Obama's decision to invite him on the trip -- has stirred speculation that Obama may consider the Republican as a running mate. Hagel told The Associated Press last month that he would consider it, although he doesn't expect to be on any ticket.
#1
That's what we have always wanted isn't it? I don't know about the 2010 part, but either us or the Iraqis need some sort of time frame to shoot for. Don't chisel it in stone, but make that the goal. Of course that doesn't excuse him from brown nosing Obambi to be the veep.
#2
Thought "W," our troops, and allies established Iraq's sovereignty in the first place. Seems like Hagel is out of touch or just parroting the donk litany.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain today for the first time said he can now support a timeline to reduce the American presence in Iraq, specifically advocating the withdrawal from Iraq of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama, and several battalions of U.S. news anchors and reporters.
Its time to bring them home, said Sen. McCain at a news conference attended by a journalism intern from the Des Moines Register. The surge has worked, and its time to redeploy.
Sen. McCain said bringing Sen. Obama home would help to ensure that people in the U.S., who desperately need media attention, will get the help they deserve.
Our mainstream media forces are stretched too thin, he said. If news should break here in the homeland, whos going to cover it? Were vulnerable.
#1
Again, it shows why Osama Bin Laden & Co. have
been very pragmatic or realist in transferring the focii of the Islamist JIahd from Iraq proper to RUSSIA, CENTRAL ASIA, + PERIPHERIES.
*NO US-IRAN WAR > IRAQ PER SE IS NOW A GENER "HOLDING/DIVERSIONARY FRONT". As long as the US = US-Allies keep confine their MilOps to only Iraq and Afghanistan [Africa], OR EVEN REDUX AS PER A POTUS OBAMA, IRAN + MILITANTS-TERRS WILL LIKELY GET THEIR DESIRED NUKES + OTHER STRATEGIC WEAPONZ-MILTECHS FOR FUTURE JIHAD [Nukular].
Barack Obama's visit to the green zone in Baghdad far eclipsed a similar trip by Gordon Brown two days earlier in terms of the media frenzy it generated.
Journalists camped for three hours outside the residence of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, hoping for a glimpse of the Democratic presidential hopeful as he paid a visit. There was another scrum as Mr Obama departed, surrounded by half a dozen burly security guards and an entourage of aides.
The circus was repeated outside Jalal Talabani's presidential compound, which sits just outside the green zone but is also formidably guarded.
The contrast with the attitude of ordinary Iraqis could not have been greater. Most were oblivious that the Obama visit was even taking place. "Who is Mr Obama?" asked Muhammad Saed, 29, who owns a small supermarket in Baghdad. "I stopped reading the news after the invasion because it only talks about car bombs and people being killed."
Ahmed Chaseb, a 29-year-old traffic policeman in the Shia slum of Sadr City, had also never heard of the senator. "I'm not interested in politics and I don't trust Americans," he said.
Down in the southern port city of Basra most people were unaware that Mr Obama had begun his Iraq tour at the British military base near by.
Sheikh Mohammad al-Zaydi, however, said that he had great respect for the senator and wished him success in the elections.
#1
Candidate Obama: making friends and influencing people yet again. By the time he gets done, he'll be even more vilified around the world than George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan.
Posted by: The Obamessiah ||
07/22/2008 17:34
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#3
"I'm not interested in politics and I don't trust Americans," he said.
Now the Lord is luv an honest man. But friend, we're in this together, look thru that winder there, is that something or what? You wanna be a traffic cop all your life? We both got a chance here to make a few gelddinerodollars euros each. I'll get back at you soon, meanwhile my esteenmed friend Mohammed4Doo will work his magic.
Posted by: Billie Sol Estes Rockets ||
07/22/2008 20:57
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BAGHDAD Coalition forces discovered a massive cache of weapons during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq elements near Samarra that concluded July 19.
During the 48-hour operation, Coalition forces discovered three weapons caches and two buildings believed to be used in terrorist operations. One building was assessed to be a classroom where terrorists learned to build car bombs. The building had diagrams cut into the walls showing how to install bombs in vehicles, and a test range outside, littered with car parts. Coalition forces called for supporting aircraft to destroy the building and prevent its future use in terrorist operations.
Coalition forces systematically cleared the area, about 90 kilometers north of Baghdad, which is known to have weapons caches and hideout locations used by AQI leaders. The caches contained 810 105 mm artillery rounds, numerous rockets and mortars, 50 rocket-propelled grenades, several anti-aircraft weapons, vehicle mounts and ammunition, as well as bulk explosives. Munitions experts safely destroyed all the weapons on site.
#1
Goodness -- they'll be catching up to France, soon, at the rate they're going, when it's only the odd bomb in the cellar or one of the back fields of the family farm.
In T. Boone Pickens' war, the enemy is foreign oil.
Pickens, the Republican Texas oil mogul, testified Tuesday before a Senate panel to lay out his new, self-titled "Pickens Plan" to boost renewable energy sources, get the U.S. transportation sector off oil, and cut U.S. use of foreign petroleum.
Pickens told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that aside from getting away from foreign oil, he's for just about anything, from electric cars like those advocated by Al Gore to offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Recalling a conversation he recently had with Gore, Pickens told the panel: "I'm for everything that's American. I only have one enemy, and that's foreign oil. That's what I want to get rid of."
Pickens said installing wind farms, and later solar power facilities in the midsection of the United States, with government help, could produce 20 percent of electricity consumed domestically. That would alleviate the need to use natural gas to make electricity.
Under the Pickens Plan, natural gas along with biofuels would power all transportation, reducing foreign oil dependence according to Pickens' numbers by one-third.
He also said he believes U.S. national security is in dire straits with roughly $700 billion annually heading overseas to the Middle East and unfriendly countries like Venezuela in exchange for crude. This is more than a disturbing trend line. It is a recipe for national disaster. ... This is a crisis that cannot be left to the next generation to solve," Pickens said, adding: "I am convinced we are paying for both sides of the Iraqi war."
"If we continue to drift like we're drifting, you're going to be importing 80 percent of your oil. And I promise you, it'll be over $300 a barrel," Pickens said, responding to a question from committee chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman. "If we do nothing, it's going to be over the top," Pickens said.
Pickens' company Mesa Power has invested $2 billion in a Texas panhandle wind farm. One of Pickens' companies also owns about 90 of the roughly 500 publicly available natural gas stations with another of his companies, Clean Energy.
But Pickens, chairman and founder of BP Capital Management, also regularly points out he doesn't need the money.
"I didn't want to come and go in this life and feel like I had something that would've helped the country. So I though, 'What the hell, it's time to stand up and be counted,' " Pickens said, according to Politico.
Note that we already power fleets fo vehicles with Natural Gas, so this isnt like electric cars and fuel cells which still need lots of work - this can be done NOW. We are the "Saudi Arabia" of Natural gas, with current reserves of in excess of 100 years of current demand, and in the OCS and Alaska, enough additional natural gas to yield as much as 10 times that mount. If we want to do something NOW, this is probably the best path.
#1
Its a pretty neat solution - attack the supply side by jumping up US domestic petroleum production, and attack the demand side by substituting alterntive energy sources, and moving transportation from petrol to natural gas.
Double US domestic oil production and cut demand in multiple places? Sounds like a big drop in the need to import, and a lot of it within the next few years, instead of decades out.
Combine all that with nukes and clean coal for baseload power, more electrical cars, and development of better alternative energy things like fuel cells, bio-diesel sources, diesel-electric engines, etc, - we coudl probably cut demand and increase supply to the point where we are energy self sufficient within a decade, and pretty much "off oil" within a genertion.
Major obstacles are the greens and their lawyers who will delay things with lawsuits.
#2
There is no way $300 bbl of oil is going to happen without the world economy taking a nose dive to the point of "drop-dead demand". I can see it approaching $200 bbl but it also causing a significant depression world-wide. If you look at all the independent energy studies, the one with the greatest potential is a "hydrogen economy" but you need to have an interim plan of more domestic drilling (which requires more domestic refining capacity that is never discussed in the same mouthful), more conservation, energy efficient automobiles, trucks and planes as well as focus on nuclear for baseline power production. Natural gas is a poor fuel economically since even for power generation it is in the 50% range of efficiency. Coal gets you more and of course nuclear gets you almost pure efficiency. The odd thing about solar and PV is that the more you reduce greenhouse gases (CO2) the more efficient it becomes and the warmer the earth will become (not the inverse). His plan is doable but only in a much longer time period not 10 years.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 12:50
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#3
Oil prices fell $5.07 to $125.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as concerns eased about possible supply disruptions from Tropical Storm Dolly.
#4
Sounds like a solid plan to me. Like OS mentioned, he's advocating attacking the problem on the demand and supply side. We can't replace imported oil with domestic oil in any kind of useful timeframe, but by attacking the demand side we can make huge gains on our import balance sheet. I'm a big fan of both electric and hydrogen power. But we do need something interim, natural gas certainly has potential. My biggest concern about electric cars is straight forward, I fear the electric grid can not handle a sudden increase. I believe electric cars will have to be introduced somewhat slowly to make sure the grid can handle the extra load. Now that the Iraq war is winding down, it's a good time to start spending some money on these types of projects. Improve our infrastructure, start developing an hyrdogen infrastructure and build lots of nuke plants. check this out
#5
So why is pickens feverishly buying up water rights all over the western states? So he can sell us the water to run hydro dams?
This guy is no philanthropist, he's a robber baron. If he's pushing alternative energy you can be sure he owns controlling stake in it. He should do well with the Goracle.
#6
Tbe "Pickens Plan" is the best plan I've seen lately... in fact, it's the ONLY plan I've seen lately. He's wrong about "having only one enemy" however. The congressional democrats will having nothing to do with him, I assure you.
#7
Add to the Pickens plan nuclear: big plants and the new little plants. Push to get electricity generation from nuclear from 19% to ~40% of our needs. That's dependable (more so than wind) and do-able today.
Flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid cars.
Make ethanol from switchgrass, not corn.
Wind farms and solar farms where they make sense.
Drill, drill, drill.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 13:34
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#8
I'd rather see nukes become 100% of base load electrical power in the US wihtin 30 years, with natioon-wide solar and wind providing the peak power.
As for natural gas - he is not avocating it for generation (he want to get away from using it for power generation, RTFA!), he is advocating it for vehicles. And that's already being done, and can be done with little engineering and relatively low costs for vehicle conversion, the major hurdle being distribution at filling stations. I imagine that a home-fill could be engineered in areas with natural gas pipes already laid.
Jack, need I remind you that just 10 years ago, back in July 1998, west texas sweet spot market price was just $14 a barrel; we are at over 10 times that amount today without a world-wide depression. RTFA - Pickens aas talking talking about $300/bbl oil in the context of 10 years down the road, if we continue to drift as we do now, and our trend lines show us importing 80% of our oil, in addition to Chinese and other demands. So he's not blowing smoke.
Bigjim, you really need to adjust your paranoia tin-foil beanie. If the guy's plan will get us off foreign oil, and do so at a decent cost, he will have solidified our economy and security massively, and thats as patriotic as anyone can be. If he makes a buck at it, so much the better - that's the American Way.
#9
This guy is no philanthropist, he's a robber baron.
I wouldn't go so far as to say he is a robber baron.
He definitely has business interests in mind though. Just him saying $300 oil helps buoy the oil market helping both his oil interests and his new power generation business. It's no mistake he launched the Pickens Plan, is running a major national ad campaign and is testifying in front of the Senate all in the same week. He stands to profit mightily from the high price of oil.
I will say this though, I think his patriotic intentions are real. I have had the opportunity to hear him speak on a number of occasions. There's nothing more American than doing something to help America immensely and make a buck doing it.
#11
T.Boone is in his 80's.
I see it as his way of returning a favor to the country that let him emerge on the stage. His country.
I agree with his solution.
It buys time.
Nukes take forever to be approved.
Same with other stuff.
Wind approval is pretty quick
His N<->S backbone powerline that connects the windmills and the E<->W grid is the glue that lets one make a baseline power supply out of the fickle wind.
Conversion is easy. I remember in my youth converted hemmis running deep wells in Central NE. Day and night your heard them run on and on... Conversion was cheap too.
It's known tech and do'able with the cheapest conversion of any mobile power source.
#12
Pickens' company Mesa Power has invested $2 billion in a Texas panhandle wind farm.
The dirty secret of "wind power" is that the wind isn't strong enough a lot of the time and they have to keep turning the blades with a gas powered generator so they don't seize up. Wind power is about as efficient as congress when it comes to making money and power.
Go nuclear and clean coal. Drill and refine. That is the only way out of this mess until fusion comes online 20-50 years from now.
#14
I know you have heard of Enron.
How about Google ,Al Gore, Maurice Strong and Bill Clinton?
Do you know what common thread connects them all?
This is the exact same plan, but put out by a republican. Don't call me a nut until you think about this for a few minutes. It's the exact same goddamned plan. So why is it gospel when this guys lays it out? Tinfoil beanie indeed.
#15
He has been running radio ads out this way for a while now - TX OK panhandles west KS east CO if anything, especially during the summer, has clear skies and wind.
Sounds like a plan, what are we waiting for? Oh yeah congress and the CO+KS govorners.
#16
Fucking Congress is our enemy and has been blocking any forward movement Visa-Vi National Power solutions..
the Executive Branch going back at least three Presidents hasn't set National Power Goals.
I like the OS's Plan,
Steve White's plan
3dc's Plan
and LOTS MORE Nukes..
DRILL
DRILL
DRILL
COAL
COAL
COAL
NUKES
NUKES
NUKES
/and euthanize politicians
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 15:28
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#17
The Enviro wackos have closed down two very large wind farms in California in law suits saying they were a threat to migrantory birds.
The enviros don't want a solution to the energy crisis, such that it is (if there really is a crisis is subject to debate), what they really want is to destroy the industrialized state. They are more anarchists than any thing.
Pickens is good on the wind farms and the increased use of natural gas in transportation. Add Nuclear power as has been stated in this thread and you can cut domestic oil consumption. Add to that drilling for oil in ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico, Tar Sand in North Dakota and Oil Shale in Wyoming and Colorado, you can really cut back on foreign oil.
The last gambit is that by increasing domestic production of oil and reducing consumption, you can buy our engineers and scientists enough time to develop some coherent alternative propulsion systems for cars, trucks, trains, etc., hybrid technology is so jerry rigged as far as I am concerned. Hydrogen is too expensive and biofuels will only work when cellulotic ethanol can be produced in bulk and at lower cost. Making any biofuel out of a food source is bad...except to EarthFirst who believe the ideal human population of Earth is ZERO.
Pickens is on the right path but remember you cannot conserve your way out of an energy production shortage when consumption is rapidly escalating in the "third world". AND most of the third world does not give two hoots in hell about air quality or the environment....
Posted by: James Carville ||
07/22/2008 15:33
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#18
Wind power is good for peaking but is no good for base load. It would require storage for that, and storage is so expensive that it is out of the question. Wind farms require (often) huge subsidies as they have been a break-even business in good years, and big losers the rest of the time. Nuclear is good, coal is good, drilling is good. But this windfarm nonsense is just the next swindle from pickens. He pulled the same thing with natural gas a few years ago and go a rather gratuitous platter of federal money to shore him up. The transmission lines for the windfarm give him the right of way he needs to run a massive water pipeline through north texas. Dont for a second believe that this guy is doing this for our good. He'll soak the profit from this and bail out leaving taxpayers with a huge headache to deal with.
#19
Problem with Picken's "Plan" is that birds keep flying into the wind turbine blades. This will sure to rankle the enviros. Save the Birds will threaten to take precedence over Save the Humans.
#21
On problem with Wind is we tend to think of centralized power. In Northern Germany along the North Sea coast a small town will have its own windmill providing power.
The Bay area could power itself on wind the place is so windy. Convince a few hitech companies to put windmills on their campuses and sell the extra to the grid and you're in business.
Other areas, like Southern California should think of converting rooftops to solar. A different solution for each area and supplement it all with nuke power.
#22
He [Pickens} added: "I am convinced we are paying for both sides of the Iraqi war."
I have thought this for a long time. The Arabs and Muslims have taken the money we have given them for oil and financed terrorism and hate through the mosques.
Demand for oil is going to keep going up. The price of oil will go right up with the increased demand--unless we change the supply side in some way. If we don't take control of our own energy future, we will continue to be on the mideast oil titty and have to put of with OPEC's price fixing and the focus of their hatred. The price of everything that is transported (which is just about everything) in the USA is affected by oil prices. We can't just keep living the same ol same ol in Washington. We might have to export whacky environmentalists if anyone will have them.
#23
I think 3 lines of wind and solar farms, one on each coast, and one in the center of the country woudl be geographically diverse enough to provide at least a baseline of sustained output, when hooked to the E-W grid. Each would be getting good sustained morning and evening winds at good staggered offsets from each other, and the N-S large reach provides buffers agains regional calm days.
That and changing over to Natural Gas is a quick enough stop-gap while we ramp other things (nukes, electric) up.
Its the first and quickest set of things we can do, while waiting for the effects of drilling, and construction of coal and nuke power plants, and coal conversion (into transport fuel) plants.
#24
Wind power is good for peaking but is no good for base load.
Wind power is good for nothing: nothing tells there will be wind when you need it. Also, most electric gear and all of electronics requires reasonably constant power.
#25
The Germans use solar a lot, windmills as well. I believe the home or business owner can get a tax break on solar panels. The excess (to the household) electricity produced must go back into the grid. Electricity in Germany is very, very expensive.
#26
Most vehicles on Perth roads are LNG (often called LPG) powered and conversions continue at a record level, for the simple reason LNG is one third the price of petrol or diesel.
All service stations here sell LPG and filling up your car is no harder than filling it up with petrol. I can't recall a single LPG accident at a service station. LPG is just as safe as petrol.
A conversion costs between $2,000 and $3,000. Do the sums, but for high mileage vehicles like taxis the payback period can be as little as 18 months. (Compare with solar and wind, which are somewhere between 20 years and never)
Otherwise, I agree with Pickens and OS. It's a workable plan. Buying time to build nuclear power stations and with the real prospect of getting off the imported oil addiction for good.
And so what if Pickens is making money out of it. That's capitalism, my friend.
#27
The Germans subsidize solar electricity to the tune of over $0.50/kWh. That's over 10X the cost of nuclear or coal generated electricity. And they are supposed to shut down all their nuclear plants. Complete madness. They Germans will freeze in the dark or spend truckloads of Euros on Russian gas. Either one seems to satisfy the Marxist Greens.
US wind power is also highly subsidized. Wind power costs around 10¢/kWh but is federally subsidized to the tune of 3¢/kWh. That is almost the production cost of coal or nuclear electricity, even including all the roadblocks thrown up by our Red-Greens. This includes production subsidies, tax credits of the build, and an accelerated 5 years depreciation schedule. Then there are local electric subsidies. Even then wind still sells for 7¢/kWh.
Still that underestimates wind power costs, since the producers don't have to pay the full cost of the required backup power plants (which use expensive nat gas) as well has wrecking havoc on the power grid when wind approaches 10% of capacity.
Wind is good for reducing fuel consumption. Fortunately the US has 200 years reserves of coal so fuel is not an issue. That leaves CO2, a canard used by primitivists to bash the ignorant and gullible.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 19:02
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#28
I think his plan is a start. I am concerned about the location of the windmills, at least the current huge blade versions (I've seen another design that is more like a jet turbine...much more compact and can operate at much higher wind velocities) because he wants to locate them on the main north-south bird flyway. Seems like a problem waiting to happen.
I am a big fan of converting the commercial rolling stock to natural gas. There will some conversion time for the stations, but that should still be doable.
We need a whole lot more nukes. That and clean coal are obvious. We also need to go after all the oil sources in this country.
The last thing I believe we really need to focus on is distributed generation sources. RJ correctly pointed out that San Francisco could power itself with a local wind farm because of the high winds here. We get sun for 9 months of the year, at least. We should have solar on all the major buildings and houses to contribute to the grid during peak daytime use.
We need to be doing ALL of these things and others I have not mentioned. Pickens is absolutely correct that we cannot continue to send our money overseas. We need to put things into actions and cut off the nuts of the attorneys and enviros that try to stop it.
#29
Geographic diversity does make wind and solar power a reliable enough source. Not base load, but certainly good for peaks.
And it certainly is reliable enough in some areas, otherwise it woudl not be in use. QED the incorrrect assumptioons about it being useless.
As for government subsidy for wind and solar? I consider my tax money going there instead of to the Saudis or Hugo Chaves to be acceptable.
This is all about nhational survival strategy, not class warfare.
Remember that most of the initial steps are intermediate solutions, not final ones. Wind, solar and nat-gas use to reduce petroleum demand while the nukes and clean coal are eventually brought online to replace it in the next 3 decades. And we can produce natural gas like crazy domestically.
Wind, solar, natural gas and diesel (biodiesel) we can do now, with the least tech effort, and least political resistance.
Clean coal, more drilling and use of oil shales are good for the intermediate frame, mainly due to political obstruction and engineering/contruction time.
And the long term: nukes, electrical and coal conversion (to diesel and jet fuel), along with diesel electric, better batteries, and fuel cells for applications where batteries weight/power ratio is too restrictive.
That's the path out.
The sooner we start, the sooner we can wave goodbye to the Saudis and Hugo Chavez.
#30
FYI, the very first thing should be President Bush announcing the strateic fuel production program for the US military.
That means a coal to diesel and military fuels (JP4, etc) plant at EVERY major US military installation and port, and conversion of non-combat vehicles from gasoline to diesel or or natural gas, with the objective of making the US Department of Defense completely self sufficient in terms of fuel.
#31
Desperate times my friends, desperate indeed. There's a simple a solution and I have it for you. Cast your seein-eyes upon my fertilizer oil tanks, look right thru the winder thar. Every see such a thing? Hell, yes, that's what I call a shitload of shit oil. There's money to be made here, but we gotta trust each other. My associate Dr. Muckforddo will handle the details.
Posted by: Billie Sol Estes Rockets ||
07/22/2008 20:48
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#32
If this is such a great idea, why does it need a tax subsidy? When oil goes back to $40 per barrel in a year or so no one will be willing to sign on for any of this.
Pickens knows that the way government destroys something is to tax it. If he really wants to get rid of foreign oil, he should have government tax it so that its price stays high. Then the market will find the best solution. If it's NG cars, great. If electricity wins, fine. But I'm tired of know alls like Pickens and the Clintons and the Obamessiah telling me they've got a solution I have to pay for even though I think it's stupid.
