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Rebel Offensive In Hama
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Texas Democrat Calls for Shooting NRA, Supporters
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/17/2012 15:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seriously, he needs to be jailed for fomenting hatred under the left's own standards and stripped of his office.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/17/2012 15:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Houston Democrats are a hot bed of corruption and oppression. The same area that had NAACP/African-American Democrats that were in a Houston poling station pushing Obama supporters ahead of non-Obama supporters. This comes from a Latino segment of the Democratic/Socialist segment of Houston.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/17/2012 15:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Houston Democrats are a hot bed of corruption and oppression.

Are there any Democrats that aren't, corrupt or oppressive?
Posted by: Snuck Smith8953 || 12/17/2012 15:56 Comments || Top||

#4  It's different when they do it.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/17/2012 16:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Another statement on Facebook by this same representative of the people (sarc)...

One thing is for sure, while we are working up the courage to forget this horrible stain on the soul of this country, the NRA and their simple minded minions will be preparing for battle to protect the profits of the gun industry and every right wing, gun nut, wacko's right to have every imaginable gun firmly planted in their hands regardless of their state of mind.

I think we know where he stands. If you don't like guns. Fine, don't buy one. Leave the rest of the law-abiding citizens alone.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 18:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Connecticut has gun control. It didn't work. So, they want more if it.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/17/2012 18:43 Comments || Top||

#7  It's different when they do it.

Mr. Alinsky says we should make them live up to their own ideals and standards.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/17/2012 18:55 Comments || Top||

#8  funny how mass shootings never occur at NRA meetings or at gun shows.
Posted by: airandee || 12/17/2012 20:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Can we shoot back?
Posted by: Iblis || 12/17/2012 22:15 Comments || Top||

#10  I was concerned that we had a terrorist in our midst here in Harris County, so I checked his blog and he claims all of five readers. Nothing to see here, we can all move along.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 12/17/2012 23:00 Comments || Top||


Celebutards Tweet about Gun control
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/17/2012 13:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the type of deep critical thinking we've come to expect from the entertainment class...
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/17/2012 17:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Isn't it cute when they say that....

... from behind a wall of fully-armed bodyguards?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/17/2012 18:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Lets NOT fergit all those militantly anti-Gun Activists + Politicos, etc. whom want to take away people's guns while SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
.....CCCCCCCCCCCCC quietly hypocritically mysteriously keeping a few for themselves.

THEY CAN HAVE THE BEST OR LATEST GUNS + AMMO, BUT NO ONE ELSE CAN.

JUST AS "THERE ARE NO ATHEISTS IS FOXHOLES/
COMBAT", SIMILARLY THERE ARE NO ANTI-GUN LOBBYISTS OR HATERS, ETC. WHEN CRIMINALS ARE INSIDE THEIR OWN HOME OR MET ON THE STREETS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 19:07 Comments || Top||

#4  A very nice list of actors I will no longer pay to see act. As they speak their mind I will vote with my wallet....
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/17/2012 20:38 Comments || Top||

#5  I plead for Twitter Control! Please! Spare us from these these fucking douchebags and their opinions on anything and everything! I beg you!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/17/2012 22:19 Comments || Top||

#6  i haven't heard of half od these twits, and thos i have aren't anywhere on my list of events to pay to attend. only sad part is, Mrs. Ret. is a big fan of martha; in fact when she got out of the big house several years back, her co-workers threw her a party.....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/17/2012 22:30 Comments || Top||

#7  convicted felon Martha can't own a gun, but her armed security guards do
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2012 22:58 Comments || Top||


Discovery hit ‘American Guns’ canceled as Hollywood wrestles with links to gun violence
Indeed the tragedy in Connecticut, in which with 27 people, including 20 school children, were killed by a lone gunman, has many in the entertainment industry struggling with the issue of firearms and gun violence. The star and director of the upcoming blood-and-gore filled “Django Unchained” differed this weekend about Hollywood’s responsibility when it comes to violence in film.

Actor Jamie Foxx told the Associated Press that the entertainment industry needs to start bearing some responsibility for violent content it produces. "We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn't have a sort of influence," Foxx said. "It does."

But director Quentin Tarantino, who has built his career on depictions of graphic violence in films like “Inglourious Basterds” and “Kill Bill,” said he was tired of having to defend his movies, noting that “tragedies happen” and the blame should fall on those guilty of committing them.

“Quentin Tarantino seems to believe he is magically disconnected from the human race. Somehow everything he creates has no impact on us? He’s not the only director or movie producer who denies any negative effect from their work,” scoffed documentary producer Nicole Clark, who also educates young children on the effects of the media. “But ask any of these producers or directors if they think films can have a positive effect on society, and they will instantly say yes."

The Tarantino movie – described by one early filmgoer as so violent that they had to leave the theater midway through – is slated for official release on Christmas Day, prompting many to wonder if producer Harvey Weinstein, who recently called for a Violent Movie Summit to discuss the hot-button topic, will look to delay its release given the current circumstances. The film’s press junket, held in New York the day after the Connecticut shootings, proceeded as scheduled.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/17/2012 12:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "You can't stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can stop it from nesting".

Old Irish proverb....
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 12:42 Comments || Top||

#2  "Somehow everything he creates has no impact on us?"

I like a few of his movies, but in the end, they're just that, MOVIES. The feeble minded buy into the whole movie affects the way I act. The sick minded will use whatever excuse they want to rationalize their evil actions -- and so will politicians jump on those same tired excuses.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/17/2012 13:05 Comments || Top||

#3  This would be the Jamie Foxx who just bragged about this movie allowing him to kill a bunch of white people.

I don't think Djengo or Johnson Reacher are so much the problem, they are about getting the bad guys, unlike say Natural Born Killers, which makes it out to be cool to be bad guys. I'm not advocating letting hollywould off the hook, their products have been overall aweful. I just look at all these pounces by the media et all and see drug use, mental illness, or both as a factor.

Self censor, hardly likely, but lets start with one I consider incredibly violent and bigoted: The Color Purple. Domestic abuse, makes black men look like predators. But get rid of the violence and is there a story, any lesson to take away?

What about Whale Wars? Gonna cancel that propagandist cheerleading for piracy, law breaking, chemical weapons use? Sports, pretty violent too. Video Games, absolutely. Personal transportation, yep. Maybe we can all hang around in our collective basements and hope that the next knock on the door is only our neighborhood green heeler, making sure our credits are paid up and have proper light bulbs installed.

No, the problem is in the parenting. Saw x-men origins with the wife when it came out, swear there were a half dozen under-8s at that showing. Parents dropped them off there so they could go do, well, whatever. Call me olde fashioned, but hugh jackman's bare ass cutting up a bunch of people isn't 6 year old's material and that isn't the movie maker's fault either.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/17/2012 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  If you follow the horrendous school shootings from Columbine to present they are all young men and boys perpetrating the act. A Psychiatrist on Fox just confirmed that in the late teens to early twenties is when a disturbed person's Psychosis tends to break out. There's nothing that will relieve your anger better than to see Cheech Marin's grubby character get one between the eyes.

The Newtown tragedy was not the worst in history:

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, and four other adults; at least 58 people were injured. The perpetrator killed his wife first, and later committed suicide in his last explosion. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/17/2012 13:56 Comments || Top||

#5  GB,

thanks. Good refresher history. Being from MI, I almost forgot about that. Not to mention Tim McVeigh. His farm was not too far away from where my grandparents lived.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/17/2012 14:03 Comments || Top||

#6  If violence in movies and video games adversely affects 1 out of a million it still doesn't justify banning the violent movies and video games, it just suggests we need to find that 1 and do something about them before it is too late.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/17/2012 15:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Harvey's summet idea is a way to get free press without sounding ghoulish.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/17/2012 15:05 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Abe Shift on BOJ Signals Japan May Be Approaching Volcker Moment
The race to the bottom is on. Massive stimulus didn't work in the US or the EU,so Abe is going to show how it will work in Japan. All we will have to do is believe it and the good fairy will make it happen.
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 12:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336120 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also CHINA DAILY FORUM > JAPAN LDP SWEEPS TO POWER AMID DOMESTIC, ECONOMIC WOES.

and

* WORLD NEWS > NATIONALISTS TAKE POWER IN JAPAN AND FIRES WARNING SHOT TO CHINA.

RELATED SAME > JAPAN SAYS NO TALKS [vee China] ON SENKAKU ISLANDS | [The Australian] DISPUTED ISLANDS ARE JAPAN'S: NEW PM.

PM-elect Shinzo Abe tells China that China-claimed Senkakus belong to Japan, + that there will be no negotiations or talks wid Cina about Japan's sovereignty over same.

* SAME > [Examiner] CHINA PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE WAR WID JAPAN.

* SAME > [Newstrack India] KEVIN MAHER SAYS TOKYO SHOULD DISPLAY [Jpana's} DEFENSE POWERS TO BEIJING SHOWING ITS "READINESS" TO DEFEND TERRITORY.

versus

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM POSTER > IN FIFTEEN YEARS JAPAN IS DONE, as widin 10 years China's modernizing economy will be mostly internally or domestically driven; JAPAN-MADE PRODUCTS to be DUMPED = heavily discarded by consumerist mainland CHINESE AMAP despite Chinaworking to dev + empower a CHINA-KOREAS-JAPAN FREE TRADE ZONE???

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [AsiaOne] JAPAN'S ECONOMY WOES [+ powerful pro-Business, China Trade Lobby, major Corporations] MAY TEMPER ABE'S ZEAL: ANALYSTS.

* SAME > YEN PLUNGES AFTER CONSERVATIVES WIN IN JAPAN ELECTION.

* SAME > [Japan Times = Roger Pulver] COUNTERPOINT: EVEN MORE THAN MELTDOWNS, THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT JAPAN'S WAR-RENOUNCING CONSTITUTION.

Renouncing the renouncement of War in favor of strong "offensive"-capable, "21st-century" oriented Nippon military???

Author any relation to ENSIGN PULVER???

