via Drudge. Standard European treachery at the link (hudna for Israel instead of peace, etc), but additional info:
Meanwhile, sources close to the PA government claimed that Hamas representatives recently held talks with officials from the US Democratic Party at an undisclosed location.
#1
Not surprising at all, if true. Here's another example. I can't vouch for the veracity of CNS or Mitrokhin or Romerstein, but this one wouldn't surprise me either.
#7
The Democrats chose several elections ago, Grunter. They went with the population group that better fit with their real goals and aspirations. The key is that more and more Jews are figuring it out, too, and voting with their feet.
#8
"Sooner or later the Democrats will have to choose between the Jewish vote and the Muslim vote."
They already have.
Anymore the only kind of politics the Democrats know how to play is what I call the Politics of Parasitism: pick a cohesive, readily identifiable group of people predisposed to feeling sorry for themselves, and figure out how to buy their votes by handing out free shit to them-- either $$$$ or special group priviledges, or both. Then figure out who's going to serve as wallet in this vote-buying scheme (usually you and me), and concoct some superficially-plausible but bullshit rationale for grabbing a chunk of their hard-earned paychecks. Then set the MSM loose on the task of pimping for the former group, while demonizing the latter.
And then sit back and wait for the votes to come rollin' in.
With Islam and the Democrats, you have a marriage made in Hell: the world's foremost whiney self-pitiers locked in a slimy embrace with the world's foremost sympathy-pimps.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/06/2006 21:25
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The Dems havent abandoned the Jewishvote nor has thee Jewishvote abandoned the Dems. In the past election the Jewish vote ranged up to 85% Dem.
Even Keith Ellison was supported by 65% of the Jewishvote. This was partly because Ellison had made a number of apparently antiTerrorism statements and the Jewish leaders in the District didn't notice (or pretended not to notice) the caveats, the ambiguities, etc.
#12
The link in the leader does not work. Here is another article dealing with the same news item.
"Sooner or later the Democrats will have to choose between the Jewish vote and the Muslim vote."
They already have.
You beat me to it, David D.
In their febrile haste to regain political ascendancy, the democrats have disregarded every single notion of protecting America's interests or its people. The almighty vote will be sought at any cost, even that of national security.
Any democrat-Muslim alliance represents the height of political malfeasance. The majority of democratic causes are pure anathema to Islam. Unseating vigorous supporters of the Global War on Terrorism is the sole objective of democratic voting Muslims and they would just as soon be chopping off the hands and heads of all other democrat followers at the soonest possible moment.
If the democrats are found to be consorting with Palestinian terrorists, or any other terrorists for that matter, they should be brought up on charges of treason. There are limits and this goes so far beyond all acceptable conduct that legal action must await any such betrayal.
The source told Maannews the Democrats expressed an understanding with the Hamas principal of not recognizing Israel and applauded Hamas' willingness to accept a long-term cease-fire with the Jewish state in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to what is known as the pre-1967 borders meaning an evacuation of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
IF, this is true, it is an outright betrayal of American interests. It also gives undue validation to a known terrorist group and there should be criminal charges arising from it.
"Of course Americans should vote Democrat," Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told WND last month.
"This is why American Muslims will support the Democrats, because there is an atmosphere in America that encourages those who want to withdraw from Iraq. It is time that the American people support those who want to take them out of this Iraqi mud," said Jaara, speaking to WND from exile in Ireland, where he was sent as part of an internationally brokered deal that ended the church siege.
Jaara was the chief in Bethlehem of the Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
Never forget, Jaara is the turd who desecrated the Church of the Nativity. I'm surprised he has managed to survive in Ireland. Someone needs to leak his true identity.
This is a blatantly transparent marriage of convenience. If the democrats are idiotic enough not to figure this out, then there needs to be some sort of legal action taken. Again, this is treason.
#13
It is blatantly obvious that Hamas, Hezbo and AQ share the same public affairs agency. The agency simply changes the letter head, the text is analogous
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/06/2006 23:14
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mhw, the claim that 85% of Jews voted Democrat in the November election was based on faulty sampling -- I posted a lovely analysis of the data
here a week later. From the article:
one specific result within the exit poll data: namely how Jewish voters within the national sample, had voted in the races for the U.S. House of Representatives. That sub-sample of just over 200 people who self-identified as Jewish voters (about 2% of the total survey sample), reported that they had voted 87% for Democrats 12% for Republicans.
The same day the national voter survey data was made available, the RJC released a survey of a much larger sample of Jews conducted by Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates in three states and Congressional districts with close races this past week. The RJC survey suggested that the 2006 Jewish voting pattern closely resembled that in 2004: 26% support for Republicans in the House races, and 27% in the Senate contest (there were also Senate races in Pennsylvania and Florida this year). The Finkelstein survey of 1,000 Jewish voters interviewed both older and younger voters, and members of the different Jewish branches in America reform, conservative, and orthodox. Age and the branch of Judaism, both seemed to matter a lot in the 2004 survey results, and they did again this year: the more often a Jew attended synagogue, the more likely he or she was to vote Republican. Similarly, younger Jews, and in particular younger Jewish males, were much more likely to vote Republican. Orthodox Jews were more than twice as likely to vote Republican as Reform Jews.
The authors are an analyst and a statistics professor, and they really tear into the details of the statistics -- a fascinating read, I thought. "Lies, damned lies and statistics" indeed.
I was aware of the sampling problems (not even close to as well read as you on the subject) that why I said "up to 85%" (and I could have said it better)
. . . the principal utility of this report is its succinct description of the internal and external players in Iraq and an outline of their respective goals, many of which are malevolent. As a guide to the game the ISG Report is first rate. However, the study recommendations are extremely disappointing.
The report concludes from the outset that the failure of local and regional actors to act rationally,and not any obviously crazy American policy, lies at the heart of Iraqi instability and the threat of regional Sunni and Shia clashes. The question is whether any American redeployment any American policy for that matter can alter this given the premise? Not obviously, but it doesnt keep the ISG from trying.
The heart of ISGs proposed solution is to add moving parts to the problem. . . .
The normal approach to a difficult problem would be to bound or simplify it. But the ISG recommendations try the exact opposite: it adds complexity to the already complex situation. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
12/06/2006
17:28 ||
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#1
Watching Baker and Hamilton with Brit Hume on Fox right now. They're actually serious about this "dialog" with Iran and Syria.
They actually think we can coopt Syria, into shutting off Hezb and helping Israel. By yapping.
They seem to think we can intimidate Iran by being forceful in talks.
#3
As I read it, the bulk of their recommendations were - and have been - the plan already. Train more IF, transfeer more responsibility to them, and back off. Talking to Syria and Iran is new, I guess, but not likely to do any good (since they're the source of a lot of the problems), and that's really the business of the Iraqi government, not us.
Whether it's enough to 'win' - where 'win' is defined as a stable and humane government - only time will tell; we will have given all sides plenty of chances to act rationally, but in the end it is up to them to decide whether they want to commit suicide or not.
#6
The report and bloviations on it have nothing to do with Iraq and everything to do with DC. It will be forgotten the day after the State of the Union.
#10
I look at who's on ths commitee and it's all the same old faces...and Vernon Jordan. Vernon Friggin Jordan. What was his recommendation? That Iraqis should get more pussy?
#11
Nimble, I've been saying that for some time, and I expect this non-event will indeed be forgotten, but long before the SOTU next January.
The whole thing's DOA at the WH, of course. But there are some pernicious myths embedded in it that need to be nuked.
Apparently Alan Simpson told a bloggers' conference call that things in Iraq are "spinning out of control". Huh? Hardly. Lots of things suck, but there mostly the same things that sucked 6 and 12 months ago. No governorates have seceded, no army units have splintered or refused orders, no territories are under control of adversaries when/if we care to contest it, nothing the various enemies can do is or will slow down the slow but inexorable increase in ISF capabilities, the hawza in Najaf haven't changed their opposition to the Iranian velayet-i-faqih model of governance and there's no sign it has begun to appeal to significant numbers of Iraqis, and on and on. Meanwhile, there seems to be some positive movement in Anbar (tribal alliance vs. AQ, splits in Sunni hostility to central govt. and coalition). Compared to November 2004 and select other time periods, there's far less going on and less that's troubling going on - even though the sectarian situation in Baghdad and Diyala are critical.
Sorry - all this bloviation, and I've only dealt with one premise!
I'll limit my rant to one more. Many, including it seems some Rantburgers, implicitly accept what I find to be extremely dubious, if not improbable - that Syria and Iran exercise any sort of control over what goes on in Iraq. This premise, of course, underlies the entire "engage Syria/Iran regional conference" stuff (minus the hallucinogenically idiotic b.s. about the Arab-Israeli conflict).
I cannot see where Damascus or Tehran can deliver much of what we want, even if they tried. The various factions in Iraq are doing what they damn please for their own reasons. Former regime officers who head up insurgent cells in Mosul or Ramadi don't look to Damascus for guidance or inspiration - they have their own, mostly very practical, reasons to do what they do. They fear the only future for them in a "new" Iraq is a noose, penury, or some other thing most people would fight to avoid. Likewise, the loose constellation of thugs, criminals, and little strong-men that are associated with Sadr steal because they want the money, torture and murder because they like power and want to wreak vengeance on the Sunnis, and agitate against the coalition because it's their political card. Nothing Tehran does or says will change any of that.
Like BASF, Syria and Iran don't create conflict in Iraq, they make the conflict there worse. Money and jihadi personnel and passive IR triggers and EFPs and safe havens, sure, those are factors the neighbors contribute. But motivation and real decisions about actions on the ground - doubtful.
So while it's a measure of the utter silliness of public "debate" these days that this idiotic diplomatic offensive suggestion can even be advanced without widespread open derision, it's even worse than that: the premises on which the silly proposal is based are false.
Everybody, from non-insane Dems to "realists" to many war supporters to WH, State, and DOD types to many in CENTCOM and MNF-I have been tirelessly searching for any solution to Iraqi security problems OTHER THAN military ones. Sorry, folks. There has never been and will never be a real solution to Iraqi security challenges that doesn't begin with the submission or real co-optation (not carving off some sissy types who will take part in a unity govt.) of the Iraqi Sunni community.
Much of the oxygen for Shi'a militias and other formations will be removed when/if the 3-year war of barbarous terrorism committed, abetted, and tolerated by the Sunni community is stopped. Only way to stop it is military, not socio-economic or political. What's left of the Shi'a militia problem would be quite soluble in the context of a subdued Sunni segment. And having finally eliminated that central security problem, dealing with Sadr etc. might even be as easy as it was before in Najaf and Karbala, notwithstanding the intervening bad developments which we have mostly stood by and watched, deer-like.
#12
Verlaine,
First of all, your BASF quote really cracks me up.
Second, sorry if I've missed your input on other threads but, given your solid point you make that destroying the Sunni insurgency is a military problem we are trying to deal with in too many non-military ways, can't a case be made that Tater and the various militias that are going after the Sunni are potentially a net positive.
I know they are undermining the sovereignty of the state, anti-American, pro-Iran, out of control, etc. However, the net effect might be to run the Sunni out of areas where they are causing trouble (a bit of 'ethnic cleansing' but potentially necessary) and intimidate some of their Sunni neighbors into withdrawing passive support for the insurgency.
I don't necessarily agree, but wanted to throw the idea out there for discussion given your strong points.
#13
Tommy Franks is on Fox right now - and is cherry-picking the report.
He favors new emphasis on the reconstruction and economic efforts.
Doesn't seem impressed with the political jaw-jaw with the nighbors idea. But says talking is better than fighting.
Not playing up stronger military action.
Seems to think that, domestically anyway, that this bipartisan effort was "good" for the simple reason that the screeching stopped for a minute or two.
Mincing words a bit now - preferring "success" over "victory", but saying they're not all that different. Weirdness.
Edited for brevity.
In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it's the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq. American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.
Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet, across the room. If it falls to the ground, no trip wires. If it hangs in the air, they know they have a problem. The wires are otherwise nearly invisible.
Now, 1,000 cans of the neon-colored plastic goop are packed into Shriver's one-car garage in this town outside Philadelphia, ready to be shipped to the Middle East thanks to two churches and a pilot who heard about the drive. The maker of the Silly String brand, Just for Kicks Inc. of Watertown, N.Y., has contacted the Shrivers about donating some.
Marcelle Shriver said that since the string comes in an aerosol can, it is considered a hazardous material, meaning the Postal Service will not ship it by air. But a private pilot who heard about her campaign has agreed to fly the cans to Kuwait - most likely in January - where they will then be taken to Iraq.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2006
17:27 ||
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Brilliant!
Posted by: Mark E. ||
12/06/2006 17:47
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#2
As usual, the solution is right there, but pinheads stand in the way.
#5
Indeed, grom. Soldiers improvising creative solutions is neat to hear about, but SOP. What floors me is that creative solutions are required in the first place due to the enemy's Geneva violations and war crimes -- as is the case here -- and that aspect goes completely unremarked upon by the press.
As if it's the white man's burden, so to speak, to just take barbaric, perfidious, illegal tactics in stride. And, find a way around their own government's st00pid regulations in the process. Argh.
Anyway, I don't see why this couldn't be scaled up. Perhaps the ISG will recommend Silly-Stringing the whole friggin joint. Tie em all up good and tight, then tell em we'll be back after all the task forces, investigations, committee hearings, studies, reviews, and blue ribbon panels figure out what to do. Heh.
NEW DELHI: The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists were guarded about the successful mid-air missile interception over the Bay of Bengal on November 27, but defended the interception system's capability against competing products and technologies.
A ``good beginning'' had been made but only repeated tests would prove the system's potency. Many more tests were required to intercept missiles on different flight paths. They were yet to increase the interception capability to over 50 km by changing the range parametres or putting the missile on ships. The high closing speed of the interceptor missile left very little reaction time. This implied further improvements. ``A single successful experiment does not mean deliverance,'' said a scientist. Besides, the DRDO is yet to configure target information delivery from satellites and, therefore, has to depend on ground-based radars. ``We have conducted the test to prove the technology. We are yet to convert it into a delivery system because of these reasons,'' he added.
DRDO's missile and strategic systems chief V. K. Saraswat was confident that the indigenous system was comparable to the Israeli Arrow and the Russian S-300V anti-missile missiles. Both countries along with the U.S. (Patriot) have been trying to sell their missiles to India.
``We intercepted at 50 km while the Arrow does that at 40 km. According to my interpretation, any lower than that and it will go in our landmass,'' he said. As for the Russian S-300V, ``we have studied their capability in a big way and its radars and other network cannot engage missiles of this class.''
He said the liquid fuel technology was not a drawback as in the 1950s and 1960s. A liquid fuel missile can be filled at any depot in any part of the country. ``The liquid fuel technology of today does not impair reaction time or performance. There is no handicap at all. It has an equivalent life of seven years as compared to a solid fuel missile.
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2006
15:53 ||
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As for the Russian S-300V, ``we have studied their capability in a big way and its radars and other network cannot engage missiles of this class.''
Which suggests the rumors of India purchasing a few S300 batteries to defend Delhi and their nuke weapon complex at BARC, Mumbai were probably true.
Seems the Indians are none too impressed with the S300 system...
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2006 16:00
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I was gonna put this under "Lurid Crime Tales". Man, I'll bet Kofi's really pissed he's leaving now.
The United Nations plans to gut the super-luxe East Side townhouse that's home to the secretary general and give it a multimillion-dollar renovation - complete with a $200,000 kitchen. I'll bet the servants will be able to cook up some fine meals in a kitchen that costs more then my friggin house...
"That's a fantastic budget. It'd be a hell of a thing," said Stefan Boublil, owner of swanky SoHo design firm The Apartment. "It's an expensive kitchen." Really, Stefan? Ya think?
The pricey kitchen upgrade is only a small part of a $4.3 million overhaul of the four-story Sutton Place manse where Kofi Annan has lived rent-free for a decade. Now there's a shock. Well, not really...
And that's not the whole cost. Yeah. I didn't think so.
Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean diplomat due to succeed Annan on Jan. 1, will spend his first nine months in a Manhattan hotel at an additional cost of $202,500 so workers can tackle the job. Oh, good. Good to see some Tsunami aid money was left over so they can put Ban Man up.
The UN General Assembly adopted the renovation plan last week. How much? Well,..add a million and okay it.
Despite its handsome brick exterior and posh riverfront location, the home hasn't had any serious work done since 1950 and has deteriorated into a crumbling firetrap, according to documents obtained by the Daily News. Yes, I'm sure it's a veritable third world hellhole...
The plumbing is leaking, the plaster walls are falling apart and the electrical system keeps overloading - costing $60,000 a year in emergency fixes, Annan complained recently. Ha! Like he actually paid for it.
The massive upgrade includes a $2.1 million heating and cooling system, $650,000 security improvements and even $100,000 in landscaping. I'd love to be the contractor who grabbed that job. "Aw, Jeez. Them solid gold bidets musta fell off the truck. I know they're fifty grand a pop but we'll have to reorder them."
But good luck getting paid...
The cost of the heating and cooling system "sounds extraordinarily high to me," said Sean Dineen of Dineen Construction Co. in Brooklyn. Guess we'll have to send Jon Engeland over to tell him how stingy he is...
"I'm doing a renovation of an entire brownstone in Park Slope for $1.7 million," he added. Pikers...
But one contractor who does lots of work in the Sutton Place neighborhood said the renovation sounded like a relative bargain. Grand Renovation President John Buchbinder said certain work - like fixing the townhouse's elevator - can start at $400,000. Buchbinder also said the bill for the heating and cooling system sounded reasonable for an especially energy-efficient setup. Trolling for some of the business there, Johnnyboy?
The 14,000-square-foot townhouse was built for Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J.P. Morgan, in 1921. The UN received the home as a gift in 1972. Man, this story is just loaded with shocking news...
The repair bill comes on top of the UN's plan to overhaul its East Side headquarters over the next eight years at a projected cost of $1.9 billion. When it's other people's, money is no object...
What kind of kitchen does $200,000 buy? The best of the best - and then some. Stefan Boublil, owner of the SoHo design firm The Apartment, recommended decorating in honor of the United Nations' international flavor: high-class touches from around the world. Nothing but the best! You said it! Malloch, write all this down...
For starters, he suggested getting a $35,000 custom-made stove from the French company La Cornue, which can "cook anything in five minutes." For 35 grand it better feed me the food.
The UN could add a couple of $750 under-the-counter dishwashers from the New Zealand company Fisher & Paykel, or a $52,000 Texas-made Traulsen refrigerator. Texas? Where "that cowboy" is from? Ewwwwwww...
For countertops, Boublil's favorite is the elegant white Corian quartz counter because "it takes abuse wonderfully. After a while, you can sand it down - it's like new." How about Palestinian rolled sheetmetal..from the finest metal shops in Gaza?
Henry Gimenez of Hudson Finishes in Manhattan said $200,000 would buy custom cabinets, marble countertops and a stone floor.
On the other end, Gimenez added, "Using stock cabinetry, and depending on your choice of appliances, you could pull something off for $75,000." 75 grand? That wouldn't buy the UN a waterproof tent in Bandar Aceh.
#5
The dishwashers sound reasonably priced for that pricepoint property, and at least two for large parties makes sense. I think it's the Corian quartz that has some sort of built in bacteriacide, a wise choice given the type of guests who frequent UN parties... I would certainly want a normal refrigerator to store the beer and salsa and Hot Pockets for everyday, but a commercial walk-in would be necessary for large parties, as would several large ovens and stovetops -- the caterers don't bring that on the truck. However, lightly used commercial fittings can be bought relatively inexpensively, especially in NY City, where most new restaurants go under within a year of opening. As for repairing neglect and retrofitting modern HVAC, wiring, plumbing and of course cabling so that the laptop can be used anywhere, ouch! The numbers are ridiculous, but probably not by more than several hundred percent, given that it's a premiere historic property. They should turn Donald Trump loose on the problem -- he'd volunteered to do as much for the UN building, where I think he guaranteed he could make it happen in style for less than half the official budget. That "high class touches from all around the world" is where most of the excess cost comes in, I imagine -- tu3031 pegged it solidly.
A nice little slap in the face to Mr. Annan, that nobody bothered to suggest upgrading the facilities during his residence.
The Dems are on a roll. Here are some excerpts from an email newsletter I got called "Secrecy News":
In another sign of shifting ground in the post-election Congress,
Senators Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy yesterday introduced the
"Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2006," which would reinstate
federal court jurisdiction over Guantanamo detainees and other
suspected enemy combatants.
The bill would repeal two provisions of the Military Commissions
Act of 2006 enacted in September that limit habeas corpus.
"Habeas corpus" refers to the ability of a detainee to seek
judicial review of his case.
"The Constitution of the United States is explicit that habeas
corpus may be suspended only in time of rebellion or invasion,"
observed Sen. Specter. "We are suffering neither of those
alternatives at the present time. We have not been invaded, and
there has not been a rebellion." And that, folks, is the mentality that we are up against. "This bill would restore the great writ of habeas corpus, a
cornerstone of American liberty for hundreds of years that
Congress and the President rolled back in an unprecedented and
unnecessary way with September's Military Commissions Act," said
Senator Leahy. The source is from the Federation of American Scientists website, and displays the introduction to the bill from the Congressional Record.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006
15:35 ||
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We have not been invaded, and
there has not been a rebellion."
Stupid SOB, someone should march his ass to the giant hole in NYC. What the hell does he think happened there? He is right on the second point, but a rebellion is soon to follow if we can not elect leadership with with more than a single digit IQ. Arrgggg!!!@!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/06/2006 16:54
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"Veto that is sure to great it. "
He hasn't vetoed other bills that were worse than this, so I wouldn't be too sure about this one.
#6
I saw this topic as just another wake up call. Spectre and Leahy have not changed their agena one iota. These guys are like a virus trying to invade the body. What we are short now is in T-cells, so the viruses can run all over body without being stopped. I hope that the Congress has sense to knock this bill down on a vote. I also hope that the President vetoes it if the Congress votes for it. I have little faith now that the President and the Republicans will do what it takes to make sure that sh*t like this does not happen. Color me cynical and color me vigilant.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 17:26
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#7
and the word is agenda not agena. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 17:27
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#8
The same people who if told an alien invasion spaceship fleet is on the way to conquer Earth and enslave all its people, immediately think, "Quick, we must get an injunction to stop them until we can file suit!!!"
#10
exJAG, somebody, help me here - the Commissions act dealt with habeas rights for US citizens inside the US? I thought it was all about alien enemy combatants - the illegal kind - held outside the US.
"Liberty" has never been an element of any sort, much less a central one, for US treatment of foreign enemies, in time of war, outside our territory. Subject to my assumption above being confirmed .... sheesh!
#11
Correct, Verlaine -- the Commissions Act was an attempt to roll back and clarify three execrable Supreme Court decisions. It deals only with (1) unlawful (2) alien (3) combatants -- who still get vastly more Geneva and constitutional protections than they're entitled to anyway.
In sum, the Supreme Court thinks they should have the right to file habeas petitions, while Congress (well, the old one, anyway) does not. In my post about it back in October, I noted what a close vote it was, as well as Specter's ongoing perfidy.
I agree with Glenmore that there's a good chance this bill will pass, and little reason to be confident of a veto.
#12
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the MCA give the President the authority to revoke (effectively if not formally) a US national's citizenship if they were considered an enemy combatant? And wasn't Padilla picked up inside the US? The MCA provisions on habeas didn't apply only to foreign nationals outside the US.
I don't mean to presuppose that there isn't a reason to do exactly that. But let's be clear about what the law is saying.
#1
OMG, that's hilarious! And, Michelle in a blonde wig, to boot!
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 13:30
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Pretty funny.
And this one's for all the ladies:
You want to demolish a woman? Send a woman to do it.
As an aside MadTV last Saturday did a spoof on the Dixie Chicks with the fat one saying she'll never apologize and the decent looking ones signalling to the camera they disagree. Pretty funny also.
Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.
Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.
Those who do not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."
He said that the courts are announcing the edict over loudspeakers in the town.
The decision is not binding on courts in other towns. Somalia's Islamic courts have made varying interpretations of Quranic law, some applying a more strict and radical version of Islamic law than others.
As a result of such disparate variations, residents in the capital of Mogadishu complained, forcing the Council of Islamic Courts officials in October to set up an appeals court with better-educated judges.
The Council of Islamic Courts have swept through most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June.
Their sometimes strict and often severe interpretation of Islam has raised the specter of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.
Some of the courts have introduced public executions, floggings of convicts, bans on women swimming at Mogadishu's public beaches, and the sale and chewing of khat, a leafy stimulant consumed across the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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The Bad Guys are giving lessons in just how bad this is going to get. Somalia today -- tomorrow?
STUDENTS at the Islamic school from which two boys were expelled for desecrating the Bible were shown videos of a banned cleric calling Australian Christians "evil" and non-Muslim schools "sewers".
Teachers at East Preston Islamic College say students have also been seen downloading and copying material from a website that attacks the Bible as promoting "vicious criminal acts".
The Australian yesterday revealed the school in Melbourne's north expelled two boys and suspended a third over the desecration - a Bible was urinated on, spat on and burnt - during a school camp for boys from years 7 to 10 boys last week.
The Australian has obtained a videotape from the school's library of a lecture given for Australian Muslims by the firebrand British convert Abdur Raheem Green, who was blocked from coming to Australia last year.
In the video, believed to have been taped during a visit in 2003, Green describes Australian non-Muslims as "evil people" and says Muslims in this country must openly criticise Christianity and lure people to Islam.
"If we leave (Muslims) in these (non-Muslim Australian) schools they will be destroyed," he says in the sermon.
"You know very well what takes place in these schools ... it is all about evolution, Christmas, Easter, St Valentine's Day - a barrage. And you expect your children to survive? You think you live in a sewer and you come up smelling of roses?
"Merely living in the company of evil people will inevitably begin to rub off on us and we will begin to acquire their characteristics."
A teacher, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the tape, marked East Preston Islamic College, has been shown to students at the school. It is not known if the tape was seen by the three boys who desecrated the Bible.