#33
Solar is useful for peaking as electric demand spikes when it is sunny and hot. Wind does not have that relationship to daily electrical demand. It not "reliable" as far as the electric grid is concerned but can swing wildly in a matter of seconds. If wind power is any significant portion of generating capacity, that makes it impossible for generators to compensate for wind fluctuations and requires expensive voltage regulation by huge batteries or flywheels, as well as large amounts of backup gas turbine generators to take over when the wind is not blowing.
Instead of using tax dollars to subsidize wind power, build RELIABLE coal fired plants that generate electricity at 1/3 the price of wind. There is plenty of coal. Or add nuke capacity. Both keep the dollars and jobs in the US.
It is a much better better allocation of limited resources. Would you pay 3X the price for a car that only started 1/3 of the time you wanted to go somewhere, even if the fuel was free?
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 20:51
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#34
coal to diesel and military fuels (JP4, etc) plant at EVERY major US military installation and port
Probably the greatest near term payoff and method to cripple our OPEC friends, other than seizing the Saudi oil fields, the US gov could do. Not just in the cost of oil not imported, but also by dropping the marginal cost of every barrel of oil in the world. Add nukes, bypassing the enviro whackos, to produce electricity and hydrogen to get 2.5 times the petroleum from each ton of coal.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 21:00
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#35
I'm all in favor of the "throw as much as we can on the wall and see what sticks" approach. We know how much effect talking has, since we've had that for the past 35 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 22:42
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Obama's campaign has created a Muslim liaison, according to two sources familiar with the move. The sources said the job was likely to be filled by Haim Nawas, a Jordanian-American who filled a similar role for the campaign of General Wesley Clark in 2004.
I sure hope the McCain folks are vetting Mr. Nawas very carefully .. and keeping their powder try til late September ...
The job is complicated by the fact that Obama has been forced repeatedly to deny that he is Muslim, a situation that grates on some Muslim-Americans.
Nawas wrote in 2005 that the Bush Administration should take a more nuanced approach to public diplomacy directed at Muslim women. "We need to recognise that the social structure in the Muslim world is very different from America's," she wrote. "American women need to understand that what is best for them is not necessarily what is best for Muslim women. Advocacy of women's rights in the Muslim world must show sensitivity to local political realities."
So don't worry about the burqas, the fourth-rate citizenship, the clitorectomies, the multiple wives and the beatings, gals, it's all for the best ...
The creation of the position comes as Obama builds out a more traditional, constituency-based campaign structure than he had in the primary. Neither Nawas or the campaign immediately responded to questions about the hire.
UPDATE: An Obama aide confirmed that the job had been created, but said the campaign had not made a final decision on who would fill it.
#1
The sources said the job was likely to be filled by Haim Nawas, a Jordanian-American who filled a similar role for the campaign of General Wesley Clark in 2004.
Hey, there's a track record to be proud of.
Another usual suspect from a usual place...
#2
An Obama aide confirmed that the job had been created, but said the campaign had not made a final decision on who would fill it.....and if he or she (Muzzie LNO) takes too much flak, there's always the BUS BASEMENT!
#4
How about a Catholic voter outreach? Since Muslims are about 2-5% of the population, and Catholics are about 25%, it would seem to make sense to reach out and try to explain his position on things like abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. Maybe he can use nuance.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 13:30
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#5
But obammy needs muzz outreach because he needs to know what he's going to make all the rest of us do to please the muzz. That's the plan...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/22/2008 14:22
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#6
Muslims are 0.7% of the US population.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 17:13
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July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday the last of five extra combat brigades sent to Iraq last year had withdrawn. There are currently just under 147,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Following are facts about the so-called surge:
WHY WERE EXTRA TROOPS SENT?
President George W. Bush ordered the deployment in January 2007 to stop Iraq sliding into sectarian civil war. The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in the city of Samarra in February 2006 had triggered intense fighting between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs. Al Qaeda militants had also sought to fan tensions, stepping up a campaign of car bombings. Five combat brigades plus supporting troops, or some 30,000 soldiers, were sent to Iraq between February and mid-June 2007. Besides reducing violence, Washington wanted to create "breathing space" for Iraqi leaders to make progress on laws seen as critical to fostering national reconciliation.
HOW WAS THE "SURGE" IMPLEMENTED?
Most reinforcements were deployed in and around Baghdad, the epicentre of the sectarian violence. General David Petraeus, newly appointed commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, focused on counterinsurgency tactics. Troops were ordered out of large bases into small outposts to live and fight with Iraqi forces. This spread a security footprint into Baghdad's most dangerous districts. Another goal was to clean out Baghdad's "beltways", areas around the capital where al Qaeda assembled many of its car bombs. Emphasis was also placed on reviving local government and the economy. Militants put up tough resistance. From April to June 2007, 331 U.S. soldiers were killed, the deadliest quarter of the war for the U.S. military.
WHAT DID IT ACHIEVE?
U.S. officials say it helped cut violence to four-year lows. A decision by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn against al Qaeda in late 2006 and a ceasefire by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army was blamed for much of the sectarian killing, also helped sharply reduce violence. U.S. forces joined largely Sunni Arab tribal security units, many comprising former insurgents, to squeeze al Qaeda out of their strongholds in Baghdad and western Anbar province. A key element of Petraeus' strategy was to protect neighbourhoods and markets. This led to the construction of concrete walls around many areas of Baghdad, which sometimes sparked controversy.
WHAT DID NOT GO RIGHT?
During 2007, there was little progress on reconciliation. The main Sunni Arab bloc quit the government in August 2007 in a row over power sharing and only returned last week. Most key laws that Washington wanted passed, foundered. A few laws have been passed this year, but implementation has been patchy. Perhaps the most important piece of legislation, a draft law to divide the country's vast oil reserves equitably among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups, remains deadlocked. Provision of government services has also languished. Iraqis who once complained about security now moan about electricity and water shortages, long queues at petrol stations and a lack of jobs.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
All eyes will be on Petraeus, who is expected to make recommendations on future U.S. troop levels to the U.S. Congress in September. The New York Times has reported the Bush administration was already considering more troop cuts beginning in that month. Last week Petraeus said security conditions would determine his recommendations. At the same time, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said he hoped all U.S. combat troops could be out of Iraq in 2010.
"The sky is not falling," Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, said Saturday from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Preysler spoke via telephone less than a week after his paratroops and their Afghan allies were involved in a fierce attack at a small post near the village of Wanat. In the July 13 battle, nine of his men were killed and 15 others wounded.
But the attack is not a sign of conditions worsening in the country, he said.
The battle occurred just after dawn at a temporary vehicle patrol base near Wanat. A platoon-sized element of Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) soldiers and a smaller Afghan National Army force were occupying a hastily built area as they had done many times over the 15 months they'd been in country, Preysler said. The soldiers were there on a reconnaissance mission to establish a presence and find a good location to connect with the local government, populace and Afghan National Police, he said.
The small outpost had been built just days before the attack and consisted of protective wire and observation posts surrounding strategically placed vehicles. "That's all it was, a series of vehicles that went out there," Preysler said.
"People are saying that this was a full-up [forward operating base]/combat outpost, and that is absolutely false and not true. There were no walls," Preysler said, latter adding, "FOB denotes that there are walls and perimeters and all that. It's a vehicle patrol base, temporary in nature."
But that doesn't mean the soldiers were not prepared to take on the enemy, he said. "Now, obviously when you halt, you start prepping your defenses, and in this case we had [observation posts] and protective wire, we had the vehicles deployed properly to take advantage of their fields of fire, and we set up like that all over the place, and we do it routinely," he said.
The Army did not "abandon" the base after the attack, as many media reporters have suggested, Preysler said. He said the decision to move from the location following the attack was to reposition, which his men have done countless times throughout their tour, and to move closer to the local seat of government.
"If there's no combat outpost to abandon, there's no position to abandon," he said. "It's a bunch of vehicles like we do on patrol anywhere and we hold up for a night and pick up any tactical positions that we have with vehicle patrol bases.
"We do that routinely.... We're always doing that when go out and stay in an area for longer then a few hours, and that's what it is. So there is nothing to abandon. There was no structures, there was no COP or FOB or anything like that to even abandon. So, from the get-go, that is just [expletive], and it's not right."
He also didn't like the media's characterization that his men were "overrun." "As far as I know, and I know a lot, it was not overrun in any shape, manner or form," an emotional Preysler said. "It was close combat to be sure -- hand grenade range. The enemy never got into the main position. As a matter of fact, it was, I think, the bravery of our soldiers reinforcing the hard-pressed observation post, or OP, that turned the tide to defeat the enemy attack."
Though Preysler and his staff have seen several reports on the fight and numbers of enemy, he said true specifics still remain unclear. "I do not know the exact numbers. But I know they had much greater strength than one U.S. platoon," he said. "I believe the enemy to number over 100 in that area when he attacked. I don't know the casualties that he took, but I know that it's got to be substantial based on the different reports I'm getting. We may not know the true damage we inflicted on the enemy, but we certainly defeated his attack and repulsed his attack and he never got into our position."
Preysler and his staff also object to media reports that because of the size of the attack, it could be a harbinger of change in the way militants fight in eastern Afghanistan. "I think people are taking license and just misusing statistics, and I refuse to do that," he said. "We're in the middle of the fighting season. When we first got here last summer and started fighting here in June, we were only seeing the enemy and engaging him first about 5 percent of the time. Now we're between 25 and 40 percent. We see the enemy, and we're engaging him first."
When the 173rd arrived last summer, it marked the first time that a brigade-sized element operated in the upper provinces near of the Pakistan border, allowing for a much larger presence. "By sheer numbers and sheer volume of patrols -- I mean this [battalion] has had 9,000 patrols in 15 months -- we're out there taking the fight to the enemy," We're out there taking the ground that he used to own exclusively, and we have separated him from the people in many locations," Preysler said. "This is one area that is still contested, and we're going to have to go back in there and fight hard to separate the insurgents from the population, and that is exactly what we're going to do.
"Now, the problem is we are in the middle of a transition, [but] I would not characterize this as anything more than the standard fighting that happens in this area in good weather that the summer provides. The harvest is in, and it's the fighting season. I don't see massive enemy pushes into our area. The sky is not falling, and this is what we've been facing all along in the summer."
Preysler ended the interview by lauding his soldiers. "I get emotional about this, you'll have to forgive me," he said. "These guys have fought for 15 months, and they have fought harder, and I mean this literally, they have fought harder and (had) more engagements, more direct-fire engagements, than any brigade in the United States Army in probably the toughest terrain. These guys are absolutely veterans and they know what they're doing and they have that airborne spirit and they fought a very, very tough battle and held the ground and did everything they were supposed to do.
"I would like to also say I wish my guys who were wounded a speedy recovery and obviously condolences to the families, and that's very close and personal to us. It's tough to take casualties toward the end of any combat tour for any unit, but it signals that we're in a fight, and we're going to continue to fight."
#1
Now that B.O. has visited Afghanistan and sprinkled holy water all over, he will be only true "expert" that the media will turn to in order to explain and understand what is really going on over there. Nice try, Colonel but you are "too close" to the action to understand and explain the nuance of war. Only someone as blessed and anointed by our media can truly determine what the course of action should be - A SURGE!!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 12:35
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#2
Preysler ended the interview by lauding his soldiers. "I get emotional about this, you'll have to forgive me,"
Forgiven and extended HIGH PRAISE! Keep it up Colonel, and AIRBORNE!
#4
What's new: the MSM is now doing it in Afghanistan, not Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 13:37
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#5
Actually, I kinda like it when the MSM decides something or someone is inevitable. It worked out so well for the Soviet Union, international communism and for Hillary...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/22/2008 16:06
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#6
Yup, pretty much: whatever the MSM sez is the conventional wisdom, isn't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 16:16
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#7
If their (MSM) pens are writing, keyboards clacking, mouths clucking (lips moving, etc.), they are lying.
Jeesuz, Barry. When even the Globe notices...and calls you on it. By Joan Vennochi
JUST LIKE the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.
Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him. He's giving his opponent something other than issues to attack him on: narcissism.
A convention hall isn't good enough for the presumptive Democratic nominee. He plans to deliver his acceptance speech in the 75,000 seat stadium where the Denver Broncos play. Before a vote is cast, he's embarking on a foreign policy tour that will use cheering Europeans - and America's top news anchors - as extras in his campaign. What do you expect from a candidate who already auditioned a quasi-presidential seal with the Latin inscription, "Vero possumus" - "Yes, we can"?
Obama finds criticism of his wife "infuriating" and doesn't want either of them to be the target of satire. Tell that to the Carters, the Reagans, the Clintons, and the Bushes, father and son.
There's no such thing as a humble politician. But when Obama looks into the mirror, he doesn't just see a president; he sees JFK. In 1960, John F. Kennedy accepted his party's nomination with an outdoor speech at the Los Angeles Coliseum. But he waited until he was elected before going to Germany to declare "Ich bin ein Berliner."
The fashionistas have already noted Michelle Obama's affinity for chanelling Jackie. And it's hard to watch the Obama daughters "Access Hollywood" interview and not think about Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. back in the days of Camelot. So far, Dad is only promising to get the kids a dog, not a pony named Macaroni.
Republican John McCain has the opposite challenge. As a candidate, he's shrinking, thanks to a series of gaffes, stumbles, and generally uninspiring speeches. But McCain has one thing going for him: the appearance of modesty.
Part of it is physical. McCain is stiff and awkward, the result of age and injuries from his years as a prisoner of war. That, too, is a contrast to Obama's sleek physique, the consequence of youth and a George W. Bush-like passion for working out. But with McCain, there's also the sense of a man who made mistakes in life and acknowledges them.
McCain's humility comes through in his book, "Faith of my Fathers," which he wrote at age 63, after completing a career in the US Navy and moving onto politics. Obama wrote the more self-reverential "Dreams from My Father," after he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review.
The McCain campaign is beginning to jump on the ego issue. "I don't know that people in Missouri are going to like seeing tens of thousands of Europeans screaming for The One," a McCain aide quipped in response to Obama's upcoming visit abroad.
The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh regularly ridicules "The Messiah also known as Obama." And "The Audacity of Obama" is turning into a ready-made take-off on the title of the Democrat's second book, "The Audacity of Hope."
The downside for Obama is how much his ego stands to resonate beyond the political right. Last January, the online Slate Magazine debuted "The Obama Messiah Watch."In February, a blogger for the left-embracing Mother Jones commented on his uneasiness over the candidate's messianic complex: "Does this post play unhelpfully into the pernicious and growing Obamaism-as-cult . . . that we'll likely see repeated over and over by the right wing if Obama gets the nomination?" blogged Jonathan Stein."It does. Sorry. But Obama's rhetoric makes an undeniable suggestion: that his election, not an eight-year administration that successfully implements his vision for America, would represent a moment in America of the grandest, most transformative kind. And that's a bit much," Stein wrote.
When the Obama Girl video first surfaced, Obama told the Associated Press, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions have on kids and families." That's good advice. He should think more about the impact of his ego on voters. A presidential candidate is supposed to get bigger on the national stage. That doesn't mean his head should, too.
#3
No human being could live up to the expectations that are being heaped upon him. The leftards will be just as sullen and depressed 6 months after he wins the election as they are now. They seem to forget that he is running for President, not Grand Chancellor.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 18:15
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"Vero possumus"
Note to the Obamarama campaign. The Army Institute of Heraldry dropped Latin and French in their designs about two decades ago. They figured our English had earned the position to be displayed as any of the 'dead' cultures. Just another example of 'talking down to the people'.
A PREDICTION: If Barack Obama is elected President, he'll be far more warlike than President Bush, and far more warlike than his pre-election rhetoric suggests. Because before he's elected President, attacks on America are just attacks on America. But after he's elected President, attacks on America will also be attacks on Barack Obama.
And Keith Olbermann will describe the mushroom cloud over Tehran as "awesome in its rampant Technicolor beauty."
Not sure if he's right about Obama (and don't want to take the chance to fiund out!) but he's definitely right about Olbermann.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/22/2008
09:40 ||
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#1
Don't forget that the Democrats have gotten us into most of the wars of the last 100 years.
#4
There was also a line in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that's pretty good. One man said, "Why doesn't the Government do something?" His wife said, "Well, Dear, they are only people". He then said, "People my foot. They're Democrats".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 17:54
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#5
WELL DONE, BEAVIS!
Posted by: JOMOSING bLUETOOTH ||
07/22/2008 18:57
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President Nicolas Sarkozy's risky bid to rewrite France's political rules with sweeping constitutional changes worked -- but just barely -- with both houses of parliament meeting in special session Monday to pass the measures by a single vote.
Fear of failure was brewing even before nearly 900 lawmakers took their seats at the Chateau of Versailles. The slim passage reflected the controversy over the reform, vehemently rejected by opposition leftists. Even within the conservative presidential camp there was disagreement, and six of those lawmakers voted against the revision. Expectations of a close vote were so great that officials decided to hold a separate manual count in addition to the standard electronic one.
Sarkozy, who faced substantial humiliation had the vote failed, hailed the results of the vote from Dublin, where he was on a rescue mission to try to save the European Union Treaty after a resounding "no" vote from the Irish. "Once again, the camp of movement, change, modernity has won over the camp of immobilism, of rigidity, of sectarianism," Sarkozy said.
Sarkozy was saved by a few last-minute defections, including one notable Socialist, former Education Minister Jack Lang, who risked being shunned by his party for helping the reform to pass. In the end, lawmakers voted in favor of the constitutional reform 539 to 357 -- one vote more than the 538 needed to pass. Any constitutional revision needs approval by a three-fifths majority.
This revision of the French Constitution is the 24th since the start of the Fifth Republic a half-century ago but the most sweeping. All previous changes passed comfortably.
The reform gives parliament greater power but also adds a new privileges to France's already strong presidency, notably allowing the chief of state to address together the two houses of congress. However, it limits the president to two five-year terms.
Parliament is now able to veto major presidential appointments and can reduce the government's ability to push through legislation without a vote. The presidency will also be required to inform parliament of any troop deployment overseas, and must win parliamentary authorization for any deployment lasting more than four months.
Citizens, too, gain a larger voice. Any citizen who feels wronged by the French administration can appeal to a new, independent citizens' rights defender.
A key measure of the constitutional revision could also require French voters to approve membership of future EU entrants, such as Turkey. Voters in France generally oppose Turkish membership.
Gaza - Ma'an - Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas announced on Tuesday morning that one of their members was killed in an explosion during "a special operation" in Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood in the east of Gaza city. Two others were injured. "Special operation". Palestinian for "they fucked up". Operation 'Glorious Premature Martyrdom' continues ...
The brigades provided no other information on the incident. Head of the ambulance and emergency services, Mo'awiyya Hassanein, told Ma'an that, "at 2am, 24-year-old Khalil Ibrahim Jundiyya arrived dead at the Ash-Shifa' hospital in Gaza city in addition to two others, both with serious injuries". I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker, dammit!
Hassanein said that the doctors had managed to save the life of a baby of an undisclosed age, Hamza Jundiyya who is now being operated on, along with a 17-year-old, Ahmad Jundiyya, who has sustained serious injuries to his body. Just another day at the Ash-Shuja'iyya Day Care Center and Missile Factory...
#1
I do believe the Israelis have gotten the bugs worked out of their nano-meter microwave explosive induction cannon. Now to see if it works on the Gaza tunnels.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:44
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#2
All Aboard!
The Special Operations Bus has arrivee
. . . let me quote from a press release I received by e-mail. I was moving quickly to delete it as is my custom but something caught my eye. I read,
Wesley Chinn, General Manager and Artistic Director of the new company, says of its inaugural production, I cant actually pretend to quote myself in a release Im writing myself just to satisfy the conventions of press-release style.
That prompted me, for now, not to block this sender from my inbox . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/22/2008
09:17 ||
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#1
I've always been amused by the custom in speeches and news articles to shore up one's point with by finding a quote by someone famous to make the point. It's as if the audience is somehow incapable of judging an idea for themselves. I'm glad to see this custom challenged. People need to learn to grow up and judge ideas on their merit, not based on what someone else thinks about them.
A Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people, just weeks after a similar attack in the capital left three dead.
One of the wounded was in serious condition and the rest sustained light wounds. They were taken to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment.
The driver of the tractor struck a bus and at least five cars before being shot dead by security forces,
A Palestinian man from east Jerusalem rammed a construction vehicle into three cars and a city bus in downtown Jerusalem near the luxury hotel where presidential candidate Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday night as he kicks off a visit to Israel. The attacker injured four people before an Israeli civilian shot and killed him, police and witnesses said.
Police said in the latest attack, a civilian driving nearby saw what was happening, jumped out of the car and shot the driver, bringing traffic to a halt. A border policeman who rushed to the scene also shot the driver. Police sealed off possible escape routes into predominantly Arab east Jerusalem and were searching for two suspects who fled the scene, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
#5
"a civilian driving nearby saw what was happening, jumped out of the car and shot the driver"....makes me wonder why the Isrealis have not learned the joys of gun control.
Seriously, I think this points up the reason why every law abiding citizen in the US should be allowed to pack a fire arm. Burglaries, Rapes, Auto Hijackings, etc., would all go down.
Posted by: James Carville ||
07/22/2008 10:31
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#6
Maybe you should add an ammendment toy your constitution requiring people to carry a handgun in public places?
#12
BP, I don't think our Government should require everyone to carry a weapon. I do think that if I want to, I should be allowed to if I have completed a firearms course. Fortunately here in Tennessee I can.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 18:53
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#13
Frankly, I would like it if, when I check in for a flight, the conversation would go something like this:
TSA: Sir, are you armed?
me: no, of course not.
TSA: Would you like to be? We have a fine selection of handguns in all calibers from .40 to .50.
me: I'll try the Desert Eagle.
TSA: very good, sir. Here you are.
I can guarantee there would be no hijackings on that flight.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 23:11
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Dolly a little stronger...NOAA plane in the area...
[from the 7 am CDT advisory]
a Hurricane Warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Port O'Connor. A Hurricane Warning is also in effect for the northeast coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward to the border between Mexico and the United States. the link is to the enhanced infrared satellite which can be animated; fortunately, Brownville, TX and vicinity has vastly improved its emergency response protocols and has hardened its physical infrastructure over the past few decades.