* SAME > CHINA AND JAPAN POSTURING ON DISPUTED ISLANDS COMES AMID TURBULENCE IN ALMOST ALL ASIAN POWERS.

* SAME > DISPUTE OVER SMALL ISLANDS POSES BIG CONUNDRUM FOR US.

ARTIC = China has already taken de facto control of Scarborough Shoal [PHIL = Panatag] in the South China Sea, + now is frequently challenging Japan's control over the islands Japan calls the Senkakus.

* SAME > US CONCERNED BY CHINESE PLANE IN WHAT CHINA CALLS THE "NEW NORMAL", in the East China Sea vee Japan.

IIUC, China is to continually push the limits vee Japan's "actual control" of the Senkakus [China = Daoyus] - OKINAWA ARCHIPELAGO???

Until the day when China suddenly shockingly opens fire on Japanese, Philippine, + Vietnamese ships, aircraft, + personnel in the ECS + SCS, sinking, downing, killing + massacring everything and everyone to show its displeasure at the lack of State-specific, Regional respect for its claims + interests.

[ALAMO + "DE GUELLO"[No Quarter] BALLAD here].

* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > NORTH KOREA ROCKET LAUNCH/SUCCESS TESTS REGIONAL STABILITY.

NE ASIA, + thus by extension the rest of East, South Asia???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 22:35 Comments || Top||

#2  OOOOPPPSIES, forgot TOPIX > SPOTLIGHT ON JAPAN:RETURN TO "ABENOMICS", MORE MILITARISM,TOUGHER CHINA LINE,OUTLOOK FOR YEN + NIKKEI.

* SAME > JAPAN'S EAST CHINA SEA RESPONSE TO CHINA: A NEW BASE BEAR THE DISPUTE. Expanded Garrison, Capabilities on Yonaguni Island off Taiwan.

* SAME > CHINA REPORTS TO UN OUTER LIMITS OF CHINA SHELF IN EAST CHINA SEA.

RELATED SAME, WORLD NEWS > CHINA SUBMITS EAST CHINA SEA CLAIMS TO UN.

Why yes, China's UW "continental/sea shelf" does extend to the OKINAWA TROUGH.

* SAME > JAPAN'S NEXT PM: NO QUARTER FOR CHINA, REACH-OUT TO RUSSIA.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Xinhua]CHINA TO JAPAN: DON'T TEST US.

RELATED TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > CHINA TELLS JAPAN [PM-elect Abe]: "DON'T PICK FIGHTS"; + ABE WARNED "NOT TO PICK FIGHTS", i.e. that Japan can't win???

Beijing would like to take this time/opportunity to "politely" remind Tokyo that China has Nuclear Weapons that can destroy all of Japan, its Cities + People, while Japan has nothing of the kind.

* SAME > CHINA REJECTS JAPAN PROTEST, agz China air incursion, arguing that the disputed Daoyus [Japan = Senkakus] is sovereign Chinese, not Japanese, territory ergo is sovereign Chinese, not Japanese, air space.

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA CALLS ON JAPAN TO HALT [any + all]ENTRIES INTO DISPUTED WATERS -YAHOO NEWS.

* SAME > [ZeeNews = India] CHINA-JAPAN ISLAND ROW COULD TURN INTO MILITARY CLASH.

* SAME > FORMER US OFFCIAL: DON'T MISTAKE [misconstrue = mis-interprete] SUPPORT IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, i.e. tha US support of ASEAN Nations allows the latter to behave overly aggressive or bellicose vee Rising China.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 23:04 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
WJC Analysis - Reconsidering Political Islam
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 11:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336114 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is there political Islam apart from religious Islam? Is that not part of the problem?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:07 Comments || Top||

#2  nice to see that Islamorealism is beginning to gain a foothold in the WJC

Posted by: lord garth || 12/17/2012 13:13 Comments || Top||

#3  When these Islamist rebels take power in Syria, I look forward to neo-con criticism of Obama for not backing these Islamists a little earlier. The child-like unworldliness of these morons in taking as gospel the Sunni troglodytes' assurances of moderation is breath-taking. It's pretty clear why they're working at think tanks - with their blinkered naivete, it's pretty clear they couldn't possibly make it in any line of work that's results-oriented. How the heck did neo-cons ever get classified with conservatives, who have an essentially pessimistic view of human nature and foreign ideologies?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/17/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Zhang Fei:

The term "neo-con" is generally used as an epithet by the Left. It is not a term that anyone would use to describe their own beliefs. I think this can be best understood by the occasional admission by the Left that what they mean by "neo-con" is "Trotskyite."

The people who use the term "neo-con" are generally reacting to the idea that the US can and should sometimes forcefully intervene in foreign affairs. This is not a controversial position -- unless you are an isolationist or working for the other side.

The idea that the US can make foreign nations better (as distinct from simply improving things from the US point of view) is perhaps held by a very small minority. Mostly when it comes up though it is not a serious core belief, but an excuse or pretext. So, Bush used that kind of reasoning for Iraq and Obama has used in it connection with the idiocy we are calling the Arab Spring. That said, I don't think Bush or Obama had any illusions about what they were doing.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/17/2012 16:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect Zhang Fei is perfectly aware of the connotations. :)
Posted by: Shipman || 12/17/2012 18:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Iblis I see often used "neo-con" in stead of "Jew", by both leftists and paulbot isolationists.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/17/2012 22:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan says more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 11:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Karma
Posted by: Uniting Wholuting5018 || 12/17/2012 15:28 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Sharia enforcers attack Egyptian cafes
Members of the Hazemoun and Ahrar movements attacked people at cafes in Cairo, chanting "Sharia is lifestyle," witnesses said.

Several people were injured during Saturday's attack, including political activists known for frequenting the cafes, witnesses told al-Shorouk newspaper. They said the attackers fired birdshot and launched fireworks.

Hazemoun is comprised of former presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail's supporters, and Ahrar is a self-styled vigilante youth group that promotes public virtue, Egypt Independent reported.

Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 11:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Were they wearing brown shirts? Or black shirts? Or Obama/SEIU buttons?

I figure they're all equally likely.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 12:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Ya beat me to it AlanC.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Brown turbans. Same idea.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 15:42 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought gay was a life style. Now it has something in common with sharia?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/17/2012 15:50 Comments || Top||

#5  If a beard was "de rigueur" with outlaw bikers, in the muslim Umma, a beard mean you mean to cut heads for allah...RIGHT NOW!!!
Posted by: hotspur666 || 12/17/2012 18:36 Comments || Top||


Economy
Mississippi could shut down in 2 weeks
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 11:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The river damnit, the river.
Deh Mississipuh way of life is safe.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/17/2012 17:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Had heard they were dredging like crazy. Article says El Magnifico could release water from the Missouri River, which helps downstream St. Louis but hurts the length of the Missouri. Good thing we have the man of steal making the tough ones. To muddle it further, there is good golf in Kansas City and a growing pusstule of white liberalism.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/17/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#3  The worst drought in half a century has brought water levels in the Mississippi close to historic lows and could shut down all shipping in a matter of weeks – unless Barack Obama takes extraordinary measures.

Only HE can save us!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/17/2012 22:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Must be that damn gerbil warming, all that rise in the sea level means the water has to come from somewhere, so obviously the Mighty Missississippi had to give it up.
and in all the pictures there is not one, one one mind you, pitiful polar bear clinging to a sliver of ice before he is forced to submit to the clutches of mankind in his never ending production of greenhouse gases......
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/17/2012 22:27 Comments || Top||

#5  D *** NGED Gerbils!

And thus, little Virgina, we learn why God invented the 14-Gauge Shotgun.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 23:18 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Co-Hosts U.S.-Initiated Counter-Terror Forum, Then Chats With Terrorist Leader
Hours after the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government co-chaired a meeting Friday of the Obama administration’s flagship international counter-terrorism initiative, he had a phone conversation with a top leader of Hamas, a group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

Among heads of government, the Islamist-leaning Erdogan is arguably Hamas’ most influential supporter – and one of Israel’s most vocal critics – and the phone call underlined again the contradictions inherent in the administration’s choice of Turkey as co-chair of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).

Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency reported that Erdogan spoke with Hamas’ Khaled Mashaal, who thanked the Turkish leader for his efforts during the recent Israeli military operation against Hamas and invited him to visit the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 06:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama administration's flagship international counter-terrorism initiative, he had a phone conversation with a top leader of Hamas,

I fail to see the contradiction.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  This is the U.S.-sponsored world terrorism forum that Israel was once again the only country not invited to.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 13:36 Comments || Top||


Europe
Suspected al-Qaeda terrorist arrested outside the British Embassy in Romania wielding a sword
British Embassy staff in Romania were targeted by a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist brandishing a sword.

The Iraqi, named as Karim Friad, was pounced on by police as he brandished the nine-inch blade near the building's gates in the capital, Bucharest.
Not likely to be al-Qaeda's smartest terrorist, is Karim...
Romania's SRI intelligence service are understood to have had the suspect under surveillance for days after he entered the country, according to The Sun.

Sources told the paper his mission was to kill British or American officials.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed the incident to MailOnline, saying: 'We can confirm an individual was detained by the Romanian intelligence service.

'This matter is now for the SRI. We would like to thank the Romanian authorities for their help.'

The man was watched earlier near the US embassy in Bucharest but appears to have been put off by the layers of security round the complex.
Unlike in Benghazi...
He headed for the less secure British compound yesterday morning but was arrested by undercover SRI agents the moment he posed a threat to staff.
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 06:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336108 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hopefully this fellow's sword will find the proper alimentary canal storage site.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  nine inch is to sword as BB is to .45 Colt...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/17/2012 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  There can be only one...
Posted by: Raj || 12/17/2012 10:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Nine-inch sword - my great aunt has one of those, her brother brought it back from the war as a keepsake. I think they're called kaiken? It's a lady's toy, small enough to be stuck in the back of an obi - even wakazashi are longer.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/17/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like my letter opener. If he's being an ass, sure, but sword? A-team writing for other projects then?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/17/2012 12:18 Comments || Top||

#6  An 'Arkansas Toothpick' was a bit longer (12" to 19".

