Imran Khan says he has been stopped by US immigration officials and questioned about his views on US drone strikes in his country.
He says he was taken off his flight from Toronto to New York on Friday.
As leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (PTI), he has campaigned for an end to drone strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan.
He says the strikes kill many civilians and foster support for militants.
"I was taken off from plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop,"
he wrote on Twitter.
He was said to have been questioned for about one hour, and said the delay meant he missed his flight and a party fund raising event in New York, but said "nothing will change my stance".
The US immigration authorities say they cannot divulge any information on particular cases due to privacy laws, according to the Toronto Sun.
"Our dual mission is to facilitate travel in the United States while we secure our borders, our people, and our visitors from those that would do us harm like terrorists and terrorist weapons, criminals, and contraband,"
one official said.
Earlier this month, Mr Khan led thousands of supporters on a march to the edge of the restive tribal areas where drone strikes target militants.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
10/27/2012
15:16 ||
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Drone strikes kill people sheltering terrorists, which makes them non-civilians...
[HUMAN EVENTS] COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two volunteer poll workers at an Ohio voting station told Human Events that they observed van loads of Ohio residents born in Somalia -- the state is home to the second-largest Somali population in the United States -- being driven to the voting station and guided by Democratic interpreters on the voting process. No Republican interpreters were present, according to these volunteers.
While it's not unusual for get-out-the-vote groups to help voters get to the polls, the volunteers who talked to Human Events observed a number of troubling and questionable activities.
A source, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a volunteer outside the Morse Road polling center. She has witnessed Somalis who cannot speak English come to the polling center. They are brought in groups, by van or bus. The Democrats hand them a slate card and say, "vote Brown all the way down." Given that Sherrod Brown is the incumbent Democrat Senator in Ohio, one can assume that this is the reference.
Non-English speaking voters may use an interpreter. The interpreters are permitted by law to interpret for the individual voting; however, they are forbidden from influencing their vote in any way. Another source who also wishes to remain anonymous has seen Democrat interpreters show the non-English speaking Somalis how to vote the Democrat slate that they were handed outside. According to this second source, there are not any Republican Somali interpreters available.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
15:06 ||
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#1
Busloads of illegal voters in Ohio (just like in the Wisconsin recall elections).
Ballots vanishing in a crash and fire for military folks.
Voting machines registering Obama when you attempt to vote Romney in at least 2 states.
Top Democrat officials caught on video explaining how to commit mass voter fraud.
The question is not IS voter fraud being committed in Ohio, it's how MUCH voter fraud is being committed in Ohio - and the rest of the country.
These are not isolated incidents - just like with roaches, if you see one when you turn the light on, how many more are there where you cannot see them?
Our country has become a banana republic, complete with a posturing leader, fake elections, and a tame state Media.
#3
Technically yes, but all you have to be able to do is mouth the words of a pre-determined text in something resembling English. Not sure if they give you a karaoke machine to do it with.
#4
What you definitely don't need in the U.S. when you are Somali and driving a taxi in Washington D.C. is to have a clue about driving, let alone destinations.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 18:11
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#5
I can attest to that EC. Nor must the Taxi be clean, and it's considered insulting if you don't have a fur laying somewhere in the taxi. Doesn't matter what kind of fur, just a fur.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/27/2012 18:25
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#6
Ah you noticed that, too?
Nothing has changed in D.C. obviously.
I forgot to add that almost everyone in DC drives like a Somali when there is one inch of snow.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 18:28
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The White House speaks. Does this now drag the press into it? With that kind of denial??
The White House on Saturday flatly denied that President Barack Obama withheld requests for help from the besieged American compound in Benghazi, Libya, as it came under on attack by suspected terrorists on September 11th.
"Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News by email. That's not the same as saying he ordered a response. The statement is a negative: he didn't say no. Did he say yes? Was he put in a position to say yes or no?
Fox News Channel reported Friday that American officials in the compound repeatedly asked for military help during the assault but were rebuffed by CIA higher-ups. At a press briefing one day earlier, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, asked why there had not been a quicker, more forceful response to the assault, complained of "Monday-morning quarterbacking." Panetta said he and top military commanders had judged it too dangerous to send troops to the eastern Libyan city without a clearer picture of events on the ground. So, was it Panetta who said no? I'm not sure how the chain-of-command works in a situation like this.
The "basic principle is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on; without having some real-time information about what's taking place," he said during a joint question-and-answer session with Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey.
"As a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation," Panetta said. General Carter Ham commands the U.S. Africa Command.
And the CIA has denied that anyone in its chain of command rejected requests for help from the besieged Americans.
But Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, in a post published Friday, doubted Panetta's explanation and said the fault must lie with Obama himself. "Would the secretary of defense make such a decision on his own? No," Kristol wrote. "It would have been a presidential decision."
"He's wrong," said Vietor.
On Friday, Obama himself forcefully denied deliberately misleading Americans about the attack in Benghazi, which claimed the lives of four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
CORRECTION 3:26 p.m.: An earlier version of this post confused the timing of the Fox News Channel report and Defense Secretary Panetta's remarks. Panetta's remarks came before the Fox report, not afterwards.
#4
Yahoo news -- reported this... It's being published. This means the White House knows Fox has released it... they have stepped into the flay, acknowledging.
Next, ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN will be reporting that Fox is wrong, cause the President denied it.... but JMHF, but I think with a denial coming from the White House on this, they have got to run come kind of cover to keep it from being a story.
#8
"Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News by email.
An obvious parsing of words. "Assistance" could run the gambit from moral support and encouragement to ..... weapons free!
#9
The Prez says lots of things--many of them not true. He is what he accuses others of being--a BS-er. That's a new narrative: "The buck doesn't stop in the oval orifice?"
#10
The question being asked by Tyrone Woods' father is "Who made the decision not to save my son?" And that's a helluva good question that deserves a straightforward and honest answer.
According to the NYT several months, Champ has to individually approve each and every dronezap in AfPak. So I don't think it likely that Champ delegated the go/no go decision here to Panetta, Hilly, or anyone else.
The best guess I can make from everything I've read is either (a) Champ was too distracted by the election to make any decision or (b) Champ froze. In his effective absence, Jarrett or Panetta stepped in and made a decision based on pure electoral grounds.
One thing about this that galls me is: Champ, Panetta, Hilly, the generals, etc. all work for us. But they dole out information about a very public matter like they were French nobility tossing the peasants a crumb.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2012 17:31
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#11
The problem for champ is that the analysis Matt offers, which is not at all implausible and perhaps the lease harmful, still makes the Administration look like the clowns they are. It will be interesting to see how much traction this gets on the sunday talk shows. They've stifled F&F, but Mr. Woods has been much more eloquent. If the MSM cracks tomorrow, BO has a problem.
#12
Saturday: "Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi"
Monday: "Oh you mean THAT kind of request?
Tuesday: "It depends on what the meaning of 'denied' is"
Wednesday: "We have a hurricane to attend to"
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 18:04
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#13
Paper trail of orders? When asked again, Obama said, The minute I found out what was going on, I gave three very clear directives -- Number 1, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.
From Bing West on Greta last night -- "If that order had been given, there would be a paper trail of the JCOS sending out the order."
Would those orders be Classified?
And from his answer of three things that he rattled off, bet those were the talking points he was gonna use in the debate that Romney denied him using.
Are we positively sure that a Stand Down order was issued from the top? That order has to be transmitted ... so it should be easy to confirm its existence at multiple levels in the chain of command.
There are two possible situations:
1. A Stand Down order was given.
2. No order was given to Go Ahead with a rescue attempt.
These two situations are not the same thing.
Be sure about the facts before generating too much angst.
#15
Mentioned my thought in the AC-130u thread, but basically it amounts to I think Obama dithering, waiting until the last moment like alot of things he does, and everything collapsed so fast nobody was able to rush in.
All it would take is one of the SEAL's going down then they might just be over-run in a minute or less with advancing numbers. It was incompetence on such a level that it taints anybody by association. Which is why I believe we're still so unclear on this, it's not political but personal ass-saving that's stalling the release of information.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/27/2012 19:06
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#16
OTOH I would not believe the current residents of the White House if they told me my own name.
Maybe Valerie Jarred denied the requests... and the President simply 'relayed' the denial.
#17
Raider, I have no idea what happened other than that four Americans died for their country. Or perhaps more accurately, they died for Obama's re-election.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2012 19:23
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#18
Rauder: Saying NOTHING quickly becomes a default answer.
#19
Besoeker ... I don't want you to think that I beleive either of the situations I described is a satisfactory answer. They both indicate a lack of direct positive leadership.
However, if the system said NOTHING then that would explain why the CIA is saying that they did not give a stand down order, and the White House is saying they didn't give one. Both answers are truthful. In that case ... the response was Nothing.
#20
Many here have suffered thru the ROE of PID (Positive ID). Nothing would surprise me. Keep in mind, the Champ is the sole arbiter of "Kill or Capture" of very HVT's (High Value Targets) in AFG. Personally, I loath these people and have for some time.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
10/27/2012 19:52
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#23
And the other things I think I know are:
1- Whatever was happening in Washington, Sean Smith manned his post in a burning building until the smoke killed him.
2- Whatever was happening in Washington, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty -- think Shugart and Gordon-- marched to the sounds of the guns.
I am reminded of the WWI description of the British Army: Lions Led By Donkeys.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2012 19:57
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#24
Yes, quite humbling, the valour of Woods and Doherty, Shugart and Gordon. One cannot help doing the gut-check by silently asking, does that level of courage and valour exist within me, or has it ever?
The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.
Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette is being sent back to the USS John C. Stennis' home port at Bremerton, Wash., in what the Navy called a temporary reassignment. The Navy said he is not formally relieved of his command of the Stennis strike group but will be replaced by Rear Adm. Troy M. Shoemaker, who will assume command until the investigation is completed.
It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.
The Navy did not reveal details of the allegations, citing only an accusation of "inappropriate leadership judgment" that arose during the strike group's deployment to the Middle East. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's chief spokesman, declined to discuss the investigation.
The Stennis group deployed from Bremerton in late August and had entered the Navy 5th Fleet's area of operations in the Middle East on Oct. 17 after sailing across the Pacific. The Stennis made port visits in Thailand and Malaysia on its way to the Middle East.
It deployed four months earlier than scheduled in response to a request by the commander of U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. James Mattis, to maintain two aircraft carriers in the Middle East. The Stennis replaced the USS Enterprise carrier group.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited the Stennis and its sailors in Bremerton shortly before they departed. He thanked them for accelerating their deployment on short notice.
"I understand that it is tough," Panetta said. "We are asking an awful lot of each of you, but frankly you are the best I have and when the world calls we have to respond."
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday his centre-right bloc may withdraw its support from the government of Mario Monti, a move that could throw Italy into political chaos ahead of next April's national elections.
"We have to recognise the fact that the initiative of this government is a continuation of a spiral of recession for our economy," Berlusconi told a news conference in northern Italy a day after he was convicted and sentenced to four years for tax fraud related to his Mediaset media empire.
"Together with my collaborators we will decide in the next few days whether it is better to immediately withdraw our confidence in this government or keep it, given the elections that are scheduled," he said.
The Monti government of non-elected technocrats is supported by the centre-left, the centre-right and the centre. It would lose its majority and have to resign if the entire centre-right, including Berlusconi's PDL party, withdrew support.
Monti took office as prime minister last November when Italy's bond yields were soaring. He has pushed through tax hikes, spending cuts and a pension overhaul to cut public debt which is running at 126 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fu
#1
Herr Dokter Geus is on to something about the Prophet.
It is amazing that a book so full of hate, perversion, and advocating wanton murder can be the basis of a religion is amazing...well until you study the Aztecs, Mayans, Philistines, and Assyrians...
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
10/27/2012 13:59
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Two years after China limited its exports of rare earth minerals, unnerving developed countries that depended on them for industrial uses, production is expanding at sites outside China.