#1
at 1000 am CDT July 22, it is still not quite at Hurricane strength; probably will reach it within 3 hours or so. Also, the long range radar from Brownville will show whether a true eyewall has formed.
#4
McALLEN, Texas (AP) - Coastal officials worried Tuesday that Tropical Storm Dolly may bring so much rain that flooding could break through the levees holding back the Rio Grande. Officials urged residents to move away from the levees because if Dolly continues to follow the same path as 1967's Hurricane Beulah, "the levees are not going to hold that much water," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.
Forecasters say Dolly was expected to dump 15 to 20 inches of rain and bring coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal high tide levels.
Hurricane warnings were in effect from Brownsville north to Corpus Christi, and in Mexico, from Rio San Fernando north to the U.S. border. Tropical storm warnings were issued for surrounding areas and the governor has declared 14 counties disaster areas, allowing state resources to be used to send equipment and emergency workers needed to the areas in the storm's path.
Forecasters said Dolly was expected to make land late Tuesday or early Wednesday as a hurricane with sustained winds of 74 to 95 mph. The storm combined with levees that have deteriorated in the 41 years since Beulah swept up the Rio Grande pose a major flooding threat to low-lying counties along the border. Beulah spawned more than 100 tornadoes across Texas and dumped 36 inches of rain in some parts of South Texas, killing 58 people and causing more than $1 billion damage.
#5
Dry Ice! Dry Ice, get your Dry Ice right here. 4.49 the lb. cheep at Half the price. Get ready for the end times kids. Get your Dry Ice Now! If you don't want Dry Ice how about a little liquid fertilizer! Come mere kid, look thru that window thar, ever see anything like it? Hell yes! If we act now we can get rich. Catch you on the flip flop, I'll leave the details to Muckee. Hima can habla purdy good.
Posted by: Billie Sol Estes Rockets ||
07/22/2008 21:08
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From pits to the homeless to failing businesses - it seems the problems in Downtown Eugene never end. But Monday, the city council took a step toward working on at least one issue: criminals.
The topic: an ordinance that would ban anyone convicted of a crime like robbery or assault from downtown Eugene for 90 days. Supporters say it would be an effort to clean up downtown and discourage criminal activity and vandalism.
Right now, if a person is arrested of certain crimes they have to go through a trial process before any other action is taken. With this new ordinance, if the judge thinks there's enough evidence, anyone even charged with a crime would immediately be banned from the downtown area for 90 days. If they are found guilty, they would be banned for a year.
Likely unconstitutional. You can't ban accused (still presumed innocent) people from public places unless there is a danger, in which case, they shouldn't be out on bail. And guilty people who have served their time likewise can't be banned from public places unless they constitute a danger.
This proposal drew plenty of comments from downtown business owners. "We have customers being threatened," says Betty Snowden. "We have customers being cursed out and being hit. And we want to brag about our downtown core? We should be ashamed of ourselves."
The council voted to wait and hold a public workshop before making a decision on this ordinance.
We also heard from the other side. One man said if he was banned from downtown, he wouldn't have access to the bus station, couldn't use the library, or attend his church which happens to be in the downtown area. This has never been permitted by the courts as law, but has been permitted on an individual or group basis as injunction, which makes it almost unique as exclusively judicial law.
#1
Wow! Very frightening. The left touts itself as the big defenders of liberty and then when they realize they "ideals" have led to a society of criminals out of control, they resort to facist tactics such as this.
National guard in Chicago, road blocks in DC. Here's an idea: enforce the law, actually put away the lawbreakers, allow citizens and business owners to defend themselves and demand legal immigration, as these scofflaws are responsible for a large percentage of crime. What a mess these people have made.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/22/2008 10:11
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#3
Eugene is known amongst us as Berkley North. There aren't many in downtown Eugene that I've seen that look like they can make it on the outside. It's kind of a daycare for disabled with Berkley disease. I say let them be - less trouble for everyone if they stay there.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2008 10:14
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#4
Do they have facial recognition cameras or something? Or are they relying on people to rat each other out?
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/22/2008 12:05
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#5
It's kind of a daycare for disabled with Berkley disease lol! Too funny.
I don't think we should ignore them though. They have always been such idiots that no one every took them seriously. Then one day we woke up, looked around and realized their mess was now our mess. Ingoring them is like ignoring an outbreak of syphillis.
#6
Until you are convicted you are innocent.
When you have served your sentence you are square with the man.
These are elitist assholes trying to homogenize Eugene to their definition of "the right kind of people".
Raise the cost of living to outlandish levels if you must, but don't try to pass laws against poor people, cause that's what this really is. If you steal $5,000,000 from your investors you are presumed innocent found guilty. If you drink 7 beers and drive home you are a goddamned criminal unworthy of due process.
#8
Judges were, and sometimes still are, lawyers. All the lawyers and judges in the courtroom usually know each other and often hang out together. Judges get a major case of the red-ass when you try to cop out and use a public defender. Its like you are failing to properly play the game, and it will cost you big in terms of fairness. They take care of their own before they think about superfluous things like fairness or justice. Believe me, I learned the dynamics of the process real quick when I was younger.
KATHMANDU: Nepal's Maoists have announced that they will not form the country's first post-royal government after the defeat of their presidential candidate. The announcement has plunged the country into a new political crisis.
The former rebels' decision, seen as a blow to Nepal's peace process, came a day after rival parties in a constitutional assembly ganged up against the Maoists to elect a president allied to the main centrist party. "The party's central committee meeting has decided not to form the government under our leadership," Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.
They'll take their ball, go home, and restart the violence revolution ...
Elections to the assembly in April gave the Maoists the largest single bloc of seats, but not an outright majority. The Maoists had insisted that their choice of president should be elected and they form a new government.
But a vote on Monday saw Ram Baran Yadav from the Nepali Congress Party -- the Maoists' main rival -- anointed the country's first president.
"After the presidential election, it is certain that we do not have a majority. So we do not have any basis to form the next government," said Mahara.
The Maoists' continued involvement in mainstream politics is seen as crucial to the survival of Nepal's peace process, which ended a decade-long rebel uprising that killed at least 13,000 people dead.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/22/2008
07:46 ||
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#1
Give em a chance, folks. After all, Jimmy Carter sez they're "good people". And we all know what a good judge of people he is. Right?
Gas prices are too high for a day trip to Dewey Beach. They are too high for a quick visit to see a friend in College Park. They consume enough of 18-year-old Ashleigh Krudys's paycheck that she second-guesses her social plans. Oh, the horror! My expectations will not be fulfilled in the manner I was expecting!
Where's the femtoviolin?
"I feel like I'm not being a real teenager," said Krudys, of North Bethesda, who pays for gas with a full-time babysitting job and is college-bound in the fall. "When you watch movies and stuff, it's like everyone has their own car and everyone can drive and go where they want all the time." I should be able to do anything I want, whenever I want it, just like my parents did, except there were no cars then.
As the nation's unprecedented jump in gas prices takes a toll across the region, many teenagers say they, too, are feeling the pinch. Some have a harder time wresting car keys from their parents. Others are looking for second part-time jobs to help foot the bill. Some like their parents, for heavens sake, are using Metro more often or getting around in other gas-saving ways.
This reality check comes at a time in their lives when many think of driving as exciting: a symbol of age and hard-won freedom, a rite of passage, an escape. But the price of gas has tempered the thrill for many teens, especially those who use their own money to fill up.
They talk of fewer evenings out. Less cruising around. More riding together and pitching in to buy a few gallons. Welcome to the Democratic dream.
"You have to scavenge around for money every time you go out," said Gary Jones, 17, of Wheaton, who is headed to Bowie State University in the fall and who pays for most of his gas with his restaurant-job earnings. Sometimes his mother pitches in; sometimes he takes the bus. "You don't give anyone a ride unless they have $5 for gas," he said. I'm easy, but not cheap!
As a group, teenagers tend to be lower-paid on the job, face higher prices for car insurance and drive older, less fuel-efficient vehicles, they point out. Escalating gas prices come as another blow. It's just like, so UNFAIR! Wait'll I have kids. It won't be like this! "It's like I'm working to pay for gas, instead of McDonald's" said Jamel Douglas, 19, a graduate of M.M. Washington High School in the District who drives to Laurel for his job as a security guard. Lately, he said, he has given up weekend drives to Virginia. He and his friends walk when they can. For now, he said, "Our car-buying days are over." Don't worry dude; the Obamamessiah is coming!
Even when parents are willing to help, Alex Rodriguez of Riverdale said, it takes more money to make a difference. "You have to get $20 instead of $10," said the 18-year-old, who is looking for a job.
Allison May, also 18, drives siblings and does family errands in exchange for gas and also works at a restaurant. She said she cut back on celebrations after graduating in June from James Madison High School in Vienna. "I have a lot of friends in Maryland, and I didn't go to everyone's parties because it's half a tank both ways," she said. Carpool? Metro? Better to do without? You DID have a choice, didn't you, whiner?
May said she and her boyfriend take turns driving on dates. When she shops should she have any pennies left after paying for gas, of course, she looks for the shortest route, trying not to double back. "I try to map it out in my head so that I don't waste gas," she said. Never imagining she'd do that when gas was only $2.50 a gallon.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008
07:05 ||
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#1
I overlooked even more crying, but this was pretty good:
Aly Massey, 18, of McLean, a college-bound student whose parents pay for her gas, has been inspired to cut back more by environmental concern than financial necessity. I used to like to drive around and think and listen to music, but I dont do that anymore, she said.
McLean, by the way, is NOT the 'poor side of town!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008 7:24
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#2
O.K., just one more. Potomac is not known as a shantytown, either:
Jessica Fainberg, 18, of Potomac, a recent graduate of Winston Churchill High School, splits her gas costs with her parents, funding her share mostly with her two-days-a-week babysitting job in Germantown. But as prices rose, she has come up short. Half the time, I cant afford to even fill up my gas tank halfway, she said.
She said part of the problem is the vehicle she fell in love with: a Nissan Xterra. The first day I filled up, it was like $65, and I was like, Oh, man. But relief has come from friends who pitch in when she gives them a ride. And from holding back on her driving.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008 7:27
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#3
A wise man once told me, and I passed it on to my duaghter:
If you can only afford half a tank of gas - make it the top half.................
#4
Hey, I think we found a way to solve the kid obesity problem! Take the keys and make the little snots walk to the mall!
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
07/22/2008 8:12
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#5
Geez. Poor teens, can't have everything. It's so not fair!:( (I remember collecting quarters from everyone for gas back in the day. Gas was only 33 cents a gallon but quarters were scarce!)
#7
The kids where I live are really out of luck. You can't make them walk 6 miles to town on the shoulder of the highway. There isn't a movie theater or anything else for 20 miles in any direction. Sucks to be them, now they know how I felt growing up. Most jobs in the little town that is 6 miles from me are min. wage convenience store jobs that get taken up by 40 year old divorcees, so they literally have no job prospects or chance of a part time or summer job at all.
#8
my son's working a new job for $8/hr while he's attending college. $4+ gas is a hardship, and to kids, it's even harder. He's not whining, it's just a fact
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 12:34
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#9
Electric Bikes are the answer. These teens need electric bikes.
Mr Justice Silber, sitting at London's High Court, ruled the Iraqi national, known as AE for legal reasons, had taken part in terrorist activities and knowledge from such courses could be used to make explosives. However, AE said his purpose for studying the courses was to continue his medical studies.
The judge dismissed AE's appeal against Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's decision last September refusing to permit him to undertake the AS-level courses in the 2008-9 academic year at a regional college. He had acted on the basis that the Home Secretary had reasonable grounds to believe AE had received terrorist training and had taken part in terrorist activities.
Mr Justice Silber said: "The use by a terrorist of the practical experience learnt on those courses to produce explosives or pathogens could lead to a substantial loss of lives. It requires relatively small amounts of either to cause loss of life and damage to property. It will be recollected that the bombs which caused so much loss of life on 7 July 2005 were created by individuals in their own homes. There is no suggestion that AE was involved with those events but they show how much damage can be caused by such bombs by people who have the expertise and confidence to produce dangerous items."
AE is a well-known figure in the Iraqi Kurdish community and since arriving in the UK, there were reasonable grounds for believing that he was involved in providing support for the Jihadist insurgency in Iraq and in radicalising individuals in the UK.
The judge's ruling follows an internet audio statement in 2006 from Abu Ayyub al-Masri - otherwise known as Abu Hamz al-Muhajir, the leader of al-Qa'eda in Iraq - which called on specialists with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons. Al-Masri had said the Mujahidin in Iraq was in "dire need" of chemists and physicists, as well as electronics experts and nuclear scientists to join the jihad (the holy war) against the West
Eleven more casualties were registered Tuesday in the continuing violence in Thailand's southernmost provinces. One Thai Army soldier was killed and five others were wounded in a bombing and shooting attack in the violence-plagued province of Narathiwat.
The bomb was buried near a deserted mosque in Narathiwat's Cho Ai Rong district. The 20-kilogramme bomb was apparently command-detonated when 14 soldiers from a teacher protection unit were patrolling the area. The military unit then came under attack from an undetermined number of assailants, and exchanged gunfire with the attackers for 20 minutes. Private Saengpet Boonlak was killed, while five other Army soldiers were wounded, and were rushed to hospital. Meanwhile, Pol.Cpl. Sukit Srikanun, who was seriously wounded in a bomb attack in Yala on Monday, died in hospital.
Also in Yala five police officers were wounded in a bomb explosion while they were inspecting damage done to a rubber plantation destroyed by presumed insurgents.
#1
This is a lot more complex than what they are suggesting in the article.
As males age, they produce somewhat less testosterone, which is the male "master hormone", for which there are receptors all over the body. Males also contain a small and very precise amount of estrogen, and if testosterone is not available for their receptors, they are occupied with estrogen, often with very deleterious health results.
To make matters worse, as part of the aging process, males also produce an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen.
Athletes who are in non-regulated-competitive sports can take OTC synthetic enzyme blockers that harmlessly limits the loss of testosterone by conversion, preventing the harmful effects of too much estrogen.
Add to that the increasing amounts of chemically similar to human estrogen, plant estrogen, which is being artificially introduced into our food supply by farmers, who use it to increase plant yields, and there is the potential for serious trouble.
The problems associated with testosterone in older males may in fact be due to the conversion to estrogen, instead of the testosterone itself. By blocking the testosterone, it may prevent its conversion to estrogen, which may be the real culprit.
#2
well, I'm not giving up my weekly prostate checks
what?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 11:45
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#3
Anonymoose, bodybuilders have had that problem for years, mostly because they monkey around with their test levels on purpose. Anti-aromatase drugs prevent the breakdown to estrogen and can jump start the test production in the HPTA axis. I wonder if these guys are seriously overthinking prostate cancer treatment?
#4
Also known to bodybuilders is that whole wheat bread is loaded with estrogens, high enough in some cases to cause gynomastia in very sensitive guys.
The United States has proposed a mechanism for verifying North Korea's claims about its nuclear past, Washington's top envoy to the nuclear talks said Monday. The proposal was made in Beijing last week, and the U.S. is waiting for a response from Pyongyang, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters.
After giving North Korea the proposal "we ... asked them to come back with specific comments," said Hill, who will assist U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in talks between the foreign ministers of the six nations involved in the nuclear negotiations -- China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.
On Tuesday, South Korea's main nuclear envoy confirmed the proposal was made to the North. "The ball is actually in the North Korean court because they already received the draft of verification protocol," Kim Sook told reporters after talks with Hill. Details of the proposal were not known.
Hill said the six-party talks, to be held Wednesday on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Singapore, are likely to discuss the verification issue.
North Korea submitted a long-delayed list of its nuclear programs last month, though it omitted details about nuclear weapons, alleged uranium enrichment program and possible nuclear proliferation.
In return, Washington announced it would remove the North from its terrorism blacklist and relaxed some economic sanctions on the communist nation. That led Pyongyang to blow up the cooling tower at its main nuclear reactor, to demonstrate its commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons.
Six-nation nuclear negotiations were then held in Beijing less than two weeks ago -- for the first time in nine months -- and produced an agreement on principles for proceeding with verification of North Korea's claims. One of the principles says the procedure should involve interviews with North Korean nuclear experts.
Hill has said earlier that the U.S. wants to reach agreement with the North on a specific verification protocol by early September. Last week's proposal offered to the North is believed to be the first draft of the envisioned protocol. "We've always maintained that verification is essential," Hill said Monday. "We hope to make some progress on that very soon."
Wednesday's session would mark the highest-level meeting in the six-country negotiations, which began in 2003 with the aim of convincing North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program. It would also be the first time Rice has met North Korea's top diplomat.
China, host of the nuclear talks, praised the planned meeting as a good chance to progress on denuclearization. "This is the first time that the high-level delegations to the six-party talks have held an informal meeting," said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi after talks with his Japanese counterpart. "I think it will be very good for advancing the agenda of the talks."
Still, Hill played down the meeting's significance. "I would not exaggerate its importance," he said. "I think it's an opportunity for people to get together and exchange some thoughts informally."
#1
He obviously has not been around an autistic child. Most, if not all, autistic children show symptoms at a very early age, before they have even developed any sense of what Savage is talking about. My neice's daughter is autistic.
Savage is a bugwit.
#2
He also hasn't bothered to consult anyone familiar with recent neuroscience data. There are clear differences between the neural connections among brain sub-systems in people with autistic spectrum disorders vs. the majority of humans.
In fact the neural connectivity of autistic children is - with regard to *some* features - somewhere between 'normals' and the most capable mammals. In particular, they tend to have fewer of the neural connections that in normals *suppress* a lot of memory or conscious awareness of details in the environment.
That suppression is what allows people to develop and use language and abstract concepts. Autistic children tend to be poor at those skills and, like animals but unlike most people, these children find it hard to filter out stimuli from the environment around them. What they get in return is, in many cases, savant abilities of memory or very specific kinds of computation (day of the week for any day in history or other dramatic but very narrow abilities).
#4
By chance, I listened to his show yesterday (I can't stand him0 and by no stretch of the immagination did he say that "autism is a fraud".
He asked a perfectly valid question: Is one out of 150 children really autistic? Just from my own personal experience that seems irrationally high. It could be true, but considering our society's propensity to become hysterical over alarmist issues promoted by the media and interest groups, should we not at least try to reconcile our own experiences with what we are being told?
He asked some really good questions about how the diagnosis is being determined, how subjective it is and pointed out how a misdiagnosis could severly label and damage a child for life. He never EVER said autism was a fraud!
More concerning to me, the woman that did come on his show was very slick and sounded like a professional spokesperson and her very agreeable and friendly point was that vaccines are what is causing autism. Sooo.... be careful before you sign on to this hysteria.
The ad council is currently pumping ads about the high rate of autism.
Lobbys and spokespeople are ready and waiting to bring this issue to the fore-front of the public's attention
I smell another hyped hysteria coming our way and I'm very concerned if the "cure" is going to be to encourage the public not to get vaccines.
But he needs to know that society to a large degree is judged by how they treat these little Angels.
This gift is sent directly from heaven. People do not know yet how to handle it or understand it.
#7
I catch him occasionally on the drive home. He can be very overbearing like Limbaugh, who's almost always overbearing and a real blow mouth whom I can tolerate for only about 20 minutes at a time. Fifteen of which are commercials. What I like about Savage is that he isn't afraid to attack Muzzies. And, of course, they have multiple lawsuits filed against him, like Steyn, in Canada. If, perchance, they win any of these, it would drastically impact free speech in the US. For that reason alone, I support him.
#9
Savage has been on a campaign for a long time about the over medication of America. He might have used some unfortunate hyperbole here about autism but he has made some points, one being that kids who grow up without fathers might have behavior problems so people start saying they have ADD or ADHD or whatever and start force feeding them pills when what they really need is a damn good whacking on the behind from their missing dad. Or, for instance, when I was a kid in school and somebody got out of control the teacher could send him to the principle's office for a meeting with the board of education which, as I recall, had a tendency to focus my attention very well because I wasn't sick I was just an active boy who needed a little discipline. They don't do that anymore. You all remember the saying that when you got into trouble at school you would be in even more trouble if your old man found out. Now the parents march into the principle's office and demand to know why the teacher is bullying their precious little angel or they get some doctor to put the kid on meds. Well, there might be some cases where the kid needs meds but a spanking, as invasive as it is, is nowhere near as invasive as drugs so maybe they should try that first.
#10
Gee, why didn't I think of that? Just whack all the kids who are autistic? You're all geniuses. No, you can tell the difference between a normal kid and one who falls on the autistic spectrum - which includes ADD and ADHD, whether people have admitted it yet or not. Why don't you just all run down to the special ed classes and cure all those kids under control. You'd do us all a favor.
#11
it always amazes me how hysterical people get on these subjects. He didn't say "just go wack the kids" now did he? We can never have important decisions on difficult topics because someone always freaks and ignores the important part of the topic and whips up a lynch mob to browbeat an emotional strawman.
The point is that there may be many children being diagnosed with autism that may not deserve to be saddled with this label for their entire life and have their childhood stripped from them with drugs. Can we just focus on them for one minute. No one, not even Savage, is saying that autism is a fraud.
#12
Diagnosis seems to me to be on of the biggest problems. Every kid who has something wrong with them that the doc cant pin down becomes "autistic".
Even the definition of autism seems to be up in the air as they keep expanding the disease to cover more and more kids. Do they even have any leads as to what causes it yet? I don't remember any cases of autism when I was young.
#13
He asked a perfectly valid question: Is one out of 150 children really autistic?
Mr. Savage is a chemist, not a psychologist, which predisposes him to misunderstand matters mental. (Daddy is a biochemist, so I stand firm on this statement from personal experience.) He is expressing an opinion, not a judgement.
The key visible characteristic of Asperger's Syndrome -- at the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum -- is nerdiness. How many nerds do you know? If the entire spectrum of "autism disorders" is considered, the ratio 1:150 is quite reasonable. Current statistics, based on various surveys done in several countries in Europe as well as the U.S., cluster around that number. However, as I understand it, about 75% of those are high functioning, able to function in the normal world to a greater or lesser extent, and to be trained to function better. However, it also must be admitted that there are some false diagnoses, generally to get help for kids who are borderline but need help. In the other direction as well -- high functioning Asperger's kids are generally diagnosed and medicated for ADD/ADHD, which is counterproductive. Lower functioning Asperger's and non-Asperger's autistics are obviously abnormal even to the untrained eye, and no amount of training will enable them to live independently.