It still wasn't classified a 'sword', only a dagger.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/17/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||

#7  En garde!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/17/2012 22:26 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Phares: Egypt on Verge of Becoming a ‘Totalitarian Islamist State’
Middle East expert Walid Phares says this weekend’s vote on a new Egyptian constitution is part of a broader strategy by President Mohammed Morsi to transform the country into a “totalitarian Islamist state” like Iran.

“They forced the referendum on Egyptians without judges, monitors, and under the pressure of their street militias,” explained Phares, an advisor to the anti-Terrorism Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.

“That's what the forces of civil society are seeing today. Egypt is divided between the Islamists and the rest of the country.”

Following the first round of a two-stage referendum, Egyptians narrowly voted in favor of a constitution shaped by Islamists but opposed by other groups who fear it will divide the Arab world's biggest nation, according to officials in rival camps speaking to the Associated Press.

As of late Sunday afternoon, Phares said that the results showed an approval margin of nearly 60 percent for the referendum, which he said may be even higher when all the votes are counted.

Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 06:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "That's what the forces of civil society are seeing today. Egypt is divided between the Islamists and the rest of the country."

Yet another amazing coincidence revealed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  transform the country into a "totalitarian Islamist state" like Iran. The people of Egypt are screwed as are the people in Iran. Seems like leaders like to head towards totalitarianism rather than freedom--even in this country. They like to remake a country in their image. Frederick Hayek nailed it in "The Road to Serfdom."
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Egypt on Verge of Becoming a 'Totalitarian Islamist State'...without oil.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/17/2012 16:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Or food...
Posted by: Grunter || 12/17/2012 17:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Nuclear? Anti-Israel, US-West?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 19:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Joe, nuclear Egypt = Aswan Dam at some point.

E.G. Big Flush.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/17/2012 23:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan blast: Market bomb 'kills 17' in Khyber
At least 17 people have been killed and dozens injured in a car bomb attack on a market in the Khyber tribal region of north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Women and children were among those killed in the blast at the market in Jamrud, the main town in Khyber.

The explosion took place close to the offices of the tribal administration. The injured have been taken to hospital in the nearby city of Peshawar.

No group has said it carried out the attack as yet.

The bombing comes a day after a 15-hour stand-off between militants and security forces in the vicinity of Peshawar airport, located just about 10km (six miles) east of Jamrud town.

At least 10 militants were killed in the clash, many of them ethnic Uzbek fighters, officials said. The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out that attack.

The powerful blast in Khyber destroyed vehicles and damaged buildings in the market area. Many of those wounded are said to be in a critical condition.

Reports say the blast took place in front of the office of the assistant political agent for Khyber, one of the top local government officials in the semi-autonomous region.
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 05:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
TV’s most Islamophobic show
From a Muzzies POV. I'd better check out the T.V.guide and see when it's on.
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 02:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No bias here of course:

Laila Al-Arian is a writer and producer for Al Jazeera English. She helped produce the network’s Palestine Papers special in January 2011, a four-day program on the largest diplomatic leak in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. She is the co-author of Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians (Nation Books, 2008).
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 8:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, if we want to discuss 'mass murder', Sandy Hook is dwarfed by 9/11. So, can we have an open dialogue? /rhet question
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/17/2012 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  No week-long, endless news coverage of the John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo D.C. sniper attacks, or the Hasan shooting at Fort Hood, or the endless week end slaughters in Chicago.

The notion that this is not being politicized is both naïve and stupid.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 9:12 Comments || Top||

#4  or most Islamorealist show
Posted by: lord garth || 12/17/2012 9:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Freshly made pitty packs. Limit one per customer. America is Satan.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/17/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  d00d not just any satan, we are Great Satan, the one and only.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/17/2012 14:11 Comments || Top||

#7  She says that like it's a bad thing....
Posted by: Barbara || 12/17/2012 14:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spain Arrests Anti-Islam Filmmaker, Releases Him On Condition He Does Not Release Movie
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 02:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  good Dhimmies
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2012 19:30 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan mine kills 10 girls
At least 10 young girls have been killed and two others injured in a landmine explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.

A spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province said the girls were collecting firewood when one of them hit the mine with an axe.

Most of those killed were aged between nine and 11, officials said.

Unexploded mines dating from decades of conflict in Afghanistan are still commonly found in rural areas.

The incident reportedly took place near Dawlatzai village, in the Chaperhar district of Nangarhar.

The two injured girls were in critical condition in hospital, one official said
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2012 01:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gathering firewood?

Wouldn't they be rather dispersed gathering rather than clustered to get that many in a single blast?

Something doesn't add up.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/17/2012 9:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Waiting for Karzai protest in... Oh, forget about it.
Posted by: JFM || 12/17/2012 10:09 Comments || Top||

#3  P2 - might have been a poorly-sited or significantly washed-out minefield going off in a chain reaction. Boy, that sucks. Who sends out little girls to chop firewood? They're not exactly known for upper body strength.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/17/2012 11:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Who sends out little girls to chop firewood?

Men who are too lazy to do it themselves.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/17/2012 11:37 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
All five militants dead as operation concludes in Peshawar
[Dawn] Six people were killed Sunday as police and troops battled faceless myrmidons armed with automatic weapons, grenades and mortars in northwest Pakistain's Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, a day after a deadly Taliban raid on the city's airport.

Fierce firing broke out after police acting on an intelligence report stormed a building near the airport, where a suicide and rocket attack on Saturday killed five civilians and the five attackers, and maimed 50 other people.

The assault late Saturday, claimed by the Pak Taliban, sparked prolonged gunfire and forced authorities to close the airport, a commercial hub and Pakistain Air Force (PAF) base in Peshawar on the edge of the tribal belt.

Police backed by troops launched a raid early Sunday on a building under construction near the airport following reports that five faceless myrmidons who fled after the airport attack had taken refuge there, according to provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

In the fierce shootout that followed, three faceless myrmidons and a coppers were killed, police said, while two other officers were maimed.

The festivities ended after six hours when the two remaining faceless myrmidons detonated their boom jackets inside the building, another senior police officer, Imtiaz Altaf, told AFP.

"All five faceless myrmidons are dead now and the area has been cleared," Altaf said.

"All of them were wearing suicide jackets. Three were killed in a shoot out with police, while two others blew themselves up in the under construction building." A PAF statement said five attackers were killed on Saturday and no damage was done to air force personnel or equipment.

Doctor Umar Ayub, chief of Khyber Teaching Hospital near the airport, said five civilians had also been killed and some 50 maimed.

"The base is in total control and normal operations have resumed. The security alert was also raised on other PAF air bases as well," the air force added.

Peshawar airport is a joint military-civilian facility. Civil Aviation Authority front man Pervez George said the passenger side had reopened after an 18-hour closure and there was no damage to the terminals.

The air force said Saturday's attackers used two vehicles loaded with explosives, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. One vehicle was destroyed and the second badly damaged.

Security forces found three suicide jackets near one of the vehicles, it said.

"Security forces consisting of Pakistain Air Force and Army personnel who were on full alert, cordoned off the base and effectively repulsed the attack," the air force said.

Television pictures showed a vehicle with a smashed windscreen, another damaged car, bushes on fire and what appeared to be a large breach in a wall.

Five nearby houses were destroyed after rockets landed on them and several other houses developed cracks, while the bomb squad detonated five out of eight bombs found near the base after the attack.

Pak Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location that the group would continue to target the airport.

"Our target was jet fighter planes and gunship helicopters and soon we will target them again," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Arabia
Kuwait's emir rebukes opposition at parliament opening
[Al Ahram] Kuwait's emir criticised the opposition for stirring "chaos" on Sunday as activists demonstrated outside parliament during a speech in which he opened the newly elected assembly.

All "condemn these practices and the actions that breached the law, norms and values, worried citizens and caused chaos," said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in clear reference to opposition demonstrations.

The emir also praised the security forces for handling the protests with "patience and wisdom."

The session was held under tight security with coppers, special forces and national guard units backed by armoured vehicles stationed around the parliament building.

Police cordoned off a square opposite the assembly where the opposition planned to protest against the opening, but a small number of activists still managed to get close to the area.

They left the site for a square outside the nearby Palace of Justice when special forces were called in ahead of the emir's arrival. Police incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
two protesters.

On the eve of the inauguration, hundreds of opposition activists staged a night time sit-in in Kuwait City to demand the dissolution of the new parliament.

Braving unusually cold weather, the activists camped out overnight before leaving of their own will in the morning. Several then headed to the parliament building before police drove them away.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Compare wid DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > QATAR [Defense Minister] CALLS [most] ARABS [Govts-People] "SHEEP".

The GCC can't blame IRAN on this one ... ... OR CAN THEY???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 22:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Fisticuffs at Old PU Law
[Dawn] Two faculty members of the Punjab University Law Colleges on Saturday created a scene on the campus when they had a physical fight on salary issue during which they also used abusive language against each other.

Dr Amanullah Malik, who is on two-year ex-Pakistain leave and teaches International Human Rights Law at the South Asian University, New Delhi, India, told Dawn that he had left for the neighbouring country on September 3 but the law college acting principal Samee Uzair stopped his August salary.

He said Mr Uzair even did not respond to the emails he sent him from India and eventually he (Dr Malik) had to send an email to the PU vice-chancellor, requesting him to get his salary released.

Dr Malik said he had returned to Pakistain on vacation after the completion of first semester at the Indian varsity a couple of days ago and was sitting in the room of a college teacher, Iftikhar Tarar, when Mr Uzair came there and started misbehaving with him. Dr Malik alleged Mr Uzair uses abusive language against his family members for sending email to the vice-chancellor.