Another teacher said yesterday he had seen students at the school downloading and copying pages from the website Evilbible.com.
"For far too long priests and preachers have completely ignored the vicious criminal acts that the Bible promotes," the website says. "The so called God of the Bible makes Osama bin Laden look like a boy scout."
Principal Shaheem Doutie has apologised for the desecration by "ignorant" and "illiterate" children and insists his school promotes religious tolerance. Mr Doutie, who has been at the school since April, said he was unaware of any radical material in the library.
He had previously instructed library staff not to accept any radical material and said he would take steps to remove anything still there.
The desecration was yesterday condemned by Muslim and non-Muslim leaders who called on the community not to overreact.
The Catholic Archbishop in Melbourne, Denis Hart, said there was a good relationship between the Muslim and Christian communities in Melbourne. He said all holy books should be respected.
Yasser Solimon, a former head of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said his community was shocked by the desecration, which should be seen as "the actions of stupid boys rather than any reflection on the school or the wider community".
you gotta have a dissimulation thrown in.
"I think this needs to be seen in the context of five years of certain types of reporting on global events like the war on terror, what is happening in Iraq, attacks on the Koran by some soldiers in Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal," he said. "It is sad to see the hatreds of one generation being passed on - we need leadership here to stand up collectively to this."
#1
The desecration was yesterday condemned by Muslim and non-Muslim leaders who called on the community not to overreact.
That's right Bruce, take it like a good dhimmi.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/06/2006 13:29
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So the school head has matriculated students in the seventh and ninth grades (or perhaps that would be the American equivalent of sixth and eighth grades, if they start reading in kindergarten, like the Brits do) who are illiterate and ignorant? Shut the school down now -- they hadn't even noticed that they aren't achieving their primary goal of basic education!
#3
Yet another fine example of Islamic colonists slamming the culture of their host country.
At some point so-called Islamic "schools" will have to be recognized for what they are. These sites are the Western equivalent of Pakistani Madrassahs. Just as Mosques are Islam's weapon depots, these "schools" are their indoctrination centers.
This is just one more good reason for stripping away Islam's status as a recognized religion. If that was done, they would have no legal pretext for setting up these "schools". As private academies they would not enjoy tax-free status and a host of other immunities that they currently do. If this is deemed impossible, then Wahabbism needs to be banned and all Saudi-funded religious apparatus in America dismantled immediately thereafter.
Who is willing to bet that the majority of these "schools" here and abroad do not already program their charges with the sort of hateful garbage covered in the above article? I'd wager the majority of them do and I doubt I'll find much argument on this point.
#3
The Israeli govt never used to play the terrorist's hostage game. Remember the Entebbe rescue raid in Uganda? Hell, even a movie was made about it with Charles Bronson. What has happened to the Israeli govt to now sink so low to even entertain the thought of releasing terrorists for hostages?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 16:23
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What has happened to the Israeli govt to now sink so low to even entertain the thought of releasing terrorists for hostages?
The continual grind of PC, UN and Euro condemnation.
Israel must recognize that these forces are their enemy and begin acting on that basis.
To wax masturbatory delusions of grandeur; if I had the power in Israel I'd do the terronutz one better, first I'd call for the media blackout, and then for everyday they keep an IDF soldier hostage I'd kill a terrorist prisoner and send them their nose in a brown paper bag. If I ran out of prisoners (or brown paper bags) I'd start D-9ing known terror-sympathizing neighborhoods one building a day. I'm not sure of Israeli laws but I wonder why Kuntar continues to live to this day.
Seriously, it seems there is little room for any negotiations w/any arab organization. All the ones at war w/israel cannot be satisfied by any land deals, the only thing that would satisfy them is no israel. IMHO, the israelis need to go on the offensive and make their enemies capitulate. For every kassam, there needs to be a disproportionate and horrifying response. The world will bitch, but they would bitch anyways.
#6
AP: What has happened to the Israeli govt to now sink so low to even entertain the thought of releasing terrorists for hostages?
Zenster: The continual grind of PC, UN and Euro condemnation.
Israel must recognize that these forces are their enemy and begin acting on that basis.
The argument in Israeli politics has always been about how to get the Arabs to accept Israel and llve in peace. Both the iron hand and the olive branch have been tried, but no Israeli government has really accepted the necessity of permanent war. Unfortunately, as Zenster points out, when your opponent considers you a blot on the landscape and will only accept your eradication, it's either perpetual struggle, evacuation or extermination. It's a hell of a future for a nation to face.
Posted by: DanNY ||
12/06/2006
11:21 ||
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(1) During the cold war a section of Yugoslavia was called Macedonia. This was done purely to create issues with Greece which had a section called Macedonia as well. (2) The constitution of West Germany was written so that the states of East Germany could be added with little or no effort when the time was right.
Iraq has Shia Arabs areas and Kurdish areas that sprawl into neighboring countries. The Iraqi constitution should be ammended and debated so that Kurdish and Shia Arab areas in neighboring Iran and Syria are open for inclusion into Federal Iraq.
Iran and Syria are pretty sure we won't invade but they're probably convinced their own minorities might rise up if provided with total air cover. And the Shia Arab parts of Saudi Arabia (the unmentioned threat) and Iran is the section with the oil. Iran and Syria would understand the threat and back down in some face-saving way.
The Maronite Church on Wednesday called for early presidential elections to help settle the serious crisis which is threatening to split Lebanon.
The council of Maronite Bishops, in a declaration of the church's principles, also urged leaders of the community and other Lebanese spiritual groups to agree on a "code of honor" to settle differences through dialogue, reject violence and armed confrontations and refrain from agitation.
The Maronites are Catholics, and this formulation follows to the letter Bendedict XVI's recent statements on Christian-Islamic relations.
The Maronite declaration of principles called for ratifying an agreement with the United Nations on an International Tribunal to try suspects charged with the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri and other related "terrorist" crimes. It warned against linking Lebanon to regional and International disputes and called for the formation of an "entente government" to contain the explosive situation.
If the entente government could not be formed, the statement noted, efforts should be exerted to form a government of "independent" figures to adopt a new elections law based on the principle of small electoral constituencies that can "truly represent" the various Lebanese communities. The statement also called for the full implementation of the Taef Accord, which ended the Lebanese civil war in 1990, and stressed on the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland.
The Maronite Church stressed on the need for settling the question of armed Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
Commenting on Hizbullah's weapons, without mentioning the Shiite faction by name, the statement said weapons in Lebanon should be "strictly controlled by the legitimate security forces."
The council of Maronite Bishops also called for an urgent meeting of the Lebanese parliament to tackle the serious crisis which is splitting the nation.
The council, which held its monthly meeting at suburban Bkirki under patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, called on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to convene the house to deliberate the issue that has paralyzed constitutional institutions.
The statement noted that the "confusing situation through which the Lebanese are going is regrettable. Constitutional institutions have been paralyzed". It said: "nothing is left except Parliament, but it doesn't convene. That is why," the statement added, "we plead with its speaker Nabih Berri to convene it so it may find a way out of the crisis".
Beirut, 06 Dec 06, 14:58
A woman suspected of shoplifting who tried to evade security guards was eventually caught with her pants down. The woman bizarrely dropped her trousers when staff caught up with her as she tried to scale a fence. She had left the Somerfield store in Exeter with three legs of lamb.
She was arrested and later bailed by police. Not exactly safe for work. AoS.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan ||
12/06/2006
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She must be one of the "superior" Brits that Gwyneth Paltrow talks about.
#7
LOL! The blogads show a pic of some meat hanging up on hooks, referring to a site about the horrors of factory farms. Is this an instant world or what?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 16:41
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From female suicide Bombing Babes to Peeing Babes/Blondes to Lamb-ey FemiLimeys, what is it about this WOT thats causing women to go ape???
#1
This is all grotesque. What I would like to see is an African "thank you" movement where some folks thank the Royal Navy for ending the Atlantic slave trade.
#2
No guilt here, I never owned slaves nor has anyone in my family tree. As a matter of fact I don't remember meeting anyone that was a slave, except in theri mind.
#3
Actually there are some Korean comfort women taken by force to work in Imperial Japanese Army brothels in WWII still alive today. Always brought a sense of irony when the blacks in LA were burning up Korean grocers and stores and rationalizing how it as pay back to the man back in the early 90s.
Fat For Cash clinics in a mall near you :)
Lauri Venøy wants to use the product created from liposuction to develop bio-diesel. Bio-diesel can be produced from plant oils and/or animal fat, and the Norwegian sees the scheme as a renewable energy source, newspaper Dagens Nærinsgliv reports.
More than sixty percent of Americans are overweight and the Norwegian's firm in Miami, Florida is in the process of signing an agreement with US hospital giant Jackson Memorial. This deal would give Venøy & Co. around 11,500 liters of human fat a week from liposuction operations, which is enough to produce about 10,000 liters of bio-diesel. "Maybe we should urge people to eat more so we can create more raw material for fuel," Venøy said.
In Norway bio-diesel is primarily produced from herring fish oils and used fryer fat.
(Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB)
#2
Hey, if they're ok to pay for my lipo, I can propel a family-sized car for at least... well, I've let myself go badly last couple of years, so , I'd say... pretty far.
As an added bonus, burnt bio-diesel made out of my fat will smell of chocolate, mostly.
CHANGZHOU, China: A baby was trapped down a toilet for more than seven hours after being born prematurely. The mum was crouched over the hole-in-the-floor toilet when her waters broke - and the baby popped out and plunged out of sight, its umbilical cord still attached.
The mum screamed for help and doctors, plumbers and firemen raced against time to save the baby. A special camera was put into the drain to check the child's position, and it was carefully pulled free.
The baby was resuscitated and rushed to hospital in Changzhou, where he and his mother are reported to be doing well.
#1
The mind boggles. What is it with these so-called parents lately (first, it was putting junior in the microwave, then the freezer, then yesterday's 2-month old having a blood alcohol level of .34, etc.). I'm a very devout Christian, but maybe Darwin's "survival of the fittest" does ring true.
But, then, I think...it doesn't explain the MME (Muslim Middle East). I tend toward the Libertarian POV in many issues and don't want the gov't really interfering in parental "rights", but jeebus, some folks are just screamin' to be sterilized. Raising a child is an extremely noble and self-sacrificing job....these types don't deserve to be parents.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 11:10
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but maybe Darwin's "survival of the fittest" does ring true.
I dunno. A survival of the fittest-type environment would spell doom and pain and humiliation for the likes of me.
#3
This one doesn't actually sound like the mother's fault -- and she and the baby are very lucky. Had the umbilical cord separated from the mother when the baby fell down the hole, the baby would have died and the mother possibly bled to death; but the connection enabled the baby to continue to receive oxygen and to be retrieved by the rescuers. Surely everyone has heard stories of women's water breaking while out shopping, or babies suddenly being born in the car on the way to the hospital...
#4
Ya TW but we are uncouth americans, just ask GP. We love to chuckle at others misfortunes and things we can't comprehend or spell. LOL
Hope your ready for the big freeze tonight, looks like Cin and Lex are in for a cold one tonight.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/06/2006 16:58
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49 Pan dear, you couldn't possibly be uncouth -- you ride a classic motorcycle. Besides, in my experience all male Rantburgers are true gentlemen, regardless of their official title, as all our females are ladies. Of course, my standards are high. ;-)
Thanks for the weather warning -- I'll throw on an extra quilt and turn up the thermostat a few degrees.
A real-life illustrations of the "what will they ban next" mockeries about the britons' "dangerous inanimate objects" legal phobia.
In the hands of Shane Warne, a cricket ball is an offensive weapon. A total of 650 fallen wickets prove it. Police on a London Underground station thought it was an equally dangerous item in the hands of Chris Hurd, a 28-year-old City accountant who occasionally bowls leg spin for his local team in Belsize Park, North London.
Mr Hurd claimed that he had been merely holding the ball as he rode the escalator at Baker Street station in London when he was stopped by a female British Transport Police officer and subjected to a ten-minute inquisition and allegations that he was carrying a very hard object, which he should not have done in public as it was a potentially lethal weapon. Hey, I've got a doinker (very small, I must admit), I'm thus a potential rapist. Does this mean I cannot go in public anymore? (muslim answer : hide the wimmen).
He had, he said, taken the ball to work because he planned to watch the opening Ashes Test between England and Australia in a pub with friends later in the evening. Earlier in the day he had been throwing it in the air to strengthen his spin-bowling muscles.
But by the time he got to the station, he said, he was holding it firmly in his hand. He accused the officer of ridiculous overreaction. There was a policewoman on the step below me and she was staring at the ball all the way up. As we got to the top she tapped me on the shoulder and said she wanted a word.
Mr Hurd, who works for Ernst and Young, the accountants, said the officer asked him if he knew he was carring a very hard object and he replied: Yes, its a cricket ball. She confiscated the ball while she questioned Mr Hurd for ten minutes, gave him a verbal warning and filled out a stop-and-search report.
I told her I was only carrying it because the Ashes were about to start and I was very excited. I was wearing a very boring suit and looked every inch the bean-counter I am. It is not as if I was unshaven and looked dangerous. But she was completely humourless and showed no understanding of my excitement, Mr Hurd said. When she let me go and gave me my ball back, she said she was being extremely lenient with me. She failed to realise that I presented no threat whatsoever and I left feeling completely misunderstood.
Mr Hurd said the encounter had shaken his faith in the police, and had caused him to sympathise with members of ethnic minorities who were subjected to stop-and-searches. That's assuming police concentrate its attention to those ethnic minorities because they're racist or discriminative; on the other hand, this ball-thingie is nanny-state over-reaction.
How can a cricket ball be an offensive weapon? I dont think it would be anyones weapon of choice, and all I was doing was holding it. It wasted ten minutes of time for both of us, and left her with paperwork. All in a day's work! The last line of defense of Civilization.
A spokesman said that British Transport Police had no knowledge of the incident but added: Though we recognise England need all the help they can get at the moment, we would advise that the escalator is not the place to practise.
What if the ball was dropped and hit an old lady further down the escalator? "What if the ball had actually been a nuke device? Thousands could have been killed! We simply cannot afford to let that happen! Next thing you know, people will start carrying .22 short rounds in their pockets!"
We would advise passengers to be careful, both for themselves and other people at this busy time. To ensure that the Underground is free of crime and free of the fear of crime, our officers maintain a highly visible presence.
#2
Dear God... is this the terminal phase of Socialism? A nation which doesn't trust its citizens to walk around with sharp or hard objects, as if they were mewling infants in some nursery, with the Government acting as nannies?
This both sad and alarming-- because I think in their descent into the abyss, the Brits are only about a decade ahead of us.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/06/2006 12:26
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is this the terminal phase of Socialism?
Nah. The terminal phase is when all of us have to wear helmets whenever we leave our homes 'cuz we might trip and suffer a head injury.
#4
This doesn't surprise me at all. The descendants of the men who fought off the Zulus at Rorke's Drift and who held the Residency at Lucknow against overwhelming odds from May until late September of 1857 have built a nanny state in which one cannot openly carry a 3" pocketknife. They're a hell of a long way down the tubes and moving at ever faster speed. It's very sad and frightening to watch. Their decline is a cautionary tale we on this side of the pond better pay damned close attention to. It CAN happen here.
Posted by: mac ||
12/06/2006 16:58
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I think the policewoman in question was brought to the verge of frothy hysterical petty tyranny by the sight of a man with, not just two, but nay three balls. Just having two makes any man dangerous enough as it is in this testosterone-phobic world.
#6
Pencils can be used as knives. You can run people over with your car. A credit card can make a nasty slash wound. Keys can poke out eyes. You can make a garotte out of your underwear. You can make a garotte out of Gwyneth Paltrow's underwear. A briefcase can crush a temple. Forks, knives, spoons, loose masonry, teeth, and broken glass can be used to injure, maim, or kill someone. I can use a pencil to write a news article that ends up with many people dead by revealing methods used to capture terrorists.
is this the terminal phase of Socialism?
No. When we vote away our ability to change out the government, then it will be all downhill from there until everyone you know including all your descendents are facing east to pray.
I just found this out via Mrs. Ret; go to the link and select a card. Xerox will print and send. You do not get to pick the recipient, but there are several canned messages or a spot to write your own thoughts and prayers.
Posted by: Ranchin B. Hard ||
12/06/2006
09:44 ||
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Done. I sent two, with different messages. It's an easy way to remind the guys out there that we don't take them for granted -- they see and read the MSM message, too, and it worries them.
Might U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton have been given a unanimous vote from the Senate confirmation committee-had he only assured senators that America was not winning in Iraq?
Another reader wrote recently, inquiring why is it that a defeated Saddam easily put down insurrectionists in March 1991 and restored "order", while we the victors now cannot. I suggested he ask either Sen. Jay Rockefeller or Sec. General Kofi Annan who have both implied, in various ways, that Iraq was better off under Saddam.
But there is a paradox a militarily strong U.S. that abhors the savage methods that a weakened Saddam used to put down Shiite and Kurdish nationalists, and rightly refuses to employ such tactics in subduing terrorists and jihadist killers, is both criticized as Saddam-like (cf. Sen. Kennedy's comments about Abu Ghraib), and yet pilloried for being impotent for not restoring order. The only constant is that whatever the US does is seen as wrong.
It seems that the serial hysteria that engulfs Washington (whether Dick Cheney's shotgun or Marc Foley's email) has now concluded that Iraq is a goner, and therefore only those who reaffirm that canard can be expected to be judged wise and sober.
But while we scream, there are still the events on the ground that go on obliviously: the Iraqi government continues, the jihadists have not taken over the country or advanced a comprehensive agenda that captures popular support, and the U.S. military is constantly changing tactics. Vietnam is evoked constantly, but 1974-5 seems the only proper referent, when ten years of terrible sacrifice that led to an autonomous South Vietnam were abruptly thrown away by failure to aid and fund the anti-communists. Before the mythical lemmings run headlong over the cliff they should stop and consider carefully whether Iraq really is a hopeless fiasco, or in fact can be saved, and saved in such a fashion that 10 years from now the creation in the heart of the ancient caliphate of a consensual government in lieu of Saddam's Murder, Inc. will be considered a rare moral achievement.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/06/2006
09:42 ||
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Another reader wrote recently, inquiring why is it that a defeated Saddam easily put down insurrectionists in March 1991 and restored "order", while we the victors now cannot.
For one thing, because the current insurrectionists are the same Nazis using the same methods they used to terrorize Iraq in the past. The difference is the Ba'athists/Nazis no longer have the machinery of the state to effect their terror but must rely on Saudi hand-outs to do the job.
#2
The difference is the left doesn't care when brown people kill and mutilate each otherbut they do care when Western people do so. (Same with Slavery and random genocides throughout history)
#3
More like the Left doesn't care about brown people hacking each other, but don't want their own hides involved. They were real enthusiastic about sending troops to Somalia, Kosovo, etc. They didn't complain about Viet Nam until their draft numbers were coming up.
The Sun is just past its low-point in an 11-year cycle of activity. Could be the reason that we'll have a high of 38 here in Atlanta on Friday, but I blame Bush!
But big eruptions can happen anytime.
One just did.
A major X-9 flare erupted this morning. It emanated from a large sunspot, numbered 929, which is just coming into view around the eastern limb of the Sun. You mean to tell me we can track individual sunspots, number them, and give a specific time of "liftoff" of flares, but we can't track every Tom, Dick and Harry Jose, Pepe and Renaldo that crosses our own border?
The flare lifted off the Sun at 5:35 a.m. ET. It was directed away from Earth. Thanks, Halliburton!
But this sunspot will rotate toward the center of the Sun over the next few days and could offer up more major blasts that could take direct aim at our planet, forecasters say. Darn it all to heck! If only President Bush would've signed Kyoto! Would someone get Halliburton: Solar Flare Division on the phone?
Flares of this magnitude (X-class flares are all major) can damage satellites and disrupt telecommunications on Earth. They can also threaten astronauts in space. Incoming!
NASA sometimes sometimes?
orders astronauts aboard the International Space Station to retreat to the most well-protected part of the orbiting outpost to avoid excess radiation exposure. Spacewalks are avoided during solar storms. Master of the obvious graphic, please.
NASA plans to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery toward the International Space Station on Thursday (the bright glare of the rocket will be visible from much of the eastern United States). NASA must be using AlBore's "timing" calendar.
Sunspots are dark regions of the Sun where intense magnetic activity caps the upwelling of material from below. Sometimes a cap blows, and a visible flare results. The flares are loaded with X-rays and other radiation, all of which reaches Earth moments after the eruption. Many are accompanied by clouds of electrified gas called coronal mass ejections, (wonder if .com has a pic in his stash for that term?)
which can slam Earth a day or so later. But, don't forget it's Bush's fault the earth is undergoing global warming climate change!
Earth is somewhat shielded from solar storms, (again, thanks Halliburton!)
but some of the radiation leaks through our protective magnetic field. Experts say space radiation is one of the biggest threats to current and future space missions, including the effort to establish a lunar based as detailed yesterday by NASA.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006
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You mean to tell me we can track individual sunspots, number them, and give a specific time of "liftoff" of flares, but we can't track every Jose, Pepe and Renaldo that crosses our own border?
If Jose and Pepe were as big as a sunspot - the diameter of the Earth or so - it would be easier to notice them.
#2
Ah, yes, Steve, but if you take into account the length of site from here to the sun vs. a UAV overhead the TX/AZ/Mexico border and how high it is above the "target", I'd bet it'd be about the same. And, you're not starin' at the sun, to boot. Listen, anyone (and I mean anyone) who crosses our Southern (or Northern) border is breaking the law. You only have to have the resolution to see it's not a fluffy bunny before sending in the troops to round him/her up.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 13:24
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FYI: Here is where you can moniter the Sun, and tell when God is having a conniption fit.
#6
"Is Al the new spokesman spokesdork for RayBans?"
There - fixed that for ya', #5 doc. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/06/2006 15:37
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Solar flares do not try to hide. If they did, if they snuck up on the space stations and sattelites in Earth orbit (as the illegals do crossing the border) the problem would be worse.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2006 17:46
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Sunspots are dark regions of the Sun...
Dark is a relative term in use here. Separated from the rest of the sun, it would still be incredibly bright. It would easily be brighter than any planet or star or the headlights of any on coming car just a mere second before impact.
#10
The flares are loaded with X-rays and other radiation, all of which reaches Earth moments after the eruption
Bullshit, the speed of light does not change, time from the sun to earth is around 8 minutes for light, X-Rays and any other form of electromagnetic media.
Ejecta, (Particles) travel much slower and may take days to arrive.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/06/2006 19:15
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According to Closedanger's NOAA link, the fastest ions travel at 40% of lightspeed, and take 22 minutes to arrive.
A new religious syllabus for schools has caused a fury among church groups and politicians after recommending teachers cut down on education about Christianity while increasing lessons in Islam and Hinduism. Teachers in Buckinghamshire were directed to spend 40 per cent of religious education on Christianity, while giving Islam and Hinduism equal play at 20 per cent each. Just ten percent was then to be devoted to other religions - including Judaism - with a final ten per cent on "general concepts".
It was recommended that younger children receive just 36 hours per year of religious education, with that number upped to 45 in the lead up to the GCSEs. However when the lack of time devoted to Christianity sparked protests, Buckinghamshire education authorities reportedly removed those numbers from official documents.
Councillors accused authorities of a cover-up, saying that while the need to teach children about other world religions is obvious the lack of education on Christianity in a Christian country was going too far.
However the Buckinghamshire County Council reportedly hit back saying the changes would not impact taxpayers as printing errors meant the document had to be redrafted anyway. Oh. Well then. Never mind.
The council also insisted Christianity remained the focus of the syllabus, and insisted the new policies provided flexibility for the schools and promoted goodwill, seeking to inform rather than influence children. As long as they hit their target numbers.
However critics reportedly insisted the nation's religion was being turned in to a sideshow in the name of political correctness. I thought it was being rendered non-existent, and I thought ArchDruid Williams was leading the way.
#5
Gee, if you teach anything about religion at all in US schools, the ACLU has a dog-stroke.
Wrong Moose. Anything about Christianity. The ACLU has been AWOL from numerous complaints by parents and students about public education establishments imposing classes about other religions.
How about if parents take their children to Sunday School just like in the old days and set a good example by going to church themselves?
Hokey, you say?
Ain't happening anymore?
But you can see what's moving into the vacuum. No matter what you think some people at some point in their lives will look for something and if all they can find is old Mo and his death cult the cancer spreads.
Who will show them a better way? The public schools?
Yusuf Whats'isnamenow, used to be Cat Stevens, was on TV last Sunday morning (when all the good folk were supposed to be in church). He described how he freaked out while swimming off Malibu, thought he was gonna drown, thought it was a miracle when a wave washed him to shore and then went looking for religion. It's pretty sad what happened after that. Somebody gave him a Quran and nobody had ever taught him any better. Hey, it was just another book on the shelf. He doesn't sing about love and romance anymore. If he sings at all it's all about Allan.
What they capture, they keep. When they lose, they complain to the U.N. By Raymond Ibrahim
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.
PETALUMA (AP) - In this rich agricultural region of Northern California, ranchers have been turning chickens too old to lay eggs into compost at a rate of a half-million hens a year. But some chickens not properly euthanized have been seen crawling out of the compost piles, earning them the name ``zombie chickens'' "BRAINS! BRAINS!"
-- and hatching a debate over what else might be done with them and other ``spent hens.''
A food bank proposed making sausage to feed the poor. A reptile enthusiast suggested using them as food for large exotic pets like pythons and alligators. And an industry group said in the future they could be used as fuel for power plants.
But for now, according to egg farmers in Sonoma County, composting is the only affordable option. The last California rendering plant stopped taking the hens in May. ``If there was something that could be done, it would be done,'' said Petaluma egg farmer Arnie Reibli.