There is no drug treatment for Asperger's Syndrome, although medicating for anxiety and depression is sometimes helpful. The key treatment is to teach them the rules of behavior that the rest of us pick up unconsciously. There are some drugs that appear to help some lower functioning autistics, but I believe that those work -- or don't -- on a case by case basis. Unlike, say, schizophrenia, where the response to a standardized drug regimen is immediate and obvious.
It has been demonstrated repeatedly that there is no connection between early vaccination and autism, but not everyone is up on the research... as in so many other things.
Recent brain scan research has demonstrated that the brains of those with ADD/ADHD and autism function significantly differently than those of normals. Some 25% of those with ADD/ADHD have brains that achieve normal function in early adulthood, ie they outgrow it. It has also been recently demonstrated via brain scans that Ritalin does actually act on certain areas of the brain in those with ADD/ADHD, but does not work on the brains of normals.
Yes, there are more troubled children in our society than there used to be, much of which could be avoided were they properly parented. BUT, our diagnostic and treatment toolkit contains much more sensitive tools than back in the day, and we are discovering treatable causes for behaviour that back in the day would have resulted in suicide or the unmarriageable and unemployable aunt/uncle who lived in the spare bedroom... or was sent away to an institution.
#14
Believe me, getting a kid labeled "autistic" is hard to do. The schools do not like to do it. My kid was on the borderline between moderate and severe, and the schools just barely scored him as autistic. And if the school system had gotten their wish, it would have been a disaster both for my child and whichever class he would have been put in.
As for the drugs: They are life-givers, not childhood-takers.
Any of you out there who think otherwise should go visit one of these classes sometime, otherwise you are just typing to see yourself type. I have yet to see even one single kid in these classes (and I've seen more than most of you) who didn't belong there. Not even one.
There are many more kids in regular ed that would be better-served by moving them into classes that can support their behavioral needs, even if they aren't as severe as those of autistics and those with generous doses of ADD/ADHD. These are the kids that the biases vetting process leaves behind because the schools system doesn't want to have to pay for them.
And there are more autistic kids today. The evidence for this lies in the fact that there are way more severely autistic kids today than a few decades ago. It's hard to misdiagnose a kid who sits in the corner drooling on a broken record every waking moment.
Savage is a moron on this subject. And I don't think you'll find a whole lot of parents of "successful" autistic kids who are against the drugs. Some kids don't need them. That's great. But when you give your kid a drug and he starts talking shortly thereafter, or stops beating his face, or stops picking his arms raw, or stops obsessing on bugs and throwing screaming fits wherever you go - then you'll be a believer. That is when these kids can start learning in a meaningful way. That is the way it is and everyone else can go and play.
As far as the racket is concerned, that argument is just a smoke screen for this moron. He was saying that these kids are just faking it or something. The "racket" comes in when you go to a speech therapist or psychologist or psychiatrist for help and they take your money and do not provide value in return when there are much better options available. This has nothing to do with the number of autistics out there.
#15
Gorb, you sound like you are talking about fairly severe and unambiguous cases of autism. I think what the article and most of the comments here are wondering about are the lighly autistic or borderline cases that end up getting called autism out of convenience or some need to simply label the problem and medicate. If the rates are as high as some of these people are saying, then the human race is going down the genetic crapper.
#16
Gorb states how hard it is to get a child diagnosed as autistic even when the symptoms are severe and unambiguous. While schools get money from the state for special needs students, it is never as much as it costs the school to set aside classrooms, hire teachers trained to work with such students, hire classroom aides for those mainstreamed, and purchase the specialized equipment required for each student.
I can equally personally vouch for the difficulty in getting a diagnosis for mild Asperger's Syndrome. In this case, while the child was always a bit eccentric, she functioned extremely well at a personal and academic level (a solid group of girl friends, high honors in the school's program for gifted children) until reaching high school, when all of a sudden, despite her very best efforts (and as she ended up a National Merit Scholar and graduated with honors, her best efforts should have been very good indeed), she found herself failing classes in which she should have been getting A's. It took three years and five therapists to tease out the cause of her difficulties, including getting beyond diagnosis and medication for ADD, which she does not have. While she got a lot of support from her teachers and guidance counselor, the school never did anything out of the ordinary for her.
Back in the good old days, she would simply have dropped out of high school and committed suicide. Thus solving the problem.
#17
Nobody wants a (*&%&^%(*&%^*(^ autism diagnosis. No insurance covers anything related to autism. The insurers are dumping the treatment onto the school systems which are overwhelmed with these cases. What the hell is Savage smoking?
Three of our kids have Aspergers, including our eldest, an occasional Burg reader and poster. We've had twenty years of muddle getting help and therapies for them, and are going through the extremely difficult time of transition to adulthood and independence.
My father is an Aspie. He became a chemist, an excellent one; but his social skills are very poor. He couldn't get along with co-workers. His company worked around him; they set things up so that he could do his work with the electron microscope and his other gadgetry and other people kept out of his way. Nobody knew he had Aspergers--it didn't make the diagnostic manual until 1995. If somebody had known what was going on with my dad, his personal life, and the whole family, would have been better off.
I can understand Savage's beef about over diagnosis. There's a parent from hell in the next school district east of us that says her kid is ten times needier than he is. This dame even wanted school staff to work with her kid on Saturday.
But he really blew his argument to hell with his rant about autism.
#19
My neice's daughter is not servere but not mild either. She is learning to function but the cost is high. Her husband has been a contractor in Iraq for the last 4 years (medical) because that's the only way they can pay for treatment. Schools do not provide the kind of education these children need and neither should they be required to. They moved from Columbia, South CArolina to Atlanta because that's where the best facility in the South is. She has made wonderful progress there. When she finally did start talking it was in complete sentences, not baby talk. All of us family help whichever way we can.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 17:51
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#20
My sympathies to all those having to deal with such difficult circumstances. Life is already tough enough without adding such a major complication.
#21
, and no amount of training will enable them to live independently
That perception at root is the problem.
My brothers son was severely autistic/ has Aspergers Syndrome. His wife was convinced it was caused by vaccines. I looked into it and found there was no good scientific evidence for vaccines and I found the evidence compelling that vaccines cannot possibly the cause.
Anyway, my main point is that irrespective of the cause and underlying physiological mechanism (assuming there is one), Autism is a problem, because of their behaviour, and behaviour can be changed relatively easily.
Communicating this to my brother caused a major family rift. And his wife insisted they pursue their very expensive search for the cause.
Now several years later, his son is almost completely over his autism without drugs or any other intrusive procedures. The key was that my brother's son sees a buddhist monk a couple of times a week.
This is no way an endorsement of Buddhism as a religion, and I'll point out that I trained as a behavioural psychologist.
What I specifically said to my brother is, "You have to get him out of the environment where he exhibits the severe autisitic behaviour. Unless you do he will be like this for the rest of his life."
His wife interpretted this to mean I was blaming her and reacted strongly. In sense she was right, she (and my brother) was the cause. This is obviously too bitter a pill for many parents to swallow. Hence the search for causes and the reliance on medication.
It took my brother a couple of years to try my recommendation, but he did eventually with happy results.
#22
wow -that'quite a few children from rantburg readers, which is food for thought. It may be because, let's face it, nerds gravitate to sites like rantburg rather than MySpace. :-)
Like I said, I don't listen often and was forced to listen yesterday, but original point I was making it that Savage was clearly not saying that "autism is a fraud". Rather he was making the point that many of our high functioning nerds could be damaged by the diagnois. For example one question he pondered was if Einstein had been diagnosed with it. No matter how outrageous Savage is, it is a valid discussion.
But my concern goes one step further. It's always the same pattern. It starts with an public campaign blitz by the Ad Council and other public service announcements. Nothing wrong with that. That's a good thing. But when your radar should go up is when the next steps start to fall into place. Media Matters will scour the airwaves to latch onto an outrageous statement made by a celebrity that and hype it into a full blown blog/media circus. And next, highly professional spokespeople, lobbyists or others who stand to benefit from public funding or lawsuits are ready and waiting to call in to the talk shows and media shows for a full blown sh** storm using the comment as a spring board.
My concern is that the professional spokesperson that called into Savage was hyping that vaccines are the cause. Another poster pointed out that this has been debunked. But one only need look at global warming or Gore's stolen election to realize how little facts matter when hyping the public into a frenzy.
So my point was/is that if they are going to push the vaccine issue, as I am now suspicious, we should all be very concerned and not fall prey to the hype.
I don't know if that is really what is happening or not, but I was just pointing out that we should stay alert to the possiblity because Savage did not say that "autism is a fraud" and the woman who called his show was a very professional spokesperson attempting to pedal a fraud that will in no way be helpful to anyone, especially those who have autistic children.
#23
ALL of our four children have some type of problem, from my oldest who is 41 to our youngset who's 3. The most severe is our 34-year-old son who suffered extensive brain damage before we adopted him, and who now functions at an equivalent age of 12 to 15. Our youngest daughter suffers from moderate to severe dyslexia, has many of the symptoms of ADHD, and who is now about a third of her way through a 2-year technical study course at the college level. We don't know what Tim's problems are going to be, but we see the early symptoms of them in his everyday behavior. We've worked in the system and outside of it, and understand the good, the bad, and the very, VERY ugly that can take place. We made many friends that also adopted problem children, and we've watched those children develop over the years.
There are many, many children that are both mis-diagnosed, or over-diagnosed. We've seen it happen, we're not dealing with hearsay. We've had our own bouts with children that are autistic (and that had other problems equally as severe) when we were foster-parents for a private agency, and we know how difficult it is to meet the needs of those children. We've also seen the abysmal failure of "society" - especially the school system - where many of these children are "warehoused", with the minimum supervision, minimum education, and minimum stimulus that they need to succeed in life.
I haven't heard the Savage broadcast, and I don't plan to listen to it. If there's a transcript, I MIGHT read it, just to see what the fuss is all about. I do know, though, that there have been far too many times when doctors and other professionals have latched onto the latest "research" to explain problems they haven't the experience to diagnose correctly - unattachment, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and yes, even autism. It's ALWAYS best to be cautious about such labels, as they can criple a child psychologically, emotionally, and intellectually. I am especially leary of those that have a glib, single-point-of-focus for all of life's problems, such as the "vaccine causes autism" crowd. Every single person is different, from birth through life to death. Trying to label every child and put them into neat little groups is a stupid way to approach any problem that involves people.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 20:01
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#24
Never knew so many on the 'burg have personal experience with autism. My hat goes off to you all.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
07/22/2008 20:34
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#25
Savage has been on the warpath for years about the over-prescription of drugs such as Ritalin and Prosac, particularly to children. And I think events are tending to support him more and more over time.
I agree with bigjim-ky. I don't remember anybody having autism when I was a kid. So why now? When I heard the PSA I thought to my self, this is a shakedown coming.
No doubt some people do have a real problem and need help. But no doubt some people also take advantage of the situation, especially the professional crusaders.
I have to admit I can think of at least a half dozen teachers who would have sacrificed the body part of your choice to have had me tranqed for the school year. I'm glad I'm not a kid today.
Congress should explicitly declare war against al Qaeda and write new rules for legal challenges by terrorism suspects following a Supreme Court ruling on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said on Monday. Mukasey urged Congress to pass such legislation as the first U.S. war crimes trial got under way at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where prisoners in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism are held in a detention center condemned internationally for harsh treatment.
Democrats in control of Congress and civil rights groups reacted coolly to Mukasey's proposals, saying they would avoid judicial oversight and stack the deck in favor of the administration.
The legislation is needed to conform with a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that Guantanamo prisoners have the constitutional right known as "habeas corpus" to challenge their detention in federal court, Mukasey said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.
A new law should prohibit courts from ordering a detainee to be released within the United States, protect secrets in court hearings, ensure that soldiers are not taken from the battlefield to testify and prevent challenges from delaying detainee trials. In addition, he said, "Any legislation should acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us."
"Congress should reaffirm that for the duration of the conflict the United States may detain as enemy combatants those who have engaged in hostilities or purposefully supported al Qaeda," and related groups, he said.
A week after the September 11 attacks Congress authorized "all necessary and appropriate force" against nations and groups that planned or supported the attacks. It did not specifically mention al Qaeda, which carried out the attacks, or their Taliban allies.
Some critics have said the Bush administration was too broad in asserting a nameless "war on terrorism," and some legal challenges have said the government failed to show a detainee's sufficient connection to al Qaeda to justify continued imprisonment under the 2001 resolution.
Mukasey said the administration already has legal authority to battle terrorism. However, he said, "It would do all of us good to have the principle reaffirmed, not that that principle itself is in doubt."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Wait! If they are a recognized miltary outfit, then they are entitled to Geneva Convention protections, even if not a signatory state. The best solution is to assign the status of Personna non Grata to 100% of terrorists and terror supporters. Of course, marking someone in that manner requires due process. I recall a group of Muslim co-workers nodding support when one of their own said, "We are with Osama; he's the only one who is doing anything for Muslims." That was in late 2001, when al-Jazeera was cheerleading for Taliban-al-Qaeda. I believe that al-Qaeda is supported by at least 80% of Muslims in the West. Said support is not explicit, for al-Taqiyah purposes. Why do Muslims insist on working for Halal meals for Gitmo inmates? Are they not fake Muslims, given that terrorism is supposedly anathema to members? Reality dictates: all but a handful of the religion of terror members supported Taliban when it was in power; the same numbers want them restored. Those savages are termites in the body politic of the West.
I support execution for mere association with al-Qaeda. It is a catastrophic error to indulge free exercise of conscience for internal subversives.
#3
Terrorists and their supporters are a Clear and Present Danger to us all, and few have the Need to Know that we take no prisoners for obvious reasons. Time to end the debate and move on to a viable energy policy and other pressing matters.
#7
Why not just repeal our signatory acceptance of the Geneva Convention? It has never kept the North Koreans, the North Vietnamese, the Iraqi's, AQ, and others from violating it when our forces were captured. Why have it as our burden? Screw the left wing Euros who contribute nil to their own defense or NATO. We need to think only of ourselves in this mess.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 12:56
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#8
It's interesting how this coincides with an ISI report from Pakistan saying that 10,000 terrorist have massed in the tribal areas of Pakistan. I
Does the declaration Mukasey is asking for from Congress give us more latitude going after them in Pakistan?
Should McCain sponsor the bill and force Obama to make a choice ?
#10
I have no problem with them simply reissuing this with the title 'Declaration of War' so satisfy the idgit Kennedy -
S.J.Res.23
One Hundred Seventh Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and one
Joint Resolution
To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.
Whereas, on September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence were committed against the United States and its citizens; and
Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to self-defense and to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad; and
Whereas, in light of the threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by these grave acts of violence; and
Whereas, such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States; and
Whereas, the President has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This joint resolution may be cited as the `Authorization for Use of Military Force'.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supercedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
Why it takes an army of lawyers to figure that putting those three words magically substantively alters the intent of the original legislation only demonstrates that the judiciary is way out of control. Next Justice Kennedy will demand that a DoW requires the process of amending the Constitution. When we go that far, we might as well use the process to dump SCOTUS.
BELGRADE, Serbia - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres making him one of the world's top war crimes fugitives, was arrested Monday evening in a raid that ended a near 13-year manhunt, the country's president and the UN tribunal said. Karadzic is the suspected mastermind of mass killings that the UN war crimes tribunal described as scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history. They include the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, Europe's worst slaughter since World War II.
Good. Now let's hope the tribunal can deal with him before 2020.
This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade. It is also an important day for international justice because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law, said Serge Brammertz, the tribunal's head prosecutor.
President Boris Tadic's office said Karadzic has been taken before the investigative judge of Serbia's war crimes court - a legal procedure that indicates he could soon be extradited to the UN court at The Hague, Netherlands. If Karadzic is transferred to there, he would be the 44th Serb suspect extradited to the tribunal. The others include former President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted in 2000 and died in 2006 while on trial on war crimes charges.
Heavily armed special forces have been deployed around the war crimes court in Belgrade where Karadzic reportedly was being held. Karadzic's brother, Luka, also arrived at the location in central Belgrade. Serbian police deployed throughout central Belgrade as well as in front of the US embassy, which was targeted in nationalist rioting over Kosovo's declaration of independence in February.
The White House called the arrest an important demonstration of the Serbian Government's determination to honor its commitment to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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SANA'A, July 20 -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced on Thursday that fighting with Houthi supporters in Sa'ada, Amran and Sana'a governorates has ended. The announcement came during a brief speech he gave while inaugurating summer camps for youths affiliated with the ruling General People's Congress on the occasion of his 30th anniversary in power.
"Dialogue is the civilized means to resolve conflict because dialogue is better than bloodshed," Saleh remarked, further accusing unnamed political forces of politicizing the issues in a sectarian and racial manner.
Saleh didn't reveal how the fifth war with Houthis ended; therefore, neither did any official source dare to clarify the details. Media reports, once released by Houthi field leader Abdulmalik Al-Houthi on a daily basis, have ceased since Thursday.
Continued on Page 49
The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began yesterday with a not guilty plea from a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, entered the plea through his lawyer at the US naval base in Cuba. He is the first prisoner to face a US war crimes trial since World War II.
Judge Keith Allred, a navy captain, called a jury pool of uniformed American military officers into the courtroom for questioning by lawyers on both sides. A conviction on charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism could lead to a life sentence for Hamdan. "You must impartially hear the evidence," Allred told the potential jurors. "He must be presumed to be innocent." The 13 officers were handpicked by the Pentagon and flown in from other US bases over the weekend. Hamdan's lawyers asked if they had any friends or family affected by the Sept. 11 attacks to see if any should be excluded as too biased to serve. A minimum of five officers must be selected for a trial under tribunal rules.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
He really wanted to plead "Yeah, I dunnit an' I'm GLAD, y'hear? GLAD!", but his lawyer stopped him.
#2
He's already won one battle - Allred decided to exclude his interrogation in Afghanistan after he was captured since it came from "coercion". I'd love to know what level of coercion this was. Was it listening to Barry Manalow for hours on hours or something more esoteric like looking at pigs eat shit?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:50
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#4
Just whack him. He has NO RIGHTS under the Geneva convention, and is nothing but a muzlim jihadi - just slightly below whale sh$$ on both the intelligence and usefulness scales. The way the US is handling this bunch of loons is making me want to puke.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:34
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(VOI) -- The Kurdish intelligence agency, also known as Asayesh, seized a cache of arms and explosives in a village in the district of Khanaqin, a senior Kurdish security official said on Monday. "The cache, found at a late hour on Sunday evening inside a stable in the village of Bana Qora Tu, (30 km) north of Khanaqin, contained two anti-aircraft machine guns, 17 mortar shells, 13 RPG rockets and several artillery shells," Asayeh chief, Muhammad Kareem, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
Asayesh or Asayish (Arabic for security) is a Kurdish organization, created in September 1993. It is referred to as an "intelligence agency", "security force","security service", "security police", "secret service", "secret police", or just "Kurdish police". It is related to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barazani. It also acts under the command of the Kurdish National Assembly (parliament) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"An urgent probe was launched to find out whether the cache belongs to the time of the former regime or is used by armed groups active in the area," Kareem added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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(Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen killed a tribal leader in a drive-by shooting in the volatile Diyala province on Monday, a provincial police source said. "Abdul Ghafoor Abdullah, a chieftain of the Obeid clan in Diyala, was gunned down when unknown armed men showered his car with bullets while driving in the Abu-Seida area, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
In separate incident, gunmen believed to be affiliated to al-Qaida organization stormed a house in the al-Bawashi village, south of Diyala's capital city of Baquba, and kidnapped four people, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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The Indian government and the much-vaunted nuclear deal it negotiated with George Bush in 2006 were last night on the brink of collapse after a bruising debate on a vote of confidence in parliament.
The vote, due today, is so finely balanced that several infirm MPs will be brought in from hospital. Jailed parliamentarians, some convicted of murder, have gained temporary release to attend.
Other MPs claimed they have been offered multimillion-pound bribes to vote. Smaller parties, which realise they hold the balance of power, have made extravagant demands.
A regional party with three votes asked the government to rename an airport in north India after the party chief's father, Charan Singh, a former Indian prime minister. It got its wish, then announced it would be voting against the government.
If the Congress-led government wins a majority of the 543-member house, analysts say it will limp on until next May, beholden to small parties many of which openly call for special favours for prominent businessmen who bankroll them.
If the government loses, national polls will be held this winter, just as rising prices of food and petrol begin to bite.
At the heart of the matter is a deal that would allow India to keep its nuclear weapons in return for international inspections of its civilian reactor programme. In effect, the government says, it allows the country to escape the nuclear non-proliferation regime which has denied it vital technology for decades.
The crisis was caused by a withdrawal of support by the government's communist allies, who say the deal made India a pawn of Washington. The main opposition group, a coalition led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata party which calls the United States a "natural ally", says the nuclear deal limits India's ability to test nuclear weapons.
Last night, Pranab Mukherjee, the foreign minister, predicted the government would win with a majority of five.
The only certainty is the rise of Kumari Mayawati, an "untouchable" leader, who now leads a "third front" group of the regional parties.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Jailed parliamentarians, some convicted of murder
Why can't we have jailed congressmen, too?
#2
Why can't we have jailed congressmen, too?
Posted by: Spot
Because our government (may the fleas of a thousand camels, etc., etc.) is too corrupt to arrest them, prosecute them, hold them accountable, actually use the facts to determine guilt or innocense, and simply won't do it. I doubt there are three "honest" lawmakers in Congress, and there are probably 10%-15% of government employees that, if examined closely, could be found guilty of violating the laws of the United States. It is the biggest, most hushed-up problem we have with our government, and it's been going on since the days of George Washington.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 18:17
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Old P, I am pretty sure we do have some jailed Congressmen, or at least did. The war hero from southern Cal comes to mind, for one, though I cannot recall his name.
Now, we have many others who deserve such treatment, including (in my opinion, which should keep me from getting on THAT jury), our own William Jefferson.
Palestinian security officials say Israeli troops have arrested a Hamas lawmaker from the West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian security says that lawmaker Mona Mansour and 19 other people with alleged ties to the Islamic group were arrested early Monday.