At this provocation, it is learnt, Dr Malik hit the principal with his bag ensuing a brawl between the two teachers, leaving both of them injured. Principal Mr Uzair got an injury near his left eye, while Dr Malik's spectacles were broken.

Dr Malik said that he called police emergency 15 and Moslem town police reached the college campus.

On the other hand, Mr Uzair said Dr Malik was on without-pay ex-Pakistain leave and was supposed to pay back Rs150,000 loan he had obtained from the college funds.

He said that he had also issued a notice to Dr Malik when he did not return even the first monthly installment of Rs5,000 of the loan.

"When Dr Malik visited my office for an NOC he required to proceed to India, he committed that he would return the loan within a week's time. I signed the NOC. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
he did not return the loan. He had to again return to me for another NOC," Mr Uzair said.

"This time, Dr Malik committed that he would give post-dated cheques for payment of loan installments. However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
he left for India without returning the loan or giving post-dated cheques," Mr Uzair explained.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Freed Sudan opposition chief says government scared
[Al Ahram] The head of Sudan's opposition political alliance, freed after two days in detention, said on Sunday that the government fears rising popular discontent in the crisis-hit nation.

Farouk Abu Issa, who represents more than 20 opposition parties, told AFP he was released on Saturday after two days of detention by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

"They are scared because the country is in a real crisis," he said.

"They are scared that I am head of the opposition, and they are scared that the opposition will move" into action.

Issa said he was held after giving a "fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
" speech in support of four dead Darfuri students.

The youths' deaths, following a crackdown on a tuition protest at Gezira University south of Khartoum, last week sparked the largest outpouring of Arab Spring-style discontent since anti-regime protests in June and July.

Issa blamed the deaths on Islamic militia.

"I accused them of killing these boys," he said.

But security agents who incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
him made only brief reference to his speech, because no charges were ever brought against him or proper interrogation conducted, he said.

The deaths of the students, originally from the conflict-plagued Darfur region, led to protests last week by hundreds of people who called for "revolution" and the fall of President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
's 23-year regime.

The Darfur Students Association has said the four went missing -- and were later found dead -- after taking part in a peaceful sit-in which was disrupted by the pro-government student union.

They were protesting for their "right" to free education, the association said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Fearing Salafist rally, security forces surround Cairo police station
[Al Ahram] Central Security Forces and anti-riot police moved in to secure Dokki Square in Cairo's Dokki district from planned protests by followers of Salafist preacher Hazem Abu-Ismail and a possible protest march on the Dokki Police Station.

Security forces and armoured vehicles surrounded the cop shoppe and deployed in adjacent streets following rumours that Abu-Ismail's supporters -- known as 'Hazmoun' -- were planning to march on the cop shoppe at 7pm local time.

Abu-Ismail has demanded the dismissal of Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin after the latter issued a warrant for the arrest of several of the preacher's supporters, who have been accused of Saturday's attack on the liberal Wafd Party's Cairo headquarters.

On Saturday night, hundreds of Hazemoun reportedly attacked the party's main offices, along with the nearby headquarters of Egypt's Popular Current political coalition. Abu-Ismail's supporters accuse both groups -- the Wafd Party and the Popular Current -- of involvement in an alleged attack on Islamist preacher Sheikh Mahalawy in Alexandria.

On Saturday, Abu-Ismail instructed supporters to stage protests outside the Dokki Police Station to demand the interior minister's dismissal. On Sunday, however, the Salafist leader declared on his official Facebook page that neither he nor his supporters would head to the cop shoppe -- or any other official institution -- so as to avoid continued political turbulence.

At 7:30pm local time, Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website reported that all of Abu-Ismail's followers had left the vicinity around the cop shoppe without incident.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Businessmen complain of bribery at Torkham
[Dawn] Businessmen from Pakistain and Afghanistan have accused the passport and immigration staff at Torkham border of extorting money from the people and deliberately delaying their arrival and departure.

Talking to Dawn, Pak exporter Mohammad Aamir alleged that the passport and immigration staff confiscated travelling document of businessmen and traders on refusal to bribe them.

He said Afghan nationals, especially businessmen without dual nationality, were the worst victims of the immigration staff, who delayed stamping their visas over denial of bribe.

Mohammad Aamir, who exports Pak goods to Afghanistan, said the immigration staff at Torkham border unlawfully charged from Rs200 to Rs500 without receipt or official challan
... list of charges ...
from each and every person coming to Pakistain and going to Afghanistan.

Mohammad Riaz, a fruit dealer, alleged that those refusing to pay bribe were made to wait for hours for clearance of their travelling documents.

He said Afghan businessmen and even ordinary citizens with dual passports were the prime target of the passport and immigration staff.

"These Afghan nationals are allowed to enter Pakistain only after they pay Rs10,000 each to the staff at the immigration office though they carry valid travel documents," he alleged.

When approached, the immigration staff refused to comment on the businessmen's allegations against them.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Subsaharan
Witnesses: 3 dead, others raped by Guinea army
[Al Ahram] Witnesses say three people were killed, dozens maimed and at least three women raped in an army crackdown on protesters in the town of Gueckedou, located 700 kilometers (430 miles) southeast of Guinea's capital, Conakry.

Sayon Teliano, one of the emergency personnel, said three bodies were brought to the morgue. The events occurred Tuesday when the army came to disperse demonstrators calling for the resignation of the region's prefect.

Several witnesses said that the military opened fire with live ammunition. Three residents, including the aunt of one of the victims, charged that some of the soldiers raped three young women, using the chaos to enter their homes and assault them. Guinea's army is among the most tarnished in Africa with a long history of abuse against civilians, including systematic rape.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Islamist protesters deny head of High Constitutional Court entry to premises
[Al Ahram] Hundreds of Islamist protesters gathered outside the High Constitutional Court (HCC) have prevented the head of the court, Judge Maher El-Beheiry, from entering the premises Sunday afternoon.

El-Beheiry contacted the police to report the incident but was still unable to enter the court.

Hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators gathered at the HCC since Sunday, 2 December, when the coiurt was due to rule on the constitutionality of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution put to a referendum yesterday. It was widely expect that the court would rule the assembly unconstitutional.

A second decision was due on the constitutionality of the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, which could also have seen it dissolved.

The demonstrations by Islamists surrounding the court led HCC judges to indefinitely suspend the work of the court, citing "pressures" exerted upon judges and the legal process.

The HCC had earlier ruled against the constitutionality of the lower house of parliament, the People's Assembly, leading to its dissolution.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mosque Hit In Yarmouk
[Reuters] Opposition activists said deaths in Yarmouk, to which refugees have fled from fighting in nearby suburbs, resulted from a rocket fired from a warplane hitting the mosque.

A video posted on YouTube showed bodies and body parts scattered on the stairs of what appeared to be the mosque.

The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified due to tight restrictions on media access to Syria.

Syria is home to more that 500,000 Paleostinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, and both Assad's government and the rebels have enlisted and armed Paleostinians as the uprising, which began as a peaceful street movement 21 months ago, has mushroomed into a civil war.

Heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy...
broke out 12 days ago between Paleostinians loyal to Assad and Syrian rebels, together with a brigade of Paleostinian fighters known as Liwaa al-Asifah (Storm Brigade).

After Sunday's air strike, festivities flared anew between Paleostinians from the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC)
... founded and led by an ex-captain in the Syrian army and a Pencilneck puppet entry in the Worderful World of Terror...
and rebels including other Paleostinian fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Some PFLP-GC fighters were killed, the London-based Observatory said. Opposition activists and the Observatory said many were trying to escape the internal fighting in Yarmouk.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Infantry College Captured
[Reuters] In the latest of a string of military installations to fall to the rebels, the army's infantry college north of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
was captured on Saturday after five days of fighting, a rebel commander with the powerful Islamist Tawheed Brigade said.

Insurgents first reported seizing the infantry college on Saturday, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said later that day there was still fierce fighting going on.

The commander whose Tawheed brigade took part in the assault said the rebels had surrounded the college, located 16 km (10 miles) north of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, three weeks ago.

"At least 100 soldiers have been taken prisoner and 150 decided to join us. The soldiers were all hungry because of the siege," the commander, who spoke on condition he was not further identified, told Rooters by telephone.

Desperate food shortages are growing in parts of Syria. Residents of Aleppo say fistfights and dashes across the front lines have become part of the daily struggle to secure a loaf of bread.

Violence continued across the country. Syrian forces killed 25 people in the town of Helfaya in Hama province when they shelled it with warplanes and artillery for the first time since February, opposition activists said.

Ten fighters were killed in shelling in Deraa, the cradle of the revolt against Assad.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  150 out of 100 prisoners joined the rebels? Wow, that's one heck of a recruitment program they have there!
Posted by: gromky || 12/17/2012 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Their decision was based upon Chicago style, secret ballots.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  I would imagine that they meant 250 captured, and 150 "galvanized".

If hunger's starting to be that big of a factor among guys with guns, the civilian starvation body-count could quickly eclipse that from violence up to this point. In the old days hunger and disease were the two big killers in war, with actual throat-slitting coming a fairly distant third.

Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/17/2012 11:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Alleppo sounds like one of the Marx brothers. Who are the rebels? Looks like the strong horses are islamists. Despite the differences between tribes and groups, they tend to unite against the infidels (us). I smell caliphate.

The pic looks like WWII Germany--possibly Berlin. The actions of the allies brought the war to an end. Today, you would probably have to clear such actions with an army of attorneys in Washington. It would be debated forever and then maybe never approved. Do hearts and minds campaigns ever really work?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:34 Comments || Top||

#5  The pic looks like WWII Germany--possibly Berlin.

Fred labelled the photo "Magdeburg", JohnQC.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 13:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Properties says Magdburg JQC, those were some righteously pissed off tank destroyers.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/17/2012 14:08 Comments || Top||

#7  "Aleppo Sacked" -- what is 'a headline from any century since the 5th BC', Alex?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/17/2012 15:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Well, if the Infantry College got captured I guess it wasn't very good at teaching infantry...stuff.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/17/2012 16:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Feinstein: We will have an assault weapons ban in the next congress
Along with a host of others, with no intention of "waiting until the investigation is concluded" on the tragic school shooting, she appears to have conveniently forgotten all about events in Benghazi.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And she still probably hasn't even received the report of the type of gun, the caliber, the speed of the pull that this killer had. (Lots of reports, the "long gun" wasn't even used.)

