Flatulence brought 99 passengers on an American Airlines flight to an unscheduled visit to Nashville early Monday morning. American Flight 1053, from Washington Reagan National Airport and bound for Dallas/Fort Worth, made an emergency landing here after passengers reported smelling struck matches, said Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority.
The plane landed safely. The FBI, Transportation Safety Administration and airport authority responded to the emergency, Lowrance said. The passengers and five crew members were brought off the plane, together with all the luggage, to go through security checks again. Bomb-sniffing dogs found spent matches. The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition.
The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane. "American has banned her for a long time," Lowrance said. She was not charged but could have been. While it is legal to bring as many as four books of paper safety matches onto an aircraft, it is illegal to strike a match in an airplane, Lowrance said.
#1
Holy Shit ! It's a miracle she didn't ignite the methane and blow the plane out of the sky. Must have been potent stuff if she couldn't stand it either.
Agencies | New Delhi
It was a blow for chess when a player was caught for the first time using an electronic device during a FIDE tournament in the country.
Umakant Sharma was caught with a blue tooth device hidden in his cap when random checking was conducted during the seventh round of the Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee Memorial All India Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament.
Sharma, top seeded with ELO 2384, was playing with black pieces against International Master Rahul Shetty.
The arbiters were still to decide what action should be taken against Sharma as it was a maiden attempt by a player in the country to use some means of communication during a match.
FIDE rules for carrying electronic communication device say: "During play the players are forbidden to make use of any notes, sources of information, advice, or analyse on another chessboard."
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
19:14 ||
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Former Union coal minister Shibu Soren was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court on Tuesday for his involvement in the 1994 abduction and murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha.
On November 28, Soren became the first cabinet minister to be convicted of murder.
Soren, who is the chief of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), a constituent of the ruling UPA, was present in the packed courtroom when the judge handed out the sentence at 6.20 pm Surrounded by policemen, he looked pale, though his supporters started raising slogans in his support.
Additional Sessions Judge BR Kedia also ordered Soren to pay Rs 5 lakh to Jhas mother and two daughters as compensation.
According to legal experts, Soren, a six-time Lok Sabha member, can retain his membership of the House if he appeals against his conviction and sentence within the next three months.
Four others, whom the court had found guilty along with Soren, were also sentenced for life. Nand Kishore Mehta alias Nandu, Shailender Bhattacharaya, Pashupati Nath Mehta alias Posho and Ajay Kumar Mehta were also fined Rs 15,000 each.
Although Soren has been convicted of conspiracy to murder, and not the deed itself, the CBI, the prosecuting agency in the case, made a strong plea for awarding him and his fellow convicts, the death sentence. It cited the examples of the Parliament attack case and the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, in which the conspirators too were given death sentences by the court.
In response, Soren's counsel RK Anand pleaded that his client should not be given death, considering his age, ill health and stature as a tribal leader.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
18:51 ||
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Three ships to be delivered by Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) to the Indian Navy will have LAN connections with a 10g backbone.
A veteran in developing ships for the Indian defence, MDL had invited tenders for the project in 2005. The ships are being developed at the Mazgaon Docks.
CMC bagged the contract last Friday. The order is valued at Rs 7.4 crore.
Arvind Kumar, account manager at CMC said, "We will install LAN for three ships to be developed by MDL for the Indian Navy. We will do complete network integration for these three ships."
He added, "10g is a very special requirement. Installed in rare cases, the 10g backbone helps faster transmission and processing of data."
At present, most networks run on 1G platform and midrange servers from HP.
The OEMs for the project would be Dlink Foundry for switches and backbone, and passage components, HP for servers and Microsoft for software.
Kumar refused to divulge more details and said, "It is confidential since the ships are being developed for the Indian Navy."
The project involves two-tier network architecture with core and zonal switches. The zonal switches would be strategically implemented and connect to the core switch over 10G Ethernet over fiber. The delta connectivity created due to redundant link would also provide load sharing for entire traffic life.
Other bidders for the project were Wipro, HCL and Adlink (Singapore).
The project will be completed in three phases. Each ship will be taken up independently per phase.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
18:34 ||
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#2
And their commander in chief - the Indian president, a pretty smart guy - a rocket scientist no less, has been touting Linux use and the benefits of open source...
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006 18:42
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#3
I can see it...
General the chinese ship is behaving funny and we just got an email from them.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's highest court made it easier to deport illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the northeastern border state of Assam on Tuesday by repealing a controversial immigration law.
The Supreme Court repealed an Assam-specific legislation saying it was unconstitutional for a state to have laws different to those in the rest of the country.
Previously in Assam, the burden of proving that someone was an illegal immigrant lay with the accuser.
Now that burden of proof has been shifted to the accused, who will need to either prove their nationality or face deportation, bringing Assam into line with the rest of India.
Many Assamese say the change is necessary to stop poor, mostly Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh from illegally entering the oil- and tea-rich state in search of jobs.
"The Supreme Court judgement is a victory for the indigenous people of Assam and justice has been done to the people," said Sammujal Bhattacharjee, leader of the powerful All Assam Students Union, which campaigned for the change.
But the state's Muslim minority fears such a law will be used to harass them in a hunt for illegal immigrants.
New Delhi says millions of Bangladeshis have settled illegally in India, a large proportion of them in Assam.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
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#1
Shoot, at first I thought the headline referred to OUR Supreme Court - shoulda known better.
#3
Taking a dig at the Centre, the Bench of Justices SB Sinha and Markandeya Katju said, "There is a lack of will in the matter of ensuring that illegal immigrants are sent out of the country," and gave a four-month ultimatum to the Centre to implement its orders.
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12/05/2006 20:06
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François Gautier, born in Paris in 1950, is a French journalist and writer, who was for eight years the political correspondent in India and South Asia for " Le Figaro " and now works for Ouest-France, the largest circulation daily (I million copies) in France and LCI, France's 24 hour TV news channel.
The recent bombings of the Western Railway system in Mumbai have once again thrown up the same question: Is it possible to dialogue with todays Islam ? Does it listen to reason ? Does plain logic work ? Will it ever stop killing innocent people in the name of God ?
Take these bombings for instance: do they really make sense ? Here you have a Central Government which is heavily pro-Muslim, making sure that a number of Muslims are appointed in top posts, endeavouring to carve a sizable chunk of reservations for Muslims, as seen in Andra Pradesh and constantly pandering to Indias Muslim minority. The bombings also happen in Maharashtra, a state governed by the Congress, where many Muslims live and work, the financial capital of India, whose prosperity benefits all, including Muslims
The same illogical strain seems to have got hold of the Government of India, whether it is BJP or Congress ruled. We keep hearing that those blasts, in Delhi, Vanarasi or Mumbai, are the work of the ISI of Pakistan or Bangladeshi extremists. But what they dont say is that it would be impossible for these people to function unless they have a lot of ground sympathy amongst local Indian Muslims. And the question has to be asked again: why should Indian Muslims go against their own Government, which has done so much for them since Independence ? Why should Indian Muslims target India, a country where they have more freedom than in say Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia ?
Every time also, the Government comes out with the same litany: these acts are meant to create communal violence, be peaceful, dont react. Which basically means, You Hindus (who are targeted), keep quiet and get killed. Who cares anyway. And a few months later, another blast takes the lives of a few more innocent Hindus. But how long will the Hindus keep quiet? This is the question that the Indian Government has to ask itself. Gujarat has paved the way: However reprehensible these acts of mass vengeance were, they have shown that Hindus keep quiet for a long time: they get riled at, they are made fun of, they are despised, their women raped, men killed, children burnt in trains and one day they blow up - and blow up badly. Riots dont erupt in a few days: they are the fruit of decades, of generations even, of suppressed anger, of frustration, of a silent majority which sees itself more and more marginalized and taken for granted.
Yes, we do occasionally come across wonderful Muslims, open, friendly, who have somehow preserved the knowledge that all religions are the same, that Islam in India owes a lot to the tolerance of Indians, that Hinduism, yoga, meditation and pranayama, are Indias gifts to the world and can be practiced by Muslims, Christians and Hindus alike. I have personally met quite a few of them, within the Art Of Living Family, for example. But they are such rarities. And even those educated Muslims, whom you can talk to, will not go as far as criticizing the Koran. Look at Javed Akhtars poetic tearjerker on the Bombay blasts (As a human being, I shudder to think how can my fellow humans do something so heinous? Are these terrorists made of flesh and blood? Do they laugh and cry like us?). Not once Akhtar, who has made a favourite pastime of deriding Hindu Gurus, said that all these crimes are committed in the name of Islam and the Koran, his religion and his Scriptures
So will Islam ultimately convert itself? Because the problem is not with Muslims, but with the Koran. Will it, instead of feeling totally paranoiac, thinking that it is under attack everywhere, whether it is Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, or France, realize that it is actually Islam which is the aggressor all over the world, that Muslims who have settled in France or India, or the UK, and which these countries have sincerely accepted, giving them citizenship and the same rights as any French, Indian or German citizens, are actually biting the hand that fed them ? Will the mullahs of Islam accept to sit down and reform the Koran, which is a perfectly acceptable scripture for the Middle ages, when mentalities were very different, but which today still propagates an aggressive, exclusive, and dangerous zeal in its children?
This is what we are all hoping for. This is what most Western leaders secretly crave for, when they go out of their way to praise and favour the moderate Muslims of their country. This is what spiritual leaders like His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar are attempting, with a certain amount of success, by speaking to Muslim leaders, fostering ties in Muslim countries such as Iraq or Afghanistan, or reforming Kashmiri terrorists through meditation.
Unfortunately, time is running out. Muslims in India and elsewhere in the world do not understand is that we are slowly losing our innocence. At the moment, Islam still benefits from the sympathy of the media, which constantly negates Islamic fundamentalism, making a hero for instance of the Chechen warlord Shamil Bassayev, recently killed, who organized the gruesome massacre of hundreds of children in Beslan and a villain of Vladimir Putin (or a hero of Sadddam Hussain and a monster of Bush) but it is slowly losing that sympathy. Sooner or later nearly the entire world will wage a war against Islam, from Europe to China, from the Ural to Pakistan.
There will also come a time, which is not very far, where everybody will become wary of anything Islamic. Anyone looking slightly Muslim, in a plane, in a train, in a shopping mall, will be looked upon suspiciously. Anybody with a Muslim name will have problems entering any country. Those who have Muslim friends will quietly stop seeing them or find some excuses not to meet them. It is already happening. Muslims will cry themselves hoarse and speak of persecution. But they will have only themselves to blame: they did not speak up as a community when innocents all over the world were killed in the name of their religion .
And this may be the way Islam will slowly disappear. Muslims with a little common sense, or just maybe with a sense of survival, will start changing their names quietly, they will stop going to the Mosque, they will send their children to Christian or Hindu schools. Governments will clamp down so hard on their own Muslims, there will be so many restrictions on them, that entire families, will move out of the Muslim enclaves you find all over the world, to resettle elsewhere. Jehadis facing certain death even if they are not suicide bombers, will melt back in civilian life. Muslims will slowly lose faith in the righteousness and the power of their own religion, become atheists, or even embrace back Hinduism, as 90% of Muslims in India are Hindu converts. It may take a few decades, a hundred years even, But Islam will surely disappear in the alleys of history and what look now like menacing, dangerous, foreboding force will be looked upon as just another religion that came and passed away..
Unless Islam converts itself
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
17:20 ||
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According to Gautier, he submitted this article three times to the Indian newspapers who carry his work. It was rejected by the editors...
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006 17:32
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#2
And this may be the way Islam will slowly disappear.
Wishful thinking. The exclusion promotes separation and conflict. The eventual disappearance is likely to be rather sudden.
#4
why should Indian Muslims go against their own Government, which has done so much for them since Independence ? Why should Indian Muslims target India, a country where they have more freedom than in say Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia?
If it ain't sharia, it ain't halal and it ain't Islamic. These morons will never be happy unless everything is their way and their way only. And it is this that will get them killed.
Sooner or later nearly the entire world will wage a war against Islam, from Europe to China, from the Ural to Pakistan.
Most amazing of all is how Islam absolutely refuses to admit or even recognize this simple fact. They have set themselves on a collision course with reality. The impact will likely be expressed in mega if not giga-tons.
There will also come a time, which is not very far, where everybody will become wary of anything Islamic. Anyone looking slightly Muslim, in a plane, in a train, in a shopping mall, will be looked upon suspiciously. Anybody with a Muslim name will have problems entering any country. Those who have Muslim friends will quietly stop seeing them or find some excuses not to meet them. It is already happening. Muslims will cry themselves hoarse and speak of persecution. But they will have only themselves to blame: they did not speak up as a community when innocents all over the world were killed in the name of their religion.
Islam's repeated demands for a repetition of the Holocaust will end up being their death knell. If there is another genocide, it will probably be the Muslim holocaust. To date, they are begging for it on hands and knees with little promise of any change at all in the near or long term future.
The fifth anniversary of 9-11 saw me reach my personal limit. The complete and total obliteration of Islam and every Muslim on earth will not cost me a second's sleep. I certainly welcome any and all more peaceful solutions but have no personal doubt as to what will finally be required.
#6
Kind of similar to a neophyte Risk player who randomly attacks all other players -- then suddenly finds out what happens when they all simultaneously decide that they've had enough of that particular color on the board.
Moslems will go the way of Carthaginians, Aztecs, and Nazis because they are a thoroughly irrational death cult.
What they capture, they keep. When they lose, they complain to the U.N.
By Raymond Ibrahim,
RAYMOND IBRAHIM is a research librarian at
the Library of Congress. His book, "The Al Qaeda Reader," translations of religious texts and propaganda, will be published in April.
December 5, 2006
IN THE DAYS before Pope Benedict XVI's visit last Thursday to the Hagia Sophia complex in Istanbul, Muslims and Turks expressed fear, apprehension and rage. "The risk," according to Turkey's independent newspaper Vatan, "is that Benedict will send Turkey's Muslims and much of the Islamic world into paroxysms of fury if there is any perception that the pope is trying to re-appropriate a Christian center that fell to Muslims." Apparently making the sign of the cross or any other gesture of Christian worship in Hagia Sophia constitutes such a sacrilege.
Built in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia Greek for "Holy Wisdom" was Christendom's greatest and most celebrated church. After parrying centuries of jihadi thrusts from Arabs, Constantinople now Istanbul was finally sacked by Turks in 1453, and Hagia Sophia's crosses were desecrated, its icons defaced. Along with thousands of other churches in the Byzantine Empire, it was immediately converted into a mosque, the tall minarets of Islam surrounding it in triumph. Nearly 500 years later, in 1935, as part of reformer Kemal Ataturk's drive to modernize Turkey, Hagia Sophia was secularized and transformed into a museum.
Protests aimed at keeping the pope out of Hagia Sophia rocked Istanbul right up to the morning of his visit to the site. Contrast that intolerance with the tolerance granted Muslims in regard to the Al Aqsa mosque this time, an Islamic site in Jerusalem annexed by Judaism. Unlike the permanent Muslim desecration of Hagia Sophia, after Israel's victory in the 1967 war, the Jews did not deface or convert the mosque into a Jewish synagogue or temple, even though the Al Aqsa mosque is deliberately built atop the remains of the Temple Mount, the holiest site of Judaism and, by extension, an important site for Christians. Moreover, since reclaiming the Temple Mount, Israel has granted Muslims control over the Al Aqsa mosque (except during times of crises).
All this illustrates the privileged status that many Muslims expect in the international arena. When Muslims conquer non-Muslim territories such as Constantinople, not to mention all of North Africa, Spain and southwest Asia those whom they have conquered as well as their descendants are not to expect any apologies, let alone political or territorial concessions.
Herein lies the conundrum. When Islamists wage jihad past, present and future conquering and consolidating non-Muslim territories and centers in the name of Islam, never once considering to cede them back to their previous owners, they ultimately demonstrate that they live by the age-old adage "might makes right." That's fine; many people agree with this Hobbesian view.
But if we live in a world where the strong rule and the weak submit, why is it that whenever Muslim regions are conquered, such as in the case of Palestine, the same Islamists who would never concede one inch of Islam's conquests resort to the United Nations and the court of public opinion, demanding justice, restitutions, rights and so forth?
Put another way, when Muslims beat infidels, it's just too bad for the latter; they must submit to their new overlords' rules with all the attendant discrimination and humiliation mandated for non-Muslims. Yet when Islam is beaten, demands for apologies and concessions are expected from the infidel world at large.
Double standards do not make for international justice. Either territorial conquests are always unjust and should therefore be ameliorated through concessions, or else they are merely a manifestation of the natural order of things that is, survival of the fittest.
If some Muslims wish to wage eternal jihad until Islam dominates the globe, they are only being true to Islam and its doctrines as they understand it. However, in that case, where the world is divided into two warring camps, Islam and Infidelity or, in Islamic terms, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War how can these Muslims expect any concessions from the international community? The natural conclusion of the view that "might makes right" is "to the victor go the spoils."
The fact that Turkey conquered Constantinople more than 500 years ago does not prevent the Turkish government from returning Hagia Sophia to Christendom today, which would undoubtedly be a great gesture. But of course that can never be. The Muslim world would undergo a "paroxysm of fury" if a Christian pope dares pray in the conquered church; what would the Muslim world do if Hagia Sophia were actually converted back to a church?
But perhaps Muslims cannot be blamed for expecting special treatment, as well as believing that jihad is righteous and decreed by the Almighty. The West constantly goes out of its way to confirm such convictions. By criticizing itself, apologizing and offering concessions all things the Islamic world has yet to do the West reaffirms that Islam has a privileged status in the world.
And what did the pope do in his controversial visit to Hagia Sophia? He refrained from any gesture that could be misconstrued as Christian worship and merely took in the sights of the museum. Moreover, when he was invited into the Blue Mosque nearby, he respectfully took off his shoes and prayed, eyes downcast, standing next to the the grand mufti of Istanbul like a true dhimmi a subdued non-Muslim living under Islamic law and acknowledging Islamic superiority.
And therein is the final lesson. Muslims' zeal for their holy places and lands is not intrinsically blameworthy. Indeed, there's something to be said about being passionate and protective of one's own. Here the secular West Christendom's prodigal son and true usurper can learn something from Islam. For whenever and wherever the West concedes ideologically, politically and especially spiritually, Islam will be sure to conquer. If might does not make right, zeal apparently does.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006
17:17 ||
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#1
Shocking to see this in the LA Times... are certain editors getting a clue?
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006 17:33
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#2
Heh, an Op-Ed. No change, IMO, think of it like a lawyer who takes the occasional pro-bono case... just the occasional piece to maintain the illusion of balance, lol.
#4
Sorta like Furians who were expelled for being whiny-assed bitches, cowardly girly-men who hid behind wymyns, and gutless fucks who kill the defenseless.
I've been wondering this of late as well. More and more columnists are starting to cast a critical, if veiled, light on islamic insanities. It could be that a saturation point may yet be reached by some more soon. Others will take an Ahmadinnajacket lobbed bomb to start breaking a sweat. But I've got hopes.
There may come a point where the duplicity and ignorance of cause and effect, not to mention double standards of islam itself will become uncomfortably obvious - and so, worrying - to average Joe. And the pap of appeasement won't work anymore. Joe gonna know pap when he sees it.
al-Rooters, of course
British Marines attacked a Taliban-held valley in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday but withdrew after a ferocious counterattack that withstood air strikes and artillery fire, witnesses said. One Royal Marine was killed and a second wounded during the battle, the UK Helmand Task Force (UKTF) said. My sympathies to the families.
Scores of soldiers ran across a bridge over the Helmand River under a full moon shortly before daybreak and began sweeping south through wheatfields in the south of the province, the opium center of the world's major producer.
A Reuters cameraman said the Marines initially faced only sporadic resistance but when they advanced, Taliban fighters launched a ferocious, organized riposte they had a sword?
with heavy weapons like a ... 133mm gun? 120mm mortar? More likely a RPG or 60mm mortar
and tried to outflank the British troops.
The fierce resistance illustrated the challenges facing the NATO troops in Afghanistan where they are trying to subdue well-armed Taliban and other militants bolstered by profits from a record opium crop, according to Afghan and foreign officials.
Major Andy Plewes, who led the Royal Marines of Zulu Company 45 Commando, on the assault, said the soldiers had expected resistance: "What we didn't know was how strong it was. We don't currently have enough forces in the area to hold ground completely and that has to be done by Afghan security forces," he told a Reuters reporter with the Marines.
The 32,000-strong force NATO-led International Security Assistance Force took over command of the war against the Taliban from U.S.-led forces in October and has launched a string of offensives.
British casualties have been mounting since ISAF took over command of operations in southern Afghanistan at the end of July. Britain has lost 41 soldiers since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001, the bulk of them this year. And how many talibunnies are dead? Eh?
The British forces, who make up the bulk of NATO forces in Helmand, opened fire from light armored vehicles and engaged small groups of guerrillas with mortars and machine guns. Ah, so by "heavy weapons" he means crew-served light weapons.
Afghan police and soldiers have so far held just the bridgehead and the short road at the north end of the valley, criss-crossed by networks of ancient canals that make Helmand fertile enough to produce a third of the world's opium crop.
BARRAGES OF AIR STRIKES Ummmm, Barrages come from artillery. Dude.
The Taliban withstood barrages of air strikes from Apache helicopters, 500 pound bombs dropped by B1 bombers and withering cannon fire from A-10 attack jets before the British finally withdrew after a 10-hour battle. 10 hours of combat ya say? Against a company of Royal Marines with supporting arms? And the Brits retreated?? Musta run outta targets to kill.
The fearless, strong, brave and handsome Taliban fighters, who say they have the expertise to defeat the strongest army, had dug sophisticated networks of trenches often leading from compound to compound. Sophisticated trenches? WTF izzat? Cable TV, Wine Cellar, iPod stereo? Prolly not. I think they mean the holes in the ground were almost linear.
This year has seen the worst fighting since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban's strict Islamist government in 2001. About 4,000 people have died, a quarter of them civilians. And the rest of the dead were...NATO or US troops?
The alliance troops were deployed to aid reconstruction and to help Afghanistan's government by build stability. But they have been increasingly drawn into battles with the Taliban and other militants in the opium poppy-growing south. Heh. Notice the editorial comment about opium.
Tuesday's assault was the latest in a series of battles by British forces around the bridgehead.
Major Plewes said he considered the assault a success as they had cleared out areas near the "D.C.," a tiny strip of road and ruined buildings on the eastern side of the Helmand River.
But without more Afghan troops to hold the ground there was little hope of doing much more.
"In the mean time we have to try to provide as much as security to the D.C. as possible," said Plewes. Any enemy dead from the marine company...or the arty...or the B1...or apache...or A10? Nothing hit and the Brits forced to retreat by the brave lions of islam? Come on, this is actually an AP report, correct?
#1
Again, for the umpteenth time: Why did we invent the MOAB bomb if we didn't intend to use it?
I'll bet that would fuc& up their trench system and whatever else but good!
Like you said, it all centers around the drug trade being their lifeblood. You'd do better with a KC-10 or two full of Roundup(TM). Imagine the headlines: "Taliban Ultimately Defeated by Roundup(TM)". Not so manly, I guess.
#4
For the Umpteeth time + 1, the MOAB requires a certain time warning to use, since it's dropped out of a cargo plane, say 2 weeks. The weapon was a very successful exercise in high speed engineering. Nothing more, nothing less. Less than 5 exist.
#7
the MOAB requires a certain time warning to use, since it's dropped out of a cargo plane, say 2 weeks
They're not using this concept to its full potential by any means. Shame. Could have saved a lot of effort here.
Perhaps the MOAB bomb as it exists today is a bit of an overkill. Maybe a 5000 pounder would be more practical. If they are whining about not using it "because it's too heavy" then just lighten it up.
I don't see why cargo planes need two weeks notice to pick up a 20000# load. It's what they do.
#13
Also, the restraint of these soldiers is almost superhuman. If the a$$hole who wrote this was anywhere near me in a combat zone, I doubt very much that I could resist the impulse to put one behind his ear. He and his ilk are the enemy.
#14
The Rooters byline is Peter Graff. Oddly enough, Peter Graff of Rooters, or another guy with the same name, was reporting from London not two weeks ago on the Litvinenko murder, as shown here. Reggie Bush doesn't get around that fast. Or is the story based mostly on the unnamed, affiliation-unstated, Rooters "cameraman"?
Posted by: Matt ||
12/05/2006 22:02
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#15
That's why it should be SOP when all reporters enter the AOR they are told in no uncertain terms by team members what is expected of them wrt their adjectives in a story.
I like to ask folks their name, share a cup of joe, and then tell them how easy it would be for me to find them via ZABA search when I get back home.
#16
Gentlemen, it is time to kick out the fake "News" fluffers and take care of business. I have not the time, beer, nor the marijuana, to watch this continually for another 5 years. Afghanistan is a PC free zone. See how that works.
Manager arrested for garbage in lard
BEIJING - A factory manager in east China has been arrested for using grease from swill, sewage, pesticides and recycled industrial oil to make lard for human consumption, state media said Monday in the country's latest food scare.
Ying Fuming, a manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in Taizhou, a city in Zhejiang province, sold the lard at half the price of other wholesalers while promising that his product met safety standards, the Shanghai Daily said. The factory was shut down and local health and food authorities began an investigation this year after an anonymous tip indicated that the plant "recycled large amounts of used grease to process substandard lard," the newspaper said.
It is the latest incident involving substandard or fake food products in China, where there is rampant counterfeiting of food and medicines. China's food safety watchdog announced last month that seven companies that produced salted, red-yolk duck eggs used potentially cancer-causing red dyes.
In 2004, at least 12 infants died from malnutrition after drinking phony formula in a city in the eastern province of Anhui. More than 200 babies suffered wasted limbs and swollen heads common symptoms of malnutrition.
The Taizhou factory, which opened in September 2005, was ordered shut down but continued operating at night, the Shanghai Daily said. It sold its product to retailers across the country, who sold it to clients, including hotels and restaurants, it said.
In a recent night raid, officers found 83,000 pounds of raw materials and 11,600 pounds of lard, the newspaper said without providing any more details. "Some was recycled edible grease, such as oil refined from swill and cooked oil," it said. "Some was grease rendered from sewage, and some was recycled industrial grease."
By law, only pure fat from hogs can be used to produce edible lard, the newspaper said. Samples from the Fanchang factory showed an acid value more than 11 times higher than the national limit, it said.
#3
Isn't the real question, "What value does England realize maintaining a special relationship with Scotland?"
Posted by: Lil Kim ||
12/05/2006 16:19
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#4
Twas me, Lil Kim.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2006 16:26
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#5
Nukes?
Without the US warhead designs (UK uses a variant), ballistic missiles (UK uses missiles from a common pool), or submarines (critical subsystems come from US manufacturers), the UK would not be a nuclear power.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006 16:39
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#7
Who else is going to buy those old MGs /Jags/RRs/land Rovers just cuz they are either a) 'cute' or b)instant snob appeal. and then explain the Lucas electrical sysem ('Lucas, Prince of Darkness') as an endearing feature, not a bug....???
Posted by: Ranchin B. Hard ||
12/05/2006 16:50
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#8
The USA should have declared free trade with England and Australia (and perhaps every Anglosphere nation) long ago. Even if those nations don't like free trade and impose restrictions on their side of things the US should suck it up and give them easy market access.
If anyone is to have an extra benefit in the US economy I'd like it to be England and Australia who have been solid allies for a century and counting.
#11
Wonder if Winston is turning over in his grave. It was all for naught? PM Churchill wrote about the attack upon Pearl Harbor -
In two or three minutes Mr. Roosevelt came through. "Mr. President, what's this about Japan? "It's quite true," he replied. "They have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now."
No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. I could not foretell the course of events. I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!
Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France; after the horrible episode of Oran; after the threat of invasion, when, apart from the Air and the Navy, we were an almost unarmed people; after the deadly struggle of the U-boat war - the first Battle of the Atlantic, gained by a hand's-breath; after seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress. We had won the war. England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live.
How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care. Once again in our long Island history we should emerge, however mauled or mutilated, safe and victorious. We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. We might not even have to die as individuals. Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.
He understood what his fellow countrymen have forgotten. And so their history will come to an end.
#15
My contempt for these British idiots has no bounds. They have absolutely nothing to feel superior about that has come from their own efforts in the last 40 years. They're living on inherited momentum and you can see that when you watch how lefty and willing to be subsumed in the great EUtopia they are. They're a lost cause so even discussing the "special relationship" is moot. They don't have the balls to face the internal enemy they allowed in so their country will, in its present form, cease to exist by the midpoint of this century. I've studied their history professionally and I can state with absolute certainty that the men who created the British Empire would hold their current descendants in complete and utter contempt. When I was in the UK last year I could not believe how ashamed they seemed to be of their own history. What a bunch of worthless, gutless, uninformed whiners they are. I guess all the good ones either emigrated or died in the wars. Britain--and its component parts, Scotland and Wales, are done. The world is just waiting for the curtain to fall on the last sorry act and judging from the way events are moving over there, they won't have to wait long.
Posted by: mac ||
12/05/2006 17:48
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#16
Was it just me, or were most of the truly immature and idiotic comments posted from the US? We, at least those of us for whom English is a first language and are old enough to have studied American and world history before our schools became politically correct, acknowledge a special relationship to England, the country from whom our culture, ideals, and institutions evolved. Granted, we Americans are an ecletic bunch and picked up better ideas along the way whenever we encountered them, but at the root, we are forever indebted to England.
#17
As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.
Wow, brutally succinct and eerily prescient. No western leader could possibly get away with a statement like that any more [yes, I know it wasn't from a speech].
1) The (continental) Europeans pontificate
2) Russia and China ignore it, or try to make money off it.
3) Same (as Russia / China) from the UN
4) Japan debates it's constitution
5) The rest of Asia contemplates their respective navels.
6) The Arab nations blame it all on Israel.
7) Three countries - the US, UK, and Australia take decisive action.
#21
Fifty years ago it was a different story, but now New Zealand is a nation of lefty peacenik sheep bothers. The Canadians still have some spunk left but they need someone to give them a ride to the party.
#22
The Canadians and Kiwis performed with outstanding valor in WWII. Since then New Zealand has gone European. Canada's forces (what's left of them) are outstanding. But their military has suffered from years of neglect. Neither country has the political will to act on the world stage.
#23
They don't have the balls to face the internal enemy they allowed in so their country will, in its present form, cease to exist by the midpoint of this century.
Yes, and if you squint your eyes and look real hard, you'll see we're heading in the same direction.
...See, here's the problem: Mel Gibson's new flick Apocalypto is apparently a pretty good flick, at least how Hollyweird judges them, and it seems to have some moments that can be interpreted as being anti-war. The difficulty: Mel's a loudmouthed anti-semite with a drinking problem. How does the liberal film community handle this? Read on...
Personal note: I was REALLY looking forward to seeing this movie. Now I'm really looking forward to NOT seeing it. :(
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 With some early reviews lauding the audacity and innovation of Mel Gibsons bloody Mayan epic, Apocalypto, Hollywoods tight-knit community of Oscar voters may find itself facing a difficult dilemma in the coming weeks: Will they consider the film for an Academy Award?
Since Mr. Gibsons drunken tirade against Jews last summer, many people in Hollywood swore both publicly and privately that they would not work with him again or see his movies.
But that was before the critics began to weigh in on Apocalypto, a two-hour tale about a peaceful village of hunter-gatherers who are attacked and enslaved by the bloodthirsty overlords of their Meso-American civilization.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/05/2006
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#5
There's no dilemma for me, even if I am Jewish.
I've said lots worse when I was drunk. Anyways, the rest of Hollywood puts out bullshit movies. This one I want to see because my interest in Mayan culture was peaked by the History Channel's "Engineering an Empire". (Off topic, but Peter Weller should get an emmy for "Engineering an Empire".
#7
I wonder... if he were to say that he'd launched his anti-semitic tirade in solidarity with his Palestinian friends, do you think his Hollywood pals would welcome him back?
Posted by: James ||
12/05/2006 16:31
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#8
They'll give it the best foreign language film and chuckle that they ripped him off from getting an actual Oscar. They might even schedule best foreign language film to be an off-camera award this year if they really want to stick it to Mel.
Personally I'd like to see Flags of Our Fathers get a few awards. I liked that film.
#10
"The problem posed by Mr. Gibson touches on an age-old question of whether an artists personal behavior ought to be a factor in judging his or her work."
Woody Allen's behavour with his adopted 14 year old daughter didn't become a factor with the intertainment community.
Mel Gibson's drunken remarks are not morally equivalent to Woody Allen's statuary rape of his daughter.
Mel Gibson will always be a target of Hollywood for many reasons because of the success of his Christian film.
#13
USMC6743 you make a great point but forgot Roman Polanski. Seems even raping a minor wasn't enough for the oscar folks to avoid giving him an award a few years ago.
One of the reasons that the Passion was so successful was because Mel figured out (or stumbled into) how to get non-movie goers (i.e. people other than teenaged boys and blue state sophisticates) to go to a movie.
Like the Passion, Apocalypto has a very simple story, is very violent, and is very visual. And in both movies, the dialogue is delivered in an archaic language, something that should kill the movie, but oddly doesn't. Instead the archaic langauges make the movie seem very serious, makes the violence more acceptable because it's supposedly historically acurate.
Hence, for Mexicans and Guatemalans this is going to be a must see movie because it's about their history, and it's not another Anglophone production.
And because of Mel's fidelity to the original language and to using Latino and Indian actors it means that Mexicans can see this movie with a clear conscience, as the lead character is not being played by Jack Black in a dark wig and a silly accent.
So, Mel's probably thinking who cares if the critics like or dislike this movie, it's not intended for the audience that listens to critics, it's intended for an audience that sees themselves in this story.
And, if he's right, he'll have a huge hit on his hands, one that will succeed because he's once again convinced non-traditional movies goers to go to the movies.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2006 20:59
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By Kevin McCullough
Barring several series of near seizure-like corrections, Barack Obama will take the Presidential oath of office in January of 2009. It will be a cold January morning, his beautiful wife and daughters will be by his side and they will shiver as he places his hand on the Bible and swears to uphold the Constitution of the United States. His presidency that will follow, if reflective of anything at all of his legislative record, will then seek to dismantle that same Constitution.
I have a long track record of predictions on Obama, and all of them have come true. I have no reason to believe that this one will conclude any differently.
There are reasons that this event is destined to take place, and given the option of knowing them but remaining silent, or mentioning them in the hope that the scene I've just mentioned never comes to path - I choose the latter. If any of these were to take significant turns, the formula might collapse. This is given the fact that the nation will be in a holding pattern for the next two years with absolute gridlock on pretty much everything (with the possible exception of amnesty for illegal aliens.)
RAGING LIBERALS - In 2006 the message of the voters was not Ned Lamont. Rather it was the "Crash Dummy Class of '06." Democrats who looked, and tried to talk like people of faith - at least long enough to get elected. George Soros, the Daily Kos, Al Gore, Susan Sarandon, and not to be forgotten Howard Dean, have made their go at it. They failed. But since their party won the midterms - they believe they've been justified. Their anti-American rhetoric will increase. They will express dissatisfaction with Pelosi/Reid and demand an increased presence in the 2008 picture. The democratic primary voter will reject this increased extremism and look for a "consensus builder." They will long for someone who is "above the frey." Obama will fit that profile and will bring "together" the left and right in his own party. He will do it with a sense of style, smoothness, and humor - a stark contrast to Hillary, Gore, Kerry, et al.
DIGUSTED CONSERVATIVES - Still reeling from the "ginormous" let down of the Senate under Bill Frist, and the second term Presidency of George W. Bush, normally energized conservatives will look to a field that offers a pro-choice/pro-gay mayor from New York, a Mormon from Massachusetts - who was pro-choice/pro-gay but genuinely seems now not to be - but may have hired illegal aliens, blah blah blah, or John McCain (whose single biggest problem is that he IS John McCain.) Normally eager "tax-cutting, government shrinking, let's defend our nation, pro-life, pro-family" voters, organizations, and leaders will be assaulted with speeches on Romney's health care reform, or Giulianis crime initiatives, or John McCain. Whoever emerges, will have not one tenth the oratory skills of Obama and they will come off looking as tired, dry, and stale as day-old toast.
EXHAUSTED MODERATES - They are tired of the stale toast, and will be looking for anything exciting. Mind you, moderates by definition don't truly stand for anything so it doesn't really matter what the candidate stands for. These people voted for Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton all based on one thing, "how does he make me feel?" Realizing this Obama will be a lightening rod on the campaign trail. He will draw record crowds for every appearance he makes (something he's already begun to do.) Money will flow in as a result. Obama's strategy of talking about cooperation, sounding bipartisan, and seeming to curtly rebuke both sides of the aisle will seem to validate his "ability" to "stay above the frey."
ENERGIZED BLACKS - The true voice for alternatives for black voters will not be heard because the voices of great men like Bishop Harry Jackson will not yet have become distinct enough within American media, and because the media, in ignoring the Bishop, will instead return again and again to the altar of Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson. Instead, as the media is already doing, there will be near non-stop fawning over the Senator from Illinois as he flashes the big smile. Black voters, who in the majority vote for party and not conviction anyway, will see Obama as the personality that no one since Dr. King has been able to live up too. Obama will be invited to each and every significant black pulpit in America. He will rail with poetry, sing with soul, rhyme when appropriate, and never will the IRS even think of threatening even one of these houses of worship for illegal political action.
GULLIBLE EVANGELICALS - The most reliable base of voters for the Republican Party since the days of President Reagan have been the social conservatives. Church-going born-again Christians who believe in God, the importance of His word, and the significance of living out their faith in an open and compassionate way every single day have been the backbone of the GOP. This past Friday Rick Warren, through the implied endorsement of allowing Obama to speak at one of the largest evangelical churches in America gave Obama the opportunity to split evangelicals who will be misled by Obama's words instead of opening their eyes to his actions. In my gentle admonition to Rick Warren over the past couple of weeks I reiterated time and again that it was this opportunity being extended to Obama that would be manipulated by both the press , and Obama himself to pose as a "person of faith." Warren's stubborn action of insisting upon having Obama speak at Saddleback Church in southern California has had that exact effect .
From this point forward should the trend of any of these five areas shift significantly Obama's chances could be compromised. But there are credible reasons to believe that they won't be.
So mark this date down, because it is the first time anyone accurately predicted that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.
And you have no idea how much I hope this prediction does not come true!
#1
I've never had a good feeling about Obama. I think I'd rather see Hillary in the White House than that guy.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
12/05/2006 15:17
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#2
This McCullough guy does realize that if the Republicans had gotten Mike Ditka to run against him, probably nobody would remember who Barack Obama was?
#3
The author might be right...if the US and geo-political situations remain exactly the same eighteen months from now as they are today.
I'm in the way of thinking that something major will change between now and then. I don't know what, or where, or when, but it *will* be huge and we'll be talking about a different cast of characters in August '08. IMHO.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/05/2006 16:04
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#5
why it won't: "Barack Obama"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 16:44
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#6
I just don't see it. Even the lefty media slurping at his shoes will have to admit his lack of experience. And when was the last time a Senator was elected President? I think you have to go back to John F Kennedy.
LBJ was Vice President first, So was Nixon, and Bush Sr. Ford was never elected as President. Reagan, Carter and Clinton were all Governors. Seems we've gone over four and a half decades without electing a Senator (and never elected a Mayor). The only thing going for Obama is the last Senator we elected was also somewhat inexperienced.
#9
Lynn Swann didn't lose in Pa. because he was inexperienced, unknown, or unfriendly.
He lost because of the same reason Obama will lose, skin color. Democrats are scumbags, true, but they are racist scumbags.
#11
I've seen elsewhere rumormongering on what the full ticket is to be: Obama / Ellison. Nothing would do more to destroy the 2 party system than that...which is probably why it will come to pass. Buy stock in JollyTime while it's still cheap.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/05/2006 18:08
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#12
He wasn't particularly impressive in New York, I hear.
#13
Lynn Swann didn't lose in Pa. because he was inexperienced, unknown, or unfriendly.
He lost because of the same reason Obama will lose, skin color. Democrats are scumbags, true, but they are racist scumbags
You have a very valid point. My father and Godfather are both faithful Donks, but there is no way in hell they are voting for a "Smoked Irishman"
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/05/2006 18:58
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#17
Will say again that Iff the WOT is unresolved or mostly unresolved by 2008. HILLARY will NOT WANT TO POTUS - as for OBAMA, few iff any Amers will want a mostly inexperienced Pol in the WH, espec now that Israel keeps being threatened and Radical Iran is going hell-bent for self-sufficiency in nuke materials, whether for domestic energyu or weapons. One of the primary functions of the post-Bill Clinton, Billary-led/centric anti-Amer Amer DemoLeft is TO CONVINCE MAINSTREAM AMERICA THAT THE STATUS QUO IS UNCHAMGED AND WILL GO ON FOREVER, MEANWHILE EMPOWER + ENTRENCH ANTI-US US SOCIALISM=GOVTISM + PRO-OWG'ism AT HOME WHILE WEAKENING USA's POSITION OVERSEAS. Obama is best left for Year 2012 - IMO, it remains Senator = VEEP Hillary's CO-POTUSes GORE, KERRY, or DEAN for 2008, prob GORE. The RINO CINO Lefties are calling or labeling COMMUNISM, LEFTISM-SOCIALISM, GOVERNMENTISM + TOTALITARIANISM, etal. as anything + everything but what it truly is - e.g. Its NOT OWG, NOR "WAR FOR THE WORLD/EMPIRE", NOR "WAR TO THE DEATH", NOT EVEN "THE FINAL STRUGGLE, etal. but "GLOBALISM"! Amers are the ONLY ONES being demanded to pay any future REGIONAL = TRANS-REGIONAL/CONTINETAL = GLOBAL TAXATIONS WHILE SIMUL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RULE, CONTROL, DOMINATE OR GOVERN OUR OWN GLOBAL EMPIRE.
AMERS CAN WAR FOR EMPIRE AS LONG AS WE VOLUNTARILY = FORCIBLY DON'T RULE OR GOVERN IT.
AMERICA = GOOD GUYS > ARE THE ONLY ONES WHOM HAS TO SURRENDER, NOT OUR ENEMIES.
By Justin Logan; foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute
Executive Summary:
It appears increasingly likely that the Bush administration's diplomatic approach to Iran will fail to prevent Iran from going nuclear and that the United States will have to decide whether to use military force to attempt to delay Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability. Some analysts have already been promoting air strikes against Iran, and the Bush administration has pointed out repeatedly that the military option is "on the table." This paper examines the options available to the United States in the face of a prospective final diplomatic collapse.
Evaluating the two ultimate optionsmilitary action on the one hand and acceptance and deterrence on the otherreveals that neither course is attractive. However, the evidence strongly suggests that the disadvantages of using military action would outweigh those of acceptance and deterrence. Attacking Iran's nuclear program would pose several problems: U.S. intelligence seems likely to be even poorer on Iran than it was on Iraq; Iran has hardened and buried many nuclear facilities in a way that would make them difficult to destroy; Iran could respond in such a way that the United States would feel forced to escalate to full-blown regime change; and there would be a host of unintended consequences inside and outside Iran.
A policy of acceptance and deterrence is also an unattractive prospect. Iran would likely be emboldened by the acquisition of a bomb and could destabilize the region and inject more problems into an already bleak prospect for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Still, given the costs of the military option, the only compelling rationale for starting a war with Iran would be if there were good reason to believe that the Iranian leadership is fundamentally undeterrable. But available evidence indicates that Iran is deterrable and would be particularly so if faced with the devastating repercussions that would result from the use of a nuclear weapon. Therefore, the United States should begin taking steps immediately to prepare for a policy of deterrence should an Iranian bomb come online in the future. As undesirable as such a situation would be, it appears less costly than striking Iran.
#6
"Policy of deterrence" > IOW, LET ISRAEL BE DESTROYED + ALL WESTERN DEMOCRACY BE THREATENED OR PLACED AT RISK, so that US Cities don't get nuked + anti-Amer Americans have something left in CONUS, and only CONUS, to rule over. FIGHTING FOR THOSE FEW SPECIAL AMERIKANS ONLY-RESERVED SEATS ON THE FUTURE AMERIKAN POLITIBURO WHICH RUSSIA-CHINA NEVER PROMISED THE US LEFT.* "USSA, NOT USSR", ergo the future USSA is weirdly and mysteriously, but only co-incidentally randomly and PC/Deniably, the only one that has to surrender.
Here is a taste -- go read the whole thing. And if you like what you see, think about hitting Mr. Roggio's tipjar -- Bill is working on spec, not on salary to any of the MSM news organizations. He also is a Rantburg reader and occasional commenter, when he can. Hattip Instapundit.
I've completed the first leg of the journey to Iraq, after having moved through Dubai, Kuwait and Baghdad. I am now at Camp Fallujah. While in Fallujah, I'll embed with a Marine Police Transition Team (PTT) and also meet with the Civil Affairs Group. The next stop will be Ramadi.
Ali Al Salem:
At the transient tent (where you get to sleep and store your gear while waiting), I spoke to an Explosive Ordinance and Demolitions (EOD) contractor. These are the guys that blow up the leftover explosives and munitions from the Saddam era. He told me about how the media isn't telling the full story about the nature of the enemy, and specifically complained about the manipulation and distortion of the Kay report. He said he's run across bunkers and the equipment and chemical precursors to WMD buried in the deserts of western Iraq.
Camp Stryker:
While waiting to catch the flight to the Green Zone, I spoke to two Army captains, one who works in Civil Affairs, the other with the Military Transition Teams. Both explained how the situation could look very different based on your job, but that the Iraqi police and Army were making real progress. They said the Iraqis' skills ranged from poor to excellent, but they always saw improvement.
LZ Washington:
While waiting to manifest on the flight to Fallujah, CNN played a news segment of President Bush announcing there would be no graceful exit from Iraq, and that we'd stay until the mission was complete. Two sergeants in the room cheered. Loudly. They then scoffed at the reports from Baghdad, and jeered the balcony reporting.
In nearly every conversation, the soldiers, Marines and contractors expressed they were upset with the coverage of the war in Iraq in general, and the public perception of the daily situation on the ground. The felt the media was there to sensationalize the news, and several stated some reporters were only interested in blood and guts. They freely admitted the obstacles in front of them in Iraq. Most recognized that while we are winning the war on the battlefield, albeit with difficulties in some areas, we are losing the information war. They felt the media had abandoned them.
During each conversation, I was left in the awkward situation of having to explain that while, yes, I am wearing a press badge, I'm not 'one of them.' I used descriptions like 'independent journalist' or 'blogger' in an attempt to separate myself from the pack.
The world has gone mad. As Lebanon teeters on the brink of Iranian and Syrian instigated collapse, senior American and British political officials urge President George W. Bush to hand Iraq over to Iran and Syria.
As the Palestinians push forward with their Iranian-sponsored, Arab supported jihad, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responds by announcing his intention to release thousands of terrorists from prison and throw thousands of Israelis out of their homes while giving their lands to Hamas.
While Saturday found the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh meeting in Teheran with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and applauding his plan to annihilate Israel, Olmert decided Sunday that, in the interest of peace with the Palestinians he would forbid the IDF from attacking terrorists positions in Gaza even if doing so would prevent imminent rocket attacks against the Negev.
And now, according to Britain's Sunday Times, Saudi Arabia is becoming the "principal peace broker" between Israel and the Palestinians.
Reportedly since meeting in Amman in September with the former Saudi ambassador to the US, Saudi Prince Bandar, Olmert has been seriously considering embracing the so-called Saudi peace plan from 2002. Senior Israeli officials told the Times that the plan, which would establish a Palestinian state, "could lead to a formal peace deal between Israel and seven Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the Emirates, Morocco and Tunisia."
IT WOULD really be terrific if Israel could have peace with Saudi Arabia and the rest of those Arab countries. A true peace with Saudi Arabia would mean an end to the illegal Arab economic boycott of Israel and their boycott of companies that do business with Israel.
Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia would mean that the Saudis would stop financing Islamic terror groups dedicated to killing Jews in Israel and around the world.
Since having peaceful relations with Israel would presuppose Saudi acceptance of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, obviously a Saudi peace with Israel would mean an end to Saudi financing of mosques, schools and media organs throughout the world which indoctrinate hundreds of millions of people to believe that Jews are dogs and pigs and vermin and must be annihilated.
Peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel would mean an end to Saudi pressure on Europeans to criminalize Israel and marginalize the Jewish communities in their countries in exchange for a stable oil supply.
The calls by professors who teach in Saudi-financed US and European universities to boycott Israeli academics and end the US alliance with Israel would be muted if Saudi Arabia was at peace with Israel. Similarly, former US officials employed by the Saudis would stop calling American Jews traitors for supporting the US-Israel alliance.
So if there were a possibility that the Times report that "The Saudi Arabian government is emerging as a key player in talks to broker a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement," were true, it would be a true cause for a celebration in Israel.
BUT OF course, like the view that the turmoil in Lebanon is an internal Lebanese affair; and the view that a US retreat from Iraq could be anything other than a strategic victory for the global jihad, the belief that the Saudis are interested in brokering peace with Israel is a complete fabrication. Indeed the "deal" that the Saudis are "brokering" is nothing less than a blueprint for Israel's destruction.
The 2002 Saudi "peace plan" requires Israel to agree to be overrun by millions of hostile foreign Arabs in the framework of the so-called "Right of Return." Moreover, the text of the initiative, "Assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian partition which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries." That is, the Saudi plan prohibits Arab states from granting citizenship to these millions of Arabs and so leaves them no choice other than to destroy Israel.
Saudi Arabia's "peace plan" also demands that Israel surrender east Jerusalem - including the Temple Mount, all of Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley and the entire Golan Heights to the Palestinians and the Syrians. This Israeli surrender would enable the formal establishment of a Palestinian terror state. It would also strengthen Iran's principal ally - the Syrian Ba'athist regime.
HERE TOO, the Saudi plan is a recipe for Israel's destruction. Without these territories, Israel would be rendered indefensible. Without Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights, Israel would be so vulnerable to missile and artillery attack that it could be overwhelmed even before conventional invading Arab armies set foot on its remaining territory.
As a reading of the Saudi plan makes clear, it would only be after Israel surrendered all this land and allowed itself to be overrun by millions of hostile Arab immigrants that the Saudis and their Arab brethren would "establish normal relations with Israel." That is, the Saudis will be ready to talk to Israelis only after Israel is destroyed.
The Times' report claims that Olmert's speech at David Ben Gurion's grave last week where he offered to surrender to Hamas, "was not Olmert's own initiative but a dictate given to him last month when he met George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice in Washington." The Americans reportedly were acting at the behest of the Saudis who wanted proof that Olmert is truly committed to capitulation.
IT MAKES some sense that the Bush administration would express such devotion to the Saudi plan. The most glaring Achilles heel of Bush's entire war against the global jihad has been his refusal to contend with Saudi Arabia's central role in fomenting the jihad.
Bush's father's secretary of state James Baker III is the senior partner of Baker, Botts law firm which is representing Saudi Arabia in the lawsuit filed against the kingdom by the relatives of the victims of the September 11 attacks. As the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, Baker is about to recommend that Bush pressure Israel to capitulate to Hamas and Syria in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights order to facilitate the US's capitulation to Syria and Iran in Iraq. Prince Bandar, Olmert's reported interlocutor is a personal friend of Baker and the Bush family. After 15 Saudis and four Egyptians carried out the attacks on the US on Sept. 11, it was Bandar who persuaded Bush to become the first US president to ever make the establishment of a Palestinian state an official US policy goal.
Olmert's motive for providing the Saudis with an unwarranted propaganda victory in the US and Israel is similarly understandable. Quite simply, Olmert will do anything to take the Israeli public's attention away from his failure in office. And to successfully "spin" the public, he needs the support of the Israeli media.
Olmert's embrace of a new imaginary "peace process" will win him the support of Haaretz and the other radical leftist elements in the Israeli media. These media organs will then work to prevent the opening of police investigations into Olmert's alleged criminal activities.
Friday, Haaretz columnist Gideon Samet made clear that in exchange for the media's support, Olmert must release thousands of Palestinian terrorists from jail even without securing the release of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit; scale-down IDF counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria; facilitate the free flow of goods from Gaza into Israel and so render Israel even more vulnerable to terrorist penetration from Gaza; destroy Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria; and provide free medical services to Palestinians in Israeli hospitals.
OLMERT'S SPEECH at the gravesite of Israel's founding father was a signal on his part to the radical leftist media that he is accepting their terms. And in exchange the media ignores the ever escalating allegations that Olmert has been involved in criminal activity. More importantly, the media makes light of the fact that by losing the war this summer and adopting a strategy of total capitulation to all external forces Olmert has placed the country in the greatest existential danger in its history. Similarly, the media hides the ideological bankruptcy of Olmert's Kadima party - whose platform of capitulation has failed completely, and ignores the fact that Kadima has no clear constituency.
It is a Faustian bargain these leaders of Israel and the US make when they prefer good press to good policies. What the self-satisfied grins on the faces of the leaders of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other "moderate" countries these days clearly signals is that it is a bargain we cannot afford.
By REBECA ROMERO
Associated Press Imaginary Friend Writer
OAXACA, Mexico - Police arrested the symbolic leader of a six-month protest movement that took over the southern city of Oaxaca and left at least nine dead, hours after he said at a news conference in Mexico City that he'd gone to the capital to negotiate a peaceful solution.
Flavio Sosa _ whose heavy-set, bearded presence became an emblem of the leftist Oaxaca People's Assembly _ was arrested late Monday on charges related to the barricades, vandalism and irregular detentions carried out by some protesters.
"Sosa ... is known for his use of violence, damaging private property and public byways, and also burning vehicles and buildings in Oaxaca City," federal prosecutors said.
Sosa was charged with kidnapping, robbery, causing damages and injuries and taken to a maximum security prison just west of Mexico City that holds some of the nation's most dangerous prisoners.
Leaders of the Oaxaca People's Assembly, or APPO, have vowed to keep pressing for Gov. Ulises Ruiz's resignation and called for a "mega- march" Saturday to demand the release of Sosa and other protesters even as life there visibly returns to normal after burned-out vehicles and improvised barricades were removed from the streets.
Some residents warn that simmering discontent about poverty, injustice and oppression could erupt into violence again at any time.
Tomas Basaldu, Oaxacan state leader of Mexico's leftist Democratic Revolution Party, said he was meeting with the protesters.
"We will take action in the next few days," he said. "We won't lower our guard in backing the protesters."
The conflict began in late May as a strike by teachers seeking higher pay, but quickly exploded into a broader movement including Indian groups, students, farmers and myriad left-leaning activists claiming Ruiz rigged his electoral victory and has repressed opponents.
The conflict kept residents away from the city's historic center and forced nearly all the shops and restaurants to close their doors. Former President Vicente Fox in late October sent in federal troops, who cleared protesters from the streets.
Located about 325 miles southeast of Mexico City and featuring colonial architecture and Indian crafts, Oaxaca is one of the country's premier tourist destinations. But tourism plummeted amid the violence, which prompted the U.S. and several other foreign governments to warn their citizens against traveling to the city.
Before his arrest Monday, Sosa said he had come to Mexico City to try to re-establish negotiations with the government and to escape the "fierce persecution of the police and Ulises Ruiz' hit men," in Oaxaca.
Police called Sosa "the main leader" of the protest movement. Last month, he said everyone in the protest movement was equal _ "But my big beard and big stomach have made me become the favorite leader of the press and the police."
Sosa's brother, Horacio, was also arrested on unspecified charges.
Leaders who accompanied Sosa at the news conference said 220 protesters have been detained during the conflict, although police cite a figure of about 170. Protesters also claimed some detainees had been beaten, and that another 70 supporters of the movement are missing.
Among those killed in the protests was freelance video journalist from New York who was filming a clash between protesters and a group of armed men.
The violence seemed to come to a head last week when protesters set colonial-era buildings on fire, prompting police to begin arresting demonstrators. Many detainees have been transferred to a federal prison hundreds of miles away in Nayarit state, and many APPO leaders went into hiding after authorities issued warrants for their arrest.
#3
I have to admit, he IS ugly. He even makes me look good. Can we clone this guy?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:50
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#4
I am wondering if Mexico is slipping inexorably into another civil war. Its problems are worse than Venezuela's, which led to the rise of Chavez; but Mexico won't bring in some radical to solve their problems. If the new el presidente is weak-kneed about combating all the crapola, something bad is going to happen.
BEIRUT (Rooters) - Lebanon's opposition buried on Tuesday an anti-government demonstrator whose death in a street skirmish has raised sectarian tensions and the army's commander warned his forces might not be able to control the streets.
General Michel Suleiman was quoted as saying by a local news agency that daily protests aimed at ousting Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora risked getting out of hand and the military might be unable to keep the peace.
Hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims marched behind the coffin of 21-year-old Ahmed Mahmoud, who was shot dead on Sunday in a Sunni neighborhood while returning from an opposition rally, in a procession led by the pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian Hezbollah party.
"Death to Siniora," shouted some of the youths. "The blood of Shi'ites is boiling."
Television stations loyal to Hezbollah and to Sunni political leader Saad al-Hariri carried statements blaming each other for fuelling hostility in a country that has been wracked by two civil wars in the past half century.
"Television war threatens to ignite the fire of strife," Al-Balad newspaper said in its front-page headline.
The opposition took to the streets last Friday to demand the resignation of Siniora, calling for a national unity government and accusing the prime minister of failing to stand by Hezbollah during an Israeli offensive in July and August.
The Hezbollah-led opposition, which includes a populist Christian party, has vowed to continue its sit-in in front of government headquarters until the cabinet quits.
Siniora says he will not yield to the non-stop street protests, which have paralyzed the heart of Beirut.
ARMY WARNING
The local al-Markasiyah news agency quoted "informed sources" as saying General Suleiman had warned Siniora that the protests could get out of hand.
"The absence of political solutions along with a recurrence of security incidents, particularly those with sectarian overtones, drains the army's capabilities and weakens its immunity," the agency quoted Suleiman as saying, in a reference to the army's neutrality.
"This weakness will make the army unable to maintain its control of the situation in all areas of Lebanon."
The army, which has deployed heavily around Beirut in recent days, did not comment on the report.
Government allies accuse the opposition of orchestrating the protests to try to derail an international tribunal into the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies.
Lebanon is one of the most religiously and politically divided countries in the Middle East, and the battle for control of the government will determine whether Lebanon shifts toward Iran and Syria or toward the United States and Europe.
Underlining international concerns, the leaders of France and Germany urged Syria on Tuesday not to interfere in Lebanon.
"(France and Germany) wish that Syria will no longer support forces that want to destabilize Lebanon and the region," German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac said in a joint statement after a meeting in Germany.
Sunni leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have also issued statements in support of Siniora in recent days, apparently concerned over the growing influence in the region of Shi'ite Iran, which is funding Hezbollah.
Many politicians and observers have said the political tussle in Lebanon could ignite yet another civil war.
"The worst thing about the current crisis is there is no Arab or international mediator who can intervene ... after the potential mediators abandoned their roles and took sides," wrote commentator Sateh Noureddin in As-Safir newspaper.
#2
I'm really not an expert or anything, but from what I remember of documentaries about the iranian revolution, burials of Martyrs played a large role in the snowballing effect; shiites put a great emphasis on Martyrs, each burial was marked by a bigger demonstration, which led to people being killed, then to more burials, and then bigger demonstrations,...
I don't know if this could be applicable for lebanon, though.
#3
Do we have a carrier battle group in the area? I'm sure a half-dozen raids by F/A-18s with cluster-bombs would disperse the crowd PDQ. Napalm would be better, but that may cause too much damage to surrounding property. (/PC mode).
It's time for the rest of the world to put an end to the arab dream of world power. Crush them totally, and let them live in the ruins. I am quite tired of putting up with their ingrained stupidity and arrogance. I want to live in peace - they want to live in a constant state of war and turmoil. I'll get my wish by crushing them. Nothing else will work. We've been "talking" for 50+ years and it's only made them more bold and arrogant. Time to quit talking and start using the big stick.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 14:39
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Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, makes no bones: Either Israel leaves all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and agrees to the 'right of return' - or war.
Meshaal is officially the head of the diplomatic desk of Hamas, but is recognized as the #1 man in the terrorist organization. The target of a failed Israeli assassination attempt a decade ago, Meshaal told a Lebanese newspaper this week that Hamas will not hesitate to resume its armed warfare against Israel.
Specifically, he threatened, "If within six months, the international community does not come up with a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders [i.e., on all the land liberated by Israel in the Six Day War - ed.] and for the return of the refugees, the Palestinians will turn to an armed struggle against Israel." How will they tell the difference?
"We can have an intifada even when running the Palestinian Authority," Meshaal said, explaining that the ceasefire was not designed to bring peace, but is rather another stage in the war with Israel. "The current calm [cease-fire in Gaza - ed.], just like the escalation [before that], is part of the way we manage the conflict with Israel."
Many Israeli military men and analysts have said that Hamas is using the current truce in Gaza to rearm and regroup towards the next round of fighting.
Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniye, visiting in Syria, echoed Meshaal's position in a speech at a refugee camp. He said the Palestinians will not give up on "even one grain of sand of Palestine," and that Syrian President Assad promised him that all the Palestinian [terrorist] prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be freed.
Meshaal admitted that the Hamas-Fatah talks for a unity PA government have "encountered difficulties," but said they have not yet hit a dead end. This clashes with announcements by Hamas leaders Haniye and Mahmoud A-Zahar, who said on Monday that the negotiations had failed and were beyond recovery.
Hamas and Fatah elements traded blame and accusations for the failed talks. Fatah leader Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is expected to announce - possibly today - whether he plans to dissolve the Parliament, thus leading to a clash with Hamas.
#4
Memo to Israel: Nothing will change until the Palestinians are forcibly removed from their present locations or just flat-out killed. There is no possibly way for any peaceful coexistence with them. Quit trying to find any form of reconciliation. It is obvious that they want nothing of the sort. The sooner that all Palestinian terrortories are scraped clean of their filth, the quicker that Israel can end this interminable agony.
#5
Say it taint so - Be still my shocked Shocked SHOCKED S-H-O-C-K-E-D SSSHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCC
CCCCKKKKKED HEART, D*** YOU. Iff CLINTONISM > FASCISM = "NEW COMMUNISM/STALINISM", etc. guess it also means JUDAISM/HEBRAISM/SEMITISM = "NEW RADICAL ISLAM", etc???
#6
Tell the Church of the philistines that they barely qualify for land, much less humanity. Live and die by the sword so civilized people from everywhere can enjoy the lands that you so proclaimed as yours without approval from higher may be shared amongst them in peace. Palestine is disgusting.
Posted by: Ranchin B. Hard ||
12/05/2006 14:14
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#2
And to think, the Israelis pleaded with the Arabs to stay in 1948. They need to rethink their position. Arabs and non-arabs can't mix - the Arabs won't allow it. Expel them to Saudi Arabia or Iran - they'll love it there.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 14:27
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#3
Historically let us be clear. Muslim murder for land-theft of Jewish lands has been going on since Muhamhead turned on the Jewish tribes in Median.
#4
Does anyone have any info or links on Israeli citizens' CCW rights? If I were this guy, I'd be carrying regardless of the law, but I certainly hope this right is respected there.
BTW, where I grew up (South Dakota) we refer to "cow-farmers" as "ranchers".
Posted by: Dar ||
12/05/2006 14:47
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#5
BTW, where I grew up (South Dakota) we refer to "cow-farmers" as "ranchers".
Where I grew up, a man that had "cows" was most likely a Dairyman and Ranchers ran cattle (steers) mostly, with a certain percentage of cows kept for breeding.
#6
Israelis don't need CCW when they openly carry M16s and Uzis.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2006 16:47
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#7
I think if I lived in Israel and saw Arabs on my land I'd be gunning them down and dumping the corpses on the doorstep of the local police department. What the Arabs respect is force and that's all that will bring peace to Israel.
Posted by: mac ||
12/05/2006 17:14
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#8
I'd take them apart in a heartbeat. Chop them up, and turn the hogs loose to lick things up real tidy like.
#1
It is so obvious they would do this and yet had not occurred to me until it is pointed out. I expect this exclusion will not deter the usual "progressives" and "Marxists" for lending their support to the project.
The Israeli-Arab sector insists on recognition as a "national minority," including the right to return to places they quit 58 years ago, changes to the flag and anthem, immigration quotas, and more.
The Israeli-Arab Mossawa organization, billed as the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, released a position paper report to this effect on Friday. Mossawa explains that in addition to equal rights to which every citizen is entitled by virtue of his citizenship, the Arab minority also demands "group-differentiated rights." The organization lists ten such rights that it insists Israel must grant. Among them are the following, as listed and explained by Mossawa:
Official recognition of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel as a national, native minority, including its special connection to its homeland and its historic rights to it.
Arabic, already recognized as an official language, must be granted equal status to Hebrew in every aspect of public life, just as English and French are recognized in Canada. As a truly bilingual country, Israel must grant appropriate expression to the Arab-Palestinian culture in the public sphere, including noting the Arabic names of various places and giving Arabic names to public buildings, streets, etc.
Total autonomy in the spheres of education, religion and culture. At the root of this right lies the recognition of the nativity of the Arab population in Israel and its right to self-definition in these areas.
Proportionate representation in decision-making and policy-setting bodies, including all government offices and ministries, planning and construction authorities, government companies, public councils, the Civil Service, ad-hoc committees, and the like.
Extra allotments of resources such as budget allocations, land and housing, to compensate for past discrimination.
Changes to national symbols, including the flag and anthem, as emotionally-charged public resources that have a special impact on minority sectors. The State must grant appropriate expression to the presence of Israeli-Arab citizens and to their historic ties to the land. Israel's array of symbols must reflect an equal approach to both its Jewish and Arab citizens.
Equality in immigration and citizenship rights. The allocation of quotas in these areas is an expression of the country's strength, and the country must apportion them fairly, justly and equally.
Protection of the special ties of the Palestinian people with the greater Arab nation. The Palestinian population in Israel must be enabled to freely maintain and develop special ties - family, cultural, economic and the like - with the other members of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation.
Historic rights. Corrective justice demands that Israel must officially apologize and recognize the Nakba - national Arab-Palestinian catastrophe - of 1948 when the Arabs were removed from their lands. Among the issues addressed in this point are the uprooted Palestinians - 25% of the current Arab population in Israel - and their return to their original villages, such as Ikrit, Al-Ghabasaya, Al-Lajun, and others, as well as assets of the Moslem Waqf that must be administered by the Moslems.
Israeli-Arabs claim that hundreds of destroyed villages, in various parts of the country, as theirs. Many of the villages were hostile locations serving the Arab enemy during the War of Independence, and the land on which some of them stood has since become Jewish-populated, such as in Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva. The Meggido Prison, for instance, is built atop what was once Al-Lajun, and the north Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Aviv stands on what was once called Sheikh Munis. Though the return to these villages is unrealistic, it is felt that persisting in raising this demand can only help the nationalist Arab cause in Israel.
One of the participants at the official presentation of the paper, Dr. Raef Zreik, said that it does not go far enough. He said that the Israeli-Arabs can officially recognize the right of the Jews to a state only as part of an "overall peace agreement with the Palestinian people."
In the news this week are vandalism and destruction wrought upon a Talmud Torah (Jewish religious school) by Arabs in the city of Acco, an initiative to increase Arab rights in the city of Ramle, and an attempted murder of a Jewish cow-farmer by Arabs in the Jezreel Valley, not far from Afula.
#1
fine, you've been recognized for what you are. Expulsion to follow
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 13:35
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#2
Frank G, couldn't be soon enough. One way tickets to Gaza with fair compensation for their lands. Let them see how they like trying to keep their possessions when surrounded by their fellow Palestinians.
#5
I'm all for this! Recognize them, line 'em all up against the wall they're building, and shoot them. Do the same thing for the "palestinians" in Gaza and the West Bank. Beat the sh$$ out of any third-party interference. Establish the rule of Israel over all the territory they were allotted by the Balfour declaration. In any further military confrontations, keep any land they seize, and drive the arabs out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:17
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Faced with growing repression by Muslims, Christians from an ancient tradition in Iraq are calling on American political leaders for help before their entire community is extinguished.
Christian Assyrians and some of their supporters demonstrated in front of the White House yesterday, highlighting an alarming trend reported by the U.N.: While representing just 5 percent of the Iraqi population, 40 percent of the refugees fleeing the country are Assyrians.
One of the speakers at the rally, Nina Shea of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom in D.C., told WND that because of the "ethnic cleansing," the Christians want an autonomous district in Iraq they can administrate.
The zone, called the Nineveh Plains Administrative Unit, would allow Assyrians and other Christians to practice their faith, speak and teach their language, and work their land without fear of persecution.
Unlike the Sunnis and Shiites, the Christians have no militia and are completely defenseless, Shea said.
"They need to administrate their own governmental unit to protect themselves," she said. "Otherwise, with the chaos and violence and persecution targeting Christians for religious reasons, which the U.N. has documented, they will disappear.
Shea insisted it's in the interest of the U.S. to take a stand.
With the loss of the highly educated and skilled Christians, she argued, Iraq is "experiencing a brain drain as well as sane drain a force of moderation and a bridge to the West."
"They have served the U.S. in Iraq nobly, and they will leave a real vacuum," said Shea.
While the Christians in Iraq have been repressed for decades, Shea pointed out, they have suffered more since the war began, with kidnappings, crucifixions and dozen of churches bombed by jihadist terror.
Among the atrocities documented this year:
Father Paulos Eskandar, of Mor Afrem Syriac Orthodox Church, was kidnapped Oct. 9 by Muslims and decapitated two days later. He was murdered despite Christians fulfilled a demand to post a text on the church doors condemning the pope's statement about Islam.
On Oct. 4, a car bomb detonated in a Christian area and killed nine people, including Georges Zara, member of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac National Council.
A 14-year-old boy was crucified and stabbed in the stomach, mimicking what was done to Jesus, in Albasra.
On Oct. 21, in Baquba, a group of veiled Muslims attacked a workplace where a 14-year-old boy named Ayad Tariq worked. The men asked the boy for his identity card. After seeing he was Christian the men asked whether he was a "dirty Christian sinner." Ayad answered: "Yes, I am Christian, but I am not a sinner." The rebels yelled he was a dirty Christian sinner and continued to grab him and to scream, "Allahu, Akbar! Allahu, Akbar!" The boy then was decapitated.
In August, 13 Assyrian Christian women in Baghdad were kidnapped and murdered.
In January, churches were bombed in Basra and Baghdad.
Shea noted that the Kurds, who control the north, have been denying the Christian Assyrians many of the benefits that have come from U.S. largesse.
The electric grids created by the U.S., for example, are left to the discretion of local governments to distribute and manage, and the Christians say they aren't getting their fair share. They cite instances of Kurdish villages receiving electricity while neighboring Christian villages are denied service.
Shea said she has been raising the plight of the Iraqi Christians with the U.S. government for several years, including in a face-to-face meeting with President Bush in her role as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
She has not received a positive response.
"One of the issues here is that the Christians don't create trouble, they are just victims," she said. "They don't blow up things, so they don't get attention.
Some have told her the U.S. government doesn't want to establish a precedent of favoritism, by responding to special pleadings.
But Shea argues, "It's not favoring one group to make sure they get their fair share of U.S. construction aid.
The White House did not respond to WND's request for comment.
#1
Not to sound cynical, but first, you need to pick up a weapon and take matters into your own hands. We are getting tired of getting beat up whle you just sit on your collective asses and whine about trival shit. Some things are worth dying for.
Posted by: Ranchin B. Hard ||
12/05/2006 16:53
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#2
What Mister B. Hard sed.
Posted by: Get a Grip Barbie ||
12/05/2006 18:30
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#3
I can barely get simple concessions from people. Iraq is walking the line.
#2
Where were these women at when I was 14,15 (and so on) and was walking around loose with a case of perpetual priapism?
I am convinced that all boys of this age ought to be locked away in a convent till they're 40...ooops! That would kinda' defeat the purpose wouldn't it...
With the gruesome killing of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, Vladimir Putin's Russia stands accused of poisoning yet another critic.
Meanwhile, Syria continues to mastermind the murders of Lebanese democrats. Israeli-free Gaza is as violent as ever. Hezbollah is busy replenishing its stock of Iranian missiles. The theocracy in Iran keeps promising an end to Israel. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is slowly strangling democracy in Latin America in a manner that an impoverished Fidel Castro never could. And then, of course, there's Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's easy to think all of this violent instability across the globe is unconnected. But, in fact, in one way or another, oil and its huge profits are at the bottom of a lot of it.
Islamic jihadists, fed from petrodollar wealth of the Middle East, have the cash to arm and plan operations from Baghdad and Kabul to Madrid and London. Thanks to oil, unhinged leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and Mr. Chavez in Venezuela can stay in power (and demand the world's attention) despite policies that ultimately harm their people, ruin their economies and imperil their neighbors.
Russia, meanwhile, is essentially threatening Eastern Europe with energy cutbacks and reviving the old Soviet nuclear and arms industries. It's stirring up an already volatile Middle East by selling radical Islamists everything from nuclear reactors to high-tech anti-tank guns. President Bush may have seen, as he attested, something reassuring in the heart of President Putin. But Russia's new oil riches offer a fast track back to superpower status -- which we're already seeing them use to silence critics at home and abroad.
Furthermore, the global thirst for oil distorts interstate relations. Take the case of China: Its amoral foreign policy is aimed mostly at securing petroleum. Because Beijing is involved in long-term oil deals with Sudan, it's reluctant to join the West in pressuring the corrupt Sudanese government to cease the genocide in Darfur. (Of course, the West, beholden to China for economic reasons, is in turn reluctant to pressure China.) Similarly, China worries far more about getting Iran's oil than stopping its nuclear proliferation.
The U.S. is often subject to the same blackmail. Take away its need for imported oil and American officials long ago would have ceased visiting Saudi Arabia -- a monarchy based on Shariah law and the cash nexus for Islamist madrassas and Wahhabi terrorism. Rather than appeasing a few hundred sheiks in the Gulf, American presidents -- both Democratic and Republican -- might have instead worried more about the poor millions slaughtered in Chad, Darfur, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
High-priced oil also warps the entire world's limited attention span. We hear daily about Israeli "occupation" in the Middle East because the oil-rich patrons of the Palestinians have sent their terrorists ample subsidies and in the past leveled oil embargoes to punish those sympathetic to Israel. Yet millions more people the world over have also lost land. We don't televise daily refugees from, say, Tibet or Cyprus, since their patrons have no ability to shut down global commerce.
The distortions caused by abrupt influxes of oil wealth have nearly turned upside down the once traditional and tribal Middle East. Sudden oil revenues prop up inefficient state-run economies, while ensuring profits go to the few. Without democracy and free markets, the majority of impoverished Arabs lack access to their nation's treasure -- and blame foreigners for dealing only with their own elite who control the oil and purse strings.
What money that does trickle down has been used for conspicuous consumption, not national investment -- as monarchs and dictators import consumer toys to pacify the disenchanted. In other societies, modernity came at a measured pace, but in the Middle East nomads and peasants have skipped the telegraph and headed straight to the camera cell phone. Of course, the poor "Arab street," tuned into satellite TV, blames the postmodern West for titillating its newfound appetites.
To remedy this mess, a good start would be to lower our own oil consumption, expand American production and diversify our energy sources with solar, nuclear and ethanol power and coal gasification. Only by taking these steps can America -- the most desperate of all oilaholics -- collapse the world price and thus erode the assets of our adversaries.
With a divided U.S. government and a slight dip in world prices, there is a window of opportunity. Democrats can ask for more mandated conservation and alternate energy; in exchange, Republicans can bargain for more drilling and nuclear power.
In World War II, an energy-independent United States bombed the oil fields controlled by the Third Reich to stop Adolf Hitler's killing. Today a wartime but energy-hungry America is daily enriching our worst enemies.
#1
The only ways for the price of oil paid by the world to collapse would be (1) if enough economies paying for it collapse beforehand, or (2) if an ocean of easy-to-extract oil is found somewhere (not bloody likely). I couldn't agree more with VDH that oil money is financing the jihad and that we could have cut off relations with the Islamic fascists a long time ago if we didn't need what they supply so much. It would be nice to see a few baby steps taken by the US along the lines of decreasing its dependence on imported oil, AFAIK nothing has been done along these lines since 9/11. Perhaps when enough of the electorate becomes aware of the link between their consumption of imports and the wealth that goes to support Islamic fascism, our leaders may take the hint & do something productive about this dilemma.
You know you're in trouble when you can't even call the terrorists "terrorists."
This effectively was the ruling handed down last week by Judge Audrey Collins of the federal district court in Los Angeles.
It marks yet another low point not only in the Bush administration's record in defending its War on Terror legal doctrines in the courtroom (2006 has been particularly unkind in this respect) but also in the courts' increasingly nonsensical attempts to assert themselves in matters of national security.
This latest episode began in 1917 when, in the Trading With the Enemy Act, Congress granted the president broad authority to "investigate, regulate . . . prevent or prohibit . . . transactions" in times of war or declared emergencies.
And then in 1977 Congress extended that authority in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to include the power to "investigate,... regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of" property in which a foreign country or person has an interest, but only in the presence of an "unusual and extraordinary threat." (Incidentally, violating the IEEPA was one of Clinton supporter Marc Rich's many transgressions.)
On September 23, 2001, President Bush announced the existence of just such a threat. Executive Order 13224 declared that the "grave acts of terrorism" and the "continuing and immediate threat of future attacks" on the United States constituted a national emergency.
President Bush then froze the assets of twenty-seven groups and individuals, each of which
he designated as specially designated global terrorist groups (SDGT). At the time, the administration earned plaudits from all but the most hardened leftists for its recognition that terrorist money is the ultimate source of terrorist evil; not exactly the root cause so much as the root itself.
The executive order authorized the designation as an SDGT of anyone who: acts "for or on behalf of;" is "owned or controlled by;" assists, sponsors, or provides ". . . services to;" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated terrorist group. The order also provided mechanisms for administrative review of any SDGT designation and for obtaining a license to conduct business with such groups under limited circumstances.
Among the groups specified were terrorist front organizations like the Wafa Humanitarian Organization and the Al Rashid Trust, both linked to jihadists like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Later included were the Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers' Party) (PKK) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers, whose supporters were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit before Judge Collins.
The PKK is a brutal international Marxist-Leninist revolutionary group dedicated to creating a Kurdish homeland by hook or by crook, and always by violence. It carried out bombings against civilian and military targets, mostly in Turkey. Its founder and leader, terrorist mastermind Abdullah Ocalan, was captured and convicted in Turkey in 1999.
The Tamil Tigers are likewise a violent separatist movement responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including an especially ghastly shooting in a Buddhist temple in 1985. Seeking an independent state for Sri Lanka's Tamil population, the LTTE most recently killed over one hundred people in a bus bombing in October. While neither of these groups are Islamist, they have proven poisonously lethal.
Nevertheless, Judge Collins stacked the deck in the first paragraphs of her opinion where she described the PKK as "a political organization representing the interests of the Kurds in Turkey, with the goal of achieving self-determination for the Kurds in Southeastern Turkey." Well, that's one way of putting it.
She also depicted the TTLE's "activities" as "political organizing and advocacy, providing social services and humanitarian aid, defending the Tamil people from human rights abuses," oh, and, by the way, "using military force against the government of Sri Lanka."
The court portrayed the particular litigants as "seeking to provide support to the lawful, nonviolent activities" of the PKK and the LTTE.
And while Judge Collins rejected several of the groups' constitutional challenges, she held that the Executive Order "provides no explanation of the basis upon which these twenty-seven groups and individuals were designated." Thus, the president's authority was so vague as to violate the Constitution.
Furthermore, because "the President's designation authority is subject only to his unfettered discretion," the administrative procedure for challenging such designations was found wanting. And just like that, in five crisp paragraphs, the administration's power to designate terrorist groups was suddenly eliminated.
In addition, Judge Collins held that the Executive Order, which prohibits individuals from "otherwise associat[ing] with" the SDTGs, violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment freedom of association. Because the Order did not define what this term meant, it impermissibly "lends itself to subjective interpretation" and improperly "gives the Government unfettered discretion in enforcing it."
In many ways, then, the court piled on to previous recent national security rulings that went against the administration.
The key theme is "unfettered discretion," a term that appears no fewer than 11 times in Judge Collins's opinion. In the minds of many of our nation's jurists, the cardinal sin of the Executive Branch is to arrogate to itself undue prerogative. When the administration seizes excessive authority in matters properly allocated to the other branches, this argument goes, our entire system suffers.
Fair enough - in peacetime and in matters of domestic policy. Our founders unquestionably favored the separation of powers as one of their highest ideals. No single branch ought to dominate any of the others.
But when we are at war, over the course of our history - both legal and political - the president has traditionally enjoyed much greater leeway in setting policy in the national security ambit. Only the executive can act decisively and efficiently in the face of gathering or present threats.
It's therefore especially surprising that the court would strike down President Bush's authority to designate terrorist groups as such. Who is better equipped than the executive - privy as he or she is to top-secret intelligence and an enormous range of information - to make such determinations?
As for Judge Collins's reasoning, there may well be occasions on which the president simply cannot divulge the justification behind labeling a certain organization an SDTG. That very decision could itself implicate national security concerns.
Practically speaking, the ruling marks a victory for terror groups around the globe. If the U.S. cannot effectively uproot the terrorist money tree, it will continue to bestow its fruits on groups ranging from Hezbollah to Al Qaeda to the PKK.
But more fundamentally, this is a major symbolic blow to the War on Terror. If we are not allowed even to define the enemy, how can we possibly hope to defeat him? If we are deprived of the very opportunity to identify the nature of our adversary, we have already fallen into his clutches.
The administration has vowed to appeal this ruling, as it has all of the others it has recently lost. Here's hoping it prevails - for all of our sakes.
Michael M. Rosen, TCS Daily's intellectual property columnist, is an attorney in San Diego.
Tehran, 5 Dec. (AKI) - Speaking shortly before senior diplomats from six world powers were scheduled to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the European Union that any punitive measure would be considered an act of hostility by Tehran. "I am telling you in plain language that from now on, if you try, whether in your propaganda or at international organisations, to take steps against the rights of the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation will consider it an act of hostility," Ahmadinejad said. Should be very effective against the EU.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council- the Unite States, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany are discussing a draft resolution imposing sanctions on Iran after the country ignored a UN 31 August ultimatum demanding that it halt sensitive nuclear work which the international community fears is aimed at building nuclear weapons. Iran claims its atomic programme is solely for civilian use. Lol. Hell, even Elbaradai, the Grate Equivocator, has finally given up on this fiction.
"If you insist on pursuing this path (Iran) will reconsider its relations with you," the Iranian president was also quoted as saying on Tuesday during a visit to the Mazandaran province on the Caspian Sea.
On Monday, French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy the six world powers were close to an agreement on the resolution. Talks have stalled for months over sanctions, which are opposed by Russia and China - close commercial allies of Iran - and strongly endorsed by the US.
(Rar/Aki) Emphasis added
Adding the US, I guess that covers everybody in the West, except for Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and Canada.
#4
Bomb the he$$ out of all his ports and refineries, and let him drink his oil. Serve the little pervert right if they dunked him in a couple of barrels of the stuff and set it alight. This toad needs to learn he's still a very small frog in a huge frigging ocean.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:25
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German politicians from across the political spectrum have reacted strongly to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's recent comments on Iraq. Annan has said Iraq is in the middle of civil war, and that Iraqi people are worse off now than they were under Saddam Hussein. The CDU party's foreign politics expert Eckart von Klaeden has called Annan's comments cynical and dangerous. Social Democrat Hans Ulrich Klose has said life for people in Iraq has completely changed now that they're free from a dictator, and the FDP's Wolfgang Gerhardt has called Annan's comments simply out of the question.
#2
Ah, well. At least they got good beer and BMWs, right?
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 13:46
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#3
But I don't buy German stuff. Or French or Belgian or Spanish or Russian (except for the oil commodity thingy which I can't control) or Chinese - and that last one is a buggah, too. Lol.
#4
Me too, .com, me too. I miss a lot of our Euro friends from across the pond. Been out a lot lately, but I assume it's cause of our recent elections?
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 20:52
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#5
I'm not sure when TGA went away - I was out of the loop at the time, I think. Heh, how would I know, lol.
It's true that some of our friends and cousins are often missing, these days. That definitely hurts discussions, too. Thank Gawd for JFM & Anonymous5089.
Iran's top national security official urged his Arab neighbors Tuesday to eject the U.S. military from American bases in the region and instead join Tehran in a regional security alliance.
Ali Larijani told Arab leaders attending a conference in Dubai that Washington is indifferent to their interests and will cast them aside as soon as they are no longer useful.
"The security and stability of the region needs to be attained and we should do it inside the region, not through bringing in foreign forces," Larijani told an audience of business and political leaders from the Arab world and elsewhere, including the United States. "We should stand on our own feet."
Larijani assured Arab leaders listening to his speech that Iran seeks "peaceful coexistence" and that could replace the security umbrella of U.S. bases now present in the region, including in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Other countries have strong military training and U.S. security guarantee deals.
"Iran is in pursuit of regional stability through integration," he said. "It stands by all the Muslim governments in the region." The Persians are feelin' their oats, are they not?
But many Arab leaders have expressed misgivings about a resurgent Iran, including its support for Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq and for Hizbullah in Lebanon.
They also worry about Iran's nuclear program, which they fear is aimed at producing weapons despite Iranian denials.And threats.
Some Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia are traditional strong rivals of Shiite Iran. But analysts in smaller countries like Kuwait, a strong U.S. ally, have said in recent months that they are walking a fine line between not antagonizing Iran while also not antagonizing the United States.
The United States also has been worried privately about Iran's possible growing influence in the region, although many believe it is highly unlikely any Arab countries would cut security ties with the United States.Unless we cut and walk run from Iraq.
Some small Gulf countries did, however, decline to participate in recent U.S.-led anti-proliferation maneuvers in the Gulf, apparently for fear of antagonizing Iran.
Larijani expressed annoyance at Arab fears about Iranian intentions, saying Shiite Iran and its Sunni Muslim-dominated neighbors had more in common with each other than with the United States or Israel.
"Some countries consider Iran a threat to the region, forgetting about Israel," Larijani said. That's not exactly a denial of hostile intentions, is it?
Larijani acknowledged that any U.S. departure from the Gulf would come about gradually, but he contended a consensus was building, even among America's Arab allies.
"We don't accept the relationship between the U.S. and the countries of the region," Larijani said. "If you talk to Arab leaders here, you can sense that they aren't happy with the current situation. They feel the Americans are bullies. They don't want the U.S. ambassador ordering them around." Yeah, US bullies - wouldn't you be happier under the yoke of our ayatollahs, heretics brothers?
Larijani also told his audience that he believes Washington is caught in a "strategic stalemate" in the Middle East. U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and among the Israelis and Palestinians are failing, he said, and pressure on Iran and Syria has not weakened either regime.
Washington needs a major change in policy -- starting with a withdrawal from Iraq -- to improve its standing, and setting a date for departing Iraq is a first step, Larijani said.
"Should there be a timetable, that would serve as a positive sign," Larijani said. "The clearest sign would be an exit or evacuation of American forces from the region." Thank goodness there isn't a US political party doing the bidding of the ayatollahs.
Iran's nuclear developments should be seen in the same light, Larijani said.
He repeated other Iranian leaders' words that a sanctions resolution being put together by the U.N. Security Council would fail to halt Tehran's contentious nuclear developments.
And he argued that Iran's foreign policy would be subject to coercion if it agrees to give up enrichment -- as the West has demanded -- and instead seeks fuel from outsiders, he said.
"We are not after a nuclear bomb," Larijani said. "Fossil fuels are coming to an end. After that we need nuclear power plants. Nuclear plants need fuel. Historical experience shows that this fuel will not be given to us." "given". There are a few countries that would be more than happy to provide reactor-grade fuel for cash/oil. Nice work, Ali.
In addition, he warned his Arab neighbors, if Iran agreed to depend on outside nuclear fuel suppliers, that move would be used as precedent for blocking similar nuclear enrichment bids by other Muslim countries.
Larijani said Western nuclear negotiators had made this point to him, telling him that Iran could not be allowed to enrich uranium because the same right would have to be afforded Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others.
"They will allow you to have a power plant but they will keep the fuel," Larijani told his Arab neighbors. "There will be an atomic OPEC."(AP)
#2
Funny I thought that was AQ's main goal US forces fully out of the ME. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" logic just keeps getting clearer and clearer.
It is really sad that we have a major politcal group and movement ready and willing to hand our open known enemies a victory for thier own political gain. Even sadder to me is we have a president locked in a War of Survival that was started with 3k dead US civilians on top of multiple smaller attacks. A war that if you make historical comparison to what has been done (not some pie in the sky insane impossible bars set by the media) is a unbelievable success on all fronts Economic drain, Civilian drain, Casualties, changing of hostile cultures. All of this yet the Pres can't or wont RALLY THE PEOPLE or even attempt to make the case. ERRRRRRR
#3
"Not antagonizing Iran ... ... United States" > ala Nelville Chamberlain's "PEACE IN OUR TIME". Still hasn't dawned on people that 9-11 = WOT = WAR FOR THE WORLD = WAR TO THE DEATH! The ME region is to Radical Iran what NORTH KOREA is to Commie China > A LEGALLY/TECHNICALLY UN-ANNEXED CHINESE PROVINCE OR CHINESE-CONTROLLED PROXY STATE. Beijing knows they control North Korea, Pyongyang only pretends they do.
#1
An armed man fired on the U.S. embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday, before he was shot and wounded by police, security officials said. The gunman, who was armed with an automatic weapon, is now being grilled by the security authorities over the pre-dawn attack against the well-guarded embassy northeast of Sanaa.
That worked out well for you, didn't it, Mahmoud the Not-Too-Bright Weasel?
NEW YORK - A month after a failed attempt to move the USS Intrepid, the historic aircraft carrier was freed Tuesday from the Hudson River anchorage where it had sat for nearly a quarter of a century.
"This old baby is moving," a joyous Intrepid Foundation President Bill White said aboard the vessel. Some crew members cried and gave each other high-fives and hugs. Onlookers ashore cheered.
After considerable effort, the aircraft carrier inched haltingly away from its anchorage. Finally, it began moving at about 3 to 4 knots, its pier growing more and more distant.
"Move baby, move baby!" the crew and passengers yelled. Then, "We did it, we did it!"
In the previous attempt, thick mud had proved too strong for six "tractor tugs" exerting some 30,000 horsepower. Another battle occured this time, too the blue water was churned dark brown as tugboats strained to inch the giant vessel away from its longtime home.
"If she doesn't move, we are going to jump in and push her," a former crew member, 84-year-old Joe Kobert, said on the Intrepid's deck before the behemoth began to move on Tuesday.
The smaller boats moved the ship stern first by its tail-end into the center of the Hudson River, then nudged the bow until it was parallel with the shore and began heading downstream.
The aircraft carrier-turned-museum was being towed, still backward, down the river toward New York Harbor for a five-mile trip to a shipyard in Bayonne, N.J., where it will undergo renovations.
#2
Anybody heard of a converted warship called "Salvage Chief"? It works primarily on the west coast of the US. It may be the biggest salvage tug out there. If I remember right, it can exert a 400 ton pull all by its little ol' self! Interesting history.
As a longtime leader in heavy marine salvage, the name Fred Devine Diving and Salvage Co. carries a lot of weight. In fact, our equipment flagship the M/V "SALVAGE CHIEF" has a 400 ton line pull. Fred Devine designed this unique ship. He knew first hand what was needed from a salvage vessel, and he equipped the SALVAGE CHIEF to handle every possible situation from firefighting to re-floating.
#4
That's the one! Used to be a WWII warship at one point in its life.
Anyway, it looks like those tractor tugs can do about 6000HP each, which is almost double what the Salvage Chief has to offer. OOF! Brutes. I wonder what kind of pull they have.
Dennis Kucinich's ( hopefully ) last part of a series outlining how fast he would retreat from Iraq. Kucinich's proposals boil down to turning the whole show in Iraq over to the UN, including 130,000 UN "peacekeepers." Does Iraq have enough goats, starving kids and women to service those troops?
There are good days and bad days in considering the insanity the left has in store over the next two years. This is one of the bad days.
Edited for the loonier parts (ESP)
1. Transfer to the United Nations the authority the United States currently excerises in Iraq. This includes: The United States must ask the United Nations, in cooperation with the Iraqi government, to manage the oil assets of Iraq until Iraq is stabilized.
2. The United States will finance a UN-sponsored peacekeeping mission in Iraq and enlist the help of other members of the coalition of nations which participated in the Iraq action.
3. UN troops will rotate into Iraq, and all US troops will come home. The United Nations, through its member nations, in cooperation with member nations from the region, will commit 130,000 peacekeepers to Iraq on a temporary basis until the Iraqi people can maintain their own security.
4. The United States must agree to pay for what we destroyed. An Iraq reconstruction fund, monitored by the UN in cooperation with the Iraqi government, must be annually replenished to replace destroyed infrastructure.
5. The United States will abandon policies of "preemption" and unilateralism and commit to strengthening the UN.
#2
Great. Dennis Kucinich now makes foreign policy recommendations and people actually listen to them.
Why don't we just nuke ourselves and get it over with...
#4
Is it just me, or are all 5 of these demands anti-American on their face ?
This jerkoff couldn't get support for this in the House or in the street.
Bring it on, Dennis, you anti-American miscarriage.
#6
Dennis wants the UN to take over peace-keeping in Iraq? Would this be the same UN that left the country on the grounds that it was too dangerous after someone crashed a car bomb into their compound?
(1) We don't have to ask the UN NUTTIN'. And, Coffee and son have already had their greedy paws in the Oil for Food program monies (as well as France and some other nefarious nations). NEXT!
(2) As opposed to what we're doin' now with over 30 nations backing us up? No thanks, that whole increase in costs/middle man thingy, Coffee (see above for OfF).
(3) Uhhhhm. Is it just me or are the only "UN" soldiers worth a damn the same ones whose boots are already on the ground (US and allies)? Again, I feel the UN trying to make a "program" to only enrich themselves here.
(4) We're already paying for reconstruction and have probably billions in graf. We prefer to only enrich ourselves or Halliburton, thank you very much. And, what's this "annual replenishment" garbage? If UN troops loot, rape and pillage, the US is supposed to pay for it? PSHAW!
(5) Preemption exists in light of 9/11, Denny boy. You don't get to have a say in my family's existance, arsewipe. And, since when is over 30 nations in the "coalition of the willing" called "unilateralism"? And, we were trying to strengthen the UN (at least it's founding beliefs), but you guys shot down Bolton. Next up? Ann Coulter for UN Ambassador!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 13:34
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#9
Ann Coulter for UN Ambassador!
Only if you put her in a sheer black cat suit, arm her with a flamethrower and machineguns, and give her carte blanche with a pre-signed Presidential Pardon.
I have this vision (fantasy?) of Annie standing up in front of the General Assembly shouting "I'll take a flamethrower to this place!" and cutting loose.
Realism is an academic theory that holds that nations should, and typically do, conduct foreign policy with greater regard for their interests than their values. But realism is also an ordinary word that tells us that good sense and experience are better practical guides to action than theory. That's a distinction worth bearing in mind as the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group releases its report this week and we debate whether the U.S. should engage diplomatically with Iran.
To hear the so-called realists tell it, engaging Tehran is a matter of necessity and ought to be one of choice. Necessity, they say, because there will be no good outcome in Iraq--or Lebanon and Palestine--without Iranian acquiescence, which can only be achieved through face-to-face talks and confidence-building measures. Necessity, too, because they think that neither the U.S. nor Israel can stop Iran's nuclear ambitions militarily and so they must be dealt with as part of a broader negotiation.
Yet the same people who now call for engagement also believed in it long before the invasion of Iraq or the recent revelations about Iran's nuclear advances. They argue that Iran's pressing political and economic problems--the country's huge youth cohort, cleavages within the regime and its loss of popular legitimacy, ethnic and labor unrest and growing unemployment--mean the Islamic Republic has reasons of its own to come to the table. The same logic also suggests that the real purpose of its nuclear program is to serve as a bargaining chip to obtain bigger concessions from the West rather than as an end in itself.
But here's where realism of the common sense kind should intrude. Iran's domestic problems are hardly new and in some ways have been eased by the high oil prices of recent years. In 1997, Iranians "elected" a supposedly moderate president, Mohammed Khatami, on a reformist platform. As Iranian journalist Amir Taheri notes in the November Commentary magazine, the Clinton Administration sought to establish openings with the Khatami government by lifting some sanctions and apologizing for U.S. political meddling. President Clinton even planned an "accidental" encounter with Mr. Khatami during the U.N.'s millennium summit, but Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei canceled it at the last minute. The stood-up President "was left pacing the corridors of the U.N.," writes Mr. Taheri. . . .
Finally, there is the matter of values. One has to wonder about "engaging" a regime whose recent domestic practices include taking a razor to the tongue of labor leader Mansour Ossanloo, whose crime was to have organized an independent union for bus drivers. Realists would have us believe that a country that indulges such barbarism can still be expected to act as a predictable and, under certain conditions, reliable partner in diplomacy.
It's true that we also "engaged" the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but most successfully when Ronald Reagan also spoke candidly about Soviet reality and on behalf of Russian freedom and the U.S. resisted the Kremlin's global designs. We suppose in that sense the Gipper was an idealistic realist. President Bush has spoken repeatedly, in his major speeches and in interviews, about American support for Iranians who aspire to more freedom, which is one reason the U.S. is popular among the Iranian people. What message would it now send those Iranians if the U.S. turned around and embraced the rule of Tehran's mullahs?
We think it's simple realism to believe the fate of people like Mr. Ossanloo explains Iran's past behavior, and well predicts its future.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2006
07:11 ||
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#1
One thing completely left out of this "realism" analysis is the impending collapse of oil production in Iran (within the next 10 years, see Spengler as quoted today in Rantburg) and the Achilles' Heel of the West (oil again). For the mullocracy to survive, they are obliged to seize control of their neighbors' oil resources, and the West is obliged to block them. When Iran goes nuclear, the only thing to "engage" them with is how much tribute the West will pay them for the oil they will then control. That is the real purpose of the Iranian nuclear program, to ensure the mullocracy's survival and perhaps dominance of the Muslim oil resource. There's more going on here than the jihad.
#2
And "Jihad for Allah" is just what their mullah taught them. The mullocracy is calling the shots and their jihad has larger personal meanings, conflicting with each other, in their race to global (and so, so individual) global conquest. All their mullahs wear army boots.
#8
As they say in Texas, "Don't like the weather? Just wait a minute, it'll change."
Oh wait, that's now a Bad Thing...
I am calling for a moratorium on the tides. Rolling in and out all day causes me endless anxiety 'cos I see the li'l tidal critters having to constantly rebuild their homes. Won't somebody think of the baby clams?
#10
As they say in Texas, "Don't like the weather? Just wait a minute, it'll change."
lol, dot! Reminds me of the Top 10 ways you know you live in the south. Forget which # it was, but one of the reasons was:
You run both your heat and your air conditioning (cooling) in the SAME day!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 13:41
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#11
True, BA - in the Dallas area we saw 40+ deg temp swings in a matter of hours there every year. Happened just the other day in Dallas with that front that swept across the eastern half of the US.
Texas, Okla, Kansas, Neb - the Warm Humid Gulf + the Blue Northers... flat as a pool table = Big Magic, and it would happen damned fast, too, lol.
When I was young and really crazy I used to take pictures of lightening. Huge black walls, called Supercells nowadays, would sweep down from the NW - and the leading edge would be lit up like a Christmas Tree from Hell. Got some good ones, lol. Also almost got fried twice, lol. Self-administered shock therapy, heh. Prolly why I'm so mellow, now. ;-)
#13
Couple things. Acid rain was real and in at least one city in Minnesota it is. Done around the Coke (sp?) plant south of Saint Paul you can't eat the snow. I've tried. Bent over and picked up some fresh powered. Folks it burned the inside of my mouth. And yes DDT was pretty fuvked up. It destroyed everything, both good and bad insects.
That being said, the MSM runs on two mottoes, if it bleeds it's a story and working Christian America sucks.
Screw these turds but don't let some of the basic science fool you. Just because they take a side doesn't make it false.
#14
LOL, Mick. Not to be done lightly, I assure you. Me 'n the Earthworms were quite "thrilled" by the experience conveyed to us by the wet ground / grass, lol. There were thousands of them writhing about above-ground after I finally regained my, um, composure, lol.
#15
Jeebus, dot. Quite the hair raising experience, eh? Too bad you're not a lil' younger and more emotional (like all LLL goons). You could video your experiences and post 'em to youtube.
And, we had the same swing in temps (albeit not quite as bad) when the cold front whipped through here. Highs in the lower 70s one day, then highs in the upper 40s the next. I full-on expected AlBore to show up on his Global Warming Climate Change World Tour and give a speech this morning, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 15:44
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#16
DDT was a quite useful insecticide and it scored high marks for eradicating malaria-bearing mosquitoes in Africa and Latin America - so high that it is now being looked at again because malaria in those regions is so out of control.
Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" is credited with starting the modern ecology movement and ending the use of DDT - on the basis of what we now know to have been very unfounded pseudo-science.
In the meantime, since DDT was discontinued, tens of millions have died.
Does DDT kill many different insects, you betcha'. But what is the cost of a few billions of insects dead versus a few tens of millions of human beings?
#18
The first time I was stationed at Offut AFB (Omaha, Nebraska), DW and I used to sit out in front of the temporary quarters and watch the lightning storms across the Missouri in Iowa. Three months later, a tornado-like windstorm blew down half the trees we had to look over. Darth - another CoS resident here. We have crazy weather too, 15 for a high one day, 56 for the high the next!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 23:13
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Words often mean the opposite of what they appear to mean in the Middle East. When Jordan's King Abdullah demanded a speedy solution to the Israel-Palestine issue to quell the outbreak of multiple civil wars in the region, he meant the precise opposite: the Arab world has something more pressing on its mind than the plight of the Palestinians. The emergence of an Iranian threat to Saudi Arabia makes Palestine the odd man out. The Palestine problem has dropped to the bottom of the Arab priority list, andthe fate of the Palestinians is to become cannon fodder for proxy wars.
By the same token, King Abdullah's warning of multiple civil wars meant the opposite of what it appeared to. What formerly were civil wars (or prospective civil wars) in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine have become three fronts in a Sunni-Shi'ite war, in which the local contestants are mere proxies. This is obvious in Lebanon, and becoming so in Palestine, particularly after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's meeting with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Qatar on Saturday.
As historian Niall Ferguson observed in his November 27 Los Angeles Times column, "some civil wars never end", although he neglected to add why this is the case: it is because someone on the outside keeps adding fuel to the fire. The classic example is the great German civil war, namely the 30 Years' War of 1618-48. The Catholic and Protestant Germans, with roughly equal strength, battered each other through two generations because France sneakily shifted resources to whichever side seemed likely to fold. I have contended for years that the United States ultimately will adopt the perpetual-warfare doctrine that so well served Cardinal Richelieu and made France the master of Europe for a century (see How I learned to stop worrying and love chaos, March 14).
"There are two sorts of rat/The hungry and the fat," wrote Heinrich Heine. The fault line between hungry Iranians and the fat Saudis may take precedence over the civilization divide between Muslims and the West, at least for the time being. That is why the Israelis have rediscovered the 2003 Saudi peace plan. The Saudi kingdom has threatened to intervene on the side of the beleaguered Sunnis of Iraq, and Iran (through Hezbollah) is seeking to overthrow the Saudi-allied government of Lebanon, as well as dominate the rejectionist wing of the Palestinians.
Iran, I warned on September 13, 2005, is running short of oil and soldiers (Demographics and Iran's imperial design). Its oil exports could fall to zero within only 10 years, according to new studies reviewed in the December 11 Business Week. Iran's circumstances appear far more pressing than I believed a year ago, when the consensus estimate gave Iran another 20 years' worth of oil exports. Apart from oil, Iran exports only dried fruit, pistachio nuts, carpets, caviar and, more recently, prostitutes (Jihads and whores, November 21).
Iran covets the oil reserves of southeastern Iraq, southern Azerbaijan, and northwestern Saudi Arabia. With 30% youth unemployment, 10% inflation, epidemic prostitution and drug addiction, Iran's fraying social fabric depends on an oil-derived government dole. Within a generation it will have half as many men of military age, and four times as many pensioners. As currently configured, Iran faces economic and demographic collapse eventually. If, as Business Week reports, Iran's oil exports are falling by one-seventh each year, the reckoning might come sooner rather than later. The theocratic regime is a wounded and dangerous beast, prone to hunt outside its own preserve.
Saudi Arabia's quasi-official threat of intervention in Iraq should be read in this light. On November 28, a Saudi strategic adviser, Nawaf Obaid, warned in the Washington Post of "massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis", if need be. "To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks - it could spark a regional war," Obaid added. "So be it: the consequences of inaction are far worse." I do not mean to deprecate Saudi concern for the welfare of Sunnis, but the kingdom faces an existential threat.
Thanks to The Sunday Times of London, we know that Prince Bandar al-Sultan, the Saudi official closest to the US administration, met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as early as last September. In late October, Israeli officials, starting with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, cited the 2003 Saudi peace plan as a possible "basis for negotiations". It amounted simply to recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in return for Israel's withdrawal to 1967 borders. All this occurred prior to the US elections and the advent of the James Baker-Lee Hamilton Iraq Study Group.
On balance the Israelis should be pleased at the development. As Diana West wrote in her December 1 TownHall column, "Imagine: Sunni Saudi Arabia vs Shi'ite Iran - and nary an American soldier ordered to pull his PC [politically correct] punches in the crossfire." More precisely, Iran has sufficient influence among the Palestinians to ensure that Hamas rejects a Palestinian national-unity government, leaving Israel no one with whom to negotiate, and a relatively free hand for the occasional raid. Jerusalem can stretch one hand in peace toward the Saudis, and hammer Iran's ally Hamas with the other.
A long war of attrition against Iran will succeed unless Iran can break out of encirclement, which in practice means acquiring nuclear weapons. I do not know how close Iran might be to obtaining a deployable nuclear weapon. If it appears close to that goal, either the United States or Israel will attack Iranian nuclear facilities. But if the West as well as the Saudis is confident that nuclear weapons remain out of Iranian reach, the Richelieu strategy of slow and bloody attrition might be just as effective.
#3
Actually, I thought there were some interesting details underneath the propaganda. Of 4000 dead, only 100 foreigners? Jihad tourism isn't as popular as it used to be, at least not in Afghanistan. And it doesn't seem to be as popular in Iraq, either. So where are the maddened masses of wannabe jihadis going to get their fix, one is forced to wonder? Or, perhaps, is it a truly radical fringe, not 10% any longer of Muslims, perhaps well under 1% after four years of excitable lads disappearing into the maw of the Crusader war machine? Of course, I haven't gotten to page 2 of the article yet...
#8
Thank you, MacNails dear. I had some poetry published once, when I was but a slip of a schoolgirl, and clearly never got over it. ;-)
Mike, don't forget:
3. Make video wearing conventional jihadi costume, in which all is concealed but the whites of one's eyes. Don't worry, it should only take 20 or 30 takes to get through the traditional lines without muffing it: "I am ___ ibn _______ al _______ al __________ the Jihadi! (So your parents will be able to recognize you when the cassette appears in their mailbox) I give my blood and my life for Allah and the Caliphate! When I send the Crusaders and the Hinjoos to Hell, Allah will put burning coals in the their bellies, while I cavort with my allotment of 72 cow-eyed young virgins!... or is it raisins? God, I hope it isn't raisins..."
#9
"Excitable lads disappearing into the maw of the Crusader war machine."
Dang. That *is* catchy, almost like an advertising slogan.
"We're the Taliban, and we've been sending gullible young to their horrible deaths for years now. Hate you life? Hate your parents? Want to have sex with 72 scantily-clad virgins? Then join us today!"
Reading the NATO web site, it does appear that some of our allies, though reluctant to engage in combat, have no trouble blowing away any Afghan drivers that get too close. The site reveals about one incident a week where tailgating is a capital offense.
#14
In a war zone, getting too close without a good reason probably is a capital offense, all the more so with the invention of Islamic autos-da-fe (homicide bombing by vehicle as an act of sacrificial martyrdom).
#15
For shame, Anguper Hupomosing9418! I had to read to the end of your post to fully grasp the subtlety of that pun! And technically in two languages, too -- is auto da fe Latin or Spanish?
#16
"Auto de fe" in medieval Spanish means "act of faith"
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/05/2006 12:26
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#17
Nothing new, TW. We used to do the same thing in Vietnam, only it was a couple of shots into a 3-inch mat in the tailgate of the truck. The bike-boys would move back 20 or 30 feet after a round was fired. We had one incident where the round passed all the way through the padding, went through both pieces of the tailgate, and hit some Vietnamese motorbike, killing a chicken. The chicken cost 40P (about 35c), but the poor guy that fired the round was charged $123.50 to replace the tailgate.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 13:31
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We've got some strong contenders for "Parents of the Year" here.
A 2-month-old girl was in good condition Monday after being hospitalized with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit for an adult driver, police said.
The infant was taken to Memorial Hospital early Sunday with a blood-alcohol level of 0.364 percent and was being treated in the intensive-care unit. "I'm told by the hospital that the child is in good condition," police Lt. Rafael Cintron said. He declined to release any further details.
Hospital spokeswoman Sharon Miracle said alcohol is "virtually a poison" at levels as high as those found in the infant. "Any time you give alcohol to a child, and at that quantity, it is extremely dangerous," she said. At that level, it could possibly kill an adult, much less a tiny baby.
Authorities were still investigating how the girl ingested the alcohol. Cintron said the incident was being investigated as child abuse. Authorities said they believe the mother's boyfriend dropped the woman and child at the hospital and left. They said the mother had given conflicting stories and the whereabouts of the boyfriend were unknown.
The El Paso County Department of Human Services was given custody of the baby, Cintron said. May that poor little girl recover fully and quickly, and never ever be returned to the people who did that to her.
#1
...I work for a private social services agency, and we see stuff like this on a regular basis. Makes you want to take the parents and just start beating them until they figure it out.
Then beat them some more because they were that stupid in the first place.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/05/2006 9:05
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#2
I was gonna guess that maybe she got into the cabinets, or something and found rubbing alcohol. Then, I realized she's ONLY 2 months old. I'm not a real big fan of gov't intrusion into reproduction, but some people just need to be sterilized.
Wonder if she had a cold/fever and was given a LETHAL hot toddie, or something with whiskey. I was given that as a child, but in SMALL doses, with honey. Sounds like this one was out of that scene in Sweet Home Alabama:
"Oh, you have a baby.....IN A BAR!"
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 10:34
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#3
Rubbing alcohol isn't ethanol, they put whiskey in the kid's bottle. Parents knew what they were doing was wrong. Just spectacularly bad judgement.
#4
Back in the olden days of La Belle France, when alcohol (red wine) consumption was much higher than today, kids were given red wine at a very early age, starting with milk for infants.
IIRC, this was changed after WWII, when the gvt promoted giving milk to children, instead of red wine (which was seen as nutritious and health-building, even if kiddies showed up drunk at school).
#5
I remember this one poor individual who was utterly perplexed by being arrested for being staggeringly drunk--because he didn't drink. But his blood alcohol was sky high.
Turned out that he had a rare condition that fermented carbohydrates in his digestive tract, so he was a walking beer machine.
He was given some drugs to help, but was basically condemned to the Atkins diet for the rest of his life.
#7
I'm what might be considered a "regular" at a neighborhood watering hole. I've known the owner for almost 20 years and had the same bartender for about 17 of that.
I can't tell you the number of times I've seen newborns or infants only several weeks old brought into the bar along with their mother or parents.
It's so commonplace we don't even think about it anymore as scandalous (it's annoying when the kid starts to cry however).
#8
Greg we have the same thing here at our pub. It's a family thing. The locals would beat the stuffing out of someone that started to give their kids booze....
So why isn't this mom in jail right now? I'm guessing the victim crowd would raise a fit.
EASTON, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man who pleaded guilty to molesting two girls told a judge he did it because of his wife's excessive bingo playing. Ahh, I see. It's her fault! Well, look at it this way: At least it shows that in his heart of hearts he knew it was wrong.
"My wife was never home," Floyd Kinney Jr. said during his plea hearing Friday. She did it on purpose! I'm the real victim here!
Kinney's explanation did not sit well with Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden, Be careful, Floyd. The judge is a woman.
"Some people, when their wives are not home, decide to do other things, like clean their living rooms," McFadden said. "Your behavior is beyond the pale." "Hey, it's all I could think of!"
Kinney, 49, said his wife would sometimes argue with him over money and that he was angry she was spending too much on bingo. She made me so mad!
"She would be going to bingo three, four times a week. I told her to stop going to bingo, and she said, 'If they had bingo every day, I'd go every day,"' he said. So I thought to myself, "All right, I'll show you!
Records say Kinney molested one of the girls, now 26, from 1992-97. He sexually assaulted the second girl, now 17, for a year beginning in January 2005, records show. The math says the first girl was all of 12 when he started with her.
Kinney pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated indecent assault. The felony charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
"Floyd, meet Bubba."
"Bubba, this is Floyd. He is going to start rooming with you shortly. You can pick a name for him them."
"Err, Your Honor, what would the fine be for no time spent in jail?"
Defense attorney Richard Yetter said his client was not articulate and may not have been doing a good job of conveying his rationale to the judge. Well, looks like Richard did his job right up until the end.
But McFadden said she found Kinney capable of explaining himself. "I think he is telling me exactly what was going on," the judge said. "His wife was not home so he was going to perpetrate on someone and he picked these two children." You've got 20 years to look forward to your big roommate who, when the guards aren't looking, is going to perpetrate on someone and he will pick you.
Islamabad - Pakistani intelligence agencies claimed to have exposed a terrorist plot involving the use of hijacked helicopters by militants, the English-language Daily Times newspaper reported Monday.
Radical groups planned to seize helicopters operated by courier services, welfare organisations and government departments to carry out terrorist acts, intelligence service source told the paper.
It was not clear if the aircraft were to be crashed into targets or used to launch conventional aerial attacks. The Pakistani Interior Ministry reportedly responded by stepping up security around aircraft fleets across the country.
Warnings were also issued against Iraqi-style kidnapping and killing of senior government officials.
Something doesn't track. The terrs got a buncha unemployed chopper pilots laying around? Is this a practice run, by the ISI, for something else, mebbe?
#1
What better platform to carry a nuke over a city?
Who watches the lifeflights over LA? Or a traffic/news copter? They scoot around as unseen as ambulances.
#2
Skid - It would have to be a small nuke (beyond the technical capabilities of most likely suspects) or a big helicopter - I think your standard entry-level nuke would fall right through the floor of a Bell Ranger or such.
Dirty bomb, anthrax, etc. would work, but would work at least as well in a Piper Cub, and they're a lot easier to fly. The most likely helicopter risk I can think of is a kidnapping.
#4
I think this would have to be taken to mean that the chopper pilot was forced to fly the aircraft, as you cannot just jump in one of these things and go avaiting.
And I would stongly suggest the civil aircraft community keep an extra eye out for something like this. You could really foul things up by just crashing a Piper Cub or a JetRanger into any freeway at rush hour. A light plane into the Seattle Convention Center would snarl our local economy for probably 2 weeks minimum.
#5
A friend of mine was a bombardier on B-36s during his Air Force career. He said that the average weapon on a B-36 weighed 17,500 pounds, and took four men to activate. They wore lead aprons to reduce the possibility of excessive radiation exposure. These were late-model fission and early-model fusion weapons. The reason those aircraft (and later B-47 and B-52 aircraft) were so big is that nukes aren't small or light. Yeah, we miniaturized them later, but that took a ton of R&D and decades of research. Even a "suitcase nuke" weighs in the range of 30-40 pounds, and only God knows how long it can sit around and still be effective. Radioactive half-life is the enemy of nuke weapons.
It's more likely that a helicopter plot in pakiwakiland would be aimed at Perv. One helicopter, one car, big explosion, no survivors.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 14:19
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#6
But wouldn't it take out a LOT of moonbats? I mean there seems to be such a density thingy going on there... Lol.
KANDAHAR - First came a deafening crash as the suicide bomber drove his vehicle headlong into a Nato convoy.
It was followed almost instantly by a stomach-churning blast that roared through the crowded streets of Kandahar. Then the flames began to erupt. It was followed immediately by prolonged gunfire, screeching of tyres, and the screams of people as we ran for shelter a hundred yards away.
As the sirens began and helicopter-gunships began to circle overhead, there was nothing much left of the suicide bomber amid the smouldering pile of blackened twisted metal which had been his car.
A British Land Rover with its machine guns jaggedly sticking up in the air had been catapulted on to the central reservation. Two other vehicles had lurched to stops and lay abandoned amid pools of blood, pockmarked with bullet holes.
Sunday's attack was aimed at a British Royal Marines convoy returning to Helmand. Three civilians were killed, 18 others were injured as were three of the marines. It took place on the main route to the airport, nicknamed the Baghdad Highway by the locals, in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taleban, and where their resurgence has led to months of ferocious fighting.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Splitting Afghanistan makes sense. The main obstacle is the UN and it's territorial integrity tranzi nonsense. If the Uzbeks and Tadjiks and the rest can get along then cut the Pashtuns loose. It will stop the nonsense of the Germans and Italians patrolling the North where is no real problem.
#2
posing pulitzer pud puller: It was followed almost instantly by a stomach-churning blast that roared through the crowded streets of Kandahar. Then the flames began to erupt. It was followed immediately by prolonged gunfire, screeching of tyres, and the screams of people as we ran for shelter a hundred yards away.
stomach-churning, yep decribes my gut reaction to just about all "journalism".
#3
"pools of blood"? Granted, I've never been so much as in a traffic accident with injuries (we just aren't going to discuss fender benders, 'k? I was meant to have a chauffeur, it isn't my fault life has not seen fit to comply!), but pools of blood sounds a bit exaggerated under the circumstances. "Deafening crash" sounds a bit much, as well. I've never heard one of those, although in my experience the moment at which the fender is bent is always heart wrenching.
Perhaps those of you who have actually experienced such things, or police or paramedics, could enlighten me in my ignorance? Just in general terms, if you don't mind -- I'm not at all good with gory details, except in real life emergencies.
#4
Fortune cookie: When you stop identifying the Taliban as your terrorist enemy, don't be surprised when deals you took for granted crumble all around you.
#5
phil_b: Splitting Afghanistan makes sense. The main obstacle is the UN and it's territorial integrity tranzi nonsense.
I am baffled by this weird Westphalian thing where a state's borders are treated as sacrosanct no matter what tinpot dictator is running the place or what European quack drew the line on the map in the first place (regrettably including Churchill as junior quack for his creation of Iraq).
#6
Wife: The adult human has about 5-6 liters of blood in it. As with most liquids, a little looks like a lot. Take a cup of water and spill it onto a mop-friendly surface and look at what you get. Most people will tend to overestimate blood loss because of this.
As for "pools", I guess it's how you define a pool versus a puddle. Puddles of blood do not sound quite so gory.
#7
The "weird Westphalian thing" comes out of the religious wars of the 1500's and 1600's, where about 1/3 of the population of what is now Germany was killed in the fighting and looting. The killing as different factions tried to remake nations along religious lines really made an impression on the European psyche, hence the "sanctity" of national sovereignty, whatever it is, the way it is. The only worse trauma to affect the Euros was the Great War (1914-1945) which seems to have led them to contemplate collective, passive suicide as an alternative to having a future of their active choice.
#8
I'm sure Chuck's experiences are the best to draw on here for "pools of blood". The only combat I saw was mostly at "long range" - I.E., at least 50 feet. Most of the time we didn't even see our enemies fall, and only knew of our "success" after we mopped up the battlefield. Hurricanes and tornados, both of which I've had experience with, tend to leave bodies either broken but unpunctured, or simply not there.
My take of this article is that the Taliban are losing, and it scares the bejesus out of Rooters. Can't have the West win! I think the "winter offensive" will be VERY offensive to the taliban, and a Godsend to the US, Brits and Canadians. We need to begin slapping the Pashtuns in the NWFP around a bit harder, and completely flatten Quetta, where all the taliban wounded go for rest and recovery. Screw pakiwakiland. They've proved to be disingenuous, and supportive of the taliban against us. The friends of my enemies are my enemies. Pakland needs to be crushed and left in total ruin. It couldn't be reborn any worse than it is now. Best bet is to give it to India and Afghanistan, and let it disappear from the earth. Screw "sanctity of nations". They're only sacrosanct if they behave themselves. Pakland has NEVER "behaved" itself, and needs to be wiped away.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 13:43
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#9
Pakland needs to be crushed and left in total ruin. It couldn't be reborn any worse than it is now.
While I agree with you, there's this ticklish little problem with Pakistan's nuclear weapons. I'd like to think that we have the capability of confiscating or securing their arsenal, but do we? Pakistan reborn with those nukes in radical Muslim hands would be a lot worse than it currently is.
JERUSALEM Israels military, which has been accused of abuses in its war against Hezbollah this summer, has declassified photographs, video images and prisoner interrogations to buttress its accusation that Hezbollah systematically fired from civilian neighborhoods in southern Lebanon and took cover in those areas to shield itself from attack.
Lebanon and international human rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes in the 34 days of fighting in July and August, saying that Israel fired into populated areas and that civilians accounted for a vast majority of the more than 1,000 Lebanese killed. Israel says that it tried to avoid civilians, but that Hezbollah fired from civilian areas, itself a war crime, which made those areas legitimate targets.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 8:36
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#3
A third Hezbollah man, Maher Kourani, said group members had worn civilian clothes, tried never to show their weapons, and traveled in ordinary civilian cars. We use Volvos, Mercedes, BMW, he said. We use Range Rovers, too.
Nice sets of wheels if you can get them i s'pose . I guess we can hazard a guess as to where international releif funds were spent . Ordinary civilian cars indeed *scoff* . Makes targeting easier aswell .. brand new Range Rover or that burnt out delapidated Skoda for target aquisition please base1 ?
#4
Waste of the Israelis time. Those who hate them will neither care for the truth or change their hateful opinions even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
#5
Describes everything perfectly, 'Moose. Short of using nukes, what could Israel possibly do that would increase the enmity shown them by virtually everyone on the planet?
Nothing, Ehud, nothing.
The US approaches this same status... We may be the Great Satan, but we're still second-fiddle to Israel in the Hate Marathon... by a hair or two, anyway.
#6
Waste of the Israelis time. Those who hate them will neither care for the truth or change their hateful opinions even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Worse than that, there are many decent people who would care but they will never know about this because the MSM will not tell them.
#7
Phase 2 should begin with nuking Beirut, Damascus, the Bekaa, and everything between the Israeli border and the Latani River. It won't make any difference in world opinion, and it will certainly spare Israeli lives. Just make sure the wind is out of the south.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 14:34
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#8
OP--add to that the forcible expulsion of all Muslims from Israel, Gaza and the WB. Send the raghead sons of whores back to their brethren and let's see how their Arab brothers and sisters treat them. Israel needs to realize that it doesn't matter what they do or how justified they are, they will never get any credit for it from the MSM or the UN. So they should tell the MSM and UN to go fuck themselves and take all the actions necessary to defend their land and property. World opinion goes with a winner--period.
Posted by: mac ||
12/05/2006 17:20
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The announcement on Monday of John R. Boltons decision to step down was greeted by United Nations officials with relief, while diplomats from other nations offered mixed assessments of his effectiveness during his 17 months as the American envoy.
No comment, he said with a smile, Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary general, said over his shoulder to reporters as he hustled to a meeting. Mr. Malloch Brown had angered Mr. Bolton during the summer by accusing the United States of stealth diplomacy turning to the United Nations when Washington needed it while showing public disdain for the institution. At the time, Mr. Bolton demanded that Secretary General Kofi Annan personally and publicly repudiate Mr. Malloch Browns remarks, but Mr. Annan stood by them.
Mr. Boltons relationship with Mr. Annan was also marked by testiness, with the American repeatedly ducking opportunities to commend Mr. Annan by declining comment or saying, as he did last month, Ill pass.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Getting the USA PC ready for surrender to OWG + Motherly Commie Airborne, where Americans =Amerikans happily hugging each other and singing Kumbaya on way to the Gulag = Extermination Chambers is not only a Privelege of Any Each All and Every American = Amerikan, but a G ** D **** CHERISHED RIGHT AND BENEFIT.
See FREEREPUBLIC.com > ENERGYBULLETIN.net/com? article > CLOSING THE COLLAPSE GAP. "Collapse" of the USA. Author doesn't know how or why or whom, etc - IT JUST IS = IT JUST WILL.
The cash-strapped regime of North Korea, which has a worldwide reputation for its criminal dealings in weapons sales, drugs and near-perfect counterfeit U.S. $100 bills, may have found a new illicit source of hard foreign currency: international reinsurance fraud. A growing number of major underwriters around the world strongly suspect that communist dictator Kim Jong-Il's regime is running an elaborate major insurance and reinsurance scam on them, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars or more.
The alleged fraud involves a wide variety of North Korean industrial and personal calamities where insurers have been presented with perfect government-controlled documentation of accidents, including deaths, along with carefully gathered photographic evidence, all compiled in a startlingly brief time. That paperwork is coupled with a resistance to letting foreign insurance adjusters examine some of the most crucial physical evidence, except after long delays and under a watchful eye, if at all.
Suspicions in London began to gel in July 2005, when North Korea reported that a medical rescue helicopter had crashed into a government-owned warehouse that authorities said was crammed with disaster relief supplies. The entire contents of the warehouse, which ran to hundreds of thousands of items, were destroyed, KNIC said, submitting within 10 days a list compiled by the relief center of every single commodity that it said had been lost.
In the case of a ferry accident that allegedly took place last April, North Korean authorities declared that 129 people had died aboard the vessel after it struck a rock about 1,000 yards off the Korean coast, and only about 100 yards from an island. All of them, the Koreans claim, had been automatically covered with life insurance when they bought their ferry ticket. Here the claims from reinsurers totaled about 5 million euros, or roughly $6 million. When insurers asked for permission to send an independent diver to inspect the ferry wreck, they were refused.
Britain's Foreign Office says the lack of firm proof of fraud is why it hasn't taken action on the reinsurance issue, although British diplomats say they are aware of it. But as the British government is trying to put limits on Kim Jong-Il's nuclear weapons program, the lack of an official British reaction could also be an attempt not to rock the boat, as well as to protect its diplomatic presence in Pyongyang.
#9
The central focus of concern is the absolute control of ownership and information in North Korea by Kim Jong-Il and his regime. All North Korean insurance is controlled by one state-owned firm, the Korea National Insurance Corporation (KNIC), formerly known as the Korea Foreign Insurance Company, which in turn purchases reinsurance coverage abroad for risks that it has {purportedly] assumed in its domestic market.
Normally, most domestic insurers will use one, or at most two firms of brokers to obtain reinsurance. KNIC may use many, according to industry sources, and the brokers may well have no idea what business their colleagues are doing, or in what reinsurance markets.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2006 10:00
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#10
Actually, this sort of thing is good news. It shows the pathetic means the North Koreans are having to resort to. I mean, what kind of government funds itself with insurance scams? Most of them just raise taxes.
#11
I figure Kimmie would be hell-on-wheels if Amway could entroll him. Think of his downstream...... Everyone who has his picture would spring for at least 2 cans of room deodorizer a month. Profit!
#12
It's almost like...he's always got a loophole. We want to see the damage, he says pay up or he'll kill us. He doesn't fill out the forms, we complain, he says pay up or he'll kill us. We want to talk to witnesses, he says they're all dead and to pay up or we'll be dead too. You think he was a friggin dictator or something.
What an asshole...
#14
Lets see.. drug trafficking, kidnapping, counterfeiting, now insurance fraud..
And this criminal enterprise is considered a sovereign state? A legitimate government?
The United States of America actually sends diplomatic envoys to negotiate with these criminals?
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2006 17:58
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#15
Don't laugh, but StrategyPage says this scam has already brought in over $100 million.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2006 18:01
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#16
Until Bush came along, yes. Until Bush came along, even the US Sec State was on the NorKie dance card. Until Bush came along, China didn't get the credit due for being this mongrel's bitch.
#17
Who would have ever imagined a stand up guy like 'Lil Kim would run a scam?
ROFLMFAO! Any dumb bastard that would insure a Nork asset deserves to be scammed! A fool and his money had no business being together in the first place!
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/05/2006 18:48
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One day in the future, infection may be fought by simply switching bacterial invaders off. At least, that's the promise of new technology out of a group at Yale University that's studying riboswitches--short sections of untranslated RNA that monitor small compounds in the cell-like nucleotides, amino acids and sugars--in order to control gene expression. This nascent technology, which is currently being tested on simple bacteria in the lab, may soon constitute a novel class of antibiotics, those wonderful "magic bullets" from the 20th century that suddenly are encountering resistance from evolving bacteria.
The majority of antibiotics thwart the bacterial cell by targeting either ribosomes to stop protein synthesis or the proteins involved in DNA replication. Some antibiotics work by interfering with the biosynthesis of cell walls, or with folate--a form of vitamin B integral to the maintenance of new cells. "There's no method addressing RNA-mediated gene regulation," notes Kenneth Blount, a postdoc researcher in cell biologist Ronald Breaker's lab and the first author on the riboswitch study, published in this week's issue of Nature Chemical Biology. Breaker's group sought to exploit riboswitches, which they first characterized in 2002. In the current study, they created variations in the amino acid lysine to target its class of riboswitch. "The drug compounds, if they're a good enough mimic of that metabolite, bind to the riboswitch and trick the cell into thinking that it's swimming in the metabolite, that it's rich in the metabolite, when in fact it's starving for it," Breaker explains. If the riboswitch believes there is an excess of lysine in the cell, it will shut off its production. Without lysine available, the bacteria will be unable to translate its RNA into proteins, which will halt its growth.
To accomplish this chemical deception, the Yale group started with a lysine molecule and made slight chemical modifications. These changes ran the gamut from replacing a carbon in its backbone with a sulfur or oxygen atom to attaching bulky groups on its end. The group then tested each version in a common soil bacterium, Bacillus subtilus, to see whether the lysine riboswitch would bind to them while the rest of the cell would ignore it, knowing that it wasn't actually the amino acid. The three versions that bound best involved the substitution at the position of the fourth carbon in the lysine chain. "It's sort of like a lock and key mechanism where there are a few positions where the riboswitch does not have a tumbler," Blount explains. "But there are other positions where if you change the key, it doesn't fit." Oddly enough, these configurations proved the most effective in quelling bacterial growth.
Continued on Page 49
#2
I didn't read the entire article, so I don't know if this addressed further down, but key will be to affect the invading bacterium, but not the native flora and fauna, and certainly not the body's own cells (please, please, please don't do anything that would impact my brain cells -- I'm pushing them to the limit as it is!).
The IDF, in conjunction with the Shin Bet, arrested a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Bethlehem on Monday. Mahmoud Fanoun, 59, the head of the PFLP in Bethlehem, has been wanted by Israeli security services since 2001.
Fanoun, who was deported to Jordan in the late 80s and returned to Israel in 1996, has been responsible for a number of terror attacks, as well as supplying weapons to other terror groups in the West Bank. He also held diplomatic positions in the PFLP movement and most recently ran for the Palestinian parliament in last January's elections, but lost.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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#1
Mahmoud Fanoun, 59
Wow, that's twice the average age for that position.
In the remote desert of southern Afghanistan, a struggle is intensifying between British troops and the forces of the Taleban.
Around 5,800 UK troops are stationed in Afghanistan, following the US-led invasion in October 2001, and so far more than 40 have been killed.
The majority of the deployment is in Helmand which is an area of major Taleban activity and opium production.
Amid battle scenes that have been described by one commander as the most intense "since the Korean War", the BBC's Alastair Leithead, award-winning cameraman Fred Scott and field producer Peter Emmerson spent nine days embedded with UK forces in southern Helmand province, facing the risk of ambush and attack.
During the trip, the BBC team gained unique, prolonged access to the soldiers of the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade as they fight a shifting and elusive Taleban threat. Video is on upper right corner of the screen. Disregard message at the bottom of the screen.
(KUNA) -- British forces opened fire amid a stand-off as they tried to get three wounded marines to safety after a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed Monday. Three members of 45 Commando were injured, one seriously, and two Afghan civilians were killed in the blast as a bomber tried to ram the British vehicles in Kandahar yesterday, the MoD said.
But as British forces attempted to transport the casualties to a safe helicopter landing spot they found themselves being pursued by several civilian vehicles, the MoD added. One of the vehicles weaved in front of them in an attempt to block the way, an MoD spokeswoman said.
Despite flares being let off and warning shots fired, some of the pursuers continued to approach the rescuers. "Further shots had to be fired to disable the vehicles," she added. The MoD confirmed that reports that some civilians may have been injured were being investigated.
One of the injured marines was described as "seriously ill", while the others are said to be in a stable condition. "The injured servicemen received first aid at the scene before being evacuated by UK helicopter," the spokeswoman continued. "They are currently receiving medical treatment at an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) medical facility," she said. Next of kin have all been informed and the convoy has returned to Camp Bastion, in Helmand province.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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(SomaliNet) In a move that may prove perilous to Chad, the United Nations (UN) agencies and numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are withdrawing staff from eastern Chad, humanitarian sources said.
Eastern Chad is currently housing some thousands of refugees from neighbouring Sudan and where rebels have recently upped attacks. Meanwhile, Rebels in Chad on Saturday deployed around the town of Guereda, in the far east of the country, after attacking government positions there the previous day. Guess the French decided not to sortie their fighters.
According to a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)'s Helene Caux Abeche, "After incidents in Guereda, the hold up of our staff and the theft of our vehicles, it was decided that international and national staff in the far eastern towns of Iriba, Guereda and Bahai be redeployed to Abeche and N'Djamena."
Press reports indicate that during an attack by rebels from a coalition led by the Rally of Democratic Forces (RAFD) in Guereda on Friday last week, HCR buildings were attacked and two of their vehicles were stolen. Which word in 'Rally of Democratic Forces' doesn't belong with the others?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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#1
"Democratic"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/05/2006 6:28
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#2
Well, some of the underage girls (and boys) might be safer.
(SomaliNet) The UN envoy to Somalia Francois Lonseny Fal said on Monday that he was more hopeful to continue Somali peace talks ahead after having crucial meeting with senior officials of Islamic Courts in the capital.
During his one day visit in Mogadishu, Mr. Fall had close doors meeting the leaders of Shura Council of Islamic Courts particular with Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of Islamic Courts. After the meeting Mr. Fall and Sheik Aweys held a joint news conference inside the headquarters of the Islamic courts. Mr. Fall told the reporters in the capital that the discussion with the Islamic leadership was positive and successful. "Our meeting with the Islamic courts was fruitful and it in fact has raised our hope that they would continue talks with the transitional government," Mr. Fall said while answering questions asked by the reporters at the main Islamist headquarter in north of Mogadishu.
Shortly after the press conference, François Fall and his delegation flew back to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Earlier, Mr. Fall expressed that he was hopeful that both Somalia rivals would resume talks in Sudan in mid December as scheduled. Sheik Aweys told the reporters that he had discussed with the UN envoy over several issues relating to the current political situation in Somalia. "We Islamic Courts told the UN delegation that lifting the embargo on Somalia would cause major conflict in the region, we also indicated to them that the solution might came only when the Ethiopian troops withdrawn from Somalia," Sheik Aweys said adding that the Islamic Courts Union are any time ready to continue talks with the interim government but the world must not keep silent of the Ethiopian aggression.
He said the Islamic Courts made it clear that they totally against the US proposal at the UN in which it wants to lift the embargo.
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(KUNA) -- Iraqi police thwarted on Monday a kidnapping attempt of media figure and assistant information dean Abdulsalam Al-Samer in the Iraqi capital. An Interior Ministry told reporters unknown gunmen kidnapped the assistant dean close to the area of his residence in Al-Doura and took him to unknown location. Police then chased the kidnappers and succeeded in freeing Al-Samer, but not after killing four of the kidnappers.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani gave orders to honor policemen involved in the operation for their tremendous efforts. Iraqi police clashed with the kidnappers on Al-Doura highway, killing the accomplices and freeing the hostage within an hour of the kidnapping, the Iraqi source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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Seems like good news. I wonder how long it took for the kidnappers to die - ideally long enough to tell who they were working for and where they were going. If not, then at least say it was.
Undercover IDF soldiers stormed a Tulkarm cafe and gunned down a prominent Fatah militant Monday evening, Palestinians witnesses said. Residents of the northern West Bank city said Mahmoud Aved al-Al, 20, an al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades operative from the Gaza Strip, was killed. The witnesses said a 12-year-old boy was critically wounded, and a second Fatah militant was moderately wounded, in the raid.
IDF sources confirmed that units entered Tulkarm and surrounded the establishment after receiving intelligence that the fugitive - who they say was in the midst of planning a suicide attack - was sitting inside. The sources said troops called on the fugitive to surrender several times. When he tried to flee, the soldiers shot him dead. No soldiers were wounded in the action, the IDF said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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#1
Good intel. Wonder where they're getting it from?
#2
What is the world coming to when a fugitve terrorist bully-boy can't even sit down in a cafe to plan a suicide attack without being subject to Zionist aggression?
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
12/05/2006 15:20
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Up close and personal, shot the diapers right off their heads.
Lebanons army deployed more soldiers in Beirut on Monday after the killing of a pro-Syrian Shia Muslim demonstrator raised fears anti-government protests could turn into sectarian violence.
Security sources said the military increased its forces in the Sunni districts that Shia protesters drive through to get to central Beirut where the Hezbollah-led opposition is holding a sit-in to topple the Western-backed government.
These districts witnessed several clashes between residents and protesters on Sunday from stone-throwing incidents to fights with sticks and knives.
In the most serious incident, gunmen fired from assault rifles at a group of protesters in the Sunni Qasqas neighbourhood, a stronghold for the anti-Syrian majority coalition, killing one young man and wounding others.
The opposition said the incidents would not drive it to abandon plans for toppling the government.
The Shia group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, and its allies in the opposition had taken to the streets and were holding an indefinite sit-in to force the resignation of Western-backed Sunni Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
Many politicians and observers had said the crisis could spill over into sectarian strife in a country that had gone through two civil wars in the last century.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Many politicians and observers had said the crisis could spill over into sectarian strife in a country that had gone through two civil wars in the last century.
A suspected Russian spy who obtained a Canadian passport thanks to a well-made fake birth certificate, is to be deported, a Canadian judge ruled. Canadian authorities arrested the man who calls himself Paul William Hampel on November 14 in Montreal, accusing him of being a Russian spy working under a false Canadian identity.
According prosecutors, the man had obtained a Canadian passport three times on the basis of his fake birth certificate A summary of evidence released by a federal court said the suspect was an "elite Russian intelligence officer" who masqueraded as a Canadian citizen to gather information "for over a decade both within Canada and abroad." Good field craft.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg authorized his arrest by issuing a security certificate. The rarely used procedure, launched in 1978, allows authorities to arrest and expel a foreigner deemed a threat to Canadian security. The certificate used to arrest Hampel was the first issued under the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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Good God! They nailed an illegal and they're letting him go?!?!
LONDON - British intelligence officers are convinced that the Russian secret service authorised the poisoning of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died last month, The Times reported on Tuesday. Citing security sources, the newspaper said that only officials such as agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) -- the KGBs successor would have access to sufficient amounts of the radioactive substance polonium-210 to kill Litvinenko. The former agents urine was found to have unexplained large quantities of polonium. Oh, I think it can be explained ...
We know how the FSB operates abroad and, based on the circumstances behind the death of Mr Litvinenko, the FSB has to be the prime suspect, an unnamed source was quoted as saying by The Times.
Security sources also told the newspaper that the FSB was likely to have used some of its former agents to carry out the operation.
A senior police source also told the newspaper that the method of killing Litvinenko, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was intended to send a message to his friends and allies. Its such a bad way to die, they must have known ... The sheer organisation involved could only have been managed by professionals adept at operating internationally, the source was quoted as saying.
Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Blofeld: "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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Calm returned to the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Monday as intensive diplomatic efforts continued in a bid to prevent further escalation of political tensions after a man was killed in clashes between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
Traffic was closed in central Beirut, Lebanon's capital, as the sit-in protest by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Hizbullah and its allies entered its fourth day Monday in bid to bring down the government. Soldiers and police, backed by tanks and armored vehicles continued to surround government headquarters in a protective cordon.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A special court Monday ended Indias largest terrorism case by finding 100 people guilty out of 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case after a decade of trials, the chief prosecutor said. The court, headed by Judge Pramod Kode, convicted six people Monday, taking the total number of convictions to 100. Another 23 were acquitted of any role in serial blasts across Indias financial hub that killed 257 people.
The six men convicted Monday Bashir Khairulla, Zahir Hussain, Abdul Khan, Firoz Mallik, Moin Qureshi and Salim Shaikh could face the death penalty. They were convicted of participating in weapons and explosives training in Pakistan in January 1993, participating in planning meetings, packing the powerful RDX explosive used in the blast into cars and scooters and lobbing hand grenades in a Mumbai suburb. Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said prosecution and defence lawyers would begin arguments on sentencing next week, a process that could take up to a month. This is a historic case. Never before in Indian history have 100 people been convicted in a single case, Nikam told reporters.
The trial, described as Indias longest, began on June 6, 1995. Kode began delivering the judgments in September. The court convicted eight people for planting 13 bombs, of which twelve exploded across the city, including landmarks like the stock exchange. At least ten people were found guilty of being trained in terrorist camps across the border in Pakistan, while five policemen and four customs officials were found guilty of abetting in the conspiracy.
Sentencing for those convicted, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt for possessing weapons but not for a charge linked to the attacks, will be announced in January, said Nikam.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A shipping company is planning to go back to the future, by harnessing wind power to boost the propulsion of its ocean-going container ships.
The "SkySail", a 160 square-metre kite tethered to a mast, has successfully undergone lengthy trial runs and now the shipowner, Beluga Shipping, of Bremen, Germany, is building the container vessel MV Beluga SkySails, equipped with one, to make its maiden voyage early next year. "I got the idea on a yacht a few years ago," Stephan Wrage, the inventor and founder of SkySails said. "I love flying kites and found sailing rather slow. I thought the enormous power in kites could somehow be utilised."
The technology he has developed is a throwback to an earlier age of maritime travel when ships relied solely on wind, but it addresses a key concern of the modern age: climate change.
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#3
When it comes to sailing, can a kite do anything other than "go large" (aka sail directly down wind)?
Seems that this wouldn't be any help other than straight downwind which would seem to be seldom, no? (My sailing knowledge comes solely from Patrick O'Brien novels)
#4
It seems to me that the best way to harness wind energy would be to mount vertical windmills on the deck to catch the wind from any direction, except when the ship is heading into the wind.
In turn, the energy generated by the windmills could provide electrical power that wouldn't have to be generated by fuel, saving energy.
#8
There were actualy several largish Yatch/boats built with a windmill providing the direct power to the propeller.
They were pretty good at sailing directly upwind (Normaly impossible) but otherwise simply not worth the effort.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/05/2006 20:13
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INDONESIA is grappling with its first real political sex scandal a widely circulated video of one of its most powerful politicians in a hotel room with a popular singer. With or without underwear?
Politicians have taken care to keep their lives private in this predominantly Islamic country. Many have playboy reputations but none has been caught on tape. The politician, Yahya Zaini, is parliamentary secretary of the Golkar Party, the biggest in Indonesia, and head of its religious affairs committee, which has responsibility for moral issues. So they caught the holy man with his pants down and his doinker out?
Vice-President and Golkar Party chief Jusuf Kalla said the tape must be verified. "The woman in the video could be his wife, who knows? If that is the case, the one distributing the video must be held responsible," he said. You're sure it wasn't Fed Ex and Britney?
Mr Zaini, who is married, flew back from a parliamentary study tour in Australia at the weekend, as news of the tape spread. He is in hiding in Jakarta. The singer, Maria Eva, admitted making the tape, but denied distributing it. "Nope. Nope. Wudn't me. I wuz only a performer!"
During a tearful press conference last night, Eva said she had loved Mr Zaini, but their affair ended two years ago. She said she had been pregnant and was pressured to have an abortion by him and his wife. Eva said Mr Zaini had financed her first album. His wife didn't, though, I'll bet...
She said she had tried to forget the episode and was now a participant in a Koran reading class at the home of Din Syamsudin, chairman of Indonesia's peak religious body. "Yeah. Dat's all behind me now. Din's financing my next album, y'know."
Eva has appeared in several miniseries, including the Islamic-oriented Divine Blessing soap opera. It is believed the video was shot as she and Mr Zaini campaigned for Golkar. It was sent to a number of mobile phones and email addresses last week. Eva's lawyer, Ruhut Sitompul, said Golkar figures had sent her an open plane ticket and told her to leave for Singapore for her safety. "Eva: They're getting out the torches and pitchforks. Leave town quick!"
Islamic leaders and political parties have been campaigning for tougher morality laws in Indonesia, including outlawing pornography and public displays of affection. They want harsh action taken against Mr Zaini. For a private display of affection?
Party deputy chairman Agung Laksono heads Golkar's investigative team. "The team's main task is to investigate whether the porn video is authentic, determine what kind of violation the legislator committed and make recommendations on what actions the party should take," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Well, Islamos are very fond of cutting things off for permannet punishment. Step over closer to the chopping block, Mr. Secretary.
#2
Maria, who was born Maria Ulfah, has fairly good religious credentials. She has been on the pilgrimage to Mecca, twice, both in and out of the Hajj season, and spent much time in prayer, contemplation, and communication with God, in the Holy Land of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Maria is still a virgin, it seems, because she is not yet married, and she claims to be unafraid of the prospect of being a perawan tua, literally old virgin, or more likely old spinster, preferring instead to just go with the flow of life.
However she does admit to having dated western men in Jakarta, and even while such men are notorious for their ravenous sexual appetites, it appears she managed to maintain her purity.
#5
"The team's main task is to investigate whether the porn video is authentic, determine what kind of violation the legislator committed and make recommendations on what actions the party should take," he said.
#8
Wasn't the ex PM of Indonesia accused of buggering his running mate? Can't remember, but i assume it's only an islamic sex scandel if WIMMEN pttuuui ptuuui are involved
#9
Wasn't the ex PM of Indonesia accused of buggering his running mate?
If Cingold drops by, he could confirm, but don't you rather refer to this opposition pol in malaysia who was (wrongly, I seem to recall) accused with sodomy, the man-to-man type?
#12
That's what "bugger" means, lol. It's OK, I'm just here to help. ;-)
Good gawd. First he becomes a mod, and now he's a Gov't employee, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 13:37
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Interesting tidbit from pravda
concerning former Indo President Sukarno and the old KGB... However, surprised happened sometimes too, like it was with the notorious case for seducing Indonesian President Ahmed Sukarno. He was known for his sexual passion. That is why KGB sent a group of young girls to him during his visit to Moscow. Those girls got acquainted with Ahmed Sukarno in a plane, under the disguise of air hostesses, then he invited them to his hotel room in Moscow and arranged a grand orgy. The orgy was filmed by two candid cameras that were fixed behind mirrors. It seemed that the operation was just perfect. Before starting the blackmail, KGB invited Sukarno in a small private movie theatre and showed him the pornographic video, in which he was playing the main part. KGB agents were expecting him to get really frightened, that he would agree to cooperate with them at once, but everything happened vice versa: Sukarno fondly decided that it was a gift from the Soviet government, so he asked for more copies to take them back to Indonesia and show them in movie theatres. Sukarno said to flabbergasted agents that the people of Indonesia would be very proud of him, if they could see him doing the nasty with Russian girls.
Fiji's president has appealed to embattled Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to resign, as the military tightens its grip on the capital, local radio has reported.
The appeal by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo came after military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama visited the president this morning. Qarase, meeting in his home with members of his cabinet as troops surrounded the house, said a military takeover was inevitable and he was waiting to be taken into custody.
Qarase, in a radio interview, said he had been asked by the president to give in to all of the military's demands, or resign. However he said he had refused the request. Earlier, soldiers briefly secured the street around the prime minister's house in Suva and confiscated his vehicles.
Posted by: Fred ||
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the Commodore sounds like a reasonable man. Ima looking for a little AOF patronage, perhaps Admiral, in charge of nubile young wymyns or some such. After all, I too am a reasonable man.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 9:02
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Mr. Prime Minister: don't mess with Commodore Frank, 'cause he'll whup yo' a$$. He be an honorary Rantburger, ya see.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2006 21:46
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Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said his party's faction meeting Monday that "the flow of weapons to the Gaza Strip is turning it into a second Lebanon." Netanyahu also said that if the Kassam fire weren't stopped, there would be tragic results, and that "the desire to restore quiet to Sderot cannot be reconciled with the desire for a unilateral cease-fire."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Never forget that Netanyahu offered Arafat 95% of what he was asking for, and then Arafat launched the Intafada against Israel instead of taking the deal. I think Ben is the prime example of a liberal mugged by reality, which is he wants to hammer the Gaza now.
President Pervez Musharraf said he was opposed to independence for Kashmir, but both India and Pakistan will have to compromise over the disputed territory, in an interview made available Monday. Yes, we are against independence for Kashmir, Musharraf told the Indian NDTV news channel in an interview, excerpts of which were made available to the media on Monday.
Musharraf said both India and Pakistan would have to make compromises. He called for equal change in both countries Kashmir policies.
He mooted a four- point agenda: withdrawal of both armies from the region; neutralisation of Kashmiri borders without changes in the Line of Control; self-governance, with both countries patrolling the region; and neutralisation of the LoC. He cautioned that the four-point agenda should not be considered a condition for Kashmir talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#8
RJ: You have it. I was keying onn the hub cap and trim ring, but the chrome and the logo in the lower left also work.
Tomorrow's trivia question: Name the model of American warplane last shot down by Japan. Extra points for year of the shoot down.
Ministry of Religious Affairs Scientific Boards summoned over 80 imams in 2005 for breaching morality, misappropriation of donations, absenteeism, delivering inciting sermons and serving political parties interests. Ten of the 80 imams have been discharged. Others have been punished by warnings, subtraction from wages or withdrawal of licences for voluntary imams.
Official sources disclosed that the implicated imams have been summoned to appear before the Ministry of Religious Affairs Scientific Boards following complaints sent by citizens, reports by Religious Affairs Directors, and police charge sheets. Imams are banned from preaching in mosques when the mistakes they commit are grave as when an imam caused the death of two girls by a Roqia (healing with Quran). The same sanction is imposed on imam is caught in flagrant act of breach of morality.
To call in 80 imams out of the existing 22 thousand means that the misdemeanours they have been accused of are intolerable since it concerns an important institution, namely the mosque, said the same sources adding that 80 to 90 imams are summoned each year. However, the number of the fired imams after investigations is reducing year after year. They were 18 imams to be laid off in 2004, and were just 10 the next year, same sources point out.
Note worthy that some imams has been submitted to pressure and even to physical attacks from political parties to force them to take positions serving the concerned parties and not the mosque. A few imams had refused to perform funeral prayer when the two Algerian diplomats were killed by al-Qaida in Iraq, when they were summoned by the Ministry of Religious Affairs Scientific Boards and questioned they justified their attitudes by social and family reasons.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The United Nations has reported continued arms smuggling from Syria to Lebanon. A UN report cited at least 13 incidents of weapons smuggling to Hizbullah in violation of a Security Council resolution. The report said the Lebanese Army has failed to stop smuggling along the Syrian border.
The incidents included the smuggling of 17 Katyusha-class rockets and improvised explosive devices in southern Lebanon. In another incident, the Lebanese Army found seven missiles, three rocket launchers and substantial amounts of ammunition. "It is plain that there is a need for bilateral assistance to the government to enhance its border security capabilities," UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said in the Dec. 1 report.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Unfortunately, the Lebanese Army is unable or unwilling to stop the smuggling (if they are not actively helping it). The UNIFIL forces are too busy making sure that the Israelis don't try anything that would violate the UN agreement.
Who does Kofi think will be providing the "bilateral assistance" to the government?
Militias fought members of a former rebel group in the main town in the Darfur region of Sudan on Monday in clashes which the rebels said left up to seven people dead. Violence erupted after truckloads of men from the Janjaweed militia, which the Sudan government is accused of backing, entered the town of El Fasher and started looting the market, witnesses and the former rebels said.
The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), a rebel group that signed a peace deal with the government in May, said five members of its armed wing were killed. The death toll could not be independently confirmed. "We have five martyrs ... two other civilians were also killed," SLM Secretary-General Mustafa Teerab told Reuters. "They (the Janjaweed) looted some shops in the market and then fled," he said.
The African Union, which has a 7,000-strong force in Darfur, said it was investigating the cause of the clashes. "We have unconfirmed reports that five people were seriously wounded and two people were killed from the SLM," an African Union spokesman in Khartoum said.
Rights groups say the Sudanese government adopted the Janjaweed as an auxiliary force when rebellion flared in the remote western region of Darfur in 2003 after rebels took up arms against the government, charging it with neglect. Khartoum denies supporting the Janjaweed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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With the Democratic Congress expected to move quickly to raise the minimum wage, many Democrats, womens organizations and liberal groups are gearing up for a fight on another workplace issue: paid sick days.
Supporters point to studies showing that nearly half of American workers do not receive paid sick days. But many Republicans and businesses complain that such legislation would impose another mandate on companies, driving up their costs. Advocates of paid sick leave cite workers like Naomi Nakamura, who lost a weeks pay when her 103-degree fever forced her to miss five days from her job at a video rental store in San Francisco. Ms. Nakamura said, Some employees didnt want to lose their pay, so they showed up for work even though they had strep throat, and they just spread it to other people.
Last month, San Francisco voters approved a measure requiring all employers to provide paid sick days, making it the first jurisdiction in the nation with such a requirement. The vote was 61 percent to 39 percent.
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#1
My employer stopped offering sick leave, but increased personal/vacation days. Result is so-so: less vacation time used for "sick" days, but more people coming in to the office with colds, fevers, to avoid using up their personal/vacation time
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 0:33
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#2
Using the power of the federal government to issue mandates are just a form of tax increase.
Republicans should engineer a much much larger acorss the board tax cut to counter this.
The left loves to use the term "revenue neutral" Let them demonstrate revenue neutrality.
#4
BTW, all of the 10 years I wuz doing the Single Dad routine I was self-employed. Th kid would go to the Public Cesspool, bring home some choice stuff and give it to me over dinner, then laugh it off. Meanwhile I was floored, lol. She never caught squat, heh - Little Miss Perfect Attendance.
#5
If sick leave is paid people will call in sick to the limit of the benefit. This has happend everywhere I've ever worked. I think allowing the employee the option of working extra to make up time lost due to illness would be a reasonable compromise.
#6
This is just another attempt to remove all financial risk from the worker and foist it on the employer.
And thus continues the march of "progressivism", where a kitty-puppy-fluffy world is promised where there is no such thing as adversity or sacrifice, and evreyone gets to live like kings in olden days, without having to struggle or make tough choices to get there.
Creating people who coast instead of push and achieve.
In 17 years of owning a business, I've missed exactly four days, two after tearing a joint tendon and two after the surgery to repair it. Did I have miserable times? Sure. But I rose to the occasion.
Also agree with comments about using "sick" days as de facto vacation days. I've noticed that in particular people under the age of 40 have a real chip on their shoulder about all time off being for the pursuit of animal pleasure, not for things like going to the doctor or dentist or accountant etc. Fifty years ago there were not many medical or dental clinics or lawyers or accountants were open nights or Saturdays, because people had their priorities straight and used some of their allotted time off from work to do those things during regular business hours.
Now the little fauntleroys who grew up in the post 1968 era act as though they're oppressed and life is so-o-o-o unfair if they have to use time off for work for anything but vacations and fun, fun, fun.
Another sign of disassociation from what originally made America great, I guess.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/05/2006 6:14
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#8
I guess I could lay off a couple people to get under the 15 employee minimum - Isn't that going to be a common financial decision for small businesses? Just like no longer hiring students and teens who aren't worth an increased minimum wage. The Dems and especially people like Kennedy, Kerry, etc. do what sounds good, but cannot see the real world results because they have never had a real job, nor had to work productively in their entire lives.
Posted by: Jim ||
12/05/2006 8:44
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#9
My Dad worked for the USPS for 42 years and never took a sick day - stubborn old coot.
#10
Advocates of paid sick leave cite workers like Naomi Nakamura, who lost a weeks pay when her 103-degree fever forced her to miss five days from her job at a video rental store in San Francisco.
5 days with a 103 degree fever?
Wouldn't she be, like, dead?
#11
I prefer having it all under PTO (paid time off). I don't get sick that much so I can burn it as vacation. Leave it up to the government to force everything on us.
You don't like their leave/sick policy lady, go work somewhere else bitch.
#12
Leonardo Prado, a restaurant worker in San Francisco, said not having paid sick days was a financial and emotional strain. Mr. Prado, who is divorced, said that last June when his 4-year-old, Antonio, got sick for two days, he had to hire a baby sitter for $10 an hour, even though he earned $8.82 an hour as a waiter, not counting tips. It really hurt in the wallet, Mr. Prado said. You didnt have the option to say: I cant work this day. I have to take care of my son.
I call BS on this one. I'm sure the average waiter makes a TON of money in high-falootin' San Fran. And, if he was ACTUALLY loosing money, I'd bet he'd have called in sick and just taken zero pay. No one in their right mind would work for $8something/hour only to pay out $10/hour to a babysitter with a sick kid at home. We'll except for the parent's of the year, with their 2 month old having a blood alcohol level of .34 something (see linky on page 4). Jim hits it too...lay off people to get just under 15 employees. BrerRabbit's compromise (#5) seems reasonable. Of course, it doesn't feel good, so it won't fly, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 11:02
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#13
Actually, BrerRabbit, the contrary made the news and generated some controversy up here in Wisconsin. University faculty and staff have paid sick leave, and when they retire they can convert unused sick leave into medical premiums. Quite a lot of profs (and legislators) don't use all their sick leave. (I guess they enjoy their jobs.) The newspapers' spun this as costing the taxpayers extra.
Posted by: James ||
12/05/2006 16:45
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Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Monday urged the government to negotiate with "moderate" figures in the Palestinian Authority. Peres is the Israeli equivalent to Jimmy Carter.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
OK. First, find some. I think Anne Rice did an interview with one. Or was that some other mythical creature?
Another good story a few days old. I hope it's not a dupe post...
It is ironic that the very people who claim to have the most concern for the plight of the innocent men, women, and children being massacred in the Darfur region of the Republic of Sudan are complicit in this humanitarian crisis.
On many levels this conflict represents a failure of the media and liberal ideology with its distain for decisive military action. The government of Sudan is backing the Arab Janjaweed rebels as they slaughter and displace thousands of non-Arab inhabitants of the Darfur region. This conflict represents a government annihilating its own population and an utter failure on the part of the United Nations to intervene. This is a military conflict that necessitates a militarily-imposed solution.
The problem with the solution is that it requires a significant investment of time and troops on the part of any nation or coalition to truly affect change. The United Nations has been shown to be truly impotent when it comes to affecting real change and it will not commit the necessary resources to militarily impose a stop to the on-going genocide in that country. It can pass resolution after resolution but it lacks the will to put any teeth behind its mandates. In times of crisis when the UN fails the world then looks to the United States to assist cleaning up the mess no other country can or will deal with, and herein is where the problem lies.
#3
Should the Dems gain control of our foreign policy, this problem will get worse. They are fond of sending our troops into harm's way on feel good missions while hamstringing them with rules of engagement that prevent them from effectively killing the bad guys and ending the problem.
#4
Actualy, any Dhimmi prez in 2009 will be so terrified by the example of W that he or she will not send troops anywhere. Ever.
IIRC, the way the military shut down some interventions during the Clinton admin was to demand that they go big, and to scare the bejeezus out of them with images of body-bags.
Incidentaly, this is why rummy was so hated by certain types in uniform. He called their bluff, and raised.
Posted by: N guard ||
12/05/2006 10:23
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#5
N Guard nails it, spot on. After (now) 4 examples of the media affecting the positive outcomes of stunning military victories (Tet Offensive, Kosovo, Somalia, and now, Iraq) and turning the "domestic opinion" of the nation against ANY military action, we should learn from history and forbid "imbedded" reporters. Granted, the MSM will still "report" from their posh hotel lobbies, but at least they won't have any "scare" pics or videos to show.
Notice this has already had an effect in another genocide...Rwanda. The world vowed "never again" and yet, here it is, and all you have are professional hand-wringers, BDS sufferers and armchair quarterbacking petition signers fuming over Sudan. Granted, there are plenty of people who are concerned over Darfur for the right reasons, and are willing to do what it takes to stop the bloodshed, but they don't get as much "press" as the MSM, the LLL, the UN, the "Human Rights" groups, et al.
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 10:42
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I am one who favours going into Sudan provided it is coupled with a PR campaign aiming at driving a wedge between Muslim and non-Muslim Africa, between Arab and non-Arab Muslims so that by the end of it we get people rejecting Islam as a mere instrument of racist, imperialist panarabism (panarabism and Islamism) are the two sides of a coin.
#9
In short, the media and the left are a bunch of pious whiners who'll backstab you the moment the going gets choppy...
I don't think the media or left will accept responsiblity for encouraging us to go into Iraq or Vietnam. But I think they are to blame for our going into Kosovo, Somalia, and Lebanon.
I don't think BA's suggestion should be regarded as theoretical, since we actually have implemented media black-outs before: The Grenada operation was marked as a notable success, accompanied by loud howlings of the Media when the Pentagon refused to coordinate any media support. Oh, they were able to get news via phone line from people on the ground, but there was something quite chilling about going into a free-fire zone without the support of the American Soldiers they are accustomed to slandering.
A new full-body x-ray machine to be tested this month at a US airport has raised concerns about privacy issues with some rights advocates saying the technology amounts to a virtual strip search.
The "Backscatter" machine to be used at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona will enable screeners to detect non-metallic devices and objects as well as weapons on a person's body, authorities say.
But critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the machine can display graphic images of nude bodies and its use will pave the way to widespread abuse of the images taken, with some possibly being posted or traded on the Internet. Uh, oh. Now the ACLU has discovered naughty bits. As I said before, we have terrabytes upon terrabytes of high quality pr0n on the web, and the ACLU is worried about this?
Federal officials, however, have downplayed such concerns saying that screeners will be able to blur out a person's genitals and that the x-ray image will be erased from the screen once a passenger is cleared through the machine. Some blurs will be bigger than others.
The Transportation Security Officer operating the system will also not be able to print, store or transmit the image and will be viewing the x-ray in an area not visible to the public.
Officials said "Backscatter" will be a voluntary option for passengers undergoing secondary screening and is an alternative to the physical pat down procedures currently conducted at security checkpoints. Which makes it a non-starter, except for show-offs, lol.
#4
An obsidian knife will not be caught in the standard magnetic screening gate but was quite adequate for removing the beating heart from an Aztec human sacrifice. It would be caught by this x-ray.
Once you've been laid out for emergency room surgery you gain a whole new perspective on 'privacy concerns.'
#8
One's anatomy would have to be quite distinctive to be identifiable from a backscatter photo. This is another attempt by the technically ignorant ambulance chasers to generate lawsuits for which they will be paid. The ACLU has become the AntiAmerican Ceaseless Lawsuit Unit.
#14
Just to satisfy my curiosity, what is that thing against the gentleman's belly that looks like a power drill?
Could be the belt buckle/zipper combo. Or, that "stimulation" toy that judge used under his bench sometime back, I don't know. May need closer inspection, TW, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 11:16
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Isn't x-ray supposed to be dangerous to your health ?
I mean, why do they put a lead vest on you at the dentist office, and why do the techs always leave the room ?
WXJames - those wearing the lead vests get several exposures a day, every day. I get x-rayed once a year - or so. I suspect the danger of the backscatter thingy is significant if you travel three times a day, every day, and get secondary screening every time. Still, somebody ought to give the "official" answer....
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/05/2006 12:31
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Someone suggested the best way of confronting nonsense like this is with equal and opposite hysteria:
"They are doing this to look at young children NAKED!!!"
"They plan to record the pictures and colorize them and sell them on THE INTERNET!!! TO PERVERTS!!!"
#18
"An obsidian knife will not be caught in the standard magnetic screening gate but was quite adequate for removing the beating heart from an Aztec human sacrifice. It would be caught by this x-ray."
I have several titanium bladed knives which pass through conventional metal detectors without incident. They don't hold an edge well, but no metal detector worries.
"to satisfy my curiosity, what is that thing against the gentleman's belly that looks like a power drill?"
It is a concealed knife in the belt buckle. You can see a lanyard hanging down to let him grab it quickly.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
12/05/2006 13:04
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"I mean, why do they put a lead vest on you at the dentist office, and why do the techs always leave the room ?"
Cause they're cowards! I aint afraid of no x-ray.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
12/05/2006 13:06
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#20
Is that a parrot on his shoulder?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:12
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#22
Lol, Sea. I liked the "evil-minded bores" bit. Hey if boinking animals is okie-fine, then this isn't much. They did refrain from collecting the vital info that would encourage "active interfence", after all. Just admiring from afar, lol.
Japan was embarrassed to discover that a Japanese machinery manufacturer had illegally shipped a jet-mill grinder to Iran in 1999, and that the equipment (which uses highly compressed air to shape solid materials) was being used in the manufacture of solid fuel rockets for Iran's ballistic missiles. The machinery was cheap ($129,000) and does have non-weapons uses. But the manufacturer did not ask permission of the government to export the gear, and is thus been punished by not being allowed to export anything for two years. Japan, Germany and the United States are all producers of precision manufacturing equipment that is needed to produce modern weapons. All three countries have to be careful who they export to, as there are often no other sources for some of this precision equipment.
#1
Weird as it might sound, this is one of the best reasons why Japan must take on the onus of becoming an East Asian nuclear power. Between exporting low-noise propeller machine tools and centrifuge milling equipment, one of the few ways for the Nipponese to expiate their sins is to become an anti-Chinese nuclear base.
#2
Of course, we Rantburgists know that these machines are loaded with secret spy gadgets that tell us every detail of the items being worked on, along with the identities of the workers and the GPS coordinates of the facility.
If I were the mullahs (which I thank Cthulhu I am not), I would order them destroyed forthwith and go back to hand filing.
Turkish soldiers and police on Monday fired warning shots into the air to prevent an angry crowd from lynching a man accused of raping several girls and killing two of them in southeastern Turkey. The crowd attacked the state hospital and broke its windows in a bid to lynch the suspect in the southeastern city of Sirnak, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported. The man was brought to hospital after being reportedly beaten up by fellow inmates.
The man, captured two weeks ago, has reportedly confessed to killing a girl in 1999 and raping and killing another one earlier this year. The suspect who is on trial was also accused of raping six other girls in the province, bordering Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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#1
Does the confession of a crazy person override the lack of four male witnesses?
I believe this is called "whistling past the graveyard" - or something like that, lol.
By TIM HIGGINS - REGISTER STAFF WRITER Not a wire service. Wow.
Evan Bayh, visiting Des Moines today, said he wouldnt base his decision to officially run for the Democratic presidential nomination on who else enters the race.
The Indiana senator's visit comes on the heels of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsacks official campaign kick-off last week and talk in the national media that high-profile Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are close to entering the race. Home-state popularity obviously important. Is it nice to be a celebrity and a frontrunner? Of course it is but I suspect that a year from now people will be looking for something other than that, Bayh told reporters in Des Moines.
He spoke to a couple dozen people at a lunch held by the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Nearly as many members of the media, local and national, lined the rooms perimeter recording each word.
The Iowa caucuses in January 2008 are expected to kick of the nominating cycle and theres already noticeable buzz in Des Moines. Vilsack entered the race officially last week. East Coast media outlets are reporting that Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, is talking with Democrats about a run. And Obama, an Illinois senator, is also thinking about it in a very public way with a visit this weekend to New Hampshire, which will likely hold the first-in-the-nation primary.
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is also moving toward a decision he was in Iowa just last week. Other potential candidates could include U.S. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Bayh said he will make his final decision to run shortly after the first of the year.
Ive done a lot of the things that are necessary for making a final decision, he said. But I want to sit down with my family one final time and make sure that from our collective standpoint its the right thing to do.
Checking the closet one last time, phoning the money men one last time...
#3
Considering some of the things that Tom Vilsack did to Iowa during his term as governor, I can't blame him for wanting to leave the state. A typical stunt that comes to mind is his deal with Illinois to resettle released felons from Joliette in Iowa City. Liberal Democrats in Iowa city are still trying to figure out why there has been a significant increase in all categories of crime over the last few years. Actively recruiting illegals to work in the meat packing plants (and vote Dem) also comes to mind.
#4
As for Evan Bayh, it has been a long time since Wendell Wilkie and even Wilkie had to change parties to get the nomination. Bayh is going through the painful process of becoming an aging boy wonder. The long slide to oblivion is not pleasant.
French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal showed her support for a number of Israel's key policy stances regarding Iran and Hamas as she spoke with journalists in Jerusalem on Monday at the end of her two-day visit to Israel. She took a particularly hard line against Iran's nuclear development when she stated her opposition to that country's drive to develop enriched uranium even for non-military uses. "We have to stop it from producing uranium even for civilian use," she said. "There are those who say that I do not understand the situation, but I do. I have long contended that Iran with nuclear power is not just a danger for Israel but for the rest of the world," Royal said. Once Iran has the ability to produce uranium for civilian consumption, there is nothing to stop Iran from using it to develop nuclear weapons, she added.
If elected in the spring, she said, she would push the international community to take an equally hard line on the issue. She said as much to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when she met with him earlier in the evening. "He thanked me for my opinions," she said.
The Socialist's stance on Iran is tougher than France's position. Paris wants to punish Teheran for failing to halt uranium enrichment - which can produce material for atomic warheads as well as energy - but it says that, in principle, Iran can have access to nuclear power.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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If you put your ear up to her head, you can hear the ocean
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2006 0:23
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Lol. *snort* Glad I didn't have a cup in my hand, lol.
Predicting Iran will obtain nuclear weapons by the end of the decade, the defense establishment's new and updated assessment for 2007 does not foresee the United States undertaking a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear installations, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The chances of an American strike are deemed "low," according to assessments by the security establishment. Israel also believes that international diplomatic efforts to stop Iran will fail, security sources said.
In an interivew with the Post in late September, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said US President George W. Bush would prevent the Iranians from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Asked whether he felt Bush would one way or the other stop Iran going nuclear, Olmert responded: "I believe so." He hasn't said anything different, has he?
In April, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Iran had passed one of the major hurdles in its race to obtain nuclear power and had, for the first time, successfully enriched uranium, a high-ranking IDF officer told the Post that Iran would obtain nuclear independence in a matter of months. At the time, a battery of 164 centrifuges was used to enrich the uranium to 3.5 percent. To produce highly-enriched uranium at 90%, Iran would need to operate thousands of centrifuges without interruption for a period of several months. Except they don't need 90%; they need (I've read) perhaps 20%. An enrichment of 20% will sustain a chain reaction, you just need more uranium.
Ahmadinejad announced plans last month to build 60,000 additional centrifuges, leading Israel to believe that it was only a matter of time before Iran developed a nuclear capability. Pakistan encountered similar difficulties in its nuclear program but eventually overcame them.
The assumption in the defense establishment is that even if sanctions were imposed on Iran today, they would not be effective in deterring the regime from continuing with its nuclear plans. The Democratic takeover of the US Senate and Congress has also led to the prediction that President George W. Bush will not be able to order a military strike. They don't know Dubya very well.
In addition, the prediction is that Bush's administration is headed towards talks with Iran, expected to be one of the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report on America's options in Iraq to be presented to the US president on Wednesday. Because we should always try to meet our enemies 'half-way'.
The UN Security Council demanded in July that Teheran suspend enrichment, but Iran instead has expanded that work, recently setting up a second experimental chain of 164 centrifuges to produce small amounts of low-enriched uranium.
Teheran has said it intends to activate 3,000 centrifuges by late 2006 and then increase the program to 54,000 centrifuges. Iranian officials say that would produce enough enriched uranium to fuel a 1,000-megawatt reactor, such as that being built by Russia and nearing completion at Bushehr. Or perhaps a dozen bombs in yields of 10 to 50 kT.
Experts estimate Iran would need only 1,500 centrifuges to produce a nuclear weapon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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#1
No longer 60,000 > Russian XPerts forecast Radical Iran may go up to well over 100K by EOM December 2006. Between January-April 2007 > iff nothing changes, Rusia will deem Iran as self-sufficient, i.e. can produce enuff indigens nuke materials for Bombs-Warheads without foreign assistance.
#2
Well, Joe, the Russians leaving would be a good thing. The US has always tried to avoid killing Russian "experts" in our military actions. Once their numbers are significantly reduced, a significant constraint on military action will be removed.
#4
I noticed one glaring omission for the "defense establishment's new and updated assessment for 2007." Whether or not ISRAEL would conduct the strike. This could be good cop/bad JOOO thingy.
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 11:27
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#5
àí àéï àðé ìé- îé ìé ? åàí ìà òëùéå àéîúé
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/05/2006 11:45
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The assessment is from "The defense establishment". If it was from the Pentagon, they'd have said so. If it was from the White House, they'd have said so. Hell, they quoted Olmert, so why not the Pentagon or the White House?
But they can't pin this "assessment" on either of them, so they fall back on the shadowy, unnamed "defense establishment", and hope lazy readers will read into it what they can't say out loud for fear of being called on it and proven to stuff words into other people's mouths.
This didn't need the hand-lotion pic, but the Morton Salt Dispenser pic.
The six powers seeking a UN surrender resolution on Iran's nuclear program are nearing agreement on a surrender text, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Monday. High-ranking diplomats from the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany will surrender meet in Paris on Tuesday to surrender discuss surrender measures to surrender to punish Iran for its nuclear program. "We want to surrender reach as broad an agreement as possible in the UN Security Council," Douste-Blazy said in Brussels, according to the French Foreign Ministry. "Therefore we are surrendering gathering tomorrow in Paris, to surrender discuss the text. I think that we should now surrender reach agreement on this."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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Mais oui, the Democrats are coming back. They will acknowledge our cultural supremacy and follow our lead. The ouster of Bolton was but the first step towards acceptance of our position.
#2
When we bomb the he$$ out of irritantan, can we "miss" with one or two, and let them land in Paris? Please? Just for "old time sake"... The French government needs to be shaken to their core - if they have one.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:33
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NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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#1
Five yarns before APOPHIS, etc. and 5-9 years after Russia-China's "not only possible but desired" anti-US global nuke war???
#5
The plan makes sense. The poles will have the water (if anywhere). We just need to fire some inflatable modules up there, bury them in soil and we've got a base that's a lot cheaper and safer than the ISS.
No, no, no, no, this can't be ...
Two Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members were injured at the city's Lalbagh on Sunday when criminals hurled bombs at the law enforcers during a raid that yielded arrest of six. The Rab team also seized two firearms, two bullets and a few homemade bombs from the spot during the raid, said a Rab press release.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-10 conducted the raid at 8 No Daroga Bari at Shahidnagar in Lalbagh at around 5:30pm where the criminals were planning to commit some crimes. So far so good ...
Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, ... "Hark! Our spider senses are tingling!"
... the criminals threw bomb at them from the second floor of the building, leaving the two Rab members wounded. No fair! Dacoits aren't supposed to have bombs!
The Rab team then encircled the house, broke in and beat the crap out of arrested the criminals with the firearms, ammunition and explosives, the press release said. The arrestees are Liton, 24, Monir, 18, Rubel, 20, Jasim, 20, Kiran Shikdar, 22, and Anwar, 18. All of whom will star in a Crossfire Gazette in the near future ...
Liton sustained injury to his legs during the raid and was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for treatment.
"Hokay, Liton, we're going to set your leg now."
"Ummm, Doc, ain'tcha going to give me an anesthetic?"
[SNAP] [POP] [CRACKLE] [TWIST]
"OOOOoooooouuccchh!"
"No."
Though Rab branded him as a member of the criminal group, Liton, however, claimed to be innocent and said that a bomb fell near him while he was walking by the road. "I was just walking my unclean dog, see, ..."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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Jeez, can't they follow the script? You are supposed to open random, ineffective fire, not hurl bombs which might hurt someone.
Of course, they weren't taking someone who had "confessed" to "recover an arms cache," so maybe the script doesn't apply.
#4
Sounds like complacency setting in: last week the RAB Maritime Division suffered a loss and now this. Time for some "Miscreant 101" refresher training.
(KUNA) -- US Army announced Monday killing two militants, arresting six suspected terrorists and destroying a car packed with explosives in a raid in northern Iraq earlier today. A US Army release said intelligence reports pin pointed a hideout used by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda, adding that the location was used as a workshop for rigging vehicles with explosives.
US forces stormed the targeted building and engaged in an armed clash with two militants, who were killed in the firefight. While clearing the building, the forces discovered a vehicle loaded with explosives and set them off safely. They arrested six suspected terrorists at the hideout, seized a cache of weapons including ammunition, 13 artillery shells, several AK-47 assualt rifles and small arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -- Comedy Central has ordered "Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States," a cartoon satire that re-imagines President Bush and key executives in his administration as elementary school misfits.
The title character is surrounded by close pals like Lil' Cheney, who grumbles unintelligibly, and Lil' Condi, who pines for Lil' Bush and does his homework for him.
"Bush" is not without its risque moments. When Lil' Bush's school serves falafel instead of hot dogs for lunch in one episode, he and his pals torture the cafeteria employees with methods made famous during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
Six episodes from writer-producer Donick Cary ("The Simpsons") have been ordered to air on Comedy Central next year.
"Bush" got its start in September as six five-minute clips offered by Amp'd Mobile, a U.S.-based wireless service that packages video entertainment programming with cell phone service.
"Bush" represents an unlikely reversal of the one-way flow of programming from television to other digital platforms, where networks and studios are attempting to extend franchises in search of new revenue. That said, many a programmer has cited the Internet and mobile arenas as potential breeding grounds for fare that could translate back to TV.
"What's exciting as a developer is that content can come from so many places these days," said Lauren Corrao, executive VP original programming and development at Comedy Central.
Amp'd is licensing "Bush" to Comedy Central while retaining rights to air the series on its Comedy Central-branded video channel as well as an exclusive hold on wallpaper and ringtones that emerge from the series in any region Amp'd operates.
"We looked at it as an experiment to use mobile as an incubator that would pop to television," said Seth Cummings, senior VP content development and programming at Amp'd. "It's a huge validator right out of the gate because it's the first project we did."
"Bush" has gotten traction on viral video sites like YouTube, where the original episodes has drawn more than 230,000 streams. It won't be Comedy Central's first foray into devoting an entire series to poking fun at Bush. In 2001, the live-action spoof "That's My Bush," from "Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, had a short-lived run on the network.
This should make many folks happy. And keep them off the streets for short periods of time. And give them something to talk about. Kinda like Methadone for BDS.
SANTIAGO - Augusto Pinochets family saw his health improvement Monday as almost a miracle after the ex-dictator, who has never faced trial for his regimes abuses, underwent surgery for a major heart attack.
The 91-year-old former strongmans family feels calmer after doctors announced Monday the risk of death had diminished following Sundays surgery, said his eldest daughter, Lucia Pinochet Hiriart. Its almost a miracle, she said.
Pinochet awoke Monday and recognized and spoke with those who visited him, doctor Juan Ignacio Vergara told reporters. Did he recognize the process servers?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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A Syrian court has sentenced four Syrians to prison terms ranging from 45 days to five years, for convictions that include having contacts with a secret association, a Syrian human rights group said Monday. Syria's State Security Court sentenced Abdullah Eid and Basel Madrati to five years in prison Sunday for contacts with a secret association that aims to change Syria's economic and political situation, the National Organization for Human Rights said.
The rights organization expressed deep concern for the "unjust" sentences handed down by the security court and called on the Syrian authorities to release all political detainees. The non-governmental rights watchdog said the secret association referred to was the Islamic Liberation Party. The group, previously unheard of in Syria, is not believed to have links with the organization of the same name that has been active in the United Kingdom, Egypt and Jordan, where it was founded in 1953.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(SomaliNet) Egypt's Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, was found not guilty of any crime after he uttered comments against the Islamic veil that is becoming a common feature amongst Egypt's women.
Egypt's predominantly Muslim population was irked by the comments. Further, Islamist Members of Egypt's parliament asked for the resignation of Hosni, a demand that he did not honour. Hosni did not apologise for his controversial remarks. When asked, "Does the ministry have a cultural policy against the headscarf?" by Egypt's Parliamentary Speaker, Fathi Sorour, he answered that such a move would be "wrong and crazy". Sorour then ruled that Hosni did not "did not pursue any policies against the headscarf, or take any decisions which prevent women from wearing it, including employees at the ministry of culture."
Posted by: Fred ||
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It really is not very Islamic to let him off Scot free. There should be some small punishment, such as ripping his tongue out with a pliers. Got to set some example, ya know ?
A new study has found that of the 24 major armed conflicts taking place worldwide in 2005, more than half (13) involved Muslim governments or paramilitary groups on one or both sides of the fighting. Not being an academic, I'm not aware of the procedures for getting large amounts of money to produce "studies" like this that can be done in 20 minutes or less, thereby leaving lots of free time for drinking beer or bowling or both at once, since I'm ambidextrous. If somebody knows how it's done, shoot me an email.
According to Monty Marshall and Ted Burr of the Centre for International Development and Conflict Management, among six countries with emerging armed conflicts, four are predominantly Muslim, whereas Thailand, involves a Muslim separatist movement. Daniel Allott, a policy analyst for a group called American Values, writes in the Washington Times that the study highlighted a central question: Is Islam especially prone to violence? Are habitual consumers of an entire pizza at a sitting prone to corpulence?
He argues that there is disturbing proof that a far deeper culture of violence pervades much of the Islamic world. Ummm... Right. Casual observation confirms that. Y'don't even have to get overly empirical about it.
Marshall and Burrs study also rated 161 countries according to their capacity to avoid outbreaks of armed conflicts. Whereas 63 percent of non-Muslim countries were categorised as the strongest prospects for successful management of new challenges, just 18 percent of the 50 Muslim nations were similarly designated. Meaning that someplace like Malawi actually has a better handle on the idea of "progress" than most Muslim countries. Those currently trading gunfire with their neighbors are likely, though it's not guaranteed, to have less of a handle than those who aren't.
Allott maintains that this evaluation reveals the glaring reality that violence is a fact of life in many Muslim nations. But is Islam itself the impetus? Ooooh! It's the poorly framed question fallacy! "Is it the pizza that causes my gut to rest on my knees? Or is it the beer? Or could it be the occasional half gallon of chocolate ice cream?"
He quotes a recent Pentagon analysis which found that most Muslim terrorists say they are motivated by the Qurans violent commands. The 9/11 hijackers and London bombers made martyrdom videos in which they recited the Quran while talking of sacrificing life for Allah. "Legume, there is something - I wish I could put my finger on it! - that these killers have in common!"
"It's not that they're all left-handed, is it, Inspector?"
"No. I don't think that's it, since many of them aren't. Mohammad Atta, for instance, was right-handed."
"Are they all redheads?"
"I believe most of them are brunettes."
"Perhaps that's it?"
"You know, Legume, you could be right!"
He writes, We simply cannot overlook extremist interpretations of religion as a significant part of the problem when terrorists yell, God is great! as they decapitate their victims or blow themselves up in a crowded market. He writes that some Muslims appetite for destruction is not surprising given the ability of prominent Muslim leaders to foment hatred of the West. "Could it have something to do with their penchant for truculent rhetoric, professor?"
"No, Legume. I don't think that's it. But the fact that most of them are brunettes... Now, that might be a clue!"
But while experts assure us only a small percentage (perhaps 10 percent) of Muslims are willing to participate in terror, with 1.2 billion Muslims globally, thats more than 100 million jihadists ... The West must recognise these violent outbursts for what they are: calculated acts of outrage meant not to refute but to intimidate non-Muslims into not speaking up at all.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Why, shut my mouth and shit my drawers. What a shocker this little tidbit is.
#3
Well, that's probably true, JE3087. The rest provide funding, smuggle arms, hire legal cover, or act as subhuman shields. But they don't personally explode or saw off heads.
#5
Are habitual consumers of an entire pizza at a sitting prone to corpulence?
Ooooh! It's the poorly framed question fallacy! "Is it the pizza that causes my gut to rest on my knees? Or is it the beer? Or could it be the occasional half gallon of chocolate ice cream?"
Wow, it's like you know me by heart, yet we've never met, that's so weird, that's even a little bit frightening.
#6
More of these studies and faster please. Appears that the old "poor, uneducated Muzzies" plea has been put to bed, or at least we don't hear much about it. Of course, I'd always argue that when your Profit is a two-bit land-based pirate, with a Bill Clinton sized appetite for sex, a drug-induced (or is it Satan induced) proneness for "revelations" that back up his murderous/thieving habits, then maybe you're not truly a "religion." But, that's just me. And, I didn't even need a million dollar grant to conduct my "study" lol!
Imagine how much more the 'burg could uncover if'n we only got our grubby hands into Uncle Sam's pockets for some "studies." I believe that Mecca and Medina would be glowing, oh, about 10 minutes after we released our final report, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 11:23
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#7
I believe that Mecca and Medina would be glowing, oh, about 10 minutes after we released our final report.
It'll take that long? They should have become glowing holes ten years ago, along with Cairo, Khartoum, Tehran, Azadabad, Damascus, Qom, Peshawar, and about 192 other sites.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/05/2006 15:23
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#8
lol, OP. The 199 most holy sites in Islam(tm), eh? Why not just go for the Top 200?
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 15:51
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#9
200 holey sites of Islam... now, that is a concept!
I'd skip the lighshow, if not a prerequisite, but I am not that picky.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri will visit Kabul this week to discuss with Afghan authorities how to combat a growing insurgency in the ethnic Pashtun belt straddling their long, porous border. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Kazai, agreed in September to call traditional tribal gatherings, or jirgas, on both sides of the border to win support against a resurgent Taleban. Maybe they can call a lashkar and break out the drums ...
Basically, he will discuss how to bring about peace and calm in bordering areas of the two countries, Pakistani foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a weekly news conference, referring to Kasuris Dec. 7-9 trip. The focus would be how to activate traditional institutions to bring down violence and promote peace in the bordering areas, she said, referring to the proposed jirgas. "Because that's what we're all about, peace and fluffy kittens ..."
Aslam said Kasuri would discuss Pakistans strategy to use political and economic means in tandem with military tactics to combat the insurgency. We would like to see peace in Afghanistan, she said. "On our terms, of course ..."
It is our conviction that for that we require a comprehensive strategy which must have political reconciliation, massive economic reconstruction, apart from the military action that is already being taken. "None of which will be provided by us ..."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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#1
I thought you called a jurga but formed a lashkar.
#2
"It is our conviction that for that we require a comprehensive strategy which must have political reconciliation, massive economic reconstruction, apart from the military action that is already being taken.
Massive economic reconstruction?
Translation: Give us money and we'll be good little Muslims and stop Taleban caused violence-until the installment is due.
Americans, grab your wallets and your email list of politicians-it's surely being negotiated. Say the words, America, I know you can do it: The Taleban is America's enemy.
The morons apparently still want to "activate traditional institutions to bring down violence"; Allah, that ol traditionalist, has set such a sterling example of how to settle disputes peacefully. Whose eyes get extinguished, whose limbs lopped off, and whose daughter given away as a sex slave in the name of justice THIS time?
The Algerian military has launched an offensive against Al Qaida-aligned insurgents. The Algerian military has sent ground and air units in the mountains in the southern region in an effort to dislodge forces of the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call. Security sources said military units have been operating in the regions of Batna and Biskra, about 400 kilometers southeast of Algiers.
The sources said the offensive was launched in wake of a series of Salafist strikes. In the latest attack on Nov. 21, a Salafist unit fired an anti-aircraft missile that downed a military helicopter in Batna. On Nov. 30, the Algerian daily Al Khaber reported that 10 Salafist operatives have been killed so far in the military operation. The newspaper said the military clashed with Salafist fighters twice over the last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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One of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders said after meeting President Bush on Monday that civil war could only be staved off if U.S. forces struck harder against Sunni-led insurgents. While Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the biggest party in Iraq's government, SCIRI, met Bush in Washington, the U.S. envoy and military chief in Baghdad implored Iraqis to break a cycle of violence which they said would destroy the country.
Hakim denied that majority Shi'ites were stoking sectarian violence and put the onus on Washington to take tougher action against insurgents. "The strikes they are getting from the multinational forces are not hard enough to put an end to their acts," he said. "Eliminating the danger of civil war in Iraq could only be achieved through directing decisive strikes against Baathist terrorists (and other Islamists) in Iraq. Otherwise we'll continue to witness massacres."
Bush, his Iraq policy under growing criticism even from former allies, said he and Hakim had discussed a need for Iraqi leaders to "reject the extremists that are trying to stop the advance of this young democracy".
"I told him we're not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq and that we want to continue to work with the sovereign government in Iraq to accomplish our mutual objectives, which is a free country that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself," Bush told reporters at the White House.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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Fiji's prime minister accused the military of in effect mounting a coup today - after troops disarmed the police, surrounded government buildings, and seized official cars from ministers.
Armed soldiers attempted to force their way into the residence of the prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, in the capital, Suva, as he met his cabinet. They were halted by bodyguards, witnesses told Reuters. "There is virtually a coup now taking place," Mr Qarase told New ZealandRadio. "They have strangled the police force, neutralised them; and now they are strangling the government machinery."
Yesterday's raids on police armouries, and troops appearing on the streets, escalated a crisis that has paralysed the Pacific island state for weeks.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, head of the armed forces, visited President Ratu Josefa Iloilo earlier today, and Mr Qarase said the president could be decisive in determining the outcome. Mr Qarase has refused to meet Cdre Bainimarama's central demand that he resign, leading the latter to order a gradual takeover of the capital, Suva, since early Monday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2006
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Virtually a coup? How much more coup-like do you think it's going to get?
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Herbert Murerwa, has foretold the growth of Zimbabwes economy by 0.5%-1%. He also expects Zimbabwes inflation to fall by 350%. Murerwa attributes the expected growth to "good weather, stabilising of commodity prices, improved mineral deposits and growing number of tourist arrivals.
According to him, Zimbabwe's agriculture sector will grow by 6.4% while the mining sector will grow by 4.9%. However, analysts say that Murerwa is being too optimistic. "The budget is still very shy to deal with issues affecting the economy such as high unemployment, foreign currency problems and inflation," Calisto Jokonya, president of Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) said. He is projecting a real growth rate of between 0,5 to one percent in 2007 premised on the anticipated improved perfomance of the mining and agriculture sectors which are expected to grow by 9,4 percent and 4,9 percent in 2007. It is interesting to note that the original projection for agriculture was 23 percent and this has been revised substantially downwards to 6,4 percent," Best Doroh, an economist with ZB financial holdings commented, adding that Murerwa was being overly optimistic.
Murerwa made these comments during the presentation of Zimbabwes budget. According to columnist, Bloch, the budget had a lot of words which mean nothing."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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He also expects Zimbabwes inflation to fall by 350%.
So what's that get it down to, about 1000%?
Nice job, Herbie!
#5
If you are white, you would have to be mad to go to Zimbabwe : if you were not attacked by one of the local gangs as a "settler", you would be propping up one of the most genocidal regimes on the continent. Besides which, deathwatch tourism is far too close to gladiatorial spectacles for any normal person.
#12
"Everything's fine! We've stopped to take on some ice, for the beverages, from this iceberg!"
Posted by: Captain of the Titanic ||
12/05/2006 16:37
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Next year everybody will eat their neighbor so yes inflation will go down and the economy improve. See I made the positive report now eat the defense minister not me Robert.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that efforts to form a national unity government must continue and have not reached a dead end. "The door for dialogue must be kept open and talks between the Palestinians must continue," he told reporters in the Syrian capital. "However, if there are sides among the Palestinians who want to close the door on dialogue, then they alone would bear responsibility for the results of their position," Haniyeh said, referring to the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday his policy of "zero tolerance" of sexual abuse in the United Nations' far-flung global operations is still not getting through to civilians and soldiers. "We're making progress, though. We're down to 85 percent tolerance."
A conference on eliminating sexual exploitation and abuse brought UN staff, member states and non-governmental organizations together to discuss new strategies for addressing the problem, as a frustrated Annan reported that allegations of sexual misconduct against U.N. peacekeepers continue. "My message of zero tolerance has still not got through to those who need to hear it - from managers and commanders on the ground, to all our other personnel," the secretary-general said at the beginning of the daylong conference at the Millennium Hotel across from UN headquarters. "Acts of sexual exploitation and abuse by both civilian and uniformed United Nations personnel continue to occur."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2006
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In the UN culture of corruption typified by the Oil for Food scandal that enriched the suits, what is a poor UN soldier to do? Since most refugees don't have anything of value to loot, the UN troops take what they can get. Oil for Food for the big shots. Food for Nooky for the troops.
Since the UN "Peacekeepers" are not allowed to actually use their "rifles" against the bad guys, they use their "guns" against the good girls. UN peacekeeping operations under current UN ROE are useless and should be terminated.
#2
Got a problem with your workers?
British Navy Solution: Occasional Flogging
Trump's Solution: You're Fired!
UN Solution: Hold a Conference!
Have they decided which belly dancers they want for the entertainment?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
12/05/2006 9:19
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Hey, Kofi, is this really gonna take all day? Because my teenage hooker's waiting on me upstairs and, if it is, I'll tell her to go Christmas shopping or something....
#4
lol, doc. Just when you think you're getting somewhere, Kofi's gonna be outta there in 27 days. I have hope the next guy (from S. Korea) is better, but ya never know with the UN.
Hope Coffee enjoyed the "entertainment" and the caviar.
Posted by: BA ||
12/05/2006 11:12
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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.
Agencies | New Delhi
Manager arrested for garbage in lard 
By Kevin McCullough
By Justin Logan; foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute
Evaluating the two ultimate optionsmilitary action on the one hand and acceptance and deterrence on the otherreveals that neither course is attractive. However, the evidence strongly suggests that the disadvantages of using military action would outweigh those of acceptance and deterrence. Attacking Iran's nuclear program would pose several problems: U.S. intelligence seems likely to be even poorer on Iran than it was on Iraq; Iran has hardened and buried many nuclear facilities in a way that would make them difficult to destroy; Iran could respond in such a way that the United States would feel forced to escalate to full-blown regime change; and there would be a host of unintended consequences inside and outside Iran.
The world has gone mad. As Lebanon teeters on the brink of Iranian and Syrian instigated collapse, senior American and British political officials urge President George W. Bush to hand Iraq over to Iran and Syria. 
By Tom Perry
The Israeli-Arab Mossawa organization, billed as the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, released a position paper report to this effect on Friday. Mossawa explains that in addition to equal rights to which every citizen is entitled by virtue of his citizenship, the Arab minority also demands "group-differentiated rights." The organization lists ten such rights that it insists Israel must grant. Among them are the following, as listed and explained by Mossawa:
Demonstrators at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. tell of 'ethnic cleansing'
You know you're in trouble when you can't even call the terrorists "terrorists."
Tehran, 5 Dec. (AKI) - Speaking shortly before senior diplomats from six world powers were scheduled to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the European Union that any punitive measure would be considered an act of hostility by Tehran. "I am telling you in plain language that from now on, if you try, whether in your propaganda or at international organisations, to take steps against the rights of the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation will consider it an act of hostility," Ahmadinejad said. 
Iran's top national security official urged his Arab neighbors Tuesday to eject the U.S. military from American bases in the region and instead join Tehran in a regional security alliance.
KANDAHAR - First came a deafening crash as the suicide bomber drove his vehicle headlong into a Nato convoy.
The announcement on Monday of John R. Boltons decision to step down was greeted by United Nations officials with relief, while diplomats from other nations offered mixed assessments of his effectiveness during his 17 months as the American envoy. 
The IDF, in conjunction with the Shin Bet, arrested a senior member of the 
(KUNA) -- British forces opened fire amid a stand-off as they tried to get three wounded marines to safety after a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed Monday. Three members of 45 Commando were injured, one seriously, and two Afghan civilians were killed in the blast as a bomber tried to ram the British vehicles in Kandahar yesterday, the MoD said.
(SomaliNet) The UN envoy to Somalia Francois Lonseny Fal said on Monday that he was more hopeful to continue Somali peace talks ahead after having crucial meeting with senior officials of Islamic Courts in the capital. 
Undercover IDF soldiers stormed a Tulkarm cafe and gunned down a prominent Fatah militant Monday evening, Palestinians witnesses said. Residents of the northern West Bank city said Mahmoud Aved al-Al, 20, an al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades operative from the Gaza Strip, was killed. The witnesses said a 12-year-old boy was critically wounded, and a second Fatah militant was moderately wounded, in the raid. 
LONDON - British intelligence officers are convinced that the Russian secret service authorised the poisoning of ex-spy 
A special court Monday ended Indias largest terrorism case by finding 100 people guilty out of 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case after a decade of trials, the chief prosecutor said. The court, headed by Judge Pramod Kode, convicted six people Monday, taking the total number of convictions to 100. Another 23 were acquitted of any role in serial blasts across Indias financial hub that killed 257 people. 
A shipping company is planning to go back to the future, by harnessing wind power to boost the propulsion of its ocean-going container ships. 
INDONESIA is grappling with its first real political sex scandal a widely circulated video of one of its most powerful politicians in a hotel room with a popular singer.
Fiji's president has appealed to embattled Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to resign, as the military tightens its grip on the capital, local radio has reported.
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said his party's faction meeting Monday that "the flow of weapons to the Gaza Strip is turning it into a second Lebanon." Netanyahu also said that if the Kassam fire weren't stopped, there would be tragic results, and that "the desire to restore quiet to Sderot cannot be reconciled with the desire for a unilateral cease-fire."
President Pervez Musharraf said he was opposed to independence for Kashmir, but both India and Pakistan will have to compromise over the disputed territory, in an interview made available Monday. Yes, we are against independence for Kashmir, Musharraf told the Indian NDTV news channel in an interview, excerpts of which were made available to the media on Monday.
Ministry of Religious Affairs Scientific Boards summoned over 80 imams in 2005 for breaching morality, misappropriation of donations, absenteeism, delivering inciting sermons and serving political parties interests. Ten of the 80 imams have been discharged. Others have been punished by warnings, subtraction from wages or withdrawal of licences for voluntary imams. 
A new full-body x-ray machine to be tested this month at a US airport has raised concerns about privacy issues with some rights advocates saying the technology amounts to a virtual strip search.
Getting ready for Labor Day 2007 at Ocean City (MD), hon. Thrasher's Boardwalk Fries, here we come! 
Turkish soldiers and police on Monday fired warning shots into the air to prevent an angry crowd from lynching a man accused of raping several girls and killing two of them in southeastern Turkey. The crowd attacked the state hospital and broke its windows in a bid to lynch the suspect in the southeastern city of Sirnak, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported. The man was brought to hospital after being reportedly beaten up by fellow inmates. 
nriched uranium even for non-military uses. "We have to stop it from producing uranium even for civilian use," she said. "There are those who say that I do not understand the situation, but I do. I have long contended that Iran with nuclear power is not just a danger for Israel but for the rest of the world," Royal said. Once Iran has the ability to produce uranium for civilian consumption, there is nothing to stop Iran from using it to develop nuclear weapons, she added. 
The six powers seeking a UN 
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -- Comedy Central has ordered "Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States," a cartoon satire that re-imagines President Bush and key executives in his administration as elementary school misfits.
SANTIAGO - Augusto Pinochets family saw his health improvement Monday as almost a miracle after the ex-dictator, who has never faced trial for his regimes abuses, underwent surgery for a major heart attack.
A Syrian court has sentenced four Syrians to prison terms ranging from 45 days to five years, for convictions that include having contacts with a secret association, a Syrian human rights group said Monday. Syria's State Security Court sentenced Abdullah Eid and Basel Madrati to five years in prison Sunday for contacts with a secret association that aims to change Syria's economic and political situation, the National Organization for Human Rights said. 
(SomaliNet) Egypt's Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, was found not guilty of any crime after he uttered comments against the Islamic veil that is becoming a common feature amongst Egypt's women. 
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister 
One of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders said after meeting President Bush on Monday that civil war could only be staved off if U.S. forces struck harder against Sunni-led insurgents. While Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the biggest party in Iraq's government, SCIRI, met Bush in Washington, the U.S. envoy and military chief in Baghdad implored Iraqis to break a cycle of violence which they said would destroy the country.
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Herbert Murerwa, has foretold the growth of Zimbabwes economy by 0.5%-1%. He also expects Zimbabwes inflation to fall by 350%. Murerwa attributes the expected growth to "good weather, stabilising of commodity prices, improved mineral deposits and growing number of tourist arrivals. 
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that efforts to form a national unity government must continue and have not reached a dead end. "The door for dialogue must be kept open and talks between the Palestinians must continue," he told reporters in the Syrian capital. "However, if there are sides among the Palestinians who want to close the door on dialogue, then they alone would bear responsibility for the results of their position," Haniyeh said, referring to the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday his policy of "zero tolerance" of sexual abuse in the United Nations' far-flung global operations is still not getting through to civilians and soldiers. 