The egg-laying birds have only a pound of usable meat, compared to the 5-pound chickens typically raised for eating. Slaughtering the chickens, even to transport them unprocessed and frozen whole, would likely cost more than composting them, Reibli said. ``Unfortunately, it's less expensive to go out and buy the birds than process them,'' said David Goodman, executive director of the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa, which had considered the sausage-making plan.
To kill the chickens, farmers suffocate them in sealed boxes filled with carbon dioxide, a practice that has drawn the ire of animal rights groups. Then again, most everything draws their ire. They then commence to seethe, cluck and roll their eyes.
A new European technology that turns dead cows into fuel to generate electricity -- and that could be the fate of spent hens someday, said Rich Matteis, head of the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association. Soylent green is the next logical step, with the general aging of Europe and all.
But ``that's not something that's going to be available anytime soon,'' he said. Unlike Soylent green.
#4
To kill the chickens, farmers suffocate them in sealed boxes filled with carbon dioxide, a practice that has drawn the ire of animal rights groups.
What's the problem? It's the most painless way to go imaginable! You get tired all of a sudden, close your eyes, and you're gone. No pain. No nothing. Just gone.
If animal-righters think it's bad somehow, they ought to try it for themselves.
Unlucky: the saga began when Mr Moseley, 36, of Gosport, Hampshire, bought a £5 24-Karat Gold scratchcard. When Steve Moseley thought he'd won £1 million on a scratchcard, he didn't hold back on the celebrations.
Overjoyed, the car salesman danced on his desk, threw money around the showroom, sent a colleague out to buy champagne and phoned his girlfriend to break the good news. He even told his boss: "You can stick your job, I've won the lottery."
That was at 10am. At 10.45am, his luck took a turn for the worse. When he phoned National Lottery operator Camelot to confirm his prize, he was told he didn't have a winning ticket after all. What he had thought were two matching 15s were in fact a 15 and a 16. Oops.
Mr Moseley said he dropped the phone, felt sick - then had to beg his boss to give him back his job. If there is any justice at all in the world, a video of this will be found on YouTube.
The unfortunate saga began when Mr Moseley, 36, of Gosport, Hampshire, bought a £5 24-Karat Gold scratchcard on his way to work at the Fortnums car dealership in Fareham. Once at his desk he scratched off his "lucky weight" which he thought was 15g - not noticing that it said 'SXTN' underneath - then matched it with "another" 15g weight. "I then scratched off the bit that tells you how much you've won and it said one million," he said. "As far as I was concerned, I was a millionaire. All my worries were gone.
"That's when I started celebrating. It was pandemonium - I was dancing all over the desks and screaming and shouting.
"I was telling people to order champagne and I actually started getting money out of my wallet and throwing it at people. It's all quite embarrassing now."
Mr Moseley added: "My boss came in to see what was going on and I told him, 'I've won the lottery. I'm off. You can stick your job'. There didn't seem any point carrying on with my job because as far as I was concerned I had £1 million in my hand."
It was only after phoning girlfriend Theresa Parsons, 27, that he called Camelot. "The woman there asked me if the text matched as well as the figures and that's when I saw one said 'FFTN' but the other said 'SXTN'. I can see the problem, the two look so much alike.
"I dropped the phone. I felt physically sick. I got a magnifying glass out to study the numbers and they looked right but I realised I was never going to get the money. Yeah, I got that a lot, too.
"In my mind I had already ordered the Aston Martin and decided on the colour and suddenly that was taken away from me. I had to go back to my boss and beg for my job back."
His manager, Mike Earle, said: "You see where people's loyalties lie when money like that is involved. He'd been a bit of an idiot - I'd never seen anyone celebrating so much. But I felt sorry for him because I can see the numbers did look genuine on the ticket."
Mr Moseley, who has since resigned to work for another dealer, said: "That night I went out with the missus to drown my sorrows and decided to keep the ticket as a souvenir of how close I came to being a millionaire. I know what it's like to win a million and what it feels like to lose a million."
A Camelot spokesman said: "We have received a very small number of queries about the 24-Karat Gold scratchcard from players about similarities between play symbols. The numeric weights are duplicated by a play caption in words underneath each nugget of gold. We always advise players to check that their ticket definitely is a winner before they take any action." "I mean, come on, this man definitively is an idjit."
Top Iranian Military Commanders: In Case of Attack on Iran, We'll Target U.S. Troops in Gulf; U.S. Warships 'Have No Maneuverability and Are Easily Sunk'; Iranian Suicide Squad Commander: We'll Carry Out Suicide Operations in Gulf Countries
To mark Iran's Basij Week and Navy Day, in late November 2006, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Yahya Rahim Safavi and Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy Commander Admiral Sejad Kouchaki both threatened that Iran would strike U.S. military targets in the Gulf in the event of an attack on Iran. IRGC Commander Safavi made threats against "the 200,000 U.S. troops" stationed in the region, threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz, and said that Iran had not yet given orders to the Iraqi people to fight against the U.S. troops in Iraq. IRGC Navy Commander Kouchaki threatened to sink U.S. warships in the Gulf.
In addition, Firooz Rajai-Far, commander of the Martyrs Brigades, commander of an Iranian volunteer suicide bomber organization, threatened that her group would carry out suicide operations in the Gulf countries if the latter permitted the U.S. military to use U.S. military bases in those countries to launch an attack on Iran.
The following are the main points of reports on the threats:
IRGC Commander Safavi: 200,000 [U.S.] Troops In Their 33 Bases Are Highly Vulnerable
To mark Basij Day, on November 21, 2006 IRGC Commander Yahya Rahim Safavi said, "Any time it wants, Iran can implement its control of the Straits of Hormuz, from whose waters 17 million barrels of oil [per day] leave [the region]...
"The Americans are sunk in the quagmire of Afghanistan and Iraq, and there is no way for them [to move either] forward or backward. Assuming they attack Iran, [then] their 200,000 troops, in their 33 bases, are highly vulnerable. American politicians and military commanders both know this.
"They can start a war, but [the decision to] end [the war] will not be in their hands. In the meantime, we still have not told the Iraqi people to act..." [1]
Iranian Navy Commander: "American Warships Are Heavy... And Easily Sunk"
On November 27, 2006, the Iranian news agency Mehr reported that IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Sejad Kouchaki had said, "We are fully monitoring the route taken by the American [warships in the Gulf], and because American warships are heavy, they have no maneuverability, and are easily sunk." [2]
Iranian Suicide Bomber Organization Threatens Suicide Operations Against U.S. Targets in Gulf
On November 20, 2006, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai reported: "An extremist Iranian group is threatening to carry out suicide operations in the Gulf countries that are allies of the U.S., in the event that the U.S. uses its own bases in these countries to attack Iran." [3]
The paper quoted the commander of the Kataeb Al-Istishhadiyeen (Martyrdom Brigades) organization, Firooz Rajai, [4] as saying: "If the [U.S.] bases in the [Gulf] countries are used by the American forces as a point of departure for an attack [on Iran], these [countries] should not expect to enjoy security while we [Iran] have none." She added: "If some of the [Arab Gulf] countries provide America with bases or camps for them to use for conducting an attack against Iran, is it logical for them to expect security?"
The report also said: "Rajai further clarified that the Martyrdom Brigades, which was founded in 2002, currently included 56 volunteer suicide bombers, and was independent and unconnected to the [Iranian] government or the IRGC.
"She said that she had been one of the students who took over the U.S. Embassy [in 1980] after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and that she would be willing to do it again were [the Embassy] to reopen."
Rajai has been in the Iranian media a number of times, as leader of an Iranian organization of volunteers who have registered to carry out suicide operations against American targets and interests in the region:
· On May 27, 2004, the reformist daily Sharq reported that Rajai-Far was an activist for a local Iranian organization called Hizbullah, and quoted her as saying that "martyrdom operations are the only option to expel the Americans and British from Iraq." [5]
· On June 5, 2004, Sharq reported that Rajai-Far had been one of the organizers of a conference for signing up volunteers for suicide operations against American targets in Iraq and against Israel. The report also said that she had been among the "students who support the line of Imam Khomeini" in their occupation of the U.S. Embassy.
Sharq also quoted Rajai-Far as saying, "The violence of martyrdom operations is the same as the violence of the war, and there is no escape from [this violence]. Although the target of the [martyrdom] operation is military, civilians may also be killed - and this is exactly what the Americans do. When civilians are killed in their [the Americans'] attacks, they blame the inaccuracy of their weapons, and act innocent." [6]
#3
She said that she had been one of the students who took over the U.S. Embassy [in 1980] after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and that she would be willing to do it again were [the Embassy] to reopen."
She must love being suppressed/submissive as what future has a women under the Mad Mullahs!!!!
#4
"American Warships Are Heavy... And Easily Sunk"
Taking on the US Navy worked SOOO well the last time they tried it (in 1988). After 12 hours what was left of their Navy was pretty much gone.
#5
In addition, Firooz Rajai-Far, commander of the Martyrs Brigades, commander of an Iranian volunteer suicide bomber organization, threatened that her group would carry out suicide operations in the Gulf countries if the latter permitted the U.S. military to use U.S. military bases in those countries to launch an attack on Iran.
This actually gives me hope. We know (no offense Rantburg Ladies) with a woman at the helm, under the MM's, there are NOT that many "volunteers" to go kaboom. Article states later it's only 56 "volunteers."
And, when I've seen the sea trials of the USS Reagan (the carrier) on Discovery Channel and it was quoted as saying it's top speed was 30 or so knots, I don't think the USN is as "heavy" or "unmanuverable" as the dear Admiral thinks, lol! Seeing the Reagan going full speed and tilting her entire deck 15 degrees from horizontal is quite the site to see for a ship that large!
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 13:54
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#6
I'll huff, and I'll puff
and I'll blow your house down!
Hat tip: Big Bad Wolf to the Three Little Pigs
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 14:10
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#7
No offence taken, BA dear. There really isn't any comparison between our professional Rantburg ladies and the Iranian version of Moving Black Objects. I'd be as proud to load for them, at need, as for the Rantburg gentlemen, knowing they are each good for "one bullet, one enemy."
#8
The Japanese sacrificed 10,000 kamikazes and failed to stop our fleet. The fleet's defenses have improved somewhat since those days, while (to say the least) the suicide attackers have not improved at all.
#9
One more time ... Why not take these proclamations seriously? Make sure they are broadcast to the American public so they understand the layers of threats that Iran continues to make against us. A weekly White House newsreel of these warpath rantings by our foes would go a long way towards militating the American public against jihadism.
Not doing this continues to support Islam's ostensible and very wrong label as The Religion of Peace [spit]. If public opinion is ever going to be shifted to the war-footing this nation needs to be on, it is these flagrantly hostile declarations by our enemies that should be given a thorough airing.
The Bush administration may well go down in history as being the most inept at utilizing modern media to promote its vision. All the more tragic in that, by comaprison to the rudderless democrats, at least they DO have some sort of vision.
#10
How many "news" networks, outlets, does Bush control?
Who actually watches Tony Snow's performance, the main means of disseminating Bush's position on everything, other than the MSM?
If you watched TV, you'd know that when it comes to getting the word out on topics such as this it's pretty much limited to Fox. And that's available to what - maybe 20%, 25%, 30% of the US population? It was 17.3% in 2000...
There isn't a MaGIk wANd when the entire media establishment, sans fewer outlets than you have fingers, are determined to torpedo everything you do.
Sad, that. I think we agree that Hunter / Killer Teams just might be needed to correct this imbalance. Meanwhile, let's apply some common sense to our condemnations.
#11
"The Bush administration may well go down in history as being the most inept at utilizing modern media to promote its vision. All the more tragic in that, by comaprison to the rudderless democrats, at least they DO have some sort of vision."
Agree 100%. It amazes me how inept they appear to be at getting the word out, at even defending themselves. As if the press is going to go easier on them when they see blood in the water?
I don't. My television has not been powered up for over five years now. Not even to watch movies or DVDs, VHS, nada, zip, zero, bupkus. You should see the layer of dust on my remote. I am doing my best to punish the MSM by killing their viewing numbers in exchange for their treason.
There isn't a MaGIk wANd when the entire media establishment, sans fewer outlets than you have fingers, are determined to torpedo everything you do.
So, you're saying that the MSM would refuse to air a five or ten minute weekly White House press conference devoted to getting this message out? Media channels that refused to carry a presidential address to the American people would take some sort of noticeable hit if they did.
Sad, that.
It most definitely is, but Bush's inability to rally, if not actual support, at least the strength of fluency by regularly working the media has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lack of exposure has snowballed into near-obscurity.
I think we agree that Hunter / Killer Teams just might be needed to correct this imbalance.
No "think" about it, .com. On this we have always agreed and my support for such a notion only increases with passing time, as does my desire to see it extended further down into the ranks of Islam's command chain. Summary execution of jihadist imams on a worldwide basis still represents one of the single most cost-effective ways of stifling Islam's propaganda machine and recruitment activities. A dozen or two well-orchestrated hits could achieve this in just a few month's time.
Meanwhile, let's apply some common sense to our condemnations.
Believe it or not, your accusations of BDS notwithstanding, it is more a lamentation than condemnation. However much I disagree with numerous aspects of Bush's domestic agenda, I have always backed his approach to foreign policy. As has been mentioned here before, there is nothing to debate about terrorism. The disservice he has done to both himself and the American people is largely self-inflicted. As others have noted, Bush has THE bully pulpit of all time and has not utilized it to anywhere near its full effect, which is my major point.
Yes, the MSM is torpedoeing much of the White House's agenda, especially in the Global War on Terrorism. For that they need to held accountable. I do so by refusing to be co-opted into their commercial merchandising of the American viewing public. I now reside exclusively on the Internet. I think you are allowing my critical posture regarding Bush to blind you to some realistic appraisal of why this administration has fallen flat in the last several months. I'm not hollering about stupidity. It's more a case of ineptitude, which is something altogether different.
#14
Not watching TV is not a badge of courage or intellectual superiority - it's cutting off available information. Nothing more. Quit being a snob - it's simply foolish.
Actually, the network outlets do not consider us to be at war, merely entrenched in a bloody quagmire that is solely Bush's fault. It's not WW-II and FDR's dead. So is patriotism in the MSM. Nevermind that every leading DhimmiDonk was in favor, vocally so, about going into both Afghanistan and Iraq - WMD's were only part of their reasoning regards Iraq, same as Bush - that is all conveniently and conspiratorially forgotten. So no, the MS outlets won't be giving Bush a steady diet of their valuable airtime. He does interviews regularly, so their newsies get that valuable face-time, where he makes his pitch and points. Since you've cut yourself off, you don't actually know bupkus - cuz the rest of the MSM only mines them for mistakes or faux pas - gotcha journalism.
You know I agree about selective whacking - you talk mainly about imams - I agree: a most worthy collection of targets. I am even more interested in domestic wetwork, which definitely puts me outside the pale. To say more would be stupid, but I believe our grief starts here at home and our solution must also start here. It's only getting worse, domestically, too. We can thank the MSM - no pass from me.
Bush is a guy who does what he thinks is right. We'll always, all of us, wish for more or different focus and intensity. Such is reality. He's said he will not allow the Mullahs to get nuclear weapons. I believe him. That's it.
You do, regularly, dismiss 6 years in which Bush has done what he thinks is right - and it overlaps considerably with the goals we both desire, I believe. Where it doesn't, you sometimes wax nasty or, at the least, are unwilling to accept that you do not know what he knows, you do not know what he plans to do, you do not know what resources he has to work with, and you do not acknowledge the restraint under which he must operate.
We're on the same side, but bashing the team captain is mostly non-productive and a morale-killer. That's my take.
#15
Not watching TV is not a badge of courage or intellectual superiority - it's cutting off available information. Nothing more. Quit being a snob - it's simply foolish.
Where do I make any claims like that? I hate commecial broadcast television and that's that. The Internet is proving itself to be a superior avenue for news gathering and blogs like Rantburg are proof it.
We're on the same side, but bashing the team captain is mostly non-productive and a morale-killer.
So, no one is suppoed to speak up if the coach begins making the wrong calls? There has to be a balance struck somewhere. Perhaps, that is what is being explored at places like this. I would certainly say so in light of my own avowed determination to publically defend Bush against impeachment for any pre-emptive strikes against Iran or North Korea.
#17
Lol, c'mon. Your snobbery literally screams, lol. That's some funny shit.
You can criticize the Team Captain, if it makes sense. Sometimes what you say doesn't take that nasty little bitch called reality into account. You expect to get what you want. We'd all like that, lol, but when's the last time it happened when it was up to hundreds of others, approx 536 others, to make it so? I'm as frustrated as you. Hell, maybe more... cuz what follows is so far from the foreign actions needed.
I definitely would go straight to jail if what I wanted to do "locally" was declared publically and perceived as threat, lol, so I refrain. The strain is killing me, too, lol.
#19
In September 1988, the minelayer Iran Ajr was captured and scuttled during Operation Prime Chance. On 14 April 1988, Iranian mines nearly sank the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58); four days later, U.S. forces retaliated by sinking the Iranian warships Joshan and Sahand and several small armed powerboats in Operation Praying Mantis.
Iran added patrol boats, submarines and surface-launched anti-ship missiles in the 1990s. Iran replaced Western ships with purchases from Russia, China, and North Korea. It engaged in naval exercises with Pakistan and India.
Ummm ... no. I expect only one thing, the right to free speech, which this site does a particularly superb job of protecting. Thank you Fred and all the moderators.
#23
You really are a "Chin", I guess, posting from Taipei. Oh look! The Big Chin wants to swallow the little, tiny, micro Chin. So yeah, bash Bush. I'm sure he'll come rushing to save you when the Big Chin gets hungry...
#25
And to think that Iran was coming to the US begging for talks
And we all know just how incredibly productive the last several years worth of "talks" between Iran and Europe have been. Why don't you try having some "talks" with the Chinese communists. I'm certain they'll make all sorts of glowing, wonderful promises to you. Just like they did with that cemetary of human rights, Hong Kong.
You live in one of the most dynamic and productive democratic powerhouses in all of Asia, if not the world and have the unmitigated gall to drop in and sneer at those who are most dedicated to defending your tiny nation against one of the single largest remaining global threats.
Do me a favor, go brew a nice big pot of scalding hot tea and then spill it in your lap.
#27
I'm very interested in this MSM & the administration get the word out angle you guys have touched on. I've thought about this situation some. Hence, I'd like to raise some constructive criticisms for conjecture. Seems to me that Tony Snow is just one man but does have great access to FOX. Q: Could the present admin not hire several Tony Snow types to flood the other msm outlets? I.E. - a group of media "fixxer teams" that counter all the lies, half-truths, and deceits by omission propogated by the msm wrt Iraq/WoT/Iran etc. It would take some money and finding some people w/talent, but I dare say this website not only attains the right info to counter strike the msm & the ignorance of the average folk but also has the right minds and articulate posters to back it up. I realize the msm may not give a lot of time to alternate (i.e. conservative) view points (except for fox) but I have to think if pestered enough and if the admin was aggressive enough, the msm would have to air it. Another factor is that imho the admin needs to harshen up their tone wrt islam. No more religion of peace references. That only placates the lefty whackos. I really think that the 70% of Americans in the middle know deep down the real deal. Any thoughts?
#28
There are Pubbie "consultants" that roam the airwaves - trying to get on the talking head shows, FOX is the easy one, since they always put one of each on to spit at each other, lol.
The other outlets don't invite them very often and, of course, what topic are open and what a operative is allowed to say is tightly controlled by the host.
The exceptions are things like Lynne Cheney - who took Wolfie Blitzer's head off for being a disingenuous ass. One of the funniest things I've ever watched, heh.
Sometime Russert allows some pretty open wheeling and dealing, but he wants the Pols, not operative, so you need to get the real Pubbies on - and give them a steroid shot beforehand.
Truth is, the message doesn't get out because the MSM controls the avenues to their outlets pretty carefully and don't allow anyone to wander too far, unless it's a Bush-Bash, of course - that's always welcome. The fact that Olbermann and O'Donnell still have jobs sorta proves that point.
I dunno. They own the game. Fox is pretty much IT in the TV world. We can count the reliable online / print outlets with any audience size on one hand.
#29
Good points. I guess that's why talk radio is so popular and has taken over a lot of news business from the traditional outlets. I would really like just once for GWB to have a press conference and call shenannigans/bullshit on certain stories and those msm outlets that perpetuated them. Heck, I'd love for him to dime out a whacky journalist or some editorial page by name and call them on their idiocy. Some Dennis Miller-like sarcastic thrashing would be awesome (though GW seems like too nice of a guy to do it). Speaking of which, GW needs a Miller type to thrash morons in the media on a regular basis - too bad that isn't part of Snow's job description - now that would be entertaining.
#30
We'll Carry Out Suicide Operations in Gulf Countries
Oh the horror. Yawn. Gee, do you suppose they'll sit still for that? Or come over and beat on you. I guess that would leave you hoping that the other nations will blame the US and beat on them instead, or the US will somehow protect the MMs' sorry a$$es.
#31
I think you've nailed something about Bush that goes to the core of the problem - and it's as much perception as anything. He's a guy who thinks like a Yale MBA - sort of a genial CEO. Loyal to a fault - I think Tenet and Minetta prove that one. Delegates, truly delegates to subordinates - and authority is commensurate with responsibility... think Rummy. And he forgives them when they fail - expects them to learn and try again... think Abizaid, Casey, et al. I used to work for a guy like that, and when he retired I immediately left, his replacement was an authoritarian asshole who didn't know fuckall about the computer services biz, and ran off to Saudi as a contractor, lol.
It's clear Bush has stainless steel or titanium skin. He is not freaked out, like everyone else is - and assumes he must be. Calm, nonplussed, plugging away doing what he thinks is right. Interviewers figure it out - the public perception is dead wrong. That's why I'm sure he'll keep his word on Iran.
If he had an alligator, someone who could and would go after the zoomers, chew some ass, scare the bejeezus out of 'em, it would be very sweet - at least for us. Not sure if it would actually "rally" the public - that's a perception / belief born of this echo chamber, lol... untested out there among the majority who're fed Katie Couric and Wolfie Blitzer everyday. Funny thing is, it would not change Bush one iota. He'd still be doing what he's doing. And everyone would still be infuriated and frustrated and freaked out and bubbling with BDS.
#32
Am I right that Wolf Blitzer is CNN? And CNN has been losing market share steadily for years... as have the worst of the BDS-suffering mainstream media producers, like the LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post, etc. And the market share of conservative talk radio keeps rising. So I suspect the number of people who actually believe the vicious nonsense so unrelated to reality that's been pumped out by the MSM continues to fall to some asymtote correlatable to the number of donors to the Democratic Party (a smallish number, most of whom like to throw good money after bad in large amounts). It's just that so many of the believers actually work in the journalism-related industries, and tend to be awfully noisy.
And of course, sites like Rantburg are largely parasitic on the journalism profession, so we get a concentrated dose here... Now I'll go read the article, after trying to digest everything y'all said in the thread. I hope it's as interesting! ;-)
#34
I realize the msm may not give a lot of time to alternate (i.e. conservative) view points (except for fox) but I have to think if pestered enough and if the admin was aggressive enough, the msm would have to air it. Another factor is that imho the admin needs to harshen up their tone wrt islam. No more religion of peace references. That only placates the lefty whackos.
All good points which I myself have been making as well, Broadhead6.
#35
I became convinced that the President would go after Iran, when he put the current crisis in context of future "generations" of Americans. I became more convinced when he only said that ONCE. Similarly, the great President Reagan would make singular statements and when he moved he would say, I told you so.
GWB: whatever you do, do it quietly and brutally and we will read about it in our morning papers and NOT in some leak to CNN weasels.
#36
True, Bush obviously doesn't give a rat's ass about polls, and I admire that. (unlike the Huxter who was so frickin' co-dependent he needed to be liked no matter what that did to the posterity of the country). However, I wish Bush had some hard-ass guy out there telling the real story and going after the assholes in the media. Here's a thought - Maybe a job for Bolton?
#38
Bolton for Press Secretary/MSM breaker. Melikey. And, when he's busy doing his hair, maybe Ms. Coulter could step in?
Of course, there's always JOE M too! That'd REALLY throw 'em!
My take...Yes, Bush needs to "get the word out" more and more eloquently. However, I truly do believe that the majority of "flyover" country gets it. They may not be visiting RB every day, but Fox News is creaming the Cable competition full-tilt. Yeah, we lost some during the last election, but that was AFTER constant 24/7 wailing and nashing of teeth by the MSM, the Newsrags, the Newsmags, etc. I truly believe (as some have stated here before) that as the younger generations age to voting age, they'll come around to our side. They're not afraid of the internet, and in fact, use it for non-mainstream news.
Add to that, that 98 of the 100 top fastest growing Counties in the nation vote Repub full-tilt. Throw on top of that the "Roe effect" that Taranto (Opinion Journal) screams about, and the future does TRULY look brighter, as long as the Repubs don't go off the reservation too much more (spending, illegal immigration, etc.).
One final court of public opinion is slowly being taken away from the LLL too. The Supreme Court. In some ways, I believe Bush's picks to sit on this bench are as important domestically as the WoT is globally. In fact, when the "Human Rights" groups/ACLU/Amnesty Int'l/et al get through with their crusade to give the jihadis every "right" in the book, this could very well backfire. Like .com said, Bush is not only sticking to his guns by what he's DOING, but he is a "big picture" or "long term" thinker. I take him at his word that he'll deal with Iran as needed. I truly believe his eye is not only on what needs to be done immediately, but looking long term and how to "hand off" this war, as it will NOT be completed by Jan. 2009, when he leaves office. For that, I'm completely thankful, and willing to take our lumps in the media department. Truly a "watch the hand, not the mouth" situation.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 22:32
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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will not give up his position as the chief of the army before polls next year. In an interview to a private Indian TV channel, the Pakistani ruler, who came to power in a coup in 1999, said he would continue to hold the job as the army chief as long as the constitution allowed him to.
"The constitution allows me to hold it till 2007, so I will hold it. So if the elections, as I said are in November, I will be in uniform," Musharraf said.