Opps.... forget the details, the facts.... but, Ms. Feinstein lets us know, "These are my facts and I'm holding them close."
Posted by: Sherry || 12/17/2012 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  not a surprise. it's not clear this legislation will pass Congress - probably the list of banned weapons will be pared down. it's far from clear that gun owners will comply with the new legislation. the most likely consequence is that the current price of guns on "the list" will soar.
Posted by: Raider || 12/17/2012 1:04 Comments || Top||

#3  We have a culture of guns desensitized by a constant brain wahing from guess who?

As a example here is a bodycount from just five movies:

Rambo (2008) (director): 247, as Rambo-87
Rambo III (1988): 127, as Rambo-72
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985): 67, as Rambo-51
Total Body Count 441

Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003) : 99, as El Mariachi-39
Desperado (1995): 80, as El Mariachi-53
Total Body Count 179

For just five movies that averages out to more than 62 kills an hour.

See plenty of examples HERE

Now add graphic video games with people blasting away hour after hour. It's no wonder some people on the edge move to the Dark Side.

And who's behind all the scenes of killing for thrills, the anti-gun usual suspects in Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry.

I'm sorry, they don't influence society they just reflect it. sarc off
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/17/2012 1:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Following the meaningless, multi-cultural faith feel good memorial, I could not bring myself to watch the Champ. I listened to him from the study and agree with Charles Krauthammer. Champ's comments were decidedly political and he will most certainly attempt some form of unilateral action against firearms very soon.

I look for him to throw something into the "Fiscal Cliff" fray, exploiting and linking the tragic slaying of children (less those aborted) as leverage against the pubs and their effort to achieve smaller gov't. I doubt we have long to wait to learn of his plan.

As we all know, this fellow never wastes a crisis.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 1:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Saturday morning I was reading the NY Times (he it was handy and I like the Arts and Book Sections) and perdictably they had an editorial on gun control. Yet when I looked in the Arts Section the first three movie adds I see have weapons (handguns and shotguns) being bradished.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/17/2012 5:57 Comments || Top||

#6  There may be a "don't feed the bears" component to this one. If, I say again if we discover the deceased mother took her troubled young son and her arsenal to the firing range as an attempt at mental health home therapy or bonding.... well, enough said.

Among other causes, mental illness may have a genetic or biological component. Firearms familiarization is an acquired or learned skill however. I suspect much more will be learned in the weeks ahead.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:18 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm sure that in supporting gun control and keeping the things out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them, Congress and the Administration will gladly support any extradition request from the Mexican AGs office for those who played 'Fast and Furious'. /sarc off
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/17/2012 8:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Gun control freaks.

Before the shooting, Dumb.

After the shooting, Dumber.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/17/2012 8:46 Comments || Top||

#9  Blog Daddy asks some important questions, here is one: SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:
If you’re a media member or politician, do you have armed security? Do you have a permit for a gun yourself? (I’m asking you Dianne Feinstein!) If so, what makes your life more valuable than other people’s?
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/159800/
Posted by: Lucienne || 12/17/2012 8:56 Comments || Top||

#10  Csll me paranoid, but I am beginning to detect a strange smell with regard to the repeated law enforcement emphasis on "weapons and ammunition origins" and the very 'close hold' release of specific information concerning the CT shootings. I believe I may be safe in assuming most women do not collect military style firearms or keep hundreds of rounds of ammo.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 9:43 Comments || Top||

#11  Details? I'm still waiting on my Jevon Belcher toxicology report and interview with grandma concerning how many times a month she was watching the kid so the parents could go out and get smashed.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/17/2012 10:10 Comments || Top||

#12  Assault weapons = any firearm according to gun grabbers. These self-serving politicians use these incidents to further their left-wing agenda of circumventing the Constitution. What about all the incidents where firearms have saved people's lives?

How about some transparency on Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the routine gang-banger murders of people that occur in Chicago or any big city in the U.S. Doesn't seem to be much concern here. How about some honesty in government and the press?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 10:16 Comments || Top||

#13  Don't ban gun. Ban TV cameras.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/17/2012 10:25 Comments || Top||

#14  I reload ammo, so what.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/17/2012 10:59 Comments || Top||

#15  The 20 year old shooter could not legally buy handguns such as the 9mm (226 Sig) or 10mm Glock) he had with him. He could buy long guns unless he had been adjudicated through the legal system as someone who could not purchase firearms. A few days before the shooting, he tried to purchase three long guns and had to fulfil a waiting period and did not purchase them. He shot and killed his mother with her guns and took her guns to the school. He shot all the children with the .223 Bushmaster and then committed suicide with the Glock. Why don't these miserable individuals just commit suicide and be done with it instead of creating so much grief and misery for others in this world?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 11:05 Comments || Top||

#16  Ban Xboxes and prescribed medical depressents and violent video games for kids.

Ever notice how children hardly ever play ouitside anymore..??
Posted by: crazyhorse || 12/17/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#17  A 22 year old shooter allegedly did this in Kansas.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 11:27 Comments || Top||

#18  He is dead.
Posted by: bman || 12/17/2012 11:33 Comments || Top||

#19  Calling for a ban on assault rifles is one stage in the greiving process. It passes.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/17/2012 11:46 Comments || Top||

#20  "Why don't these miserable individuals just commit suicide and be done with it instead of creating so much grief and misery for others in this world?"

They want the attention. Why go out a miserable, forgotten loser when you can be in the news for months?

Ergo, ban TV cameras. Deny the shooters any fame. That will rid us of most, but not all of them.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/17/2012 12:03 Comments || Top||

#21  I'm getting some cold and creepy feelings that beffore long the real reason behind the need for the 2nd will become all too clear.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 12:08 Comments || Top||

#22  How about we also impeach politicians who try to make laws that violate the Constitution?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:15 Comments || Top||

#23  Guns banned in England and Australia (and everywhere else as a matter of fact) led to increases in violent crime. This should be repeated over and over and over and gun grabbers forced to explain why such action in the USA would be different when we have far more porous borders than most.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 12/17/2012 12:46 Comments || Top||

#24  Switzerland provides a solid example of the opposite effect (as I am sure a number of CCW states as well).

Make the liberals explain why we should consider going against known facts and why we should consider them anything other than tyrants and fools taking advantage of a tragedy?
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 12/17/2012 12:51 Comments || Top||

#25  They should certainly ban any reporting about the shooter.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/17/2012 13:10 Comments || Top||

#26  The following was sent to me. IMO the numbers are low and most likely the list is too short.

•In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
•China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
•Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

With guns, we are "citizens". Without them, we are subjects.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 13:19 Comments || Top||

#27  #26 John QC - with these clowns, that's not a bug, that's a feature. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 12/17/2012 14:14 Comments || Top||

#28 
Ban Xboxes and prescribed medical depressents and violent video games for kids.


Why not ban a book that glorifies genocide, murder, and polygamy?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/17/2012 15:18 Comments || Top||

#29  Why not ban a book that glorifies genocide, murder, and polygamy?

Because that will piss off the Muzzies and the ACLU.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/17/2012 15:40 Comments || Top||

#30  If they start banning Xbox games I will laugh at all the Call of Duty playing clowns who suddenly find themselves unable to play.

That being said this will blow over as more important issues arise, just like what happened with the Dark Knight Rises shooting in Colorado. In a week they'll be something else to worry about, it's the way of things now. No time to ponder, gotta check with our Iphones then run on to appointments.
Posted by: Charles || 12/17/2012 16:40 Comments || Top||

#31  I have to wonder.... was the sh*tstain registered as a Democrat or a Republican?

I am thinking the former and we are playing 'guess that party'...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/17/2012 16:50 Comments || Top||


#33  Sunday's Seattle Times on line was covering the tragedy non-stop, like other media, but to me the scary part were the commnets from readers; about 30% were in favor of complete elimination of all guns and cancelling the Second Amendment. if that is a representative figure for other metropolitan areas, people we got problems.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/17/2012 22:34 Comments || Top||

#34  The left has been spoiling for a fight ever since Al Gore, the Gaia's Golden Girlfriend lost the 2000 election to Dubya.
Posted by: badanov || 12/17/2012 22:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't mess with Texas.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2012 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  One school district which will probably never have a 'shootings'.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/17/2012 0:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Expect some lib-heads to go ballistic over this....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/17/2012 1:44 Comments || Top||

#4  It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers.

"Unclear" is the way it should remain! Throws the bad guys off and also saves a lot on signs and bumper stickers.

Barkeeper, set another 'hat tip' round in honor of Texas!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 1:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Two points:
1. USN Ret. this is a feature not a bug.
2. The Israeli version of a Galil over the shoulder seems to work too.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 7:23 Comments || Top||

#6  The Belmont Club talks about life in the PI and guns and schools.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/17/2012 8:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Alan, don't believe I was complaining. I rather like the idea .
Posted by: USN,ret || 12/17/2012 9:13 Comments || Top||

#8  My dear USN Ret I would NEVER think that you would not see this as a good thing.

Just trying to point out that I don't think this comes under the heading of "unintended" consequences. ;^)
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 12:05 Comments || Top||

#9  The state of Utah passed a law that allows students/faculty to carry concealed on campuses--it might have been after the Virginia Tech shootings. Utah seems to be doing fine.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:23 Comments || Top||

#10  I seem to remember crime dropping off a bit in Utah after the State gave Gary Gilmore the Winchester cure.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 13:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Expect some lib-heads to go ballistic over this....