Israeli troops have in recent weeks raided Nablus almost nightly in a crackdown against the violently anti-Israel Hamas. The soldiers have closed down several institutions allegedly linked to Hamas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the Israeli operations seriously undermine his efforts to get Palestinians to support peace talks he is holding with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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(VOI) - A senior police officer was killed and four of his bodyguards were wounded in a bomb explosion in central Kirkuk, the city's districts police chief said on Monday. "An improvised explosive device went off this afternoon targeting the motorcade of Colonel Khabat Hamma Gharieb, deputy chief of al-Urouba police department, in al-Kournish street in central Kirkuk, killing him on the spot," Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI). "Four of his bodyguards were wounded in the explosion and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government survived three no-confidence motions in parliament on Monday in a vote boycotted by a key member of his ruling coalition.
Crummy leader, one hell of a politician...
One of the three motions was approved by 41 votes to 40 after Olmert's Shas coalition partner shunned the vote. It was the first time since taking office over two years ago that more parliament members had voted against Olmert's government in a no-confidence motion than for it.
Under Israeli law, 61 votes are needed to pass a no-confidence motion, leading to the dissolution of the 120 member parliament and heralding new elections.
Local media reported that legislators from the Orthodox Jewish party Shas stayed away from the vote in protest at the appointment of a legislator from the Labor Party, Olmert's main coalition partner, as head of parliament's powerful Finance Committee.
The result cast further doubt on whether Olmert would survive a police investigation into allegations that he took bribes from an American Jewish businessman.
The veteran politician denies any wrong doing but has said he would step down if indicted. His Kadima party is to hold an internal vote in September that could replace him.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
How the hell does this weasel keep dodging out? Is Israel that corrupt anyome?
#4
I'd read that PM Olmert had already agreed not to stand against challengers in the September party vote. Perhaps he changed his mind, or doesn't want to be tossed out by others. I hope liberalhawk looks in on this thread today; he generally can explain Israeli politics.
#5
Israel has no one willing to step up and lead, like a Moshe Dayan, or Golda Meir. Zippy is just not acceptable to the overall population which is getting younger and more appeasing every day.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 13:07
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For a long time intelligence sources have been keenly aware of Al Qaeda's efforts at establishing a presence in and around Israel, but they have been unsuccessful, until recently.
Early in July 2008, the Shin Bet (Israel's equivalent of the FBI) arrested two Bedouin on suspicion of passing information about key locations in Israel that could be potential terrorist targets, among them, Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport. The two suspects, who were described in local reports as cousins, were accused of membership in a terrorist organization, aiding the enemy in wartime and delivering information to the enemy in order to harm national security. In addition, the suspects allegedly passed along information about places where terrorists could infiltrate Israel from the West Bank.
This week, in a joint operation between the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, six Israeli Arabs were arrested after information was received about an attempt to organize a local Al Qaeda network. Two of the suspects, students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, hold Israeli citizenship, and the other four are Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.
Using their cell phone they filmed helicopters taking off and landing at the sports stadium on the university campus at Givat Ram in Jerusalem from their dormitory window, which overlooks the area. The stadium is frequently used as a helipad by government officials and visiting dignitaries. They posted queries on Al Qaeda linked web sites asking for advice on how to shoot down a helicopter with the idea of downing President George Bush's helicopter during his visit to Israel in January of this year. The helipad on the campus was used by Bush's entourage due its proximity to strategic destinations.
Following the police raid in the early hours of Friday morning, July 18, 2008, an indictment was issued against the suspects at the Jerusalem District Court on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, possessing propaganda material supporting a terror organization, and attempting to form a local Al Qaeda cell in Jerusalem.
Investigators found that some of the suspects had surfed Al-Qaeda web sites featuring radical Islamic content, and had also downloaded instructions from the internet on their computer on bomb making.
There was no indication that the suspects' activities ever passed the planning stage and they do not face charges of active involvement in any attacks.
The suspects confessed that they had held regular meetings at the Dome of The Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City and that they had established an Al Qaeda linked cell.
After the arrests took place, no surprise was expressed by other students who spoke about an atmosphere of radicalism on the campus that encouraged such activities. One of the students who did not want his name published, spoke of radical groups holding political meetings all the time. He said that he knew the suspects and that they were very quiet, kept to themselves, and did not encourage other students to socialize with them.
One Arab student said that the radicalism was even worse at the Mount Scopus campus where there is a large Arab student body. At the beginning of the year there was a violent confrontation between Jewish and Arab students over the IDF blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This incident is apparently the first time that Israeli security forces have arrested any citizens for involvement with the Al Qaeda terror network.
Shin Bet and the Israel Police have a network of intelligence sensors which relay all relevant information about potential terrorist activities and acting on the information received they made the arrests.
While there are several hardline Muslim groups in the Gaza Strip that have claimed responsibility for bombing coffee shops and internet cafes because of their perceived Western influence, they do not belong to the global terror groups.
There is no known Al-Qaeda presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, though Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have both expressed concern about the group trying to enter the Palestinian areas.
Eitan Azani, deputy director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, said "The arrests demonstrate the virtual process Al- Qaeda is using to build an infrastructure in the Middle East, including in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and now Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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CANBERRA, Australia - A newspaper report Tuesday that claims Zimbabwe is using Australian airspace to trade with China has prompted Australia's opposition leader to call for a ban on such flights. The Age newspaper reported that for the past year, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime has regularly commandeered Air Zimbabwe flights and has flown them through Australian air space over the Indian Ocean to China via Singapore.
The report, citing unnamed Zimbabwe aviation sources, said the flights are free junkets for Mugabe supporters. They fly to Beijing and southern China to trade contraband such as ivory for weapons and luxury goods, the newspaper said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's office could not be immediately contacted for comment Tuesday. But opposition leader Brendan Nelson said the government must investigate the report and ban Zimbabwe flights from Australian airspace if it were true.
We are all deeply concerned about the appalling treatment of Zimbabweans from torture through to murder; the complete corruption of the political system in Zimbabwe, Nelson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Every single thing that we can possibly do to bring good governance and order and political freedom to the people of Zimbabwe should be done, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Are those Heineken bottle caps on his necklace? Cool.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Fred, with a high res monitor and an aversion to wearing glasses, I increase the text/image size to make pages more readable. The Burg's pages center (meaning I have to scroll left in order to read the text at the left), where left aligned pages would be better.
#2
phil_b has Joan Blondal looking at his nose and he is complaining about not being able to read the text on her right. There's just no accounting from some people's tastes.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2008 9:55
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Two Abu Sayyaf members linked to the kidnapping of a Philippine television presenter and three others had been arrested in the southern province of Sulu, police said.
Police said the duo was intercepted at a government checkpoint near a marine base in the village of Buhanginan in Patikul town on Saturday.
The two, both teenagers, were positively identified by the authorities as involved in the June 8 kidnapping of Ces Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including their guide Prof. Octavio Dinampo.
The four were freed weeks later after private negotiators paid P20 million ransom.
One of the two suspects was identified as Nadzmir Amirul. They were on a motorcycle when stopped at the checkpoint.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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(VOI) - Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi called to establish a development council in Anbar dedicated to urban development and implementing vital projects. "This came during his meeting with chiefs of al-Boufahd tribe in Anbar province," said a statement released from al-Hashemi's office and received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The vice president asserted that Anbar residents made great sacrifices and they should be compensated," the statement added. He stressed the importance of exerting all efforts to develop the province, mainly in the fields of education, humanitarian, and services.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Yemen's conservative leaders, Islamist opposition and tribal leaders have formed an "unnatural" alliance to fight growing depravity, local newspapers said on Wednesday. Known as the "Committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice" -- reminiscent of that backed by the religious police in neighboring Saudi Arabia -- the group was formed late on Tuesday at a meeting in the Yemeni capital. Delegates, united under the slogan "May the ship (Yemen) not sink," expressed alarm at what they said was growing depravity in society, including drinking of alcohol, mixing of sexes in schools, "depraved" television shows and uncontrolled access to the Internet.
They also denounced the "sex trade" and use of drugs, without however mentioning the widespread, traditional chewing of qat, a mildly intoxicating leaf. Some Yemenis see this as a major social problem, undermining the economies of many households and affecting the efficiency of the country's work force. The committee is chaired by Sheikh Abdul Majid Al-Zindani who is wanted by the U.S. authorities on charges of supporting terrorism.
This article starring:
Sheikh Abdul Majid Al-Zindani
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Five Taliban fighters were killed during a gun battle with anti-social elements at Darra Adam Khel town in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province on Monday.
Police said the Taliban attacked the hideouts of some anti-socials at Jinnah Kor in Darra Adam Khel in a bid to "eliminate" them. They retaliated and five Taliban cadres were killed during the exchange of fire.
The incident created tension in the area. The Taliban had earlier claimed that the anti-socials were involved in "unethical and heinous" activities and warned they would take action against the elements.
The gun battle took place even as security forces continued their operations against the Taliban in Hangu district of NWFP. Curfew was relaxed in Hangu town since this morning and shops and markets were open.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said security forces had cleared Hangu of militants after killing 20 rebels and capturing another 60.
"At least 20 militants have been killed and 60 others captured so far in the operation as the troops managed to push militants out of the district and are now targeting them in the mountains in the north of Hangu district," Abbas said.
The army launched a crackdown in Hangu district after the Taliban killed 15 paramilitary personnel in an ambush on June 11. There have been several fierce clashes between security forces and militants, including an attack by about 120 Taliban fighters on the Frontier Corps fort at Torawarai in Hangu on Saturday night.
There were also reports of a fresh clash today between security forces and Taliban in the Swat valley in NWFP though there were no details about casualties. The Pakistan Army denied a claim by the Taliban that six security forces personnel were killed in the clash.
The Swat area had been peaceful for the past few weeks but the local Taliban had warned that they might carry out attacks if the security forces did not halt the operation in Hangu.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#5
I'd like to meet these "anti-social elements", and offer them a half-dozen 106-recoilless rifles and as much ammunition as they can stock in their cave. More, please!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:37
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Does this mean the Taliban are the "socials?" God help someone. This tripe must have been written by a Taliban sympathizer.
Senator Barack Obama arrived in Baghdad on Monday, meeting with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi politicians, as an Iraqi spokesman said that the government was hopeful that foreign combat troops would withdraw in 2010.
Mr. Obama, on the latest leg of his first overseas tour as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, arrived in the Iraqi capital in the early afternoon with an American delegation after first stopping in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Mr. Obama met with Mr. Maliki; the United States ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker; the Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and other Iraqi officials at the prime minister's residence in the Green Zone.
Mr. Obama described his talk with Mr. Maliki as "a wonderful visit," but news agencies reported that a government spokesman said that they did not discuss the timing of any troop withdrawal. However, the spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, addressed the issue. According to Reuters, he said, "We cannot give any timetables or dates but the Iraqi government believes the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal." The Associated Press quoted Mr. Dabbagh as saying, "We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq," but noting that any plans would have to change should violence rise.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Obama lose his Q card again? Seems like he forgot to bring up his signature issue with Masliki.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2008 10:27
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Charles Krauthammer had a great editorial entitled "Who does Obama really think he is?" Krauthammer pegs BO as a narcissistic, messianic MSM darling who cares mostly about himself.
Protesters in Rajshahi and Brahmanbaria yesterday demanded immediate arrest of Jamaat-Shibir cadres who assaulted a freedom fighter in the capital on July 11 and trial of war criminals.
Our RU Correspondent reports: several hundred teachers, cultural activists and students of Rajshahi University under the banner of Sammilito Sangskritik Jote (SSJ) yesterday staged demonstrations on the campus demanding punishment of Jamaat-Shibir cadres who assaulted freedom fighter Sheikh Muhammad Aman Ali.
They brought out a protest procession covering their faces with black ribbon and paraded the campus, formed a human chain and held a rally in front of the Central Library. Activists of different student organisatios also joined the programmes.
At the rally, speakers strongly protested the assault on freedom fighter Sheikh Mohammad Ali Aman and demanded punishment of 'Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad' leaders for their derogatory comments about the principals of the Liberation War.
Demanding immediate ban on Jamaat-backed so-called freedom fighters' body, they said war criminals formed the organisation with fake freedom fighters only to divert the nation's attention from the demand for trial of war criminals.
Cultural activists demanded immediate trial of war criminals by constituting a special tribunal and ban on Jamaat-Shibir politics in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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(SomaliNet) Two foreign fighters were killed alongside 10 local rebels during clashes yesterday in Lower Shabelle region, a commander with Somalia's army told the BBC Somali Service on Monday. The two dead fighters are from Pakistan and Iraq, while urging journalists to "go see" the dead bodies, regional commander Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi said.
Al Shabaab spokesman Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur," who claimed responsibility for the attack, denied reports that foreign fighters were killed during the battle. He told a Mogadishu-based radio station that, on their side, 3 fighters were killed and 3 others wounded. But he claimed that government troops "suffered heavy losses."
Local sources told Garowe Online that they saw 3 dead soldiers and "nearly 10" insurgents lying on the ground, as the fight subsided around sunset. Two civilians were also killed, the confidential sources added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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#1
How bad can things be in Iraq and Pakistan if the Islamaidiots have to travel to Somalia for a good time?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:43
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#2
They travel the world looking for armies that are so inept they can be beaten by a pickup team of Punjabis and former Baathist party hacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 7:52
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#2: They travel the world looking for armies that are so inept they can be beaten by a pickup team of Punjabis and former Baathist party hacks.
What's REALLY bad is they keep finding them. Maybe the Italians will send a few training teams to Mogadishu to train the Somali Army. At this point, a troop of Anglican Girl Guides would help.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:10
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(Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen shot an eminent tribal elder Malik Shah Jehan and wounded three others in northwestern Pakistan's tribal area on Monday.
Malik Shah Jehan, accompanied by Malik Ayaz Khan, his driver and guard, was going to Peshawar, capital city of North West Frontier Province when unknown gunmen fired bullets at their vehicle near Shandor Mor in Bajaur tribal agency.
As a result, Malik Shah Jehan was killed while Malik Ayaz Khan,driver Basmillah Khan and a passerby Aajab Khan sustained critical injuries, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The injured were shifted to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Sudan is trying to rally diplomatic support for rejecting war crimes charges against President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Sudanese officials presented their objections to the African Union Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa.
Following the decision by the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor to seek the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for his role in the conflict in the country's western region of Darfur, Sudan has attempted to bolster international opposition to such a move.
A Sudanese delegation led by Justice Minister Abdel Basit Sabdarat went before the African Union's main security organ. The deputy head of Sudan's diplomatic mission in Ethiopia, Akuei Bona Malwal, described Sudan's opposition to issuing an arrest warrant for President Bashir.
"It should be deferred until we establish peace. Because these things they have no time limit, what is the rush now? The idea is that this warrant be deferred until there is a peace process. Of course, we are all against impunity [exemption from punishment] and we hope there will be justice at the end of it. We are not saying he should not go on investigating, but he should not go on arresting the head of state at this junction," said Malwal.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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MANAMA Bahrain yesterday lifted the ban on import of Bangladeshi workers on condition that they provide a certificate of good conduct, a senior official said.
A ban by another name ...
The Counsellor and Charge dAffaires of the Bangladeshi Embassy, Mohammed Saiful Islam, told Khaleej Times that he received a letter from the General Directorate of Nationality, Passport and Residence at the Ministry of Interior confirming the governments promise to review the ban that was imposed two months ago after a Bangladeshi man killed a Bahraini.
I appreciate the tolerant approach of Bahrains government and I hope my community will return the favour by further dedicating its efforts for developments, he said, while thanking government bodies, especially Minister of Interior. Saiful hailed the generosity of the government for not imposing tough conditions as was discussed earlier.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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(VOI) - Policemen on Monday freed a kidnapped man and arrested five wanted men during two separate operations in the city of Mosul, the chief of the Ninewa police said. "Police forces managed to free a kidnapped man in al-Mushahada region in western Mosul after receiving intelligence information indicating his presence," General Khaled Hussein al-Hamadani told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The forces did not arrest any of the kidnappers," he added. Meanwhile, the general said "police forces detained five wanted men in al-Maamoun region in southwestern Mosul." "The detainees are suspected of being al-Qaeda members," he also said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Kolkata, INDIA - An Indian man who took an impersonator to court to get a divorce faces legal action after his real wife found out, lawyers said on Friday.
Sanjib Saha presented a woman as his wife in a lower court in the eastern city of Kolkata this month. Both said they sought a mutual divorce, something the court granted immediately.
Saha's real wife was then asked to leave the marital home. She has since appealed the ruling at a higher court, charged her husband with cheating and the original divorce was suspended. "The case exposed the legal loopholes in our system," Kaushik Chanda, lawyer of Saha's real wife, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
"After his real wife found out" >
AL BUNDY - "Oh yeah, Peg, and how are you supposed to stop me...........Yep, that'll do it"!
Parents in New York City said their children are getting their feet burned while playing on blistering hot playgrounds.
When I was a child my mother used to send (not take) me to the playground. This was at the elementary school, several blocks from our house. There the miniature me could play the day away.
There was a kid-powered merry-go-round that could be made to turn at dizzying speeds, teaching us all sorts of lessons about cetripetal and centrifugal force. Much childish amusement was to be had when somebody tossed his/her/its centripetal cookies after a good centrifugal spin. Or maybe it was vice versa. If you fell, you landed on asphalt, often skidding. It was good for you. Eventually the scar tissue built up and your knees became impervious to injury.
We had a set of steel monkey bars where we could climb perilously high, to stand up on the top rungs and hoot at the world, then hang upside down by the knees, prior to falling on our heads onto the hot asphalt. I sometimes think that experience, not drugs, is why the 60s happened.
We had swings, too. Good ones, real wood hung on good, thick chains, from tubular steel frames set in concrete. They were indestructible swings. You could swing just as high as it was possible for your kicking little legs to take you and then, after several good swings, at the very apex of the hilarity, you could leave that wooden swing seat and sail through the air. If you were lucky you'd land on the grass covering the hard-baked July soil. If not, you hit the asphalt and your swing stood a good chance of conking you in the back of the head. That sort of thing probably explains disco.
Perhaps most excruciating was the sliding board, a good 7- or 8-foot length length of polished steel that on a typical late July day could fry an egg before it made it all the way out of the shell. Many was the childish bottom, my own among them, that sauteed on that relatively short trip down the slide. By the time I got home from a day on the sliding board my Mom could use my butt to make gravy.
Now I look at my grandchildren and think how much they'd have liked that playground, where kids played with an absolute minimum of adult supervision. Our parents never sued the township for a few bruises. And the childish versions of us had something today's kids seldom get.
Scabs.
The parents and their supporters said more than a dozen children are scorched each year by hot playground equipment, particularly by black mats under jungle gyms and sliding boards. They said the city is ignoring a public health and safety issue.
Poor widdle beppies. We used to laugh at the brats that blubbered after an itty-bitty fall from the top of a 7-foot jungle gym onto the asphalt.
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said signs have been posted in playgrounds warning against going barefoot.
"Proper footgear must be worn at all times!"
He said his department was not going to remove the mats, calling the city's playgrounds "the safest in the world." Parks Department spokesman Jama Adams told the Daily News in Monday editions that there have been "no incidents reported" involving children being burned at playgrounds.
That tells me the kids are tougher than the grownups are.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Fred, I know exactly what you mean. I had much the same experience. My granddaughters live next door to a playground that is very nice - it has soft rubber mats, the various things are designed so that a kid would have to work hard to hurt himself.
By the way - worse than landing on asphalt was landing on loose gravel. That way, you ended up not only with scrapes, but an odd pebble or two or three embedded in your skin.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 1:08
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You forgot the teeter-totters...large wooden beams where the game was to try and knock the top kid off by landing hard, or failing that by rolling off leaving him to plummet to the ground
#3
For those of us that grew up in rural America, there were similar "death defying" activities.
My mom's order of the day was 'go outside and play'. Running through woods, fishing, catching frogs, playing baseball, riding bikes down to the river - all without parental supervision, something that would never occur today with all the supermommies who invent a million excuses why their little precious can't take any risks at all.
We got stung by bees, bitten by ticks and mosquitoes and various other biting insects, fell out of trees we climbed, etc.
Still here to talk about it.
There is a series of magazine ads showing kids wrapped in bubble wrap. Show this to one of today's yuppy overprotective olympic mommies, and they actually consider the idea. (I've experienced this more than once.)
These overprotective parents aren't feminizing our boys, they're doing something far worse - emasculating them.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/22/2008 6:02
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#5
Playgrounds? The only time I got to go to a playground was at school during recess. At least our school was too poor to have asphalt. We had dirt. We had pine cone wars, dirt clod wars, played army (Civil War) at school. Almost every boy had a pocket knife. We were expected to act like boys and we did. Wimps.
#6
In Spain we played cowboys and Indians when we weren't playing sheriffs and outlaws. I had a toy colt 45 (won it in the raffle of a circus) who was about as big and heavy like a rela one. I absolutely loved it.
I guess today kids are no longer allowed to play at those games. Instead they play soacial assiatsnt and drunkard or "global warming activists and bush-haliburtono-hitlerists"
#7
The phone company strung new wire and gave us kids either the old or some scrap, I don't know which. Seemed like a good substitute for rope so we hung an old tire from a tree limb with it. Great swing for a while. Then we discovered metal fatigue. Just added to the thrill - tied off the break and tried to guess how long until it broke again. Or until the knots failed. Learned a lot that way. That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/22/2008 8:21
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#8
We at least you had dirt Glitle all we had were woven Sandspur turf, but we were damn glad to have even that.
#9
I always thought Noo Yawker kids were tough. (That's what my Brooklyn-born daddy told me, anyway.) If their mommies can't handle a little bit of heat from a rubber mat, they'd probably go apoplectic from some of the "character building" I got as a kid (wiping out on blacktop with the pointy rocks sticking out.....during a Phoenix summer.....the good thing is it kinda started the cauterization process and sped up healing. ;) )
Oh....and we had a way to deal with saute-ing your butt on the way down the slide. We'd pour sand on it and slide on that. It did a number on your clothes, true, but it kept your butt from sticking and made it marginally less hot.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
07/22/2008 8:27
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#10
Ah, come on people. This is deep blue country where newborns are becoming as rare as Northern Spotted Owls. Those that are able to escape the knife and suction that waited so many of their brethren even before they made it out of the womb, are nurtured in a sanctuary of artificial banality, created to insure that they at least some make physical adulthood in order to vote to keep the nanny state going. Therefore, the few, the vain, the cuddled are given every protection from the true nature of life. Heck, some day they may even run for President.