Musharraf said it was not easy to give up the army uniform. "It's not easy, because there are some perceptions. At this moment what Pakistan is facing needs a unity, a unity of command over important organs of state, which includes the military, the political and the bureaucracy."
The president, however, did not give a definite date for the polls, saying they could be held late 2007 or early 2008.
Musharraf also told the network that he would not allow exiled former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to contest elections next year as both of them have been convicted by court.
Both of them are convicted. One of them has gone out (of Pakistan) for 10 years for an agreement, by himself. And the other is out since, Musharraf said.
In reply to a question whether he was scared of the duo, he said: I am not scared of anything and anybody.
Describing the upcoming polls as the mother of all elections, he said he hoped moderate forces would win. I have a desire and I have a hope. I think that should happen. I have a hope that moderate forces must win. I have started calling it the mother of all elections after I borrowed the term from Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2006
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#1
Neener, neener - I am not scared of anything or anybody!
Foreign-Driven Reforms Not Welcome, Says Brahimi Be gone, infidels!
DUBAI, 6 December 2006 There is consensus in the Arab world that foreign-driven reforms are not wanted, Lakhdar Brahimi, former special adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, told delegates at the Arab Strategy Forum.
There is consensus in our region that most of our regimes are not performing well. Very serious reform is needed. This concern has reached the governments and they recognize that they need to reform, Brahimi said at the second days plenary session titled The Future of Arab Regimes: Stagnation and Change? The future of Arab regimes? Funny he should ask that, since it is whatever Allan wills it. Is he some kind of heretic or something?
But there is also consensus that foreign-driven reforms and agenda are not wanted. They do not work and are not welcome, Brahimi declared to applause from the audience. He also stated that the success or failure of a regime is based not on the length of time it has served, but on what it is seen as having done for the people and the country. He'd better hope no one at home is listening to any of this ...
Lisa Andersen, dean of School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, said that public perception of Arab regimes is confused. Opposition to regimes is sliding into opposition to states, which is a crisis, she said while referring to the situation in Iraq and Lebanon as a case in point.
Speaking at a session titled US November Elections: Implications for the World, Rami G. Khouri, Editor-at-Large, The Daily Star, said that the region is seeing peculiar new alliances like the one between Shiite Iran and Sunni Islamic groups. Were finally seeing the full consequences of the end of the global cold war in the region. Now it is a regional cold war.
A majority of regimes in the region, Khouri pointed out, are desperately trying to get the protection of the US. At the same time, political Islamists are gaining mass appeal. In the last 10 years, every single election held in the region has been won by political Islamists. There is a massive split in public opinion in countries in the Middle East, he said.
However, the world may have to live with the absence of a counter-balancing global power for a while, said Victor Chu, chairman, First Eastern Investment. It will take time for China to be a global leader that can restore the balance of power.
"Just sign here."
"What's that?"
"It's our UNSC Democracy, Disability, and Dismemberment Policy."
"Uh, how much?"
"If you have to ask, you can't afford us."
"Maybe we should talk to Tsar Putty, first..."
"Okay, okay - 10% off, one-time offer. Take it or leave it."
Talking about the impact of last months American Senate elections on US foreign policy, speakers said that the Democrat victory puts increasing pressure on the US to make a policy change in Iraq.
Robert Malley, director, Middle East and North Africa Program, International Crisis Group, said that the results of the recent elections were largely determined by foreign policy on Iraq. Though a Democrat-led Congress may not be able to influence foreign policy change, Iraq is an exception to the rule.
#2
I'll bet. Our icky reforms are so repulsive to their Arab world sensibilities:
One man OR woman, one vote.
Treating women like human beings rather than things.
Ending death sentences-or any sentences-for apostasy. In fact, let's just make that ensuring freedom of religion.
Stopping your sons and daughters and grandmothers from blowing up neighbors and friends when they disagree with your political aims.
Nope-we'll do it our way. Women, cover up. Poor people wo want a voice, shut up. Non-Muslims, tits up. 14-yr-old martyrs for Allah, blow up. My, aren't things looking up now! The reforms done our way in the Middle East will once again show the world that our culture needs no western intervention, no reform to 21st century ideals. Our old ways are best. Allah says. The reformed caliphate is on its way! Lulululululu!
#4
We should let it be known that if Democracy in Iraq fails the US policy will be to support dismemberment of totalitarian states along ethnic lines so as to avoid human rights abuses and genocide.
The Europeans made a mess when they drew the borders. Someone is gonna have to clean up that mess at some point.
Sure - it can be eradicated, just like any other infectious pathogen. Just gotta kill off the carriers, the hosts, and the infected asshats who refuse treatment. Oh, and take the nest away.
JEDDAH, 6 December 2006 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday emphasized that Islam would remain strong despite the efforts by enemies to destroy the religion and weaken its followers. I can tell you that there is no power on earth that can defeat your faith, the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as saying. But watch out for Jooos! They will do stuff, terrible stuff, nasty stuff, they are behind every bush - wait, we don't have bushes, um - except for those nasty ones with the biting flies (heh), I mean rock! They are behind every Bad Thing! They are Jooos!
King Abdullah made the remarks while receiving Interior Minister Prince Naif, who is the chairman of the Supreme Commission for Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud International Prize for Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies, and the commission members at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh. I receive you, oh Half-Brother! (Cue TV cameras!)
Islam is currently under attack, but its sons are capable of defending it with their faith and morals. You will certainly emerge victorious by the grace of God, the king said and praised Muslims for their strong faith in God and their religion. I congratulate every Muslim for his adherence to Islam. This is a faith that will not face any danger at all. No, of course not! Except for Jooos!
King Abdullah urged all Muslims to join their hands in the fight against deviants. I am sorry to say that some members of this deviant group are our children but they are enticed by Satan, he said, referring to Al-Qaeda sympathizers in the Kingdom. Right hands only! Now join up in a big circle, oh, wait, can't do that with only one hand, um... The Jooos did it! I blame the Joos!
The Interior Ministry recently announced the arrest of 136 militants plotting to carry out terrorist operations inside the country. Oh Allan, save us - deviants! Prolly Jooos! Abdullah also praised Prince Naif for his efforts to promote research and studies on the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is the duty of every Muslim to support the Sunnah, he added. And Research! Research our unchanging 1400 year old Islam, Dear Half-Brother! More research is needed!
The Supreme Commission of the Prize had chosen King Abdullah as the recipient of the prize in appreciation of his many efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims, particularly the initiative he had taken to hold an emergency summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Makkah. Wow - who'da thunk it! The King Wins! Wotta Guy! Best Janitor in the Sunnah, the Ummah, in all of Islam!
During the meeting Prince Naif presented a certificate, citation and shield to the king. Behold, Dear Half-Brother! The Certificate! Untouched by Jooos!
Earlier, Prince Saud ibn Naif, deputy chairman of the commission, thanked the king for his support to the prize. Your Majesty has said earlier that this prize is a blessed addition to Saudi Arabias efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims, Saud recalled. The prize was distributed to its winners by Crown Prince Sultan on Sunday during a ceremony attended by Saudi and foreign dignitaries. Thank you for supporting The Prize! Surprise! We award you with it! Circle-jerk!
The Prophets Sunnah Prize was awarded to Basim Al-Jawabra, a Jordanian national, for his research titled Infidelity Charges in the Light of the Prophets Sunnah. Who? Jawabra... Sounds like Jooo! Where's al Bishi!
In the same category, another prize was given to Saudi national Nawal Al-Eid for her research paper titled: The Rights of Women in the Prophets Sunnah. Eid? Eid?!!? Oh, it's only a woman. Research? You're joking with the King? Hurry up. Next!
Mohammad Waqiallah Ahmed, a Sudanese national, won the Contemporary Islamic Studies Prize for his research titled: Islam in Current Western Curricula Review and Criticism. The winners were selected from 306 research papers submitted to the jury. Ah - more Research stuff! Wonderful! Sudan? Wha? Move along.
#1
Dot com, apparently you've never disturbed those biting flies that rest in the desert bushes during the hottest part of the day. Else you would remember both bush and fly.;) Der Katze
#4
I can tell you that there is no power on earth that can defeat your faith
It is not "power on earth" that will defeat their
"faith":
Ephesians 6:12 For our wrestling is not against
flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world's rulers of
the darkness of this age, and against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places.
#7
Don't laugh, they've got the money, the will, and even the warm bodies.
We have nukes and the means to deliver them. All we need are the balls.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2006 13:32
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#8
I can tell you that there is no power on earth that can defeat your faith,
The Kingy needs to study that nuclear physics thingy.
This is a faith that will not face any danger at all.
In this he is actually correct. Islam resolutely refuses to face up to the imminent danger it is in. There appears to be not a single hope that they will ever indulge in a moment's retrospection that would instantly reveal how Islam's obsession with jihadism will bring about the Muslim holocaust.
Much as I dislike the notion of losing one quarter of this world's population, Islam's steadfast refusal to re-evaluate its antagonistic doctrine rightfully entitles it to annihilation. This impending obliteration is entirely wrought by their own hand.
The self-congratulatory wanking shown in the above article provides strong evidence of just how little hope there is for any revision or reformation on Islam's part. Nature long ago established the penalty for entities that cannot adapt symbiotically. It is now time that the host body went about shedding itself of this crippling parasite.
Had me going there for a minute. After the other day's interview with the official headchopper and the Soddy tourism PR campaign, I thought it was going to be an interview with the actual janitor. Of course, that prolly would have been much more enlightening.
The president of Pakistan pledged yesterday to ban the sale of brides along with other controversial customs that deny women basic human rights.
Gen Pervez Musharraf announced that his government would shortly push through legislation that would also ensure women's rights to their inheritance. "A Bill is being considered to remove unjust social practices against women and it should be passed by the parliament," Gen Musharraf told a women's convention in the capital, Islamabad.
He said that the legislation would ban the sale of women in marriage and end the age-old practice of marrying women to the Koran. The practice is used in some rural areas by families who symbolically condemn their daughters to a spartan life dedicated to the religious book, without a partner or material possessions. Woman married in this way automatically lose their right to inherit property.
The planned legislation was also aimed at ending the practice of giving women in marriage to settle disputes, and also at reforming divorce laws. "I am proud that the government is considering this law for your betterment and I shall always stand by you," said Gen Musharraf.
His pledge came a week after he defied protests by religious fundamentalists and signed into law a Protection of Women Bill amending the country's Islamic rape legislation.
He confounded his liberal critics who did not believe that he had the resolve to act on his vision of "enlightened moderation". "The women's protection Bill is just the beginning and it was a victory for the entire nation and a victory for moderates," he said.
Teams of 20 to 30 will train units in bid to calm violence
BAGHDAD: American commanders in Iraq already are shifting thousands of combat troops into advisory positions with Iraqi Army and police units, especially in the capital, in their latest attempt to bring sectarian violence under control.
Changes in troop assignments over just the past three weeks included moving about 1,000 American soldiers in Baghdad from traditional combat roles to serve as trainers and advisers to Iraqi units, senior American officers said in interviews here. Commanders say they believe a major influx of American advisers can add spine and muscle to Iraqi units that will help them to move into the lead in improving security.
The troops have been reassigned by commanders, who have not sought additional combat troops to replace them. While the troops have not been through the special program for trainers set up by the military, they are working in their areas of expertise, commanders said.
#3
Sucks the Big One, don't it? I'm pretty much burned out on Iraq, now. Still a month to go before the assholes actually take power and they're already warming up the Peace with Honor Big Skedaddle thingy. Been there, seen that.
#4
While I am also tired of the Iraq news, and want the Dems to get on with solving the world's problems (the price of gas has risen 15% here since the election; I want some Pelosi scalp!)- this article is really just more of the same gloom and doom.
"Help them move into the lead" - many are already in the lead, and those of us who read here know that there are examples of courage and heroics in the Iraqi Army that somehow leak past the MSM filters.
"And no replacement troops are being asked for" means either 'don't try and sneak in more troops later under the guise of more trainers', or 'the rest of the troops are being left unprotected', or both.
"As you stand up the teams, you stand down the combat units." Where have I heard that before?
"The teams will watch more for abuses" - meaning they have not been watching enough, and if we had just left Saddam in power, the abuses (if any) would've been less visible (better).
"Risk to trainers became evident..." Duh. Risks to newsmen? Risks to innocents? War zone? 72 raisins? Get a clue.
"Resulting in more civilian casualties..." is the cloud over the silver lining of less American involvement. Durn war. So little upside. Just that there is lotsa fodder for hungry press folks.
"Red lines, if crossed..." means the MSM will still be able to critize the Americans for what the Iraqi Army does bad. "Have they crossed the 'Red Line' yet?"
It's still a long war to "unfunding" the war, and the opposition does not have a mechanized army, in the guise of 'insurgents' (a la North Vietnam) to march in after the Americans withdraw.
So cheer up! Send the ACLU a Christmas card!
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 6:26
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#5
Yeah, you're right. Just feeling kinda low, trading Rummy for Gates, Bolton leaving, etc - not the best week of the year. I just had this flashback feeling thingy... If it wasn't for the fact that Pelosi is terminally retarded, lol. HTF did she ever get to be the Dhimmi House Leader, anyway? Her technique that good? Ah well, I'm sure everything will be purdy peachy, real soon, now. Heh.
#6
No Pelosi isn't permanently 'retartded' - Lets not allow her to use that excuse. She isn't retarded and knows exactly what she is doing and shold be held fully responsible for her actions. Her problem is that she is more interested in advancing her agenda that of her 'friends' and achieving power at any price then she is in supporting and governing the United States.
She and her ilk are willing to trade Iraqi lives and our freedom for her personal power.
And the opposition does have a army to roll and start the bloodbath (see Vietnam/Cambodia) after we 'redeploy'. Lets not forget that the opposition is Iran who is seeking desperately to become a 'regional power' and obtain a stranglehold on oil exports (along with Chavez). If they can get that then they can practically dictate terms of our surrender.
Pelosi and her friends know all this - they are not retarded - you don't get where they are by being so. They, like europe, think they can get good surrender terms which will allow them to stay in power.
#7
To actually consider the article, I think it is a good thing, that is, placing larger numbers of Americans with Iraqis at all levels of their military.
The reason being is that we really want to change their military *culture* to one of professionalism. We have to break them of hundreds of years of Arabic bad habits of all sorts, and get them to want to do things the proper military way--and only the proper military way.
Their biggest damn problem is that there is nothing in their culture to compel them to stay in uniform, stay on post, and do their duty even when they would rather be at home with their family. No sense to total commitment to their uniform and their unit.
By placing Americans with them, it provides an example, and evaluation, and it checks over their shoulder to insure that they are not infiltrators or misusing their authority. Most importantly, it gives the unit time to get its act together, while giving it objective performance analysis. Their commander can no longer lie about unit performance.
Before negative comparisons with Vietnam are made, remember that after the US pulled out, and left the ARVN with no support whatsoever against an enemy with unlimited support from Russia, the training we had given the ARVN was good enough for them to hold out for TWO YEARS.
And that training was only a small percentage of what we have given the Iraqis. And the Iraqis are not fighting a conventional foreign army in numbers--even if foreigners are supporting their insurgents.
So when we pull out, we want the Iraqi military to be the backbone of their nation, hopefully much like Turkey's military. And, if necessary, able to take charge of the government if things go to hell.
#8
Its one half the program. They've missed using the program used in Korea for KATUSAs [Korean Augmentees to the United States Army]. Koreans with a little bit of English were placed one or two per squad or section. They provided some linguistic support. It came in valuable a number of times during my tour. They, however, got to live among Americans and say first hand that the old bane of corruption and abuse of authority was not accepted as normal. This was not only important in the direct and immediate military sense, it paid off for those who completed their time and went back into government and business afterward. In Korea theres a KATUSA oboy network. Business, were talking names like Samsung, Goldstar, etc wanted those who had done their tours for those reasons among others.
#10
Good trainers are rarer than the politicos think. Poor training may be worse than no training.
At this point in time, people also need to recall that Iraq and its government are running things. If there are problems with Iraqi units, they bear a great deal of the responsibility. One of the things we should be trying to teah the Iraqis is personal responsibility. The answer to poor unit operation may very well be making the Iraqis responsible. Daddy can't do everything.
#12
#10 - Chuck: It's hard to instill personal responsibility when Allan says that everything that happens is HIS will. You're fighting 1400 years of conditioning. Most NCOs and just about ALL officers higher in rank than Lieutenant have been through at least one situation where they've been in a training role, and know how to act.
Vietnam turned into a disaster because Congress withheld funds to supply the Vietnamese army with guns, ammunition, and supplies, including aircraft fuel. The Vietnamese weren't so much defeated as simply ran out of the ability to fight. There's so much crap lying around in Iraq the Iraqi army could probably scrounge enough to fight for five or ten years. Much, if not most, of the Iraqi army are learning, and performing quite well. They've pretty much mastered fire discipline, which is a heavy indicator of how far they've come. They're developing coordinated operations, and their NCOs are becoming more effective at small unit actions. The senior officers are still a problem, but I see them being phased out over the next five to ten years as junior officers progress up the ladder.
What's going on here, I think, is that Abazaid knows that Congress may pull the rug out from under his command at any time, and wants to accomplish as much as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. He understands that if we pull out, the Iraqi army will bear the entire brunt of defending the nation against both Al-Qaida and Iran. He wants to give them as much of a chance as possible.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2006 12:38
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#13
"We're going to double, triple, quadruple the size of the transition teams," Pittard said on a recent visit to the main training base for the Iraqi Army, in a windswept area called Kirkush near the Iranian border.
Was that the sound of the Mad Mullahs' sphincters tightening I hear? Mehopes that a LOT of our "trainers" at this base are SpecOps taking a "peek" over the border there.
And, in general, I'm with OP's opinion I think Abizaid sees the "writing on the wall" and wants to make the best of a bad situation when the Donks start defunding the war effort. The parallels to Vietnam are uncanny and it makes me want to spit p!ss in Pelosi's Bran Flakes if she allows this to happen again. Live by 2 quotes:
(1) "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
(2) "All it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."
I'm not giving up on our Congress yet (remember, most of the Donk Freshmen are fairly conservative or at least, moderate). Pelosi's basically 0-for-2 in her nominating far-left politicos to head positions, so maybe we and/or the Iraqis can weather the storm the next 2 years and win this thing, once and for all.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 14:16
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#14
Just like Vietnam... in reverse. Boggle.
I was thinking the exact same thing, .com.
What is left is for the vocal minority of us to demonstrate in the streets against the de-escalation of the war.
#15
What was interesting is that at the confirmation/coronation ceremony over in the Senate the entire group was trying one-up each other on how fast they could condemn/surrender in Iraq. This whole Iraq Study Group is nothing but a boondoggle. We are already training Iraqi units to take over security, so the whole premise of the ISG is restating what we are already doing in Iraq. The press makes it sound like the Military was simply bumbling around until viola the ISG explains they need to establish security in Iraq for democracy to grow. WELL DUH! What did they think we were doing prior to this?
#16
The press's reaction to the ISG's report is an indication of the level of BDS in the media : all the ISG's report has done is formalize through a comittee of politicians what the military has been doing for the past 3 years in Iraq. We have been training and leading Iraqi units in the fight against terrorists in Iraq from the beginning. Now, it is the stated policy of the US to do that; cut-and-run is too damaging politically for the Dems to try it right now. So THEY will claim that they "forced a change on the Bush Administration", and use that for their election commercials in '08.
And the idea that having the Iraqis doing the biggest part of the fighting and dying in the Iraqi Campaign is somehow losing is beyond me. We want them to run their damn country, and defend it against enemies foreign and domestic. The US military is not the world's greatest nanny and cleanup service, the Iraqis will have to take their lumps and run things on their own at a certain point. What we need to do is make sure that enough of the ex-Soviet hardware leftover from Saddam's period is rehabed so that the Iraqi Army can be a mechanized force, before 2008. Because in 2008, the Dems will be ready to do a cut-and-run on the Iraqis - due to the Dems' internal dynamics in their primaries.
BTW, why would anyone want to listen to James Baker? Like I heard on the radio today, when an Iraqi citizen was aksed about James Baker and the ISG, he replied, "Who's James Baker?"
#18
I heard a great line by Lindsey Graham I think: If you have a neighborhood that is plagued by crime you dont pull the police out to fix it. Why in Gods name is this logic missing from anyone on the left?
#19
CS, you're leaving out a major part of the puzzle. The lefties HATE AMERICA and don't want us to be seen as doing anything good anywhere. For us to help the Iraqis beat their internal enemies and become a stable country would a)demolish their Vietnam-era mindset (which would drive them nuts), and b) show that the US could use military force to do good in the world. They CAN'T allow that way of thinking to have any credence whatsoever. Hence the MSM's constant barrage of negative news from Iraq since the day of the invasion. Mick's right. CW-II grows closer every day.
Posted by: mac ||
12/06/2006 17:07
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#20
Well the French did tell you so
Posted by: de Gaulle ||
12/06/2006 17:20
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#21
Oh my god I missed the major thrust of the Iraki Surrender Gaggle. We need to let Syria and Iran help run the internal affairs of Iraq. Going back to my crime theme of earlier, this is akin to asking the Crypts or Bloods how we should police up a neighborhood that they dont want any police presence. Or maybe I am just not looking at this through the prism of my intellectual superiors in D.C.?
Baker is a lawyer-politician who is a former White House Chief of Staff, Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State and various other things. He is a trusted friend of the Bush family and has been called up before in times of political need. He ran Bush Seniors presidential campaigns and was President George W Bushs man in Florida during the recount in 2000.
Baker is now a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts, which is deeply involved in the fight for the oil and gas of the Caspian Sea and is senior counselor to the powerful investment firm the Carlyle Group. On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Baker was reportedly at a Carlyle investor conference with members of the bin Laden family in the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. And his law firm Baker Botts is defending the Saudi government in a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Google "james baker" "law firm" "saudi arabia"
for more.
Russias federal tiger protection task force has issued a warning to motorists in the countrys far-eastern province saying that recently several cars were attacked by a female tiger on local roads.
Vitaly Starostin, deputy chief of a special inspectorate Tiger under the Natural Resources Ministry told the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti that the tiger had been spotted on the trunk road Roshchino Melnichnoye in Krasnoarmeisky District of the province, holding a dead cub in her jaws and attacking cars driving by.
The inspectorate officials have suggested that thus the tiger seeks revenge for her cub hit earlier by a car. They fear that the beast might attack motorists who dare to stop on the roadside and leave the car. So take a leak before you go through here, k?
The only thing we may do now is alert the population, Starostin said. Our officer is now on the scene and controls the situation. He attempted to scare the tiger away but that did not help. But it will go away on her own in several days, the officials said.
The Amur tiger has been recorded in the International Red Book. The latest survey by Russian and U.S. experts has revealed a population of some 450 animals still dwelling Maritime Region and in the south of Khabarovsk Region.
Check it out - one of the Carter Center's own, Dr. Kenneth W. Stein - an expert in Middle East politics and history, takes on Jimmuh's Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. It's a major smackdown.
#1
Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook.
Worked for Carter in the past. Slick Willie, too.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 6:31
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#2
Ouch. Anyone with the slightest tinge of honesty in his soul would would be unable to venture forth from the darkest recesses of his home after Professor Stein's statement, lest someone aware of it might see him. Mr. Carter, however, will be unfazed, I'm quite certain, claiming special knowledge because of his special work experience.
#5
Carter has been forced to gulp twice in one week-once over being accused of being anti-Semitic on C-Span, once over a long-time and expert colleague basically saying that Carter fabricates truths about the conflict. Beautiful.
#10
Carter has never really gotten the justifiably vicious review of his presidency that he deserves.
The entire nation was just so glad at his departure that nobody got around to it.
However, in the future, Carter and Clinton will be inexorably tied together as utterly wasted, worse-than-useless presidencies. Being peers at the bottom of the class, comparisons will be inevitable.
And this will irritate both of them more than anything else.
#13
#2 tw: "Anyone with the slightest tinge of honesty in his soul"
Leaves out Cahtah. He hasn't got honesty or a soul. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/06/2006 15:24
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#14
Leaves out Cahtah. He hasn't got honesty or a soul.
Not according to too many true believers (like my siblings, unfortunately). Just last month I was listening to them spew the old "Carter was too decent a man to be a good president" line. GAG!
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show. Looks like they think he has served his purpose and has dug his own grave deep enough.
The famously austere Mr Ahmadinejad has been criticised by his own allies after attending the lavish opening ceremony of the Asian games in Qatar, a sporting competition involving 13,000 athletes from 39 countries. The ceremony featured Indian and Egyptian dancers and female vocalists. Many were not wearing veils. I'll bet he didn't even know he was digging his own grave.
Women are forbidden to sing and dance before a male audience under Iran's Islamic legal code. Officials are expected to excuse themselves from such engagements when abroad but TV pictures showed Mr Ahmadinejad sitting with President Bashar Assad of Syria and Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, during last Friday's ceremony in Doha.
Religious fundamentalists, usually Mr Ahmadinejad's keenest supporters, are asking why he attended a ceremony that violated his own government's strict interpretation of Shia Islam. Just because Ahmanutjob's supporters are keen doesn't mean that he is.
The Baztab website, considered close to Mohsen Rezaee, a former revolutionary guard commander with links to powerful sections of Iran's political hierarchy, said Mr Ahmadinejad's presence had offended Shias in Iran and elsewhere. "The failure of Ahmadinejad to object and his constant presence has damaged the image of Iran's Islamic revolution and its commitment to Islamic rules in contrast with the Arab countries in the Gulf," it said. No, he was actually starting to make a bit of progress. You're the ones who are screwing it up.
The president's aides insist he was not present during the singing and dancing. His press secretary, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, claimed Mr Ahmadinejad had left for Doha airport before the performance. See, he knows the difference between piety and perversion!