How come we never read about a liberal having a stroke when exposed to the iniquity of conservatives?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2012 14:24 Comments || Top||

#12  This happened in 2008. What a surprise that there has not been an incident in this district NOT!
Posted by: warthogswife || 12/17/2012 15:05 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Alarm over huge increase in Android Web attacks, viruses
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Surging demand for Android powered gadgets triggered an explosive growth in the number of cyber threats targeting the platform in 2012, a new report reveals.

According to the Kaspersky Security Bulletin released at the weekend, 99 per cent of mobile malware detected by the Kaspersky Lab in 2012 was designed for the Android platform.

"Although malicious programmes for other mobile platforms, such as Symbian, Blackberry and J2ME, are still being developed, 99 per cent of newly discovered malware targeted the Android platform," Kaspersky said in the bulletin.

The lab said it identified more than 35,000 malicious Android programmes in the year -- which is about six times more than what was recorded last year.

An increase in the uptake of Android devices as consumer appetite for smartphones increases could have made the platform the biggest target for cybercriminals.

The new statistics could deny mobile manufacturers whose devices operate on Android platforms a chance to enjoy the fruits of the growth recorded in mobile data consumption as subscribers opt for less vulnerable systems.

Generally, the year has recorded more security threats than 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [insert John Dillinger quote about banks here.]
Posted by: Pappy || 12/17/2012 11:30 Comments || Top||

#2  "I, ROBOT".

OOOOOOOO, you just know STAR TREK:TOS' CAPT. KIRK is going to fall in love wid a hot, VULCAN-ESQUE BLONDE ROBO-BABE n "THE METHUSELAH SYNDROME".

Not Orion, not Federation, not Klingon, etc. - KIRK FALLS IN LOVE WID PLASTIC + SPACE METAL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 23:09 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Rag bag Delta Airline apologizes for treatment of wounded Marine
Conduct an investigation and terminate the guilty party(s) as appropriate !
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While Delta treats our armed forces this way, repeatedly if the comments in the article are true, Alaska allows uniformed militray to board early in the boarding queue; not as lead off hitters but enough that they can be assured of a place in the overhead bins for their gear. One marine was late to the call ( this was in San Diego) and the counter agents held the line until he was found ( he was on the phone to his girl). Good on Alaska!

And they don't fly Airbus jets, Delta cannot say that.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/17/2012 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Alaska Airlines has always treated our military personnel with courtesy and respect, genuine care for our military passengers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/17/2012 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Alaskan Airlines is one of the very best I've ever flown. Quantas, Lufthansa, and the old South African Airlines are also among the best. Delta is by far the worst. I fly Delta in a somewhat futile attempt to support local Delta retirees of the hometown airline. Most of the retirees are hard working maintenance, ticketing, scheduler folks and pilots. Swishy FA's don't seem to favour Georgia as a retirement haven. I hope the trend continues.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 2:09 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mali's new PM unveils unity government
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Mali's newly appointed prime minister has unveiled a unity government with representatives from all regions, including the Islamist-controlled north, but the leaders of the March coup that divided the country maintain a strong influence.

After four days of talks, Prime Minister Diango Cissoko, named his new "representative" government late Saturday, as had been demanded by the international community irked over the forced departure of his predecessor Cheick Modibo Diarra on December 11.

Diarra had quit under pressure from former putschists led by Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who handed power to a transitional government in April but retained a strong say in Mali's politics. Military figures viewed Diarra as an "obstacle" to reaching consensus.

But Diarra was also a staunch advocate of French-backed plans to send in a West African intervention force to drive out beturbanned goons in the north who have imposed a brutal interpretation of Islamic sharia law. Such foreign intervention is fiercely opposed by Sanogo.

In the new line-up three key ministers -- Economy Minister Tienan Coulibaly, Defence Minister Colonel Yamoussa Camara and Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly -- will keep their jobs, while all of Mali's political groups will be represented.

"The goal wasn't to destabilise the government's architecture. Most of the more important ministers won't change jobs so as not to break up the group dynamic that was starting to form," an aide close to interim president Dioncounda Traore told AFP.

Camara was close to coup figures, whose preferred candidates retained three other posts including homeland security and justice.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez' health "is improving"
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Venezuelan His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez, who is in Cuba after a new round of cancer surgery, is sound of mind and his physical health is improving, his science and technology minister said Saturday.

Chavez, 58, "is mentally fully fit" and his health "is improving" after his surgery Tuesday in Cuba following a recurrence of cancer, said Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza said from Havana by phone.

His health is in a "process of progressive stabilization," added Arreaza, who also is the president's son in law, the husband of Chavez's eldest daughter Rosa Virginia who has been at the president's side in Havana.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His health is in a "process of progressive stabilization,"

I suppose it might be helpful to keep in mind, rigamortis is also a "process of progressive stabilization".
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 2:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like the owner of the Pet Shop in Bolton conversing with one Mr. Praline.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/17/2012 13:11 Comments || Top||

#3  test
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/17/2012 13:13 Comments || Top||

#4  "The Beret" is strong wid this One!

Michelle of "Michelle's Brigade" would be proud.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 23:13 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian PM urges 'economical intifada'
[Ynet] Paleostinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
called on his public to launch an "economical intifada" against Israel and boycott Israeli goods in retaliation to Israel's withholding of taxes it collects for the Paleostinian Authority.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Now that's funny right there.


I'm perfectly comfortable with the Paleos choosing to starve in the dark (can't do much freezing there) but you know that the anti-Israel Euros would get all wheepy.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 7:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Simple Econ-101 Mr. Fayyad. Someone has to pay for "Iron Dome" and all of that tank and bulldozer fuel. Play nice, costs go down and tax revenues return. Until then, no discounts or free stuff, you pay retail! You need a graph or PPT quad chart with that ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Is it just me, or is anyone else getting the sense that the PA's real covert target is JORDAN???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2012 23:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen gas pipeline hit by overnight blast
[Al Ahram] Attackers using explosives overnight have again sabotaged a gas pipeline in southern Yemen, the energy operator and security officials said on Sunday.

Yemen LNG said in a statement posted on its Internet site that the blast occurred shortly after midnight, but it did not give details on any injuries or damage, or say whether the pipeline was shut down.

"Yemen LNG confirms the sabotage of the 38-inch gas pipeline that links the block 18 to the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden. The sabotage occurred at 00:35 hrs (2235 GMT Saturday) on 16th December, 2012 at 173 km north of Balhaf," it said.

A Yemeni official, asking not to be identified, told AFP that unknown assailants "placed an explosive charge at pipeline level" in the Al-Zahira area of Shabwa province, causing a shutdown.

Similar kabooms struck gas pipelines that also feed the Balhaf terminal in October, September, August, May and March, the latter forcing the suspension of gas exports for three weeks.

Gas and oil pipelines have been a regular target for sabotage attacks in the impoverished southern Arabian Peninsula nation, which relies on its modest exports as a main source of revenue.

The attacks -- blamed on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP or on tribes seeking to pressure the government -- have become more frequent in the wake of the 2011 popular uprising that forced out veteran strongman President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


India-Pakistan
No polio campaign in nine snowbound union councils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
[Dawn] Nine union councils of Mansehra
...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
district are to miss the upcoming polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
vaccination campaign due to heavy snowfall, according to district executive officer (health) Dr Siddiqur Rehman.

"Polio campaign will not be carried out in nine snowbound union councils of the district," the DCO said during the campaign's inaugural function at King Abdullah Teaching Hospital (Kath) here on Saturday.

State minister Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf inaugurated the polio campaign by administering oral vaccine to a child.

Medial superintendent of Kath Dr Niaz Mohammad were also present on the occasion.

"We are not going to hold polio drive in nine snowbound union councils of the district. The new schedule for it will be announced after the weather clears," said the EDO.

He said a total of 220,000 children of and under five years of age would be administered polio drops in 50 union council of Mansehra.

Dr Rehman said the union councils where polio drive wouldn't be held included Kaghan, Hangrai, Ghanool, Jabbar Davli, Chatter Plan, Battal, Hilkot, Kuwai and Jaraid.

Minister Yousaf said the government was taking all possible measures for polio eradiation from the country.

"Though the government is using all its resources to end polio from the country, it is also the responsibility of all segments of the society, including parents, to extend full support to the government in making the country polio-free," he said.In Lakki Marwat, DCO Nisar Ahmad on Saturday called upon the officials of local administration, heads of the line departments and health authorities to ensure strict monitoring of polio teams during the three-day anti-polio drive starting from tomorrow (Monday).
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian VP says neither side can win war: newspaper
[Reuters] Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa has told a Lebanese newspaper that neither the forces of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
nor rebels can win the war in Syria.
That's what Mussolini's partisans used to say toward the end. He's just admitting that his side can't win. The other side, well, that's up to them, isn't it?
Sharaa, a Sunni Moslem in a power structure dominated by Assad's Alawite minority, has rarely appeared in public since the revolt erupted in March 2011.
"Hey, we got lotsa stuff in the Fuehrerbunker. We're comfy. Shucks, we even have air conditioning!"
The newspaper, al-Akhbar, released only limited excerpts on Sunday from the interview appearing in Monday's edition, and it was far from clear that Sharaa's comments represented the view of the government.
"Well, obviously they still think they can win. They haven't decamped yet, have they?"
But he is still the most prominent figure to say in public that the crackdown will not win. The paper, which generally takes a pro-Assad line, said Sharaa had been speaking in Damascus.
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
In the first phase of the 21-month-old civil war, which has claimed at least 40,000 lives, Damascus was distant from the fighting.
Now it's not.
Rebels have now brought the war to the capital, without succeeding in delivering a fatal blow to the government.
They've only got to "deliver a fatal blow" once. The regime has to fight them off every time.
But nor has Assad found the military muscle to oust his opponents from the city.
Which means he's a goner. If he can't thump them when they're holding territory he's lost. Q, as they say, ED.
In Gay Paree, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of La Belle France, one of the major powers most insistent that Assad has lost his legitimacy, told RFI radio: "I think the end is nearing for Bashir al-Assad."
He's gonna have one of those Najibullah weekends if he doesn't head for Novosibirsk soon.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabia
Man gets 4 months jail, 70 lashes for indecency in Prophet's Mosque
[Al Ahram] The appeals court in the eastern region of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
approved the verdict of a lower court in the Qatif province in the case of a 52-year-old man caught engaged in an indecent act with a 24-year-old girl in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.

The man was sentenced to four months in jail, 70 whip lashes, and was made to pledge to never repeat his offense.

The ruling of the lower court in Qatif was reached after the man was placed in durance vile
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
while committing the offense by the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at Gate 25 of the Prophet's Mosque.

A source from the Qatif court said, "The public prosecution caught the man as he was indulging in vulgar actions publicly. The man claimed the girl was his fiancé, yet after the investigations by the Medina police, they found obscene clips and love texts on his phone."

The source also said the girl admitted to her relationship with the man, which she said developed through phone calls and text messages. Nonetheless, the man denied any connection to her, explaining that what happened started with the girl falling on the floor and him grabbing her hand to help her.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn, another heel failure, WTF is going on with female shoery these days?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/17/2012 17:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian warplanes bomb town next to Turkish border
[Al Ahram] Syrian warplanes bombed the town of Azaz close to the Turkish border on Sunday, destroying at least five homes, causing hundreds of people to flee and stirring panic at a Syrian refugee camp just inside Turkey, Turkish officials said.

Most of the bombs hit the centre of Azaz, around three kilometres (two miles) from the Turkish border in an area dominated by Syrian rebels, but at least one landed 500 metres from Turkish soil, one official said.

"It is very close to the Turkish border ... There was also some bombing in the centre of Azaz. Around 500 people were trying to come into Turkey," he said.

Asked if there had been any response from the Turkish military, which has frequently scrambled fighter jets along the border and fired back in kind when stray Syrian shells hit its soil, the official said: "Not yet."

Explosions could be heard several kilometres inside Turkish territory, unnerving people in a refugee camp in the Turkish town of Kilis where some fear they could still be a target of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's forces.

"The Assad warplanes followed the refugees ... They fired rockets and people were very scared, they felt they would be massacred," a Syrian rebel fighter told Rooters after speaking to his brother inside the camp.

Turkey is loath to be drawn into a regional conflict but frequent proximity of Syrian air raids to the border is testing its pledge to defend itself from any violation of its territory or any spillover of violence from Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa Horn
Residents in Mogadishu call on government to create jobs for the militias in the city
[Shabelle] Residents in Mogadishu have called on the Somali federal government to create job opprtunities for the unruly militias who had been manning illegal road blocks in the city but recently dispersed from the road blocks under a security decree by the president.

In a Shabelle fox pop sessions where residents have given their views, they also called on the government to integrate those militias into its different security forces.

Meanwhile the residents of Mogadishu, who spoke to Shabelee, have also called on the Somali youths to work for the better of the nation and help the government in creating security through out the country.

Since the decree from the president which forced the militias off the illegal road blocks in Mogadishu, residents in Mogadishu felt more security but there were little accidents of robbery on the streets by gunnies who people in Mogadishu believe are the same disbanded militias and that is why the residents are calling on the government to integrate and create jobs for those militias so the city can be fully secure to live and work.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a Shabelle fox pop sessions where residents have given their views, they also called on the government to integrate those militias into its different security forces.

This takes a great deal of coercion, a proper hand-off, and time. The old guard (professional senior officers and NCO's) must be relieved or retired. Replacement with political careerists snd regime friendly sycophants can then begin to take place.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  supply them with Government uniforms, food, and fresh arms. What could go wrong?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2012 19:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two CID sleuths found shot dead
[Dawn] Two personnel of the CID police, who had been missing while working on an official task on Friday, were found rubbed out on Saturday, police said.

They said that the bullet-riddled bodies of the two coppers were found in the Mochko and Garden areas with a gap of almost 10 hours.

The CID men -- Khurram Manzoor and Sohail Yousuf -- went missing from the Hub River Road on Friday. The first body was found near Dhobi Ghaat in the Garden area in the early hours. The area police moved the body to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, where it was identified as of 35-year-old Khurram Manzoor.

"The victim, a CID police constable, was badly tortured," said an official at the Garden cop shoppe.

"He was also hit by three bullets fired from a very close range. He was a resident of Police Lines in New Bloody Karachi. The body was handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities."

In the second half of the day, another body was found on Suparco Road and was shifted to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi. The victim was clad in shalwar-kameez.

"The body was later identified as of 32-year-old Sohail Yousuf, a CID police constable," said an official at the Mochko cop shoppe. "He got married only three months ago and was a resident of Saeedabad."

SP-CID Mazhar Mashwani said that the two slain coppers, who were friends and worked together, were on an official assignment when they went missing.

"We believe they both were kidnapped on Friday evening. We have key leads that suggest who could be behind this incident, but I don't think it would be sensible to share these findings with media at this stage," he added.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
a police officer, who sustained bullet wounds in an encounter with fleeing bandidos on Wednesday night near Pakistain Chowk, died from his wounds at the Civil Hospital.

"The 42-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector was hit by a single bullet in the head," said an official at the City Courts cop shoppe.

"He was on routine snap checking near Pakistain Chowk when gunnies on a cycle of violence opened fire on a police team which signalled them to stop. One of the suspects was also locked away
Please don't kill me!
later. The victim was a resident of Agra Taj Colony and father of six."

The killing of the three coppers has brought the total number of the coppers killed this year in the metropolis to 112.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Govt committed to eradicating polio: Zardari
[Dawn] President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
on Saturday reiterated that eradication of polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
was the PPP-led government's top priority.

The front man to the President, Senator Farhatullah Babar, said that President Zardari was discussing the situation with regard to the reported polio cases in the country and the steps being taken for eradication of the disease with representatives of some international agencies and non-governmental organizations at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  A vaccine developed by a Jewish virologist, probably not halal. They'd undoubtedly prefer a victimized crippling, debilitating existence.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 9:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptian constitution wins backing in first round
[USA Today] A majority of Egyptians voted in favor of a final draft constitution in the first round of a referendum, according to unofficial results published in state-run media Sunday.

But a large portion of Egyptians voted against the draft, underscoring deep political divisions and threatening to leave Egypt unsettled in what has been a tempestuous transition.

"It shows that Egypt is divided and that there is a significant portion of the population now disaffected with the Brotherhood's rule and their handling of the constitutional process," said Shadi Hamid, director of research for the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar.

The Moslem Brüderbund, which propelled President Mohammed Morsi to power earlier this year, urged voters to approve the draft constitution in a two-day referendum, which will continue Dec. 22. The opposition rejected the draft and campaigned for a "no" vote after deciding not to boycott the process.

The draft constitution passed with majority support in areas outside the city, but more than 50% of voters in Cairo rejected it, unofficial results showed.

"That's significant in my estimation, and it's not going to settle anything," said Michael Wahid Hanna, with a New York-based think tank, The Century Foundation, and who is currently in the Egyptian capital.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Gunmen kill two Libya soldiers in former Gaddafi bastion
[Al Ahram] Gunmen killed two army officers on Sunday in a Libyan town that was one of the last strongholds of Muammar Qadaffy
...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...
's regime before his overthrow and killing last year, the military said.
Captains Mohamed al-Zarruk and Ahmed al-Haj Mohamed were killed when reinforcements were called in to the oasis town of Bani Walid, 170 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, after interior ministry forces were trapped by gunnies, the army said.

"Members of the (interior ministry-controlled) high security commission were looking for a man accused of murder when gunnies surrounded them," Bani Walid military commander General Hussein Khalifa told AFP.

"Army units were called to their rescue but they came under fire and two officers were killed."A ceremony was held at the military airport in Tripoli in honour of the two officers. It was attended by armed forces chief of staff General Yussef al-Mangush as well as the bereaved families.

Bani Walid has been the scene of repeated festivities between government forces and residents, many of whom rue the overthrow of Qadaffy, who lavished resources on the area during his four-decade rule.In October, former rebel groups stormed the town on defence ministry orders to "purge" Qadaffy loyalists.

The ensuing festivities left dozens dead and maimed before the authorities took control of the town.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Terrorists cannot break the country's will: PM
[Dawn] Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Pakistain is determined in its fight against terrorism, and that the Pakistain Peoples Party will be successful in the next general elections, DawnNews reported.

Speaking during a PPP Punjab parliamentary gathering, the prime minister said that beturbanned goons cannot break the will of the country.

"The fight against terrorism will be taken to its logical conclusion," he said.

The prime minister said that whenever the PPP took power, resources were always few and that despite the shortcomings the government has faced, it will complete its five year tenure, having tried to improve the situation.

"The PPP will continue its policy of reconciliation, and will also take on board its allies in the future," he said.

Raja Pervez Ashraf also said that Bilawal Baby Bhutto will address party workers on December 27 at Ghari Khuda Bux, on the occasion of Benazir Bhutto's
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
death anniversary.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
Fear and tension are high in Ufurow district in south west Somalia.
[Shabelle] Reports from the district of Ufurow, which is part of Bay region in south west Somalia, say that tension between Somali government forces backed by Æthiopian forces and snuffies from Alshabab is running high in that area.

Ufurow was under the control of Al shabab but Somali government accompanied by Æthiopian forces entered that district yesterday though they withdrew from it later in the day.

Residents in the small town of Ufurow, who spoke to Shabelle on the phone, say that there is a military build-up of both sides around the town though the situation is relatively calm now.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. Really big teeth...
residents have begun to flee from the town in fear of possible battle between Alshabab and Somali government inside the small town.

Al shabab, which was controlling much south and central Somalia, has now become a diminishing force after Somali government backed by forces from the African union mission and from neighboring countries militarily pushed the group out of major urban areas in south and central Somalia.

The group now uses suicide kabooms and targeted liquidations against all those opposing its violent ideology.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


India-Pakistan
Outlaws demolish school in Bara
[Dawn] Unidentified persons
Oh, golly, gosh, shucks! Who could they be?
in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency demolished a government school for girls and took all its doors, windows and furniture on the night between Friday and Saturday.

Local sources said that a group of unidentified outlaws demolished completely the building of Haji Jan Gul Girls School in Speen Qabar area of Sipah. They loaded all the doors, windows, furniture and even bricks of the building in tractor trolleys and fled in the darkness of the night, they said. Militants during the last three and a half years of military operation in Bara have destroyed nearly 70 government schools.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Africa Horn
Banana Export Company launched in Mogadishu
[Shabelle] in a further sign of return of hope and booming trade in a city not long time dubbed the world´s most dangerous city, a banana export company has been launched in Mogadishu Somalia´s capital city today.

The founders of the new company, Fruit Som say that their plan is to be an umbrella for all Somali farmers so that it can export Somalia´s banana to the outside world.

Sheikh Osman, chairman of Fruit Som company who spoke at the launching ceremony of the company said that the company would bring all Somali farmers particularly those who grow banana under one umbrella.

Shiekh Ali Wajis, who is a member of the group founding this new company also spoke there, telling Somalia lacked such business activity for a long time.

Somalia grows one of the best quality bananas in the world but the production and export of the banana which was earning hard currency for the Somali economy, halted after the descended into wars and lawlessness.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Those who torched Brotherhood offices attacked Wafd Party HQ: FJP's El-Erian
[Al Ahram] Essam El-Erian, vice chairman of the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party, write on his official Facebook page on Sunday that those who attacked and torched the Brotherhood's provincial offices earlier this month were the same elements who attacked the liberal Wafd Party's Cairo headquarters on Saturday night, as Egyptians finished voting in the first phase of a contentious constitutional referendum.

On December 5 and 6, the Brotherhood's offices in Kafr Al-Sheikh, Suez, Menoufiya, Ismailia and Moqattam were attacked, stormed and raided following violent festivities with unknown assailants. The attacks followed violent festivities between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi outside Cairo's presidential palace.

El-Erian also urged prominent Salafist preacher and former presidential candidate Hazem Abu-Ismail to legally register his political party to prevent third parties from causing mischief in the name of Abu-Ismail's followers, know as Hazemoun. The leading Brotherhood member also acknowledged that Abu-Ismail and his supporters had vehemently denied involvement in the incident.

El-Erian further stated that "those who earlier voiced fears of Egyptians voting in a free referendum and insisted on sowing chaos, along with those who reject referendum results that conflict with what they want, bear a big part of the responsibility [for recent acts of sabotage]."

On Saturday night, Mohamed Tharwat, managing editor of the Wafd Party's news website, stated that some 500 of Abu-Ismail's supporters had attacked the Wafd Party's headquarters.

Tharwat told the Hayat television channel that attackers had surrounded the building, located in Cairo's middle-class Dokki district, and sprayed it with fireworks before destroying several cars parked outside the building.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebel Offensive In Hama
[Reuters] Rebels said they were launching an operation to seize the central province of Hama to try to link northern rural areas of Syria under their control to the center.

Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the newly established rebel military command, said fighters had been ordered to surround and attack checkpoints across the province. He said forces loyal to Assad had been given 48 hours to surrender or be killed.

"When we liberate the countryside of Hama province ... then we will have the area between Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
and Hama liberated and open for us," he told Rooters.

The city of Hama in the province of the same name has a special resonance for anti-Assad activists. In 1982 Hafez al-Assad, father of the current ruler, crushed an uprising in the city, killing up to 30,000 civilians.

In Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
, activists said fighter jets had bombed the Yarmouk Paleostinian refugee camp, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque.

The attack was part of a month-old campaign by Assad's forces to eject rebels from positions they are establishing around the capital's perimeter. Yarmouk, to the south, falls within an arc of territory running from the east of Damascus to the southwest from where rebels hope to storm the government's main redoubt.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336107 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Hezbollah Sez Rebels Can't Win
[REUTERS] His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
, leader of the Islamist Hezbollah militia group, said the rebels could not win in Syria.

"The situation in Syria is getting more complicated (but) anyone who thinks the armed opposition can settle the situation on the ground is very, very, very mistaken."

Syrian rebels accuse Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Moslem group, of sending fighters to neighboring Syria to help Assad overcome the largely Sunni Moslem revolt. Hezbollah denies these accusations.

Assad's and Hezbollah's main ally in region, Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, cancelled a visit to Syria's estranged neighbor Turkey a day after his military chief said the deployment of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
missile defenses along its border with Syria could lead to a "world war", Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  "The situation in Syria is getting more complicated (but) anyone who thinks the armed opposition can settle the situation on the ground is very, very, very mistaken."

Less analysis, more shooting and bombing please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 8:05 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq demands opening of Kashmir border
[Dawn] A separatist leader from Indian administered Kashmire urged rivals India and Pakistain Sunday fully to open the border in the disputed Himalayan region to let the grinding of the peace processor move forward.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the current limited opening of the Line of Control, the de facto frontier in Kashmire, was not enough.

Farooq, a leader of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, is leading a seven-member delegation to Pakistain following an invitation from Islamabad.

He arrived in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pak administered Kashmire, on Sunday for a two-day visit and will go on to Islamabad.
... which nobody ever mentions giving its independence or even autonomy...
"Limited movement of people and goods is not enough, it should be opened for Kashmiris so that ammunition they can move across freely to boost the grinding of the peace processor," Farooq told news hounds.

He also said Kashmiris should be included in the grinding of the peace processor as it was not a dispute between just India and Pakistain.

"No solution without the involvement of Kashmiris will be acceptable to us as we are an important party in the Kashmire dispute."
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PA Condemns Syrian Attack On Palestinian Yarmouk Camp
That'll do it. Tea?
[Jpost] The Paleostinian Authority condemned the Syrian fighter jet attack on the Paleostinian Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
on Sunday, Paleostinian news agency Ma'an reported.

According to Ma'an, senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo
... Paleostinian politician and a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee. He holds an M.A. in economics and political science from the American University in Cairo.....
told Rooters the PA hold Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
and his regime "responsible for this crime," adding that the attack shows the regime knows "no limits in its approach to criminal murder and destruction."

"In the Yarmouk refugee camp massacre and everywhere in Syria, the international community must put an end to a system of murder and terrorism in Syria before they burn the whole region," Ma'an quoted the PA official as saying.

"We are following up with our people in Syria about the conditions on the ground and we will take all measures that enable us to protect our people at all levels," Abed Rabbo was quoted as saying.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336101 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  That'll do it. Tea?

With cucumber sandwiches?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2012 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  With cucumber sandwiches?

Have you ever had the things, g(r)omgoru? I much prefer offering an assortment of cookies or a slice of homemade cake.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 5:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey TW cucumber sandwiches are good. I make a mean one myself (tough to get the good butter sometimes.)
Posted by: AlanC || 12/17/2012 7:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Hold the fattening butter. I like mine with bacon and a little horseradish.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/17/2012 7:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Herbed cream cheese works well, too.
Posted by: lotp || 12/17/2012 8:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Have you ever had the things, g(r)omgoru?

I've read about them It's what nobs 'ave with their tea.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2012 14:12 Comments || Top||

#7  What an unexpected variety these Rantburgers are! :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2012 21:19 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Ex-superintendent sacked over Bannu jailbreak
[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
chief secretary on Saturday sacked the former deputy superintendent-cum-superintendent of the Bannu central prison, Mohammad Zahid, after he was found responsible for inefficiency and negligence over the prison break, which led to the escape of around 300 prisoners, including a high-profile convict.

Mr Zahid (BPS-17), who was suspended soon after the incident on May 15, was dismissed from the service after through inquiry and issuance of a show cause notice to him.

The then assistant inspector general of prisons, Shah Salman, who was also suspended, has now been warned to be careful in future while processing cases of prisoners.

During the April 15, 2012 jailbreak, a former junior technician of Pakistain Air Force, Adnan Rasheed, who was on death row after convicted by a field general court martial for engineering attack on then military ruler General Musharraf in Dec 2003, had also escaped. He was transferred to Bannu Jail from Haripur without realising that he was a high-profile prisoner.

Another deputy superintendent-cum-superintendent, Usman Ali (BPS-17) was exonerated from all charges. He was also suspended.

A few days ago, the provincial home department had dismissed from service 11 warders of the Bannu prison in the same connection.

According to a news release issued by the provincial home department, these officers of the inspectorate of prison, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, were proceeded against under Rule 3 of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Government Servants (Efficiency and Disciplinary) Rules, 2011, for different charges mentioned in the show cause notices issued to them on June 14, 2012, which were served upon them individually.

The provincial chief secretary, who is the competent authority, granted them all an opportunity of personal hearing as provided under the said rules.

In the April 15, 2012 incident, snuffies from the neighbouring North Wazoo Agency had attacked the prison in large numbers but the officials on duty offered no resistance.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Milla Jovovich [Ukrainian][Filmography](age 37)



Nekkid as an Egg in a Pajama Top

Women Who Prepare to Bathe

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/17/2012 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  el-Quaddafi loved the women from that part of the world. I can see why. Should have stayed with Arabian horses.
Posted by: Dale || 12/17/2012 6:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Milla Jovovich pic in need of a caption: Caption?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/17/2012 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  "Is that a hot dog on the floor, or are you just happy to see me?"
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 12/17/2012 16:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Scooter OH! you nasty man.

Posted by: Dale || 12/17/2012 19:31 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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5Govt of Syria
5Arab Spring
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1Hezbollah
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2012-12-17
  Rebel Offensive In Hama
Sun 2012-12-16
  Rockets Fired on Peshawar Airport, Five Dead, Dozens Injured
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition
Wed 2012-12-12
  Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Tue 2012-12-11
  North Korea 'launches long-range rocket'
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution
Tue 2012-12-04
  Syria FM Spokesman 'Defects' from Regime, Leaves Syria
Mon 2012-12-03
  Car bomb in Syria's Homs kills 15: State media

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