#11
We didn't live on a farm, but had good friends that did.
Jumped from the barn rafters into the haymow, climbed the concrete silo (on the outside, using the steel rings that held the whole thing together), threw rotten eggs and cow-pies at each other, and generally appreciated being alive.
In town, my playground experiences were similar to Fred's with the hot, hard, heavy and absolutely excellent equipment. The wife and I try to explain the 'play stuffs' we used and the grandchildren look at us like we were suicidal fools.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/22/2008 9:59
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#12
Nanny Bloomberg! I'm too stupid to make sure my kids wear shoes! Help me! Save my kids feet! Save me from myself!
#13
Fishing, hunting (with real guns), pickup football, baseball, basketball, hockey, hard outdoor work (for real money); those were the ways I spent my time as a kid. Hell of a lot better than playing Nintendo. Taught me a lot about what was real and what wasn't. Contributed mightily to the process that insured I would NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES IMAGINABLE, be a liberal.
#14
We had to walk to school in the dread San Diego winters, uphill, both ways. We couldn't afford shoes, so, to get traction on the icy hill, we wrapped our bare feet with barb wire... and books? Lemme tell you...
WTF is wrong with people nowadays? Bloombergitis?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 10:22
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#15
Folks, there is another creeping danger right underneath your kids' fingers. It is extremely dangerous even though there is a country wide ad campaign not just downplaying the danger but encouraging people and targeting kids in particular. It can be bought over the counter at any store in the nation. The threat: Chedder Cheese. Apparently this contriband is so dangerous it has even labeled 'Sharp' and 'Extra Sharp'. DO NOT let your kids put this menacing "Food Item" in their mouth or run carrying a block.
#16
You know what I saw last friday. An 8 year old on a horse. A real horse, a tall horse. This guy was working cattle, real cattle. And he was good at it. Me, I didn't get much more advanced than BB gun tag.
#17
If you could get a real gang of kids together, nothing beat a good game of Cowboys, Indians, Aliens, Nazis and Dinosaurs. That was some truly bad Saturday morning Sci-Fi theater, you betcha.
And then they opened up the quadruple feature Shaw Brothers Kung Fu cinema, and *really* rotted our brains. Sonny Chiba was a demigod.
#18
Fred, great inlines. Me too. Used to burn my ass on slides all the time. Now kids have water slides. We didn't and those suckers must have been at least 150 F. Same with jungle jims. So hot I had to drop off sometimes. I wish i knew how many times I fell off a merry-go-around. Damn we could get those spinning fast. Good memories. No wonder these kids are fat nowadays. Think about the calories we burned. Not to mention baseball, which we played almost daily. And, rode our bikes miles each day at the fastest speed possible. We had fun, entertained ourselves and burnt off fat. No wonder we could eat all the time. What a shame kids are not safe to play freely like we were. They sit in the house in front of a screen, like us oldtimers now. A great pity.
#21
Inevitable, more Gold's Gyms needed. The Obamamessiah will provide.
Posted by: AL Gore ||
07/22/2008 12:49
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#22
We took the chain guards and reflectors off our bikes, they look cooler that way. Had dirt clod wars, shot stuff with BB guns, played smear the queer, had GI Joe dolls, had a healthy love affair with Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, were actually afraid of the police, and relished the occasional nudie magazine we came across.
Things were much simpler back then, and it wasn't that long ago. I pity these kids, they'll be lucky if they all don't turn out to be browbeaten, metro-sexual, ADD patients.
Michigan summers were spent much the same way, including jumping off the M-89 Bridge at Yorkville into (only God knew how deep ) the river. Now there is a humungous chain link fence up across the entire structure, including land side approaches so the kids now adys can't do that.
no GFIs so you would find out what happened when a bobby pin was stuck in the outlet.
Lawn darts ( the game, not the airplane)
Lawn dart catching.
"Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said signs have been posted in playgrounds warning against going barefoot. "
#24
We use to swipe wooden survey stakes and steel trash can lids and whale on each in "sword fights", have BB gun wars, full contact bicycle races, etc. This generation is going to grow up to be all metro-sexuals.
Posted by: Cowboy is a compliment ||
07/22/2008 14:53
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#25
heh - for real, we had a long concrete driveway, and would set up hockey nets, have bikes pull kids on skateboards with street hockey sticks and pucks. Fun and games til Brent got a compound fractured arm.
Street hockey meets rollerball meets chariot races....Nurse Bloomberg would faint
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/22/2008 15:50
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#26
As long as I've been a parent, and I've encouraged it in all 3 of my kids, I've said: if kids' knees and shins aren't covered with bruises and scabs by the middle of summer, they're not having enough fun.
#27
I had an alley to play in. Street hockey and running bases with the boys, climbing all over the playground equipment. Sand in my clothes? Ok, I was doing laundry by age 9.
I consider it a blessing that my kids have had a weed patch or small woods or something messy to play in, which was considered a no parent zone, except for special occasions when the kids let us see their scrap lumber forts.
#28
This cmoplaint is just stage one, preparing for a class-action lawsuit or something. I can just smell it. "Did you're child incur any harm by playing, or being unable to play on the hot playground?"
#29
I blame Dr. Seuss for the internets, scar tissue, discos, bad gravy, cold phone salesmen, yuppy perspective, thin scabs and drug addiction....
yep!
And today we gottem Gaul Dern overprotective mommies.. who don't know how important trying to fly from your own roof is... sheech..
**
Impressive inline Fred... a keeper.... ~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 17:23
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#30
I almost forgot a few things. We didn't have snow in South Alabama so we would get a cardboard box and "sled" down a hill on pine neetles. You can't steer a cardboard box. Those things could go awfully fast. One time we went frog gigging but there were so many water moccasins we quit trying to gig frogs and started gigging moccasins.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 18:03
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#31
I got tossed off the top of one of those metal slides when I was a kid by another kid a year older than I was. I caught my breath, got up, and went right back up that slide.
That kid and I became best friends after that and we still get drunk together whenever I'm back in Ohio.
Nowadays that kid would've been suspended or expelled and I'd have been rushed to the hospital.
#32
Oh, and if anyone had seen what we did with our toboggans or why we lugged 5-gallon buckets of water a half mile or more out to the top of a hill in the dead of an Ohio winter we'd have gotten our butts tanned till the snow around us melted from the heat.
#33
Me and my 5 brothers used to run around the house with sharp sticks playing 'guns' as we would shoot each other (bang bang!). That and sliding down a grass enbankment with a cardboard sled directly onto a street. Or riding our bikes down the middle of a busy street - right along the centerline with cars going past both ways on the way down to san sayers pits in Lake Washington (where the hydroplane races were held) where we would jump of the docks into the lake (with no lifeguard).
#34
I grew up in a rural area of central Louisiana. We'd go skinny-dipping in the local creek, and always had to post someone as snake and alligator lookout. We rode our bikes through the woods as fast as we could get them going. We built straw forts, had slingshot and chinaberry gun fights, and learned to throw an axe and crack a bullwhip. We'd sometimes get hurt, but no one ever died, even from scorpion stings, wasp stings, and the occasional fire ant nest. Too many of today's children aren't allowed to get dirty, and have virtually NO immunity from the rough, harsh, and sometimes deadly world they live in.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 20:16
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#35
Mine was a BB gun, 2 dogs, a "Rambo" knife and the woods in the Ozarks. All day on the weekends and usually after school. I'd be out after breakfast and be back for dinner. Sometimes my dad would give his loud whistle to call me home and I would whistle back that I was on my way. The chiggers ate me alive more then once. I lived too far out to have friends my own age, but I learn to hunt, track, shoot id poison ivy and build fires better then anyone of my future friends. My dogs were my bestfriends and the woods keep me out of trouble and happy. After a bad divorce I moved back to Missouri and have taken up float trips, camping and hiking with my dog again. I also met a wonderful woman who enjoys the same by chance on the trail. Sometimes you can go back home.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/22/2008 22:50
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Dear Barack: You're wrong about small towns.
By Will Manly of the Hays Daily News, Hays, KS
Dear Barack Obama:
I grew to like you over the last year. I've always thought of you as dangerously naive at best. Eloquent, gifted, genuine, yes. But dangerously naive at best.
I couldn't vote for you - but not because of your funny name or your lunatic pastor. I couldn't vote for you because you say we should raise taxes (even on the rich, who I'm convinced already pay too much), and because you say we should abandon Iraq (which I'm convinced would be surrendering a war we must win), and because you don't respect the Second Amendment (which I'm convinced should disqualify any politician from any office).
Still, I've liked your message of unity and your ability to inspire. And, since your rise I've hunted quite frantically, for young conservative leaders with your talent. (To my relief, I found Bobby Jindal.)
And I've long said if you beat Hillary Clinton, you will have done your country a tremendous service. But ever more I'm having a harder and harder time rooting for you.
First came your wife's comment about being proud of America for the first time - conveniently, right after you started winning primaries. Then came your own words about your grandmother who is just a "typical white person" - a racist, or at least someone with racist tendencies. (I'm a "typical white person," I suppose, and I'm no racist. In fact, little makes me angrier than when it's insinuated I am.)
Sometimes people say things they don't really mean. But this is a pattern.
Recently, we heard your comments about small-town America. Someone at a San Francisco fund-raiser asked you why it's so hard for Democrats to win in rural areas. You said: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them..."
Is that a minority? Hey, Cletus, get the gun! (If only we had a job to go to, some time in the last 25 years).
Here's a thought: Maybe gun rights' voters know gun control laws kill people and steal freedom.
Here's a thought: Maybe some of us have moral objections to an immigration system that forces rule-followers to wait decades for legal status and rewards border-violators with amnesty.
Here's a thought: Maybe some Americans cling to their church because their pastor is a nice person, because they findlove there, because there they have something they can believe in.
Here's a thought: Maybe, just maybe, us simpletons in small towns findit harder to be bigoted than all o' y'all city folks. Maybe in small towns, where everybody knows your name - and how hard you work, if you pay your taxes, how well you treat your neighbors, how often you volunteer in the community, and whether or not you're a good parent - people see the content of your character, so they don't give a hoot about the color of your skin. (But I grew up in a small town where about a third of the population is of a different race than me. What do I know?)
And here's my favorite thought of all: Maybe smalltown folks are - really - capable of thinking. All on our own.
You're wrong about why small-town Americans don't vote for Democrats.
We don't vote for Democrats because we're selfreliant, so we don't like the government trying to "solve" everything for us. And because you tell your rich friends in San Francisco that we're dumb. And because, each election, whichever one of you is running for president traipses all over the country telling us you have all the answers, that you're the one on our side, that you understand and respect our way of life.
But each time, a little bit here and there slips out - and by the end of the campaign, we can tell what you really think about us. And we manage to learn who you really are.
#1
Mr. Manly is absolutely correct. The idiots who look down on small-town people are just that, idiots. Just because the town is small doesn't mean the inhabitants have small intellects or small hearts. Bama's condescending attitude won't go unnoticed by those folks, and he'll pay the price at the polls.
BTW, the people I knew when I lived in a small town could generally take care of themselves and their families through tough times a heck of a lot better than most of the big-city types I met later. There was and is a lot of truth in that song "A Country Boy Can Survive."
#5
Don't be too sure about Virginia. The minority vote in Richmond and Tidewater is substantial, and the northern Virginia vote has been Dhimmicratic for a while. I think McCain will pull it out but I think Obama has a chance there, enough that he'll pro'ly spend time and money.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 11:57
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(VOI) - Two Iraqi soldiers were killed by al-Qaeda gunmen in the city of Mosul, the Multi-National Force-Iraq said in a statement on Monday. "The two soldiers were killed when their vehicle patrol was attacked by al-Qaeda gunmen using light weapons," said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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It may be hard for most people to believe that our defense establishment is in a serious decline at a time when we are spending more than $400 billion a year on defense, excluding supplemental appropriations. However, the facts bear out this alarming state of affairs.9 U.S. defense forces will continue to shrink and age, and we rapidly will cease being a dominant military force in the world, unless we make major changes soon. To avoid failure, leaders need to focus on fixing basic problem causes, not treating the symptoms. The problems have been self-inflicted; the solutions can be as well.
#1
Yet, with a few small administrative changes, the problem vanishes. To start with, cost overruns:
1) Once designs are formalized in a contract agreement with a contractor, modifications to those designs can only be made in the next production contract, not the existing one. This alone will eliminate almost 1/3rd of cost overruns.
2) Contractors must be bonded and insured by major non-government underwriters for cost overruns prior to bidding. Thus low-balling bids will come out of their pocket, or their underwriters. The same rule applies for shakedown repairs.
3) Upgrades are limited to modular replacements, not structural modifications, which must be next-gen.
#2
Moose, from the perspective of someone who has been in the defense business on one side or the other for over 30 years, most program cost overruns arise from the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative ignoring what the contractor proposed (and based his costs upon) and demanding whatever change happens to strike his fancy. Procurements are competitively awarded based on technical proposals AND price. If the Government can't be bothered to accept what was proposed, it shouldn't be surprised when costs are adjusted to cover the new demands. In a few particularly horrific examples, the Government never can make up its mind what it wants and the program slowly dies as all the time and money are frittered away leaving the troops screwed again.
#3
Moose, another thought about structural modifications. Many times structural mods are necessary to keep the old stuff flying. A case in point is the current C-130 center wing box replacement. From a more personal perspective, back in the early 70s, three B-52Ds crashed into the Pacific off the end of the runway at Anderson AFB when fatigued metal gave way and a wing fell off during takeoff. Structural modifications were made under RIVET PLANK (essentially welding an I-beam across the wing root) and later PACER PLANK to keep them flying. As for other structural mods, the BIG BELLY mod allowed the B-52D to use all the space in the bomb bay increasing the internal carrying capacity to 84 500lb bombs. Both mods were certainly cheap at twice the price.
When Genarl Motors was required to build comabt planes during WWII she had to make a cultural adjustment: she was used to keep the same model in production with zeo modifications for years in order to cut cost while the military was constantly requiring modifications. Most of them were too small for introducing a new model but they required modifying the production cahin, decreaded production and increased costs. But this was what the pilots facing comabat had asked for.
#5
The cost of fuel to keep all of it running is exhorbitant, adding to expenditures. UAV fuel is about three times more than the average for regular to begin with. An energy policy and new technologies are simply a national security issue and imperative for our own defense.
#6
The military is using up gear bought when the DoD spent 6% of GDP. Now that the military gets 3% GDP, excluding war costs, contraction is inevitable.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 12:03
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#7
Politics also plays a huge role for inflating costs. The DoD and the appropriations committee has their own version of pork. A senator's pet project that the DoD doesn't need or want gets pushed in since it will go to his/her own state and it won't be the lowest/best bidder either.
#8
If you played real accounting games and moved retired pay and medical support out of the DoD budget lines, you'd be amazed how much gets opened up. However, like Social Security, the people cooking the nation's books [i.e. Congress] don't want that long term obligation to appear to zero out the rest of the budget. As with Social Security, if people saw it and demanded obligation on the contract, there'd be no 'slack' for all those lovely earmarks and set asides. These people ought to be selling sub-prime paper. Oh, wait...never mind.
#9
And don't forget that COngress gives the DoD their allowance; as they change their mind, the DoD is forced to make changes in programs and when total number of units to be bought gets cut, that drives the individual unit cost up, as R & D and design are independnet of quantity. and if the production is forced to be stretched out, that also drives up unit cost and the downward spiral begins. Think back to the B-2 program; originally over a 100, finally shut the line down @ 22. pretty spendy silver bullet.
and no plan for attrition either.
Pakistan's immigration authorities issued immediate deportation orders yesterday for an American girl awaiting an uncertain destiny holed up in an Islamic seminary.
Muna Abanur Mohammed is among the eight students at Jamia Binoria, a leading madrasa in southern port city of Karachi, who were placed on a blacklist last month by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, due to the expiration of their religious education visas to study Qur'an.
"Yes we have received the deportation orders but we will not hand her over," Maulana Mufti Mohammed Naeem, founder and head of the madrasa, a 12-acre sprawling walled compound seminary, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). "No one could dare come near a one-mile radius of our compound," he said.
"Yes we have received the deportation orders but we will not hand her over," Maulana Mufti Mohammed Naeem, founder and head of the madrasa, a 12-acre sprawling walled compound seminary, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). "No one could dare come near a one-mile radius of our compound," he said.
Senior immigration officers at state Federal Investigation Agency, requesting anonymity, said they had no immediate instructions from the federal authorities to carry out any swoop against the madrasa to remove students holed up inside.
Meanwhile, a US Embassy official in Islamabad said they were closely watching the situation. "We are aware and monitoring the situation," Press Attache Megan Eliss said. A madrasa insider told DPA that the US Embassy was in constant touch with the girl.
So far, out of the eight students, two American teens, known as the Khan brothers, were removed last week by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Pakistani authorities and sent back to Atlanta, Georgia, following the intervention by US Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas.
Both brothers were evacuated following a documentary "Karachi Kids" shown by US-based Fox Television, which claimed that teens were forced to study at Jamia Binoria. Naeemi said the madrasa would try its level best to negotiate with the Pakistan government for an extension of Muna's visa.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Muna Abanur Mohammed is among the eight students at Jamia Binoria, a leading madrasa
#2
Anyone requesting a visa to visit Pakistan in order to go to this madrasa should have the Visa denied. Anyone that lies about their Pak visit to go to this Madrasa should have their passport revoked.
And anyone from the Madrasa trying to visit the US should of course be denied a visa.
A Yemeni women's rights group in has branded a recent fatwa issued by Muslim clerics as being anti-Islamic for banning women from running for election and warning them not to leave their homes, recent press reports said.
The fatwa was circulated during a conference of religious scholars held earlier this week, the Yemen Observer reported on Saturday.
In a booklet entitled, "The Letter of Yemen's Clerics on Women's Quota," the clerics said it is haram (forbidden) for women to be members of parliament, or hold any other position of leadership, and warned women against leaving their homes.
"We warn against opening the door for women, who will get out of their houses and mix with men," the clerics stated in a booklet distributed during a meeting, according to UAE daily Gulf News. "Women getting out of their houses and mixing with men in places of work will lead to non-marital relations...loss of decency, adultery and illegal children," the booklet said.
The Yemeni Women's Union (YWU) issued a strongly worded statement against the religious decree, saying the fatwa aimed to reduce the value and importance of the role of women in building the society, the paper added.
Gulf News reported on Sunday that the Union had also demanded that parliament condemn the fatwa and was due to meet the speaker and other MPs later in the week. "This fatwa is against Islam, against equality between men and women stipulated by the Quran," Ramziah Al Eryani, chairperson of the Yemen Women Union, told Gulf News. "We want to tell them that this is completely against democracy, against human rights, against civil society and against the multiparty system," Al Eryani added.
The fatwa was seen as an attack on a controversial proposal by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to allocate 15 percent of parliamentary seats to women in the upcoming elections in April 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Looks like the new "Committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice" will be busy right from the get go...
(Xinhua) -- Israeli settlers fired on Monday a homemade rocket at two villages south of the West Bank city of Nablus, causing no injuries, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.
Hani Abdelatif, member of the municipal council of the village of Awarta told reporters that a 40-centimeter homemade rocket landed on Monday afternoon on a valley between the villages of Awarta and Odla south of Nablus, causing no damages or injuries.
Palestinian security sources said it is the first time that Jewish settlers fire homemade rockets at Palestinian villages near Nablus.
The sources said a group of settlers, belonging to one of the Jewish schools in the settlement of Yitzhar south of Nablus, are responsible for making the rockets and fire it at Palestinian villages.
A statement issued by the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah said the Palestinian National Authority condemned the homemade rockets attacks and called on Israel to arrest the group and stop the attacks of the Palestinians.
Settlements expansion in the West Bank is a major obstacle for achieving a progress in the Middle East peace process.
Gaza militant groups were launching homemade rockets from Gaza Strip at southern Israeli communities. However, they stopped their rockets attacks following a truce brokered by Egypt between Gaza and Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#2
However, they stopped their rockets attacks following a truce brokered by Egypt between Gaza and Israel.
So who was shooting the rockets at Israel?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 0:59
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#3
Jewish people have an extraordinary reputation for being both intelligent and capable. I deeply and sincerely, with every bit of my heart, hope that some of these settlers will improvise a MOAB/daisy cutter and fire it across the border into Gaza, wiping some garbage dump village over there absolutely slick. Such an occurrence is LONG, LONG, LONG OVERDUE!
Olmert and their defense establishment have failed the Jewish people. If there is any hope whatsoever for Israel, it's going to come from a grassroots movement that will begin with things like this.
#5
A statement issued by the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah said the Palestinian National Authority condemned the homemade rockets attacks and called on Israel to arrest the group and stop the attacks of the Palestinians.
#6
A 40 cm rocket is about 16 inches long and would be a hobby rocket for kids here in the US. However the phsycological (sp?) affect on the Paleo's and the Israeli government seems to be much greater than one would expect. Perhaps they are afraid that these things will be more than toys at a later date.
I note that the Paleo's don't like even a little of their own medicine.
#14
When I was a kid, we used to make homemade cannon out of used 1-lb coffee cans. We'd wrap 'em about 40 times in wire (either chicken wire or barbed wire, something with a little give, but strong), pour in a half-inch of black powder (stolen from fireworks), put a piece of cheesecloth on top, pack about 2 inches of nuts, bolts, washers, rusty nails, etc., on top, and cover with some softened but not melted beeswax. We'd put a fuse in the back, and prop the "cannon" up against a tree or a stump, light the fuse, and RUN. As long as the "cannon" didn't slip, it fired the way we wanted it to. It'll clear out a path through underbrush about five feet wide and 20 feet deep, but it as to be fired pretty close to what you want to hit. Anything over about 75 feet away is safe. Still, I'm sure that such things would make a paleostain think three times before entering somewhere he shouldn't be.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 16:44
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#15
Wonder if something like the Plugot Mahatz could spring up if this continues.
(Xinhua) -- Singapore said here on Monday it did not rule out the possibility that Mas Selamat, head of the country's Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network, has escaped to foreign countries.
"We obviously cannot dismiss the possibility that Mas Selamat could have managed to escape Singapore for another country. Singapore is not a fortress," said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng in the Parliamenton Monday.
Wong said that Singapore's security agencies have so far not received any information from their Indonesian counterparts to confirm that the fugitive is hiding in the neighboring country.
However, if Mas Selamat has escaped abroad, Wong said, the city state will work with the relevant foreign counterparts to track him down and bring him back to justice in Singapore.
Meanwhile, two private individuals in Singapore have offered a cash reward of 1 million Singapore dollars (one U.S. dollar equals1.35 Singapore dollars) for information leading to the apprehension of Mas Selamat inside or outside Singapore.
Mas Selamat, who was wanted by the Singaporean authorities in connection with planned attacks on the Changi airport, was arrested by the Indonesian police on Bintan island in 2006 and then sent back to Singapore. But he escaped from Singapore's Whitley road detention center later February this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
He better hope he has escaped because I wouldn't want to be an 'enemy of the state' in Singapore. I have lived there and being on their s**t-list is not something anyone would want to aspire to, believe me.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 12:59
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Moscow, July 21 (RIA Novosti) Russian combat aircraft could be stationed in Cuba in a bid to counter US plans to deploy a missile shield in central Europe, a Russian daily reported Monday. Moscow has strongly opposed the planned deployment by the US of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic as a threat to its security. 'While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will be landing in Cuba,' a high-placed military aviation source told the Izvestia newspaper. That'll make the U.S. Air Force very, very happy. They haven't had live targets to practice on in a while. And just before budget submission time as well.
Meanwhile, Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the Russia's defence ministry's department for international cooperation, told the newspaper that Cuba could be used as a refueling stopover for Russian aircraft rather than a permanent base. On the way south to visit your friend Hugo, perhaps?
The October of 1962 saw a tense standoff between the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union after the latter stationed its missile in Cuba. The Cuban missile crisis was resolved after the then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the removal of the missiles.
#4
The big o would probably let them refuel (have a snack, take some pictures, get free health care, etc.) at Whiting, Pensacola or even Gitmo if 'there aren't enough resources' at San Antonio de los Baños.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/22/2008 9:50
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#8
What's that expression about history repeating itself - and farce?
We've got Obama the farce waiting, now for the history repeat.....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/22/2008 13:54
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#9
THis is another chance for GWB to show some balls; but if history is any forecaster, i suspect he will roll over, in preparation for the Obamaeister.
#10
As Green Steve writes, the U.S. Air Force will enjoy the live targets. President Bush appears to be setting up for action against Iran, which is much more important. If Russia started something at this end of the world, they'd lose at their end pretty quickly, no matter how involved we are with other things, and they know it.
#12
Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday. "If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff.
He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis.
It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.
In his confirmation hearing to become the air force's chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba. "I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," he said.
#13
I've been known to be wrong, USN, Ret. Fortunately, time keeps flowing (or perhaps we do -- that's physics beyond my capabilities), so we'll find out soon enough. ;-)
#14
Russia will put combat aircraft in Cuba when the Cuban (or Venezuela) pay for them. Russia does nothing for free anymore. This is bluster to make a point.
#15
Son, Russians don't take a dump without a plan. And senior captains don't start something this dangerous without having thought the matter through.
#16
An empty bluster. The US and our F-15s, F-16s and F-22s with the AIM-120s can clear out anything coming our way with ease. However, it is a very clear message that Russia is not our friend and is willing to act like it.
The question is whether Washington takes notice and/or cares.
#21
No surpise here - Iff VALDVEDEV is truly intent on countering US GMD, and given Russia's ongoing econ probs, tech- and national weaknesses despite reforms, then it would be practical for Russia to consider emplacing milfors back in Cuba as well as other host nations [read - HUGO]. FOR ME THE REAL CONCERN IS NOTSOMUCH CUBA, etc, BUT WHAT RUSSIA WILL DEPLOY IN THE EASTERN PACIIFC OFF THE US WEST COAST, HAWAII, AND ALCAN, vv "HUGGING THE WAIST/COASTLINES" OF CONUS-NORAM. Besides improved Russ NavBoomer and SLCM/LACM Subs and Surface Warfare vessels, Russia MAY ALSO CHOOSE TO DEPLOY "ARSENAL SHIPS" TASK GROUPS OR UNITS IN PRE-DETERMIN PATROL AREAS AND EQUIPPED WID A VARIETY OF LR NUKE MISSLES.
"COMPARATIVE/ASYMMETRIC ADVANTAGES" > No nation on Earth has nor can afford US-STYLE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND IN NUMBERS. WHAT RUSSIA HAS IS SURFACE SHIPS, SUBS, AND MERCHANT VESSELS. A PROPERLY CONVERTED 800-1000 FOOT MERCHANT MISSLE CARRIER CAN CARRY A WHOLE LOTTA LACMS, IRBMS + ICBMS, INCLUDING RELOADS, AS WELL AS BMD AND SPAWAR.
Its called SHORT-DISTANCE, "OVER WATER", "SATURATION" MISSLE ATTACK INCLUD "POINT" ATTACK. This is exclusive of SHKVAL-style underwater maneuver missle attack concepts + USV/"Mothership" Techs, etc.
ALSO GOOD FOR KEEPING THE CHINESE AWAKE AS PER RUSSO-CHINESE MILPOL COMPETITION FOR SCO-CSTO + EURASIAN "POLE POSITION" = DOMINANCE.
#22
Might be a fun exercise to see if the fighters can run the Bears out of fuel.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 20:05
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#23
Theres also the FUTURE OWG-NORTH AMER UNION SOCAL-BAJA + CARIBBEAN/PAN-AMER FREE TRADE ZONES, as GEOPOL = GEO STRATEGIC HEDGE AGZ THE USA = FUTURE USSA/USR.
Our sacred ARROGANT NATIONAL FASCISM = ALMOST-MOTHERLY LIMITED COMMUNISM.
Forty-three people, including nine paramilitary personnel, have been killed and many more injured in fierce clashes between the security forces and militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province.
An engineer of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited was also among the dead. Many persons were injured, some of them seriously, in two days of fighting between the security forces and militants in Uch area of Dera Bugti district, sources in the paramilitary Frontier Corps told a news agency.
Eight militants were killed on Saturday while the rest were killed yesterday. Heavy weapons, including rockets and mortars, were used in the clashes.
The security forces also arrested nine injured militants and recovered a huge cache of arms from their possession. The injured militants were shifted to the provincial capital of Quetta for treatment and interrogation.
Frontier Corps personnel also arrested over two dozen other armed men and seized weapons and ammunition from their possession.
The clashes erupted after the militants targeted a gas installation in Uch area on Saturday night. Intermittent exchanges of fire between security forces and militants continued yesterday.
A spokesman of the Baloch Republican Army claimed that its members had killed "many" security forces personnel but this could not be independently confirmed. The spokesman also accused the security forces of killing innocent tribesmen.
The security forces said they had destroyed two camps from which the militants were launching attacks on gas installations and security personnel, a newspaper reported. Three militant commanders were among the dead, official sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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A 60-year old Saudi man who was set to marry a 10-year old girl--he 'won' in a bet with her father--has postponed his marriage after protests from human rights groups, press reports revealed.
The fate of the little girl was decided after her father dared the elderly man to marry a second wife and teased him about being afraid of his current wife. The elderly man accepted the challenge and asked for his daughter's hand in marriage, Saudi newspaper Al-Madina reported. The father couldn't retract the challenge and accepted the proposal, asking for a 100,000 riyal dowry, the paper said, adding the two men finalized the marriage procedures and the couple even underwent pre-marital tests, which shocked staff at the lab.
The Saudi National Human Rights Association sent a letter to the Emir of the northwestern city Hail, where the girl lives, and to court to stop the union. The Association stated that the union is in violation of the international treaty for the protection of children from early marriages, of which Saudi Arabia is a signatory. The residents of Hail shared the same sentiments and were actually the ones who demanded that the Association intercede to stop the marriage.
Last March, the Association stopped the marriage of a 12-year old boy and his 11-year old cousin in the southwestern province of Jizan.
Saudi sociologist Abdullah Al-Harbi said that in these kinds of marriages the father technically sells his daughter, since the groom-to-be usually pays huge amounts of money to marry a younger girl to "satisfy his sexual desires." "These marriages usually end up in failure, and the girl usually goes through trauma due to living with a man who is much older," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
The important part of this story is that it was the social rejection of the marriage that prevented it, not the government action. The social sanction in a place is always far more powerful than the law. And this shows there is some social evolution taking place in Saudi.
Vincent Geloso
Last week, Israel secured the release of the bodies of two soldiers who had been kidnapped by Hezbollah. Thousands of Israelis honoured Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were relieved that they could offer them a proper burial. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was present to support the families of the two soldiers in this time of sorrow.
In the meanwhile, Hezbollah supporters celebrated the return of Samir Kantar. The President of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, greeted him warmly on the tarmac of the Beirut airport. His and others' liberation was the prize for reclaiming the bodies of the two soldiers. A spokesman from Hezbollah pronounced the exchange a day of "national pride" for Lebanon, adding, "there won't be any explosion today". Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, made a rare public appearance to celebrate the release of Kantar. But what exactly had this man done to deserve imprisonment in Israel?
In 1979, Kantar shot three Israelis and subsequently murdered a four year-old girl by striking her repeatedly on the head with a rock. In 2004, Israel negotiated an exchange of prisoners (three bodies and a colonel for 450 Palestinians and 60 bodies), but refused to release Samir Kantar who had been implicated in the Palestinian Liberation Front but not Hezbollah. In 2006, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israelis soldiers in order to negotiate the release of Kantar and thus started the war of 2006.
So Kantar, a child killer, was proclaimed a hero in Lebanon and was photographed with a bemused face making fascist-like salutes to the crowd of Hezbollah supporters. In the meantime, we witness thousands of Israelis sharing the sorrow of the widows mourning their husbands. Can you imagine a starker contrast? Actually you don't need to, since Quebec newspaper La Presse illustrated it for you (see picture).
Ehud Goldwasser's brother, Chlomo, summarized this by saying, "the Lebanese sacrificed over 700 soldiers and thousands of civilians on top of a full year of its economy and for what? This child killer? I wish to say that I pity Lebanon for sacrificing so much for so little." Can you really disagree with that?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the founding president of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have signed an agreement on the framework for formal talks. Mr. Mbeki said that the agreement commits the parties to an intense program to finalize negotiations as soon as possible.
Mr. Mbeki said all the parties recognize the urgency of the issues they will negotiate and are committed to completing the process as soon as possible. An African diplomat close to the process earlier told VOA the MDC was anxious to set deadlines for conclusion of negotiations within two weeks; and also time frames for implementation of any agreements reached in the talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Which only means that Mugabe's thugs are now free to kill Tsvangirai's supporters after sundown and not after sun-up.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 13:01
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(VOI) -- The leader of the Iraqi Umma Party Mathal al-Alousi on Monday accused whom he described as "sectarianists and murderers" of detonating his Baghdad-based family house earlier today. "Sectarianists, killers and other groups were provoked by our project to return displaced persons, prompting them to blow up the house of the family in al-Jame'a neighborhood, western Baghdad," MP Alousi said in statements to the press, according to a correspondent for Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI). The parliamentarians did not name the so-called "sectarianists and murderers."
Earlier today, unidentified gunmen detonated the house of the mother of independent MP Alousi in a western Baghdad neighborhood, causing the house, which was empty at the time of the blast, to collapse, a police source said. Last week, MP Alousi led a demonstration demanding the return of hundreds of families, who have been displaced from their original places in Baghdad's western neighborhoods of al-Adl and al-Jame'a.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Acting Mayor BNP leader Moniruzzaman Moni, who is seeking election to his post, is 'concerned' as he can not rely on his Jamaat vote bank in the coming Khulna City Corporation (KCC) election.
Local leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami have informed him of their 'inability to work for him' in campaign as the party has decided to boycott local body elections.
Thre are over 16,000 voters belonging to Jamaat in the city, who largely contributed to victory of Sheikh Tayebur Rahman in last KCC election in 2002.
Jamaat worked actively in favour of Tayebur, which made him winner in the polls race against Awami League (AL) candidate advocate Enayet Ali, a top leader of the party told this correspondent.
Tayebur Rahman of BNP defeated Enayet Ali in 2002 KCC elections with support of Jamaat and Chatra Shibir.
"But this time, the situation is quite different as we have stayed out of KCC polls because of the decision of four-party alliance", said Khulna city Jamaat Ameer Mian Golam Parwar.
Moni is facing a tough situation and feeling embarrassed due to silence of Jamaat, which is an important factor in election this time, he said.
Contacted, Moni said, "I hope that a surprise is waiting for me when four-party alliance will reconsider its decision and officially declare me its mayoral candidate. If it so happens, then I will defeat all my rivals in KCC polls".
On the other hand, city Jamaat Ameer Parwar said his party did never believe in political hypocrisy. "We adhere to the decision of the central body of four-party alliance to stay out of local body polls. So, our leaders, workers and also supporters have been asked not to go to polling centers", he said.
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07/22/2008
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A state security court in Sanaa imposed a media gag order yesterday in the trial of three opposition leaders charged with stirring up violent protests in southern Yemen earlier this year.
Presiding judge Muhssien Alwan issued the order at the start of the second hearing into the case, saying that the gag order applied to both local and foreign media. Police officers guarding the court's gate prevented journalists from entering even before the judge issued the ban. When the highly publicized trial began on May 28, journalists were allowed into the courtroom.
Hassan Baoum, Yahya Al-Shouaibi and Ali Al-Gharib, all senior members of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party, are charged with instigating civil disorder. The Yemeni authorities charge the three men incited violent protests and riots that hit several southern cities.
Protests and riots hit several southern Yemeni cities where disgruntled youths took to the streets in April to protest what they called discriminatory army recruiting policies against southerners.
On Sunday, a court in southern Yemen convicted 22 people of instigating violent protests, handed down six-month suspended jail terms. The court acquitted 10 other men. Prosecutors had charged the group with endangering the country's security through stirring up violent protests in April.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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By R.K. Ohri, IPS (Retd.) Bangladesh has become the major operational ground for waging proxy war against India. Pakistan's ISI and Al Qaeda have a grand design to set up a caliphate from Indonesia to Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, via India and through Pakistan right into the Balkans. In this global Islamic design India is the only obstacle, populated by non-Muslims.
During last three decades there has been a quantum jump in economic distress caused by growing unemployment all over the northeast, especially in Assam. As mentioned by the Chief Minister of Assam in August 2004, there were more than two million unemployed youth in Assam alone, an abnormally high figure by national standards. It could be an underestimate because the State's economic survey for 2003-2004 revealed that employment exchanges had 15,71,996 job-seekers. As a rule, the employment exchange figures are underestimated to the extent of 30 to 40 per cent because the rural unemployed don't come to register themselves in Employment Exchanges. Obviously the state has more than 20 to 25 lakh unemployed youth. Anyone can guess, what could be the jobs and livelihood resources usurped by Bangladeshis? Census 2001 had placed the population of Assam at 2,66,55,528. As per census 1991, the proportion of Assemese-speaking people in Assam was less than 40 per cent indicating that they have already become a minority in their ancestral homestead. That should give us an idea of the size of Bangla influx which could be 70 to 80 lakh. It means that at least 30 to 35 lakh jobs and livelihood resources have been usurped by Bangladeshis in Assam alone. Among the poorest sections of society both in India and Bangladesh, at least two members of the family (often both father and mother) work to keep the kitchen fires burning. Thus Nandy is not far wrong in saying that by pushing 15 per cent of its population into India, Bangladesh has imposed a heavy economic burden on Indian citizens. And this burden is borne by the poorest of the poor living on the margin of starvation because they are the first victim of loss of livelihood sources and petty jobs.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Compare wid WAFF.com > YOUTUBE - [IIRC] A SIGN OF FUTURE ETHNIC/RACIAL STRIFE IN AMERICA??? AZTLAN = "the Reconquista" of many parts of old Mexico north of the Rio Grande and throughout the US Southwest, Texas and California???
(VOI) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Monday during his meeting with visiting U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that developments in Iraq will determine the presence of foreign troops in the country. "Al-Maliki stressed that developments on the ground will enable Iraqi and U.S. sides to agree on a clear vision regarding the presence of troops, noting that the two sides agreed during their negotiations on the long-term agreement," according to a statement released by al-Maliki's office and received by Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
A declaration of principles was signed between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008 to be effective as of January 1, 2009. The agreement governs the U.S. forces' presence in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence currently relies on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government. The agreement should not be effective except after endorsement by the 275-member Iraqi Parliament, which comprises five political blocs, the Fadhila (Virtue) Party and the Sadrist Bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. "We now have a strong government which saved Iraq from terrorism," al-Maliki added, expressing his optimism regarding realizing the Iraqis' ambitions in security, stability and economic prosperity," he also said.
"For his part, Obama congratulated al-Maliki on the achievements made by his government, hailing the U.S.-Iraqi relations and the developments in the country," the statement said. "The U.S. senator told al-Maliki that the American people seek to have strategic relations with Iraq, asserting the U.S. commitment to maintain Iraq's security and stability," it added.
A cabinet media source had said earlier that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and visiting U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama discussed a number of topics including the future of U.S. military presence in Iraq. "Maliki received Obama as soon as he arrived in Baghdad and the two sides discussed the possibility of U.S. troop cuts in Iraq," the source, who asked that he is name not be revealed, told the VOI.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
But this was published in Iraq. When will the US press pick it up?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008 6:44
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(VOI) — The parliamentary Sadr bloc on Monday expressed fears that the Iraqi-U.S. long-term security agreement currently being debated may transfer the situation from an occupation to a sort of mandate.
"This agreement would change the direct occupation to a sort of mandate," lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaee said in a press conference in Baghdad.
"There is a contradiction in the statements made by the Iraqi government regarding this treaty," he said. "Is it a security agreement, strategic treaty, or mutual cooperation protocol?" he added. "It became a protocol to ensure that it would not be enacted by the Parliament," he noted.
From his side, Salih al-Igaili, lawmaker of the Sadr bloc, said "there are U.S. pressures on the Iraqi negotiator to change the agreement's title." "It went down from a treaty to an agreement in order not to be admitted to U.S. Congress," he added. "It also went further down to a memorandum of understanding so that it will not require the Iraqi Parliament's approval," he asserted.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Police in the Swedish city of Stockholm on Wednesday arrested former Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority, Sylvere Ahorugeze, who is accused of having masterminded the 1994 Genocide. The development was confirmed yesterday by the Rwandan Ambassador to Sweden Jacqueline Mukangira by telephone. "He had accompanied his wife to the embassy. She wanted to have a Rwandan passport and to be registered for the new identity card," said Mukangira.
According to John Bosco Mutangana who is in charge of the Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit, Ahorugeze is accused of having participated in the killing of hundreds of Tutsis especially in Gikondo, a Kigali City suburb. "He personally exterminated families of Tutsis with an automatic rifle with which he freely moved throughout the Genocide we know about these families but we cannot reveal their names for security purposes of the surviving members," Mutangana said.
According to prosecution, Ahorugeze had first been arrested in Denmark but was subsequently released provisionally under unclear grounds. "We had provided compelling evidence to the Danish prosecutors including forensic results of the atrocities by this man but it remains a surprise that he was later released," Mutangana said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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(VOI) -- The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court on Monday commenced the first session to try the Friday Prayers case, which is related to events that occurred in Sadr City and Kufa in 1999. 14 former Iraqi officials under Saddam Hussein are being tried in this case. The semi-official Iraqiya TV station broadcast the session that was headed by Chief Justice Mohammed Uraiby. This case is the fifth that has been tried by this court since it was formed in 2003, after the cases of al-Dujail, al-Anfal, Shaabaniya Uprising, and merchants' execution.
The session embraced confirming attorneys' authorizations, and addressing charges to defendants. Among this case's defendants are Ali Hassan al-Majeed, Tareq Aziz, Abid Hmod, Sabir al-Dori, Sbaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, Lateef Nsayef Jassim, Mohammed Zmam, Jassim Mohammed Hachim, Ugla Abid Segar, Ahmed Hameed Mahmod, and Aziz Salih al-Noman. When Justice Uraiby asked defendant al-Majeed about his name, he replied "I am an old customer," in reference to having been tried by the court in previous cases.
This case goes back to 1999 on the eve of assassinating Sayyid Mohammed Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr (Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's father) and his two sons in Kufa city in February 19, 1999, and the security tensions that Sadr City had witnessed when the two mosques of al-Muhsen and al-Hikma were attacked, and tens of prayer-goers were killed or arrested by Saddam Hussein's security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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At least 16 people died, including seven children, in two separate attacks in the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials said.
Islamist fighters clashed with government soldiers at Towfik junction in the north of the city yesterday, said Jamaal Hassan Mo'alim, a resident of the area. Five students at a local Quranic school were killed in the crossfire, he said. The victims were aged between 6 and 13. Three of them were siblings. ``Four students died on the spot after an artillery shell landed as they were running from their Quranic school,'' Mo'alim said. ``Another one died in the hospital later.''
Somalia has been wracked by violence since the government ejected Islamic fighters from southern and central areas of the Horn of Africa nation in January 2007. The United Nations estimates 1 million Somalis have been displaced within the country as people flee the fighting. al-Qaeda wants to establish a caliphate, or Islamic government, in the country.
In today's attacks, two other teenagers died after a shell landed on a football field at Sukba'ad village, in northern Mogadishu, while they were playing soccer, said Ahmed Salad, a resident.
Sheikh Abdi Rihin Isse Adow, a spokesman for the Islamist fighters, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said nine soldiers were killed in the confrontation. Muhiden Hansen Jures, a district commissioner in Towfik junction, denied any Somali government troops died.
Convoy Ambushed
In a separate incident in the southern Shabelle region yesterday, Islamist fighters ambushed a convoy of newly trained soldiers traveling from Baidoa, seat of the nation's parliament, to Mogadishu, said Deeko Warfa Hersi, a resident.
Colonel Dahir Mohamed Hersi, an army spokesman, said 12 Islamist fighters were killed in the battle. Those killed included an Iraqi and a Pakistani, he said. ``Only one soldier was wounded during the battle, but we killed 12,'' Hersi said.
Sheikh Muktar Ali Robow Abu Mansoor, a spokesman for the al-Shabaab militia, claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy. ``Three of our martyrs died and three others were wounded, but we killed several of them, although it was night and it was not possible to count,'' he said in a teleconference with reporters in Mogadishu late yesterday. He denied any foreign fighters were involved in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said yesterday that Damascus was keen to open a new chapter in its relations with Lebanon and to delineate the border between the two countries. "Our relations today are on an equal footing," Muallem told a news conference after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on the first such visit by a high-ranking Syrian official in more than three years.