However, Baztab posted footage which purported to show Mr Ahmadinejad in his seat after the show. Jalal Yahyazadeh, a rightwing MP, said: "We have heard from some sources that Ahmadinejad was in the stadium at the time. Those who created the conditions for his presence should be investigated as quickly as possible." Nice knowin' ya, Nutjob. It'll be interesting to see who else they have decided have served their purpose but have to go.
You know, it will be interesting to see how serious they really are about this. If Ahmanutjob just gets excused from his post and has to say 10 Hail Marys, we'll know it was just political and the rulers there are full of $hit as we all expect. However, if they really care, they'll have him executed. Cough cough.
#16
um, yeah, that would explain the old Swedish custom of belly dancing....
Belly dancing did not originate in Arabia. Its beginnings can be traced back to India. Curiously enough, the practice was once an exclusively male domain in that the birthing of a reborn avatar was intended to be performed by a man. Centuries of this notion's solid disproof by maternal functioning finally saw the migration of this art form over to the women folk. As mentioned, this was originally not supposed to be a form of entertainment. The exercises are intended to facilitate childbirth. It should be no surprise that professional belly dancers are reputed to have a much easier time delivering children. Their consumate skill at accomodating certain other fun activities will remain undiscussed.
#17
As to Ahmadinejad, his transgression is a splendid example of just how cannibalistic Islam's power structure is. It reminds me very little of the Soviet Union, where there were so many arcane laws and regulations that any given individual was already guilty of something and merely awaited the time of their arrest.
Police fired into a crowd protesting President Laurent Gbagbo's regime Tuesday and killed one person, witnesses said, as political opponents mounted rallies in several towns in the southern part of the divided West African country. Protesters said police fired shots to disperse a gathering of hundreds in Abidjan, hitting one man in the leg. Police officials denied shooting at demonstrators. "Wudn't us."
"We hid in a little courtyard, tied up the wound and then took him to hospital in a taxi," fellow protester Adama Kone said. "He lost too much blood and passed away."
Blood could be seen on the ground of the residence indicated by Kone and other witnesses who confirmed the account. Hospital officials did not return calls seeking confirmation. Police Commissioner Aubin Djanhoue denied any shots were fired. "How can we shoot at our fellow countrymen?" Djanhoue said. "We dispersed the crowds by usual means, using tear gas. We don't shoot at protesters, only at thieves and the like."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Well, I'm confused. Yesterday it was "No way, Jose," and today it's "Take it, it's yours!" Pakistan is willing to give up its claim to all of Kashmir if India agrees that the disputed Himalayan region should become self-governing and largely autonomous, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Indian television.
Musharraf said Pakistan would agree to predominantly Muslim Kashmir becoming an autonomous region, still technically divided between the two countries but with a porous border, and loosely administered by both nations, independent NDTV reported. His proposal also includes a staggered withdrawal of troops from the heavily militarized region, NDTV said.
Asked by NDTV, "So you are prepared to give up your claim to Kashmir?" Musharraf responded: "We will have to, yes, if this solution comes up."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
Me Perv, me say anything to get umh big american aid.
#2
So.. Indian troops withdraw, leaving Pak forces just a few hours away in Pakistan proper.
Jihadis free to impose Taliban style government so "autonomous" Kashmir becomes a Pakistani fiefdom.
With Pakistan now controlling the high ground and the headwaters of the major rivers, the gangetic plains, the Indian heartland, becomes vulnerable to attack.
Interesting solution you got there Perv. I'm sure the Indians will just jump to accept it.
And what exactly do you mean by "autonomy" ?
The right to elect their own government, to tun their own affairs? The Kashmiris already have that.. it is called an elected state government.. something no state in Pakistan has.
How about "representation without taxation"?
Kashmiris get to elect representatives, have their boys as ministers in the Indian federal system yet no tax imposed by Delhi is legal unless it is approved by the Kashmiri legislature..
They already got that...
How about land rights? No outsider should be allowed to buy or own land, to becomes a resident of the state?
They already have that.. no Indian may buy land or settle in Kashmir.. this is guaranteed by article 370 of the Indian constitution...
So what exactly do you want Perv? An autonomous Taliban region?
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2006 5:44
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So what exactly do you want Perv? An autonomous Taliban region?
Yes.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, 2nd Amendment fans. This is not your everyday story...
17 citations thrown out. L. Saucon Township authorities say he can't fire weapons in backyard.
L. SAUCON TWP, Joisey - District Judge Diane Repyneck threw out 17 citations Monday against a 62-year-old township man accused of violating local gun laws. The judge ruled Richard Seruga of the 3800 block of Bee Line Drive was guilty of one count of disorderly conduct but was not in violation of any other township laws when he repeatedly fired his gun at a target behind his home. Repyneck's decision to dismiss the firearm citations upholds a ruling she made in Seruga's favor in October.
Assistant District Attorney Vivian Zumas argued Monday that township laws restricting firearm use within 150 feet of an occupied dwelling applied to Seruga, whom police said discharges his weapon too close to neighboring homes.
Township police officer Ronald Jones testified that after citing Seruga on one occasion, the Bee Line Drive man resumed shooting before the officer had left the property. Jones said Seruga told him to go back to the police department and find something else to charge him with.
Field upon field of more than 1,000 battered M1 tanks, howitzers and other armored vehicles sit amid weeds here at the 15,000-acre Anniston Army Depot -- the idle, hulking formations symbolic of an Army that is wearing out faster than it is being rebuilt.
The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to government data. An estimated $17 billion-plus worth of military equipment is destroyed or worn out each year, blasted by bombs, ground down by desert sand and used up to nine times the rate in times of peace. The gear is piling up at depots such as Anniston, waiting to be repaired.
The depletion of major equipment such as tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and especially helicopters and armored Humvees has left many military units in the United States without adequate training gear, officials say. Partly as a result of the shortages, many U.S. units are rated "unready" to deploy, officials say, raising alarm in Congress and concern among military leaders at a time when Iraq strategy is under review by the White House and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.
#1
Don't expect the Dems to put a dime into getting it back in service or replacing it. But the Republican are not much better they let it get this way. This situation is criminal neglect.
#2
The upcoming supplemental request by Army includes funds for new replacements. Congress better shit or get off the pot. We're just about out of toys to play with. Do they really want to have no viable Army ? Because fatasses like them would be the first to get snuffed if anyone ever rolled into the homeland.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 6:50
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This could actually be a Bush/Rumsfeld phalkup.
They allowed things to deteriorate instead of making it everybody's war.
In WW2, there was gas rationing, tin can recycling, victory gardens, etc.
Not today, don't want to trouble the couch potato civilians for some support, no sir.
#9
Part of the blame can be laid at the feet of the unit / squadron commanders; even back in my active duty days, there was a chronic shortage of spare parts for our jets, but since the squadron CO wanted to make Captain and the Wing commander wanted to make Admiral, they would rotate 'up' assets from the squadrons just getting back from a deployment to those getting ready to go. This shell game was choreographed in such a way that those units showing a less than perfect readiness were those that wer in an authorized stand down mode. One deployment the carrier CO wanted all airplanes listed as 'up' airborne in 2 hours; there were a lot of red faces when it was discovered that 'well they were up intil the engines, ejection seats, radios, etc were discovered missing.....'
If those responsible had painted the true picture, perhaps the spares shortage would not be so huge today.
#10
Wait, TW. I thought it was Joe M for Prez. Is he lessening his goals now? And how will JOEM for UN Sec Gen really mesh with Ann Coulter for US Ambassador to the UN? Methinks like oil and water.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 14:49
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What the f**k does gas rationing have to do with spare parts production? That is a stupid example to make.
All this article did was state the obvious for anyone who has paid attention to Congress and military procurement for the past 20 years : Congress will sometimes fund the purchase of new equipment since that brings in jobs and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but skimps on the parts and spares production. And during the 90s, the spares problem was much worse : Clinton never even tried to keep up with equipment replacement/maintenance requirements. What we are now seeing is the normal wear and tear on equipment that war brings. Also, notice that the article stresses that equipment is being worn out at "nine times the rate in times of peace". Well, DUH!! We are actively fighting a military campaign! It is the old mantra of "War bad, peace good" from the Left, except this time they are trying to say they are concerned with the military.
And another thing, after Rummy cancelled several of the gold-plated programs like the Crusader, he did try to get Congress to increase spending on spares. They refused, with several of the Repubs backing the refusal, since their districts got hit by the program cancellations.
#12
Congress will sometimes fund the purchase of new equipment since that brings in jobs and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but skimps on the parts and spares production.
Also why there was always a push for 'more troops': they aren't as expensive as weapons. There's also no voting bloc to offend with a RIF.
#13
Oh, I'm sure JosephM wouldn't have a problem with Ms. Coulter, BA -- he likes Americans. No, I don't think we want JosephM to run for president, where consistently clear communication is preferred; but his understanding of the interweaving of Islamists and the Spetz-whatsis Soviet Special Forces, his thorough grasp of outre' conspiracy theory and cant, and the opacity of his communications at the most delicate of moments perfectly suit the chief diplomat/chief executive officer of the United Nations. Had our beloved JosephMendiola taken over after that dreadful Kofi Annan, the nefarious elements at the UN would have quickly been frozen in their tracks -- likely mid-word -- enabling the serious members and staff (like Rantburg's occasional correspondent from those parts) to accomplish the necessary. Perhaps as the end of the Korean chap's tenure approaches, JosephM's candidacy can be readdressed. ;-)
#14
So true, Shieldwolf. Anniston Army Depot is one huge place. I drive past it (though you can't really see into it) on my way to the in-laws.
This makes it completely obvious the need to PRE-plan so many things for DoD it's almost ludicrous. And the spin in the article is ridiculous. They want to blame Bush (w/o noting Congress's defaulting on this bill), but then when Bush does shove something through Congress, they whine and moan about him being a bully. Can't have it both ways, punks. It's completely obvious (like Shieldwolf says) that equipment wears out a LOT faster in REAL combat than in peace time. Add on top of that the effects of fine sand of Iraq and its impact on our "toys" and I'm surprised they can keep half the stuff together. Of course, these guys are salt of the earth and can probably rig up stuff the Inside the Beltway types would NEVER even imagine to keep things going.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 22:09
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For nearly 20 years - ever since Pete Costello was 8 - his mother has collected disability benefits on his behalf. In meetings with Social Security officials and psychologists, he appeared mentally retarded and unable to communicate. His mother insisted he couldn't read or write, shower, take care of himself or drive a car. But now prosecutors say it was all a huge fraud, and they have video of Costello contesting a traffic ticket to prove it. "He's like any other person trying to get out of a traffic ticket," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said Tuesday.
Pete and Rosie Marie Costello were indicted in September on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud, and the case was unsealed Tuesday. The Vancouver pair were scheduled to appear in federal court in Tacoma on Tuesday. Barbosa said he planned to file with the court two videos of Pete Costello taken this year: In one, he allegedly feigns retardation during an interview with Social Security workers; the other is of him contesting the traffic ticket in a courtroom earlier this year.
The indictment accuses Costello of faking - or at least exaggerating - retardation since August 1997, because that is what prosecutors are confident they can prove, Barbosa said. But the pair first received benefits 10 years before that. The benefits cited in the indictment totaled $111,000. Barbosa said the government does not know whether Costello is retarded to some degree, but he clearly has been "exaggerating whatever he may have, if any."
"This person isn't being honest with the government about his condition," Barbosa said. "It makes it impossible to sort out." It was not immediately known if the Costellos had obtained attorneys.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
When asked to comment, Pete Costello replied "Duh"
She can want whatever - I don't want her to be President Anything. This is purdy funny, actually, and I wouldn't bet against Morris on this one. BTW, I heard it first on FoxNews - so don't let the WorldNetDaily addy throw you, lol.
Should Sen. Hillary Clinton be elected to the presidency in 2008, she won't use her married name of Clinton, but rather, her maiden name of Rodham.
That according to Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, and who now writes a political column. "She would not be another President Clinton. She would be President Rodham. I'll bet you that if she wins, that's what she has people call her," Morris told Fox News host John Gibson today on "The Big Story."
"I'll bet anybody in the country that when she gets elected, that's what she's gonna want to be called. She won't say it before [the election], but she will."
The New York Democrat is this week continuing efforts to begin looking at a White House run, as she has said she has still not made any final decision on her candidacy. "What's the point of being so coy so long?" Gibson asked Morris.
"It's one of these Hillary lies," responded Morris. "When she learned that Bill had been with Monica [Lewinsky] 'cause of the stain on the dress, she had to pretend that she didn't know a year earlier when he told her, so she could defend having called it a vast right-wing conspiracy.
"Here, she spent two years telling New Yorkers she's undecided about running for president [to] get them to re-elect her to the Senate. And now, she has to go through this pantomime, this charade of decision-making so she doesn't look like a liar for the past two years, which she is." Heh. Purdy good summary, there.
#1
Still say that iff the WOT is un-resolved or mostly un-resolved, i.e. Rogue States are still rantin' and threatenin', IMO Hillary for 2008 will choose to either stay a NY Senator, or at best be VPOTUS candidate for GORE, KERRY, + DEAN, etal, most likely "CNN" AL GORE [as opposed to "MSNBC" Kerry + "FOX" Dean]. Nothin agz Hillary as a woman, but in Wartime most Amers, including most Amer women, do not want a female in the WH; and as an PC anti-US, pro-Socialist/OWG etc. Pol her character, policies, + actions, etal are all open to public scrutiny.
#5
"I'll bet anybody in the country that when she gets elected, that's what she's gonna want to be called. She won't say it before [the election], but she will."
Well, I, for one, will do my d@mndest to make sure she does NOT get to exercise her "right to choose." I'm beginning to wonder if Ann Coulter's (sometimes extreme) examples will ring true of the DNC by 2008. Could very well be that whomever will be in the primary won't get the full vote unless they slay a Christian, endorse a Muzzie, and perform an abortion right in front of the DNC in the primaries.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 11:14
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Re #3: You are right on target. Except the U.S. military has no one approaching a Belisaurius to save the day. :(
November 29 2006 0140 LT, Malacca Straits - Bulk carrier underway had to take evasive action to prevent boarding of pirates in a small high powered craft at port beam. The crew activated fire hoses. Boarding averted.
November 28 2006 1900 UTC, Kuala Bintulu Anchorage, Malaysia General cargo ship was boarded by robbers armed with pistols, knives and crowbars. The forecastle store was broken into and ships stores stolen. The robbers jumped into the water when the ship raised the alarm. Port control was informed.
November 28 2006 2030 LT, Gulf of Aden Bulk carrier underway was approached by an unlit vessel which suddenly increased speed as it approached the vessel. Boarding was successfully prevented by prompt evasive action taken by the vessel including sounding of the alarm mustering the crew and activating fire hoses.
November 22 2006 0150 UTC, Off Port Harcourt, Nigeria 10 robbers armed with guns boarded an offshore processing ship. They kidnapped seven workers and left the ship. Ship reported to Nigerian authorities and they intercepted the pirate boat. The Nigerian authorities engaged in a shoot-out with the robbers. They rescued five hostages. One hostage was killed and the other one was injured.
Junk emails are still clogging up Inboxes, with spam accounting for 89.73 per cent of all email traffic, new figures claim. Sounds about right to me. I don't think my legitimate messages have outnumbered the spam messages for about the past ten years. My Google mail account currently has 3344 messages in the spam folder, and this was after I cleaned it out Saturday night. Most of my mail is forwarded through the Rantburg mail server, which filters out a lot of spam, so that's 3344 after being pruned.
According to security company SoftScan, spam containing pictures increased dramatically in 2006 and is becoming more sophisticated to confuse anti-spam software. That's the crap with nonsense sentences masking a graphic with an ad for Viagra or penny stocks or whatever else they're scamming.
SoftScan said that spammers are using more complex images and colours to trick anti-spam filters. According to the figures, more than 60 per cent of spam comes from Europe while only five per cent is from South East Asia. I'd set the proportion higher than that coming through China and Korea.
It seems hard to believe the amount of people that do respond to spam messages... I'm sure it won't be long until [the spammers] start using more sophisticated images, along with their current techniques, said Diego d'Ambra, chief technology officer at SoftScan. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would respond to the pestilence. Email is no longer a viable method of communication I'd hate to think of the number of legitimate messages I've missed as I've been clearing out the hundreds of junk mails.
Posted by: Fred ||
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How much more spam would it take to simply clog up the internet's bandwidth and interfere with legitimate traffic?
#2
The saddest thing is that the spammers wouldn't be doing it if it didn't work. There have to be some seriously stupid people out there who really should not be allowed unsupervised access to a computer.
#3
A couple of years ago, I read a suggestion that instead of tracking down and killing spammers, it might be easier to track down the handful of idiots who actually responded to a spam-email by purchasing something... and kill them, instead.
Our website is plagued with automated comment-spam, for porn, drugs, insurance plans, payday loans, that kind of crap. We accumulate about 500-600 overnight, none of which gets actually posted to the site, so I wonder why they even bother any more. A lot of bloggers have had to go to a turing system, have registration, use typekey or put in spam-killing software, otherwise their sites would sink like the Titanic under the weight of comment-spam.
If they ever crack down on the auto-comment spammers, I wish they would bankrupt them with fines, and recompense us blog-admin types for the time we've spent cleaning up after them.
#4
Most spam is criminal in nature, trying to gain access to a website or credit card numbers or social secuirty numbers. SMTP makes contacting millions of people via email easy. The spammers only have to hit a very small percentage to make money.
That 89.73 number is just incredible. It looks like all the measures taking place the past ten years ( outbound smtp blocks, non-relay mail servers and RBL lists ) aren't working.
It appears SMTP is broken.
A lot of spam that gets through my mail server header checks appear to be from residential ADSL connections in eastern Europe, Belize and in the USA, like comcast.com, using compromised computers which are being used for Spam.
With companies like ATT and cable internet people hard selling broadband, the problem is bound to get worse.
I had a pretty elaborate filter setup running here, that I started back when Boris was erupting here daily. It eventually got so intricate I pulled the whole thing out and threw it away. I'm using a single array to do the spam check now, and it seems to work pretty well. I'm willing to share, so email me (if you can get through the spam).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006 12:10
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I'm afraid the problem with SPAM is the SMTP protocol which allows pretty much anything (forged headers, etc...)
I don't think SPAM will be going away until we tighen up the protocol. Using some sort of assigned-key authenication (i.e. some authority - the postal service for example) gives your email address a public/private key pair which is used to sign the headers - kind of a 'I approve this message' sort of thing.
Receive a message which contains a authentication id, fetch the id's public key from a well-established server (and cache it) and use it to decrypt the headers. If the key is false or the headers don't decrypt properly its spam.
Personally I am sick and tired of spam and spammers. I think they should get some hard time for wasting peoples time. I am also tired of vurus writers and think they should be locked up for a long, long, time (including script kiddies). They are not 'folk heroes' but assholes. I am sick and tired of having to have a good chunk of my work computer's power used for virus checkers and scanners because these fuckers are out to have fun.
Why doesn't corprate america start offering bounties for these assholes?
#7
Why doesn't corprate america start offering bounties for these assholes?
lol, CF! I your comment and then scrolled to see the Pulp Fiction blogad with a gun pointed at me head right below it! Classic timing of comment to blogad, mods!
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 13:18
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#8
A couple of years ago, I read a suggestion that instead of tracking down and killing spammers, it might be easier to track down the handful of idiots who actually responded to a spam-email by purchasing something... and kill them, instead.
Har! Trust a military mind to suggest a functional solution.
Personally I am sick and tired of spam and spammers. I think they should get some hard time for wasting peoples time. I am also tired of vurus writers and think they should be locked up for a long, long, time (including script kiddies). They are not 'folk heroes' but assholes.
The lack of strong law enforcement against virus and worm writers is damning proof that our legislators know jackshit about computers. The fact that virus writers often go on to secure high paying jobs in the computer industry represents a conflict of interest of gigantic proportions.
It is as if the computer industry wilfully allows a pack of ravening animals to rove the virtual world inflicting untold damage in order to coerce computer users to buy their firewall and other security products (no to mention replacing damaged equipment and purchasing backup devices).
The computer industry must be prohibited from ever hiring anyone convicted of virus writing. Furthermore, virus writers all too often end up getting a slap on the wrist. That little bastard in Germany who wrote the Sacher virus didn't even see the inside of a jail cell!
Lifetime bans from industry employment, hard time in federal prison, huge restitution awards and lifetime bans from internet access all need to be put in place as penalties for virus writing and spamming. These practices, especially spamming are strangling one of the most important business tools ever made and also decrease workplace productivity to the tune of BILLIONS each year.
The computer industry needs to have its feet held to the fire until they unanimously begin a crusade to increase penalties and implement employment bans for these digital cretins. This needs to be a top priority.
Six world powers failed to reach an accord despite "substantive progress" on a UN resolution to punish Iran for its nuclear activities, the French Foreign Ministry said after closed-door talks in Paris on Tuesday.
The five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany remained split over key questions of visa bans and asset freezes for Iranians linked to nuclear development, which Russia is resisting, a top European diplomat said.
After months of diplomatic wrangling, the United States and France had expressed hope that Tuesday's talks would produce a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for defying UN demands to stop uranium enrichment. The process can produce material for atomic warheads as well as electricity.
"We made substantive progress on the scope of the sanctions targeting proliferation-sensitive activities. There remain several outstanding issues, upon which we will reflect over the coming days," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday night. "We are now close to a conclusion of this process."
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A Ridgetown woman has been convicted of a lesser charge in connection with an incident where she confronted a Chatham-Kent police officer while barely clothed. "That's right, yer honor! She confronted me, nekkid as an egg! And she conbacked me, too!"
Holly Skinner, 21, appeared in court in Chatham Tuesday facing a charge of assaulting a peace officer, to which she pleaded not guilty. "See, yer honor? I'm dressed!"
"That's dressed?"
She ended up pleading guilty to resisting arrest in connection with an incident on April 16, 2005, surrounding an altercation with her boyfriend at the time. "He ain't my boyfriend no more, yer honor!"
Assistant Crown attorney Fred Creed told Ontario Justice Bruce Thomas the situation arose from Skinner being upset at her boyfriend, who was talking to another woman while they were at a Ridgetown bar around 1 a.m. "I didn't mind him talkin' to the brazen hussy, yer honor. It was the feelin' her up that I objected to!"
Chatham-Kent police were called to Skinners apartment around 5:15 a.m. in response to a noise complaint over the accused arguing with her boyfriend, Creed said. "Honest, honey! I wudn't feelin' her up!"
"Right. Her honkers just happened to fall into yer hands!"
Skinner was extremely upset and only covered by a bed sheet when Const. Michael Weedon arrived at her apartment, he added. "Miss, you got anything on but that bed sheet?"
"I thought I had my earrings on..."
Creed told the court Weedon had calmed the boyfriend down [Whack!]
"Oooowwww!"
"There. That'll calm you down!"
when Skinner came up and bumped the officer. Weedon warned Skinner to stop, Creed said, "Miss, I'm givin' you official warnin'! I'll give you just one hour to stop that!... Oh. They're not as big as they looked, are they?"
adding the woman then began swinging at the officer. At that point, Weedon called for backup. "Car 54 where are you?"
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Fiji's ousted prime minister left the capital Wednesday, the day after a bloodless coup, as international sanctions and censure began isolating the South Pacific country. Armed forces chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama's plan to install a caretaker government that would eventually restore democracy ran into an immediate snag when the country's powerful tribal chiefs' council canceled a meeting that was a key part of it.
Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase flew out of Suva to his home village on the remote northeastern Lau group of islands after spending the night in his city residence surrounded by troops, said Pene Nonu, his private secretary. Qarase, who insists he is still Fiji's legitimate leader, chartered the plane, but left at the request of the military, Nonu said.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Iran would be "irresponsible." "Our Western partners wanted to impose broad sanctions. We believe that to impose these kind of sanctions is irresponsible. We will achieve the opposite results," he said at a meeting in Brussels. There are moves at the UN Security Council to penalize Iran for refusing to cease uranium enrichment, a process that produces the material for nuclear reactors or bombs.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Obviously, as it might cause the neo-Tsars to eat an ounce less of caviar.
An Intelligence Bureau official was arrested with explosives near the Chief Ministers Secretariat on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Akram Durrani appearing to suggest that he was the target of a bomb plot cooked up by the IB.
Durrani told a press conference that Muhammad Tufail, the IB employee, was arrested by policemen at around 11am outside his Peshawar office while trying to plant a bomb in a dustbin.
We are considering whether the IB is directly responsible for it or if it is the outcome of the grudges the federal government has against the NWFP, he said, and recalled that his house in Bannu had been attacked in the past.
He said after Tufail was arrested he was taken to Eastern police station along with the bomb. When the case was registered and Tufail was apprehended, Zafarullah, the IB joint director in Peshawar, rushed to the police station and took away Tufail and the bomb with him, he said.
The chief minister then ordered the police to raid the IB office, but Tufail and Zafrullah were not there. He said he would not spare the IB officials involved in this case.
Durrani demanded that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz order an inquiry into this case and hand over the IB officials involved in the plan to the NWFP government. The IB is directly answerable to the prime minister. The IB is a federal institution but it now becomes our enemy, he said.
He said he had discussed the incident with Governor Jan Ali Orakzai and the NWFP government was trying to resolve the case, but the federal government is creating problems.
He announced Rs 50,000 prize money for the policemen who arrested Tufail.
He said he and other NWFP MPAs would protest outside Prime Ministers House if the federal government did not give the province its share of hydro-electricity profits.
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A cholera epidemic has hit Kampala's suburbs with cases counting 147 now in the five divisions of Ugandan capital, Kampala. At least ten people have already been confirmed dead mainly in Kawempe, Makindye and Ugandan capital, Kampala Central divisions due to the deadly waterborne disease.
Kawempe division health inspector, David Katwere said cholera was spreading in Bwaise, Kalerwe, Nsooba and other slums due to the tendency to empty latrines in flooding water during the rainy season. "The problem is mainly caused by people who let human waste into water channels. These end up into wells and people's houses," Mr Katwere said. Last month, Cholera broke out in the Ugandan capital killing six people in Kawempe and Makindye divisions. This was after the rainy season started in October, which has seen city suburbs flooded.