And as new sources of rare earth minerals have appeared, that has meant new jobs -- including in the tiny town of China Grove, N.C., where Japan's Hitachi Metals is planning to produce high-tech magnets from rare earth minerals.
Alarmed over Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports, the United States, the European Union and Japan filed a World Trade Organization complaint alleging that China was using its monopoly over the minerals as a political and economic weapon -- for instance, to punish Japan over its claims to contested islands in the South China Sea and to entice companies to relocate factories inside China by offering a cheaper supply of rare earth materials.
Even as the United States was pursuing its WTO claim, Colorado-based Molycorp, along with firms in Australia and elsewhere, were reshaping the landscape. Molycorp reopened a rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., that had been shuttered a decade ago because the supply of the minerals coming from China was so cheap. That's prolly when Willard was exporting jobs to China. {/sarc]
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/27/2012
13:07 ||
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So Rare Earth is returning "Get Ready" for the return of mining jobs and new industrial equiptment manufacturing jobs. Good news no ?
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 14:31
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#2
REE mining & processing is quite environmentally unfriendly; can't believe this will get past the EPA.
#3
I can't see the EPA allowing it even it it was clean as new-fallen snow. The EPA is far more driven by an leftist anti-American agenda than any concern about the environment.
The're find it endangers some spotted flea or something and that will be that.
The White House is weighing the idea of a tax cut that it believes would lift Americans' take-home pay and boost a still-struggling economy, according to people familiar with the administration's thinking, as the presidential candidates continue battling over whose tax policies would do more for the country. But the evil Romney will only cut taxes for the rich! He can propose a new tax cut in the last week of October, huh? Wonder what the shelf life will be for that if Champ manages to win...
Any new tax cut would require congressional approval after the election. Administration officials have said in the past that the payroll tax cut should be allowed to expire at the end of the year, and the White House has not said publicly whether it is considering an alternative.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/27/2012
13:01 ||
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I say with a gleem I know what I mean
I'm Barr-eye, the duffer man
-toot toot-
Indonesian police have arrested 11 members of an Islamic group allegedly planning attacks on American diplomatic missions in the latest terror alert to hit the country.
The group had planned to hit the US embassy and a US consulate, as well as a building near the Australian embassy in the capital Jakarta that houses the office of American mining giant Freeport-McMoran, police said on Saturday.
They said they were from a new outfit called HASMI, the Sunni Movement for Indonesian Society, and explosives and a bomb-making manual were found when members were arrested in locations across the main island of Java.
"The group's objectives were to attack the US embassy in Jakarta and consulate-general in the eastern Javanese city of Surabaya," national police spokesman Suhardi Alius told reporters.
Indonesia has waged a long battle against terrorism since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The resort island held commemorations this month to mark 10 years since the attack.
Indonesia has not seen a major attack since 2009, when suicide bombers killed nine people in attacks on two five-star hotels in the capital.
#1
The newly announced "Panetta Doctrine" is that we will not act to aid our embassies and consulates unless we have a crystal clear picture of the risk involved in aiding them. Since the picture will never be crystal clear -- that white blob on the video feed might or might not be a guy holding an SA-7 -- the new doctrine is in effect FYBYOYO ("Funk you buddy you're on your own".) So why shuldn't the bad guys plan attacks on our diplomatic missions?
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2012 13:25
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[CNS NEWS] In a blog on the Department of Homeland Security website, Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department is working to develop the next generation of leaders in cybersecurity beginning in kindergarten.
In a blog titled, "Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals," Napolitano said, "In addition, we are extending the scope of cyber education beyond the federal workplace through the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, involving students from kindergarten through post-graduate school."
"At DHS, we're working to develop the next generation of leaders in cybersecurity while fostering an environment for talented staff to grow in this field. We are building strong cybersecurity career paths within the Department, and in partnership with other government agencies," the secretary said.
DHS also sponsors the U.S. Cyber Challenge, she said, "a program that works with academia and the private sector to identify and develop the best and brightest cyber talent to meet our nation's growing and changing security needs."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
11:38 ||
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The B-52 is celebrating a big birthday this year 60 but unlike humans who feel the aches and pains of aging, the aircraft remains a premiere bombing machine that is expected to continue giving bad guys a real bad day through the 2040s, thanks to yet another upgrade.
Going forward, the B-52 will get an upgrade to its bomb bay allowing it to carry 40 percent more precision-guided bombs and new radar that can go more than 1,000 hours before it needs to be repaired, versus the current radar, which needs to be worked on after 30 to 50 hours, Global Strike Command officials said. The upgrades will also allow smart bombs to receive new targets while the bomber is in flight a critical capability given the U.S. militarys focus on the Pacific region, which requires planes to travel long distances, said Jim Noetzel of Global Strike Commands bomber requirements division.
In fiscal 2012, the mission-capable rate for the B-52H was 78.3 percent even though the bombers average age is 50.8 years blowing the doors off the B-1Bs 56.8 percent mission-capable and the B-2As 51.3 percent mission-capable rate.
#1
I love these BUFFs.
They need sooo much runway, and they are so big they look like they are just ambling down to the end. Then at the last minute the nose begins to lift and off they go!
#6
Frankly, I can think of about 750 areas where I'd like to see them with bomb bay doors open and the release pickle in a determined hand. Riyadh, SA, is high on the list, along with the entire area of "Pashtunistan". Doing what that "D" model is doing, only more so.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/27/2012 23:19
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My latest column appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It's behind the pay wall and is reprinted here with permission.
First, it's simply not true that attitudes toward Americans have changed in the region. I've spent a lot of time in Tunisia and Egypt, both before and after the revolutions, and have yet to meet or interview a single person whose opinion of Americans has changed an iota.
Second, pace Mr. Romney, promoting better education, the rule of law and gender equality won't reduce the appeal of radical Islam. Egyptians voted for Islamist parties by a two-to-one margin. Two-thirds of those votes went to the Muslim Brotherhood, and the other third went to the totalitarian Salafists, the ideological brethren of Osama bin Laden. These people are not even remotely interested in the rule of law, better education or gender equality. They want Islamic law, Islamic education and gender apartheid. They will resist Mr. Romney's pressure for a more liberal alternative and denounce him as a meddling imperialist just for bringing it up.
Anti-Americanism has been a default political position in the Arab world for decades. Radical Islam is the principal vehicle through which it's expressed at the moment, but anti-Americanism specifically, and anti-Western "imperialism" generally, likewise lie at the molten core of secular Arab nationalism of every variety. The Islamists hate the U.S. because it's liberal and decadent. (The riots in September over a ludicrous Internet video ought to make that abundantly clear.) And both Islamists and secularists hate the U.S. because it's a superpower.
Everything the United States does is viewed with suspicion across the political spectrum. Gamal Abdel Gawad Soltan, the director of Egypt's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, admitted as much to me in Cairo last summer when I asked him about NATO's war against Gadhafi in Libya. "There is a general sympathy with the Libyan people," he said, "but also concern about the NATO intervention. The fact that the rebels in Libya are supported by NATO is why many people here are somewhat restrained from voicing support for the rebels." When I asked him what Egyptians would think if the U.S. sat the war out, he said, "They would criticize NATO for not helping. It's a lose-lose situation for you."
So we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't. And not just on Libya. An enormous swath of the Arab world supported the Iraqi insurgency after an American-led coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein. Thousands of non-Iraqi Arabs even showed up to fight. Yet today the U.S. is roundly criticized all over the region for not taking Assad out in Syria.
#2
These people are not even remotely interested in the rule of law, better education or gender equality. They want Islamic law, Islamic education and gender apartheid. They will resist Mr. Romney's pressure for a more liberal alternative and denounce him as a meddling imperialist just for bringing it up.
That's fine. So is our nuking them back to the Proterozoic if they don't quit attacking the United States, its people, or its partners. They have a choice. Whatever choice they make is theirs, and theirs alone. So is our response.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/27/2012 22:29
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The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.
It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.
The Navy did not reveal details of the allegations, citing only an accusation of "inappropriate leadership judgment" that arose during the strike group's deployment to the Middle East. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's chief spokesman, declined to discuss the investigation.
The White House on Saturday flatly denied that President Barack Obama withheld requests for help from the besieged American compound in Benghazi, Libya, as it came under on attack by suspected terrorists on September 11th.
"Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News by email.
#6
That leaves Panetta hanging out to dry - POTUS and State have flatly denied blocking assistance which only leaves DoD. Hey Leon, want to lube the zerks while you're down there under the bus?
Does he claim he didn't know that they were made?
Was he advised (by Jarett?) to vote present?
What did he know and when did he know it, and THEN what did he do about it?
#1
I don't imagine Franklin Co., OH is a place they would be watching; http://www.humanevents.com/2012/10/26/is-voter-fraud-being-committed-in-ohio/
Somalis who cannot speak English come to the (Franklin Co., OH) polling center. They are brought in groups, by van or bus. The Democrats hand them a slate card and say, vote Brown all the way down.
Non-English speaking voters may use an interpreter. The interpreters are permitted by law to interpret for the individual voting; however, they are forbidden from influencing their vote in any way.
(When did the requirement of ability to speak English to become a citizen end?)
A Mitt Romney bus stopped near the voting center, approximately 30 Democrats who were outside handing out the slate cards rushed over to the bus. They yelled at the bus, and swarmed around its door when anyone attempted to exit the bus.
#2
A Mitt Romney bus stopped near the voting center, approximately 30 Democrats who were outside handing out the slate cards rushed over to the bus. They yelled at the bus, and swarmed around its door when anyone attempted to exit the bus.
Just like the Zombie movie the Mrs and I watched on Friday Fright Night...Who knew the Zombies are Democrats.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 14:24
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#3
All the dead and undead are democrats. Just look at Chicago!
#4
We talked about this yesterday.
1) Not U.N. Observers, but OSCE Observers
2) Observers, not controllers with any power
3) OSCE also sent election observers to the German elections of 2009. Nobody has a problem with that.
4) The OSCE boss praised the last two U.S. elections.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 14:57
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#5
And if you're in St. Paul or Des Moines, be sure to look for Daniela Malijanska-Mitevska, who appears to hail from the planet fYROM...
#6
EC - the OSCE were requested by liberal Democrat groups to try and undermine the credibility of a Romney win. They are not impartial in our minds
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2012 15:16
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#7
The fyRomians are very nice beings, I mean once you get over the smell.
Posted by: Steven ||
10/27/2012 15:20
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#8
Frank, the liberal Democrat groups haven't studied the role of OSCE observers very well.
They will only come if invited by someone. Actually George Buch personally invited OSCE observers to attend the last two US elections. The OSCE had no complaint to file (or whatever they noted were very minor issues).
I don't think this will change this time. OSCE observers are held to strict non-partisanship. Those Democrat groups might be very disappointed.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 15:21
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#9
Daniela Malijanska-Mitevska is actually quite a cute young blonde. I don't know if she smells but Steven certainly knows better.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 15:40
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#10
Today's Fun Fact: fYROM is NOT another planet. It is the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Why they don't just call it Macedonia, I have no idea...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 15:56
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#12
I can't believe the conversation turned to zombie Democrats without this being included sooner...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/27/2012 15:57
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#13
I also went out and read their reports on 2004 and 2008.
Their main beef seems to be that felons aren't allowed to vote in most states. For the observers, it sounds like it was a nice vacation in a non third world hellhole on the OSCE's dime.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 16:15
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#16
#15 We're definitely talking fifty-first state material there.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2012 16:24
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#17
#14 - most rights (including voting rights) can be petitioned to be restored based on behavior, original crime, etc. It's hard to do that when you keep committing felonies. Recidivism should be a roadblock to voting Democrat
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2012 16:39
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#18
#14 I'd have some beef with those felony rules, too, especially because (e.g. Florida) felons are barred from voting even long after time served.
We have a legal process in most (or all) states whereby voter rights can be restored after a felony conviction.
#19
After sentence is completed and some period of time without further crime elapses. Sometimes this process is automatic for first time offenders dependending upon the type of crime. In other places, it is a formal process where the process occurs through the courts. In other states, a direct appeal to the Governor or President is made for a pardon.
Burma's president has acknowledged major destruction in the west of the country, scene of recent ethnic unrest.
"There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burnt down in Rakhine state," Thein Sein's spokesman told the BBC.
He was speaking after Human Rights Watch released satellite pictures showing hundreds of buildings destroyed in the coastal town of Kyaukpyu alone. It says the victims were mostly Muslim Rohingya, targeted by non-Muslims.
The presidential spokesman said the government was tightening security in affected areas.
Officials have said 64 people died in recent unrest, but HRW says it fears the figure could be much higher.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the violence showed that Burma's government "urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya" in Rakhine state, which is also known as Arakan.
There is long-standing tension between the ethnic Rakhine people, who make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya and are stateless. The Burmese authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and correspondents say there is widespread public hostility to them.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Environmentalists have gone to great lengths to have certain eagles, hawks, and owls protected as endangered species, only to have wind turbines act as avian cuisinarts.
Wind power currently enjoys a unique exemption from Endangered Species Act protections and other federal restrictions protecting animals from deliberate or incidental killings. And to add to this, here is an interesting new development: the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering a dramatic expansion in the length of permits allowing wind power operators to kill bald eagles and other protected bird species.
...In just one location, the Altamont Pass in northern California, turbines yearly kill 75 to 100 golden eagles, 350 burrowing owls, 300 rat-tailed hawks, and 333 American kestrels.
#1
Altamont Pass has had wind turbines for quite a while; if they're still killing that many birds there, it must have been a very large population to start with. And you'd think by now the ones with some kind of aversion to tall spinny things that make funny noises would be winning the breeding race.
#4
You can't make an omelette without without breaking egg-layers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012 11:43
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I doubt those altamont pass numbers. Those turbines are never moving. I suspect someone extrapolated what the numbers *would be* if all of the turbines worked.
#8
As a birdwatcher, I have been aware of the bitter irony of the greens pushing wind power?
Oh, and I do believe they mean "red-tailed", not "rat-tailed". Looks like a reporter made a typo and then automatically selected the first correction spellcheck offered.
#12
Wind turbines are totally useless garbage. Even nuclear power stations have to be coupled with water turbines to pump water on mountaintop lakes to use nighttime excess power(they are difficult to wind down during low demand) High demand periods are just the time wind turbines shut down...and in windy times, the noise they make is like a million airplanes taking off...it is unlivable where these pieces of crap are turning.
#13
Time back many Enviros + aligned also complained about Marine Turbines, be it surface or seafloor, etc. wiping out the fishies + corals.
Methinks what these Personages truly care about is the LAND underneath these KNOWINGLY DEFECTIVE,PRBLEMATIC, OR UNPROFITABLE SOLAR + WIND FARMS, i.e. mass tracts of land under direct or indirect Govt. control, regulation + SUBSIDY, in case the Govt. needs to use same as Collateral for bond-borrowing on International Markets to save or expand the US Welfare-Nanny State. IMO THE MAJORITY OF THESE ENVIROS, LETFIES COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE CRITTERS OR THE AIR, RIVERS, ETC.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- The woman named "Democrat of The Year" this year by the Jefferson County Democratic Party has been convicted of felony theft by a Jefferson County jury for stealing from a developmentally disabled 71-year-old woman.
Estelle, it's easier to be a consultant for SSDI and take the money that way...
On Thursday, a jury convicted 66-year-old Estelle Carson of felony identify theft and felony theft from an at risk adult for stealing checks from the woman and using them to pay her own cable, cell phone and internet bills.
Estelle wasn't convicted of theft, she was convicted for thinking small...
The victim is partially blind, developmentally disabled, has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. She is on a fixed income of $596 per month according to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office.
I'll bet Estelle had the victim vote about elebenteen times as well...
Nearly as bothersome as the theft itself to Maxwell and other supporters of the victim, is the fact the Jefferson County Democratic Party was made aware of the ongoing criminal investigation and honored Carson anyway.
ACORN was considering a bronze bust, I hear...
According to documents obtained by CBS4, in November of 2011, the Jeffco Democratic Party announced it planned to honor Carson for her activism on behalf of Democratic causes and her efforts to register voters.
And you thinking I'm joking about voting elebenteen times...
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012
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WOW the JC Demo Party actually chose someone with the perfect Demo skills and attitude for their award!!
A group of black farmers led by Pigford critic Eddie Slaughter has endorsed Republican John House in the race for Georgia's 2nd district. House is running against longtime Democratic incumbent and Congressional Black Caucus member Sanford Bishop.
In a video posted to Facebook, Slaughter discusses the many attempts the farmers made to expose fraud in the Pigford "black farmers" lawsuit.
Breitbart News reported a series of stories in 2011 about Mr. Slaughter and his claim that when Sanford Bishop was informed about Pigford fraud by a group of black farmers, he told them to be quiet or else they would "shut this thing down." He was referring to the fraudulent settlement that reportedly paid $50,000 to tens of thousands of people who had never farmed a day in their life.
From a 2011 Breitbart News report:
Within a couple of days, Congressman Bishop responded to three different newspapers. His story was different each time. Rep. Bishop told the Albany Herald that he was aware of the fraud but it wasn't his job to police it. This admission is significant because USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack had claimed that there was almost no fraud in Pigford. When speaking to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rep. Bishop was suddenly stunned and perplexed and suggested that the farmers had been drinking. Then, Rep. Bishop told the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer that he remembered the meeting, repeated that he wasn't responsible for monitoring fraud, suggested that there were antifraud provisions in the second Pigford bill and again insulted the farmers calling them disgruntled and irresponsible.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012
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#1
I hope a President Willard takes a very, very hard look at the USDA.
2nd District of Georgia (Rep. Sandford D. Bishop Jr.) Summary information.
2.80 billion in subsidies 1995-2011.
$2.43 billion in commodity subsidies.
$ in crop insurance subsidies.
$125 million in conservation subsidies.
$246 million in disaster subsidies.
Georgia ranking: 16 of 50 States
70 percent of farms in Georgia did not collect subsidy payments - according to USDA.
Ten percent collected 80 percent of all subsidies.
Amounting to $2.24 billion over 17 years.
Top 10%: $61,477 average per year between 1995 and 2011.
Bottom 80%: $853 average per year between 1995 and 2011.
CEO has warned employees about the downside of Barack Obama being reelected.
Mike White, the owner of Milwaukee-based loading dock equipment manufacturer Rite-Hite, sent an email message to all 1,500 of his workers Tuesday apprising them of the "personal consequences" of the higher tax rates the President is proposing.
"Every Rite-Hite employee in America should understand the personal consequences to them of having our tax rates increase dramatically if President Obama is re-elected, forcing taxpayers to fund President Obama's future deficits and social programs (including Obamacare), which require bigger government," wrote White.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012
01:38 ||
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Look at what the WP is reporting on todaySomebody must have died in the PC reporting desk Facing Taliban threats, Afghan interpreters wait for U.S. visas
KABUL -- Of the more than 5,700 Afghans who have applied for U.S. visas under a special program tailored for those who have supported the American war effort, just 32 have been approved, the State Department says, leaving the rest in limbo as foreign forces begin their withdrawal. Sounds like South Vietnam all over again...
The growing, protracted backlog threatens to undermine congressionally approved legislation, as well as the longstanding guarantee that the United States will protect Afghans whose contribution to the American mission has left them hunted and vulnerable.
In 2009, the Afghan Allies Protection Act allocated 7,500 visas for Afghans employed by the U.S. government, mostly as military interpreters. The legislation was intended to respond to a prospect that the interpreters knew well: Without a swift escape route, they would be high-priority targets for the Taliban after the American war effort draws down.
But the channel established by Congress has been far from swift. Some interpreters say they have waited years with hardly a word from the State Department about their applications. The U.S. embassy's visa office in Kabul has been badly understaffed, according to immigration attorneys who have worked on interpreters' cases.
The long wait has been disheartening to thousands of men and women critical to the American mission, many of whom serve on the front lines with U.S. troops. Since 2007, at least 80 interpreters have been killed in combat.
Until late 2011, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul did not process a single visa under the Afghan Allies program, according to the State Department. Before then, interpreters were asked to travel to Islamabad -- a precarious journey for Afghans working with the U.S. military -- to complete their applications. Even there, few visas were granted.
U.S. officials acknowledge that the program was not prioritized in the years after its establishment.
"We didn't plan for an increase in staffing or resources . . . and there was a pent up demand," said one U.S. embassy official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
But after a slow start, U.S. officials say they now have the resources to handle the backlog.
"It's absolutely a top priority for us now," the U.S. official said.
When the Afghan Allies program was established, members of Congress said there was urgency behind the legislation. But some officials at the U.S. embassy in Kabul expressed concern that that program could remove from Afghanistan talented local employees at a time they were sorely needed.
"This act could drain this country of our very best civilian and military partners: our Afghan employees," former Ambassador Karl Eikenberry wrote in a February 2010 cable to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that was obtained a year later by the Associated Press. He went on to warn that the program could "have a significant deleterious impact on staffing and morale, as well as undermining our overall mission in Afghanistan. Local staff are not easily replenished in a society at 28 percent literacy.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012
01:30 ||
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#1
Let's skim the cream off the top and get the hell out.
#2
The 'terps do have one other path to possible survival of the transition of powers - 'atone for their sins' with a green-on-blue attack while they can.
#7
Ir remain that half of Afghanistan is VERY unsafe for the Tally Ban...We are the one keeping that country unified...The Pakis can have the Pashtook part, their worst nightmare!
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... home department on Friday directed the provincial education and health departments to take disciplinary action against a schoolteacher who had severely tortured a student in Haripur and the concerned hospital staff who had discharged him from the hospital in unconscious condition as a favour the teacher.The home department has pointed out that the officer who had conducted inquiry into the incident has recommended that as the accused teacher was behind bars, the authorities of elementary and secondary education department might be directed to take departmental action against him and the school principal on account of his incorrect statement.
According to a blurb of the home department, the inquiry officer has stated that the victim, Danish, was discharged from the hospital on Sept 18 without his complete recovery which was unfair on part of the hospital administration.
"He was discharged just to give a benefit to the accused teacher in grant of bail, which was fixed for Sept 19, when he (Danish) was unconscious at that time," the officer stated adding that the hospital administration might also be directed to inquire into the matter and fix responsibility for taking action against the person at fault.
The blurb states that on receipt of the said inquiry report, the home department has immediately furnished it to the elementary and secondary education department as well as health department for taking disciplinary action against the teacher and hospital staff concerned at the earliest as recommended by the inquiry officer.
It is stated that the home department had taken serious notice over an incident of brutal corporal punishment to the student by a class teacher and had ordered a formal inquiry into the incident. The inquiry was assigned to the commissioner Hazara Division at Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[An Nahar] Scientists in Canada have unearthed the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas, the journal Science reported on Thursday. Not surprising that the ancestors of the chicken should have feathers.
The 75 million year old fossil specimens, uncovered in the badlands of Alberta, Canada, include remains of a juvenile and two adult ostrich-like creatures known as ornithomimids. Unlike what used to be depicted in the funny papers, people hadn't evolved back then. At 20 minutes per pound they'd have starved to death waiting for a three ton dinosaur to roast anyway.
Until now feathered dinosaurs have been found mostly in China and in Germany.
"This is a really exciting discovery, as it represents the first feathered dinosaur specimens found in the Western Hemisphere," said Darla Zelenitsky, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary and lead author of the study.
"These specimens are also the first to reveal that ornithomimids were covered in feathers, like several other groups of theropod dinosaurs," Zelenitsky said.
She said the find "suggests that all ornithomimid dinosaurs would have had feathers."
The creatures had a cameo screen appearance in the original Jurassic Park movie in which they were shown being chased by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
In the movie however they were portrayed as having scales rather than plumage -- which researchers say they now know was not the case.
Francois Therrien, curator at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta and the co-author of the study, said the discovery revealed another fascinating fact -- the existence of early wings in dinosaurs that were too big to fly.
"The fact that wing-like forelimbs developed in more mature individuals suggests they were used only later in life, perhaps associated with reproductive behaviors like display or egg brooding," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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In an interview with a Denver TV reporter Friday, President Obama twice refused to answer questions as to whether the Americans under siege in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, were denied requests for help, saying he's waiting for the results of investigations before making any conclusions about what went wrong.
After being asked about possible denials of requests for aid, and whether it's fair to tell Americans that what happened is under investigation and won't be released until after the election, the president said, "the election has nothing to do with four brave Americans getting killed and us wanting to find out exactly what happened. These are folks who served under me who I had sent to some very dangerous places. Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do."
President Obama told KUSA-TV's Kyle Clarke large that "we want to make sure we get it right, particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people, we're going to bring those folks to justice. So, we're going to gather all the facts, find out exactly what happened, and make sure that it doesn't happen again but we're also going to make sure that we bring to justice those who carried out these attacks."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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From the retired Delta operator:
Having spent a good bit of time nursing a GLD (ground Laser Designator) in several garden spots around the world, something from the report jumped out at me.
One of the former SEALs was actively painting the target. That means that Specter WAS ON STATION! Probably an AC130U. A ground laser designator is not a briefing pointer laser. You do not "paint" a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station.
Only two places could have called off the attack at that point; the WH situation command (based on POTUS direction) or AFRICOM commander based on information directly from the target area.
If the AC130 never left Sigonella (as Penetta says) that means that the Predator that was filming the whole thing was armed.
If that SEAL was actively "painting" a target; something was on station to engage! And the decision to stand down goes directly to POTUS!
Then added to the post:
Update 4: From quoted retired Delta operator, "Jeff is correct (about lasing without air asset) but the only reason you would do that is to determine a specific grid for indirect fire which the SEAL did not have available. You are in an active firefight against mortars and MGs; there is only one reason to cease returning fire and paint a target and it ain't because you thought it was a good time to pull a PMCS on your f******g GLD."
Found in the comments about that PMCS for us non-military folks:
...and for those who don't know, PMCS is maintenance and testing on a device you do during slack time back in garrison, not in the heat of some deadly shoot up.
And I have a question -- in all of this, seems the Ambassador might not have been saved since the fire overran their location.... my question is... how long was it from when the SEAL Ty Woods knew of the shots before he and the guys ran to the rescue?
The report reads that it was the SEAL and the team he brought with him that saved the ones they got out... how long did they wait to disobey orders and rush to the scene?
If they had gotten the okay to go immediately, they were only a mile away, could they have made a difference?
Or he knows (and will not say because he has no balls) and thus has been caught in the big lie.
Not good, not good...
The jig is up, Mr President....
He is thinking "the buck does not stop here or any where close to me".
mr president, (non caps intended) you are a small man and have the intellect of a 13 year old, about when you started on drugs.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 0:45
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#3
And more from commenter at Blackfive --- (wish I have thought of this) Wonder who would want to be appointed to an ambassadorship in a Middle Eastern Hotspot if this miserable excuse for a human being and his ass-clown compatriots gets a second term?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2012 8:28
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#7
Doesn't this appear to be a behavior pattern of the school yard bully. As long as they can get away with angry pompous overbearing territorial behavior they have standing in the yard. However, basically a coward when confronted by something else they can't overawe, they turn tail.
#9
the ground laser cannot illuminate a target without a weapon system in the loop
Not 'cannot' so much as why the hell would you? The beam is invisible, except to the targeting system. There is no point to shining a target if you are not expecting something to happen. The something could be incoming ordnance or simply identifying a location/person. In any case, someone is watching.
#10
we know a drone was watching and presumably they did also. thus it isn't necessarily true that a 130 was overhead, just a conjecture absent other evidence.
#11
It's very simple. If they weren't denied help, he'd say "They weren't denied help." If they were, he'd obfuscate and block and twist like a twisty thing. Gee...
#12
#8 what blackfive and source seem to be saying is that the ground laser cannot illuminate a target without a weapon system in the loop. is this true
Posted by Nimble Spemble
An LTD (Laser Target Designator) is somewhat similar to a non-directional ground beacon (NDB) which aviators use for guidance. The NDB transmits a radio frequency signal whether aircraft are present or not. The LTD "paints" or lases a target directionally, for weapons and targeting systems (which have on-board laser acquisition devices) to identify and vector toward. As long as your LTD batteries are up, you can't paint all day long. I hope this is helpful.
[An Nahar] Amateur, indecisive and gaffe-prone: the accusations are growing ever louder against Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as he struggles to steer La Belle France through its worst economic crisis in decades.
"He's making error after error, this prime minister. We've never seen such a level of amateurism and lack of preparation," Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the opposition UMP party, said after Ayrault's latest blunder.
That came on Wednesday -- Le Gay Pareeien newspaper dubbed it his "Black Wednesday" -- when the prime minister announced that the French Constitutional Council was about to scupper the government's new housing bill.
It was bad enough that the bill -- a key promise in the election campaign that brought Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... to the presidency in May -- was being thrown out after complaints from the UMP that it was being forced through parliament.
But Ayrault brought heaps of scorn on himself by announcing the council's decision hours before the body had even sat down to deliberate and ultimately decide that the government had not respected parliamentary procedure.
"The episode reveals a certain feverishness" on the part of a prime minister suspected by both the opposition and certain members of his own government of not being up to the job, said political analyst Philippe Braud.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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A "gaffe" is nothing but the truth told accidentally.
A government front man in Myanmars western state of Rakhine says the corpse count in recent communal violence is now more than 100.
Rakhine state front man Win Myaing said Friday that 112 people had been killed in festivities that began Sunday between members of the Buddhist Rakhine and the Moslem Rohingya communities. He said 72 people were reported injured, including 10 children
The latest outbreak of violence, which prompted Myanmars main Islamic organizations to cancel celebrations for the four-day Eidul Azha holiday that begins Friday, has drawn a swift and concerned response from the international community.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Thursday said Washington urges parties to exercise restraint and immediately halt all attacks, while the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery... expressed grave concern over the violence.
Myanmars 800,000 Rohingya are seen as undocumented Democrats from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese, who call them Bengalis.
The bloodshed in Rakhine has cast a shadow over widely-praised reforms by President Thein Sein, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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ALTHOUGH the turban threat is cause for immense alarm, none of us should be surprised there is so much confusion in the country on how to deal with it.
Critical security decisions in the countrys history have been made mostly by military rulers. They were either so arrogant that they didnt think it necessary to seek popular approval or thought their decisions were so appalling that they would never get public endorsement so didnt bother.
There is no point in going back to Ayub Khans Seato and Cento agreements, where Pakistain allowed itself to be drawn and locked into a Cold War camp, even as our democratic neighbour India, while maintaining its non-aligned status, was able to enjoy both the worlds.
With the left fragmented, hunted and hounded and the right-wing religious parties firmly behind the US-GHQ alliance, there was no more than token resistance to the decision. Ayub Khan saw himself as a saviour so sharing any rationale for his decisions with the people wouldnt even occur to him.
The less said the better about the decisions made by Ayubs successor. Gen Yahya Khans regime used the media to keep the West Paks in the dark about events in the eastern wing and perpetuated myths and lies till the truth went kaboom! to the fore in the countrys break-up.
This was 1977. Two years later Zia refused to stay the execution of the man he had tossed, after a sham trial on murder charges. The dictators luck was endless. As international opprobrium at Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ...9th PM of Pakistain from 1973 to 1977, and 4th President of Pakistain from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP). His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also serve as hereditary PM. In a coup led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto was removed from office and was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent... s judicial murder gathered pace, the Soviet Red Army marched into Afghanistan.
The man who was fast heading to the top of the international pariahs list suddenly became the darling of the free world.
Recruited and rewarded to lead the most decisive fight of the Cold War history, Zia did his patrons proud.
I have often detected hostility from some bright and well-meaning members of the post-Zia generation who rubbish all criticism of the dictator by saying that it is pointless to blame him as so very little has been done since he perished in that 1988 air crash.
That may be true but the seeds of the disaster we reap today were planted unquestionably by Zia and hence the biggest blame shall remain his. And then the CIAs. Both decided along with their Saudi allies that the godless, communist Soviets could only be countered via jihad.
Its ideological inspiration and part funding was to come from Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... . The rest was funded by the US with the CIA providing the special warfare technical expertise and weaponry. Pakistains ISI was the conduit for most of the funds and weapons and the CIAs training partner.
You must be wondering whats the point here of recalling this history that everyone probably knows anyway. Well everyone may well know all these facts but they arent recalled often enough to explain where we are today.
This jihad proved so effective that the Red Army didnt only have to leave Afghanistan after failing to secure its objectives.
Many believe that the setback was so severe that it pushed the Soviet Union over the edge and it started to unravel.
After the exit of the Soviet Union, Zia and his military commanders were so inspired by this low-cost war, where a conglomerate of international jihadis had been used to bleed the Soviets to near-death, that they developed other ambitions.
What could humble the mighty Soviets would also enable the GHQ to finally force to its knees the eternal and numerically superior enemy which somehow managed to get the upper hand in each of the mutual conflagrations despite not having the right faith on its side.
And bleed the enemy they did. Look at Indian-held Kashmires history since those rigged elections in the early 1980s led to an indigenous uprising. This was soon to be overtaken by foreign jihadis of every description taking the violence to hitherto unknown levels.
What if in the process Bulleh Shah and Shah Latifs Pakistain ceased to be? What if Kashmire valleys cherished faith espoused by the Sufis was obliterated? A violent, repressive, misogynistic, intolerant, often sectarian state-backed ideology was ready to supplant all shades. And it did.
The cost to Pak society notwithstanding, this course was pursued. The post-Soviet Afghanistan was riven with chaos and led to the birth of the Taliban. The ISI, which had grown in influence and power enormously through the Afghan war, gleefully went into partnership with the group.
Arab, Uzbek, Chechens you name them and jihadis of every description were present in Afghanistan. The Arabs provided the ideological rallying cry and money for the jihad while instructors of different origins taught the zealots guerrilla warfare and terror tactics.
Pakistain was using some of these Arabs for its own purposes so missed their agenda as they planned and carried out 9/11. This was around the time Gen Musharraf received that famous phone call from Washington seeking his support and warning of consequences in the event of a refusal.
Given how close Pakistain was to some of the international jihadis and more so with their Afghan protectors, the attack on the US mainland targets instilled fear in the heart of the military ruler who openly went from garrison to garrison explaining his rationale for agreeing to back Washington.
Similar vigour was needed to explain the decision to the people of Pakistain but this didnt happen. Instead, the Musharraf regime deployed lies and deception to placate them and this policy backfired badly.
Columnists and opinion-writers are often slammed for focusing endlessly on the state of play but offering little in terms of solutions. Lets reflect this week. Next week perhaps well try and think if there is a way out of the mess we are in.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Muslims and self rule. What's the technical term?
Sudanese president Omar Bashir condemned what he described as "Israeli aggression" against his country, as some observers believe Israel was behind the aerial attack on the Yarmouk military manufacturing facility on Wednesday.
During his Eid Al-Adha speech, Bashir said that Israel is "short-sighted" and has confirmed its fear of political and social changes sweeping the region - and Sudan in particular.
He likened the attack to the US bombing of Al Shefa'a pharmaceutical factory in 1998.
Bashir said Sudan will persevere, citing the establishment of tens of factories providing the country with medicine in an unprecedented manner following the Al Shefa'a incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Yea, If we were long-sighted we'd just use biologicals to deal with Islam once and for all.
Neurosurgeon Dr Abdul Aziz was kidnapped by unidentified kidnappers along with his car on the way home in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... from Adina village, police said here on Friday.
Dr Aziz, who is son of former principal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad Abdur Rehman, is currently teaching at the college.
Police sources said the kidnapping occurred in the jurisdiction of Kalu Khan cop shoppe. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Kalu Khan police denied the neurosurgeon was kidnapped in the areas under their jurisdiction. Police sources said they didnt exactly know the area, where the kidnapping occurred.
They said the kidnapped neurosurgeon had a clinic in his native village, Adina, and he went there daily after attending duty at Ayub Medical College in Abbottabad and returned in the evening.
Police sources said when he left his clinic on Thursday, he didnt reach home and was kidnapped by unidentified people along with his car.
They said despite efforts by his family and police, his whereabouts had not yet been known and that adductors hadnt yet contacted his family for ransom. Majority of the officers said he was adducted from the district areas.
Police said an FIR had yet not been lodged with the Kalu Khan cop shoppe by his family.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[Ynet] An Egyptian security source told the German news agency that Cairo intelligence indicated that hard boyz may try to attack Israeli targets over the Eid al-Adha holiday.
The source added that Israel and Egypt were coordinating security efforts.
A British terror gang discussed killing one thousand people by mixing hand cream with poison and smearing it on the door handles of cars and homes. Irfan Naseer, the alleged ringleader, said the victims would start dying within five minutes of coming in to contact with it while going to work in the morning.
The Mohammedan group also talked about getting weapons from the "black geezers" and storming in to a synagogue and other places, the court heard.
The al-Qaeda inspired gang, from Birmingham, is accused of planning to use eight jacket wallahs to detonate backpacks packed with explosives in crowded places to cause "mass death" and carnage on British streets.
Naseer, Irfan Khalid, and Ashik Ali, all unemployed from Birmingham, are said to be the "senior members" and were among twelve placed in long-term storage I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! and charged last year.
The trio deny between them twelve terror charges including plotting a bombing campaign, recruiting others for terrorism and terrorism fund-raising.
Conversations between them and others were secretly recorded by the police. In one Naseer, also known as Chubbs, talks about other methods of killing people he was taught about while allegedly undergoing terror training in Pakistain.
He said, "Make it and put it inside like, you know like Vaseline or cream like that, like Nivea cream and put it on people's cars. You know like the door handles on a whole, imagine putting it on whole like area innit overnight and when they come in the morning to work they start touching the, they open the door and then five minutes they die man, all of them start dying and that, kill about 1,000 people."
Naseer added, "Even if we can't make a bomb, get guns yeah from the black geezers, Africans and charge in some like synagogue or charge in different places."
Earlier, the jury heard that Naseer justified attacking non-believers because they have "sex like donkeys", orgies and did drugs. He said, "They wanna you know have sex like donkeys on the street, they wanna club, act like animals and why shouldn't we terrorise them, tell me that?"
Naseer also explained how just a one kilogram bomb could kill 25 people and injure up to 60 people if it was packed with nails and steel nuts. He said that al-Qaeda wanted jihadis to "do Europe" and discussed the prospect of a second string of suicide bombers after his group's attack.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the jury that had the plot been permitted to run its course it "would have culminated in death and injury on a massive scale".
The jury also heard how Ali's estranged wife had allegedly offered to be a "fourth lion" or "lioness" in reference to the spoof film, Four Lions.Touching details of the converstation at the link.Kabal is accused of knowing about her husband's activities and is due to stand trial next year.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that government would provide full security to Malala Yousafzai and her family when they come back from United Kingdom.
Speaking at a presser here on Friday, the minister left the decision to return to Pakistain or live abroad to Malalas family. He said the government would not force the family to come back.
He said that government had offered security to Malala before the attack and was ready to provide the facility when she returns after treatment. He stated that Malala belonged to Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... and should live among her own people.
We wish that Malala returns to Swat. But she herself will take the decision where she wants to live, Pakistain or abroad, said Mian Iftikhar who returned from Birmingham on Thursday night after visiting Malala at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The teenager who was shot in the head in Mingora is under treatment in UK.
He said that Malala might return to the country after two months when she gets fully recovered. He said that doctors briefed him about Malalas health and added that she could write messages and walk without support. Her eyesight was also perfect, he said.
When asked that certain people had launched a campaign on social media and loaded pictures showing that Malala was slightly injured, the minister said that these elements could not tarnish her image through malicious propaganda.
He appreciated the Pak High Commission in London for extending all-out help to Malala. He said that bully boyz had a strong network and they were spreading negative propaganda.
Replying to a question, Mian Iftikhar said that Pakistain and Afghanistan should stop the blame game and take action against Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullahs Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... and other terrorist groups. He said that both the countries should fulfil their responsibilities and eliminate terrorists. Allegations and counter allegations are only facilitating the terrorists, he maintained.
He condemned the kaboom on Baacha Khan Markaz, the ANPs central secretariat in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , and said that bully boyz were trying to create fear among the citizens through such acts.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[An Nahar] Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, government in Gazoo, on Friday called on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's regime to release its "grip" on Paleostinians staying in camps in Syria and on "Syrian brothers seeking their freedom and dignity."
"We feel the pain of our (Paleostinian) people in camps in Syria, of deaders and maimed ... May the criminal hand release its grip on children of our Paleostinian people in Syria," Haniya said in his sermon for the Moslem holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... has in the past supported Hamas by offering facilities in Syria but the Paleostinian Islamist movement has backed Syrian rebels after the Paleostinian refugee camps in the country became targets of bombings.
The ties between the two further ruptured following an attack against Khaled Meshaal, the political bureau head of Hamas, on Syrian television.
Meshaal angered Damascus by praising "the revolution of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy" when he participated in the congress of Turkey's ruling party.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[UPI] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Philander C. Knox ... says she will stay in office until a successor is in place but she plans to leave "after the inauguration."
One day after The Wall Street Journal reported Clinton may stay in her post for a while if President Barack Obama This is a teachable moment... is re-elected, she told The Washington Post she hasn't had an opportunity "to sit down and talk to the president yet because he's trying to win an election."
She said, as she has in the past, she intends to leave the State Department whether Obama is re-elected nor not.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Don't let the door Etc.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/27/2012 0:38
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she plans to leave "after the inauguration."
Well honey,I'll speed you up, you are going have to to wait about 11 days, advice resign on day 12, because the Republican Steam Roller is at 75% today and will be at 99.5% on November 6th, your man is TOAST.
and like Red Neck Jim said, Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 1:12
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#3
Sign out today and begin burning off the accrued leave. Taking the leave as cash payment will only help the tax man. Believe me, no one is indispensable and you will certainly not be missed. Let it GO!
#8
she hasn't had an opportunity "to sit down and talk to the president yet because he's trying to win an election."
Yeah, we noticed that he has been consumed for the last four years with his re-election. There are the Letterman shows, The Pimp with the Limp, Leno, The View, Beyonce, Clooney, golf, basketball, etc.
Three people were killed by tank fire and snipers in the Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... suburb of Harasta on Friday, activists said, in another violation of a ceasefire intended to mark the Mohammedan holiday of Eid al-Adha. Rebels in a northern town close to the Turkish border also reported one of their fighters was rubbed out by a sniper early on Friday and a Rooters journalist in the town heard what sounded like four rounds of tank fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[Toronto Star] An Afghan immigrant who slit his wife's throat used to regularly get into such loud, abusive arguments with her that neighbours noticed and police showed up, their daughter said. Oh. Well That's okay, then. At least it wasn't a surprise.
"It was really embarrassing. Sometimes they would just start in front of people," Tamana Khairi testified at her father's 2009 preliminary hearing.
Her father, Peer Mohammad Khairi, 65, would call her now-slain mother Randjida names like "bitch" and "whore," but would never get physically abusive, Tamana said.
Tamana Khairi's testimony from 2009 was read aloud for the jury at his second-degree murder trial Thursday.
The couple would argue about their girls wearing "shorter clothes or seeing us with boys outside," Tamana said.
The trial has already heard that Randjida Khairi, 53, defended their six adult or teenaged children's increasing Westernization, while it angered her husband.
Randjida Khairi would periodically threaten to leave him, but would be held back by their Afghan culture, the daughter said.
Her mother feared people would blame her if she moved out, saying "there was something wrong with her," Tamana testified.
Leaving would also have damaged her father's honour, Tamana added.
On the afternoon of March 18, 2008, Peer Khairi called 911 to report someone had "murdered" his wife of more than 30 years.
Police arrived to find her body on a blood-soaked bed, with her throat slit through to the spine and five stab wounds to her torso.
Khairi's lawyers acknowledge that he killed Randjida, but dispute the Crown's contention it was murder.
Tamana Khairi painted a picture of a troubled home life for the couple and their six children who immigrated to Canada via India. Both father and mother had attempted suicide. Tamana herself once tried to harm herself, she said.
Sometimes her father seemed crazy, she said. Once he deliberately poured chili pepper into his eyes, temporarily blinding himself. Another time he banged his head against the wall, making a hole, she said.
He had trouble sleeping and would cry out in the night, waking everyone up in their three-bedroom highrise apartment on the West Mall.
Once he fought physically with one of his sons, throwing him on a bed, prompting Tamana to call 911. Police took her father to hospital for overnight mental observation, she said.
Several weeks before he killed her mother, her father had a car accident that left him "really disturbed," she said. "He would get angry in a moment."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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Leaving would also have damaged her father's honour, Tamana added.
At least he still has his honour, so he can claim it was an honour killing as in, "it was an honour to kill that b*tch". Crazy guy? Crazy religion. Makes one quite sick to the stomach somedays...
Posted by: Solomon Protector of the Texans5923 ||
10/27/2012 11:01
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[Iran Press TV] The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... has announced plans to form an investigative unit to examine the legality of US liquidation drone strikes.
The UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... , Ben Emmerson, said in a Thursday speech to Harvard law school that he, along with another colleague at the UN, will set up the investigative unit early next year in Geneva in an attempt to probe the terror drone attacks in different parts of the world.
If the relevant states are not willing to establish effective independent monitoring mechanisms then it may in the last resort be necessary for the UN to act, Emmerson stated.
He added that the unit is also set to examine other forms of assassination in which it is alleged that civilian casualties have been inflicted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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Ooooh. The UN is going to act. And a "rapporteur" is involved.
Why am I not worried?
You may have heard about the conversation Rush Limbaugh had yesterday with a caller who explained how the quick-reaction, 'In-Extremis' force would have worked to save our people in Benghazi. The source link takes you to that transcript; if you're a Rush 24/7 member you can hear the audio.
Worth the read.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/27/2012
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Caller Doug provided excellent backgound data on standard NEO (Non-Combatant Evacuation) Tactics Techniques and Procedures (TTP). Necessary intelligence and firepower was available.
Pure speculation, but it appears POTUS pulled the plug on enemy engagement once the bulk of the mission had been evacuated on the OGA bird. If a Laser Target Designator was used, it was probably borrowed from SOF in Tripoli and brought to Benghazi by folks on the OGA extraction bird from Tripoli. Not an item that would be found lying around a remote mission.
More speculation: Woods and Doherty may have been instructed to "stand-by to paint Specter or Pred targets on order" then E&E (Escape and Evade) via leather Cadillacs to a third site. In any event, the NO FIRE order was given and the clock ran out on Woods and Doherty.
The order to engage ground targets would have been given by POTUS.
#2
Right Scoop has the video available. Looks like Rush released it. You can watch Rush here. His body expressions are interesting to watch as he gets into the subject.
#3
O was proud of taking credit for Binny--and it was said he personally approved of the drone zap list at the time. Narcissistic control freaks are consistent....
Yes - but the common denominator is that anything goes, so long as they can't be blamed if anything goes wrong, and get all the credit and the glory when things go right. Few leadership decisions are that clear-cut, which is why Champ is such an indecisive, ineffectual twit. It's also why he surrounds himself with advisors whose jobs boil down to blame/credit risk assessment, masquerading as responsible, adult advice.
Consistent, yes - and as pathological and destructive as it gets.
#5
Valerie Jarret is the go/no-go decision-maker for the Obumble Administration. She's Barrack's handler, strictly speaking. Why else would she demand (and get) Secret Service protection? When this farce breaks down, there's going to have to be a million sanitation people employed in DC just to get rid of the stench.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/27/2012 22:24
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[Jerusalem Post] A politician for Greece's neo-Nazi and thus by definition hard-left
Golden Dawn Party has reportedly read out in parliament a passage from the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Ilias Kasidiaris, a spokesperson for Golden Dawn, read out Protocol 19 from the book: "In order to destroy the prestige of heroism we shall send them for trial in the category of theft, murder and every kind of abominable and filthy crime," according to Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor.
Kasidiaris was addressing parliament Oct. 23 at a discussion on lifting his immunity in connection with suspicions of assault. "There was absolutely no reaction" to this in parliament, Dimitras said, which, makes "all parties held as accomplices."
In a written statement Friday, the Foreign Affairs Network of B'nai B'rith Europe called the manuscript's reading in an EU parliament "a sign of moral corruption and degradation which must not be overlooked." The silence with which the reading was received was "doubly worrisome," the network wrote in its statement.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Federal officials say that absentee ballots being sent to U.S. military serving in Afghanistan may have been burned in a plane crash.
A top official in the Federal Voting Assistance Program this week notified election officials across the nation that a transport plane crashed at Shindad Air Base on Oct. 19. The crash resulted in the destruction of 4,700 pounds of mail inbound to troops serving in the area.
Federal officials in their email to state election offices said they did not know if any ballots were destroyed. They also said the lost mail was limited to one zip code. But they recommended that election officials resend a new ballot to anyone who requested one since the first ballot may have been destroyed in the crash and fire.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Yeah, a plane crash. They couldn't say a dog ate the absentee ballots. Who'd believe that?
The number of American workers collecting federal disability insurance benefits hit yet another record high in October, according to the Social Security Administration.
This month 8,803,335 disabled workers are collecting benefits, up from the previous record of 8,786,049 set in September.
In February 2009, the first full month after President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... took office, there were 7,469,240 workers collecting federal disability insurance. Thus, so far in Obama's term, the number of workers collecting disability has increased by 1,334,095. That works out to a net increase of about 29,646 per month (1,334,095 divided by 45 months), or an average increase of about 975 per day (1,334,095 divided by 1,369 days).
#2
..simply moving from expired unemployment to [lawyer advertized] SS disability payouts. You know the system is set up that the lawyers get a 'fee' for working the SS disability case. Wonder how many applications are refused and remain beyond challenge [insert lawyer here]? The tragedy of the commons playing out before you.
#4
Don't have any data on other stagtes, but if there were no lawyers with adverts offering to get folks on Social Security disability, there would be little advertising on Georgia teevee.
Must be a great deal of money to be made in all of this by the legal community.
#6
Being unemployed six months makes one unemployable in the eyes of HR departments (round-fele such resumes upon receipt). One only has two choices - Disability or entrepreneurship.
#7
Both my older Sister and youngest Brother are on disability. A lifetime of smoking,drinking, and drugs will do that. Now they both adore Obama because they believe he will, "Take care of them". There is no admission from them that there are consequinces for their lifestyles. The Government "Owes them".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/27/2012 16:54
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A lifetime of smoking,drinking, and drugs will do that.
I fear I stopped too soon. And why? Hell you get payed now?
#9
I have a friend that has been in this country for thirty years. He was a teacher and mechanical engineer. He developed a process to convert black dirt into diesel fuel. It worked but costs were not good to bring to market. He now has all the assistance programs you can imagine. Is he worried?, no. They will not cut these programs he believes. All medical costs are covered for heart and colon cancer surgery(cost him nothing!). Food stamps, electric, phone, transportation, and Internet. Each day is his to do as he pleases.
Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Qabbani stressed on Friday that the premiership in Leb should not be targeted with violence.
He said: We will not allow the government to be toppled through street action.
He made his declaration during the Eid al-Adha Mohammedan prayers in Beirut's Amin mosque.
Those inciting instincts in the name of sects for political purposes are being foolish, he added.
Leb is a country of principles, peaceful democracy, and state institutions and we therefore cannot accept that the government be tossed through the street, said the mufti.
We didn't accept this years ago and we will never accept it, stated the Sunni holy man.
The premiership is a symbol for us and all the Lebanese people, he added.
Abandoning the constitution means the destruction of the republic and country, Qabbani stressed.
Addressing the Lebanese people, he said: It is time to impose new rules of action and eliminate the sectarian germ in order for your sons to enjoy hope in the future.
Commenting on the liquidation of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan, he said: The crime is part of a conspiracy against Leb.
It will not destroy our national unity, he remarked.
Hasan was killed on October 19 in a car boom in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.
The March 14-led opposition and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... accused Syria of the crime.
The opposition has also been demanding the resignation of the government, which is comprised of pro-Syrian allies, to resign in wake of the liquidation.
It announced its suspension of any political activity, including the national dialogue, that includes the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
God, why do you people at Rantburg keep putting up a picture of Marty Feldman everytime you post on Walid Wally Jumblat and Beirut Lebenon politics?
/sarc off
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 3:07
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AA you are confusing Marty Feldman with one of hatless Gallagers.
[Iran Press TV] Official data show that Spanish unemployment rate has exceeded 25 percent in the third quarter of 2012 as the country continues to grapple with economic woes.
New figures released by Spains National Statistics Institute on Friday showed that the countrys unemployment rate climbed to 25.02 percent in the third quarter, up from the previous 24.63 percent.
The institute also pointed out that a total of 5.78 million people were out of work in the July-September quarter, up 85,000 from the previous three months, while the number of Spanish households in which every member is unemployed rose to 1.74 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I was in Spain in May on business. Their situation is worse than here. Remember that proportionally fewer women in Spain try to enter the workforce. Among young adults the unemployment rate is now 1/3 or more.
[France24] Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... has urged Egyptians to restart their revolution to press for Islamic law and called on Mohammedans to kidnap Westerners, the SITE Intelligence Group said Friday.
In a video released on jihadist forums and translated by the US monitoring service, Zawahiri also lashed out at President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... , calling him a liar and demanding he admit defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa.
Criticizing the new Egyptian government -- led by a president drawn from the Moslem Brüderbund -- as corrupt, he said a battle is being waged in Egypt between a secular minority and Mohammedans seeking implementation of Shariah law.
The Egyptian doctor, the former deputy to slain Al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... , said these Egyptians want to see their government liberated from US influence and Paleostinian victory over Israel, SITE reported.
"The battle isn't over, but it has started," Zawahiri said, urging "every sincere person in Egypt" to "wage a popular campaign to incite and preach in order to complete the revolution, which was aborted.
"The revolution in Egypt must continue and the Mohammedan Ummah must offer sacrifices until it achieves what it wants and until it snatches from the corrupt forces ... the dignity and honor of Egypt."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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Pakistains response to the shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Orcs and similar vermin was a turning point for the country, her father said Friday at the British hospital where is recovering.
When she fell, Pakistain stood This is a turning point, said Ziauddin Yousafzai, who flew to Britannia with other family members on Thursday to help their daughters recovery.
Malala Yousufzai, 15, was shot in the head by gunnies for raising her voice against the Pak Taliban and advocating Western, secular values.
The young activist was flown from Pakistain to the British city of Birmingham to receive specialist treatment after the attack, which drew widespread international condemnation.
Yousufzai said Friday his daughter was strong and would rise again to pursue her dreams after receiving treatment in a British hospital.
They wanted to kill her. But she fell temporarily. She will rise again. She will stand again, he said, his voice wavering and breaking with emotion as he spoke.
Its a miracle for us She was in a very bad condition, he told news hounds, sitting alongside his son. She is improving with encouraging speed.
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Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/27/2012
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#1
I am more and more convinced we were unable to get permission from the Libyan government and unwilling to violate their sovereignty and international law by firing without permission.
#2
The newly minted sovereignty of the Libyan govt not withstanding, sometimes it is better to ask forgiveness than ask permission. We can always assuage hurt feelings with some soothing money.
#4
quis·ling
[kwiz-ling] noun
a person who betrays his or her own country by aiding an invading enemy, often serving later in a puppet government; fifth columnist.
After Major Vidkun Quisling (1887--1945), Norwegian collaborator with the Nazis;shot for treason after Ger. defeat. First used in London "Times" of April 15, 1940, in a Swed. context.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 2:25
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If available (which it appears they were) armed preds and a Spector on-station would be essential elements of a non-permissive extraction. The only element missing or not mentioned yet would be a Tier-1 or 2 SOF element orbiting high overhead, waiting to HALO into the compound, or air-land via rotory wing aircraft.
Absent a timetable, it is beginning to look as though JSOC did in fact execute a NEO (non-combatant evacuation). The original plan may have been to get everybody out, to include the KIA Smith on the OGA bird at the airport. Doherty and Woods continued to stay behind to possibly look for Stevens and engage the enemy force VIA Specter gunship and Pred.
Appears POTUS pulled the plug. We should know very soon.
#9
General Petraeus stated: "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.
General Carter Ham, AFRICOM was asked if he had assets in the area that could have helped and he said he did. He also said he was never asked.
Looks like responsibility lies in the WH with "O." Looks like getting a good night's sleep, going to Las Vegas the next day to hustle re-election votes and bucks was more important than making the call to save Americans caught up in a 8-hour firefight in Libya. There is a certain v0yeurism and p0rn0graphy about watching all this all unfold in real time in the WH and doing nothing.
UPDATE (From Glenn): Reader John Koisch writes: Its not Blackhawk Down. Its worse. Recall that the major problem in BD was the UN commander was unwilling to risk casualties to protect forward US positions and troops in the city. This is the US unwilling to protect its own. Its like we have the UN for an administration or something.
#14
A simple thing, making the right decision, being a stand-up guy with a big stick, DEFENDING AMERICANS IN TROUBLE, would have better served this guys election.
#15
bret bair was supposed to have a special on fox news at 1;00. but it's not on. instead a stump speech from romney and no explanation of why the special was pulled. anybody know
#21
Very interesting, KBK. Fits all the data released so far. Makes sense. Explains why he was replaced (lawful orders MUST be obeyed!) Leaves unanswered the critical question of WHY it was important to 1) not risk a Carter rescue FUBAR, 2) not violate Libyan 'sovereignty, or 3) (some other reason.)
Text. Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy
(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;
(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;
(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or
(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle; shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Seems like someone might know what it is all about. The key word is 'lawful'. 'Stand down' may or may not meet the criteria in the circumstance.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2012 16:26
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#24
Who's in charge here?
The Goldwater-Nichols Act stipulates that the operational chain of command runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense to the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may transmit communications to the Commanders of the Combatant Commands from the President and Secretary of Defense and advises both on potential courses of action, but the Chairman does not exercise military command over any combatant forces.
IF General Ham, USAFRICOM, was relieved as suggested there are only two people who could have done it, the CinC or SecDef.
#25
Obama released a statement through 'surrogates' that basically says the same thing the CIA said. So that leave SecDef. It could be the assets were told to get into the air, started getting into position, then were told to 'await further orders'. Remember the stories on Obama's dithering in raiding Abottabad? Or when he ALMOST let the Libyan resistance get crushed?
It wouldn't surprise me if he was waiting until the very last second, the last possible moment, until he HAD to make a decision. Then everything that had been holding for hours suddenly came unraveled, perhaps one of our two Ex-seals went down from a lucky shot. Things collapsed faster than an order could get through and suddenly they can't attack without hitting our own people.
This would explain why they 'didn't give the order not to assist'. They didn't MEAN for it to happen, and nobody gave the order not too. They intended to send in the rescue team. The idiot (Obama) tried to do his special strategy of waiting with a firefight and lost. It's incompetence on a grand scale that nobody wants to admit being involved.
Can you imagine any military officer, staffer, politician, advisor, ect, ever admitting to being involved in this and going for the ride? You'd be sludge-covered by proximity.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/27/2012 18:46
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[The Hill] The head of the House Democratic campaign arm this week proposed a constitutional amendment that would give the winner of the popular vote in the presidential race an additional 29 electoral votes.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) did not offer an explanation in the joint resolution filed in the House for why he was proposing to change the way elections in the U.S. are decided.
Under the Constitution, the candidate who wins at least 270 electoral votes wins the presidency, regardless of the popular vote.
The prospect of a split between the popular vote and the Electoral College usually provokes cries of abolishing the Electoral College completely, but rather than simplifying the process, Israel's resolution would add an additional level of intrigue to the electoral puzzle.
Swing states would retain their importance in the Electoral College, but the additional 29 delegates awarded to the popular-vote winner would fundamentally alter the focus of the campaigns. Candidates would have to target voters in states they have no chance of winning, as well as in states they have no chance of losing.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Since there it is conceivable to have a tie in the electoral college I would have no problem with the popular-vote then gaining the win. Otherwise I don't think so and I think in a week or two a lot of Dems will agree with me.
#3
Amendment Smendment. If the prohibition, and repeal, went through the process then the health care act should have. Why forcing people/companies to purchase health insurance is not a form of Unfree Labor is beyond me.
#4
Twenty nine votes, eh? Interesting to see the math behind that. I suspect that number is designed to fix certain imbalances in the current election demographics. Did I say 'fix'? I meant skew.
#5
Don't buy into this, a Constitutional Amendment of the US Constitution, and 66% of the States agreeing; ? The State legislatures decide who is named elector by vote, with the Governors deciding the ultimate make-up of the electors based upon the popular vote. No chance for this election nor any other in the future.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 1:24
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#6
So why have states? A dozen + major metro areas will run the country which will, as we've seen, loot the suburbs and rural areas to feed their unending resource needs.
The Electoral College was a compromise between big states and small states to prohibit a few large states, with large populations, from basically taking over, giving substantial fodder to their opponents.
The depth of the historical illiteracy of our Congresscritters never ceases to amazes me. They all should have to take a test before the elections, not to preclude, but to amply demonstrate their ignorance.
The Electoral College was a compromise between big states and small states to prohibit a few large states, with large populations, from basically taking over.
The depth of the historical illiteracy of our Congresscritters never ceases to amazes me. They all should have to take a test before the elections, not to preclude, but to amply demonstrate their ignorance, giving substantial fodder to their opponents.
#8
I have a better way to 'fix' the problem: have every state divvy up their Electoral College votes the same way Maine and Nebraska do.
They do it by giving one vote to the candidate per congressional district won, and the two overall votes to the winner of the state.
So California, currently 55 votes, goes to Obama since he'll win the state 55%-45% by popular vote. But if you did it by district, Romney might win 15 to 18 districts, and the EV would be (say) 38-17. There's a big swing there.
Of course Florida, 29 EV, might end up 19-10 for Romney, and New York, 29 EV, might end up 21-8 for Obama, etc.
This would force candidates to spend more time around the country working areas that would flip districts to them, and less time in 'battleground' states. Heck, the concept of a 'battleground state' would melt away.
Campaigns would have to be truly national to win.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/27/2012 11:18
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#9
Congressional districts are proportional to population [60s era one man, one vote rule from SCOTUS]. As such, once again, one just has to focus on winning the districts which are massed in metro areas. The strategy would be to pander to the metro inhabitants which would then concentrate on less than a third of the states with most of those major metro areas.
#11
the solution to the electoral college problem lies in making it more like what the founders intended instead of less. it was not intended as a means for the people to select the president, but for the people to select the people who would select the president. how to do this is a problem we have had since 1796.
#12
It's probably very difficult to find better solutions.
It's true that a popular vote would make smaller, less populated states irrelevant.
But the current system gives way to much power to a few "swing states". This means that millions of citizens of New York or Houston can pound sand while a few hundred people in the boondocks of Ohio could decide the elections.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/27/2012 15:16
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#13
Why not just give 16 trillion electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote?
#14
This is retarded. There is no need to amend the Constitution to fix this thing. Just change one law from 1929.
To make the Presidential election more closely correlate with the popular vote, then we need more House of Representatives districts. Just doubling the size of the House would have given us Gore and Kerry.
Would the Representatives be unhappy that their power was lessened by having to share with all the new members. Um, yah. That is why they won't fix it.
Four years after federal authorities in the Twin Cities began investigating homegrown recruitment for the terrorist group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... , at least two additional men slipped away to Somalia as recently as July.
Federal authorities believe the Minneapolis men joined the group and are still in the East African nation.
The FBI's confirmation this week that a terrorist conduit continues to flow from Minnesota to Somalia perplexes members of Minnesota's Somali community, who have watched with dismay as young men have disappeared.
FAMILY STUNNED
Among those missing is 19-year-old Mohamed Osman, who once called a leafy little cul-de-sac in south Minneapolis home.
Inside his family's two-story house, Osman's older cousin, Jamal Salim, recalled when the family realized that Osman, who graduated last year from Southwest High School, was missing.
"One day we're at home, like, 'Where is Mohamed?' " Salim said. "It's been two days, and we're thinking he's out with friends. The parents are going crazy. They think he's got placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! or something."
Salim said Osman's mother didn't realize her son was in Somalia until she received a visit from the FBI. Salim said his aunt was stunned.
As were earlier waves of about 20 Twin Cities men who federal authorities say enlisted with al-Shabaab, the introverted Osman was especially secretive about his plans, his cousin said.
"It made me mad because he didn't speak to no relative about it," Salim said. "We're heartbroken about it because he's like our sibling. Imagine not knowing what's going on with your own brother how he's been feeling, who he's been talking to, and what they're telling him. We lost a brother, and I don't know how to get him back."
Authorities say Osman and 20-year-old Omar Ali Farah left Minneapolis for Somalia on July 18.
Salim said Osman was religious to the point of nagging Salim for not praying, and for not wearing the long white tunics favored by some devout Moslem men. Osman had no desire to go to college. He taught the Qur'an to kids at an Islamic school on Lake Street.
Osman's family didn't worry about him, because he appeared to be staying out of trouble.
Salim said he now regrets not intervening in his cousin's life.
"To me, it's like he made a stupid mistake," Salim said. "If he would have talked to the elders who were responsible for him, they would told him, 'What's the reason we brought you from Somalia if you're going to go back?' "
#1
cut off their Visas, passports , and return rights. Let them rot and die in Somalia
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2012 8:28
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#2
Talking with someone involved with development work in Africa, they mentioned that where ever there is a large Somali population, there is a large khat trade. I don't recall ever seeing mention of this, but it may simply be swamped by other bad news from the Twin Cities.
#6
In 2006 I asked DHS officials in an open forum why the US allows 25% of Political Asylees to hail from Somalia, which will strain US counter-terrorism effort for years to come: Answer: we're a country of immigrants.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
10/27/2012 10:53
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#7
Here you go, SteveS. link
Thanks, TW. Those links, along with the ones I found all seem to date from around 2005-2007. Curious there is nothing more recent.
#9
"Country of immigrants?"
Well, when I got my green card and later my citizenship, it was clearly stipulated that operating for a foreign military force annulled these privileges...Remember Bill Morgan, a born American, the Fidel Castro stooge that lost it's citizenship...(before getting shot dead by Fidel)
But now American citizenship does not mean much, thanks to the shrubs, the slickster and O'Bummer...Even Castro make more sense about back stabbing traitors!(Morgan was a quadruple crosser!)
Gunmen rubbed out two members of an anti-Taliban peace committee in Pakistains northwestern Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... valley, where cut-throats tried to murder schoolgirl activist Malala Yousufzai, police said Friday.
The shooting will heighten fears of a campaign of assassinations in Swat, as in the last four months, two businessmen and outspoken anti-militant campaigners have been rubbed out and two others maimed.
The latest incident took place in the Charbagh area, a former myrmidon stronghold some 10 kilometres north of Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, where Taliban shot 15-year-old Malala in the head for promoting the right of girls to go to school.
Police said gunnies opened fire on Tajim Gul late Thursday, in front of a mosque while Sardar Mohammad was bumped off at his home.
In both incidents the attackers managed to flee. We have started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the unknown attackers, Liaqat Ali, an official in Charbagh cop shoppe told AFP. Daidar Ghani, another police official, confirmed the incident.
Mohammads five-year-old son was injured in the shooting.
Residents said both victims were members of local peace committee and they blamed Taliban for the killing.
All four victims before Malala were senior members of an anti-militancy group.
Malala, who won international recognition for a blog about the horrors of life under the Taliban and a campaign for the right to an education, is the highest-profile target of cut-throats in Swat for more than three years.
The army declared Swat, once known as the Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... of Pakistain, back under control in July 2009, after defeating radical holy manMullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullahs Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... and his Taliban fighters who waged a two-year campaign of terror in the district.
The operation was arguably Pakistains most successful offensive to date against the homegrown bully boyz who have bombed and killed thousands across the country for the last five years.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[Iran Press TV] Canada has called on a UN rights expert, Richard Falks, to quit over his anti-Israel remarks, saying that the report he submitted to the UN General Assembly was disgraceful.
"Richard Falk has a long history of making outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation and integrity of the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... ," said Rick Roth, a front man for Canadas Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird on Thursday.
"Mr. Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to the Paleostinian people. Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his position at the United Nations, he added.
This comes as the UN's special rapporteur for the Paleostinian Territories, Falk, presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that since a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations involved in building and maintaining the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate international human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... , a worldwide boycott should be launched against these companies.
Canada has called on a UN rights expert, Richard Falks, to quit over his anti-Israel remarks, saying that the report he submitted to the UN General Assembly was disgraceful.
"Richard Falk has a long history of making outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation and integrity of the United Nations," said Rick Roth, a front man for Canadas Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird on Thursday.
"Mr. Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to the Paleostinian people. Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his position at the United Nations, he added.
This comes as the UN's special rapporteur for the Paleostinian Territories, Falk, presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that since a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations involved in building and maintaining the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate international human rights, a worldwide boycott should be launched against these companies.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Canada has called on a UN rights expert, Richard Falks, to quit over his anti-Israel remarks, saying that the report he submitted to the UN General Assembly was disgraceful
Well if he doesn't resign tell him "Paleostinian" people are planning a pig roast and you are the main course guest of honor. Please accept the free printable invitation Mr Falks.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 2:35
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#2
What the hell is going on with Canada? Must be the oil and the global warming.
Deadly car boomings and artillery fire on Friday shattered a fragile truce between the warring parties in Syria just hours after it had begun on the first day of the Mohammedan Eid al-Adha holiday.
State television blamed "terrorists," the regime term for rebels, for a car kaboom in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... that killed at least five people and maimed dozens, and a rights watchdog reported another deadly bombing farther south in Daraa.
Rebels accused regime forces of opening up with artillery in the embattled north, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting erupted near the key army base of Wadi Deif.
The army said it was responding to attacks by armed rebels that violated the truce agreed to mark Eid al-Adha, one of the most sacred holidays in Islam, which started at dawn.
U.N. and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had brokered the ceasefire in the hope that if successful, it could lead to a longer cessation of violence.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's forces and main rebel group the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had both agreed to a call by Brahimi to lay down their arms for the four-day Eid, but both also reserved the right to respond to attacks.
"Armed terrorist groups attacked military positions, thereby clearly violating the halt to military operations agreed by the army command," the military said in a statement read on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
"Our valiant armed forces are responding to these violations and pursuing these groups," it added.
An FSA commander in the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... accused the regime of breaking the pledge to stop firing.
"The regime does not respect the ceasefire, it is not shooting and there are no festivities but it has started shelling... What ceasefire? We can't trust the regime," said Abd al-Jaber al-Akaidi.
"The regime is perfidious, a cheater and a liar."
The rebel jihadist group al-Nusra Front, which has grabbed credit for deadly car boomings in the past, had refused to sign up to the ceasefire.
As the day progressed it became clear there had been little let-up in the violence.
The Britannia-based Observatory reported car boomings in Damascus and in Daraa, cradle of the anti-regime revolt that has become a fully fledged uprising since it first erupted in mid-March last year.
The watchdog said the a car boom blew up outside the Omar bin Khattab mosque of the Daf Shawk district in southern Damascus, killing five people and wounding more than 30, adding that children were among the casualties.
State television reported at least five people killed and 32 maimed in the "terrorist" act.
A security source told Agence La Belle France Presse the bombing had targeted residential buildings for coppers and their families, and that children were playing in the area when the blast occurred.
In Daraa, three soldiers were killed and eight maimed when a car boomwent kaboom! near a military checkpoint and the railway station, the Observatory said. Eight troops were maimed, most of them critically.
The Observatory said the truce had "collapsed" in several regions and gave a corpse count of 61 on Friday, a day after 135 were reported killed, adding to an estimated corpse count of 35,000 people over 19 months of conflict.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman reported fighting in various parts of Syria, including in and around Damascus, in second city Aleppo, in the central city of Homs and near the Wadi Deif base in the northwest.
At least 10 soldiers and four rebels were killed at Wadi Deif, the watchdog said.
The Observatory relies on a countrywide network of activists and medics in civilian and military hospitals, and says its tolls take into account civilian, military, and rebel casualties.
In Aleppo, scene of fierce fighting since mid-July, there was a brief morning respite and children playing in the streets of some neighborhoods, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound said.
Some families also ventured out to check on their homes on the front line, taking advantage of the lull, the news hound said.
Residents reported festivities at mid-day after rebels tried to overrun a checkpoint near the Mohasab army base in the northeast Seryan district, and in the Sheikh Maqsoud area between Kurdish militias and rebels.
Shams, a mother in the city's army-controlled Sabil district, said the ceasefire "is only a political phrase and not a reality on the ground."
Brahimi had hoped a temporary truce could lead to a more permanent ceasefire during which he could push for a political solution and bring aid to the most stricken regions.
After festivities late Thursday, the ceasefire began as morning prayers marked Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice capping the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
State television showed Assad joining Eid prayers at a Damascus mosque, smiling and chatting with worshipers.
The truce was also tested as security forces opened fire to disperse anti-regime protests after prayers at Inkhel in Daraa, wounding three people, the Observatory said.
General Mustafa al-Sheikh of the FSA said the rebels considered the protest crackdown a violation of the ceasefire, but they were not planning to respond.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[Denver Post] Abound Solar, the defunct solar-panel manufacturer, is under criminal investigation for possible securities fraud, consumer fraud and financial misrepresentation, the Weld County district attorney's office said Thursday.
Loveland-based Abound closed its Colorado plant in July and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in a move that left 125 workers without jobs and taxpayers holding the bag for up to $60 million in defaulted loans.
The DA's office said no criminal charges have been filed.
Weld County officials confirmed the existence of an investigation to The Denver Post last week, but Thursday's announcement provided more detail on the nature of the investigation.
The securities-fraud investigation stems from allegations that "officials at Abound Solar knew products the company was selling were defective, and then asked investors to invest in the company without telling them about the defective products," the DA's office said in a news release.
Similarly, the consumer-fraud allegation is that Abound knowingly sold defective panels to customers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Is this another "Obama Green Jobs" company ... after BHO leaves the presidency remind me never -- ever --- to take him to the track with me. This bullsh*t a&&hole guy couldn't win even if the winning ticket were stuck to his shoe.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/27/2012 2:52
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#2
Yes, this is another green job Obama screw up which was highly touted by the Denver Post when it was started up. Praise of Obama went on for weeks and the chanting in Boulder could be heard in conservative villas in the mountains.
#3
And the oil and gas drilling jobs went north to the Bakken field...CO is a swing state and while the Front Range is lib, the rural areas are conservative. All is not lost, just the hopey changey thing.
The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States and Israel of encouraging divisions among Moslems to preempt uprisings in the Middle East. In his annual message to Iranians performing the Hajj pilgrimage, Khamenei said: "By exploiting apathy the United States, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... and Zionists are trying undo the harmony between young Moslems; to pit them against each other under the name of Islam." "They are trying to turn Jihad against occupation and Zionism into blind terrorism in the streets to make Moslems spill one another's blood," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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[Jerusalem Post] Tehran's coal trade is worth nearly $25 million a month; Iran to seek more coking coal as steel imports banned.
Using shadowy middle men, multiple bank accounts and a fleet of ghost ships, Iran's coal trade is quietly booming as the Islamic Theocratic Republic tries to sidestep Western sanctions and prevent its industrial economy from crashing.
Tougher measures imposed by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and the United States have tightened the screws on Tehran, which relies on its shipping trade for many imports including food, consumer and industrial goods. Many foreign companies, including shipping firms, have pulled out for fear of losing business in the US and due to the complexities of arranging non-sanctioned deals.
Despite the setbacks, industry sources say producers in Ukraine are providing Iran with coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, and coke - key steel ingredients.
"Iranians used to buy a lot of coking coal from Australia to make their own coke but that has stopped now as the big companies there don't want to do it as they are too exposed," a British-based coal trade source said. "So Iran went to buy coke from Ukraine," he added, referring to the concentrated coal used in blast furnaces.
While coal is not directly targeted as a commodity, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... imposed a ban on steel sales to Iran last week, making the Islamic Theocratic Republic's coal needs more pressing because it now must produce more steel itself.
"Iran is one of the fastest-growing countries in terms of steel production so they need more steel raw materials," a European based trade source said. "They need to import more (metallurgical) coal and coke," he said.
Lured by a trade worth nearly $25 million a month, suppliers in Ukraine are aiming to take advantage.
"The US and EU sanctions programs currently in place against Iran are complex and include sanctions against the indispensable marine insurances," said Jakob Larsen with BIMCO, the world's largest private ship owners' association.
"As is often the case, for those who are willing and able to take the risk, the rewards are more likely to be high. In such a market the risk-taker segment will try to find a way out."
Sources say the trade is complex involving often multiple brokers and diverse payment arrangements including a mix of currencies such as Russian rubles.
"We have been approached to sell some (metallurgical) coal to Iran and they have been buying more lately," one Ukrainian metallurgical coal producer said. "We have done some business but not directly, through another country -- Syria and Leb," he said, without providing further details.
Even those looking to do deals with Iran from Ukraine are having to find creative ways to trade, other sources said.
"One of the ways around it being looked at is barter. We've been approached several times but haven't done any deals yet to do barter of coal for steel of equivalent value, that way no money needs to change hands," a raw materials trader said.
The Taliban are claiming responsibility for what may have been the latest insider attack against Western troops.
They say one of their infiltrators killed two American service members in Uruzgan province.
A statement Friday said an Afghan soldier shot the men a day earlier, and then escaped to join the beturbanned goons.
A spokeswoman for US forces in Afghanistan said authorities were still determining whether the attacker was a member of the Afghan cops or an beturbanned goon who donned a government uniform.
It was the second suspected insider attack in two days. On Wednesday, two British troops and an Afghan policeman were bumped off in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
The spate of insider attacks has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... countries and increased calls for earlier withdrawals.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#1
Maybe President Romney will be more open to ARCLIGHT strikes. We can only hope...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/27/2012 22:20
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[Bloomberg] Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL), the maker of Sharpie pens and Calphalon cookware, hired a former Unilever strategist to help run the company under a new structure and plans to cut 10 percent of its jobs.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Polk has reorganized in two new units as he seeks to boost sales outside the U.S., the Atlanta-based company said today in a statement. One unit, focused on brand development, will be run by Mark Tarchetti, Unilevers former head of global strategy. The other, focused on sales, distribution and supply, will be run by Newells William A. Burke III, who was named chief operating officer.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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#2
This is WOT-related because Sharpie pens are used to write id numbers, along with disparaging remarks, on the foreheads of dead terrs. And sealable Rubbermaid containers are an integral part of the cleanup after a drone-sap. They're great for collecting the misc. parts and other leavings.
#3
Also...I remember shipping bottled water to Iraq. We thought it was great they were finally getting clean water. They dumped the water out and kept the containers. They wanted tupperware more than clean water. Very WOT and bad strategy, Ship.
Bet the first ones to go are those bumping the 'Gray Ceiling', then to unemployment, then SS.
#5
Also for the hands of the aweful bammy ads where the actor holds their right hand over their heart - I guess at least one upping candidate barry - yet for writing off hand and upside down did quite well...unless they had someone else doing it for them which breaks the narrative.
Unprecedented investments and financial aid amounting to billions have been earmarked to rebuild war-torn areas in Mindanao amid the dawn of peace sparked by the Philippine government's forging of framework accord with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Officials of the Autonomous Region in Mohammedan Mindanao officials led by ARMM acting Governor Mujiv S. Hataman described the fresh investments as "peace dividends" for communities in the south that suffered the brunt of atrocities and other socio-economic debacles.
For a start, they said, European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Ambassador to the Philippines Guy Ledoux signed on Oct. 22 a single currency-bloc's commitment of $5.9-million (P312-million) in grant turned over that same day for a two-year implementation of the project called "Enhancing the Resilience of Internally Displaced Persons in Central Mindanao by Strengthening Livelihoods."
Hataman's technical staff said that Malaysia's Felda Global Ventures (FGV), the world's largest producer of crude palm oil, had expressed interest to infuse part of its $3.1-billion investment capital in Mindanao after the signing of the government-MILF accord, which the firm viewed as "potentially opening up tracts of farm land.
Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu of Maguindanao, of a province in ARMM actively involved in palm oil farming, said he would exert follow-up representations to a business firm in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... that had earlier committed to invest some P1.3-billion for banana production and other agricultural endeavors in his province.
"President Aquino is aware of such an investment prospect from the Saudi kingdom. We have high hopes that the prospected investment would materialize in the wake of the initial peace accord signing," Mangudadatu said.
A similar optimism was aired Thursday by Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., who earlier revealed investment offers from some Mohammedan countries interested to open up businesses in his province and other parts of ARMM "once peace is assured."
Syria's army command said on Friday it had responded to several attacks by rebel forces on military positions across the country, which it said violated a ceasefire marking the Moslem holiday of Eid al-Adha. It said it had responded to the rebel attacks in accordance with its announcement on Thursday that it would cease military activity during the four-day holiday but reserve the right to react to rebel action.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2012
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[HUMAN EVENTS] COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two volunteer poll workers at an Ohio voting station told Human Events that they observed van loads of Ohio residents born in Somalia -- the state is home to the second-largest Somali population in the United States -- being driven to the voting station and guided by Democratic interpreters on the voting process. No Republican interpreters were present, according to these volunteers.
The White House is weighing the idea of a tax cut that it believes would lift Americans' take-home pay and boost a still-struggling economy, according to people familiar with the administration's thinking, as the presidential candidates continue battling over whose tax policies would do more for the country.
The B-52 is celebrating a big birthday this year 60 but unlike humans who feel the aches and pains of aging, the aircraft remains a premiere bombing machine that is expected to continue giving bad guys a real bad day through the 2040s, thanks to yet another upgrade.
[An Nahar] Scientists in Canada have unearthed the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas, the journal Science reported on Thursday.
[An Nahar] Amateur, indecisive and gaffe-prone: the accusations are growing ever louder against Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as he struggles to steer 
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hillary Clinton
[Iran Press TV] The 
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
Zawahiri
[The Hill] The head of the House Democratic campaign arm this week proposed a constitutional amendment that would give the winner of the popular vote in the presidential race an additional 29 electoral votes.
Deadly 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Jerusalem Post] Tehran's coal trade is worth nearly $25 million a month; Iran to seek more coking coal as steel imports banned.
Unprecedented investments and financial aid amounting to billions have been earmarked to rebuild war-torn areas in Mindanao amid the dawn of peace sparked by the Philippine government's forging of framework accord with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