"There is a new consensus president who has trustworthy ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad, and this can help resolve a lot of outstanding issues," he added. Lebanon and Syria said earlier this month that they had agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
During his hours-long visit, Muallem handed an invitation to Suleiman from his Syrian counterpart to travel to Damascus, a trip the Lebanese press said would take place within a week or 10 days.
The two men also discussed the issue of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, the delineation of the border between both countries and the fate of hundreds of Lebanese who vanished during Syria's rule in Lebanon.
"There is nothing to prevent the demarcation of the borders but we must take into account the fact that many Syrian and Lebanese villages are intertwined and whether this would harm residents," Muallem said. "Still, if we must delineate the border, we are ready."
He added that placing the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon under UN administration would in no way signify an end to Israel's occupation of that area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
"placing the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon under UN administration would in no way signify an end to Israel's occupation of that area"
Cause da Joos can occupy a place even when theyre not there. We defy the usual limits of space and time, cause of, er, Einstein, thats it, Einstein.
(VOI) -- The National Dialogue Front (NDF) on Monday held a conference in Basra demanding to limit "Iran's intervention in Iraq's issues," according to the NDF's Basra branch's secretary general. "Many Iraqis know that Iran has the biggest role in destroying Iraq, by supporting militias and intervening in Iraq's local issues," Adnan al-Mousawi said in his speech during the conference. "Due to those parameters, we addressed an invitation to the Iranian government last June to put an end to those acts and to employ dialogue and consensus to solve problems," he said.
"We were surprised that the Iranian government disregarded and ignored the invitation," he added. "We renew our invitation to the Iranian government to stop those acts, to respond to Iraqis demands, to apologize for what it has done to innocents who were targeted by militias supported by Iran, and to compensate those who fell or were injured in sabotage, kidnapping, killing, and detonation operations," he noted.
"The ultimatum will last until September 1; otherwise, we in cooperation with many sides that support these demands will employ legal measures to restore the Iraqi rights, and will conduct a campaign to boycott the Iranian products," he proceeded. "We demand to stop supporting the political sides that work for Iran's interest and supported by Iran, and to end the Iranian influence through parties and figures in Iraq," he asserted.
"From his side, Awadh al-Abdan, NDF's senior member in Basra, said "The NDF made an initiative recently to solve pending issues between the Iranian government and the Iraqi people, but it was surprised that the Iranian government ignored and disregarded this matter. This is evidence that the Iranian government does not care about the Iraqi blood and destruction in Iraq. The Iranian government should be aware that Iraq's Shiites are at the leading position to encounter Iran's domination. There are many evidences regarding the Iranian involvement in Iraq; a matter that increases venomous Iraqis on the Iranian government."
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07/22/2008
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One of the arrested suspects in the June 8 kidnapping of broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and three others, including Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo, said he was only an errand boy of the group that abducted the news team and the professor in Sulu last June.
The suspect, identified by authorities as 18-year old Nadzmir Amirul, said that when the kidnappers arrived at their place in the village of Timpook in Patikul, he and another companion were hired to watch over the victims.
Aside from serving as guard, Amirul, also known as Abu Kudama, according to the military, cooked and fetched water for the kidnappers and the victims.
He said when ransom was paid, he got P50,000 as payment for his services.
When asked why the wallet of ABS-CBN cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion was recovered from him during his arrest on Friday, Amirul said it was given to him.
Amirul said Encarnacion had asked him to look for his wallet, which was taken by the other abductors, so he could get back his identification cards. He said Encarnacion offered that he could keep the wallet after the cameraman got his ID cards.
Amirul said the group of Abu Sayyaf Commander Amlon got about P18 million in ransom.
He said the money was put in two bags and was divided among the members of the group. Amirul said he did not know exactly how much the others got as share.
Asked about the participation of Indanan town Mayor Alvarez Isnaji in the kidnapping, Amirul said: "This is my first time to hear that name. I do not know him."
Isnaji served as chief negotiator for the victim's release. But the mayor and his son Haider were later arrested for allegedly being behind the kidnapping.
Dinampo, in an earlier interview, said he was sure the men who held them were members of the Abu Sayyaf group led by Radulan Sahiron. Amirul said he and some of his companions were considered part of the outer group of the Abu Sayyaf, and not that of the inner group led by Radulan Sahiron. "We are the bad guys," he said in the vernacular.
Col. Eugene Clemen, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, described Amirul as "very cooperative and is telling the truth."
"I am convinced by what he says. Honestly, I myself believe that what he is saying is true," Clemen said.
But Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag Jr., commander of the Naval Forces South, said the Abu Kudama he knew had long been arrested. "Abu Kudama is in Manila to face charges in court, apart from this, I have nothing more. Military Intelligence Group 9 arrested him last year," he said referring to Teteng Mandangan.
"As far as I know, there is (only) one Abu Kudama, unless there's another one."
Mandangan was arrested by Marine soldiers in Bongao, Tawi-tawi, on Nov. 21, 2007, and was among those allegedly involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping. "As far as I know, there is (only) one Abu Kudama, unless there's another one," Marayag said.
Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, Marine commandant, said they were positive about Kudama's identity because he was one of those caught in a video secretly taken by the ABS-CBN team. "His arrest will provide a lot of information that would lead to the solution of the case and give justice to the victims," Dolorfino said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
(SomaliNet) Somali insurgents targeted the home of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the southwestern town of Baidoa, where Somalia's interim federal parliament is based for security-related reasons.
Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abdinur, was with his family when the attackers targeted his home. At least 4 people were wounded as MP Abdinur's armed guards exchanged gunfire with al Shabaab fighters, who later claimed responsibility for the attack. Three people, two guards, one insurgent, died later from their wounds, unconfirmed reports said. MP Abdinur and his family members survived the attack unharmed, but neighbors said parts of the house suffered extensive damage.
Somalia's parliament is based in Baidoa, and not Mogadishu, because the capital remains too dangerous for lawmakers with daily insurgent attacks. But Baidoa residents say the town has experienced a rise in attacks in recent weeks, especially in light of al Shabaab fighters' vow to dislodge the Somali government from its strongest base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Afghan officials say Taliban militants have captured a remote district in southern Afghanistan. Officials said Monday that local security forces fled Ajiristan district in Ghazni province after Taliban fighters attacked overnight. Authorities say they are working on a plan to regain control of the district.
Taliban militants have captured remote villages in the past, but Afghan and international forces are often able to push out the fighters.
In western Afghanistan today, Afghan officials said two Turkish engineers kidnapped last week near Herat have been released and are returning home. Afghan police said the victims' employers may have paid a ransom to secure their release Sunday.
Separately, the U.S.-led coalition announced that one of its soldiers died today from wounds he suffered in an explosion Sunday in the southern province of Helmand. In the same province Sunday, NATO's international force said its troops killed a high-level Taliban commander, Mullah Sheikh, and two of his followers near Musa Qala.
Also Sunday, Afghan officials said air strikes fired by NATO-led troops killed about 20 Taliban rebels in the eastern province of Khost.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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#1
Isn't this like saying: "Hells Angels Capture Sturgis, S.D." or "Hippies Capture Bolinas, CA"?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:41
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#2
Probably closer to "Mexicans capture Jacumba, CA".
BRAWLEY, Calif. (AP) -- A Mexican citizen accused of driving more than 20 illegal immigrants in a vehicle that plunged into a canal, killing six of them, has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling, federal authorities said Monday.
The crash happened Friday night shortly after the driver fled police in Westmorland, about 125 miles east of San Diego, said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the California Highway Patrol, the GMC Suburban overturned into the canal and was submerged after the driver failed to maneuver a curve in the road. An 8-year-old boy and his parents were among the dead; the boy's 12-year-old sister survived.
The driver was arrested Sunday at a motel in nearby Brawley, Mack said. The suspect, who has been caught eight times by the Border Patrol, claimed to be a juvenile. His name was not released.
Witnesses reported that 22 people, all believed to be Mexican, had been packed in the Suburban, Mack said. Alfredo Sevilla, deputy consul for the Mexican consulate in Calexico, said there had been 19 people inside. Five passengers were returned to Mexico, four were hospitalized, and three were being held as material witnesses, Mack said. The others apparently fled. None of the four treated at Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley suffered serious injuries, Sevilla said.
Passengers told Mexican authorities they walked across the border at Andrade, Calif., near the Arizona line, and entered the vehicle when the driver stopped for them along Interstate 8, said Francisco Torres, another consular official.
Westmorland police ended a pursuit when the driver accelerated, Sevilla said.
Algerian authorities ordered the closure of two churches in the Algerian city of Tizi Ouzou last week for alleged missionary work, according to recent press reports.
The latest closures are a part of an intensive campaign to uncover conversion efforts in many Algerian provinces, especially tribal areas, resulting in 10 churches receiving orders to close since November.
Ministers of the two Protestant churches in Tizi Ouzou, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Algiers, were summoned by the authorities and charged with engaging in illegal practices.
They will hold an emergency meeting to discuss ways of resolving the issue with the authorities, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Monday.
Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdallah Ghulamallah, said the latest closure was ordered under the new 2006 law which limits non-Muslim worship to specific buildings approved by the state. The law, which also forbids non-Muslims from seeking to convert Muslims, was prompted by what officials have described as an increase in the activities of Christian evangelical sects. According to authorities, churches establish places of worship in remote areas, luring Muslims to convert to Christianity by offering them money and jobs in Europe.
Ghulamallah said the churches would reopen as soon as they obtained the required permits. In an earlier statement, Ghulamallah called the Anglicans in Algeria "outlaws" and accused them of trying to establish a non-Muslim minority in the country to pave the way for foreign intervention under the pretext of religious persecution.
There have been conflicting reports about the number of Christians in Algeria, which is almost totally Muslim. According to officials, around 11,000 Christians, including expatriates, live in the country of 33 million. But other sources say the number is much higher, attributing the increase to missionary activities.
The tension reached its peak a month ago when Algerian authorities asked the American bishop Hugh Johnson, 74, to leave the country after his residency expired. Johnson, who has been living in Algeria for more 45 years, filed a lawsuit and demanded the revocation of his deportation decree.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008
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Leaders of Islami Samaj yesterday said establishing the rule of 'Islam' in the state affairs could only guarantee the fundamental rights of the human being. "People of the country have been deprived from their fundamental rights even after 36 years of independence," said Syed Humayun Kabir, Ameer of the organisation. He said the man-made theory has failed to ensure welfare of the mankind.
By Allan, more Islam, that's what it takes! How come no one ever thought of this before?
He was speaking at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday. He called upon all to wage a movement for establishing an 'Islamic' state.
Because the one thing Bangladesh has had a shortage of has been Islam ...
This article starring:
SYED HUMAIUN KABIR
Islami Samaj
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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Top|| File under:
#1
An Islamic state but not as in Islam but as in Islami Samaj.
#4
Yeah, Gorb, looks like it's shaped like a sailboat. Sort of a low-profile, camoflaged boat - a 'stealth' model.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008 6:52
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#5
They are towed behind fishing and cargo boats and may not even have to come ashore, cut loose before docking in port, evading security measures. The islands have the shuttling down with some ingenius ways. A Jamaican diver was paid to weld a below-the water-line sealed ganja container to the hull, to be retreived underwater later, but he got caught.
(SomaliNet) Horn Relief which is one of the aid organizations that operate in Somalia has also suspended all its operations in Kismayo because of security concerns, officials of the group said according to a press statement issued by the organization. The permanent secretary of the organization has confirmed the suspension of its activities. The organization issued the press statement in Kenyan capital Nairobi.
A Horn Relief official, Ahmad Bariyow, was killed in Kismayo on 17 May. Horn Relief is the second organization to suspend humanitarian activities in Kismayo. MSF had suspended its operations in the area way back in January of this year.
The agency also revealed it was to stop some development projects in the region.
This suspension comes after wave of killing spree against aid workers in Somalia. Medicines sans frontiers took the same measures for security reasons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008
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#1
And thanks a lot to the irresponsible, lying, lawbreaking financiers who brought us here, and the governments that refused to enforce their own laws.
#2
Ambrose is a bit over the top with his doom and gloom. There is some good commentary in the comments. And yes, the bankers and their fellow travelers need to be hammered hard. I suggest they be treated to the high jump.
#3
We are at a global level that does mirror the 1930s after the stock market crash. Credit was plentiful and cheap, but now banks are paying for lending risky loans. Europe is in recession or close to it, the US economy is struggling under the credit crunch and the rising cost of energy is the proverbial gas on the proverbial tinder.
Things are starting to stabilize if the government just stop screwing with the markets. But if some event, either a major natural disaster in a major economic nation, or China/India/Japan falling economically will be the proverbial match on the aforementioned pile.
#4
90% of the commenters on that article are certifiable loons. I'd be rich if I could get the tinfoil distribution monopoly for those folks.
When you start seeing Koreans, Chinese and Indians leaving the US instead of desperately trying to come here, THEN it will be time to worry.
The reality is that there is no place better than the U.S. to live, and there are a hell of a lot of envious people out there who are just drooling at the thought of us being in trouble. That's as opposed to the average American, who couldn't give a flying fornication about people or conditions in most other countries because he/she has absolutely no interest in being like them.
#5
It may not be as bad as this guy makes it out to be, but it still sounds like it has the potential to go south on us in a heartbeat.
We are living in a new age of the Robber Barrons. They are plunderers, they completely use-up and discard an industry when they have sucked all the value from it. I've watched them go from the Savings and Loan industry to the Steel Industry, to Manufacturing,to IT, to the Housing industry and finally to the energy market. They will lay it to waste and run off to the next plum with a truckload of money. But it's never enough, that begs the question of which market or industry is next? IRA's, Fed securities, Forex market? These guys are ruining one facet of our economy after the other and nobody in govt. seems to care.
#6
BNP Paribas is warning Spain...that's a favorite bank of money launderers, using the off-shore Carribean locations, and used by the UN in the Oil-for-Food Scandal by those taking Saddam's bribes. Sunday, a Venezuelan plane, bearing a Red Cross logo(like the FARC hostage spoof and Palestinian ambulances), was intercepted with some 130 tons of cocaine in Sierra Leone, bound for Europe. This has also been a record year of drug interdictions and sanctioning of terrorist financing--that loss in revenue has to show up somewhere. Giants fall the hardest, however.
DEMOCRATS' single most important domes tic proposal - universal health insurance - may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details. Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?"
That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants - who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance.
About 15 million of the remaining uninsured are eligible for Medicaid but haven't signed up - mainly because they haven't gotten sick. When they do, they enroll in Medicaid and we pick up the full tab for their health care relatively cheaply. (About 80 percent of each Medicaid dollar goes to nursing-home care for the elderly, only about 20 percent for the medical needs of the poor.) The rest of the uninsured pool? Virtually all the children are eligible for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Some aren't enrolled because the parents haven't bothered, but most are eligible. That leaves about 20 million uninsured adults who are US citizens or legal immigrants. There are far better ways to handle their needs than to turn our entire health-care system upside down.
Care for illegals is the biggest unmet medical need in our nation, and Obama's program targets it squarely. But do we really want to give them federally paid coverage equal to what US senators get, as Obama proposes? Covering illegals adds dramatically to the cost of any program - and would encourage more folks to enter America illicitly.
Obama's plan will likely have a horrific effect on some local health-care systems. Illegals now get free emergency-room treatment for life-threatening conditions - as any other American who's entered an ER in an area with lots of illegals recently well knows. (Three-quarters of the illegal-immigrant population is concentrated in five states: California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois.)
But now they'd be eligible for the entire range of medical services, all free of charge. That would trigger severe rationing: bureaucrats deciding who gets to see an oncologist, who can have an MRI - and even who can have bypass surgery and who'd die for lack of it.
We could deny care to citizens so as to provide care to illegals. That would go over well ...
These decisions would be made not on the basis of legal status but on the brutal facts of triage: Treat the 37-year-old illegal with his whole life to live before you spend scarce resources on an overweight, diabetic, 80-year-old citizen with high blood pressure who smokes.
That 80 year old likely got to 80 precisely because he/she was healthier. So it's a non-sequitor argument.
John McCain hasn't raised this issue, perhaps for fear of offending the Latino vote. But polling suggests the case against rationing of health care would be as persuasive to Hispanic-American citizens as it is to the rest of us. Nobody wants to die waiting in line - especially not behind someone who snuck in ahead of us.
McCain needs to hit the Obama plan for treating illegal immigrants to free, federally subsidized health insurance - and hit it hard.
#6
John McCain hasn't raised this issue, perhaps for fear of offending the Latino vote.
Which presumes legal Latinos - those who might vote for the Trunks - think those who cheated the system deserve a break for which they (the legals) will fund.
Gee, if you put it that way, it sounds pretty stupid, but I hear/read it again and again.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2008 7:00
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#7
McCain is almost as pro illegal alien as Obama is.
#8
That 80 year old has probably been paying TAXES into the system for 60-odd years as well.
While the 37 year old has probably not paid a time in federal taxes (and of course his large family has been taking advantage of free education, free lunch (and breakfast) programs, free ER care, etc... all on the 80 year old's dime)
#11
The polls I've read are clear. A healthy majority of Americans don't want this. Spread the word! Let BO pander to the illegal vote. It wll be good.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2008 10:18
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#12
Consider supporting Lou Barletta for Congress. He's the Hazleton, Pennsylvania mayor that got fed up with the illegal alien crime waves and financial raping of his city. He's running on a strong anti illegal alien platform.
Posted by: ed ||
07/22/2008 11:09
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#13
He may need to do it to win, but he certainly won't because he favors it maybe more so than Hussein. Haven't you heard his repeated "all God's children " talk ? It pops up in every speech. What do you surmise he is implying ? He sounds like the Catholic church. Bring them in and let the "government" take care of them. The issue is whether the Dummocrats have voting majorities in both Houses. The first thing they are going after is Universal health care. Probably within the first 30 days. If fact, Fat Ted has his crew working diligently on legislation he can put forward as his Last Hurrah. As if he hasn't done enough damage already. I think universal health is coming without doubt. What will it mean ? To control costs, the wages of physicians and other health care professionals have to be slashed drastically. The cost of medication must be smashed. But will it be done ? Probably not. They think they can just increase debt. How much longer will the Chicoms, Japanese, etc. keep investing in our debt ? Until they have a better place to invest. Such meetings are being held, nothing has transpired...yet. This is going to be a tremendous drain on our sputtering economy. It will be like another Demo jewel, education. Now if you want a child to get a decent education, you have to put them into private schooling. Meanwhile, your tax dollars are spent to educate non-citizens who pay no tax, but send money south to build nice homes they will return to when they have a large enough kitty. Big changes coming, better get ready to hunker down.
#15
Legal Hispanics I know personally, most of which are in CA, wouldn't give illegals the sweat off their sack. It's funny, because many of them started off as illegals themselves and got legal over the years. My point is that they will split from the Dems on this issue if you have a set and explain it to them like this author does. It will cost them $$$$$ in taxes and that they can understand as well as you or I.
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.
Barack Obama's visit to the green zone in Baghdad far eclipsed a similar trip by Gordon Brown two days earlier in terms of the media frenzy it generated.
BAGHDAD Coalition forces discovered a massive cache of weapons during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq elements near Samarra that concluded July 19.
In T. Boone Pickens' war, the enemy is foreign oil.
July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday the last of five extra combat brigades sent to Iraq last year had withdrawn. There are currently just under 147,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Following are facts about the so-called surge:
"The sky is not falling," Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, said Saturday from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Gaza - Ma'an - Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas announced on Tuesday morning that one of their members was killed in an explosion during "a special operation" in Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood in the east of Gaza city. Two others were injured.
"It's like I'm working to pay for gas, 
The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began yesterday with a not guilty plea from a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, entered the plea through his lawyer at the US naval base in Cuba. He is the first prisoner to face a US war crimes trial since World War II.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government survived three no-confidence motions in parliament on Monday in a vote boycotted by a key member of his ruling coalition. 
CANBERRA, Australia - A newspaper report Tuesday that claims Zimbabwe is using Australian airspace to trade with China has prompted Australia's opposition leader to call for a ban on such flights. The Age newspaper reported that for the past year, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime has regularly commandeered Air Zimbabwe flights and has flown them through Australian air space over the Indian Ocean to China via Singapore.
Five Taliban fighters were killed during a gun battle with anti-social elements at Darra Adam Khel town in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province on Monday. 
Senator Barack Obama arrived in Baghdad on Monday, meeting with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi politicians, as an Iraqi spokesman said that the government was hopeful that foreign combat troops would withdraw in 2010. 
(SomaliNet) Two foreign fighters were killed alongside 10 local rebels during clashes yesterday in Lower Shabelle region, a commander with Somalia's army told the BBC Somali Service on Monday. The two dead fighters are from Pakistan and Iraq, while urging journalists to "go see" the dead bodies, regional commander Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi said. 
A Yemeni women's rights group in has branded a recent fatwa issued by Muslim clerics as being anti-Islamic for banning women from running for election and warning them not to leave their homes, recent press reports said.
(Xinhua) -- Singapore said here on Monday it did not rule out the possibility that Mas Selamat, head of the country's Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network, has escaped to foreign countries. 
Forty-three people, including nine paramilitary personnel, have been killed and many more injured in fierce clashes between the security forces and militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. 
A 60-year old Saudi man who was set to marry a 10-year old girl--he 'won' in a bet with her father--has postponed his marriage after protests from human rights groups, press reports revealed.
Police in the Swedish city of Stockholm on Wednesday arrested former Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority, Sylvere Ahorugeze, who is accused of having masterminded the 1994 Genocide. The development was confirmed yesterday by the Rwandan Ambassador to Sweden Jacqueline Mukangira by telephone. "He had accompanied his wife to the embassy. She wanted to have a Rwandan passport and to be registered for the new identity card," said Mukangira.
Bashar Assad, and this can help resolve a lot of outstanding issues," he added. Lebanon and Syria said earlier this month that they had agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
Leaders of 
(SomaliNet) Horn Relief which is one of the aid organizations that operate in Somalia has also suspended all its operations in Kismayo because of security concerns, officials of the group said according to a press statement issued by the organization. The permanent secretary of the organization has confirmed the suspension of its activities. The organization issued the press statement in Kenyan capital Nairobi. 