Posted by: Fred ||
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So much for concerns about overpopulation in Africa. The government would be well advised to hand out squares of sari silk for primary filtration, and purchase bulk supplies of Procter&Gamble's Pur technology for inexpensive secondary filtration (or is it the other way round? I'm afraid I don't remember the exact details, but the reported research was fascinating, and the two stage technique was inexpensive and could be used for individual bucketsful of water. Perhaps Alaska Paul could weigh in?) in order to prevent the epidemic reaching the expensive part of town.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister reversed course Tuesday and said his envoys will talk with Iraq's neighbors about the possibility of a regional conference on quelling the violence here, despite opposition to the plan by some key political allies.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, told reporters that his envoys would talk with other governments in the region, most of them Sunni-dominated, about how they might help establish security and stability in Iraq. ``After the political climate is cleared, we will call for the convening of a regional conference in which these countries that are keen on the stability and security of Iraq will participate,'' al-Maliki said.
The prime minister's statement fell short of an unconditional call for a conference. At al-Maliki's press conference in Baghdad, the Iraqi leader said a frequently delayed national reconciliation conference would convene this month. He also said he planned to reshuffle his six-month-old Cabinet, to increase its ``effectiveness and strength,'' but offered no further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2006
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MACARTHUR [paraphrased] to post-surrender Japanese >"Either govern yourselves for yourselves, or the US Army will govern for you the Army way" - politely diplomatically, firmly emphatically..
VERSUS
BAVARIAN GOVERNATOR GEN. PATTON to ex-Nazis > "Do anything wrong or agz the Occupation Forces-Govt and I'LL HAVE YOU IMMEDIATELY SHOT, OR HUNG FROM THE NEAREST TREE/GALLOWS. YOUR CORPSE HAS THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN TO EISENHOWER".
#2
Wierdly and mysteriously, the predom majority of post-Surrender Japanese or post-Surrender Germans didn't cause any serious troubles for either Mac or Patton. Even local attempts at armed or violent underground resistance to the Allied Occupation didn't last very long.
#3
"local attempt at armed ... resistance" in the first few months after the German surrender, the US occupiers mobilized 50,000 troops to go house to house in part of Germany to find weapons that could be used against the occupation troops after a few incidents. The US spent several years prior to 1945 training thousands of officers for civil affairs posts in occupied Germany. The US has never had enough troops in Iraq to do a similar weapons sweep and has never had enough civil affairs people available.
Predicting the onset of mental illness could soon be as simple as smelling a scratch-and-sniff card loaded with the aroma of roses or a whiff of petrol. Scientists have taken the same technology popular in children's books and designed a test to help diagnose brain disorders before the onset of any symptoms.
The test can be used for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, as well as some illnesses affecting adolescents. It originated in a discovery by Melbourne University researchers of a link between these illnesses and a poor ability to identify smells. To test their theory, they developed a set of 40 scratch-and-sniff cards and asked people to identify the smell from a list of four possibilities, such as coffee, roses, oranges and petrol.
Professor Warwick Brewer, from the university's Orygen Research Centre, said the people who later went on to develop a brain disorder had demonstrated difficulty correctly answering more than half the questions. He said the simple test also could be used by relatives of people with these conditions. "Because of the genetic link in many illnesses, it is hoped the test could also be used by family members of people who have developed an illness of the brain."
Professor Christos Pantelis, from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, said smell ability provided unique information about brain structure and function. "Mental illness can arrest the full maturation of the frontal lobe, while degenerative illness can damage it," Professor Pantelis said. "This area of the brain is used to analyse and identify smells so an abnormal sense of smell may indicate problems in this 'thinking' area of the brain."
Their research also revealed that the sense of smell is worse in those with more severe illnesses, giving important clues into the patient's long-term prospects.
The research has been compiled in a new book, Olfaction and the Brain.
#1
First off, this test should be used to qualify all aspiring chefs.
Their research also revealed that the sense of smell is worse in those with more severe illnesses, giving important clues into the patient's long-term prospects.
Which goes a long way in explaining the rather odiferous properties of many Islamic terrorists.
#2
Due to scar tissue from 3 sinus operations for all practical purposes I don't have a sense of smell. The same would go for others who have it damaged. This is a BS theory.
#5
Physical damage to the smelling apparatus would of course render the test moot in specific cases, but that doesn't make it invalid for the generality of undamaged subjects. I very much hope this test proves statistically valid -- there are many who would be aided by knowing the cause of their difficulties who can't afford MRIs and CAT scans and such. Especially adolescents, who often suffer for years with undiagnosed anxiety disorders or depression, f'r instance, due to simple brain chemical imbalances.
#6
Just before the onset of a seizure, some people experience olfactory hallucinations. My dad always knew it was coming when he smelled oranges. Exploring this connection could be really interesting.
#7
Another factor has to do with smells and memory. For whatever reason, people have an extraordinary memory when it comes to smells, easily recognizing smells not smelled since early childhood, many years later.
Smelling also has its problems. Chief among these is "sinus fatigue", in which a strong smell masks a weak smell until the receptors can recover. For example, if you smell oil of wintergreen, it will mask the smell of a rose for several minutes.
A serious deficiency of zinc in the sinuses sometimes results in "garbage nose", in which everything smells horrible. But a mild case would just make some things smell worse.
Some people also have genetic sensitivity to certain tastes which would influence their sense of smell. For some, this means that broccoli and brussels sprouts taste horribly bitter. They will undoubtedly think that they therefore smell bad.
Other factors that will influence this test would include smell memory associations. For example, when someone smells oranges and it makes them think of their favorite butcher knife, it might be a cause for concern.
Another one is synesthesia, or overlapping senses, such as people who "see" music as color or people who "hear" smells.
#11
Somehow, I'd bet I get room-mated with a guy that looks like Samuel L. Jackson in that Pulp Fiction blogad below, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 13:20
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For whatever reason, people have an extraordinary memory when it comes to smells, easily recognizing smells not smelled since early childhood, many years later.
Part of this is because the human nose can detect more different odors than the eye can sense shades of color. Aromas represent some of the most complex and delicate chemical compounds on the entire planet. As an example, while wine has several hundred flavor and odor components, coffee has several thousand.
Some people also have genetic sensitivity to certain tastes which would influence their sense of smell.
This predisposition is being investigated as a possible candidate for why some people become such excellent chefs.
#14
synesthesia is trendy in neurological circles right now, because they figured out not only that it is indicative of all sorts of interesting brain cross-wiring; but also because synesthesiacs have such an unusual viewpoint of the world.
For instance, one of the more common versions is people who see music as color. Their enjoyment of music compared to other people is the difference between watching a movie and listening to it on the radio. And a synesthesiac who writes music will write as much for the "appearance" of music as for the sound--maybe more.
I also heard of an autistic child who saw time as a physical quantity. A day would look to him like an elephant, and as the day passed, the elephant would get smaller and smaller. A one-minute elephant would be tiny and then just disappear. But having such a strong mental image of an abstract made time a very understandable thing to him.
Gunmen attacked a vehicle on Tuesday that was carrying employees of a government agency that cares for Shi'ite mosques in Iraq, killing 13 of them and wounding eight, the organization said.
The gunmen, traveling in one car, carried out the attack by intercepting the Shi'ite Endowment minibus in northern Baghdad on Tuesday morning as it was carrying the employees to work in the capital, said Salah Abdel-Razaq, an Endowment spokesman. Three other people on the vehicle apparently escaped injury, he said.
A similar attack occurred late last month in southern Iraq against the Sunni Endowment, the government agency that cares for Sunni-Arab mosques in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Tit-for-tat.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 6:27
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Fijis military took over running the country in a bloodless overthrow on Tuesday after confining the elected prime minister to his home in the South Pacific island nations fourth coup in 20 years.
Military Commander Frank Bainimarama said he had temporarily stepped into President Ratu Josefa Iloilos role as head of state and dismissed the government of Laisenia Qarase after a power struggle that had simmered all year.
Promising that the takeover would not be permanent, Bainimarama said he had appointed little known Jona Senilagakali Baravilala, a former military doctor and political novice, as interim prime minister before fresh elections are called.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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(SomaliNet) Two commanders of a rebel group active in the northeast of Central African Republic (CAR) were killed during French-backed army operations to restore government control of the region, officials said Tuesday.
CAR's defence ministry statement read on state radio by presidential press spokesman Barthelemy Feidoka said the rebels, General Damane Zakaria and Capt. Diego Albator Yao, were killed in fighting with government troops. However, there was no independent confirmation of the deaths of the two UFDR commanders. There was no answer from Yao's satellite phone on Tuesday.
French military advisers and French Mirage fighters have since late November been assisting the government army in an offensive to regain control of the northeast Vakaga prefecture where UFDR fighters had seized a string of towns since Oct. 30.
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Thousands of pro-Syrian Shiites expressed anger at the death of one of their protestors who was killed during a weekend clash with anti-Syrian demonstrators in a Sunni neighbourhood, as tension continued to engulf the streets of the capital Beirut. 'Death to (Prime Minister Fouad) Seniora,' chanted the crowd during the funeral procession on a main road leading to the Martyrs Cemetery in Beirut's Shiite southern suburbs. 'The blood of the Shiites is boiling.' "Look at us seethe!"
Ahmad Mahmud, 20, was killed during street fights that occurred Sunday night in a predominantly Sunni Moslem neighbourhood near where the opposition has been holding mass protests since Friday to topple the government of Seniora. The clashes have prompted pro- and anti-Syrian officials to call for calm amid fears that sectarian violence would engulf the country as it did between the years 1975-1990. Hasn't prompted Hassan to tell everybody to go home, though, you betcha...
During the funeral ceremony, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan, interim president of the Higher Shiite Council, appealed for calm and unity among the Lebanese. 'We present the martyr as a sacrifice for Lebanon's national unity,' he said. 'It is forbidden for Shiites to kill Sunnis, for Sunnis to kill Shiites and for Christians to kill Muslims,' said Kabalan. So how come they do?
Earlier, leaders of Lebanon's anti-Syrian camp Tuesday called for dialogue amid fears of an outbreak of civil strife as pro-Syrian protestors prepared for the funeral. Druze member of parliament (MP) Walid Jumblatt told a news conference in Beirut that 'dialogue is the only solution... to this crisis.'
Jumblatt, an outspoken critic of Syria, accused the Damascus regime of dealing with Lebanon not like a 'state deals with a neighbouring state, but as a bunch of gangs dealing with a state.' The Druze leader called for calm among his followers and asked them not to attend classes at universities with a majority of students loyal to Shiite pro-Syrian groups Amal and Hezbollah for several weeks. 'We want to avoid any provocations, so please I call on the Druze students not to attend the universities until the Christmas vacation is over.'
Lebanese Premier Fouad Seniora reiterated his call for dialogue, saying 'the solution of Lebanon's problems will be dealt with inside the constitutional institutions such as the governmental palace and the parliament and not in the streets.'
The deep political division in the country started a few months after Israel's 33-day war against the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Clashes and fist fights have been erupting in several Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods since Sunday near where tens of thousands of Hezbollah and Amal followers along with supporters of their Christian ally General Michel Aoun were protesting to topple the anti-Syrian government. Lebanese soldiers went into action again late Tuesday after riot police were overwhelmed by Shiite protestors who entered a Sunni neighbourhood, prompting residents to retaliate by throwing stones. Calm was restored after an hour of unrest, which followed a day of tension after the 20-year-old pro-Syrian Shiite protestor was killed.
A police statement called on the 'organizers of the demonstration to tell the demonstrators to refrain from harming residents and passers-by, or else they will be detained and referred to the courts.'
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah-led protest in downtown Beirut continued for the fifth day around the government palace where Seniora's office is located, with demonstrators calling on the premier to resign. Troops and anti-riot police have deployed in force around Beirut to keep the peace, and the Seniora government has received strong public backing from Western and Arab countries. 'Arab countries cannot sit and watch the situation that could get worst,' Arab League secretary general said during a mediation visit to Beirut on Monday.
The United States accused demonstrators trying to topple the government of working with Syria to halt investigations into the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. The assassination was widely blamed on Syria and its Lebanese allies.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned Monday that an international aid conference next month could fall through if all Lebanese factions did not work together closely to prepare it. The conference was meant to secure assistance to help Lebanon overcome the results of the July-August Israeli war against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. According to estimates that war caused more than 3.5 billion dollars in damage.
Posted by: Fred ||
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'The blood of the Shiites is boiling.'
I didn't know Halliborton microwave beam was already operating.
#2
'We present the martyr as a sacrifice for Lebanon's national unity,' he said. 'It is forbidden for Shiites to kill Sunnis, for Sunnis to kill Shiites and for Christians to kill Muslims,'
Anyone notice the omission? It is NOT forbidden for Muslims to kill Christians.
International observers backed vote results showing a landslide win for Hugo Chavez, but a European Union delegation also said it received complaints that some government employees faced pressure to support the incumbent president.
The EU observers said in a preliminary report Tuesday that overall the vote was carried out smoothly and securely. The delegation noted a few areas of concern, including a high participation of public employees at Chavez's campaign events, unbalanced coverage in both state and private media, and a heavy use of government advertising by Chavez, and to a lesser degree opponent Manuel Rosales.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Another key al-Qaeda man thought responsible for activities in Turkey has been captured in Hatay in southeastern Turkey. Named Malek Charahili, he is thought to have succeeded the Syrian al-Qaeda militant Luai Sakka, who was captured on the verge of a suicide attack against Israeli cruise ships in Turkey. Sakka was sent to an F type prison in Kandira, sentenced to life imprisonment. "F-type" as in "You're f**ked"?
A Tunisian national, Charahili has been living in Hatay for three years masquerading as an artisan. He reportedly helped with the transfer of insurgents to Iraq. The operation in Hatay was coordinated by the national security department, the National Intelligence Service, and the Hatay Security Directorate. Intelligence teams had been following Charahili for almost six months. The police tapped his phone calls and discovered his links at home and abroad. After a police investigation, special teams from the Hatay Security Directorate realized simultaneous raids on three different addresses. Bomb-making materials were found in Charahilis house.
A U.N. study said the richest 2 percent of the world population owns more than half the world's assets while those in the bottom half owned about 1 percent. The wealthiest people were concentrated in North America, Western Europe and the richer Asian countries. The poorest were concentrated in Africa and India. I guess life's tough there on the bottom of the economic heap, but making no effort to change your situation doesn't tug at my heartstrings. I have the best of wishes for the Indians, who're working diligently to improve the lot of their nation. I've ceased thinking about Africa, home of Mugabe, Taylor, and dozens of similar subgeniuses. I think I was still in my teens when it occurred to me that socialism's weak spot is that you can't divide the wealth if there's no wealth. It's an economic system designed for milking cash cows, not for raising them.
The study was done by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University in Helsinki. Researchers estimated total global wealth at $125 trillion or an average of $26,000 per person when adjusted for differences in purchasing power between countries. But per capita wealth was about $144,000 per person in the United States in 2000 and $181,000 in Japan, while it was $1,100 in India and $1,400 in Indonesia. I'm guessing that 20 years ago, in the heyday of the Congress Party, the figure for India was even lower.
Assets of $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in 2000. To be among the richest 10 percent of adults required $61,000, while $500,000 was needed to belong to the richest 1 percent. About 37 million people worldwide are in the top 1 percent and collectively own 41 percent of the world's assets.
Posted by: Fred ||
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IOW, DEMOCAPITALISM + FREE ENTERPRISE/MARKETS + FREEDOMS WORK, COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM even its most benevolent form(s) STILL FAILS = IS FAR FAR FAR BEHIND. Once again, a reason for 9-11 and Global Anti-Americanism.
#2
As various loggers remind us > WELFARISM = re-distribution, re-alignment, and substitution of wealth + revenue-generating sectors, where in simple terms Producers unilater or as [Govt-led]public policy take care of non-Producers. AID invols littel or none of above. WOT > WAR FOR THE WORLD > ANTI-US LEFTS = Producers $$$ taking care of Non-Producers WHILE NON-PRODUCERS CONTROL + MAKE THE RULES FOR EVERYONE. WEAK CONTROL THE STRONG WHILE THE WEAK DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE=REFORM ANYTHING, i.e GLOBAL SLAVE STATE = GLOBAL ANARCHY/MAFIA STATE. * FOX > NORTH KOREA = belabeled as a CRIMINAL STATE???
#8
Beat me to it, Blondie. I wonder how much money went from the UN budget to fund this "research" - did they even think to use it to help the "bottom half"? Didn't think so.
#9
When Bill Richardson [now governor and wannabe presidential candidate] was appointed ambassador to the UN, one of the things he did was to sit and talk with the maintenance personnel in the UN cafeteria just to get to know the people. The employees were shocked, shocked because no one of importance had ever done such a thing. Yep, for all their talk about the poor and working class, the UN bureaucrats were and are the classical model of limousine socialists. Socialism for them is simply the modern religious citation of holy chants to rationalize and justify their position of power and rule over the vast minions. For them the concept of consent of the govern is as alien as the landscape of the moon Titan. These apparatchiks are only concerned about the issue as a hitter is in selecting the club to beat the ball [the opposition to their power] into submission.
#10
Proc, the perfect description of the UN was coined by a blog, the Diplomad (no longer exists but sorely missed) during the Tsunami where the UN swept in (after a month - had to have 24Hr catering and a 5-star hotel) and took all the credit:
Vampire Vulture Elite
They sweep in and suck the blood out of their victims.
#11
One of the interesting statements comes from a US Contractor in Iraq. He says a 2 hr job in the States will take all week when performed by Iraqis.
When you take into account that Iraqis are more diligent than most Arabs, you realize the productivity gap between our societies.
Do you think that might have something to do with wealth distribution?
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
12/06/2006 11:47
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#12
No, Al, just another example of The Man with his boot on the neck of oppressed peepuls everywhere.
#14
IF you tracked government interference in the economy you'd probably get a same picture as the wealth but reversed.
I would love to see an African nation establish a free-trade city identical to Hong Kong in laws and attitude and see what happened. My guess is you'd have a very wealthy city.
I would love to seen a free-trade city in India, or Latin America for that matter.
#15
frozen al, that comment reminds me of one I read in the book Baghdad without a Map. In the section on Sudan he mentioned how the Egyptians considered the Sudanese lazy, which was a mind-blowing thing when he considered the fact the average Egyptian worked like four hours a week.
I bet with a proper profit motive things would slowly change.
"And I'm not going to my execution, either, so there!"
Saddam Hussein challenged the chief judge in his Kurdish genocide trial Tuesday, telling him in a letter that he no longer wants to attend the hearings and that he was ready to face the consequences. In a handwritten Arabic statement made available to The Associated Press, Saddam cited what he claimed were repeated "insults" by the chief judge, Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, and prosecutors trying him for his role in the 1987-88 military campaign, code-named Operation Anfal.
Posted by: Fred ||
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As in most systems, under Iraqi criminal procedure (the one under which the Tribunal operates) the defendant need not be at the court session - it's at the discretion of the chief judge to compel his presence or not. These little tantrums by Saddam have usually been a test of wills with the trial panel, but I'm not sure the current chief judge cares all that much. And I think Saddam just doesn't want to sit there on TV while the graphic evidence of his huge crimes are set out for global review (similar to the first trial, where the introduction of documentary evidence caused the defendants to slump, and their histrionic "defense counsel" to go generally limp, for a time).
The defendants have TV available to them in their cells in the courthouse, as has been explained to the press in the past. So if Saddam wants to pout in his cell, and Judge Mohammed agrees, then we'll have an empty seat up front, left side.
One interesting thing to see would be if other defendants followed suit. These defendants are a lot more substantial as individuals (esp. Gen. Ahmad and Ali Hassan Majid) than the Dujayl bunch - I think we might seem some of them charting their own course even if Number One decides his best tactic is to stay out of view. In Dujayl, Saddam constantly tried to orchestrate group behavior on things like courtroom "boycotts" - with mixed results.
(SomaliNet) The local administration in Baidoa city, southwest of Somalia has on Tuesday officially announced an order banning small passenger cars notably the kinds of Mark II from Mogadishu capital, a city controlled by the Islamic Courts Union.
The order will get into effect on Wednesday when all Mark II cars would be banned to enter Baidoa in precaution steps to tighten the security days after a car bomb explosion at one of the main entrances to the city, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more.
The ban, initially issued yesterday was delayed for technical reasons.
The local officials in Baidoa said this measure was part of stepping up security in the region and to prevent more explosions. "The ban would affect only Mark II sorts but other big Lorries and mini buses would go normally and go under firm searches before entering Baidoa," local official said.
The drivers of Mark II passenger cars already complained about the latest ban describing it as unwanted and obstacle to their livelihood. "This ban is a real problem to our life, because I am driver of Mark II who drives between Mogadishu and Baidoa, I cover the need of my family with this job so if it stops I do not know what to do," Aden Mohamed Ali, a driver who works on the road between Baidoa and Mogadishu told Somalinet.
Mr. Mohamed said that the number of Mark II cars to Baido, which was 14 cars has reduced to 7 cars due to the reports on the car that exploded outside Baidoa was Mark II.
Posted by: Fred ||
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No more small passengers, eh? Just toss those midgets to the Islamonuts.
Today's Idiot? Hey, I dunno, it just struck me as a stinker. Hold yer nose...
Flatulence brought 99 passengers on an American Airlines flight to an unscheduled visit to Nashville early Monday morning. Well, not exactly...
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. See, toldja. "Nadine! Do you smell burnt matches?"
"It's ain't burnt matches! Don't smile, Katie! It'll stain your teeth!"
The plane landed safely. The FBI, Transportation Safety Administration and airport authority responded to the emergency, Lowrance said. "Whoa! What's that smell? Smells more like somethin' died!"
"Unit 2, be advised breathing apparatus is required!" 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 when she came down with the vapors in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition. Yah, shure. Lol. Chili is 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. We don't have enough of those cute little pinetree thingys. Sorry.
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. You get no strikes - then you're out, lol.
#5
It's possible that it could be really horrendous body odor. I went to college with this one guy who had an inherited metabolic disorder that made his sweat absolutely vile. I have never been around anyone who reeked as badly as he did on a daily basis (and yes, he bathed at least once a day).
He used to room with an old boyfriend of mine. I remember one time when I was writing a note to my ex on the dry erase board on their door. Ol' Stinky thought he could sneak up on me and startle me, but I could literally smell him coming down the hallway. He was surprised when he got right behind me and I said "Hi Rich" without looking away from the door, and wondered how I knew he was there....I figured that since we barely got along anyway, telling him it was because he was in rare form that day wouldn't accomplish anything....
#6
I habe been thinking in a new Marvel-like Superhero. Smarter than Batman, faster tahn Spiderman; stronger than Supeme: coming from another Galaxy: Fartoman!. He flies by jet propulsion!
#8
I had a roomate in college that had horrible smelling feet. We nicknamed him "Carrion Man." He tried everything, but nothing worked. So I got some sheep dip from a friend of mine, mixed it up and put his rotten feet in a tub. Fixed it right up, reapplied as required.
I remembered the sheep dip solution because my dad told me that he got a bad rash as a kid up in N California in the early 1930s. The county quarantined the home. Finally great grandma Richardson went down to the feed store and bought a 5 gal jug of sheep dip. Cleared the rash right up, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 15:16
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Moscow will not extradite possible suspects in the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko to Britain, Russia's top prosecutor announced yesterday. Yuri Chaika also warned that visiting British detectives would only be allowed to listen as their Russian counterparts collect testimony. He said that under Russian law, a Russian citizen who is accused of committing a crime abroad must face trial at home. Chaika said that his office would fully co-operate with a team of British investigators and added that those interrogated would be questioned by Russian prosecutors in the presence of the British officers. Chaika also confirmed that a potential central figure in the case, another former Russian agent who met with Litvinenko in London on 1 November - the day Litvinenko believed he was poisoned - is currently being treated in hospital.
(SomaliNet) The Sudanese government has made its final rejection of a joint U.N.-African peacekeeping force in Darfur and
Analysts say thousands more Sudanese civilians will die and many more will be forced to flee their homes unless the West can somehow muster strong sanctions against Sudan's government.
analysts say Sudanese civilians will be the ones to bear the costs of that opposition thousands more will die, they fear, and many more will be forced to flee their homes unless the West can somehow muster strong sanctions against Sudan's government. 'Tain't gonna happen. The Russers and the Frenchies and the Heathen Chinee won't let it. Call it the Axis of Obstinacy.
"Khartoum will not stop the massive war crimes taking place in Darfur until it is forced to," said Tom Cargyll of Chatham House, a British think tank. My guess is that they'll keep right on with them, since they're occurring as a matter of policy. Nobody's gonna stop them, so the black guys are toast. And their wimmin, too.
Last month, the U.N. compromise deal was announced by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a major diplomatic breakthrough to bring peace to Darfur one that would allow him to keep his pledge to solve the Darfur crisis before he steps down as U.N. chief later this year. Annan said Sudan had agreed in principle to a "hybrid mission" of some 20,000 peacekeepers mostly from Africa to deploy in Darfur under U.N. command to replace an overwhelmed African Union (AU) force. However, Sudan's foreign minister said there was a misunderstanding and a "mixed operation" in Darfur did not mean a "mixed force."
This means that Sudan still maintains that no U.N. peacekeeper could deploy in Darfur, but the U.N. was welcome to provide logistical and financial support. "International troops are a colonization of Sudan," Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir later said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A "unilateral" ARCLIGHT strike down through the center of Khartoum, with promises of more if Sudan doesn't "reform", would put a stop to it tout suite. The only way to deal with dictatorial governments is to get their attention. Nothing gets someone's attention quite like an ARCLIGHT strike - unless it's a nuke.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2006 13:24
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Robert Gates won approval by a Senate panel Tuesday to be the next defense secretary after a daylong hearing in which he said the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq and there could be a "regional conflagration" if the country is not stabilized. At a Senate confirmation hearing that was long on praise for Gates and short on criticism, the man President Bush picked to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld said he is open to new ideas about correcting the U.S. course in Iraq. He said the war would be his highest priority if confirmed as expected. A finer display of fellatio has not been seen in the Senate chambers since, well, since the legendary name Long Dong Silver was evoked. You do what you gotta do to get confirmed. The Dems couldn't wait to vote for this guy so that Rummy would finish packing his desk and leave.
In a closed-door meeting following five hours of open testimony, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 21-0 to recommend approval of Gates' nomination, said panel chairman John Warner, R-Va. It appeared likely that Gates would win Senate confirmation by the end of the week.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
IRAQ can easily be "secured" iff the USA truly wants it to be. ASYMMETRIC WARFARE = the ultimate form of damage is what the Strong State DOES TO HURT = DESTROY ITSELF. WOT > WAR FOR THE WORLD = WAR FOR ANTI-US OWG > ITS DOUBTFUL THE ANTI-US, VOLUNTARY = BY NECESSITY = BY DESIRE = FORCIBLY, OWG-happy AGENDISTS-LEFTIES ARE GONNA CARE WHETHER THE USA KILLS ITSELF ANDOR THE WORLD KILLS THE USA. They will suppor anything from the Right Center-Moder Left andor Non-Aligned, etc. directly = indirectly that puts Gubmint in charge of everything + everyone. CLINTONISM > HATED FASCISM/NAZISM = also WELL-MEANING BUT ERROR-FUL LIMITED COMMUNISM = DE-REGULATED COMMUNISM; ULTRA-RIGHT SOCIALISM = form of ULTRA-LEFT SOCIALISM; FEDERALISM = LIMITED CENTRALISM/STALINISM, etc.
#3
Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, quipped that the only question asked was, "Are you Donald Rumsfeld?", and upon hearing the negative, confirmed Mr. Gates. He's a deliberately ignorant, nihilistic ass, but occasionally Mr. Stewart gets something right.
I hesitate to point this out, but force is one of Afghanistan's problems. NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai said on Tuesday that the use of military force was not the solution to problems in Afghanistan, and hoped that the proposed jirgas on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border would help restore peace in the region. How is it that the use of military force by the Talibs isn't a problem, but the use of military force against them is?
The foreign offices of both countries have been working on the modalities for the jirgas, and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri will visit Afghanistan tomorrow to discuss arrangements with his Afghan counterpart, said Orakzai at press conference at the Peshawar Cantt Railways Station, after the inauguration of the Peshawar Express that will run between Peshawar and Rawalpindi. A chance should be given for negotiations because peace cannot be restored by the use of military force in the troubled region, he said. Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, who attended the inauguration, said that Pashtuns could not be defeated by force, and their hearts can only be won by love and jirgas. Sure the Pashtuns can be defeated by force. The way to do it would be to select one subtribe of Pashtuns and demand their surrender. If they didn't, then they would be wiped out. Move on to the next subtribe and repeat. If necessary, repeat a third time, but it probably won'e be necessary.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Pashtuns could not be defeated by force, and their hearts can only be won by love and jirgas.
At least 19 people have been killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka as peace broker Norway cancelled a meeting with Tamil Tiger rebels, defence officials said Tuesday.
Two soldiers and 15 guerrillas were killed in a confrontation in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday while 19 troopers were also wounded, the defence ministry said. Two Muslim civilians were shot dead in the northern town of Vavuniya on Monday evening, officials said.
The reports of fresh fighting came as a top Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer cancelled a scheduled meeting Tuesday with the political leadership of the Tigers in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi.
Hanssen-Bauer put off the meet after Colombo asked him not to go ahead until the government here reviewed its relations with the Tigers following Fridays suicide bomb attack against defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet website said the Sri Lankan government had scuttled the peace initiative by asking Oslo to suspend its contacts with the rebels.
The government is also considering reactivating the tough Prevention of Terrorism Act after the suicide bombing attempt against Rajapakse, the younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse. There has not yet been any official comment from the LTTE, although last week Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran wrote off four years of peace talks by saying the Oslo-brokered truce was defunct.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Federal prosecutors on Monday said a Pakistani living in New York wired money and tried to send foot soldiers to a Sikh militant organisation aimed at violently forcing Indias government into letting the group form its own state.
Khalid Awan knew the $25,000 that two Sikh businessmen gave him to transfer to a Khalistan Commando Force leader in 2001 was for bad things and that innocent people would die, federal prosecutor Lawrence Ferazani said. Ferazani spoke in Brooklyn federal court during opening arguments of Awans trial on counts of providing material support or resources to terrorists, conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists and money laundering to promote terrorism.
If convicted on all counts, Awan faces a maximum of 55 years in prison. Awan was detained shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks as a material witness. While in prison, Ferazani said Awan recruited fellow inmate Harjit Singh to join the Khalistan Commando Force by introducing him to leader Paramjit Singh Panjwar through phone calls from the prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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How very dated... Khalistani terrorism when the Indian PM is a Sikh, the Vice President is a Sikh, the chief of the Indian Army is a Sikh, twenty percent of the military high command (Maj Gen and above) are Sikh and the most powerful bureaucrat - the planning commission chairman, is a Sikh..
Posted by: john ||
12/06/2006 16:05
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You just knew SFGate would pick this up and re-run it, lol.
New York (AP) -- City health officials Tuesday backed off a plan that would have allowed New Yorkers to switch the sex on their birth certificates without undergoing sex-change surgery. Whoa, now that's important.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the issue needed further study, in part to guarantee it wouldn't conflict with federal rules now being developed. Rules, rules, rules - keep the bureaucracy rolling along...
Like most other cities and states, New York has long allowed people who have undergone sex-change surgery to get a new birth certificate reflecting the change. Yah, shure. Gotta keep the paperwork current with the equipment.
The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had proposed in September that the policy be liberalized further to include people who had taken other steps short of surgery to irrevocably alter their gender identity. Like what? Oh, wait, I don't wanna know...
The new policy, for example, would have allowed birth record changes for people taking hormones to alter their appearance. Appearance. New bumps, missing bulges, that sort of thing?
The plan would have made the city the first in the country with such a policy, health officials said. We're No 1! We're No 1! Sheesh.
While it delayed making that change, the Board of Health went ahead with a related policy revision that for the first time will allow people who have undergone sex-change surgery to list their new sex on their birth documents. Previously, the city had simply issued a new birth certificate that removed any reference to gender. Well, the new equipment doesn't work, so...
Cole Thaler, a transgender rights attorney, said he was disappointed by the board's decision not to implement the new policy. "Some people are physically unable to have the surgery, for health reasons," Thaler said. "I'm hopeful that time will lead to a more fair result." I'm sorry. Sheesh just doesn't seem to cover this.
#1
What don't they understand about BIRTH certificate? Maybe an 'alteration' amendment is appropriate, but to change the BIRTH certificate is something that would only occur to historical revisionists.
#2
I for one applaud NYC because obviously they have solved the many more important issue like education, healthcare, drugs, and crime and can now zero in on this important issue.
#8
Like most other cities and states, New York has long allowed people who have undergone sex-change surgery to get a new birth certificate reflecting the change.
The IDF briefly entered Ramallah on a raid Tuesday afternoon, despite a decision to scale back operations in the area to bolster a shaky cease-fire, witnesses said. The soldiers surrounded a building. The army said the brief raid was a routine operation and no one was arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that comments he made on Monday about kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were misunderstood, and that he did not mean to imply that they were dead. "From Israel's perspective, we believe they [the kidnapped soldiers] are still alive," Olmert told reporters in Kiryat Malachi.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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For the good of Israel it would be better if these soldiers were regarded as dead and retribution taken rather than even thinking about negotiating away even one (never mind 1000) terrorist prisoner to effect their release.
NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani has totally blown out of proportion the arrest of an IB employee with explosives near the CMs Secretariat and is trying to create an issue against Islamabad, a senior government official told Daily Times on Tuesday. The official said the arrest was a misunderstanding. In April, the IB tipped off the authorities in Khyber Agency about a dynamite shipment, which was seized and a sample sent to the civilian intelligence agency office, he said. The (accused) employee was cleaning tables and he found the sample of dynamite. He thought it was a sweet since it was wrapped in a packet and took a bite out of it but it tasted wrong, the official said. The employee left the IB regional office, a few dozen metres from the CMs Secretariat, and threw what he thought was a rotten sweet into a nearby dustbin when police officials arrested him for carrying explosives, he said. A senior police official said that orders from Durrani to raid the IB office and lodge a case against the top IB official for kidnapping the accused and stealing the evidence were difficult to carry out. It was literally like the provincial government attacking the federal government and the problem for the Frontier police was that the IB chief in Peshawar is himself a senior police official.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
So...did the explosive have a bite out of it? Any batteries, wires, blasting caps, timers, that sort of thing attached? Does the reporter journalist have an IQ above room temperature? Enquiring minds want to know!
#2
Waki Pakis, lunch is in the oven, don't try to eat or light the jelly in the red wrapper.
What kind of guy would be cleaning the tables and take a bite out of the scraps ? Waki Pakis.
The campaign is picking up speed. It makes me think of Ovid: Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.
[Add little to little and there will be a big pile.]
Dearborn resident says her complaint to Fitness USA manager about patron went unheeded.
DEARBORN -- Fitness USA, a gym chain, is investigating an alleged civil rights violation involving a local Muslim woman who says her afternoon prayer was interrupted by a fellow patron, and that her complaint to management about the situation was rejected. "The manager told me, 'You have to respect her (the patron), but she does not have to respect your God,'" said Wardeh Sultan of Dearborn. "I've had my membership for seven or eight years, and I've never had a problem with praying there. Who the hell goes to a gym to pray? Where would you pray? In the weight room? On a Nautilus?
"I told that manager, 'I can't believe you said that'" Sultan said. I can. If I go to her mosque are they going to accomodate my workout?
"Honestly, I feel humiliated and I feel ashamed, right now, to go back to Fitness USA." What she should be feeling is stoopid.
Local representatives of Fitness USA, which operates branches throughout Metro Detroit and in two other states, referred all inquiries regarding the matter to their corporate offices. "We will, as we will with any complaint involving our staff and a member, be doing a full and thorough investigation of the matter and take any appropriate action we need to take," said Jodi Berry, executive director of Fitness USA. "We want every member to get a good exercise experience every time they come to the club." Since when does a "good exercise experience" involve a good pray?
Berry said she learned of the complaint on Monday. The allegations are among a series of recent complaints by Muslims who say they are free to practice their religion in the United States, until someone tells them they cannot. Recently, the same Fitness USA facility enacted a new dress code to allow Muslim women to wear more modest clothing, in compliance with some Islamic practices. I go to Gold's Gym. I don't think they have a dress code.
Two weeks ago, six Muslim clerics were removed from a U.S. Airways flight after three of them said their evening prayers in the St. Paul-Minneapolis International Airport. How many situps did they do?
Passengers and employees of the airline said later that their suspicions were aroused when the men were overheard making comments critical of the United States, and because the men had one-way tickets and no baggage. The airline and the civil rights office of U.S. Department of Homeland Security are investigating that incident. Sure sounds like a setup. I suspect the gym incident is, too. Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which lodged a formal complaint with Fitness USA on behalf of Sultan, said the recent spate of conflicts results from a growing intolerance of Islam and a growing restiveness among Muslims that their rights to speak freely and worship are increasingly at risk. Seems more like they represent a feeling of the oats by the turban and automatic weapons crowd. "They (Muslims) are resenting that they are to be suppressed from expressing themselves freely, like others," Hamad said. "It's OK for a Christian fellow or a Jewish fellow to pray, and it would be regarded highly and respected. I can't recall ever having seen a Christian or a Jew praying at Gold's Gym. I did see a Catholic genuflect once, but that was after he walked into something dangling off a Nautilus machine. He was back on his feet in less than half an hour.
"When it comes to a person of Muslim faith, especially if a woman is wearing the head cover or a man with a typical clergy outfit, yeah, it is becoming like something that is offensive to people and making them nervous." No. I think it's the ostentatious arrogance of it that gets to us. So piss off.
Sultan said that, like all pious Muslims, she prays five times daily. "I love bonking my head on the floor at the gym. I do it in the grocery store, too. And at the Jiffy Lube."
She also wears a veil and a long dress, in observance of her faith. Born in Jordan, of Palestinian descent, Sultan arrived in Detroit 17 years ago, before moving to Dearborn. She is an American citizen. Sultan said she came to the United States to secure her freedom and to avoid intolerance. "We're here in the great United States and for this happening, it truly breaks my heart," she said. The thought of you doing the treadmill in full Islamic paraphernalia truly makes me snicker.
"You know, things are starting to change backwards, instead of frontward. We need to keep this United States, our country, up on our shoulders. We don't want it to go down."
Now I hear Tony Bennett / Frankie...
I left my heart
in San Francisco in an Amman shithole,
high on a hill dome it calls to me
to be where little cable cars believers bonk their heads climb halfway to the stars on rugs of holy threads...
#1
You know, things are starting to change backwards, instead of frontward. We need to keep this United States, our country, up on our shoulders. We don't want it to go down."
Then get your covered meat butt out on the street where we can see you demonstrating against terrorists and we're more likely to believe you're in it with us.
#2
I happen to worship at Gold's also. There are some f**king moonbats in there. I see their f**king little hats. If I ever see one on the floor, I will accidentally drop around 300 pounds right on top of the asswipe.
#4
This is a "copy cat" after the Minneapolis airport "immam 'O' gram". Whether it is part of an organized attempt or not I cannot say definively. However, the end game of these actions is to desensitize our reaction to incidents of this nature.
#5
Years ago> ACLU = "about Communism/Socialism". Since too many ACLU lawyers love to talk about Socialism while wilfully intentionally NOT MOVING TO EITHER THE USSR-CHINA, etc Commie paradises on Earth, can only only mean 'Tis about SELFISH UNILATER POWER + $$$ WHILE SOMEONE ELSE FIXES THEIR MESS FOR THEM - you know, Universal anti-Materialist Utopia/laissez Faire + Equalism + Fairness + Social Justice + Leadership + anti-Gubmint Governmentism???
#8
C'mon, guys, she had just raised the weights on the "Butt Blaster", and was just askin' Allah to help her finish that set of reps. And to punish that dirty infidel hussy on the ab machine for hogging it for the past five minutes....and to make the mirrors stop making her thighs look fat....
#9
"The manager told me, 'You have to respect her (the patron), but she does not have to respect your God,'" said Wardeh Sultan of Dearborn."I told that manager, 'I can't believe you said that'" Sultan said.
There's the issue. In Sultan's culture infidel are not permitted to speak to their muzzie overlords in such a fashion. Violates sharia ya know.
I read the entire article but it's not made clear to me how or in what way Sultan thinks her prayer time was interrupted.The journalist that wrote the article neglected to add what I deem an important part of the story. That information would put Sultan's alleged (cough) "humiliation" in context.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/06/2006 6:47
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#10
on Freyas (PBUH) day, Find the nearest mosque and do a workout inside.
a) Use of the mass media by creating a media-friendly incident in which the Islamist victim(s) is portrayed as a target of anti-Islamic bigotry by infidels the un-ummahed.
2) Islamist recruitment
a) Free use of the mass media to recruit Islamists from the pool of "moderate" Muslims.
This is the propaganda form of asymmetric warfare - using the MSM's constant foraging for class/racial/ethnic warfare "incidents" to fill air time - in order to promote Islamist objectives.
I look at these episodes as carefully-planned and orchestrated propaganda theater productions.
So far, we've seen oppressed clergy and an abused woman. That probably means the next story will involve children.
#12
I pray to Allah to give me a quick and lucrative settlement from Fitness USA.
Posted by: Wardeh Sultan ||
12/06/2006 8:56
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#13
Amendment XXVIII
1. The following of Islam, of the teachings of Mohammed, or the Koran, is not a religion but a foreign political movement.
2. Congress shall have power to regulate Islam and any property under powers delegated to by this Constitution. All other powers not prohibited to them shall be reserved to the states.
3. Any ruling based on protecting Islam as a religion shall be vacated and be grounds for impeachment.
Good gawd, muzzie woman, get a grip. I'm a devout Southern Baptist, but you'll never catch me praying in a gym, for Pete's sake, unless it's to invoke the Almighty to help me with my last set of reps. What they (and many who repress Christians and others in the U.S.) don't get is, we have FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Just because you don't likey what I say, doesn't mean you can repress my words. The truly un-holy alliance of the muzzies, the MSM, and the LLL in their "Free speech for me, but not for thee" campaign.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 11:36
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#15
Proves the old addage too, of "Give them an inch and they'll take a mile." Note that the gym has already changed it's "Dress code" (didn't even know gyms had dress codes, except for nekkidity, I guess), and others have already given the muzzies "muzzy only" rooms to workout because they wanted to do it in a full-out burkha? QUIT kow-towing and we'll win this war a LOT quicker.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 11:38
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#16
I'm waiting for the day when some islamo-doofus stalls traffic in a major city because the call to prayer came while sitting at a red light.
#17
Time (past time!) to play "muslims and cowboys".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2006 13:51
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#18
So just how does the 'non-flying imans' relate to the burka barbell set? Let her pray in the shower ( just thinking about the wet burka gets me in a lather.....)
#19
I keep wondering to myself how far this idiocy is going to go before we have a modern John Brown incident.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2006 15:19
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#20
I pray anytime, anywhere, including the gym, but since my God is ominprescient, I do it silently and it offends no one. Banning prayer is a farce, as no one can invade your thoughtful conversation with the Almighty. It's about relationship, not ritual.
#21
Yep, what #20 said, I whole heartedly concur. I pray in the car on the way to work, the way home, on my lunch break, when I hear a tragic story, in a tree stand enjoying nature and waiting for that monster buck to come along. It's all about relationship.
BTW - Luckily for the klingers momo talked allan down from 500 prayers a day to just five. What a guy.
#23
Dar---we will introduce a new acronym for your incident: MJB Modern John Brown, heh
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2006 19:02
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#24
Born in Jordan, of Palestinian descent
Descended from the biggest pack of whiners on earth. That explains just about everything.
Amendment XXVIII
1. The following of Islam, of the teachings of Mohammed, or the Koran, is not a religion but a foreign political movement.
2. Congress shall have power to regulate Islam and any property under powers delegated to by this Constitution. All other powers not prohibited to them shall be reserved to the states.
3. Any ruling based on protecting Islam as a religion shall be vacated and be grounds for impeachment.
Word, Jackal. If America cannot find the courage to do this, our only other constructive response will most likely involve nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
NO GOP-DEM strategy(s) regardless of merits will work when POLITIX MATTERS MORE THAN NATIONAL SAFETY/SECURITY. Nothing will work iff people or Pols wilfully do not want anything to work becuz of nepotist desires for power, ala movie FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, the end-scene where honest Roman Soldier-General walks away wid his Lady love whilst Roman Emperorships go to the highest bidders. THE DEMS KNOW AMER IS IN A FIGHT FOR ITS VERY LIFE, IDENTITY + espec its EXISTENCE, yet prefer to humiliate their own country + POTUS despite recognizing the merits/worth of his policies in regards to overall US security. THE DEMS KNOW IFF WE DON'T FIGHT "OVER THERE", AMER IS GONNA SEE NEW TERROR + ENEMY ARMIES "OVER HERE", IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS, ERGO DEGRADE DUBYA + AMERICA. America's enemies no longer desire or tolerate the "status guo" - ANY COLD WAR PRETENSE OF "BUYING THEM OFF" WID US $$$/ECON CONCESSIONS IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE, and indeed only adds to their preceptions of our weakness and national divisions. THEY WANNA KILL US, FOREVER AND EVER, NOT MERELY TO HURT US, AND NHAVE NO QUALMS USING OUR OWN VALUES AND SYSTEMS, ANYTHING AND EVRYTHING, AGZ US.
#2
The current Borat movie has audiences rolling in the aisles over the premise that America is a narrow, intolerant, homosexual-hating, anti-Semitic nation unmasked by the comedian masquerading as a Moslem.
I'd like to offer a different interpretation. I think it shows clearly that Americans are by far the most tolerant, cordial, open and accommodating people in the world.
While the rest of the world continues to wallow in concerns about blood ties and clan loyalties from the village to the national level, the only people who've I've witness adopt children regardless of blood, color, race, religion, or national origin has been Americans by the legion[and we can probably throw in our Canadian cousins]. Americans will not only take them in, but many make the effort to preserve the best of the child's heritage and not the part that treated them like throw aways.
#3
The article was good until it went to Iraq then it turned into fantasy. Iranian is the enemy, the sooner politicians and pundits really 'get' that the sooner we'll win. I hope it doesn't take a disaster for them to get it.
Natter, natter, natter...
PARIS (AP) - Six world powers made "substantive progress" but failed to reach an accord on a U.N. resolution to punish Iran for defying U.N. demands to halt its nuclear program, the French Foreign Ministry said after talks in Paris Tuesday. We were this close.
Tehran made a new threat of retaliation if the powers opted for sanctions. We will kill you all if you threaten us!
"We made substantive progress on the scope of the sanctions targeting proliferation-sensitive activities. There remain several outstanding issues, upon which we will reflect over the coming days," the French ministry said in a statement. "We are now close to a conclusion of this process." Yeah, we can see the end of it, too - from way over here. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
The talks brought together diplomats from the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia - the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - as well as Germany and a representative of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Lunch!
The United States and France were hoping the Paris talks would secure agreement on sanctions against Iran. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that imposing wide-ranging sanctions would be "irresponsible." That's why they talked. To come to a concensus that it was a total waste of time.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Tuesday to stick by the nuclear program and issued a new threat to downgrade relations with the 25-nation EU if European negotiators opted for tough U.N. sanctions. He gave no details on how ties might be downgraded. The EU is Iran's biggest trading partner. We don't care what you do or say. We will have our nukies! We will punish you!
The Security Council has been at odds over how to deal with Iran's defiance of an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment. Western powers accuse Iran of seeking nuclear bombs, while Tehran insists it only wants nuclear energy. Sheesh.
The Europeans and Americans want tough sanctions; Russia and China have pushed for dialogue, despite the failure of an EU effort to bring the Iranians to the negotiating table. Stalemateski is good.
A European draft U.N. resolution tabled in October would order all countries to ban the supply of materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Lavrov said Russia supported such measures. Yeah, but...
But Russia has resisted the imposition of a travel ban and an asset freeze on companies, individuals and organizations involved in those programs. It might affect our cash flow...
Kristen Silverberg, a U.S. assistant secretary of state, urged Russia and China to back the European proposals. "We think it's time for the Russians and the Chinese to accept the European text," Silverberg said in Berlin. *snicker*
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said officials in Paris were trying to resolve their differences over both language and substantive issues. "We are looking for consensus and unity here," he said, adding that he hoped an agreement would be reached soon. "We are coming up to the time (when) the credibility of the U.N. is at stake." Lol - we be waay past that, Sean, my boy.
The draft resolution would exempt a nuclear power plant being built by the Russians at Bushehr in Iran, but not the nuclear fuel needed for the reactor. Boneski.
Russia proposed major changes that would limit any travel ban, asset freeze or mention of Bushehr. Cashski.
Meanwhile, French presidential candidate Segolene Royal said she would press the international community to ban Iran's access to nuclear power altogether if she is elected next year. Dreamski.
The Socialist's stance on Iran is tougher than France's position. Paris wants to punish Tehran 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. Bullshitski.
Iran says it is entitled as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Boomski.
#3
Bushie's got nothing to lose. Have the FTC call the jerks before them on interstate commerce of defective product and service. Hold them to the standards of all other businesses and industries that pawn off defective merchandise and engage in misleading and false advertising. Its not about Free Speech. Its about commerce.
#4
Good gawd, I hope this too blows up in their face. The pajamahadin have struck again, lol!
I'd be willing to bet that the average American would be horrified at not only the level of bias in the MSM, but the jihadis "staging" of events in the Middle East to favor their agenda. I saw all I needed to when I viewed that video from Palestine, where the Palestinians were carrying their latest martyr (under a sheet) upon their shoulders. They set him down, and when the MSM cameras left (but this Documentarian still rolled), the "dead" guy got up from under his sheet and walked away.
Then, we had the "Hollywoodized" shootouts between the Palestinians and the Jooos, and the role the (conveniently nearby) Red Thingy's ambulances played completely busted up. "Staging" these events is dispicable, but then reporting it as news, and thus, causing further hatred and death is traitorious.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 10:01
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#5
What's the matter with Alaska Paul. What did he do that was so bad?
Oh, Associated Press?
Never mind.
Careful Jackal! al Alaska Paul is likely to shoot some Artic Sturms our way.
Okay, there goes my Boggle, again. Is JPost up to WND standards? I think not.
While Iran continues to deny that Israel has the right to exist, Iranian and Israeli representatives are holding clandestine talks in Europe to settle an old Israeli debt, Ha'aretz reported Wednesday. Iran is still owed hundreds of millions of dollars for oil it supplied to Israel in the years before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and representatives of the two countries, now sworn enemies, are holding contacts meant to settle the debt, according to the report in Haaretz.
The report was attributed to anonymous Israeli and Swiss officials involved in the negotiations. Two mediation processes involving different parts of the debt are now ongoing between Iranian and Israeli representatives, the report said, and a third ended recently in a ruling that Israeli fuel companies owe Iran tens of millions of dollars.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
Iranian rep. You've until 10/10/2007 to pay.
Israeli rep. What happens on 10/10/2007?
Iranian rep. You're dead.
RESTRICTIONS imposed on Melbourne terror suspect "Jihad" Jack Thomas are unconstitutional because they require Federal Court judges to act as police, the High Court heard yesterday. In the first major test of the Howard Government's anti-terrorism regime, lawyers for Mr Thomas asked the full bench to consider whether federal courts had the constitutional scope to restrict a person's behaviour in order to protect the public from a terrorist act.
In August, a federal magistrate approved Australia's first control order against Mr Thomas, subjecting him to a curfew from midnight until 5am, limiting his phone and internet use and banning him from contacting terrorists, including the elusive Osama bin Laden. The secretive hearing that imposed the control order on Mr Thomas came just days after the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed his convictions for receiving funds from al-Qa'ida and holding a false passport.
Mr Thomas's lawyer, former federal court judge Ron Merkel, argued yesterday that the section of the Criminal Code that covered control orders was invalid because it conferred non-judicial powers on federal courts, contrary to Chapter III of the Constitution. Chief Justice Murray Gleeson questioned whether control orders differed to apprehended violence orders, which are frequently used in domestic violence disputes to limit access between estranged partners. "A fear that a person may commit a violent act becomes the basis for restraints ... against conduct which is not unlawful," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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A senior Indonesian politician has resigned from the country's largest political party after he was featured with a popular singer on a sex tape that was widely circulated. Yahya Zaini - the head of the Golkar Party's religious affairs department, which has responsibility for moral issues - submitted his resignation from the party yesterday. It was immediately approved by its chairman, Jusuf Kalla, Indonesia's Vice-President.
The married Mr Zaini will lose his House of Representatives seat after Golkar's deputy chairman, Agung Laksono, said the process was under way to remove him from parliament.
The video that prompted the resignation is less than a minute long and has been circulated via mobile phones and email. Mr Zaini and singer Maria Eva can be clearly identified in it. Mr Zaini flew back from a parliamentary study tour in Australia at the weekend as news of the tape spread. He is reportedly in hiding in Jakarta. Eva, however, appeared at a tearful press conference yesterday and admitted to making the tape, but denied distributing it.
The singer said she had loved Mr Zaini but their affair had ended two years ago. She added she was pressured to have an abortion by him and his wife. "He asked me to marry him, but I declined the offer as I don't want to be his second wife," The Jakarta Post quoted Eva assaying.
The scandal broke as Islamic leaders and political parties campaign for tougher morality laws in Indonesia, including outlawing pornography and public displays of affection. Politicians and religious leaders in the nation with the world's largest Muslim population have called for harsh action to be taken against Mr Zaini. In Indonesia, many politicians have playboy reputations but take care to keep their private lives private. Mr Zaini is the first to be caught on tape.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
This pious fool is in charge of moral affairs ?/ Har har. Time to shorten one of his members.
JAKARTA - Human hands and other body parts were found in the belly of a five metre (16 ft) crocodile caught in Kupang Bay in eastern Indonesia, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Crocs -- why do they regard us as lunch?
The reptile, which was caught in a nylon snare near the mouth of the Dusan II river on Monday in West Timor, is believed to have killed at least one of three men who have been missing for at least a month, the Jakarta Post newspaper said.
Angry villagers attacked the trapped reptile with machetes, killing the 500 kg (1,100 lb) animal, before it was cut open to reveal two human hands, a leg, a T-shirt and some shorts, the paper said. Human hair and skull fragments were also found in the abdomen of the crocodile.
"That's Mahmoud!"
"How you can tell?"
"The nose, I'd recognize that nose anywhere."
Residents believe the body parts are those of a 59-year-old villager who went missing late last month after he went fishing on the river.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2006
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The nose, I'd recognize that nose anywhere
Don't be so sure. Lots of crocodiles sport a nose like that!
France and Germany on Tuesday urged Syria to stop supporting forces that "want to destabilize Lebanon," and said Damascus could enjoy warmer relations with Europe if it helps revive stalled Middle East peace efforts.
The two countries "want Syria no longer to support forces that want to destabilize Lebanon and the region, and to build a relationship of equals with Lebanon," according to a joint statement issued as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met. "By changing its stance, Syria can hope to restore the normal relations that it is seeking with the international community, particularly the countries of the European Union," it said.
The statement didn't elaborate on what "normal" relations with European countries might mean for Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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NEW DELHI India is unlikely to accept Pakistan President Pervez Musharrafs four-point solution to Jammu and Kashmir, with Indian officials expressing their disbelief to such a solution.
Top South Block officials told Khaleej Times that if India agrees to this proposal then Jammu and Kashmir will get a great deal of autonomy which will only pave way to strengthen separatist movement. Such a step can never be prudent, and especially so at the time of thriving peace process aimed at confidence building between the two sides. His (President Musharrafs) proposals will surely help build up a separatist movement in demand for a separate nation. Separatists have had been fighting for this since long, and any solution aimed precisely at this would not be in the interests of India and Pakistan towards resolving the issue amicably, a top Ministry of External Affairs official said. Which is why Perv suggested it, of course.
New Delhi is of the view that any move to declare troop reduction and announce the opening of LoC, as suggested by President Musharraf, will alter the administrative character of Indias sovereign state. Though India has already gone for troop reduction time and again suiting its need, it has always expressed its reticence towards granting autonomy to Kashmir. Since about fifty-teen other states within India would then ask for the same deal.
President Musharrafs statement that Pakistan is prepared to give up its claim to Kashmir, if India considered four proposals is also not something that New Delhi is ready to figure out when foreign ministers of both the sides are to meet soon, said officials. Separatist leaders have anyway expressed their unhappiness over Pakistan saying that it is against independence in Kashmir.
Veteran freedom movement leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik told Khaleej Times that they had been always fighting for independence, and would continue to do so even in future. This sort of statement (by Musharraf) where he talks of joint autonomy to settle his own goals, indicates that Pakistan and India are together playing petty politics against the people of Kashmir. "And it cuts me out of power!"
Talking to Khaleej Times, another separatist leader safe within PakistanShabir Shah said such a proposal was not be in the interest of Kashmir. However, he said President Musharrafs suggestions exhibits remarkable flexibility, as compared to India. Pakistan has been showing significant flexibility so that decisive dialogue on Kashmir commences. Unfortunately, Indian stubbornness has been very disappointing. "Since all the Indians want to do is kill us."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2006
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TWO Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire. The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.
Teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school.
Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.
The Bible desecration took place last week at a school camp held near Bacchus Marsh, about 50km west of Melbourne, attended by 33 teenage Muslim boys ranging in age from Year7 to Year 10. A school report of the incident, obtained by The Australian, says it happened late at night and involved three students and another two watching.
"The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book," the report says.
"The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book," the report says. The second boy, from Year 9, "tore pages from the Holy Book and burnt them", while a third student, from Year 7, "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it".
The boys come from a variety of ethnic Muslim backgrounds -- one is believed to be an Albanian/Malaysian, another Lebanese and another Indonesian. Mr Doutie, whose school receives about $3.9 million in state and federal government funding each year, told The Australian yesterday that both he and the school community were appalled by the Bible desecration and that he had expelled the first two boys and suspended the third. In a letter to all staff on Monday, Mr Doutie wrote:
"The school unconditionally apologises for this horrible act as conducted by some illiterate and ignorant students while under the care of EPIC teachers. We regard the desecration of the Bible in a very serious light and therefore we have taken serious action against the offenders."
"The school unconditionally apologises for this horrible act as conducted by some illiterate and ignorant students while under the care of EPIC teachers. We regard the desecration of the Bible in a very serious light and therefore we have taken serious action against the offenders. The Bible is an important book both for non-Muslims and Muslims and should be treated as a holy book by all religions."
Mr Doutie said he did not believe that the boys realised the significance of their act.
Mr Doutie said he did not believe that the boys realised the significance of their act. But to ensure it did not happen again he had called in the assistant imam of the Newport Mosque, Oman Haouli, to tell the students that the Bible was a sacred book. "My lesson to them was to respect their neighbours and respect all religions," Mr Haouli said yesterday.
But the desecration incident has shaken the nerves of the school's teachers, about half of whom are non-Muslim. A petition signed by 22 teachers expressed "anguish and dismay at the grave incident of the desecration of the Holy Bible".
"This whole incident implies a deep hatred inculcated in the students towards the Christians/non-Muslim teachers," it says.
The petition said there had been "previous incidents of students misbehaving towards non-Muslim teachers".
The petition said there had been "previous incidents of students misbehaving towards non-Muslim teachers". It called on the school to "take steps to rectify this explosive situation" to ensure the safety of teachers.
Mr Doutie said the school had tried to contact the parents of the expelled boys to find out why they had desecrated the Bible. But he said the school had not received a response.
EPIC is an eight-year-old primary and secondary school in Melbourne's north that caters mostly to the children of working-class immigrant Somali and Lebanese families. The Bible desecration comes at a time of heightened tension among Australia's 300,000-member Islamic community, many of whom believe their religion is being unfairly discriminated against because of terrorism fears. Many Muslims remain angry about the public humiliation suffered by their spiritual leader, the mufti Taj Din al-Hilali, after the Sheik likened female rape victims to pieces of meat who brought the attacks on themselves.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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#1
So we riot and demand apologies from everybody.
#5
"Many Muslims remain angry about the public humiliation suffered by their spiritual leader, the mufti Taj Din al-Hilali, after the Sheik likened female rape victims to pieces of meat who brought the attacks on themselves."
Not as angry as Aussie natives feel about Muslims blaming rape victims for rape.
#6
Oh, damn! Shouldn't I be burning something or killing something?
Before you know it, they'll be showing pictures of Jesus and I'll...just...totally...SNAP!!!
#7
Since they "respect" the Bible as a "Holy Book", I guess they'll have no problems living up to the Golden Rule, outlined in the Bible, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Get some Christian kids to tear up a koran, roll its pages, burn it and spit on it and see how they react. I don't know why, but something tells me they'll be a lil more violent than the Aussies.
It speaks volumes too, that the principal couldn't deal with this on his own. Had to bring in a holy man imam to explain "we need to show courtesy to Christians"? Just goes even further than the boys actions that this is NOT a religion, but a brainwashing death cult where you can't speak for yourself, but do what your holy man says.
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 9:52
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#8
Whoops, meant "think for yourself..."
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2006 9:53
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#9
BA, their golden rule only applies to other muslims, and even then loosely.
Hundreds of wanted-terrorist posters are being distributed during the holiday season to U.S. airports by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"Merry Christmas, Mahmoud!"
The poster, "The Faces of Global Terrorism," identifies 26 known terrorist suspects with reward offers of up to 25 million dollars as part of the Rewards For Justice (RFJ) program. Well-known images of al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are joined on the poster by the most recent addition to the RFJ program, American-born terrorist suspect Adam Gadahn. More than 500 posters are on their way to major airports in New York City, Houston, Kansas City, Newark, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Smaller airports across the United States also requesting posters, the State Department announcement said. "Increasing an airline traveler's awareness of wanted terrorists is part of the U.S. government's mission in fighting the war on terror," the announcent said. "These posters will increase this awareness for both travelers and airport workers".
#3
Screw the posters and the color coded threat levels, Homeland Security needs to hand out GWOT bad guy decks of cards to every air traveler within and from America.
(SomaliNet) Sudanese militia will not be tolerated in the Sudan town of Malakal, Southern Sudan's President Salva Kiir said during a visit to town last week.
Serious clashes between former Sudanese rebels from South and Sudan's national army left at least 150 people dead. Analysts consider this as the most serious breach of the 2005 deal to end two decades of war.
Meanwhile, United Nations peacekeepers in the Sudanese town have been helping both sides bury their dead. The UN warned over the weekend that some corpses had contaminated a portion of the Nile River and water purification tablets were being distributed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2006
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Burying the dead seems to be the only thing the UN can accomplish in a "peacekeeping" role.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/06/2006 13:25
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A senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement has accused the ruling Hamas party of blocking efforts to form a national unity government. 'If Hamas wanted to form a (unity) government, then why did Ismail Haniya keep his post as prime minister and organize a regional tour (scheduled to last until the end of the year)?' Fatah parliamentary whip Azzam al-Ahmad asked during a radio debate with Hamas Information Minister Yousef Rezka.
Haniya's tour, his first since taking office, sees him visit several Arab and Muslim countries, including Syria ands Iran. It has been criticised as it comes while Hamas and Fatah are discussing the formation of the mooted unity government. The talks have since been deadlocked.
Information Minister Rezka termed 'illogical' al-Ahmad's calls for the resignation of the prime minister. 'Haniya's resignation is agreed to take place when the talks are completed and the formation of the new government begins,' he said.
Al-Ahmed said Abbas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have been holding meetings in Ramallah to discuss options which can be taken to end the deadlock. 'These procedures can begin with a speech by the president and might end with early parliamentary and presidential elections,' he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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BEIJING (AP) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Sorry - that always cracks me up. Okay, I'm better, now... Always makes me think of Fluggy, the 3-headed watchdog in the first Harry Potter movie...
agency said Tuesday that sanctions alone would not resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. I love finger-wagging bureaucrats. They taste like chicken. I hate chicken. It tastes like finger-wagging bureaucrats. Bleh.
In a speech at one of China's top universities, Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said there had to be development in countries such as North Korea - formally the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - to create a sense of security. Because we all know how threatened the Norks feel ... Seems to me, and I could be wrong on this but I'm not, that when the Korean war erupted it was a mismatch because the industrialized North was so much stronger than the agricultural South. The two ends of the Korean horse started out in approximately the same place. No doubt there's a reason that doesn't involve hard work, determination, and capitalism for SKor's success. I'm sure it'll come to me eventually. No doubt there's some reason it's physically impossible for the Norks to do the same thing.
"The solution will have to address the security, economic and other concerns of the DPRK. Quite often these nuclear crises underline a sense of insecurity that clearly needs to be addressed, and a sense of imbalance, economic discrimination also needs to be addressed," he told students at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He's an expert, so listen carefully - and don't try this at home... in your Commie Dictatorship thingy. You can tell he's an expert. Nothing he said made any sense.
North Korea's top nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan said after meeting his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in Beijing last week that his country would not unilaterally abandon its atomic weapons program. The envoys also failed to produce a date on restarting six-nation disarmament talks. So the outlook for progress isn't very spiffy. I guess we'll hafta give in, huh? Oh, we don't have to yet, as long as we give them money.
The multinational negotiations have been stalled for over a year due to a North Korean boycott. The progressives, of course, blame Bush for the Nork boycott.
Efforts to resume the talks have taken on a new urgency since the North tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9. Naw, it just means that we don't have anything to talk about anymore.
#1
Sanctions won't resolve the issue? Neither will diplomacy, all by itself. The two together have a much greater chance. Just like drilling in ANWR won't solve the oil crisis - maybe not solve it, but it can be a part of the solution.
Now if France would just get the sanctions against Iran lined up, mebbe they'd move on to North Korea.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2006 6:40
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After boy, 12, hides his Game Boy, his mom calls police
Rock Hill, SC -- A mother convinced Rock Hill police to arrest her 12-year-old son after he unwrapped a Christmas present early. The boy's great-grandmother had specifically told him not to open his Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which she had wrapped and placed beneath the Christmas tree, according to a police report.
But on Sunday morning, she found the box of the popular handheld game console unwrapped and opened. When the boy's 27-year-old mother heard about the opened gift, she called police. "He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," said the 63-year-old great-grandmother.
Both the great-grandmother and the mother asked the boy on Sunday where the present was. The boy replied he didn't know. When the mother threatened to call the police, the boy went into his room and got the Game Boy, the report stated. She called the police anyway.
Two Rock Hill police officers responded to the home and charged the boy with petty larceny. He was charged as a juvenile and released the same day, said police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop, who added the boy was never held at the jail. "We wouldn't hold a 12-year-old," he said.
On Monday night, the mother said she had her son arrested because she didn't know what else to do. She had the child when she was 15, the woman said, and has been a single mother struggling to earn a business degree. She said the boy likes attention and has a history of bad behavior. He has shoplifted from stores and stolen money from her, she said. The boy has also been inching toward expulsion from school, she added, and even punched a police officer last month. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in that incident. She hoped the arrest would be a wake-up call for him. She dreads getting a phone call someday reporting he's been killed.
The boy "showed no remorse" when the police came, the mother said. "I'm trying to get him some kind of help," she said. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens."
Waldrop said the women were seeking help with a problem child. "He is a disruptive, disorderly kid." Waldrop said he trusted the two responding officers to exercise discretion when deciding whether to arrest the youngster. "In a case like this, if the parents and grandparents are adamant about it and they feel the child has a serious problem, I can't second-guess what the officers did," Waldrop said.
The mother told police officers that she would have the boy placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance.
Waldrop said he was not aware if Rock Hill police have ever arrested a child for unwrapping Christmas presents early. "Yeah, it's strange," he said of the case.
Entitlement. A new lefty is born to carry the trauma of his childhood into arrested adolescence for the rest of his life to exorcise his demon of not getting what he believed was justly his.
#4
What irritates me about this story is it keeps making the Rock Hill police out to be some kind of gestapo. But if you RTFA, you'll realize that the mother CHOSE to press charges against her own son. The police HAD to arrest him. Although, I don't agree with what the mother did, please don't try to paint the police as the bad guys here. It's not the police's fault that the whole family is stupid.
#7
I think the parents should be fined for the cost of getting the police units out there and all the fuss. Perhaps the entire household should be given a taser shot or two.
If the kid is a thug why leave the present out where he can take it? Why not leave a box of coal out for the little craphead instead.
#9
When boys grow older, nature = society inevitably causes them to learn they will become bigger andor stronger than either Mom or Grandma. Wid no father figure around to emulate or exert discipline/control, or anyone else, he exerts his manly rights in the face of [femin] weakness.
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.
The mum was crouched over the hole-in-the-floor toilet when her waters broke - and the baby popped out and plunged out of sight, its umbilical cord still attached. 
The Sun is just past its low-point in an 11-year cycle of activity. 
A new religious syllabus for schools has caused a fury among church groups and politicians after recommending teachers cut down on education about Christianity while increasing lessons in Islam and Hinduism. Teachers in Buckinghamshire were directed to spend 40 per cent of religious education on Christianity, while giving Islam and Hinduism equal play at 20 per cent each. Just ten percent was then to be devoted to other religions - including Judaism - with a final ten per cent on "general concepts". 
PETALUMA (AP) - In this rich agricultural region of Northern California, ranchers have been turning chickens too old to lay eggs into compost at a rate of a half-million hens a year. But some chickens not properly euthanized have been seen crawling out of the compost piles, earning them the name ``zombie chickens'' 
Unlucky: the saga began when Mr Moseley, 36, of Gosport, Hampshire, bought a £5 24-Karat Gold scratchcard. When Steve Moseley thought he'd won £1 million on a scratchcard, he didn't hold back on the celebrations. 
Foreign-Driven Reforms Not Welcome, Says Brahimi
Islam Cannot Be Defeated, Says Abdullah
Abdullah also praised Prince Naif for his efforts to promote research and studies on the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is the duty of every Muslim to support the Sunnah, he added.
The president of Pakistan pledged yesterday to ban the sale of brides along with other controversial customs that deny women basic human rights.
Teams of 20 to 30 will train units in bid to calm violence
Sucks the Big One, don't it? I'm pretty much burned out on Iraq, now. Still a month to go before the assholes actually take power and they're already warming up the Peace with Honor Big Skedaddle thingy. Been there, seen that. 
Russias federal tiger protection task force has issued a warning to motorists in the countrys far-eastern province saying that recently several cars were attacked by a female tiger on local roads. 
Police fired into a crowd protesting President Laurent Gbagbo's regime Tuesday and killed one person, witnesses said, as political opponents mounted rallies in several towns in the southern part of the divided West African country. Protesters said police fired shots to disperse a gathering of hundreds in Abidjan, hitting one man in the leg. Police officials denied shooting at demonstrators.
Pakistan is willing to give up its claim to all of Kashmir if India agrees that the disputed Himalayan region should become self-governing and largely autonomous, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Indian television. 
Recently reported incidents
unk emails are still clogging up Inboxes, with spam accounting for 89.73 per cent of all email traffic, new figures claim. 
Six world powers failed to reach an accord despite "substantive progress" on a UN resolution to punish Iran for its nuclear activities, the French Foreign Ministry said after closed-door talks in Paris on Tuesday. 
A Ridgetown woman has been convicted of a lesser charge in connection with an incident where she confronted a Chatham-Kent police officer while barely clothed. 
Fiji's ousted prime minister left the capital Wednesday, the day after a bloodless coup, as international sanctions and censure began isolating the South Pacific country. Armed forces chief Commodore 
An Intelligence Bureau official was arrested with explosives near the Chief Ministers Secretariat on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Akram Durrani appearing to suggest that he was the target of a bomb plot cooked up by the IB.
A cholera epidemic has hit Kampala's suburbs with cases counting 147 now in the five divisions of Ugandan capital, Kampala. At least ten people have already been confirmed dead mainly in Kawempe, Makindye and Ugandan capital, Kampala Central divisions due to the deadly waterborne disease. 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister reversed course Tuesday and said his envoys will talk with Iraq's neighbors about the possibility of a regional conference on quelling the violence here, despite opposition to the plan by some key political allies.
Fijis military took over running the country in a bloodless overthrow on Tuesday after confining the elected prime minister to his home in the South Pacific island nations fourth coup in 20 years. 
(SomaliNet) Two commanders of a rebel group active in the northeast of Central African Republic (CAR) were killed during French-backed army operations to restore government control of the region, officials said Tuesday. 
Thousands of pro-Syrian Shiites expressed anger at the death of one of their protestors who was killed during a weekend clash with anti-Syrian demonstrators in a Sunni neighbourhood, as tension continued to engulf the streets of the capital Beirut. 'Death to (Prime Minister Fouad) Seniora,' chanted the crowd during the funeral procession on a main road leading to the Martyrs Cemetery in Beirut's Shiite southern suburbs. 'The blood of the Shiites is boiling.' 
Jumblatt, an outspoken critic of Syria, accused the Damascus regime of dealing with Lebanon not like a 'state deals with a neighbouring state, but as a bunch of gangs dealing with a state.' The Druze leader called for calm among his followers and asked them not to attend classes at universities with a majority of students loyal to Shiite pro-Syrian groups Amal and Hezbollah for several weeks. 'We want to avoid any provocations, so please I call on the Druze students not to attend the universities until the Christmas vacation is over.' 
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah-led protest in downtown Beirut continued for the fifth day around the government palace where Seniora's office is located, with demonstrators calling on the premier to resign. Troops and anti-riot police have deployed in force around Beirut to keep the peace, and the Seniora government has received strong public backing from Western and Arab countries. 'Arab countries cannot sit and watch the situation that could get worst,' Arab League secretary general said during a mediation visit to Beirut on Monday. 
International observers backed vote results showing a landslide win for Hugo Chavez, but a European Union delegation also said it received complaints that some government employees faced pressure to support the incumbent president. 
Another key al-Qaeda man thought responsible for activities in Turkey has been captured in Hatay in southeastern Turkey. Named 
A U.N. study said the richest 2 percent of the world population owns more than half the world's assets while those in the bottom half owned about 1 percent. The wealthiest people were concentrated in North America, Western Europe and the richer Asian countries. The poorest were concentrated in Africa and India. 
(SomaliNet) The local administration in Baidoa city, southwest of Somalia has on Tuesday officially announced an order banning small passenger cars notably the kinds of Mark II from Mogadishu capital, a city controlled by the Islamic Courts Union. 
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 
Moscow will not extradite possible suspects in the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko to Britain, Russia's top prosecutor announced yesterday. Yuri Chaika also warned that visiting British detectives would only be allowed to listen as their Russian counterparts collect testimony. He said that under Russian law, a Russian citizen who is accused of committing a crime abroad must face trial at home. Chaika said that his office would fully co-operate with a team of British investigators and added that those interrogated would be questioned by Russian prosecutors in the presence of the British officers. Chaika also confirmed that a potential central figure in the case, another former Russian agent who met with Litvinenko in London on 1 November - the day Litvinenko believed he was poisoned - is currently being treated in hospital.
(SomaliNet) The Sudanese government has made its final rejection of a joint U.N.-African peacekeeping force in Darfur and 
Robert Gates won approval by a Senate panel Tuesday to be the next defense secretary after a daylong hearing in which he said the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq and there could be a "regional conflagration" if the country is not stabilized. At a Senate confirmation hearing that was long on praise for Gates and short on criticism, the man President Bush picked to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld said he is open to new ideas about correcting the U.S. course in Iraq. He said the war would be his highest priority if confirmed as expected. 
NWFP Governor 
Federal prosecutors on Monday said a Pakistani living in New York wired money and tried to send foot soldiers to a Sikh militant organisation aimed at violently forcing Indias government into letting the group form its own state. 
"They (Muslims) are resenting that they are to be suppressed from expressing themselves freely, like others," Hamad said. "It's OK for a Christian fellow or a Jewish fellow to pray, and it would be regarded highly and respected. 
RESTRICTIONS imposed on Melbourne terror suspect "Jihad" 
A senior Indonesian politician has resigned from the country's largest political party after he was featured with a popular singer on a sex tape that was widely circulated. Yahya Zaini - the head of the Golkar Party's religious affairs department, which has responsibility for moral issues - submitted his resignation from the party yesterday. It was immediately approved by its chairman, Jusuf Kalla, Indonesia's Vice-President. 
JAKARTA - Human hands and other body parts were found in the belly of a five metre (16 ft) crocodile caught in Kupang Bay in eastern Indonesia, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI India is unlikely to accept Pakistan President Pervez Musharrafs four-point solution to Jammu and Kashmir, with Indian officials expressing their disbelief to such a solution.
TWO Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire. The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected. 
Hundreds of wanted-terrorist posters are being distributed during the holiday season to U.S. airports by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
(SomaliNet) Sudanese militia will not be tolerated in the Sudan town of Malakal, Southern Sudan's President Salva Kiir said during a visit to town last week. 
A senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement has accused the ruling Hamas party of blocking efforts to form a national unity government. 'If Hamas wanted to form a (unity) government, then why did Ismail Haniya keep his post as prime minister and organize a regional tour (scheduled to last until the end of the year)?' Fatah parliamentary whip Azzam al-Ahmad asked during a radio debate with Hamas Information Minister Yousef Rezka. 
BEIJING (AP) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog
