AUSTRALIAN navy vessels have been granted extraordinary new powers to fire directly at illegal foreign fishermen caught in Top End waters.
Under the new rules of engagement approved by Defence Minister Brendan Nelson this week, navy personnel will be permitted to fire directly to disable a vessel seeking to escape apprehension and threatening sailors in Australian waters.
The navy will also be permitted to use tear gas, distraction and long-range acoustic explosives.
Sailors can also use capsicum spray to temporarily disable illegal fishermen.
Dr Nelson told Parliament on Wednesday he had approved the new rules of engagement to strengthen the Australia's border protection powers.
"It is extremely important that anybody who comes to this country seeking to steal our fish and breach our sovereignty knows that they will be met with a very strong, disciplined Royal Australian Navy," he said.
"The foreign fishing vessels that are coming to our country are increasingly sophisticated.
"They are engaging in activities, which are very dangerous to our personnel and, indeed, to our patrol boats, including using very large sharpened poles, the throwing of missiles and a variety of things that endanger our people."
Dr Nelson cited the example of a sailor on HMAS Geelong last year, who was left hanging on to the stern of an illegal fishing vessel after it ignored orders and tried to escape, as being influential in his decision to strengthen the navy's powers.
In addition to the strengthened rules of engagement, Dr Nelson told Parliament that a RAAF Orion surveillance aircraft was supporting Australia's border protection efforts.
"There is no more important task that is done by the Royal Australian Navy than the protection of Australia's borders," Dr Nelson said.
The new rules of engagement are effective immediately.
Billionaires, former KGB spies and Chechen rebels joined members of Alexander Litvinenkos family for his funeral yesterday at Highgate cemetery in London.
What was meant to be a private, non-denominational service was interrupted by a Muslim imam who pushed his way to the front of the mourners to conduct prayers over the coffin. Litvinenkos father had claimed that his son had converted to Islam on his deathbed.
His wife, Marina, restrained a number of burly Russian minders from intervening to stop the imam, pleading with them: Remember why we are here.
She held on to the hand of her 12-year-son, Anatole, who stared straight ahead at the lead-lined, airtight coffin in which officials insisted Litvinenko was buried to avoid any health risks.
The exiled Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, was among the pallbearers, together with the Chechen Foreign Minister, Akhmed Zakayev.
Both Litvinenkos parents, Walter and Nina Belyavskaya, were at the graveside along with his first wife, Natalia, and a group of 50 family friends.
Earlier it was revealed that Litvinenko had taken part in a citizenship ceremony in October using a false name, Edwin Carter.
It is understood that Whitehall officials knew that he had changed his name for his own protection.
Hundreds of wildfires swept across southern and eastern Australia on Thursday, as firefighters scrambled to protect homes and farmland amid heavy winds and soaring temperatures.
Fire crews in the states of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales struggled against the weather to contain about 300 fires on hundreds of hectares (acres) of forest and scrubland.
Around 260 fires were burning across Victoria by Thursday afternoon, as temperatures hit 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit) - the state's hottest October day in 100 years.
"It's really unseasonal weather, and is causing us considerable difficulty," said a state Country Fire Authority spokesman, Geoff Evans.
No houses were under threat and no one has been injured, Evans said.
Meanwhile, in neighboring South Australia, firefighters battled in 40-degree Celsius (104-degree Fahrenheit) heat to contain three separate, out-of-control on Kangaroo Island.
One fire had already destroyed around 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of scrubland and was moving toward a popular national park, according to a state fire official, Euan Ferguson.
Firefighters were fighting exhaustion after putting out 38 fires across the state on Wednesday.
"It is unprecedented to have weather conditions such as we are having today in October," Fergusen said. "This is not a normal year."
In the southern island state of Tasmania, two helicopters and about 25 fire crews were trying to stop a blaze from reaching a suburban housing estate near the capital, Hobart, said Tasmania Fire Service spokesman Danny Reid.
It was one of 18 fires burning in Tasmania, and officials are treating it as a possible arson.
In New South Wales, fire crews succeeded in containing a fire that had threatened dozens of homes in the wine-growing Hunter Valley district northeast of Sydney, the Rural Fire Service said.
More high temperatures have been predicted for the weekend, prompting officials to ban the lighting of any fires across large sections of the country.
Wildfires are a regular feature of Australia's hot summers, raging across thousands of hectares (acres) of forests and scrubland, and sometimes cities and towns.
Although sometimes sparked by lightning, the fires are more often caused by human activities, such as vehicle sparks, the burning of agricultural land, accidents and arson.
In 2003, hundreds of houses were destroyed and four people died when a huge blaze tore into the national capital, Canberra. Last January, nine people died in fires on South Australia state's Eyre Peninsula.
Declaration of war? Close enough for me
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Western leaders to follow the path of God or "vanish from the face of the earth".
"These oppressive countries are angry with us ... a nation that on the other side of the globe has risen up and proved the shallowness of their power," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern town of Ramsar, the semi-official news agency Mehr reported Wednesday. Yes, pulling out of Iraq looks like a real smart move, doesn't it, Mr. Baker?
"They are angry with our nation. But we tell them 'so be it and die from this anger'. Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth," he said.
The outspoken president also maintained Iran's defiance over its controversial nuclear programme, saying it was on course to fully master nuclear technology.
"Thank to God's help, we have gone all the way and are only one step away from the zenith.
"We hope to have the big nuclear celebration by the end of the year (March 2007)," Ahmadinejad said, echoing comments he has made on numerous occasions in recent months.
A defiant Iran has refused to suspend its uranium enrichment work, a process that the West fears could be extended to make nuclear weapons.
Iran however insists its nuclear programme is solely aimed at generating energy. Yes. Of the kiliton variety.
France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Wednesday after a Paris meeting on Tehran's nuclear programme that we have plenty of white flags in stock the UN Security Council is agreed "there will be sanctions" on Iran, though their extent is yet to be decided.
#4
Take the man at his word. This nutjob is declaring war upon America and we should respond accordingly. Anything less is sheer folly. Were the positions reversed America would have been a smoking hole in the ground decades ago.
#6
Let us be "realistic" the American people voted to Puss. Baker is antisemitic. The Donks will do anything for pork. And our leadership is boxed and having to go on the defensive.
"Realism" is the watchword for bug out. Like Diomedes in the Trojan War we have to plan to keep the enemy off us in the morning. What did he do...he went out that night with Ulysses and they caught a weasel spy alive named Dolon who was himself reconning their camp . They "interrogated" him in the dark and then slit his throat.
Then as due the dead spys intell they penetrated the Trojan camp and killed a dozen men while they slept and stole a horse and a golden inlaid chariot and came back to the Greek camp. In the morning they knew where to hit the Trojans and the Greeks held for one more year and took Troy.
Iran is full of people who dont like the war or the mullahs. What are we doing about that? Lets go in and deny we are doing it. Its not glorious, but it works. Lets get inside Iran and spread discord and attack their economy and production. Lets do false flags and create dissension. The American people are wussy at present. But let the Donks try to do better than we have done. Their leadership is ludicrous, no one of any stature. No staying power either. But do Black Ops and dont tell them. Set it up, deny it, use Gates as cover and lay out the poison.
How nasty can you be.? Think twisted and then do it. The Poppy Crop in Afghanistan can be facilitated to Teheran and we can get everybody to do a little. Think infected needles and exposed veins. Now put a Moslem face on it.
#8
Does gasoline burn nicely? There are about five gasoline refineries in Iran. What is THEIR security like at those refineries? WE cant sabotage and reduce their capacity? We cant get in and get out and use a mask and a false flag?
Is Zahedan free of drugs and is all the Heroin in Afghanistan going through that town? Are the police there paid well and zealous or are they about like Gringo Pass and Cuiadad Juarez? Can AIDS be introduced into the population in the major Iranian cities? Cant we package death in a thousand small ways that are practically invisible?
If you cant CONFRONT them then bite them and bleed them. There are hatreds between ethnic groups in Iran. Get one to attack the other. Create incidents and atrocities. Write things on the walls of Mosques. Blame that guy.
#9
You should be in a planning group, A9, lol. I think the Seals should consider those nibble at the edges targets, such as the gasoline storage depots, as "training" exercises. Keep the edge.
#11
A9 - that's my kind of scoundrel. Though I must quibble over one thing: "Its not glorious, but it works" - I would say it is glorious because it works.
Anyway, I think a case study on one Vlade Dracula is in order for our sr leadership.
I've been advocating wetworks for a long time on the MM jokers. Except the AIDS thing, then the Donks would want us to send a billion dollars worth of aid to Iran like what we're wasting on Africa.
The cynic in me should've figured that. Coincidentally, I got a yellow fever shot yesterday at our group aid station - even though the ME is not known for that. I bring it up because a YF shot is damn expensive. You have to have 4 other Gyrines w/you before a doc will even bust one of those vaccines out. Once it's open they got like an hour to use it before it goes bad. I can only imagine how much more $$$ we'll waste on africa. Obviously I feel bad about little kids anywhere in pain, and some women in bad circumstances, but any of these dudes over 18 who keep passing this sh*t around gets no sympathy from me - pls f*cking die already.
So $1.2 Billion for anti-malaria? Sounds about right. Bottom line, our tax money goes to keeping idiots alive who won't wear condoms and want to f*ck little girls who don't already have 'the hiv' - makes sense in a capital hill kinda way.
#19
Lets go in and deny we are doing it. Its not glorious, but it works. Lets get inside Iran and spread discord and attack their economy and production. Lets do false flags and create dissension. The American people are wussy at present. But let the Donks try to do better than we have done. Their leadership is ludicrous, no one of any stature. No staying power either. But do Black Ops and dont tell them. Set it up, deny it, use Gates as cover and lay out the poison.
Angleton 9, all great ideas and I wish even a fraction of them were being put to use. All we lack is leadership with the spine to realize that our enemies cannot be left to plot unaddressed.
My preference is to catch a full session of the majlis, or Khameini's funeral (whichever comes first), their gasoline refineries along with the input conduits to Kharg Island and the majority of their nuclear weapons R&D sites.
Let the dust settle after the decap, see who takes the reins, then rinse and repeat as necessary. I'd like to see the Persians have one last chance at self government before we take the place apart at the seams.
I've not seen your 'nym around here before so, just in case, I'll say welcome to Rantburg and please keep up the interesting posts.
SAUDI forces clashed with gunmen in the Red Sea port of Jeddah and surrounded a building after two security personnel were wounded in an attack on a checkpoint.
Security forces brought in helicopters against the gunmen and ambulances ferried the wounded away from the scene of the fighting in the city's Ruwais district, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said.
There was a firearms attack on a security checkpoint in Ruwais district. Two members of the security forces were wounded in the attack, an official said. He said it was not clear if the gunmen were Islamic militants.
He said the building was under construction.
A Jeddah resident said the building under siege was near a prison where Islamist militants are believed to be held.
The Jeddah correspondent of state-owned al-Ikhbariya television said in a telephone interview with the station that one or more of the gunmen opened fire at the guards of the Ruwais prison.
A witness said scores of security personnel were deployed around the Ruwais area in al-Sharafiya district and around the Ruwais prison after the shootout.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has been fighting a violent campaign by al-Qaeda supporters to topple the US-backed monarchy since May 2003, when they launched suicide bombings against Western housing compounds in Riyadh.
The kingdom said last week it had detained 136 suspected militants, including a would-be suicide bomber.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said on Monday the militants, who included foreigners, were planning a series of suicide bombings and assassinations.
Just as in the case of Omar Sheikh and Dr.A.Q.Khan, the Pakistani authorities are once again avoiding handing him over a criminal to the British or American investigators.
Rashid Rauf is from a Mirpuri family of Birmingham. The Mirpuris are the Punjabi-speaking residents of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK).He disappeared from the UK in 2002 after the British Police suspected him in connection with the murder of one of his relatives in Birmingham. Their search for him did not produce any clueseither in the UK or in Pakistan.
Then, suddenly, on August 9, 2006, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) claimed to have picked him up from a house in Bhawalpur, southern Punjab, which he had bought after coming to Pakistan in 2002. He had married a woman related by marriage to Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) which was involved in the aborted attack on the Indian Parliament in December, 2001.
The Pakistani authorities claimed that he was in close touch with Al Qaeda and that it was his arrest that gave them an inkling regarding the imminence of the plot of a group of jihadi extremists based in the UK to blow up a number of US-bound planes. The discovery of the conspiracy and the arrest of many UK-based suspects were then announced by the British Police. The final results of their investigation are not yet known.
Since Rashid Rauf was projected by the Pakistani authorities as the most important player in the plot and as the man whose arrest led to the unearthing of the planned terrorist conspiracy in the UK, one would have thought that his being handed-over to the British for interrogation would have been of the highest priority to the British investigating authorities. But, no action has been taken so far. The Pakistani media had reported that a team of British Police officers had visited Pakistan to question him, but it is not clear whether Rashid was questioned by them and, if they and if his questioning did indicate his involvement in the plot, why have they have so far moved for his extradition.
It is clear from the facts available so far that as with Omar Sheikh, the principal accused in the case relating to the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist, in the beginning of 2002, and Dr.A.Q.Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist with links with Iran, North Korea, Libya and Al Qaeda, in the case of Rashid Rauf too, the Pakistani authorities are avoiding handing him over to the British or American investigators.
Reliable police sources in Pakistan say that the reluctance of Gen.Pervez Musharraf to hand over Rashid Rauf to the UK or US is due to the fear that his independent interrogation by them might bring out that Rashid Rauf was aware of the training of some of the perpetrators of the Mumbai blasts of July, 2006, in which over 180 suburban train commuters were killed, in a camp of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in Bhawalpur and that the ISI was aware of his presence in Bhawalpur ever since 2002, when he fled to Pakistan from the UK. These police sources say that the ISI's contention that it came to know of his presence only in the beginning of August,2006, is not correct.
The government of Pakistan told a court on October 30, 2006, that Rashid Rauf had been detained under the Security of Pakistan Act. A Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Judge, Justice Safdar Hussain Malik, passed orders on November 21, 2006, approving his judicial custody in the Adiala jail. This could rule out his early transfer to the British Police for interrogation.
Under the joint anti-terrorism mechanism recently set up by the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan, India should also request the Pakistani authorities for permission to interrogate him on the LET training camp in Bahawalpur. If Pakistan refuses to co-operate, the international community should be informed about it.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2006
16:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
hey nice catch John, every and anything that focuses heat and light on the Paks is a good thing.
According to the CIA World Factbook estimate, Russia's overall fertility rate is 1.28 children per woman, far below what is needed to maintain the country's population of about 143 million. Muslim Russians, meanwhile, are bucking the trend, with some communities averaging as many as 10 children per woman. The Central Asian states that traditionally send large numbers of immigrant workers to Russia also have much higher birth rates. Given that a Muslim male may have 4 wives for breeding stock, 40 children could result from these marriages. I doubt that many will stay in Russia; most will go to the US or Europe, to breed even more Abdullahs.
No reference to infant mortality rates...
Since 1989, Russia's Muslim population has increased by 40 per cent to about 25 million. By 2015, Muslims could make up a majority of Russia's conscript army and they could account for one-fifth of the country's population by 2020. If trends continue for the next 30 years, people of Muslim descent will outnumber ethnic Russians, says Paul Goble, an expert on Islam in Russia and research associate at the University of Tartu in Estonia.
#1
I think it was Mark Steyn that made a depressing point recently: by mid century, all things being equal, 3/5 of the UNSC could be muslim, to wit: Russia, GB, and France.
Sleep well tonight...
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/07/2006 17:53
Comments ||
Top||
On Broadway, that is. Via Opinion Journal.
After a year of controversy and debate, My Name Is St. Pancake Rachel Corrie is closing. The one-woman play was put together by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner from the writings of an American-born terrorist sympathsizer Palestinian-rights advocate who was killed in 2003 by her own stupidity an Israeli Army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. After its final performance on Dec. 17, Rachel Corrie will have played 9 previews and 71 regular performances at the Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village.
The run of IHOP Rachel Corrie was tranquil compared with the uproar that preceded its arrival. The production was initially scheduled to move in March from the Royal Court Theater in London to the New York Theater Workshop. But when the workshops artistic director, James C. Nicola, decided to postpone the show, many in the theater community erupted in protest. In June, Dena Hammerstein and Pam Pariseau announced that they would produce it for a commercial run Off Broadway.
#1
They say the girls are something else on Broadway
But looking at them just gives me the blues
'Cause how ya gonna make some time
When all you got is one thin dime?
And one thin dime won't even shine your shoes
After a year of controversy and debate, My Name Is Rachel Corrie is closing. The one-woman play was put together by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner from the writings of an American-born terrorist sympathizer Palestinian-rights advocate who was killed in 2003 after she was dumb enough to stand in front of by an Israeli Army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. After its final performance on Dec. 17, Rachel Corrie will have played 9 previews and 71 regular performances at the Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village.
Insert bulldozer or pancake joke here.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/07/2006
14:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Guess it didn't steam ahead like a bulldozer, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 15:39
Comments ||
Top||
#3
It's hard to find many stages strong enough to support a D-9 for the final, climactic scene. And in the few such venues that could support it, the diesel fumes nearly asphixiated the crowd.
Not that that's a bad thing...
Posted by: Dar ||
12/07/2006 16:22
Comments ||
Top||
#4
What do you call Batman and Robin after they have been run over by a steam roller?
Flatman and Ribbon.
For some reason, stories of Rachel Corrie always bring this joke to mind.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/07/2006 17:09
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I'm sorry to see you are all crushed by the news....
FOURTEEN INSURGENTS KILLED, BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN RAMADI
CAMP FALLUJAH, IRAQ - Coalition Forces used tank main gun rounds and precision guided ordnance to destroy buildings from which insurgents were attacking in Ramadi Wednesday.
Iraqi Soldiers and Coalition Forces were attacked with a heavy volume of small arms fire from numerous insurgent positions including the Al Haqq Mosque. Iraqi Soldiers and Coalition Forces returned fire with a combination of small arms fire, machine gun fire and tank main gun rounds. Don't bring an AK-47 to a tank fight.
When the enemy's attack did not cease, Coalition Forces used precision guided ordnance on the buildings being used as insurgent fighting positions, and the buildings were destroyed.
Iraqi Soldiers and Coalition Forces did not use precision guided ordnance or fire their tank main guns at the mosque. Aw, shucks.
Iraqi Soldiers entered the mosque to conduct a search, and Coalition Forces remained outside the mosque. Nothing significant was found in the mosque.
One Coalition member was killed and three were wounded during the operations. Fourteen insurgents were killed. There were no reports of civilian casualties.
"When insurgents create situations such as occurred Wednesday, Coalition Forces must defend themselves," said Coalition spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Bryan Salas. "While we are mindful to limit damage, we must respond with necessary and proportional force to protect our forces and Iraq from the insurgents."
#4
I'd much rather go all Dresden on Ramada - and a few other places. I still say the US needs to demonstrate what can happen if we decide to quit playing "nice guy" and go totally mongol on the Middle East. Break 30 or 40 of the old B-52D models out of the boneyard, refurbish them, and send them over some town that's been a problem since day one - like Riyadh. Send them in 3-ship cells, with the last bomb from the first cell dropping at the same time the first bomb from the next cell begins falling. Call in all the sides and say, "We can do this somewhere in the Middle East once a day, every day, for the next ten years, or we can have peace. The choice is yours."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2006 14:48
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Iraqi Soldiers entered the mosque to conduct a search, and Coalition Forces remained outside the mosque. Nothing significant was found in the mosque.
I don't believe ya. Since we are changing the way things are done now, I'm gonna take a squad thru da moskkk, ya know, just to be sure.
#7
Moskks used as armories or firing positions need to be leveled. Backing down on this is nothing but foolish. Let them pay a price. This shithole should have evaporated before their eyes with the little bunnies inside.
#10
Send them in 3-ship cells, with the last bomb from the first cell dropping at the same time the first bomb from the next cell begins falling. Call in all the sides and say, "We can do this somewhere in the Middle East once a day, every day, for the next ten years, or we can have peace. The choice is yours."
Two points that make me curious:
1) How did we manage to roll up such a large group of similarly placed people?
2) How do we know that these people are what we say?
The answer to both questions is in who 'ratted them out' - is he reliable or not? And if he is, I can't imagine he's not suspected by whatever forces are remaining in that organization, so either we've taken him into protection or he's taking over that organization.
BAGHDAD, Iraq On Wednesday, the Government of Iraq released the names and photos of several suspected senior-level Ansar al Sunna emirs who were captured by Coalition Forces during a series of raids in mid-November.
The AAS network is responsible for improvised explosive device attacks and suicide attacks on Iraqi government, Coalition Forces and Iraqi civilians. The AAS network is also responsible for multiple kidnappings, small arms attacks and other crimes in the central and northern part of Iraq.
One terrorist emir, Abu Mohammedaka Ismail, AAS Emir of Yusifiyah was killed during a raid late November.
The suspected Ansar al Sunna emirs who were captured are:
This is another step closer to defeating al-Qaida in Iraq and helping establish a safe and peaceful Iraq. Coalition Forces will continue to target not only senior al-Qaida in Iraq leaders, but all associated terrorist movements like Ansar Al Sunna. They will be identified, captured and prosecuted for their crimes.
So who's left to ordain their new priests, or however they work it?
#3
I remember an interview where some zoologist kept mentioning the "pendulous breasts"....he would not let up on it - funny stuff.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/07/2006 14:21
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I saw a show (it might have been Penn & Teller's Bullshit) the reported on the bigfoot video and showed the large friend who lived down the street from the video owner. The guy had an identical walk. It was pretty convincing.
#5
To make a long story short, M. K. Davis has been working his butt off for about three or four years or so trying to enhance, stabilize, and sharpen the Patterson-Gimlin footage, and recently made a public statement to the effect that the subject of the film wasn't an ape or a man in a suit, but some sort of human. He hasn't released all of his observations or anything yet.
Anyway, Coleman (whose site you're linking to) was apparently making some really odd unsubstantiated allegations about Mr. Davis, for which he had later apologized.
I really don't know how it became accepted in the Papparazzi community that we can exist in the wild, undetected by scientists, hunters, anthropologists, random hikers, and whatnot, leaving behind no solid evidence of our existance... but it's controversial to even suggest that my colleagues and I are more than "dumb apes."
There's an old joke in the Bigfoot community, that humans share 90% of their genetic material with chimpanzees... and 50% of their genetic material with cabbage.
By KIM GAMEL
Associated Imaginary Friend Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq rose to 11 when the military said Thursday that another soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.
At least seven Iraqis _ six policemen and a 7-year-old girl _ were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.
The U.S. soldier was shot Wednesday while manning a machine gun nest on the roof of an outpost in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the capital of the volatile Anbar province, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
The death came on the same day that 10 other U.S. troops were killed in four separate incidents in Iraq, and a blue-ribbon panel in Washington recommended gradually shifting U.S. forces from a combat to a training role.
The military released details about five of the other troops killed on Wednesday, saying they were Task Force Lightning soldiers who were struck by a roadside bomb while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of the northern city of Kirkuk. The soldiers were assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
The U.S. military gave no further details about identities or the other deaths, pending notification of relatives.
The attacks followed a particularly bloody weekend and raised to at least 31 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the first week of this month. At least 69 troops were killed in November and 105 soldiers were killed in October _ the highest monthly toll since January 2005.
"Our thoughts are with all 11 families who lost family members yesterday. Taking care of them right now is the military's highest priority," U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said. The last time 11 Americans were killed in one day was Oct. 17.
At least 2,919 service members have been killed since the war started in 2003, according to an AP count.
At least 75 people were killed or found dead across Iraq on Wednesday, including 48 whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in different parts of the capital.
Gunmen also broke into a school in western Baghdad, killing its Sunni headmaster in his office, then instructing teachers not to return, an Iraqi army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday urged university professors and students to ignore a Sunni Arab insurgent group's warnings to avoid class, calling them "desperate attempts."
The group had sent e-mails to students and posted signs at schools and mosques saying students should stay away while it cleanses the campuses of Shiite death squads, according to a statement from al- Maliki's office late Tuesday.
The Iraqi government said the U.S. Iraq Study Group's report recommending a change of course in Iraq did "not come as a surprise," and it agreed that Iraq must take the lead in its own security.
"The situation is grave, very grave in fact, and cannot be tolerated," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said on the pan-Arab satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya. "Absolute dependence on foreign troops is not possible. The focus must be on boosting the Iraqi security forces."
Regular Iraqis on the streets of Baghdad greeted the Iraq Study Group report with widespread skepticism.
"This report is no different than others we have received from national unity conferences or regional conferences in the last three years, ones that came up with nice words that had no effect," said Khalid Abdel-Rahim, 42, a Sunni Arab employee of Iraq's Industry Ministry.
The U.S. report warned "the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating." See Verlaine's take on that point.
It recommended the U.S. reduce political, military or economic support for Iraq if the government in Baghdad cannot make substantial progress toward providing for its own security.
On the highly emotional issue of troop withdrawals, the commission warned against either a precipitous pullback or an open-ended commitment to a large deployment.
"Military priorities must change," the report said, toward a goal of training, equipping and advising Iraqi forces. "We should seek to complete the training and equipping mission by the end of the first quarter of 2008."
Saleh said the government agreed with the broad recommendations of the panel but acknowledged "there may be some details on which we differ." He did not elaborate.
Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Ramadi contributed to this report, even though he doesn't really exist.
#2
Either a statistical blip or it means we're out there kicking some butt.
No real way to know, unless by reading Centcom's releases (which I'm not, at least on a regular basis), because the msm certainly *won't* report the deathtoll of the other side...
#3
Al Qaida's attempt to reinforce the ISG report. We don't think these political games cost lives?
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2006 13:01
Comments ||
Top||
#4
There is a possible solution to much of the street-level violence. That is, since each household is permitted to possess an AK-47 for their families' protection, start a program to arm respectable people in positions of authority who are at risk with personal handguns.
That is, college professors and school teachers are much more likely to be victims than insurgents. But when some nutcase busts into their school waving his AK around, hoping to kill both teachers and students, a round through his forehead can put an end to his nonsense, even when fired by a literature teacher.
Since the vast majority of the problems happen in mixed neighborhoods, it should be easy to identify both the Sunni and the Shiite upstanding citizens.
And even if they are bad guys in disguise, just having a pistol won't do them any good. But defensively, especially when the bad guys don't know who is packing, a single pistol can be very effective.
While not a perfect solution, this would make the efforts of the bad guys much, much harder.
#5
Last night I attended the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund dinner at the Marine Memorial Hotel in San Francisco. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. There were many wounded Marines in attendance, most of them severely wounded.
To describe these men as heroes just doesn't carry enough weight. The courage and determination I saw on display was simply incredible. I was in awe. We owe them so very very much.
The Semper Fi Fund is a superb organization and I urge you to give them your support in any way possible. They really make a difference in the life of wounded Marines and their families. You can learn more about this wonderful organization at www.semperfifund.org
HT Jihad Watch. Many interesting, needed, basic fact about mainstream islam mentioned here
By Bat Yeor
With the passing of time, hidden challenges, which for a long time had been growing unnoticed and unaddressed, can suddenly emerge into the full-blown light of current events with a force which seems quite overwhelming. Today the Western world, or Judeo-Christian civilization, shaken by jihadist terror, is being rudely awakened to theological realities blurred for decades. From clashes of civilizations to the jihad that is declaring to the planet its genocidal intentions, rational discourse concerning faith is becoming increasingly fraught.
It is within this tumult and confusion that Mark Durie, an Anglican minister, has written Revelation? Do We Worship the Same God?, in which he raises a couple of fundamental questions: Who is God? Is God Allah? Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
To answer these questions, he analyzes Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God in Christianity and Islam. The reader is given a concise representation of Muslim and Christian arguments. Such an endeavor needs both solid scholarship and theological training. Mark Durie possesses both, being a theologian and a graduate in the language and culture of the Acehnese, a Muslim people from the north of Sumatra in Indonesia. In addition, the subjects he addresses, in the current context, request much intellectual integrity and courage.
But how to know the identity of God in the Koran and in the Bible? The author stresses that this profound and deep question requires engaging with the very essence of Gods identity. With perspicacity and great objectivity, Durie delineates the diverse aspects of his investigations, but he warns that his book should be seen only as guidance, and not the last word.
Duries questioning grows from the Korans statement that Jesus is a Muslim prophet, named Isa a prophet whose birth, life, teaching, and death are found to be totally at odds with the testimony of the Gospels and with Biblical theology. The Koran which for Muslims is the literal word of Allah that cannot be doubted affirms that Muhammads prophetic message is exactly the same as that expressed by the Torah and the Gospels. Since there are many contradictions between the Koran and the Bible, Muslim orthodoxy considers the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity as falsifications of the primal and unique Islamic revelation. It is this accusation that provided the doctrinal justification for the discriminatory legal status of Jews and Christians living under Islam.
In the first section, the author provides information about and reflections upon the Muslim Jesus (Isa). He stresses as fundamental the Korans teaching that Islam is the first, primordial religion, preceding Judaism and Christianity, which are dismissed as invalid traditions, being falsified versions of Islam. Because Christianity and Judaism are thought to be a corruption of the pure message of Islam, anything true in these religions comes from their Islamic roots. Consequently, to obey their true religion, Jews and Christians should revert to Islam and accept the prophethood of Muhammad. That's why muslims don't speak of conversion TO islam (or rather into), but of conversion BACK INTO islam.
This implies, writes Durie, that anyone who opposes Muhammad is not a true Christian, nor a true Jew. Seen in this light, the Koranic verses sympathetic to Jews and Christians refer to those who will see the light and find it to be Islam. If Islam recognizes only itself in Judaism and Christianity, one can wonder whether this replacement theology is not the negation of the very principle of recognition of other religions.
Many Christians profess that Christianity is closer to Islam than to Judaism, because of a common reverence of Jesus/Isa and his mother Mary. They will be astonished to learn from Durie that according to hadiths acts and sayings attributed to Muhammad, and endowed with theological and legislative authority Isa, the Muslim Jesus, will be the ultimate destroyer of Christianity. IIRC, He will return as a servant of the mahdi, wield the very own sword of old mo', destroy all crosses (IE abolish Christianity), kill all pigs, and abolish jyzia (by spreading islam all over the world).
For an interesting eschatological view, see : Will Islam Be Our Future A Study of Biblical and Islamic Eschatology
Durie examines the characters of Jesus and Isa, separated by six centuries; he compares their name and biographies and explains the differing understandings of the prophecy in the Bible and the Koran. While Christianity accepts Jewish Scriptures as the foundation of their belief and practice, and as an integral part of Christian ministry, read in churches around the world, Muslims disregard the Bible. They claim that it is Islam that is the common heritage of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and that Jews and Christians should work to recover this heritage. Durie comments that, in this process, the Islamization of Jesus and the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets destroys both Christianity and Judaism. But not only. Alexander the Great was muslim, for example, no, really.
The author analyses with great clarity and depth the fundamental principles of the two religions and, in a powerful chapter that raises essential questions, he discusses the concept of Abrahamic Faith that has become so fashionable today as a framework for dialogue. This definition, he points out, originates from the Koranic statement that Abraham was a Muslim prophet and from Islams core doctrine that Islam was the one revelation given to humanity by Allah through the Biblical figures and through Jesus. For Durie, the many Abrahamic Faith conferences throughout the world point to the Islamization of Christian understandings of interfaith dialogue.
Btw, the father of the "abrahamic religions" oeucumenical stuff was Louis Massignon, a french catholic, and also an homosexual fascinated by the virility of islam and its follower (kinda like Laurence of arabia, I guess).
How should Christians respond to this claim which is a fundamental point of Muslim doctrine? Durie develops several arguments based on a rational analysis of history and the texts.
In his conclusion, Durie writes that profound contrasts exist in Islam and Christianity in their understanding of the identity of God. These have far-reaching implications, affecting attitudes, ethics, and politics. The clarification of misunderstandings and false assumptions, masterly exposed by Durie, is a condition to open the way for more constructive dialogue.
Duries book could not have been more timely. He offers a well-balanced analysis, acknowledging the important similarities of the two faiths, without ever misrepresenting the real disagreements or ignoring the hard issues. In this time of globalization, when crucial challenges are emerging for the Wests post-Christian societies, Duries reflections provide essential and fundamental guidance that will enable Christians to engage in a dialogue based on truth.
This is all the more urgent now that the cultural jihad in the West is preventing the free expression of thought and belief, and is subverting the whole ethical foundation of Judeo-Christianity. A major threat to Europe's identity, abetted by its Enlightened Elites.
Bat Yeor is the author of studies on the conditions of Jews and Christians in the context of the jihad ideology and the sharia law. Recent books include: Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, both at Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
#7
USMC6743 - A local phenom (if you have a flexible imagination, lol) - it stands for the Army of Steves... we gots tons of 'em on the 'Burg, lol, so they've banded together and...
#8
Good point, .com. Fifty Hail Mary's, 200 push ups and a good ol' shattered glass milkshake for me!
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 14:39
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Glass milkshake?
Not my style, man. You can't rub some dirt on it and walk it off, y'know? I prefer a broken arm - make that a compound fracture - and diving into a pool of isopropyl alcohol.
Steve coulda done that, shaken it off, poured himself a two-finger jolt, fired up a $100 cigar, and discussed chess with Faye Dunaway.
#10
Very true, .com! I wonder if there's a Steve McQueen facts website out theres somewhere.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 14:51
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Very true, .com! I wonder if there's a Steve McQueen facts website out theres somewhere.
Some facts I know to be true : McQueen was a skilled racer (car and motorbike), and a real sharpshooter (the stockless sawed-off Winchester was his own idea, historically appropriate too, and he was able to shoot it as accurately and rapidly as "Josh Randall", no stunt double here)... and a very intense and economical actor, able to convey emotions without overdoing it.
"The Getaway" is my favorite McQueen part, btw, hard to top (Peckinpah + Steve).
#12
The Cooler King in the Great Escape - Steve was the man.
I thought Clooney was funny in O Brother. His other stuff is just tiresome. I remember he was actually in "the peacemaker" - not a bad mindless action flick w/Nicole Kidman, but as the lady said - what a pansy.
#16
hell, she could think I was a shitty kisser (which I prolly am) and tell all her skank friends about it if she let me grab that thing. It would be worth it just on GP alone when my buddies and I were high-fiving over it later at the slop-chute.
#2
JERUSALEM A high level U.S. commission's recommendations for an eventual withdrawal from Iraq and for dialogue with Iran and Syria proves "Islamic resistance" works and America will ultimately be defeated, according to senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WND.
The militants, from the largest Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, welcomed the policies outlined by the Iraq Study Group, which they claim recognizes Islam is the "new giant of the world."
The group is led by former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.
"The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad," said Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.
The Islamic Jihad terror group is responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel during the past two years.
According to Abu Abdullah, a senior leader of Hamas' so-called military wing, Baker's report is a victory for Islam brought about by "Allah and his angels."
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and AP
Hamas has recently prepared a list of leading Palestinians held in Israeli prisons that the organization will demand in a possible deal for the exchange of abducted Israel Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit.
So far, both sides have reached agreement through Egyptian mediation, over the framework of the deal; however they have not finalized the number and identities of the prisoners to be released.
Among those whose release Hamas intends to demand is Abbas Sayed, the mastermind of the massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya over Passover in 2002, in which 29 civilians were killed. That is, more than the *actual* number of civilians killed at quana (not the 80 claimed at first, but the mid-20 final number of burials).
The military censor allowed the release Wednesday of a report prepared by an IDF investigating team regarding the raid and abduction of two IDF reservists along the northern front by Hezbollah guerrillas in July. The report concluded, on the basis of physical evidence at the site of the attack, that Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were seriously injured during the attack.
According to the assessments made in the report, one of the two suffered critical injuries, although the report left the identity of the individual ambiguous.
At this time, Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations on the central details of the Shalit deal. Sources familiar with the developments say that if progress is achieved, it is likely that the first stage of the deal will take place in a few weeks.
Early Wednesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters negotiations for Shalit's freedom are "are in their final stage and waiting for Hamas approval" but added, "it seems that there other parties who are intervening against the interest of the Palestinian people." He did not elaborate.
The deal is intended to take place in three stages: In the first, Israel is expected to release about 400 prisoners!!!, among them women, minors and prisoners suffering from health problems. A short while later, or parallel to the initial release, Shalit would be released to Israel.
In the second stage, following the release of Shalit, another large group of Palestinian prisoner would be released. In the third stage, another group of prisoners, considered "heavy duty" figures, would be freed. These include senior members of terrorist organizations, including individuals with "blood on their hands."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has hinted recently that he would agree to the release of some prisoners who had been involved in attacks that claimed the lives of Israelis. Nonetheless, the identity of the prisoners who would be released is still unclear; there is some debate over the number and identity of the prisoners who would be freed.
For its part, Hamas is demanding that 400 prisoners be freed in the first part of the deal, and 500 each in the two subsequent parts of the exchange. Israel would like to limit that figure.
However, a senior Israeli source said this week that it is possible that Israel will agree to the release of as many as 1,000 Palestinians!!! Bis.
Palestinian sources told Haaretz yesterday that topping the list of those Hamas wants released, is Sheikh Hassan Yusef, among the leaders of the organization in the West Bank. Yusef, a resident of Bitunia, near Ramallah, was jailed for his membership in a terrorist organization.
Next in line is Sheikh Mohammed Jamal Natshe, from Hebron. He is also among the leaders of the Hamas political wing in the West Bank.
Also high on the Hamas list is Jamal Abu Hija, who headed the group in the Jenin region.
Another whose release Hamas will demand is Yahiye Sanuar, among the founders of Hamas and its special security arm, a resident of Khan Yunis, and brother of Mohammed Sanuar, considered to be one of the heads of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the military arm of the organization, and one of those believed to have been involved in the abduction of Gilad Shalit. Vertue Sin is its own reward. Sanuar has been in prison for nearly 20 years, having been sentenced for the murder of Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. He is not considered to have "bloodied his hands" in terrorism against Israelis.
Hundreds of people were left homeless today after a tornado ripped through residential streets in north London. Dave Bonner, of London Fire Brigade, said about 100 homes had been damaged in "freak weather", injuring six people in Kensal Rise.
Chamberlayne Road, one of the worst-affected areas, was cordoned off for safety checks after roofs were ripped off houses, trees were uprooted, walls collapsed and debris rained on parked cars. One man was taken to hospital with a head injury and five people were treated at the scene for minor injuries and shock.
Eyewitnesses told how the sky went dark and spoke of a terrifying column of debris sweeping through the area. They said the noise was like a jet airliner.
Video footage from a helicopter showed part of the side of a house had collapsed, partially covering a car parked outside. The footage on Sky News also pictured several houses which had lost roof tiles, including one where almost the entire roof had been peeled away.
#1
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said it was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, but the Birmingham tornado in 2005 ran into "tens of millions of pounds".
They have these things regularly over there, and still permit clay tile roofs? They have these things regularly and still think of tornados as a freak event? My goodness.
#8
My first house (a turn of the century fixer upper, upon which I first wielded a hammer and paint brush) had slate roofs, phil_b. Nasty buggers, especially three stories up. One of my cats used to love climbing out the attic window and wandering along the ridges of the top peak.
Radiation has been found at the British Embassy in Moscow, it emerged yesterday. On Monday, officials said a room there would be tested as a precaution after former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi went there to deny involvement in poisoning Alexander Litvinenko.
Mr Lugovoi and another Russian businessman reportedly met former spy Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, on November 1, the day he was apparently poisoned.
A spokesman said: 'A team of experts have concluded a precautionary check of the British Embassy.
'They have found no danger to public health. Small traces of radiation were found below levels that present a risk to health. The embassy is working as normal. There is no cause for concern.'
The development came as the Italian academic who met Mr Litvinenko on the day he was allegedly poisoned was discharged from hospital. Mario Scaramella had been treated at University College Hospital in London after testing positive for polonium 210 - the same radioactive toxin that is thought to have killed 43-year-old Mr Litvinenko. A hospital spokesman said Mr Scaramella had been discharged and was showing no symptoms of radiation poisoning.
#1
This almost sounds like disinformation. There is not only background radiation everywhere, but trace amounts of mildly radioactive things get everywhere.
It only matters when it is of the specific radioactive isotope. That means detecting radiation doesn't mean anything, unless it's a LOT of radiation, in which case the source is secondary. It means that a positive chemical test for that isotopic chemical is what matters.
Polonium is chemically similar to tellurium and bismuth.
#1
From the comments to the article at the link, a very good question:
Wait a minute. First the authorities say that Polonium-210 poses no threat to the public unless it's ingested. They also say that anyone coming into casual contact with Litvinenko is not at risk. And now, they can't let his body out in the open because of the health risk? Which is it?
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants are in their final stage, according to a newspaper report on Wednesday. Militants linked to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, crossed the Gaza border into Israel and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June.
"Negotiations on releasing him are in their final stage and waiting for Hamas' approval," the semi-official Al Gomhouria quoted Mubarak as telling newspaper editors accompanying him on a trip to Europe.
Egypt has made considerable efforts to resolve the crisis, Mubarak said. "But it seems that there other parties who are intervening against the interest of the Palestinian people," he said.
Mubarak did not say what other parties he was referring to but it appeared to be a reference to Syria, where Hamas' top leader Khaled Mashaal lives. He did not give additional details about the negotiations.
Sen. James M. Inhofe, in one of his final actions as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, yesterday held a hearing to investigate whether press accounts have "over-hyped" predictions of global warming. "The media often fails to distinguish between predictions and what is actually being observed on the Earth today," the Oklahoma Republican said. "Rather than focus on the hard science of global warming, the media has instead become advocates for hyping scientifically unfounded climate alarmism."
Mr. Inhofe will lose control of the environmental panel next month when Democrats assume the Senate majority, and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California will assume the gavel. She promises extensive hearings on global warming, and yesterday chastised Mr. Inhofe for scrutinizing global-warming coverage. "In a free society, in what is the greatest democracy in the world, I do not believe it is proper to put pressure on the media to please a particular Senate committee view, one way or the other," she said.
The two are polar opposites when it comes to climate change -- Mr. Inhofe has called global warming "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people," while Mrs. Boxer has advocated efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gases.
Mr. Inhofe, vilified by environmental groups for his position, said yesterday he fears "poorly conceived policy decisions may result from the media's over-hyped reporting."
The hearing was an opportunity for Mr. Inhofe to strike back at his critics, citing "overwhelmingly one-sided" reports on CBS, ABC and CNN and by Time, the Associated Press and Reuters. He accused reporters, including former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, of failing to interview climate-change skeptics, and of omitting scientific data that contradicts global-warming theories. He also said reporters are motivated by money, quoting a French geophysicist who says alarmism "has become a very lucrative business."
Dan Gainor, director of the Business and Media Institute, testified that 30 years ago reporters tried to convince the public "we would all freeze to death" in a predicted new ice age. "In more than 100 years, the major media have warned us of at least four separate climate cataclysms," he said, adding there is a "media obsession" with former Vice President Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
Australian climate-change researcher Robert M. Carter said the press employs "Frisbee science" that is "invariably alarmist in nature."
Naomi Oreskes, a professor of science studies at the University of California at San Diego, told the panel yesterday that while scientists still argue over the details, "there is a consensus" the climate is changing.
David Deming, a geologist at the University of Oklahoma, disagreed. "There is no sound scientific basis for predicting future climate change with any degree of certainty," he said. "It would be foolish to establish national energy policy on the basis of misinformation and irrational hysteria."
Mrs. Boxer cited comments from oil and bank executives who say global warming is a real occurrence, and promised Congress can "do what it takes to change course and protect the future for our children and grandchildren."
#1
The two are polar opposites when it comes to climate change -- Mr. Inhofe has called global warming "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people," while Mrs. Boxer has advocated efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gases.
Let me just say that one could believe global warming is the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people and still advocate significantly reducing greenhouse gases.
#2
IMO a perfect analogy for those insistently clinging to idea that global warming is a human-induced phenomenon:
From a classic Peanuts strip (sorry, couldn't find the actual strip):
[Linus and Lucy walking down the sidewalk notice an object on the ground]
Lucy: Well, look here. A big yellow butterfly. It's unusual to see one of those at THIS time of year, unless of course, it flew up from Brazil. I'll bet that's it. They DO that sometimes, you know. They fly up from Brazil.
Linus: [Bending down for a closer look] That's no butterfly! That's a potato chip.
Lucy: Well, I'll be. I wonder how a potato chip got all the way up here from Brazil!
#4
Global Warming results from the relentless dumbing down of the American Electorate and the destruction of the American educational system by leftists who have turned into a feel-good indoctrination system, not unlike madrassas.
#7
Yeah, "global warming" my left foot. I'ma lookin' forward to our lovely low of 17 degrees tonight here in Atlanta, with a high of 40 tomorrow.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 21:42
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Still trying to get the Giant Sun to surrender to tiny Earth > you know, the reason why the Sun is the one and only decadent Elitist while Earth is not an elitist [wannabe].
#3
I read an article last night describing how Hez has set up two searchlights in the square outside the Serail. They are used, of course, to intimidate the government. No doubt giant loudspeakers will soon be set up to play recordings of dying animals. Which reminds me: where's Janet Reno?
The Daily Star reported that Hez had a new cabinet all set to take office last week. That was a no-go. So Sunday should be interesting, otherwise Naz and his puppetmasters are going to look pretty foolish.
As things stand now, however, negotiating with Iran and Syria over the future of Iraq is about as promising a strategy for preventing more bloodshed as negotiating with Adolf Hitler over the future of Czechoslovakia was in 1938. There were eminent "realists" then too, many of whom were gung-ho for cutting a deal with the Fuehrer. As Neville Chamberlain set off on the diplomatic mission that would culminate in Munich, William Shirer recorded in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," Britain's poet laureate, John Masefield, composed a paean in his honor . When the negotiations were done and Czechoslovakia had been dismembered, the prime minister was hailed as a national hero. The Nobel Committee received not one, not two, but 10 nominations proposing Chamberlain for the 1939 peace prize.
Shortly after 9/11, President Bush famously declared that every nation "now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." At every step of the way, Iran and Syria have unambiguously been with the terrorists.
No regimes on earth have more to gain from an American defeat in Iraq than the theocracy in Iran and the Assad dictatorship in Syria. They have every incentive to aggravate the Iraqi turmoil that has so many Americans clamoring for withdrawal. "There is no evidence to support the assumption that Iran and Syria want a stable Iraq," writes Middle East Quarterly editor Michael Rubin, whose experience in the region runs deep. "Rather, all their actions show a desire to stymie the United States and destabilize their neighbor. More dangerous still . . . is the naive assumption that making concessions to terrorism or forcing others to do so brings peace rather than war."
The war against radical Islam, of which Iraq is but one front, cannot be won so long as regimes like those in Tehran and Damascus remain in power. They are as much our enemies today as the Nazi Reich was our enemy in an earlier era. Imploring Assad and Ahmadinejad for help in Iraq can only intensify the whiff of American retreat that is already in the air. The word for that isn't realism. It's surrender.
Sixty five years ago today, the US naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked. 2,388 US military personnel and civilians wre killed. This was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's response the next day (slightly EFL):
Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack...
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost...
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."
On September 11, 2001, Al-Queda operatives funded and trained by the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq highjacked four aircraft and attacked targets in New York City and Washington DC. 3,030 US military personnel and civilians were killed. This is part of Senator Arlen Specter's (R-PA) response on 5 Dec 2006:
"We have not been invaded..."
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/07/2006
08:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We have not been invaded" > thats right, invaders will called [US-based]UNO PEACEKEEPING FORCES, maybe UNIFUS??? Why do you think the RINO CINO Lefties is going hell-bent for the Cantonization=Enclavization of Amerika, while simul also dropping their traditional LIBERALIST, ANARCHIST, + ALTERNATIST, etc agendas in favor of "CONSERVATIVISM" [Stalinism], As said years ago on the Net, during the Clinton 90's, the so-called MSM WILL BE CALLING AND LABELING AMERICA AS SOVEREIGN, INDEPENDNET, AND A GREAT NATION/POWER, and doing so while America is de facto governed = dominated by OWG + Russo-China. THE US-GLOBALIST MSM WILL BE WILFULLY CALLING AMERICA THE USSA ALL THE WHILE ITS ACTUALLY THE WEAK, ANTI-SOVEREIGN AMERIKAN SSR. Thus, INVADING-OCCUPIER COMMIE AIRBORNE, etal. = UNO PEACEKEEPERS. They abuse and rape women as the UNO Units did in Africa - no reason for war, no reason to shoot back at UNO forces trying to help the divided, sectarianized Amer people engaged in massive national strifes, BLAME THE ELEMENT NOT THE ORGANIZATION/INTENTIONS, correct???
London, 7 Dec. (AKI) - Independent British broadcaster Channel 4 has selected a Zimbabwe-born niqab-wearing Muslim from the Midlands to deliver its alternative to the Queen's traditional Christmas Day message. Although the woman, whose name has been given as Khadija, has said she will be watching the British sovereign's annual broadcast on 25 December - as she always does - Channel 4's move is expected to reignite the veil controversy. The channel has also beeen accused of provocation by pitting Khadija against Elizabeth II - who is head of the Church of England.
Khadija's six-minute broadcast will air at exactly the same time as the Queen's - 3 pm GMT on 25 December. The alternative message comes at the end of a year that has seen a series of controversies over women wearing the niqab or eyes-only veil in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, as well as a recent dispute over flagship airline British Airways' attemtp to ban staff from displaying crucifixes.
The Independent quoted a Channel 4 spokesman as saying: "The right to wear religious symbols from niqabs to crucifixes, remarks made by the pope about Islam and the publication of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed have all generated a debated about multiculturalism, secularism and integration, a debate in which British Muslims have played a key role and one that will shape the future of British society."
"Therefore, we believed it was fitting this year the message shoudl be given by a British Muslim woman," the spokesman added.
Channel 4 chose Khadija after a month-long search among Muslim communities in the north of Britain and the Midlands. The network said it was releasing few details about the woman because she was reluctant to talk to the media ahead of her message. However a spokesman also said she is "articulate and interesting" while the Leeds-based production company, Chameleon, which found Khadija described her as "a feisty woman who will deliver a thought-provoking message." Her message - her first broadcasting experience - will be filmed over the next ten days at a number of locations in Britain, Chameleon said.
The channel said she was born in Zimbabwe, is a British citizen, is married and has been wearing the full niqab or the past 10 years. The Arabic word for 'full veil' - this covers everything but the eyes. She was cited by the Daily Mirror as saying she wears the niqab because it empowers women to be free of the pressures of fashion. She reportedly does not believe that wearing the niqab is divisive.
The decision to broadcast such a contentious alternative comes after several years during which Channel 4 has screened light-hearted messages in its address which has bee runing since 1993. Last year, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver featured in a spoof in which he pretended to cook junk food. Previous occupants of the coveted role have included the late gay icon Quentin Crisp, Ali G as played by Jewish commedian Sacha Baron Cohen, and parents of the murdered black schoolboy Stephen Lawrence.
#4
This is idiotic. There is no justification for stupidity like this.
Cultural jihad? IE impose the presence of islam as a fait accompli, and show assertiveness and defiance against the now obsolete "ancient order" (Britain as we know it, for now).
#6
Perhaps the Brits could contact the USN for a quickly scheduled demo of the EFA-18G Growler (Electric Lawn Dart) and they could also demonstrate the abilities of the ECM system to selectively jam discrete frequencies (oh, say Channel 4). Just a suggestion, since the EA-6B Prowlers do an awesome job now and again here at beautiful downtown NAS Whidbey.
#7
Imagine that. After each of Churchill's inspiring speeches having UK radios switch to some alternative Nazi "message"... I'm glad we're not at war with Islamofascism, otherwise I'd think the UK is lost.
Cairo, 7 Dec. (AKI) - A number of young Egyptian Jihadis fighting in Iraq took part in a September attack in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi in which American troops died, according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The paper cites the findings of an ongoing investigation by Egyptian security forces being carried out in Marsa Matrouh - a tourist location some 400 kilometres northwest of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, where the homegrown Jihadis are from.
The Egyptian authorities on Thursday deported eight French citizens and two Belgians suspected of belonging to a terror cell they smashed last week. Egyptian security forces are hunting five Egyptians alleged to belong to the cell. Two of them were identified by state media as Ramadan el Nagdi and Islam Sabri, both medical students at the al-Azhar Islamic University and originally from the Nile Delta area.
The cell allegedly had contacts with a Syrian suicide bomber who blew himself upon on 28 November on the border between Lebanon and Syria, according to the state media. The uncovering of the cell, which allegedly contained Western and Middle Eastern operatives, has highlighted the security issues Egypt faces. From Ayatollah, Inc., apparently
Most of the terror suspects arrested are aged between 20 and 30, had been living in Egypt for some time, and are students of Arabic or Islam.
Turkey has reportedly agreed to open one of its seaports and an airport to Greek Cypriot ships and planes in an effort to avoid the suspension of European Union accession talks. The EU has been threatening to put those talks on hold after Turkey failed to open its ports and airports to Cyprus whose Greek Cypriot government is not recognised by the Turkish government. Last week the European Commission recommended slowing down the entry process by freezing several negotiating chapters that states are required to complete before being able to join.
Ayatollahs health fails as Iran power struggle grows
by Michael Ledeen
Three days ago, Irans dictator, Supreme Leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei, was rushed to the vast medical facility traditionally known as Vanak hospital (it now has an Arabic name that means the 12th Imam Hospital), a 1,200-room facility that saves half of its beds for the leadership.
Khamenei is known to be suffering from cancer, and taking considerable quantities of an opium-based pain killer. He has lost more than 17 pounds in the past ten months, and was told last spring that he was unlikely to see another New Year (In the Iranian calendar, the New Year begins at the end of March).
Amidst maximum security, and under orders that the event be kept secret at all costs, the theocrat was placed in one of the luxurious suites reserved for the countrys most important figures. Khameneis blood pressure and pulse were alarmingly low, and his physicians at first feared some sort of hemorrhage. But they could find no trace of internal bleeding, and concluded that he had had some sort of cardiac crisis.
Khamenei is still undergoing tests and receiving maximum attention. It is clearly a serious problem because he wanted to leave the hospital, only to be talked out of it by the doctors. The precise gravity of his condition is not known, but the argument over the wisdom of moving him to his own home suggests it may be quite serious.
News of Khameneis heart problems, especially if they turn out to be life-threatening, would undoubtedly catalyze the battle at the highest levels of the regime to control the choice of his successor. Recent events document both the intensity and the violence of the power struggle.
On November 27th, a military aircraftan Antonov 74headed for a military site near Tabriz crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. Nearly forty deaths were reported, including several top leaders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, the countrys elite military organization. The dead included some of Khameneis closest allies and advisers, and their loss was a serious blow for him.
Most Iranianswho are in any case reluctant to believe in accidents when the mighty are killedare convinced the plane was sabotaged, especially as this is the latest in a sequence of spectacular airplane disasters, producing high-level military casualties.
#6
We are told ever so often that believing Muslims welcome death. They are said to love death as the decadent West loves life. Why then is so much effort put into keeping this Holy Man from his eternal reward?
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
12/07/2006 13:28
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Good riddance of the worst sort of rubbish. We should have helped this sick twisted maggot to his earthly reward a looooong time ago. These eldery hidebound Neanderthal fucks simply cannot die soon enough. That is a problem which will be addressed only when our government finally gets serious about winning the Global War on Terrorism.
If you should want to, you can donate to the Plains, GA graveyard site fund. Click on PayPal as you please. We don't wanna be too suspicious for the black helicopter/tin foil hat crowd, so we'll hold off on Kim Jong Ill for the time being.
From tuesday. Does it still count for TIOTD? You bet.
Both the driver and the front-seat passenger of the car were drunk far too drunk to drive. So it was quite sensible that they should stop, and let backseat passenger Te Aute Matuakore Collier take over instead.
Oh, except that Collier was blind.
29-year-old musician Collier who has only 5% vision Well, at least he's not deaf...
...was given directions on how to drive the car by his drunk fellow passenger. If that sounds like an entirely foolproof plan to you, then you'll probably be surprised to learn that they ended up driving into a wall.
As they headed to a supermarket in Hamilton, New Zealand, Collier missed the entrance to the store car park, instead taking out part of a retaining wall and a sign. When police arrived, he claimed that he'd merely been parking the car so that it didn't block the road.
In Hamilton District Court, Collier admitted a charge of reckless driving, and was banned from driving for two years. Which suggests, rather worryingly, that in two years time it'll be just fine for him to drive again.
#1
At the last place I worked a young man, who seemed fit enough, always managed to park close to the door in one of the handicapped spots. One day I asked someone why he had Colorado issued handicap plates on his car. "Oh, he is legally blind", I was told. Makes as much sense as baille instructions on the drive up service machines at the bank.
Posted by: DanNY ||
12/07/2006
06:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At the visitor center have the now unclassified message traffic from the Japanese west coast consulates on display reporting the successful recruiting of locals. Show the 1941 concentration of all of America's military aircraft production around the LA and Seattle area. Then post the wartime findings of the Supreme Court of the United States on the issue concerning the right of the government to act. We want the 'whole' truth don't we?
#2
If I remember my history correctly Italians and Germans were also under threat of internment if they didn't move into the US interior. Many moved or enlisted and avoided the internment problem associated with the Japanese.
And then there is the Japanese-American Go For Broke boys. Heros one and all. I'm amazed Hollywood hasn't remade the movie about them.
#3
Not worth remembering, apparently: Japanese mass rape-camps, Japanese bubonic plague attacks on China, Japanese babies-on-bayonet games in Nanjing, Japanese rape of nurses and patients at Hong Kong's central hospital, Japanese death marches, Japanese cannibalism of downed USAF pilots (including very nearly President GHW Bush), Japanese sexual-medical experimentation on Russian prisoners of war, etc. etc. etc.
#4
Was the decision of interning Japense-Americans justified yes, yes and yes
We have to remember that for instance, the outnumbered American fleet was able to crush the Japense at Midway only because the Japanese didn't knew the Ameicans were waiting for them. In fact Yamamoto's plan wasn't absurd but based on false premises: he had set submarines and seaplanes for watching American carriers but there were American ships watching the island who had been assigned as staging ground for the seaplanes so they wern't able to operate, for the submarines, when they arrived in front of the American ports the carriers had alrady sailed away. That is why the Japanse fleet was sccattered over thousands of miles with the battleships faaaar way from teh carriers and unable to use their Flak in their defence: because Yamamoto thought American carriers were still at Pearl Harbor. Now imagine that one, only one Japanese had been able tp warn his compatriots about the departure of the American carriers. The Japanse flet would have concentrated sdo the Dauntlesses who surprised and sunk four Japanese carriers would have had to meet the battleship's falk, would have failed and Midway would have been lost. End result would have been tens of thousands more Americans killed: not merely those of Hornet, Enetrprise and Yorktown but also those who would have died regaining the grouns seized by the Japanese after Americans' defeat.
You can discuss the conditionbs of internement of Japanse and Japanses Americans (BTW, infintely better than thnose of wresternbers who happenned to be in Japan or in lands she conqueered befi before Midway), but not about the de cison of interning them. Also if before teh war Japanese Americans had made it clear they were not Japanse but Americans: people who really meant what they were saying when they took the Oath of Citizenship "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen" then there would have been no need to intern them or at least they would have received better treatment.
#5
It's so easy to look back on any volatile part of history w/21st century eyes and a monday morning qb mentality. It's much harder to make the unpopular decision and do what's right for the country. Though I might get flamed for this - I don't have a problem w/what FDR did. He did what he had to for that period of time. Just like Lincoln 80 yrs prior.
A little piece of history worth noting methinks, pls take it fwiw: During WWII, at the same time FDR ordered the interment camps, several S.American countries had some significant Japanese immigrant populations. The history mentions that those countries shipping lanes took a bigger hit from Jap subs during the war than ever the Americans did, and there were more than a few sabotage operations carried out within their countries. There were no internment camps in S.America for newly arrived Japanese. Experts tend to agree that the local Japanese residents were spying on Brazilian and other S.American countries and relaying said info to Japanese imperial agents. I'd have to google for more details, but I remember some of this off the top of my head from an old article in some WWII mag. I thought it was interesting.
#6
I suggest we load three carriers with liberals and we send them for a reenactment of Midway except that this time thanks to a Japanese informant the Japanese know the Americans have sailed.
#7
The internment was right. So was using the atomic bomb on Japan. The Japs didn't fight like civilized Western countries and made no bones about it, therefore they had no claim to be treated like a civilized Western country. The thrice-damned idiots who keep spouting this PC nonsense deserve a year in a WWII Japanese-run prison camp like Changi. Once having seen and experienced a REAL prison camp, if they survived (and many wouldn't), I haven't the slightest doubt but that they'd emerge with a diametrically different outlook.
Posted by: mac ||
12/07/2006 17:27
Comments ||
Top||
Frankly, I still think a fully-functional, full-size ED209 would work even better, but that's just me.
A Doctor Who fan has made a Dalek he can sit inside, complete with voicebox, to scare away rowdy students from his street. It rasps: 'I don't like students. You will be exter- min-ated!' at passers-by.
Andrew Simpson, 22, who took eight months to make the Doctor Who creature at a cost of £1,000, claims his tactics have worked and the street is quieter. He said: 'We live right by the university and there's loads of them here but they're no match for the Dalek.' Who is? Or rather, Who is.
Mr Simpson, who has a TV and film memorabilia business, now plans to make it squirt water and smoke, and take it into the centre of his home city of York this time just as a bit of fun. 'The best bit is just sitting in it and waiting for someone to approach. When someone comes up to touch you shout Exterminate! and they jump out of their skin.' "Can't run much after them, though, especially if there's a stair involved."
#1
Mr Simpson, who has a TV and film memorabilia business, now plans to make it squirt water and smoke, and take it into the centre of his home city of York...
If he took it to New Orleans during Mardi Gras who'd notice?
#2
...Cue the complaints from Dalek advocacy groups in three, two, one....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/07/2006 8:55
Comments ||
Top||
#3
He had better be careful. One of the reasons the Daleks are still such good villains is that the people who own the copyright have for decades refused to allow anyone to make fun of their monster. And this was a damn good idea.
Even the BBC has gotten in trouble with them for trying to put a Dalek in a comedy review show.
But it was a wise decision to not allow "dilution" of their creation. So many monsters have been ruined that way.
Posted by: DanNY ||
12/07/2006
06:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yes, but we should also remember that Franklin Roosevelt would launch an unauthorized, unprovoked, surprise attack against the North African territories of neutral Vichy France many months later. No state of war existed between the US and France. No congressional authorization had been approved. In the great schemes of things, probably a very good strategic move on several levels, however, do note well how that fact is buried deep by the Donks and most histories. Their patron saint of the 20th Century did a far more unconstitutional act than anything BushHitler [sarcasm] stands accused of.
(moonbats)I'd also note that Roosevelt waged war against the Iraqis German (Nazis) too, even though they NEVER had attacked us at home. Also, remember that Israel Hawaii was NOT a U.S. State at the time, and some would say the Japs never even attacked "America." Finally, don't they know that the Japanese (Shinto), the Germans (Nazis), and the Italians (Fascists) would NEVER conspire together because their religion gov'ts are sooooo different. (/moonbats).
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 10:54
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Ahem.
Germany declared war on us (Dec 9, 1941). Anything we did to them after that was fair, and certainly not unprovoked.
They asked for it, they got it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006 11:11
Comments ||
Top||
#4
How many times have Islamists declared war [jihad] on us to date? I've lost count...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006 11:45
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I was watching a Pearl Harbor documentary last weekend and some of the scholars were actually apologetic about the brutal response to Japans attack and invasion of U.S. territory. Highlights (sic) included the firebombing of Tokyo, lack of prisoners taken, attacks on Japanese shipping, and nukes dropped on Japan. No mention of Japans peaceful acquisition of the Philippines, Indochina, and Manchuria. Apparently Roosevelt should have continued shipping Japan war supplies while they attacked our allies and friends.
#6
re: #3, I know Doc. I was just "channeling" a moonbat's logicthinking spewing.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 14:06
Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Torah! Torah! Torah!"
*snark* That's the funniest line I've seen in a long time! I love it!
Posted by: Dar ||
12/07/2006 14:17
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Yes they do apologize CS after years anti-American indoctrination in universities and colleges. Somehow they always skip over the fact that not only was Hawaii a territory of the United States, so was the Philippines. They also bury the butchery committed by the Imperial Japanese Forces upon those people. Never hear about the body count in the Philippines and Manila. They also skip over the fact that the Japanese government directed their civilian population to commit suicide rather than be captured at Saipan and Okinawa.
AL KISIK, Iraq The 3rd Iraqi Army Division ceremoniously took the lead here Monday in providing security for Iraqs people, becoming the seventh Iraqi Army division to assume control from coalition forces and the third division to now fall under the command and control of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command.
This is a proud day for us and for Iraq, said Maj. Gen. Khorsheed Saleem Hassan Muhammad al-Doskekey, the commander of the 3rd Iraqi Army Division. In front of hundreds of attendees who traveled from as far as Baghdad and Dahuk to attend the ceremony, the posting of the 3rd IA flag represented its full assumption as the lead for military forces in the region.
The Iraqi army and its brave soldiers have sacrificed immensely, said Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, Commander of Multi-National Division-North and 25th Infantry Division (Light). I am honored to have served with you over the last several months and I look forward to serving along side you in the future, said Mixon.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006
06:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It is essential that we break them of the bad habit of AWOL departures from their unit. The only way to do this is to set up a prison garrison, a military prison where soldiers who misbehave are sent for what amounts to re-education.
As harsh and anti-military a movie as it is, Sean Connery's "The Hill" is an excellent example of persuading wicked troops to behave themselves.
#2
Moose,
The reason they go awol is they don't get paid for months on end, plus Arab armies depend on the soldier's families for alot of the "logistical tail".
When you hear of US Training Teams spending much of their time getting the troops paid, clothed etc. it is to make sure they don't go AWOL.
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
12/07/2006 10:03
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Then arrest the Iraqis who keep the troops from being paid & send them to Abu Ghraib. Is it really that hard to fight corruption in Iraq?
SABA AL BOR, Iraq - Iraqi Police raided a home here Dec. 3 rescuing a woman and young child who were captured earlier in the week by alleged terrorists. Maybe they were just kidnappers? Sure could be.
The police received a tip from local citizens that led them to the kidnapped woman and child. The incident is still under investigation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006
06:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: DanNY ||
12/07/2006
06:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Israel and Palestine is an important issue. Sometimes it's used as an excuse to deal with underlying issues. But the reality here is that the Islamo-fundamentalist terrorists are at war with our way of life, with our modern world, with rights for women, religious freedom, societies that have religious freedom. And all of that would still exist, no matter what happens in Israel and Palestine."
Thank you, sir, for getting the team back on topic.
Giuliani v. Baker
New York Sun Editorial
December 7, 2006
Now that the Secretary of State Baker has made public his recommendations in respect of Iraq it's becoming clear why Mayor Giuliani quietly dropped off the commission not long after it got up and running. Our Eli Lake has particulars on page one. The nub of the advice from Mr. Baker and Lee Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana, and their colleagues is that America should cut and run. The "cut" part is that the commission wants America to cut a deal with Iraq's neighbors nearly every one of which is an enemy of America and the idea of a free Iraq and the "run" part is to pull our GIs out of the fight by the start of the election season in 2008.
The persons who speak on background for Mr. Giuliani, ever the graceful diplomat, stress that the former mayor really did sense that the commission was going to take too much of his time. In addition, he had concluded the commission was a place for retired politicians, not for those who could be running for president next year. Mr. Giuliani himself praised the report yesterday at a public appearance. But the way to translate Mr. Giuliani's action is that anyone who ran for president on a platform of retreat in the middle of a major world war couldn't get elected dog catcher.
Not that Mr. Giuliani was looking out for merely his own interests. He deserves great credit. The Baker commission has gone the wrong way on important matters of principle, something no doubt Mr. Giuliani spotted not long after he got horn-swoggled into joining the group. Not only does the commission recommend negotiations with the various Middle East tyrannies, but it wants to use as coin in these negotiations the security and even sovereignty of the state of Israel. Outsiders first got a glimpse of this last week in a story by our Mr. Lake, quoting an e-mail sent by one of the expert advisers to Mr. Baker's group.
The expert, Raymond Close, a former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, said he expected "any realistic chance of success" would depend on "a major initiative, promoted and vigorously supported by the United States, to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Israel-Arab crisis through a process of reasonable compromise and accommodation between Israel and its Arab neighbors." Wrote Mr. Close, according to Mr. Lake's report, "perhaps the US will have to put pressure on Israel to make territorial concessions in the Golan."
Mr. Lake's report, not to mention Mr. Close's expectation, proved all-too-accurate. Recommendation 16 of the Baker commission: "the Israelis should return the Golan Heights." How rewarding terrorism in Iraq with concessions of strategic land to the undemocratic, terrorist-hosting Baathist regime at Damascus is in America's national interest is beyond us. The report goes so far as to claim that Iraqi opposition to America "spiked in the aftermath of Israel's bombing campaign in Lebanon." Talk about a blame- Israel-first mentality.
Even for those who, unlike this newspaper, do not rank security of Israel as one, albeit only one, of the original war aims, the Baker commission report represents a triumph of Brent Scowcroft-ism of the kind that helped cost George H.W. Bush a second term in the White House. It would have us drop the ambition of regime change in the country, Iran, with one of the cruelest and most hostile regimes. And then to top it off Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want to to set milestones for Iraq's legislature.
Or, to put it another way, barely a year after the Iraqis gave the world an inspiring example of courage, with millions going to the polls in the face of enemy threats, Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want to tell the legislature the Iraqis elected what to do. Finally, Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want the formation of a broad-ranging "contact group" of Iraq's neighbors. We predict that will lead to peace talks with an enemy who doesn't want peace and just before the 2008 election a next-generation Henry Kissinger will come out before the cameras and declare "peace is at hand." Don't forget what happened next.
By our lights, though, the worst damage of the Baker commission's recommendations, if they are adopted, won't be to Israel or to the political hopes of American Republicans but to the cause of freedom and democracy around the world and the American national security on which it rests. The commission's message to our enemies and to our potential allies is that if enough Americans are killed, America's foreign policy elite will give up on its core values of freedom and democracy and return to the pre-September 11 mode of coddling Middle East dictators, putting oil and a façade of "stability" ahead of America's long-term security.
The list of those with whom the Baker commission consulted includes dozens of foreign ambassadors, former generals, and newspaper columnists, but not a single widow of a New York City firefighter. Mayor Giuliani spoke at the funerals of so many firefighters that it is understandable that he would not want to follow the Baker commission's recommendation to return to the approach that America pursued before September 11. And as he sets out in quest of the White House, he can be proud of the fact that he stepped down from the Baker commission before its report was written.
#5
" . . . the Baker commission report represents a triumph . . . that helped cost George H.W. Bush a second term in the White House"
" It would have us drop the ambition of regime change in the country, Iran, with one of the cruelest and most hostile regimes."
"And then to top it off Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want to to set milestones for Iraq's legislature . . . Or, to put it another way, barely a year after the Iraqis gave the world an inspiring example of courage, with millions going to the polls in the face of enemy threats, Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want to tell the legislature the Iraqis elected what to do."
Finally, Messrs. Baker and Hamilton want the formation of a broad-ranging "contact group" of Iraq's neighbors. We predict that will lead to peace talks with an enemy who doesn't want peace and just before the 2008 election a next-generation Henry Kissinger will come out before the cameras and declare "peace is at hand."
By our lights, though, the worst damage of the Baker commission's recommendations, if they are adopted, won't be to Israel or to the political hopes of American Republicans but to the cause of freedom and democracy around the world and the American national security on which it rests.
The commission's message to our enemies and to our potential allies is that if enough Americans are killed, America's foreign policy elite will give up on its core values of freedom and democracy and return to the pre-September 11 mode of:
1.) coddling Middle East dictators
2.) putting oil and a façade of "stability" ahead of America's long-term security."
And this is why the transnational "politicians" are so very, very dangerous. Their loyalties are to their business interests only. While we're all focused on the turban terrorists, the white-collar terrorists are having their way.
I feel sick.
Good for Giuliani for going his own way, but I doubt it will turn out in our favor. You've got Baker, a false report, the Dems and the Moslem leaders ganging up, all with the blessing and support of the press. It won't be long before nobody knows what's going on, and the only way out will seem to be to do what Baker is designing. He's way ahead of the game, and is playing everyone.
#8
ex-lib - There's more than one enemy - mebbe I shouldn't have said The Plan - it makes it sound like they're logical or something, lol. The alliance of convenience arrayed against Freedom doesn't include an American Great Satan Study Group, lol. Some are friskier than others. The "Immoderate" Muzzies can't help themselves, they're just bloody MoFo's. Osama hissownself said they need to do some serious killin', not just enslave us. Kimmie's got Little Man Syndrome... Hell, they all do, lol. Yeah - I think someone or other will get hinky and screw it up for the others.
#10
Yeah, I was thinking that, .com. Just cuz' some of the muzzies want to play the "cooperate and influence" game, doesn't mean some nut job of greater intensity wouldn't use the chance to do something big. Barring that, I still think it will be slow bleed. Of course, if we do get nuked, it could change the game, or it would just solidify our "relations" with the Middle East, as their leaders express their "sadness and regrets" as they laugh their way to the mosque.
#15
"The commission's message to our enemies and to our potential allies is that if enough Americans are killed, America's foreign policy elite will give up on its core values..."
...and go looking for a rationale for quitting.
"Enough Americans", in the case of Iraq, amounts to roughly the same number of Americans that were killed in recreational boating accidents during the same period.
And if THAT is all it takes to make us turn tail and skedaddle, God have mercy on us. Because the enemy sure won't.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/07/2006 18:09
Comments ||
Top||
#16
Mr Ship person -
Imr thinkin you maybe missed the "spirit" of my post-like thingy. Perhaps it wuz too je ne sais quoishy, n'est pas?
I always compare the # of killed to how many we lost in just a few hours on 9/11/2001. We just surpassed that # recently, and it took us OVER 5 years of active war, lookin' for the baddies to reach it.
Or compared another way...how many murders were there in D.C. and San Francisco during the same timeframe, speaking of quagmires!
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 22:12
Comments ||
Top||
(IsraelNN.com) Unnamed sources in the Islamist Hamas terror organization, currently holding power in the Palestinian Authority, said today that a Hamas delegation met with senior members of the American Democratic party. According to the Hamas sources, the meeting took place in a third party country that is unwilling to be identified at this stage.
Hamas spokespersons have said that the Democratic party victory in the recent US mid-term congressional elections indicate a change in the US policy towards the Hamas-led PA.
Seems like this should be bigger news than it is. Anyone seen any other references to this story anywhere?
Posted by: Mike ||
12/07/2006
06:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Swell. Mebbe Johnny-boy was there; he has experience with the North Vietnamese.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006 6:45
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Treason, pure and simple. The republicans should hammer on this like a railroad spike.
#4
I would like some actual names. Hamas doesn't strike me as particularly trustworthy... maybe they're just trying tspook the Administration into coughing up more concessions.
Or mebbe the Dims are slimy weasels, it's a tough call.
#6
This is not precedent setting. Think back just a few years ago, we had Donks jetting over to Iraq to cozy up to Saddam and tell him everything is going to be all right. We also had a couple of Donks run down to Nicaragua to let the Sandistas know they had friends in D.C. And if memory serves me right there was a Donk Delegation that visited East Germany just before the wall came down. WAIT I SEE A PATTERN HERE! Now that the Dhimis have visited Hamass it about time for them to go bye bye! Works for me.
#9
Mike, I saw it in yesterday's Seattle fish wrapper. Sorry cannot remember which one, but they all smell the same; and the fish oil only improves it.
O.K. So the headline's a tease. Big deal!
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq, Nov. 29, 2006 The new Iraqi air force have returned to the sky, performing a variety of missions throughout the country, thanks to training and support from U.S. and coalition advisors. At Kirkuk Regional Air Base, American advisors are helping Iraqi military members of Squadron 3 train for their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission.
"Our mission is to train, advise and assist ... See? They got right on the ISG plan. Before it was even released!
... the Iraqi air force unit at Kirkuk in the development and execution of all aspects of air power," said Lt. Col. Greg Zehner, senior advisor for the Coalition Air Force Military Transition Team. "This includes flight operations, aircraft maintenance, base operations support activities and basic levels of professional military education.
"We also work to develop and enhance a professional military ethic for all Iraqi air force personnel, from the youngest enlisted airman to the senior officers," he said.
The mission of Squadron 3, one of six squadrons in the Iraqi Air Force, is to perform ISR of the strategic infrastructure in northern Iraq -- flying over the oil pipelines, electrical power lines and other important facilities to monitor their condition and watch for insurgent activities. This is accomplished with the SAMA (Zenair) CH-2000 aircraft, a single-engine, two-passenger plane.
The squadron conducts a mix of training and operational missions -- training new members, getting them certified in the aircraft, and performing the reconnaissance mission with those pilots who are fully mission-capable. The responsibility of training and advising the Iraqi military members falls to a seven-person team. Their areas of expertise are spread across several specialties including operations, intelligence, maintenance, communications and supply.
"Our first big obstacle was getting the aircraft," said Maj. Jean Havens, director of operations. "Since they have arrived, we are moving forward with getting the Iraqis checked out on the aircraft." Flight training had been on hold due to the grounding of the CompAir 7SL, the unit's previous aircraft.
Havens, an instructor pilot deployed from Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., is responsible for advising her Iraqi counterparts on all aspects of the flying operations. She said she was excited about her assignment and the opportunity to be a part of helping the Iraqi air force become a self-sufficient organization. "The dream of any instructor is to see progress of a student," she said. "Serving as their instructor will probably be the highlight of my career." A woman instructor. Sweet.
Master Sgt. James Redmond, maintenance advisor, has the responsibility of instructing and advising the Iraqi airmen on how to keep their new aircraft flying. "We show them what has to be done and how to use technical data and proper safety procedures," he said. "Then they develop plans and techniques that will work for them."
He said his mission is to show the Iraqis how to make their air force better and to help them grow from lessons learned in the past. "The Iraqis are eager to learn, and they take pride in their work," Redmond said. "Once the maintenance is done, they will usually hang around and watch the launch of the aircraft they worked on."
Zehner said the most satisfying part of his mission is two-fold: "Doing our part to help the Iraqis transition to a functioning democratic government at peace within its borders and with its neighbors; and the personal relationships we have gained and expect to further develop in our daily interaction with our Iraqi counterparts."
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006
06:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
See? They got right on the ISG plan. Before it was even released!
DAMN, we're good...:)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/07/2006 8:34
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sure glad the Iwaki Surrender Goop report came out or these guys would be standing around watching paint dry. ISG = Cluster F#$%
P.S. I glad to see the Air Force is able to conduct operation since my retirement but it does kind of hurt my ego.
The two Israeli soldiers, whose capture by Hezbollah sparked a month-long war in Lebanon and Israel this summer, were badly wounded during the cross-border raid in which they were taken, Israeli broadcast media reported Wednesday. If they weren't when they were captured, they probably were within hours afterwards. These bloodthirsty maggots couldn't resist hurting those Israeli soldiers even if they knew how to build an atomic bomb.
The television stations quoted a report composed by the Israeli military, containing the conclusions of an investigation by medical, ammunition and other experts of the scene of the raid. According to the classified report, one of the soldiers was seriously injured and the other critically when Hezbollah militants crossed into northern Israel and attacked them as they patrolled the border with Lebanon.
The Israeli military would not confirm that the report described the conditions of the two soldiers as "serious" and "critical." A statement issued by the military said only that its working assumption was that the soldiers were still alive. "According to this assumption the IDF continues with its actions and efforts to return the soldiers home, as was done since the moment of the abduction," it said. Just make sure you get back some living, breathing soldiers before you release a single terrorist prisoner. The trade should be 'like-for-like' -- Hezbollah returns live prisoners, you release live prisoners. Hezbollah returns dead prisoners, you release dead prisoners.
Israel Channel One reported that the military allowed Israeli media to disclose the existence of the report Wednesday, two months after its completion, because of a slip of the tongue by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a questions and answers session with high school students earlier this week. Olmert had said that Israel would not release any Lebanese or Palestinian prisoners in return for "coffins," a statement which some interpreted as meaning the soldiers could be dead and led to widespread speculation about their condition.
The military experts reached their conclusions about the soldiers' injuries by investigating the wreck of their vehicle, which had been badly damaged by anti-tank rockets, as well as blood stains on the site. Their capture on July 12 prompted Israel to launch an offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the Shiite militant movement launched thousands of rockets into Israel. The fighting came to an end with a United Nations-brokered ceasefire on August 14. Israel is said to be conducting behind-the-scenes, indirect negotiations via a German mediator about a prisoners swap with Hezbollah.
Occupied Jerusalem: At least one of the Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah fighters in July could be dead, according to security sources. An Israeli investigation into evidence gathered from the border patrol which was ambushed said that the two soldiers taken were seriously injured in the skirmish. The report, which had been suppressed by Israeli military censors, said the pair would have needed urgent medical attention and that one was in a critical condition when taken away.
An Israeli security source said: "The amount of blood left behind and other indications such as the blast damage caused to the vehicles carrying the soldiers point to the fact that they were seriously wounded, with one left in critical condition. "The question remains whether Hezbollah was capable or willing to provide them with the necessary care while also trying to spirit them to a hiding place." Terrorists don't seem to be very big on first aid or triage.
The kidnapping incident sparked the month long attack on Lebanon which claimed more than 1,000 Lebanese lives. Too bad it wasn't 10,000.
Posted by: Jerry ||
12/07/2006
05:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why is it again that Israel doesn't have a death penalty?
#2
Why is it again that Israel doesn't have a death penalty?
'Cause if they did, the EU & the Tranzi's would say harsh things about them. Of course, short of Israeli mass suicide, they will never stop saying harsh things. Personally, I think the current Israeli leaders are insane and are dragging Israel to its demise.
Case of the Dwindling Docket Mystifies the Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 On the Supreme Courts color-coded master calendar, which was distributed months before the term began on the first Monday in October, Dec. 6 is marked in red to signify a day when the justices are scheduled to be on the bench, hearing arguments.
The courtroom, however, was empty on Wednesday, and for a simple reason: The court was out of cases. The question is, where have all the cases gone?
#1
constitutional law scholars "are kind of bored these days."
With the many, many challenges to First Amendment freedoms posed by Islamist infiltration and their useful idiots -- freedom of speech, of religion, of the press -- this breathtaking statement is testament to the astonishing complacency, ignorance, and ideological orthodoxy that has destroyed two generations of legal scholarship.
In any case, good. The Supreme Court has a lot of butting out to do. So long as they're more interested in importing foreign law into the Constitution than defending its timeless principles, the fewer cases they take on, the better.
#3
Maybe Congress could get a clue and go back to meeting two days a week, four months a year. We'd all save money.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006 11:12
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I've come to the conclusion that many in the U.S. truly do want the Supremes to butt out of making laws in this country. It really started prior to this, but Roe v. Wade (I know, expect the whirlwind here) pushed the activism full-tilt (note how the public STILL doesn't accept it as "settled case law" more than 30 years later). Add to that, the skyrocketing (attorney) costs to file lawsuits, and you could be seeing the effects of "litigation fatigue" in the courts. Of course, Congress slowing down the amount of new laws they push out helps.
I truly think the Michael Newdow case and the Kelo case have swayed public opinion against the Federal courts. And, I'm all for decreased "oversight" by the Supremes, except for maybe the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco (the most overturned Appeals Circuit by the Supremes in the nation).
Of course, just killing any enemies on the battlefield could take away the "Human Rights" groups last vestiages of cases before the Supremes. Of course, out of work nutty Judges and agenda-pushing attorneys is a feature, not a bug, in my book.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 11:26
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Waiting for a Dem prez to promote a justice from 9th circus court and start writing law again!
Duty on fuel and flights increases in campaign to cut emissions
Air passengers will pay an extra £1 billion a year in tax to help to pay for the environmental cost of their journeys, the Chancellor announced yesterday. Air passenger duty will double on bookings made from February 1, ending a five-year freeze. The rates for flights within Europe will rise from £5 to £10 for economy class and £10 to £20 for business class. On long-haul flights to destinations outside Europe, the tax will rise from £20 to £40 in economy and £40 to £80 in business and first class.
Mr Brown said that the increase would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aviation by 1.1 million tonnes a year. Motorists will pay the first increase in fuel duty for three years, up in line with inflation by 1.25p a litre from today, pushing the average price of petrol up to 88p a litre.
Mr Brown said that both tax increases were designed to reduce harmful emissions from transport, but the Treasury refused to give details of how they would affect demand for travel. Airlines and motoring groups said that the extra taxes were revenue-raising measures that would do little to reduce demand and have minimal impact on the environment.
#1
Q. How does increasing a Tax help?
A. It doesn't, if anything it makes it worse.
Taxation is redistribution. The money will be transferred to someone else, and without market pressure they will on average use the money less efficiently, and thus create MORE pollution.
#3
Are they going to use the funds to plant trees in an expanded Sherwood Forest? Perhaps replace the endless hectares of evergreens dying in the Schwarzwald from the effects of acid rain? How exactly will this surtax impact emissions? When we lived in Germany, the local branch of the American Women's Club purchased saplings, then spent a Saturday planting them out on a recently capped landfill, much to the shock of the neighbors -- nobody'd ever done such a thing before, apparently. I don't recall worrying about CO2-caused global warming then, but rather of food and shelter for wildlife and walks through the woods for the children.
#4
TW, I once lived in a very small village called Loxley (of Robin Hood fame) on the edge of the Pennine moors. In those days, Sherwood forest extended into the Pennine uplands.
#5
When did you live there, phil_b? When we drove through in 1987 or thereabouts, I was shocked by how small it was, although conceivably we only crossed a corner of it. But I remember being told, when we stopped at a pub for lunch, that a good deal of it had been sold off and cleared. Perhaps the time frame was "since the Middle Ages" rather than recently...
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Much like his bloody epic about the death of Christ, a new Mel Gibson production about the collapse of the Mayan civilization is angering members of the culture it depicts even before it hits the screen. The "Passion of Christ" was accused by some of being anti-Semitic -- long before Gibson's career-damaging outbursts against a Jewish policeman in Malibu this year.
Now indigenous activists in Guatemala, once home to a large part of the Mayan empire that built elaborate jungle cities in southern Mexico and northern Central America centuries ago, say his film "Apocalypto" is racist.
Gibson's representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Only trailers for "Apocalypto," which will be released on Friday, have been shown in Guatemala, but leaders say scenes of scary-looking Mayans with bone piercings and scarred faces hurling spears and sacrificing humans promote stereotypes about their culture. "Gibson replays, in glorious big budget Technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserved, in fact, needed, rescue," said Ignacio Ochoa, director of the Nahual Foundation that promotes Mayan culture.
At their height, the Maya built monumental cities in the Peten region of Guatemala, but the civilization went into decline after the 8th century, some say because of overuse of natural resources. The culture is not thought to have been as blood-thirsty as the neighboring Aztec empire, but some archeologists say human sacrifice was common in the final years before the Spanish conquest.
More than half of Guatemala's population is descended from the original Maya. They face frequent discrimination and most live in poverty with little access to education and social services.
Over 200,000 people, mostly Mayan, were killed during Guatemala's 36-year civil war that ended a decade ago. Some rights groups say the army tried to wipe out the Maya.
Lucio Yaxon, a 23-year-old Mayan human rights activist, said Apocalypto's heart-pounding trailer was unrealistic. "Basically the director is saying the Mayans are savages," said Yaxon, who speaks Kaqchikel, one of 22 Guatemalan Mayan languages, as well as Spanish.
But Richard Hansen, an archeologist who Gibson consulted on the making of the film, says the director took pains to ensure authenticity and historical accuracy.
The entire script is spoken in Yucatec Maya and the star is a Native American dancer named Rudy Youngblood. Gibson's use of indigenous actors has won praise from Latino and Native American groups in the United States.
"I am a little apprehensive about how the Maya themselves are going to perceive it," said Hansen, who directs an archeological project at the Mirador Basin in northern Guatemala, "but Gibson is trying to make a social statement."
Boy Scouts they weren't. Let them sink back into the muck of history if they prefer.
Well, welcome to the tribe buddy. We've been putting up with the same image assassination for a half century. To paraphrase a Greek moralist, it all depends upon who's ox is being gored doesn't it. Guess Hollywood is running out of the white European Nazis to flog as the boggy man in order to turn a profit.
So were my ancestors. Gettin' nekkid, painted blue and waving swords about does not sound civilized to me, and I wouldn't get all whiny if somebody made a movie about them.
In fact, it would be pretty cool.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/07/2006 9:26
Comments ||
Top||
#5
When I see the word "indigenous" in a story, I consider it my personal signal to move along, as I already know what will follow....
#11
I heard that he once portrayed the Scots as savages and the English and the Irish. Gosh I think that just about EVERY culture was savage at one time. Welcome to the savage world my mayan friends. If someone knows a culture that at one time didn't act savage please point them out to me.
#12
Except for that Revolution thingy, I wuz gonna say DA FRENCH, CS!
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 14:03
Comments ||
Top||
#13
I like to point out that the Conquistadores were mercenaries who had fought in some of the bloodiest, nastiest and most merciless combat Europe had seen for quite a while. But when they arrived in the new world, what they saw was so utterly horrifying, so unabashedly murderous, and carnage on such scale that the clear and unambiguous feeling among them was "This must be destroyed."
It is rare that a soldier sees something so repugnant, so evil, that they are willing to sacrifice their very lives so that it might be destroyed. But this was one of those times.
#14
Yer all amateur pikers. Oh, and all this land, all of it, belongs to me 'n my tribe. You can have the swampy bits of Der Nederlands and the crusty bits created by Kilaueia, that shit's new.
/Alley Oop
#15
I prefer to be called a noble savage, thank you very much. All kidding a side. Now-a-days everyone looks to be offended. These people have got to be running low on I.Q. - unless their still performing human sacrifices to Quatzylcatyl or whatever then the moccasin fits, either way they need to lighten up....it's called a period piece morons!
#16
I like to point out that the Conquistadores were mercenaries who had fought in some of the bloodiest, nastiest and most merciless combat Europe had seen for quite a while. But when they arrived in the new world, what they saw was so utterly horrifying, so unabashedly murderous, and carnage on such scale that the clear and unambiguous feeling among them was "This must be destroyed."
I do believe that at one point Cortez and his men had ~40,000 native soldiers from other city states who helped them against the Aztecs.
The Aztecs were not well liked by their neighbors.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/07/2006 15:15
Comments ||
Top||
U.S. offers N. Korea aid, with restrictions
WASHINGTON: The United States has offered a detailed package of economic and energy assistance in exchange for North Korea's giving up nuclear weapons and technology, according to American officials.
But the offer, made last week during two days of intense talks in Beijing, would hinge on North Korea's agreeing to begin dismantling some of the equipment it is using to expand its nuclear arsenal, even before returning to negotiations.
It is unclear whether North Korea will accept the offer, which is more specific - in both the details and the timing - than a vaguely worded statement of principles that the North signed in September 2005, a year before its first nuclear test.
The combination of incentives and demands was the focal point of three- way meetings on Nov. 28 and 29 involving Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill; North Korea's vice foreign minister, Kim Kye Gwan; and Chinese officials at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in Beijing. The incentives offered by the United States include food aid from the United States, Japan and South Korea, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
#7
Please, please, please let it be an exploding carrot a la Bugs Bunny.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/07/2006 17:06
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Let's quit all this foolishness and cut directly to the chase. Offer him five AIDS-infected African hookers. I'm sure he'll grab the deal.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2006 19:15
Comments ||
Top||
#9
#2: Looks pretty clean for a machine shop, lol. A "potempkin" machine shop?
Ummm, No, Seems normal to me.
If the Pres was going to visit Our Machine Shop, the floor and machines would be so clean. I'll bet you could eat off them.
Plus no real work would be going on until he left, no shavings, no noise.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/07/2006 19:49
Comments ||
Top||
Gitmo Detainees Plied With Movies, Fast Food by Interrogators
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba Interrogators can still collect useful information from Guantanamo Bay detainees, sometimes enticing them with fast food, movies and other privileges denied to the general prison population, the camp's top intelligence official said.
Interrogators seek to develop a rapport with detainees, most held at the prison for nearly five years without charges, as they try to uncover information about international terrorism, Paul Rester, director of the Joint Intelligence Group at Guantanamo Bay, said Tuesday.
Rester, who led interrogations at the prison in 2002 and returned last year to the base in southeast Cuba, said abusive techniques were not common practice. "We know what the exceptions were, they're out there in the public domain, but as a rule there was never a whole lot of aggressive interrogation," he said in an interview at the base.
The U.S. says it now holds about 430 men on suspicion of links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban at Guantanamo Bay. Many prisoners have alleged through lawyers or to military review panels that they have been abused in American custody. In the most recent allegation made public, a Marine paralegal said in October that she heard several guards at the base say they routinely hit detainees. The U.S. Southern Command, which oversees Guantanamo, is investigating the report.
Last year, military investigators, responding to complaints made by FBI agents assigned to Guantanamo, found that a detainee had been threatened with dogs, kept in solitary confinement for 160 days, and interrogated for 18 to 20 hours a day for 48 out of 54 days. The detainee, suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, was forced to wear a bra, ordered to dance with an interrogator and subjected to other forms of humiliation, investigators found. Rester told The Associated Press that the treatment of the detainee was an "anomaly."
Lawyers for detainees who have occasional access to their clients to discuss legal strategy have also disputed whether prisoners can still provide valuable intelligence, saying it is simply a justification to continue holding them. "It is not true that the government is getting useful information from the detainees in Guantanamo," said Mark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey who represents two Tunisians at Guantanamo.
Rester said the military allows detainees to skip scheduled interrogation sessions and as many as five opt out on a typical day. Those who participate have the incentive of getting to leave their cells, where most detainees held at Guantanamo are confined for up to 22 hours a day, he said.
Those who cooperate have been allowed to eat sandwiches from a Subway restaurant on the base and watch movies and soccer games in the interrogation rooms. While detainees are typically allowed to keep only one book a week from the prison library, a letter from their interrogator can qualify them for a second, he said.
About one-third of the detainees are still interrogated, he said, and still offer details about the structure of terror networks and the terrain of countries where they operate. "What we confront is human and it's dynamic, and knowledge does not in fact perish with time," he said. "The immediate knowledge begins to fade over time but associations and geography do not."
Rester, who began a career in military intelligence as an Army interrogator in Vietnam in 1971, said his experience has demonstrated that conversational questioning is the most effective method. "There has been an effort from the very beginning to develop respect because your enemy's truth is not your truth, so you have to find a middle ground if you're going to have a long-term verbal relationship," he said.
#4
Last year, military investigators, responding to complaints made by FBI agents assigned to Guantanamo, found that a detainee had been threatened with dogs, kept in solitary confinement for 160 days...
The FBI had no problem holding Wen Ho Lee in solitary for nine months. Guess its ok when they do it and Billy Boy was the CinC.
#5
most held at the prison for nearly five years without charges
Technically, being an unlawful enemy combatant is a species of charge against them. It's not a criminal charge, but then they're not mere criminals.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
12/07/2006 13:04
Comments ||
Top||
#6
It's been found that certain viruses can cause profound obesity in humans, even if the victims have a low-calorie diet. If they have a high calorie diet already, well, they just balloon up.
#7
Those who cooperate have been allowed to eat sandwiches from a Subway restaurant on the base and watch movies and soccer games in the interrogation rooms. While detainees are typically allowed to keep only one book a week from the prison library, a letter from their interrogator can qualify them for a second, he said.
Nothing described here is any worse than a bad night of fraternity hazing at your local college campus. But, I noted the quote above, and wondered....maybe these guys aren't hardcore really. How many can read, much less need a 2nd book. I mean, what other book do you need besides the KO-ran, right? /sarc
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 15:00
Comments ||
Top||
#10
I don't see any illegal activity anywhere in this article. I've suffered worse "abuses" in training, and on more than one occasion. Wonder what these guys would say to marching in 20-degree weather for three or four hours, back and forth on a windswept parade ground. Sounds like we're holding a bunch of wimps to me.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2006 16:20
Comments ||
Top||
#11
most held at the prison for nearly five years without charges
Moroccan draftees captured by algeria were held in dire secret underground or desert prison camps, without any kind of communication with the outside world, for more than 25 years (the last ones were released between 2002-2004 IIRC). They were mistreated, undernurished, were used as forced blood donors, chained day and night,...
There was NO international, and even less muslim, outcry about this. Compare to gitmo-the-gulag-of-our-times thingie.
And I won't even mention the french civilians made prisoner made AFTER the "independence" war has ended, with the women sent to brothels, and the men literally enslaved to work in mines.
There literally are two kinds of humans beings : the Good ones, as decreted by the Forces of Progress, and the others, who just don't matter. Not a new feature, that was already the case with the Ukrainian famine, and hasn't changed a bit since.
SEATTLE (AP) - An Algerian convicted of plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport at the turn of the millennium has written a letter to the judge who sentenced him to 22 years in prison and his lawyers fear it could hurt his chances of winning an appeal.
Few details were provided in court filings this week about the letter, written in Arabic by Ahmed Ressam. The filings indicate U.S. District Judge John Coughenour had it translated and placed it under seal but the judge's office refused to say Wednesday whether he had read it. Its content was not disclosed.
Ressam's lawyers have asked Coughenour not to read it, for fear of tainting the case. Let him rassle the bear. If he wins, he gets to swap places with these rascal lawyers.
- Judge Bean
Ressam and federal prosecutors have appealed aspects of his 2005 sentence to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has indicated it may send the case back to Coughenour. Prosecutors said 22 years was too lenient a punishment.
Ressam was convicted in 2001 of terrorism and explosives charges for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. Customs agents in Port Angeles, Wash., caught him with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999, a scare that prompted cancellation of millennium celebrations at Seattle's Space Needle.
One of Ressam's lawyers, Thomas Hillier, declined to say Wednesday how he learned of the letter. "Mr. Ressam is not a citizen of this country, does not speak our language and has suffered difficult confinement for a substantial period of time," Hillier wrote in court documents. "His letter may have been sent without fully appreciating the inappropriateness of contacting the court ex parte. The government has no right to take advantage of Mr. Ressam without the shield of counsel."
Ressam started co-operating with authorities after his conviction, which helped win him a lesser sentence. But he eventually stopped co-operating, infuriating prosecutors who then had to drop charges against two suspected co-conspirators.
Federal prosecutors argued in documents filed Tuesday that the judge should be allowed to read the letter because it might say Ressam wants new lawyers or wishes to resume co-operating. "It is for Mr. Ressam to determine whether he wishes to file a matter with the court or whether he wishes to withdraw it, not counsel on his behalf," prosecutors wrote.
#1
"Mr. Ressam is not a citizen of this country, does not speak our language and has suffered difficult confinement for a substantial period of time." Ummm CY ME A FRIGGIN RIVER!
Al Qaeda may not have carried out any major attack on the West in 2006, but the next one is only a matter of time and Osama bin Laden and his followers enter 2007 stronger than ever, experts believe.
Al Qaeda and its allies are winning the larger conflict and recent events indicate the continued vitality of Al Qaeda and the jihadi movement, warned Michael Scheuer, former head of the bin Laden Unit at the CIAs Counterterrorist Centre.
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of the Britains MI5 domestic intelligence agency, summed up the scale of the British governments task in November when she said that five major conspiracies in the UK had been halted since mid-2005. Today we see the use of home-made improvised explosive devices; tomorrows threat may include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology.
For the former top CIA official Scheuer, Al Qaeda and other groups have never been stronger. Alongside events in Britain, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the September suicide attacks on two Western oil companies, in Afghanistan the pace of the Taliban-led insurgency continues to accelerate, and in Iraq the groups head has reasserted his support for the leader of the Iraqi resistance, Scheuer noted.
And it is with Afghanistan and with neighbouring northwest Pakistan that many of these plots are inextricably linked, since many of those planning attacks in the West receive training and combat practice from Al Qeada in these countries.
A top Pakistani security source told AFP on condition of anonymity in August that authorities had captured entire groups of militants planning attacks but that most of those seized go on to reappear in other groups, more determined and more dangerous.
For most Western experts Al Qaeda represents a double-edged danger in the coming years: the old guard and new converts throughout the world, alienated in their home countries, indoctrinated via the Internet and inspired by Western setbacks in Afganistan and Iraq.
And for Scheuer, the possible beginning of a phased withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq would allow bin Laden to score, in the perception of most Muslims, an unprecedented hat-trick of successes. US troops going home would allow the redeployment of many Iraq-based foreign fighters to Europe, the Arabian peninsula, other Middle East areas and the Horn of Africa, Scheuer believes, and would dramatically increase bin Ladens status as a leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"the next one is only a matter of time "
And when it happens, the will be angrily blaming Bush (and Blair) for it, rather than Al Qaeda. And they certainly won't be looking in the mirror to find the enablers.
#2
Michael Scheuer is promoting the growth of terrorism because it covers the utter lack of success under his watch. If terrorists are growing stronger now, it cannot be his, and his friends' faults.
al Qaeda, at its best, was a loose network of cells based out of Afghanistan. At this time, most of the operational leadership is dead or in captivity, and most of the original foot soldiers are dead. Some of the wacky estimates of al Qaeda's original size would have made Afghanistan the tourist capital of South Asia. Not true.
The Scheuerites have redefined Islamic terrorism from the definition they used when they could have done something about it. Now Hamas and Hezb. are Islamic terrorists. Ten years ago everyone went out of their way to deny that at State and the CIA.
#3
Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims to be doing the bulk of the fighting. And forget Shiite friendly Syria as financiers. The Sunnis are being paid by members of the Saud royal family. That is: there has been no change in Saudi support for terror. The Sauds finally won their campaign to control al-Qaeda.
I have checked out some of the combat claims made on al-Qaeda in Iraq's website. Some check out. I have cause to believe that most sniper murders against US troops, are being done by al-Qaeda. That is one reason why I am surprised that the US is brokering peace negotiations in Jordan, in which al-Qaeda is a party (albeit in another name). Check out al-Qaeda's Shura Council reports:
http://press-release.blogspot.com/
For those who don't know, "Dajjal Army"(Army of the Anti-Christ) refers to al-Sadr's "Mahdi Army." And you know what they mean by "Crusader." "Lions of Islam" are the suicide murderers.
Three parallel investigations into the removal of six imams from a US Airways flight last month have so far concluded that the airline acted properly, that the imams' claims they were merely praying and their eviction was racially inspired are without foundation.
An internal investigation by the airline found that air and ground crews "acted correctly" when they requested that the Muslim men be removed from a Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight on Nov. 20. "We believe the ground crew and employees acted correctly and did what they are supposed to do," US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader said.
Omar Shahin -- one of the imams and the group's spokesman -- said the men did not behave out of the ordinary while on the plane, and that passengers overreacted because some of the imams conducted prayers in the concourse before boarding.
US Airways' investigation is "substantially complete" but Miss Rader said airline officials still want to meet with the imams to review the situation. "We're looking at it as a security issue and as a customer-service issue and where we might need to do outreach," she said. Airline officials have had several discussions with Mr. Shahin, but a meeting scheduled for Monday with all six men was canceled at the imams' request. "We talked with crew members and passengers and those on the ground. We've done what we typically do in a situation where there is a removal or some kind of customer service at issue," Miss Rader said. "We found out the facts are substantially the same, and the imams were detained because of the concerns crew members had based on the behavior they observed, and from reports by the customers."
The Minneapolis airport police department's report on the incident said the imams' behavior warranted their removal. The imams were not accused of breaking any laws.
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is reviewing the actions of department members who were involved in the incident.
Secret Service agents questioned the imams, who are accused of making negative comments about President Bush and the Iraq war. Officials of the Transportation Security Administration were involved in screening the imams and their baggage.
"There is no indication there is any inappropriate activity, at least no indication at this time," DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said. "To my knowledge, we are only doing a review, and that is a fairly routine practice with incidents like this."
The Air Carrier Security Committee of the Air Line Pilots Association investigated the incident and said, "The crew's actions were strictly in compliance with procedures and demonstrated overall good judgment in the care and concern for their passengers, fellow crew members, and the company. The decisions made by all the parties were made as a result of the behavior of the passengers and not as a result of their ethnicity," the report concluded.
The suspicious behavior cited in the report included "changing seats, stating anti-war, anti U.S.-Iraq involvement, negative comments concerning the president of the United States." The report noted that "two of the passengers requesting seat-belt extensions when their body size did not appear to warrant their use."
Mr. Shahin told television reporters that he needed the seat-belt extension because he weighs 280 pounds. However, the police report lists his weight as 201 pounds. Weights listed for the other imams ranged from 170 pounds to 250 pounds.
The imams have retained the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as their legal counsel. CAIR officials said yesterday that initial claims by the airline contradict the official police report. "The imams are obviously concerned about a number of false and distorted representation of the facts and events, and one example is initial reports that all suggested they refused to get off the plane when personnel asked them to, and the police report said they all got off and cooperated," a CAIR spokesman said.
#1
I hope each and every one of these bastards now has every aspect of their waking life under intense scrutiny by investigative agencies. The number of connections between these maggots and 9-11, not to mention other significant terrorist threats, are far too striking to be coincidence.
#2
said the men did not behave out of the ordinary while on the plane
So what would unordinary look like? Scary thought.
Mr. Shahin told television reporters that he needed the seat-belt extension because he weighs 280 pounds. However, the police report lists his weight as 201 pounds.
Taquiyya should be a bit more subtle than that, don't you think?
In any case, if he had to lie to support a point, then he knew it was wrong.
#3
I hope this incident plants the seed in American minds that the only safe travel in US involves barring Muzzies. Let the stinking bastards walk. It's not their right to disrupt anything. It's our right to travel safely all the time.
#5
This is just the engineer in me....listen, I'm an admittedly overweight couch potato. I used to weigh around 240 or so (I have started trying to lose weight), but even in coach class, I never came CLOSE to needing a seatbelt extender, even at 240+. Some reports I've read stated that 3 of the imams asked for the extenders, and when the HEAVIEST of them is about my size, that ALONE should've warranted questioning.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 11:45
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The next time they're thrown off the plane, make sure it's in flight...
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm Robert Gates as defense secretary, with members of both parties strongly backing him as the man who will replace Donald H. Rumsfeld and help overhaul President George W. Bush's war policies in Iraq.
The 95-2 vote to approve Gates, coupled with Wednesdsay's release of an independent study lambasting Bush's approach to the costly conflict, added pressure on the president to rethink US strategy in Iraq.
Gates said this week that he does not think the United States is winning that war and conceded that all options to overhaul the administration's approach must remain on the table.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Gates' swift approval contrasted with his experience 15 years ago when he was picked to head the CIA.
In 1991, 31 Democrats voted against confirming Gates, citing charges he had pressured intelligence analysts to develop conclusions that fit President Reagan's policies and turned a blind eye to the Iran-Contra scandal when arms were sold to the Iranians and the cash used to supply the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
But now...HE'S SEEN THE LIGHT!!!
Welcome! Welcome, Brother Gates!!
The White House has been examining a proposal by James Baker to launch a Middle East peace effort without Israel.
The peace effort would begin with a U.S.-organized conference, dubbed Madrid-2, and contain such U.S. adversaries as Iran and Syria. Officials said Madrid-2 would be promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq's future, but actually focus on Arab demands for Israel to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 war. They said Israel would not be invited to the conference.
As Baker sees this, the conference would provide a unique opportunity for the United States to strike a deal without Jewish pressure, an official said. This has become the most hottest proposal examined by the foreign policy people over the last month. Because it's just Jewish pressure that keeps us from kittens and fluffy bunnies in the Middle East. Always has been. Those pesky Joooz insist on not being murdered.
Officials said Mr. Baker's proposal, reflected in the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, has been supported by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. The most controversial element in the proposal, they said, was Mr. Baker's recommendation for the United States to woo Iran and Syria.
Here is Syria, which is clearly putting pressure on the Lebanese democracy, is a supporter of terror, is both provisioning and supporting Hezbollah and facilitating Iran in its efforts to support Hezbollah, is supporting the activities of Hamas," National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told a briefing last week. "This is not a Syria that is on an agenda to bring peace and stability to the region." Mr. Hadley reads Rantburg; Sec. Rice clearly does not. How in the world would anyone, anyone expect Syria to have a positive role in either Iraq or with Israel? They're presently engulfing Lebanon -- again -- and murdering political opponents there. They're destabilizing Iraq. They're meddling with Jordan. They're in a lip-lock with Iran. Baby Assad is the offspring of Daddy Assad who whacked many ten thousands of his own citizens, and Baby maintains the totalitarian police state because if he doesn't, he'll be swinging from a lamppost ala Mussolini (an apt comparison). Just exactly how does one see him and Syria as a 'partner in peace'?
Officials said the Baker proposal to exclude Israel from a Middle East peace conference garnered support in the wake of Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 25. They said Mr. Cheney spent most of his meetings listening to Saudi warnings that Israel, rather than Iran, is the leading cause of instability in the Middle East. Yup, it's the evil Jooooz who keep trying to defend themselves rather than an aggressive Iran that's enriching uranium, building missiles and exporting terrorism.
He [Cheney] didn't even get the opportunity to seriously discuss the purpose of his visitthat the Saudis help the Iraqi government and persuade the Sunnis to stop their attacks, another official familiar with Mr. Cheneys visit said. Instead, the Saudis kept saying that they wanted a U.S. initiative to stop the Israelis attack in Gaza and Cheney just agreed. Because all the attacks on Gaza are unprovoked, e'one knows that. Other than those Qazzam rockets. And the hard boyz slipping across the border to cut throats. And the splodydopes.
Under the Baker proposal, the Bush administration would arrange a Middle East conference that would discuss the future of Iraq and other Middle East issues. Officials said the conference would seek to win Arab support on Iraq in exchange for a U.S. pledge to renew efforts to press Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Golan Heights. And that in turn means we have to order the Israelis, on pain of their $3 billion military aid a year, to move out of those areas even if it makes no sense whatsoever.
Baker sees his plan as containing something for everybody, except perhaps the Israelis, the official said. The Syrians would get back the Golan, the Iranians would get U.S. recognition and the Saudis would regain their influence, particularly with the Palestinians. And who cares about the Israelis anyway?
Officials said Mr. Baker's influence within the administration and the Republican Partys leadership stems from support by the president's father as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Throughout the current Bush administration, such senior officials as Mr. Hadley and Ms. Rice were said to have been consulting with Brent Scowcroft, the former president's national security advisor, regarded as close to Mr. Baker. Everybody has fallen in line, the official said. Bush is not in the daily loop. He is shocked by the elections and he's hoping for a miracle on Iraq. I doubt that seriously -- Bush is not shocked. He's a superb politican; he saw what was coming even as he worked to head it off. And while a miracle would be nice, he's not going to give away the store to get one.
For his part, Mr. Bush has expressed unease in negotiating with Iran. At a Nov. 30 news conference in Amman, Jordan, the president cited Iran's interference in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. We respect their heritage, we respect their history, we respect their traditions, Mr. Bush said. I just have a problem with a government that is isolating its people, denying its people benefits that could be had from engagement with the world. That was the polite way of saying it. The impolite way is to note that the Mad Mullahs are everything we've said they are here on the Burg.
Mr. Baker's recommendation to woo Iran and Syria has also received support from some in the conservative wing of the GOP. Over the last week, former and current Republican leaders in Congressconvinced of the need for a U.S. withdrawal before the 2008 presidential electionshave called for Iranian and Syrian participation in an effort to stabilize Iraq. I would look at an entirely new strategy, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said. We have clearly failed in the last three years to achieve the kind of outcome we want. It's too bad that Newt the visionary has become Newt the political schemer. He'd sacrifice the essence of the Bush policy -- that 'stability' is a failed model and what's essential is to remove the thugs and provide hope for people -- in return for an election.
In contrast, Defense Department officials have warned against granting a role to Iran and Syria at Israel's expense. They said such a strategy would also end up undermining Arab allies of the United States such as Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.
Because they'll see quickly that, if we sacrifice Iraq and Israel -- especially Israel -- that we won't stand by them in any emergency. The regional strategy is a euphemism for throwing Free Iraq to the wolves in its neighborhood: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, said the Center for Security Policy, regarded as being close to the Pentagon. If the Baker regional strategy is adopted, we will prove to all the world that it is better to be America's enemy than its friend. Jim Baker's hostility towards the Jews is a matter of record and has endeared him to Israel's foes in the region. There's a clear understanding.
But Defense Secretary-designate Robert Gates, a former colleague of Mr. Baker on the Iraq Study Group, has expressed support for U.S. negotiations with Iran and Syria. In response to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which begins confirmation hearings this week, Mr. Gates compared the two U.S. adversaries to the Soviet Union.
Even in the worst days of the Cold War, the U.S. maintained a dialogue with the Soviet Union and China, and I believe those channels of communication helped us manage many potentially difficult situations, Mr. Gates said. Our engagement with Syria need not be unilateral. It could, for instance, take the form of Syrian participation in a regional conference. We never got anywhere rewarding the old Soviet Union for their bad behavior. Reagan didn't reward them; he challenged them and they collapsed. We won't get anywhere rewarding Syria or Iran for their bad behavior. We need the Reagan approach. That's the lessson.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Mr. Baker managed to slide in a reference to the so-called "Palestinian Right of Return" as well. link. Thank goodness I'll never be in a position to refuse to invite him to my home.
#2
I want Mr Baker a private citizen just like me, to STFU and sit down, he is a leading surrenderist and part of the SOS. He needs to be back retired and out of the public lime light.
Israel is not the problem. This Arabist asshole Baker will never see that. Perhaps he thinks a cake will sooth Amanutjob? Ossama?
#3
BAKER + HAMILTON have already said on FOX that they expect nothing new from Iran or Syria, even iff rhetoric or proposals to contrary. They don't expect Iran or Syria to substantively abide by any peace initiatives. IOW, a "peace conference" would only be "going thru the Motions" with no one expecting anything to change or be resolved.
#5
As Baker sees this, the conference would provide a unique opportunity for the United States to strike a deal without Jewish pressure, an official said. This has become the most hottest proposal examined by the foreign policy people over the last month.
Not only would Jewish pressure be absent, but also any sense of moral or ethical responsibility. That always facilitates dealing with Arabs.
Baker sees his plan as containing something for everybody, except perhaps the Israelis, the official said. The Syrians would get back the Golan, the Iranians would get U.S. recognition and the Saudis would regain their influence, particularly with the Palestinians.
While our betrayal of the Israelis in return for very temporary Arab cooperation, more commonly known as terrorist appeasement, would properly haunt us for decades. We might gain some short-term approbation in the MME (Muslim Middle East) for stabbing Israel in the back this way, but the only long-term result would be to have forever made ourselves a complete and total laughingstock in the eyes of our terrorist enemies. We would permanently lose all credibility and face in any future dealings. Whatever shortcomings Bush may have, I truly doubt he is unable to see this as being the final upshot.
Iran and Syria should be shown only one thing, the back of our hand.
#6
I thought the Baker report appalling on so many levels that I didn't know where to begin. The strategy seems to be, let's throw Israel to the wolves and see if that solves the problem. Ignorant and stupid are far too weak words for this arrant nonsense.
Verlaine nailed it yesterday, when he said Iraq's problems originate in Iraq. While those in the region are fuelling it for their own ends, the solution is in Iraq. And BTW, the solution is a federal Iraq with homogenous moreorless populations in the different entities. Failure to recognize this merely drags out the whole thing. The MSM will scream about ethnic cleansing but who cares.
#7
The strategy seems to be, let's throw Israel to the wolves and see if that solves the problem.
Bingo. Losing Congress, Rumsfeld, and Bolton is depressing. Watching world leaders reach consensus on sacrificing the Jews for an illusory peace is chilling. Not just the fact itself, which is awful enough, but given what usually comes next.
It's been exactly 65 years since Pearl Harbor, long enough to learn the lessons of WWII and forget them again. Guess that means we're due for another good smiting. Idiots, the lot of em.
#8
But exJag and Phil -- it worked so well for the South Vietmanese and Cambodians! It worked so well for Neville Chamberlan! What's not to love about this plan?
This isn't a Study Group Report - its the terms of our surrender!
Once again we try appeasing evil and expecting a different outcome.
#15
"JUSTICE Return to SPLENDOR" is our old friend "JUSTICE", aka "Truth Has Come", posting from Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/07/2006 9:08
Comments ||
Top||
#16
Nah, after that last comment, he's a joke not worth responding to. He's probably as Muslim as I am. The Sierra Club? Ha!
Ya pushed too hard, retard. What time do you have to put on the Santa's elf suit and report to the mall?
#17
If these idiots serve Israel up on a platter there will be no place they can hide. Also, I hope the IDF will see the handwritting on the wall in time to seize their government and execute operation "Blow up the Arab World"! I know it is called something else, but I forget the name.
With everthing I see happening, it just confirms my belief that this nation, and the Western Civilizations have been bought and paid for by the Islamists, and our leaders are the Judas's.
I fully believe we are heading for a World War the likes of we cannot imagine. In fact, I believe we are already in it, but the main act has yet to start. If we do survive, we'll need to purge our politicians mercilessly.
#20
That poor idiot from the Magic Kingdom? Don't let him anywhere near the children, tu3031, his culture teaches him that little children -- especially the boys, beautiful as pearls -- exist to sate his sexual desires, as he once was forced to satisfy those bigger or more powerful than himself. Mr. Wife never went into the coffee houses in that part of the world, preferring to not to have to defend his posterior from unwelcome advances. Ick!
Salaam means peace, thou Arabia-based idiot; Islam means submission, so gettest thyself on with submitting. And yes, I used the archaic, second person singular form used by superiors when talking to their inferiors or to children most deliberately. Thou deservest not the respect of the common you used between equals.
Mick Dundee, are you thinking of the Samson Option?
#22
Good gawd, this is SOOOOO appalling on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. My two (human) life verses to live by (again):
(1) Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it (See: Chamberlain, Neville and after Vietnam, Cambodia, and most recently, 9/11/2001 - NYC, PA and The Pentagon).
(2) All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing (See: not defeating Hitler early on, before him "arming up", and not taking Ahmadinijad at his (Hitleran) word).
Oh well, I hold out hope that this ISG Report is DOA at the White House. I pray that Cheney and Bush still have the nerve to smack it down and hard.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 11:10
Comments ||
Top||
#23
Mick Dundee, are you thinking of the Samson Option?
TW, thank you, that would be the one. The sooner the major population centers of the Arab/Muslim world are radioactive, the sooner this Islam problem will end.
#25
Mick -- no, we're not going to commit genocide in order to save ourselves. It's not necessary and it's not smart.
Unilateral use of nukes would turn the entire world, including our best friends (the Aussies) against us. It would be our ruination. We won't nuke the Arab nations unless we're attacked with WMD or we have 100%, stone-cold clear evidence that we're about to be attacked with such.
So drop the genocide nonsense and think clearly. Clear thinking and an iron constitution is what is needed to beat the Islamicists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006 11:29
Comments ||
Top||
#26
"Let us guide you and protect you."
In the name of the strongest and most intelligent con man, Muhammad, in slavish adoration of his con man idol, Allah.
#27
Unilateral use of nukes would turn the entire world, including our best friends (the Aussies) against us. It would be our ruination. We won't nuke the Arab nations unless we're attacked with WMD or we have 100%, stone-cold clear evidence that we're about to be attacked with such.
So drop the genocide nonsense and think clearly. Clear thinking and an iron constitution is what is needed to beat the Islamicists.
Given the astonishing ease at which they seem to subvert our politicians, culture and society, time is not on our side. The left has been working towards the destruction of Capitalism for a long time, now that they have teamed up with the Islamists the process has accelerated and is picking up momentum.
I've said before, I'll say it again, this could all slide over the edge in the blink of an eye. It is obvious that we're (our leaders) (puke) are going to nothing until it too late. We continue to import this menace into our society, and we have these moldy left overs from the 60's/70's failed statecraft coming back like a herpes flareup to wreak their special havoc! Again!
By the time it gets bad enough that we do actually drop the hammer on them, everyone else in the world will probably be glad. Hell, I'll bet there are bunch now that wish we would get on with it.
#28
This is nothing new from Baker. Go back and review his actions from past years. He clearly is anti-Israel and has always been. He is just as detrimental to Israel as our good friend Jimmah. Baker was constantly demanding concessions from Israel his entire time in the Bush I administration. The fool has never accomplished anything of substance yet. This is merely a continuation of his past performance. He is a Saoodi ass kisser par excellance, just like old man Bush. Saud Abdullah calls Bush 41 all the time to relay Saoodi desires and hopes he can still foist these onto any current goverment in power. These two charactwers have been on Saoodi heroin (cash in their secret bank accounts) for far too long to change now.
#30
Welcome to the Brave New World of Jim Baker--an undercover tranzi who was quite effective in bringing down Bush#1, and is in the process of effectively bringing down Bush#2. You've got to give him credit. He's an amazing opportunist, and he's quite adept at studying his target, assessing their personal weaknesses and/or modes of thought operations, and then going in for the "prime dismantling"--all the while, his target(s) believe he's giving really great, on-the-level advice, or perhaps they simply recognize that Baker and his "secret" team are too powerful to resist. Hey--and it must certainly be that Obama/Hilary will be better for business . . .
Side note: for all you Bible-thumpers out there--10 years ago it was truly unthinkable, unimaginable, that "all the nations" would turn against Israel, per the book of Revelation. Now it not only looks possible, but plausible. Unreal.
#31
I can't bear to see so many of your people suffering in wars.
I'll freely admit that our soldiers, like so many others, suffer in this war. Fortunately, yoursoldiers terrorists DIE!
Unilateral use of nukes would turn the entire world, including our best friends (the Aussies) against us. It would be our ruination. We won't nuke the Arab nations unless we're attacked with WMD or we have 100%, stone-cold clear evidence that we're about to be attacked with such.
Thank you, good Doctor, for making a point I am obliged to post here over and over again. Mick, one of the things that differentiates America is its ability to maintain the moral high ground. This is not to say that we must fear becomong terrorists if we fight them on their level, but first use of nuclear weapons is a moral Rubicon that must not, and more importantly, need not be crossed. There may come a time when all evidence points towards such a decision, but we are still years from it.
We have conventional weaponry that can replicate the effects of a nuclear bomb. I do think that at some point we must begin a program of massively disproportionate retaliation as a way of polarizing average Muslim opinion away from the Jihadists. Above all, we need to begin "breaking things", without heed of who must repair them. Iran is the starting place with Syria and North Korea on the list immediately thereafter.
With Iran in particular, there is simply no worse alternative to what exists right now. Anyone else could rush into the power vacuum created by a decapitating strike and things would not be one whit for the worse. Same goes for Syria, at least in that we would interdict the constant formenting of unrest in Lebanon and help Israel get back on its feet.
Much more serious are the prospects of dealing with Pakstan and Saudi Arabia. These two facilitators of international terrorism need to be taken out root and branch. Our worthless alliances with the Saudis are nearly as nettlesome in this respect as how to confiscate or neutralize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal prior to takedown.
More to the point and in agreement with what you posted, our current crop of leaders simply do not have the backbone for a vast majority of these measures. Very few of them are willing to recognize that whether we think so or not, we are in a religious war, one declared by Islam. If we do not get onto a true war-footing soon, America must brace itself for taking some ghastly hits on our own soil. Ones that will make 9-11 look like a picnic.
The prospect of economic set-back arising from such profound atrocities should be enough to motivate any American government of any party to begin a campaign of summarily executing the entire top tier of Islam's command chain and propaganda machine in general. That this reality does not is a resounding condemnation of how badly lost the lessons of WWII have been.
#32
ex-lib, I was thinking about that.
"All the nations turn against Israel"
Well, I guess the end times are upon us. I guess we should take advantage of the few days of peace left to us.
I'm also thinking that the time for us right wingers to get off our fat asses is just around the corner. Maybe in the Spring, or even sooner, we should have a rally in DC with millions of us waving our rifles and shotguns and taking back our country. We already know that the left will not fight, so our only obstacle will be that we have jobs to report to. Like I said, we have to be there. The job can wait, and for that matter the job is nill if we lose this thing.
I, for one will not allow Islam to take a civilized country, except maybe France. I'm even ready to fight them for Lebanon. Certainly for Thailand or Nigeria. If you are a man, by nature, you are willing to not only protect your family with your life, but you are willing to extend the same protection to all women and children, to the tribe, and to the nation, because this nation is worth saving.
#34
I, for one will not allow Islam to take a civilized country, except maybe France. I'm even ready to fight them for Lebanon. Certainly for Thailand or Nigeria.
Not me, if they're not willing to fight and die for their nation, neither am I. I'll fight to save hearth and home, but not some ungrateful bastards overseas. After we secure the homeland, I might be willing to liberate a few places, as long as there are no silly ROE's to contend with.
#36
#21 If this government abandons Israel, I'm finished with the Bushies.
If ANY government abandons Israel, the entire nation should abandon that government. Go back and re-read the entire second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. It may be time to exercise the "reset" button.
#28 - Steve Clear thinking and an iron constitution is what is needed to beat the Islamicists.
Wrong. It's going to take the iron will sufficient to bomb certain Islamist centers back beyond the stone age into the Precambrian to end the war against us. Nothing else will sink through those warped, twisted, one-track minds. They believe their god allan is on their side - we have to prove them wrong. That takes superior firepower and the willingness to use it - any or all of it, as needed. They will continue to fight until we prove to them that they will either accept defeat or accept total destruction. There are NO other options.
#34 Zenster We have conventional weaponry that can replicate the effects of a nuclear bomb. I do think that at some point we must begin a program of massively disproportionate retaliation as a way of polarizing average Muslim opinion away from the Jihadists. Above all, we need to begin "breaking things", without heed of who must repair them. Iran is the starting place with Syria and North Korea on the list immediately thereafter.
The first thing we need to understand is that no muslim is our friend - not one. There are muslims that are not out to kill us - yet - but that doesn't make them "friends". Secondly, we need to understand that we MUST change "hearts and minds" in order to win, because the hearts and minds of muslims is in sync with islam, a destructive death cult. Thirdly, the only way to change the hearts and minds of most arabs is to prove we're the meanest, baddest, most terrible creature on the face of the Earth, and they will do things OUR way, or else they will cease to exist. Everybody tries to keep finding "middle ground". Give up - it doesn't exist. Break them of the way they think, or break them to the point they can't retaliate, or continue to suffer abuse and deaths among our people.
This war began for real in the late 1960's, following the 1967 Israel/Arab war. The only thing that's changed is that the theater of operations has expanded to include the entire planet and all its people. We either fight back with overwhelming force, or we go under. I do NOT intend to live any part of my life as a muslim.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2006 22:38
Comments ||
Top||
#37
#39: "They will continue to fight until we prove to them that they will either accept defeat or accept total destruction."
Why give 'em a choice, OP?
Total destruction works for me. These nutcases will never accept defeat - so make 'em accept dead.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/07/2006 23:26
Comments ||
Top||
Iran on Wednesday categorically denied a report that it was holding clandestine talks in Europe to settle an old Israeli debt.
The report is "unfounded and totally false," Iran's mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a faxed statement.
The statement accused the Israeli daily Haaretz, which published the report, of "quoting fictitious sources" to divert attention away from alleged atrocities committed by Israel's government.
Haaretz reported Wednesday that Iran is still owed hundreds of millions of dollars for oil it supplied to Israel in the years before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and representatives of the two countries, now sworn enemies, are holding contacts meant to settle the debt.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
There's not really an appropriate category for stories like these. Here will have to do.
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends.
This, they say, will be their final farewell.
With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a date that lives in infamy. "This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."
Continued on Page 49
#1
True Heroes - my mom's oldest brother Pedro = Uncle Pete was serving aboard the USS NEVADA on December 7th. Eight other men + boyz from Guam reportedly served and went down wid the USS ARIZONA.
#3
"I'll tell you a secret: When your number comes up, you're going to go. Well, every morning I get up, I change my number."
A truely amazing generation of folks.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/07/2006 11:25
Comments ||
Top||
#4
This was a courageous bunch. They already had steel in their backbones because of the suffering during the Depression. Nothing frightened them. By coincidence, Gen Taylor, one of the first two pilots airborne after the first raid, passed away yesterday in Tucson. He and a pal drove ten miles to their P-40's, parked at an auxilliarly field, got up and shot down 8 planes, 6 confirmed. These brave souls were our parents and grandparents. They were brave. Lets hope we don't let them down after all their sacrifices.
Actually I found the bits about Barbie Boxer, one of the Senate's more obvious Towering Intellects, more interesting.
As already noted here on NewsBusters, the Senate held a hearing today examining the role of the media in promoting climate alarmism. With others covering the newsmaking part of the discussion, I decided to drop by to observe things from a blogger's point of view.
I went into the hearing expecting it would be more interesting than your typical congressional hearing and wasn't disappointed. Dr. David Deming, a geophysicist from the University of Oklahoma recount an experience he had with an NPR reporter who hung up on him after he declined to say that he thought global temperature increases were human-caused.
Apparently I was not joined in my assessment of things by CNN anchor Miles O'Brien who fell asleep several during the discussion according to several witnesses. Only a colleague's nudge prevented the slumbering former science correspondent from missing the entire discussion. One would think that O'Brien could have scared up some more interest considering his ongoing feud with the Inhofe.
I also heard some interesting scientific debate as to whether ice core temperature readings can really be used as a reliable indicator of whether carbon dioxide is related to global climate changes. Don't expect to hear much about this, though, since it the CO2 proponent, Dr. Daniel Schrag of Harvard, was less-than-articulate arguing the affirmative. As of the writing of this posting, I haven't found a single news source that quoted from today's hearing. I did see and converse with several reporters but so far have yet to read any coverage.
What I did find online, though, was an AP article which briefly mentioned the hearing but quoted no one other than California Democrat Barbara Boxer, the incoming EPW chair. It went out late today and could easily have quoted from any of the Republican members of the committee but did not.
In the committee room, it was striking to me just how inept that the global warming alarmists seem to be at making their arguments. While many scientists do indeed take the position that humans' carbon dioxide emissions do cause global warming, they and their political allies seemed quite poor at making their case.
Boxer provided the best example. She began her statement with a grab bag of short, context-less quotations from various businesses and government agencies about how global warming is a humongous problem that needs immediate action. Most of her quotes were from non-scientific groups and were not even about the subject of the media's coverage of climate change, the topic of the hearing.
That's bad enough as a rhetorical device but apparently it wasn't bad enough for Boxer. In the middle of the hearing, she reverted to quoting cue cards of media coverage of the issue, ostensibly to show how the press is not being led by alarmists. Unfortunately for her, though, her quotations (from such bastions of conservatism as the New York Times as the Tulsa World) did just the opposite, at least if you didn't automatically agree with her. When Inhofe and my colleague at the Businesses and Media Institute Dan Gainor pointed out her problem, Boxer seemed utterly oblivious.
It only got worse for Boxer, though, as she reverted to the soundbites once again (using many of the same ones she'd already quoted previously) at the end of her testimony but with an added twist. Instead of asking the witnesses what they thought about a specific statement, the California Democrat asked them to raise your hand if you disagree with one of her out-of-context quotes. At first, hostile witnesses played along but eventually it got so absurd that Dr. Deming finally called her on it. Barbie, baby, you're dumb as a rock. A green rock.
None of this seemed to bother a reporter from Roll Call with whom I was seated. She seemed decidedly against Inhofe and scoffed whenever he or one of his witnesses would challenge the liberal point of view. I didn't catch her name but I wasn't exactly surprised since besides the fact that most MSM reporters ideologically line up with Democrats, Barbara Boxer did one thing wellframing the hearings as a matter of whether the government was trying to control the news media.
That was far from the case as anyone who wasn't asleep could have observed.
A Pakistani man and woman convicted of drug smuggling were beheaded on Wednesday in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Interior Ministry said. Mohammed Rafiq Miyassid and Abajan Mohammed Rafiq, who appears to be his daughter, were caught bringing heroin into the kingdom in their stomachs, the ministry said in a statement on the official SPA news agency.
The beheadings, carried out with a sword, bring to at least 34 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. At least 83 were put to death in 2005 and 35 the year before. Executions are generally carried out in public in the oil-rich kingdom, which applies a strict form of Islamic law. The death penalty is applied for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
This is the time of year that fighting traditionally tapers off in Afghanistan as winter sets in, so it's probably not too surprising that the Taliban's latest offensive is on the propaganda front. Ah. The cockroaches are becoming civilized.
First there were videos, including one obtained by CNN that shows multiple beheadings as well as preparations for attacks and recruitment of suicide bombers.
Now, the Taliban has put out a code of conduct for its commanders and fighters -- including when to kill teachers and how to prevent sexual abuse. According to Pakistani journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, who obtained a copy of the 30-point plan and provided it to CNN, the instructions have been issued to district level commanders in Afghanistan in a small handbook.
The document, which says it was approved by the elusive Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, was apparently first given to members of the insurgent group's Shura council during a secret meeting in late September or October.
#1
I'll worry about increased professionalization when they stop throwing recruits still covered with Peshawar dust across the border to become part of 200:1 casualty ratios. This document is compounded of equal parts wishful thinking and "My eyes are closed, you can't see me" toddler conjuration, by hidden commanders who can only hope they are far enough from the border that the Americans won't try to hunt them down.
#3
This rule sheet reads like an effort to put a kinder, gentler, more moderate and professional face on the movement."
Seems to be working. Even though they saw the head off an occasional teacher, the US State Dept. still refers to the Taliban as simply an Insurgent Group that occasionally uses terrorist methods to achieve their goals. Its called Branding Bayybee!
Hamas officials have managed to smuggle more than $66 million in cash through the Rafah border crossing in the past eight months, a member of the Hamas-led government revealed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, sources close to the Hamas-led government claimed that Hamas representatives recently held talks with officials from the US Democratic Party at a secret location. If true these Democrats need to be identified and horse-whipped -- they're negotiating with people our government has proclaimed to be terrorists.
The sources told the Bethlehem-based Maan News Agency that Hamas representatives have also been holding secret talks with European government officials, including Britain and France. That's no surprise; the French in particular want to open the money spigots.
Palestinian Authority Planning Minister Samir Abu Aisheh of Hamas said the cash that was brought by Hamas officials was handed over to the PA Finance Ministry. He also revealed that the Hamas-led government has managed to pay 69% of the salaries to the PA's 160,000 civil servants during the same period. Preventing the riots that otherwise should have occurred.
Altogether, the Palestinians have received $318 million in international aid since Hamas took over despite international sanctions imposed on the Palestinians, the minister said, noting that most of the money was channeled through the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Into the left pocket instead of the right pocket. All got spent in the end.
This is the first time that a senior Hamas official reveals the total sum of money that has been smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. Several Hamas ministers, legislators and officials have managed to smuggle suitcases full of millions of dollars through the border crossing. At the border crossing manned by Y'urp-peon 'monitors'. Who obviously are enjoying long lunches and brief tours on duty.
The most recent case occurred last week, when PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar returned from a 14-day Arab and Islamic tour carrying $20 million in cash. A week earlier, two Hamas legislators arrived at the Rafah border crossing each carrying $2 million in cash. They managed, somehow, someway, not to get 'caught' with the cash. They must be really good smugglers.
The report about contacts between Hamas and American and European officials comes in the wake of the breakdown of negotiations between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party over the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
According to the report, Hamas has succeeded in convincing European officials to accept the Islamist movement's plan for a long-term hudna [lie] [truce] with Israel as a substitute for recognizing Israel's right to exist. Since Y'urp-peons don't know history and have chosen not to investigate further the meaning of a hudna.
The report quoted sources close to Hamas as saying that the Europeans have bought the idea of solving the Israeli-Arab conflict on the basis of a hudna rather than the principle of land for peace. Since it's more convenient for them.
The sources claimed that many European governments have shown interest in "flexible" statements by some Hamas leaders lately, including remarks by Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to the effect that his movement was prepared to offer Israel a hudna in return for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the entire West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. And should the Israelis say 'no' (not a given with Olmert), the Euros would then proceed to sanction the Israelis and give Hamas whatever it wants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
so the UN really only needs to beg for $ 384 Million then ?
The six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has split down the middle over the issue of resignations, with three of its components refusing to quit the National Assembly in protest at the Womens Protection Bill.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, MMA president and chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, is the biggest proponent of resignations. He said at the meeting that the MMA should resign because that was what the Supreme Council had decided. He said it was right to resign because parliament had just passed an un-Islamic bill. However, other MMA leaders disagreed. The decision to resign from the assembly was not taken unanimously. It was a decision which was imposed by the alliance president (Qazi) on all of us, the sources quoted Mir as saying. We should not leave the parliament open for PPPP by resigning, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
In 142 stark pages, the Iraq Study Group report makes an impassioned plea for bipartisan consensus on the most divisive foreign policy issue of this generation. Without President Bush, that cannot happen.
The commissioners gave a nod to Mr. Bush, adopting his language in accepting the goal of an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. But the administrations talk of Iraq as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East is absent, as is any talk of victory.
Instead, the report confronts the president with a powerful argument that his policy in Iraq is not working and that he must move toward disengagement. For Mr. Bush to embrace the study groups blueprint would mean accepting its implicit criticism of his democracy agenda, reversing course in Iraq and throughout the Middle East and meeting Democrats more than halfway.
Continued on Page 49
Premier Fouad Siniora on Wednesday advised the opposition bloc trying to depose the government through protests to follow the route of dialogue and help rebuild Lebanon.
Siniora said discord was likely to occur in any "healthy and democratic" country. "Nevertheless, conflicts ought to be resolved within institutions such as the Parliament rather than be taken to the streets," he added. "They will fail to provoke us, for our patience has no limits and constitutes the key to our deliverance," Siniora said.
The March 14 Forces, the anti-Syrian coalition that dominates both Parliament and the Cabinet, was taking a "wise" stand, "not because we are weak, but because we are sure that our idea of a sovereign and free Lebanon will inevitably prevail," the embattled premier said.
Siniora's comments were broadcast live on a number of local television stations. The premier also met with a delegation of supporters from the Northern regions of Minyeh and Dinnieh at his Downtown Beirut office. Siniora said like his opponents, he and his allies could also call on "hundreds of thousands" of people to take to the streets, but the issue should not be a contest in crowd numbers.
"The contest ought to be for the reconstruction of the country," he added. "We want to build Lebanon, not to bring back images reminiscent of the [1975-90] Civil War in Beirut's neighborhoods," Siniora said, referring to violent clashes that have shaken Beirut this week and which resulted in one death and left at least 15 others wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Six world powers meeting in Paris on Tuesday said they had failed to agree what sanctions to impose over Irans refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work, as diplomats said Russia was blocking a deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Coalition, Afghan forces capture three suspected terrorists
Three more held on corruption charges
Two foreigners among seven killed in suicide attack
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Interesting what they do, and don't, notice. Nothing at all about recent big NATO victories against Talban mass attacks, the ones where the casualty ratios are 80:1 or 200:1, the ones where an air attack is called in. I wonder how they missed those?
Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.
The horror.
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who will become House majority leader and is writing the schedule for the next Congress, said members should expect longer hours than the brief week they have grown accustomed to. "I have bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you had planned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day in January, starting with the 4th."
Continued on Page 49
#2
More time in the DC environment - smoke-filled back rooms and sound bites in front of cameras - and less time listening to their constituents. Sounds like a plan, to me. I am worried about the Brownie Troop, however. Poor Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.); her daughter will be soooo disappointed.
And anyway - who says Monday evening to early Friday afternoon is a "five-day week"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006 6:18
Comments ||
Top||
#3
The heart bleeds.
Seriously, if the rooms are smoke-filled, maybe we can use them in a study of second-hand smoke and lung cancer?
#4
With the new calendar, the Democrats are trying to project a businesslike image Hoyer and other Democratic leaders say they are trying to repair the image of Congress But most Democrats, some still giddy from their election victories, seemed game.
Translation: Its not about working harder, smarter, or more efficient. Its all about Style!
#5
At first, I was thinkin' this was a good thing (drive down their "pay"/hour of "work"). But, then I realized, I'd prefer them to not "work" at all, and keep their grubby paws off my money and out of my life. Get ready for even more legislation for the chilluns(tm), Mother Earth(tm), the "Gay Rights" agenda-pushers, and, in general, ALL of the lobbyists inside the beltway selling our nation down the river.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 10:15
Comments ||
Top||
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Eddin Shaer said Wednesday that Hamas had received a message from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas regarding its readiness to set up a unity government. Unity government talks between Hamas and Fatah have made little progress since their inception, due to vast disagreements of policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The United States on Wednesday froze the U.S. assets of nine people and two businesses in the border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay who Washington said helped funnel millions of dollars to Lebanon's Hezbollah. The U.S. government considers Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group whose guerrillas fought a 34-day war with Israel in July and August, a terrorist organization. The Treasury said the people and businesses raised and transferred cash for Hezbollah through the so-called triple border area between the South American countries, which is home to a large Arab community.
The action triggered a U.S. executive order on Wednesday freezing their U.S. assets and banning transactions with U.S. citizens and banks. "...It is safe to say that millions of dollars have been raised and moved by this network," Treasury Assistant Secretary for terrorist financing Pat O'Brien told reporters in reference to the triple-border area. "One of the key ways money has moved is through personal couriers." For example, O'Brien said one of the people on the list, Ali Kazan, raised more than $500,000 for Hezbollah as recently as August.
The U.S. government has raised concern in recent years that the porous frontier region is a center of fund-raising and money laundering for Middle Eastern groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Brazil denies this.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
British police say they are now treating the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, as a murder inquiry. "Detectives investigating the death of Alexander Litvinenko have reached the stage where it is felt appropriate to treat it as an allegation of murder," London's Metropolitan police said in a statement on Wednesday. "Detectives from the counter-terrorism command are pursuing many lines of inquiry, both in the UK and Russia, and have spoken to a number of witnesses in connection with the death."
It cautioned, however, that detectives were keeping an open mind and were methodically following the evidence. "It is important to stress that we have reached no conclusions as to the means employed, the motive or the identity of those who might be responsible for Litvinenko's death," the statement said. It added that the inquiry was still in its early stages and that the police were not prepared to comment on "speculative reports" in the media.
I dunno. I'm still holding out for the "he slipped in the shower and fell onto a vial of Polonium that his dog found out in the yard under that ugly rhododendron his crazy aunt planted a couple-three years ago to celebrate his nephew's graduation from podiatry school except that he didn't really graduate on account of that no-good Jenkins girl who wanted him to join her at the ashram and..." angle to get a little more investigation...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Alex! You look like hell!
We need a "Master of the Master of the Obvious" graphic for this story.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006 6:06
Comments ||
Top||
The AQ Khan network could not have carried out its activities without the awareness of the Pakistani government, the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destru-ction Commission said in a report.
The commission, headed by former IAEA chief Hans Blix, said that as far as it was aware, nuclear weapons had never been stolen or transferred from arsenals of states. The threats posed by existing nuclear weapons relate in the first place to the risks of deliberate use. High representatives of nuclear-armed states have recently alluded in precisely calculated ambiguity to a readiness actually to use nuclear weapons. Additional dangers could arise as a result of accidents, miscalculations, faulty intelligence and theft of unauthorised use.
Addressing the possibility of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons, it said nobody could make a nuclear weapon without fissile material and the technical knowledge to design and manufacture a device. The first task is more difficult than designing a weapon. The basic information to design a crude nuclear device is publicly available. To produce the plutonium or highly enriched uranium needed to make a nuclear weapon is difficult and expensive. It requires the kind of infrastructure that is likely to be available only to states. There is a risk that security weaknesses could allow terrorists to steal enough material.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Dr. Hans Blix agreed to that statement? I wonder what kind of evidence was so much more overwhelming than usual that he had to concede the point!
Let the Spin Begin! Nancy Pelosi, the incoming Democratic speaker of the House, on Wednesday praised the Iraq Study Group's report on the Iraq war and said the report proves "that the President's Iraq policy has failed and must be changed." The Arabs have failed.
Earlier, President Bush said the country "is tired of pure political bickering that happens in Washington." Bush said it's best for the country if Democrats and Republicans work together, and he expressed the hope that report "will give us all an opportunity to find common ground." Dream on, W.
After blasting Bush's handling of the war, Pelosi pledged to work with him to end it. The war - or the sedition?
"If the President is serious about the need for change in Iraq," she said in a statement, "he will find Democrats ready to work with him in a bipartisan fashion to find a way to end the war as quickly as possible." As quickly as possible. The ISG talks about 2008, at the very earliest. Will that be okay with Her Highness who couldn't be bothered to read the report before flapping gums to the press?
Pelosi said Democrats "are committed to ensuring that the ideas of the Iraq Study Group, as well as the ideas of other thoughtful people inside and outside of the government, are given full consideration in that process." Is she gonna make up shit about the ISG report as she did with the 9/11 Report?
Pelosi mentioned only one of the group's recommendations, which is to change the primary mission of U.S. troops in Iraq from combat to training and support. That's it. The Grand Plan of the DhimmiDonks.
I wonder what the troops are supposed to do if attacked?
What about if the Iraqi Trainees are attacked?
"Now that the Study Group has endorsed this proposal," Pelosi said, "I hope that the President will recognize that he must take our policy in Iraq in a new direction." Like "Take a left at the Congressional Cafeteria?" Like that?
She did not address the group's other recommendations, which include forming a "support group" among Iraq and its neighbors in Iran and Syria and beginning to withdraw troops from Iraq "by the first quarter of 2008." I didn't have time. I've been redecorating my new office. Don't spoil the ending for me.
#1
Iff reports that the post-2006 elex Dems are offering=giving key Congresional positions to hardlineers, can only mean that the Dems are aware that Amer Hiroshimas loom on high for America, AND ARE TRYING TO PROTECT AND GUARANTEE THAT ULTRA-LEFTISTS SURVIVE + DOMINATE POST-HIROSHIMA(S) WASHINGTON. As argued time before, worse coming to worse, SAVING AMERICA + WORLD FROM DUBYA/GOP-CAUSED + BLAMED NEW 9-11'S = SURVIVING DUBYA/GOP-SAME, when it comes to POWER. REALISM-PRAGMATISM > keeping any and all Options open > Contingencies > ensuring that DEMOLEFISTS,
NOT GOP-RIGHTISTS, rule post-Hiroshima Washington = Amerika. Whether duly elected, or as stalwart Hiroshima "Survivor", HILLARY = CO-POTUS VEEP HILARY = POTUS HILLARY!?
#3
Well, I haven't read it either, but it sounds to me a lot like Bush's plan with a timetable and some threats. I heard on the radio going home last night that the ISG report indicated W's plan had failed, and they said it twice in the span of 20 seconds, just in case you missed it the first time.
What plan failed? The one that was in effect when the ISG started their work? The one that was in effect halfway through the 'study'? Or the one that was in effect the day the report was released?
The strategy is unchanged - "stand them up as we stand down" - that hasn't changed in a while. The tactics should be changing all the time, as the enemy adapts. (Hey! I'm a civil engineer, not a military guy!)
And by the by, Ms. Pelosi - your people were elected a month ago and the price of gas started rising the next day. It's now skyrocketed 15% in one month. At that rate, gas will be $5.00 a gallon by summertime. Whatcha gonna do about that, sweetheart?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006 5:56
Comments ||
Top||
WASHINGTON - Praised by some and panned by others, the report of a high-level commission on ways to wind down the war in Iraq offered no startlingly new ideas but said a U.S. defeat still could be averted.?
#5
The authors of this report are the same losers who advised GHWB (Bush #1) to abondond the shiite and Kurd uprisings in Iraq following the first gulf war. These same losers are mostly responsible for Bush 41 being a one termer. So tell me why we should consider their opinion at this time? In my eyes, they are just slightly ahead of Jimmah Cahtah in terms of military or foreign policy success.
Send this entire group packing, ask the 3rd infantry brigade to show up on the hill in fatigues, round up the entire congress, senate,and supremee court - jail most, shoot some, and return others to work - start over!
When treason is acceptable to the government, then the government is no longer acceptable to the people - throw them out!
#6
I really hate to say it, but it's been going thru my mind a lot lately.
I think the country would be better off today if the people who fought on flight 93 lost.
I deeply respect them for what they did, but I think the long term results have resulted in more harm than good. I think we would have been better off of most of these bastards had been killed and we had to start over with a new Congress.
I know this is crazy talk, but it's how I feel.
Posted by: kelly ||
12/07/2006 13:27
Comments ||
Top||
#7
I see a big fall in this overaged piece of skank meat's future. She makes too many enemies...even among her own people.
There is no substitute for victory. It is the only standard by which military conflict which involves the US should be resolved for the US.
The ISG reports the memebrs wants to avert defeat. If that is true then the commission should have at least stated that victory is the only standrad for military conduct. That didn't happen.
#14
The ISG thing to me is just too damn silly. It's like needing a study group to tell you to wipe your arse after taking a growler. The only part of the policy that has failed imho is not being brutal enough on certain tribes (a deadhorse I've resurected and beaten back to death on here numerously) who support the islamo-nutz. Only GWB can declare victory.
Lost in Iraq? What a bunch of idiots. We won the ground war, won every major and minor tactical battle and realistcally own 85%+ of the real estate. That's a military victory by anyone's definition (minus lefty idiots who are not even f*cking Americans afaic). We are only constrained by our own ROE. (rant/off)
#20
It's weird. They seem come out when the news is good, rather than bad - RC's Troll Law, IIRC. I guess the circle-jerk at DU on a bad day is more inviting, lol. I guess we get the real dregs on a bad day...
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to authorise a regional force to protect the Somali government which is under increasing pressure from the Union of Islamic Courts and has lifted an arms embargo to allow the force to be equipped.
Islamic Courts fighters have taken control of the capital and most of southern Somalia since June. The US-sponsored resolution urged the Islamic Courts fighters to stop any further military expansion and to join the transitional government in talks to achieve a political settlement in the country which has not had an effective government since 1991.
It threatened Security Council action against those who block peace efforts or attempt to overthrow the government but no specific measures were mentioned. Critics of the resolution, including some non-governmental organisations, accuse the Security Council of taking sides in supporting the transitional government. The government was formed with the help of the UN two years ago but it has struggled to assert its authority against the Islamic Courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan will head for Sderot in the next few days to show her solidarity with the town's residents, it was reported on Wednesday. Isn't that sweet? With solidarity with Amnesia International and $3.95 you can get a cuppa coffee at Starbucks. Is she gonna give the raised fist salute?
Meanwhile, representatives of the local councils came to the Kassam-blasted town on Wednesday to show their support. The officials made a point of buying from local businesses to help with Sderot's financial crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
A call for President George W. Bush to reduce US support to Iraq if Baghdad fails to improve security drew a sour response from Iraqi politicians, who said Washington had an obligation to back their government. "The US calls itself an occupying force in Iraq and, according to the Geneva Conventions, if you are an occupier then you are responsible for the country," said parliamentarian Mahmud Othman, a Kurd. Well no, we're no longer an 'occupying' force. We're working in partnership with a sovereign government. That's the real justification for our presence today -- we're invited (we're also the 800 pound gorilla, yes). If you want us to leave, say so. Til then we work with you. That's what you ought to be saying to Mr. Baker -- "the Americans are here because we want and need them here; when that changes they've promised to leave."
"They have no right to to do this. This is unfair."
Bassim Ridha, a top advisor to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the White House has to support Baghdad "all the way". "If they do not support the government then it will look as if they do not do what they preach," Ridha said. "We need their support to go forward." Correct. You need to do your part as well. Disarming Tater (figuratively or literally) would be a good start.
The report said Washington must step up action -- including the threatened reduction of political, military and economic support -- to make the Iraqi government improve security.
Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party and close associate to the prime minister, said most of the panel's recommendations, including a dialogue with Iran and Syria and increased training for Iraqi security forces, had been expected. But the threat to reduce support was new.
"We were told there would not be pressure as such," said Abadi. "In our dialogue with the US administration, we said that we would work together." You can read tea leaves and know that a fair number of Americans back home are growing impatient. You could help us out on this one by solving some of your problems and thus demonstrate progress. Or you could complain and depend on the will of Allan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"They have no right to to do this. This is unfair."
No one said life is fair.
Who sat on the sidelines for months, years waiting to see who'd be in charge when the Americans were sorting things out?
Who has been wasting time engaged in petty and pathetic positioning of clan and personal interests?
Who has been spending their time and effort to get family and clan members into positions to exploit the 'system' in the grand tradition of what the west refers to as corruption and you as the normal conduct of business?
Who hasn't displayed the courage to take out assholes like Tater who undermine the tolerance of the Americans to remain around to assist you?
Who expects the Americans to do your work forever?
[Military and Security] Welfare reform is going to hit you hard and fast. I see two choice. Jump in with both feet and make the best of what you can before the Donks can pull the funding, or make peace with your new masters. Its free will, your choice, your fate.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And efforts to prevent further fraud are costing more than that each year in increased 'overhead' of the bureaucracy administering the recovery programs. I see so little money getting down to the individuals affected by the storms that the whole effort seems pointless. Just fly a C-130 over town and shovel dollar bills out the back - it will be more efficient. And probably less corrupt too. (Or Plan B: don't do anything - probably also more efficient and less corrupt, and a whole lot more sensible.)
#3
Georgie's old man was hammered by the Donks and the MSM for being too slow to respond to Hurricane Andrew in Florida. Now George is going to take hits for being too quick and too slow. If you want it fast you get big time corruption because the accountability mechanisms of bureaucracy are the ones shortcuts for speed.
Thirteen people, including three federal police officers, were wounded on Wednesday in a grenade attack by suspected Islamist militants in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), police said. A grenade was hurled at a bunker of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar, a police spokesman said, adding that three policemen and 10 civilians were hurt in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Edited for brevity
Field upon field of more than 1,000 battered M1 tanks, howitzers and other armored vehicles sit amid weeds here at the 15,000-acre Anniston Army Depot -- the idle, hulking formations symbolic of an Army that is wearing out faster than it is being rebuilt. The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to government data. An estimated $17 billion-plus worth of military equipment is destroyed or worn out each year, blasted by bombs, ground down by desert sand and used up to nine times the rate in times of peace. The gear is piling up at depots such as Anniston, waiting to be repaired.
The depletion of major equipment such as tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and especially helicopters and armored Humvees has left many military units in the United States without adequate training gear, officials say. Partly as a result of the shortages, many U.S. units are rated "unready" to deploy, officials say, raising alarm in Congress and concern among military leaders at a time when Iraq strategy is under review by the White House and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. More at link...
Posted by: Dar ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Buy more then. End of problem.
Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute!
Posted by: DanNY ||
12/07/2006 6:29
Comments ||
Top||
#2
...Part of the problem is that although we developed a huge, fast, mobile army, it's still being deployed, fought, and maintained under WWIII rules - a relatively fast, high intensity conflict. For all the talk about 'transformation', everything is still geared towards fighting and supporting The Big Contingency.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/07/2006 6:29
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Our Freedom comes with a cost. $17 B seem a bit much, but at the end of the day what is the defence of our nation worth?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/07/2006 8:42
Comments ||
Top||
#4
The last items on the Congressioanl/military budget -
spare parts
maintenance ghettos housing
They are so unsexy like new toys and subcontractor jobs back in the district/state.
#6
49Pan....$17 billion is nothing compared to the total DoD budget, much less the ENTIRE federal budget. Then, you add on the pork, and there are LOTS of areas to cut that could even give twice this amount to the military.
Take the $250 million "bridge to nowhere". Add in the (coming) I-75 bridge (replacing the existing bridge) over the Ohio River in northern KY, and that one bridge alone is quoted at $3 BILLION! If you think about how many vehicles/planes/boats/subs/etc. our military has (many here argue we need to up these #s too) and add in the complexity of many of these machines, and the current on the ground conditions they operate in (extreme temps, fine sand, etc.) and $17 billion looks like chump change to keep them running to me. Our troops deserve the best.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 11:50
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Yes, this is yet another failure of Congress.
The govmint should be run like a business, not like a raffle.
#9
Good point, 3dc, but, knowing the efficacy of government, they may have a moratorium on acquiring new equipment and therefore have no choice!
Posted by: Dar ||
12/07/2006 16:24
Comments ||
Top||
#10
Problem is on a lot of the stuff that needs repair, we no longer have active production lines for them. That, and the fact that repairs would take 6 months and ramping up to production would take 18 months. So, if you want the item in a usable timeframe, you need to repair it.
Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples. Horse$hit. Barely to the end of the first paragraph and they've already got it spinning at 4500RPM. I don't see it that way. I see it as the WH doesn't care if there is a parallel track as long as it isn't called "Marriage". Call it a Civil Union or something instead.
Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president. How'd they do that? Maybe I should pay less attention to WoT news and more on other stuff! :-) Continued on Page 49
#1
Will HILLARY > "Gubmint gave her her Pregnancy before later taking it away in the name of the common good"; or will Murtha-Kerry > Vote for the Pregnancy before voting agz it"???
#2
What a load of agenda-peddling bollocks. Gay marriage is all about money. Society extends certain financial priveledges to hetero couples for the very simple reason they can have and raise children which society values highly. As a general rule homosexual couples can't and don't have children.
Therefore, lesbian couples who have children should be given the same financial priveledges as hetero couples. Whether you call it marriage is neither here nor there to me.
#3
There is a libertarian wing of the Republican Party, that wants the state out of public morals. They are a small minority, but they exist and could share some agendas with the Dems.
(I know some of you will flip out at this, but please try and bear with me.)
If the conservatives could somehow overcome their indentured servitude to America's religious right and find a way to legalize gay marriage they might do a lot to regain their voter base and simultaneously discredit the democrats.
I came up with this concept after reading yesterday's article about how the democrats are engaging in back channel talks with Hamas and other Middle East terrorist organizations.
The democrats need to be slapped down hard and in a big way. Their cozying up to Muslim voters is some of the most blatantly transparent horseshit in all of American political history. Everything else the democrats stand for is total anathema to Islamic beliefs. In a perfect display of taqqiya, Muslims are prepared to vote democratic for the sole reason of dislodging a more conservative administration that willingly prosecutes the Global War on Terrorism.
True conservatism dictates minimal intrusion by government upon the private lives of law-abiding citizens. If the republicans could somehow embrace this ancient root of conservative doctrine and cede gays their right to marriage, they might be able to call the democrats on their gigantic fraud.
By facilitating any sort of Muslim agenda, the democrats are literally placing all homosexuals in grave danger. Islam loves nothing more than executing gay people and that simple fact should have given pause to all democrats who court the Muslim vote. Instead, exactly the opposite has happened and this is a prime opportunity for republicans to highlight this bit of betrayal, not just of gays but Americans in general.
If the republicans could somehow make room in the tent for gays, they might be able to permanently cripple a substantial democratic voter base.
I know damn well this is blue sky thinking of the highest water, but I felt obliged to run it up the flag pole as an example of how 2008 can still be salvaged from the current wreckage.
Just a thought.
Posted by: Jerry ||
12/07/2006 6:15
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Jerry, mebbe we should let the muzzies into the tent; they procreate new voters faster than the gays.....
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2006 6:22
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Sorry folks, didn't reset a funny cookie. The above post was mine.
#7
Bobby, that notion has already been explored by the Republicans. During the post 9-11 period, they found themselves courting Islamic votes at the UN assembly in order to ensure that all abortion language was removed from women's health legislation which was being passed at that time.
If you seriously think that the republicans should try and recruit Muslim-American voters, go right ahead and try to fly that one here. I'd have to say it has less of a chance than my own idea about co-opting the gays from their usual democratic position.
#8
lesbian couples who have children should be given the same financial priveledges as hetero couples.
What about male homosexual couples who adopt children and thereby remove a burden from the public's child welfare system? Should those couples also be extended similar financial benefits and any other privileges?
#10
Zenster, male couples adopting children is a line call. In principle Yes, but we have to remain aware of the potential for abuse.I'd say on balance no, they should not get marital benefits.
#11
...Ya know what? I say live and be well to Mary and Heather. And as far as sleepless nights go, Vice President Cheney will probably sleep quite soundly knowing that he's going to see one more grandchild.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/07/2006 10:11
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Zen, you're idea really won't float. What's striking to me is the assumption that the Repubs are so "beholden" to the "Religious Right". It's utter bull-hockey. Otherwise, the Prez wouldn't be spouting the "Civil Unions" line and the Veep would be denouncing his own daughter to further the Party. Add to that, the President's compromises on Stem Cell research (Christians feel ANY funding of this research is "playing God"), and (financial) decisions on Medicare "Prescription drugs" plans, etc. and you can see they're totally playing the "middle of the road" on these issues.
Then, LOOK at the States. Of 30+ or so States who have banned Gay Marriage (including many secular states where the "religious right" is about as rare as the Do-Do bird, like Oregon and Washington State), and you can see that "marriage" of gays is a big issue to a LOT more people than those religious right nutcases.
Other than that, you're falling for the (fake) supposedly "huge" numbers of gays out there fighting for their "rights." When the real # is something like only 1-2% of the total popluation who is gay, you're not talking about that big of a "swing" in accepting gays into our Repub "big tent." In fact, many of us (even us "Religious Right" fundamentalists) take the more Libertarian route. I could care less what you do in your own privacy, and, in fact, I don't really believe it's a big issue at all because I don't believe there's ANYTHING barring gays from willing their assets (or even children) from their "mates" when they die. All the whining about "being barred from their deathbed-side when they're dying", not being able to receive their assets when they die, etc. is ALL a smoke and mirrors game for the agenda-pushers. Many Americans (who are NOT the Religious Right) just see it as a "moral" call that they don't want to make. In fact, I'd argue the TRUE Libertarian view would be to get Gov't (at all levels) out of the marriage process ALL together and leave it to the Churches/Mosques/Temples. There are ALREADY Churches who are "performing" these marriage ceremonies. If you buy the theory of the gov't seeking to maintain a stable and thriving populace who is law-abiding, then gay marriage is also not for gov't. Just my $.02.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 10:37
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Gay marriage is all about money.
I dunno; I think it is in part, but it is also (and foremost?) yet an another level to subvert society. I mean, from what I've read, in Australia, and in France too, and most probably in the USA also, a large majority of homosexuals (not "gays", God, I hate that word) don't care for same-sex marriages; furthermore, male homosexuality is most frequently patterned around very short-term relationships and mutliple partners (quite the opposite of female homosexuality, who could claim to have an interest in marriage with much more credibility).
Homosexual marriage is not a grassroot issue, it is a tool used to further an agenda, the "gay rights" agenda.
Civil union of some sort doesn't bother me, but clamoring for actual marriage is a direct attack on what marriage stands for (IE society-recognized and formalized union, defining the family as the basic unit of reproduction and socialization).
"Gay rights", I mean beyond fighting against actual prejudice and actual gay-bashing and all, is a very subversive movement, because it is empowered by the global mass-media, and is the fellow traveller of the feminization of the Western White Male desired by the Forces of Progress.
#15
People people cmon now. Whats really important here is we finally have an answer to the burning question; Who takes lead when they slow dance Mary or Heather?
#16
The bossier one, Depot Guy, just like everyone else. Mr. Wife has a terrible time getting me to let him push me around when the music starts, even though only one of us is female.
#17
Hmmm . . . Zenster once called for my imminent demise when I attempted to discuss the clear deconstructionist agenda of the radial homosexul/lesbian left, and now not a word to anyone here who is saying the same thing. But that's neither here nor there . . .
Strangely, the conservatives have an attitude against mistreatment of those practicing homosexuality, whereas the Dems will sell them out to the lowest bidder if it furthers their political agenda. Zen's right in his observation regarding the Islamics' hatred of those with sexual maladjustments--which is really weird considering all the Moslem boys who are sodomized by men in authority roles who are committing homosexual acts themselves without any hesitation, or sense of moral accountability. Certainly, if homosexuals and lesbians want to "stay safe" they should recognize, as Zen does, the particular threat to their lifestyle that Islamic fundamentalist facism proposes. However, the homosexual/lesbian left is mostly like the political left in general, and are mostly self-deluded about politics in general ,and especially as as it concerns them.
About homosexual/lesbian "families" with children--it can create quite a problem with the healthy psychosexual development for young children to be raised by "parents" living under the domain of identity confusion, even if the adults who are attempting the raising of children are kind, caring, excellent caregivers otherwise, which many are. The long-term problems with the social and emotional development of the children under their care, is not something often taken into consideration--which I feel is evidence of selfishness and denial on the part of homosexual and lesbian pairs.
#18
Zenster once called for my imminent demise when I attempted to discuss the clear deconstructionist agenda of the radial homosexul/lesbian left, and now not a word to anyone here who is saying the same thing. But that's neither here nor there . . .
Save for the fact that you accused homosexuals of attempting to destroy Western civilization and civilization in general as we know it. Your rant was met by speculation by other members as to dosage and other amusing comments. Your torrent of condemnation seemed well-attuned to imprisonment or far worse for practicing homosexuals and I merely called you on it. The comments in this thread go nowhere near the alien terrain you traversed.
Feel free to search up and repost the rant of yours that you're referring to so that others might enjoy the awesome spectacle.
#19
Zen, I actually believe they are trying to deconstruct our society piece-meal too. But, by they, I mean the gay agenda-pushers (not all gays). In fact, I truly believe that your "average" gay is probably not an agenda-pusher, but is used by the National orgs (HRW, NAMBLA, et al) to further their agenda by #s, litigation, etc. In fact, I believe that a lot of "activist" gays are heading into careers that'll help them push the agenda (e.g. lawyers, judges, newspaper writers, etc.). Heck, I work for a Fed. Gov't agency who has 1 entire floor of attorneys. I'd estimate that almost 1/2 of them are gay/lesbian and they PUSH their agenda through our Agency (Tolerance training, GLBT Month "Celebrations"/Activities, etc.). Heck, we have 1 attorney (female) who is our rep on the GLOBE group for Federal agencies (Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees = GLOBE). She gets our Agency to pay for her week long trip to the national GLOBE meeting every year (usually in San Francisco), even though it has absolutely nothing to do with our mission or activities AT ALL! Your tax dollars at work!
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 21:59
Comments ||
Top||
#20
I agree w/a lot of your comments. I'm prolly in that libertarian wing of the GOP. What two consenting adults do in their own home is none of my business, I could care less and have enough other things to do in my life than worry if Adam is playing butt darts w/Rodney or if two bull dikes are swapping spit. On the same token, where in the constitution does it say homos have a right to marry? Equal protection clause doesn't work in that instance, even though they try to play that card. IMO - I'd be cool w/if they wanted to allow them to have civil unions *but* don't call it marriage. Blue is not green, blue is blue. Man and Women get married, that's the def of marriage and words have exact meanings.
BA said the state needs to stay out of the marriage business and I agree w/that - maybe a marriage/civil union/or whatever can be dictated by a church. The state can only really define appropriate ages for marriage in order to protect children. For the record, some of you may know I have an uncle who is gay. Unless you knew he went that way you'd think he was just some average dude. He finds it funny that other gays feel the need to have their relationships "recognized." Says it's stupid, and finds it disconcerting when homos try to compare their "struggle" to black civil rights. I agree.
#23
I got to thinking about A Boy and His Dog while munching on this discussion and all that ran thruough my mind was: "living on tulsa time.. living on tulsa time"...
NASHVILLE - A team of scientists at Vanderbilt University have been given an award from Popular Mechanics magazine for a discovery that could someday replace the common light bulb, the researchers say.
Led by Vanderbilt associate professor Sandra Rosenthal, the team nearly a year ago discovered a new way to make solid-state lights that produce white light. They say the finding could replace the common light bulb and cut the world's electricity consumption in half.
We were actually working on something else when this discovery was made," Rosenthal said. "But I think good accidents happen in science a lot more often than scientists want to admit."
The latest award from the magazine is one of several the team has won for experimenting with quantum dots tiny semiconductor crystals of cadmium selenide that absorb light and generate a charge.
Research associate James McBride, who at the time of the discover was studying the way quantum dots grow, had asked Michael Bowers repeatedly to make batches of smaller and smaller crystals.
Bowers, a graduate student in chemistry, put the nanocrystals into a small glass cell and illuminated it with a laser, expecting to see blue light. Instead he saw white.
The surprise discovery was that the tiny crystals can absorb blue light produced by light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and emit a warm white light.
The researchers say if they can learn how to get the quantum dots to consistently produce white light more efficiently, then quantum-dot-coated LEDs could someday replace light bulbs.
The team is currently working on ways to make the LEDs brighter. Although LEDs are found in accent lighting and flashlights, they are not white enough for general, light-bulb-like use.
The team published a scientific paper on the discovery in fall 2005. Bowers is now writing a second paper that could be published next spring or summer.
#1
Half of the world's electricity goes to produce light? I would have thought to run factories or refrigerators, but then I never did grasp applied economics. Still, I'd be willing to trade out my remaining incandescent lights for something better than compact fluorescents... when someday finally arrives.
#3
"But I think good accidents happen in science a lot more often than scientists want to admit."
This is one of the great myths of the non-science public's view of how science is done, and this guy is doing good science no favor by perpetuating the myth here.
Yes, there are a few notable exceptions, but science is almost never (read, less than 1/1000th of 1% of the time) a guy with a bad haircut shrieking "eureka" in a messy room full of bunsen burners and test tubes. Science is a long, laborious, painstaking process that requires patience, diligence, deiscipline, and a high tolerance for failure and going back to the proverbial drawing board.
Any time a "scientist" promotes any other idea about the field he is doing all good scientists a disservice, and furthers an incorrect sterotype to the public. The public would have an entirely different view of science if they understood what it is really like when done properly.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/07/2006 6:13
Comments ||
Top||
#4
True, no mo euro, and then that one experiment goes cockeyed, and something unexpected appears. The steady progress of science has resulted from careful execution of experimental design -- I watched my father do that all my life. And the use of the matrix array has resulted in more quickly determining boundary conditions and robust areas where efforts ought to be concentrated. However, the great leaps happen when there is a decidedly queer result that needs decidedly creative thinking to understand. I once sat in a seminar next to the research scientist who, while searching for improved methods to prevent chemical depositions on fabric from hard water used in washing machines, came upon the technique to provide bio-available calcium in citrus juice.
The seduction of science has always been that eureka moment. The joy of science is the successful execution of a well-designed experimental sequence leading to greater understanding, but only those who have been seduced will ever get to enjoy it. Most people are not willing even to be seduced when it looks easy; why would their attitude change if it looked like hard work?
#5
Legends of native Americans all speak of a heavenly light source which fires up (after suitable prayers and offerings are made) in the morning, stays on for up to 15 hours a day, requires no electricity, indeed, no source of fossil fuels to operate. In addition to providing light to see by, this source also promotes plant growth and development. Leading authorities sniff that this is merely a legend, and if it did exist, besides not being available for hours at a time every day, would contribute to global warming.
#6
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'
Issac Asimov
#7
And so you take my carefully thought out two full paragraphs of dependent clauses, and reduce to single memorable sentence. Darn you, Bright Pebbles! ;-)
#9
The acid test for LED light is whether the bands of light it produces are pleasing. This is why most people prefer incandescent to florescent lighting.
The best lighting is a bit expensive. It is an Ott light, named after the Walt Disney stop action photographer who invented it. He did a lot of research to find a natural light that was very conducive to plants and animals. Unfortunately, he put it in a light bulb that needs a special socket.
However, if you get the winter blues, it is well worth it to spend an hour a day reading a book under an Ott light.
#10
How many scientists does it take to replace a lightbulb?
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2006 11:43
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Legends of native Americans all speak of a heavenly light source which fires up (after suitable prayers and offerings are made) in the morning, stays on for up to 15 hours a day, requires no electricity, indeed, no source of fossil fuels to operate.
Yes, but there's a related avenue of research that maintains those "suitable prayers and offerings" must consist of human hearts ripped from living "offerings." And they have LOTS of empirical data to back this up.
In the broad details, there are striking similarities between the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and what is occurring in Lebanon today; between the "coup of Prague" and the "coup of Beirut," which Hizbullah and its comrades are presently sweating to implement.
As in Lebanon, the Czechoslovak communists benefited from a Cabinet crisis to kick off massive street protests. They controlled the government and the security ministries, and chose to act because they were expecting to lose ground in upcoming parliamentary elections. The communists had to strike quickly at a time when their external patron, the Soviet Union, was entering into a confrontation with the West. Indeed, Moscow had forced the Czech government to reverse its initial acceptance of Western aid under the Marshall Plan, fearing this would take Prague out of its orbit and offer more legitimacy to non-communist forces.
In Lebanon, too, Hizbullah is being pressed by its external patrons, Iran and Syria, to overthrow a system they fear losing. Syria seeks to reimpose its hegemony over Lebanon, and its priority is to undermine the tribunal dealing with the Hariri assassination. Iran, for its part, doesn't like the fact that United Nations Security Council 1701 is stifling Hizbullah along the Israeli border. Hizbullah may not control security ministries as the communists did in Czechoslovakia, but it has influential allies in the military, and its militia is more powerful than the army. It may not fear losing elections, but its setbacks in the July-August war, particularly the destruction visited on Shiites, obliged it to mobilize its supporters against the government so they would not turn their anger against the party. Like the Czech communists, Hizbullah is using both institutions and the street to seize power. It has also succeeded, like the communists did with the socialists in Czechoslovakia, in neutralizing a key actor whose opposition could have decisively damaged their ambitions: the Aounist movement.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Radical Iran has already said it does not recognize any international borders between Iran, versus Lebanon abdor Jerusalem, which by definition must include Syria's borders wid same. IRAN-SYRIA = RUSSIA-CHINA > THE TRUE TEST OF THEIR ANTI-ISRAEL-USA COLLUSIONS + ALLIANCE COMRADE-HOOD IS AFTER ISRAEL-USA GOES DOWN FOR THE COUNT, UNTO DEFAET = DESTRUCTION.
#2
Hizbullah's strategy is now clear, its repercussions dangerous. The party is pushing Lebanon into a protracted vacuum, in which low-level violence and economic debilitation become the norm.
Sounds like the Palestinian strategy all over again. Works like a charm for them, so why not give it a try. Abject poverty makes people so much more maleable.
Hizbullah's reckoning is profoundly cynical. Its manipulation of the alleged Shiite ability to withstand more hardship than other Lebanese shows disdain for Shiite aspirations. The fact that everyone will lose out after an economic meltdown, which is coming, seems obvious. But that Hizbullah should take it as a sign of strength that Shiites would lose relatively less because of their poverty is abhorrent.
So long as these terrorist puppets refuse to recognize how their war lords sentence them to absolute grinding poverty, they deserve the malnutrition, economic stagnation, high infant mortality and every single other pestilence that rides along with such apocalyptic conditions.
There can be no pitying of such monumental hatred. War lords and puppets alike nurse it within their souls like some grand legacy confered by divine ordination. It cannot be abandoned lest they lose their single remaining heritage; Hatred of the Jews.
This is all that their history has handed down to them. No great reputation for art, industry, literature, science, philosophy or medicine. Merely an undying devotion to murder, mayhem, torture and blind hatred.
One can only wonder if these fools ever ask themselves what their lot will be once all this strife comes to an end (as if they ever want it to). What then will they have to show for so many decades of vitriol and bile? What new tools will they have developed for wresting an honest living from the soil and resources around them?
Do they honestly think that the skills of piracy, war, conspiracy and skullduggery will bring them forward into a new age of accomplishment and wealth?
Such constant focus upon hate, harm and holy war deserves only one reward. Death. Death of the Palestinian people, their culture, their heritage and any claim they once thought to make upon the land they currently inhabit. Their's are the wages of evil.
#3
You know - I think the same could be said of the Democratic Party and their 'victim' groups (blacks, Latinos, etc...) which they freely give entitlements to....
Palestinian sources said Wednesday that the IDF had arrested over 40 Palestinians overnight Tuesday in a village near the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp, Israel Radio reported.
The Palestinians claimed the army was trying to put pressure on Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades leader Ibrahim Ahbed and his brother Ram Vil, who live in the village, to turn themselves in. According to report, most of those arrested were relatives and friends of the two. The army said it had arrested some 20 Palestinians in the West Bank, but denied that the arrests were meant to pressure the wanted Aksa commanders. Most of those detained were expected to be released at end of their investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well we shall need 1000 - 2000 to trade for Shalit.
Rawalpindi, Pakistan (AP) - The dusty, traffic-choked streets of this sprawling Pakistani metropolis are a world away from the crisp mountain streams and heather-covered glens normally associated with single-malt whiskeys.
But it's here in dusty Rawalpindi that the only malt whiskey distillery in the Muslim world is preparing to launch its newest product - a 21-year single malt that it claims will rival the best Scotch whisky.
"Very few distilleries anywhere in the world, even the high-end ones in Scotland, produce ... 21-year old malts," said M.P. Bhandara, chief executive of the Murree Brewing Company, announcing the launch of the new product, which goes on sale in January.
The new spirit, Murree's Millennium Reserve, will only be available to a small clientele of expatriates and non-Muslims in a land where prohibition has been enforced for 30 years. The distillery's product lines - including 8- and 12-year-old single malts - cannot be sampled abroad because Islamabad bans the export of alcoholic beverages...
#2
I'm reminded of Japan's attempts to replicate Scotch whiskey. Teams of scientists dispatched to Scotland to analyze water, peat, barley, etc. And when they exactly replicate the same in Japan, it still tastes like Sh&t.
#7
One of my few claims to fame is that I make a better Midori (Japanese for green) than the Japanese.
Or at least that's what the sheilas I invite home tell me. Actually the Japanese no longer make Midori, it is now made in Mexico.
In Australia they desecrate the drink by adding milk, and then having to say "Na Na Na Na" to a local football theme song.
#11
Pakistan's late military leader Zia-ul-Haq banned alcohol consumption by Muslims who constitute 97 per cent of the population more than 25 years ago. Murree Brewery, listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, was among the first modern breweries in Asia when it was established in 1861 at Ghora Gali near resort town Murree in the Pir Punjal ranges of the Western Himalayas.
Murree later added a distillery to its business and some of its premium brands include Murree's Classic Beer, 8-Year-Old Single Malt Whisky, Bols Silver Top Gin, Bolskaya Vodka and Beehive Brandy.
"We are in talks with some Indian companies, but it is in early stages," Mr Bhandara said in an interview. He declined to name the companies but added these were "the big ones in India".
Mr Bhandara who is also a Member of the Pakistan National Assembly was here as a part of a visit on an invitation from Government of India. He said Murree has no plans to take its alcoholic beverage business overseas and Pakistan has a ban in place on export or import of alcohol.
Stating that the approach of Pakistan to alcohol was "ambivalent", Mr Bhandara said the entire country was serviced through 66 licensed outlets and some of the big towns and cities went without shops. "But we try to make our business viable," Mr Bhandra who heads Murree that has diversified into fruit juices and glass manufacturing, said. The beer and liquor business accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the company's revenues, while fruit juices and glass manufacturing contributes 35 per cent and five per cent respectively.
The company's entire liquor and beer operations are now carried out at Rawalpindi after the Ghora Gali brewery was burnt during the Partition riots.
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2006 15:34
Comments ||
Top||
#12
liquor and beer operations are now carried out at Rawalpindi
Is that where ISI go for a nightcap after a hard days' work planning the global intifada?
#13
Many Pak Army Generals are quite fond of their whiskey.
Some even have a fondness for bacon - like the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah who regularly had bacon and eggs for breakfast and scotch in the afternoon.
The Pak dictator General Yahya Khan really loved his whiskey - "Black Dog".
Posted by: john ||
12/07/2006 16:23
Comments ||
Top||
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Iraqi conflict and Lebanon's power struggle with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday as part of Turkey's effort to play a greater role in regional affairs.
Erdogan, who flew to Syria early Wednesday, was making his second diplomatic initiative in the region in four days after a visit to Iran.
Before leaving Turkey, the prime minister said his talks in Damascus would focus on many of the issues he discussed with the Iranian government, such as the rising tension in Lebanon, the insurgency in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He was met at Damascus airport by Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari and driven to see President Assad.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
A coalition of terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir has lashed out at President Pervez Musharraf's new offer for a resolution of the India-Pakistan dispute over the State, describing his four-point charter as a "unilateral concession."
"Kashmiris cannot compromise on their right to self-determination," a spokesperson for the Pakistan-based United Jihad Council said in a press release faxed to newspaper offices in Srinagar late on Tuesday. Referring to Gen. Musharraf's suggestion that India-Pakistan supervise the autonomous or self-governed states of Jammu and Kashmir that would be created if his proposals are accepted, the UJC said that "options like joint control can only be acceptable if they are a stepping stone for the right to self-determination."
UJC leaders have become increasingly critical of India-Pakistan dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir in recent months. "Freedom is our goal," Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah in an October 30 interview, "and we will not accept anything under the Indian Constitution." He described plans for self-rule a formulation that figures in General Musharraf's new proposals as "a document of slavery."
Earlier, in May, the UJC had lamented what it described as the Pakistan Government's "weak and apologetic" policies on Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the "pointless moderation" of secessionist politicians. "Some so-called moderates are playing political showmen," the UJC had said, "and keep knocking at New Delhi door. They are part of Indian cunningness." Such hostile polemic, Indian security analysts believe, is an attempt to drive the best bargain possible in hard times "General Musharraf is under intense pressure from the United States of America to dismantle jihadi groups," a senior intelligence official told The Hindu. "He hopes to secure a quick political settlement on Jammu and Kashmir," the officer argued, "and then use it to compel the jihadis to shut shop."
Elements of the jihadi leadership appear to understand the new reality, and are seeking a political role. In one recent interview, the Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief dropped several preconditions for initiating a ceasefire, and appeared to suggest that he would be willing to consider joining the dialogue process. However, under intense pressure from his UJC partners, Mr. Shah soon resiled on this offer.
Interestingly, the political divisions in the Hizb ul-Mujahideen command on dialogue have manifested themselves down the terror group's command structure. Hizb leaders have, for example, been unable to decide on the competing claims of hawks and doves to succeed the recently-killed southern Kashmir divisional commander Mohammad Ashraf Shah a key go-between for the Hizb ul-Mujahideen and the People's Democratic Party. Javed ''Seepan'' Sheikh, an Anantnag-based policeman-turned-terrorist who strongly favours dialogue, and Pulwama district commander Parvez Dar, a hardliner who favours escalating violence, had both put in claims to lead the Hizb ul-Mujahideen's largest unit. Until a second meeting to be held later this month to decide these competing claims, Tral-based district commander Hanif Khan has been appointed acting divisional commander.
Frictions between the UJC and their patrons in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate have been evident since March, when 18 top jihad commanders staged an unprecedented public protest in Muzaffarabad. The protests followed the ISI's decision to terminate monthly subsidies ranging from Rs. 3,000,000 to Rs. 400,000 to Islamist terror groups operating against India. Hizb ul-Mujahideen supreme commander Mohammad Yusuf Shah, who operates under the nom de guerre Syed Salahuddin, is leading the protests, along with Lashkar-e-Taiba's Mohammad Zaki ur-Rahman, the Jaish-e-Mohammad's Abdul Rahman, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen's Maulana Farooq Kashmiri, al-Umar's Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, the Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front's Bilal Ahmad Beig and al-Badr's Bakht Zamin Khan. Speaking to The Hindu during the protests, UJC spokesperson Mohammad Kalimullah said the protesters wanted Gen. Musharraf to reverse policies that "dishonoured a war in which one hundred thousand Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives."
"Until he announces that Pakistan's moral and political support for the mujahideen in Kashmir will continue," Mr. Kalimullah said, "our leaders will remain on hunger strike. We will not back down."
Warnings from the ISI, though, led the protestors to call off the protests. Although terrorist groups continued to mount large-scale offensive operations against India, the protests failed to secure them additional funds and weapons. An investigation by Pakistan's prestigious Herald magazine, which was published in August, said there was a mood of "lethargy and disorientation" at jihadi training camps.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Negotiations for the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit are in their final stage, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said Wednesday.
Speaking about Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked terror operatives in June, Mubarak said "negotiations on releasing him are in their final stage and waiting for Hamas' approval."
Egypt had made considerable effort to resolve the crisis, Mubarak said, "but it seems that there other parties who are intervening against the interest of the Palestinian people."
Mubarak did not say who the "other parties" were, but he appeared to mean Syria, where Hamas' top leader Khaled Mashaal lives. He did not give additional details about the negotiations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Lebanese politician Saad Hariri in remarks published Wednesday said he was "reaching out" to Hizbullah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to stop the turmoil in Lebanon which he said was a Syrian plan to regain control of the country.
In the interview in the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Hariri called the mass public demonstrations going on in Beirut a coup against legitimacy.
The crisis in Lebanon was deeply-based in a Syrian plan to control Lebanon again with Iran's support, charged Hariri, who is head of the Future Bloc in the Lebanese parliament.
"We stood by Hizbullah and defended its weapons as long as it was a Lebanese party that represents a Lebanese resistance in the face of Israeli aggression," Hariri said. "But if Hizbullah turns its militias against the Lebanese, it will not only lose our support, it will also incite an internal sectarian turmoil that we warn against, and we are working hard to avoid that."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
As the debate over Iraq intensifies, leading Democrat Silvestre Reyes is calling for the deployment of more U.S. troops.
Dec. 5. 2006 - In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to dismantle the militias.
The soft-spoken Texas Democrat was an early opponent of the Iraq war and voted against the October 2002 resolution authorizing President Bush to invade that country. That dovish record got prominently cited last week when Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi chose Reyes as the new head of the intelligence panel.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Agreed - the Desm are still looking for a feel-good, PDeniable way to overtly come out in suppor of the CONSERVATIVE-RIGHT [SECULAR?]SOCIALIST-GOVTIST AGENDA. LEFTISM-LIBERALISM is dead and gone, so is LEFTISM-ALTERNATISM/LIBERTARIANISM + Lefty LAISSEZ FAIRE. Useful now only as elex-year TALKING POINTS, FULL OF SOUND AND FURY, MEANING NOTHING, at least while PRE-OWG, SOCIALIST = PRE/PSEUDO-COMMUNIST AMERIKA CONTINUES TO HAVE ELECTIONS. Truly feel sorry for the Hippies, ALterns + Bohemians, etc. of America.
#2
As the debate over Iraq intensifies, leading Democrat Silvestre Reyes is calling for the deployment of more U.S. troops.
You mean the 250,000 troops cut during the Clinton years? And you can pass that question to the Trunks who controlled Congress during that period too. Someone didn't ask and someone didn't challenge.
The IDF wounded two Palestinians on Wednesday as the men approached the Gaza border, the army said, raising concerns about the future of the shaky truce between the two sides that went into effect last week.
In one incident in northern Gaza, two men approached the border fence, the IDF said. One of them stood on a post and surveyed the area, while another appeared to be laying a mine near the border, it said. Nearby troops called on them to leave and fired warning shots in the air, driving the men off. They aimed too high!
A few minutes later, the men returned with others, and the soldiers again fired in the air. However, when one of the men continued working on the ground, the troops shot him, the army said. That's better!
In a separate incident, a Palestinian man approached the Erez crossing into Israel and ignored soldiers' warnings. The troops shot him in the lower body, the army said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
says a lot about how the "dreaded" IDF is viewed in reality. These a-holes weren't even phased by a warning shot -- prolly figured it would take a lot to be in real danger.
A Kassam rocket, fired from the Gaza Strip, landed in open territory in the western Negev on Wednesday afternoon. No one was wounded and No damage was reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm sure an ARCLIGHT strike down through the heart of the Gaza Strip would do wonders to improve the likelihood that the arabs would observe a cease-fire the next time they declared one. Of course, it would be difficult to NOT tip our hand, as we'd have to pull the Israelis back at least five miles from the border. Otherwise, we'd have lots of Israeli casualties, too. I'm also sure it would bring Hezbollah to the fear of God if we ran a few strikes down between the Israeli border and both sides of the Litani. Of course, that's just old ignorant me, who believes that superior firepower is a waste of time unless you use it to persuade the enemy to adopt your point of view.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/07/2006 15:30
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Old Pat. The only way to make peace with Arabs is to make a solitude and call it peace.
Fijis Great Council of Chiefs, the GCC, maintains that Ratu Josefa Iloilo is still the legal president and head of state of Fiji. This comes a day after the military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, made himself acting president and unsuccessfully sought the resignation of the prime minister. Commodore Bainimarama then announced that he had dissolved parliament and made new appointments. Soldiers also removed the vice president, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, from his office and his official residence yesterday.
The head of the Council of Chiefs, Ratu Ovini Bokini, said that the removal was illegal. Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi is a fine Chief and highly respected member of the legal profession, a former High Court Judge who is legally and unanimously appointed by the Chiefs. Ratu Jonis removal from office is illegal and unconstitutional and disrespectful.
Ratu Ovini Bokini says there is concern that the military may also attempt to remove the president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo from his residence after Government House issued a statement which failed to approve the military take-over. Ratu Ovini also says the GCC has called on all soldiers to "lay their arms down, return to barracks" and carry out their normal duties. And, New Zealands Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has again called on Fijian military officers to ask the commander, coup leader Frank Bainimirama, to step down.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport
By Debra Burlingame
Long piece at OpinionJournal -- too long even with Page 49 for reproducing here, so RTWT. Ms. Burlingame nails what happened, and since her brother died at the Pentagon, in the words of Maureen Dowd, she has 'absolute moral authority'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well written and logically thought out article. Of the three investigations underway, I hold out the least hope for the TSA receiving a vote of confidence; I expect the employees involved to receive some sort of 'sensitivity training' or other more negative actions. You can bet that there will then be follow up directives sent to the entire suitcase sniffing division of that sorry-ass agency ( having endured 7 arduous months working for this agency, I think I can speak with 'absolute morale authority')
Gloom. Doom. His bubble is intact. He B Green. Prince Charles launched his 'green revolution' with a stark warning that we are all 'living on borrowed time' if we don't stop eating up the world's resources.
In a forthright speech in front of leading figures, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Prince said: 'We are consuming the resources of our planet at such a rate that we are, in effect, living off credit and living on borrowed time. 'It is our children and grandchildren who will have to pay off this debt and we owe it to them and ourselves to do something about it before it is too late.'
The Prince launched his Costing The Earth The Accounting For Sustainability project at a forum at St James s Palace attended by politicians and business and faith leaders. They included the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, Lord Browne, chief executive of BP, and former US vice president Al Gore, a leading environmentalist whose film An Inconvenient Truth warns the world must act now to save itself.
The former Democratic US presidential candidate praised Charles's green initiative in a video message to the forum. He said it may be 'one of the most important initiatives' and stressed: 'We need to continue the effort to solve the climate crisis.'
The heir to the throne is determined to reduce his carbon footprint on the world. He encourages his staff to make trips around the capital on bicycle instead of taking cars or cabs. He could kill himself. That would do it.
Actor Stephen Fry and comedian Al Murray have teamed up to make a film in support of the Prince. Fry, a close friend of Charles, plays Planet Earth while Murray, otherwise known as the Pub Landlord, stars as the Moon in the appeal.
The Prince is set to label all his Duchy Originals range with details of greenhouse gases made during their production. The Queen has already gone green at Windsor Castle with a plan to use hydroelectric power.
The Duke of Edinburgh uses a taxi cab fuelled by liquid petroleum gas to travel around London, while water in a bore hole at Buckingham Palace is used to supply air conditioning to the Queen's gallery before topping up the water levels in the Palace lake.
Mr Gore visited Britain in September to promote his film. Charles is said to have met him privately at Highgrove to discuss their mutual passion for the environment. They swapped spit (Carbon) and CO².
#3
When is Chucky going to turn in the Royal Family's be-jewelled Hoss-and-Carriage for a simple 10-speed bike, or a CAMEL??? He asks his Staff to do it, but thus far no Media-hound photo evidence to show that he's done it, or intends to do it. HOW CAN THE LEFT STOP TAKING THEIR VALIUM + OTHER PSYCHOTIC MEDS IFF THEY HAVE TO DO WHAT THEY DEMAND EVERYONE ELSE HAS TO DO???
#4
It is Muslims who breed like flies and operate backward economies. The fact that those who come to the West, immediately attempt to export their primitivism, reveals the inherent stupidity of any follower of the Mohammad cult.
#9
In one charter trip from Old Blighty to the far reaches of the Empire, Charles uses more fuel in his royal jet than I do in 20 years of flying my bird.
Inherited wealth and the idle rich telling the rest of us how to live. Pfeh.
And we all are living on borrowed time. We all are gonna die. It is what we do with our borrowed time that counts. What have you been doing with your life, Charlie, me lad?
A pox, a proletarian pox on ye.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/07/2006 9:48
Comments ||
Top||
#10
What we have here is the ultimate example of a guy with too much time and too much money on his hands...
#11
'We are consuming the resources of our planet at such a rate that we are, in effect, living off credit and living on borrowed time. 'It is our children and grandchildren who will have to pay off this debt and we owe it to them and ourselves to do something about it before it is too late.'
Is he calling for U.S. welfare reform here? Sounds so much like domestic politicos, I just can't tell. I'ma sooooo confused.
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 10:04
Comments ||
Top||
#12
This was one of the wealthiest men who has ever lived. Time for a republic; if only for the energy savings on calorie-rich bloviation.
#13
I could be wrong but I thought most resources were recoverable, its just a cost matter. Yeah we can't get the oil back once it's been burned but plastics and metals can be remelted and reformed and the cost to do so is dropping all the time so by the time we start to run out there will be other options. Yeah wood can't be recycled but I've heard it grows on trees.
This is just idiocy. If he's right I might as well sell my stock in whale oil futures.
#14
Charles should take a leaf from his great uncle, Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor aka (albeit briefly) as Edward VIII / Duke of Windsor and, recognizing that he is not fit to be King, renounce the throne. In this case, he should step aside in favor of his son.
The federal government will form a team to investigate the incident where an Intelligence Bureau employee allegedly tried to plant a bomb outside the office of the NWFP chief minister, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters on Wednesday. The minister said action would be taken against those involved in this case in the light of the findings of the investigation team. He accused the chief minister of trying to gain political benefit from the incident and create trouble between the federal and province govts.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The United Nations will ask suckers donor countries to contribute a record $450 million (339 million) in aid to the Palestinians, whose economy has been devastated by international economic sanctions on the Hamas-led terrorist government, UN officials said Wednesday. Um... No. Thanks for playing.
About three-quarters of the $453 million (341 million) being requested is earmarked for guns and ammunition job creation, cash assistance and food aid, said David Shearer, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The UN is also asking for jizya money to support the Palestinians health and education system. The UN plans to officially launch its appeal Thursday. You should get Jerry Lewis to host it. The French will empty the treasury.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You write the first check, Coffi, then get a few bucks from your son's oil for food account.
#7
I think the succinct thing to say to Koffee would be, "No thanks, you first, arsewipe."
What a "parting gift" from Bolton that would be. The engineer in me wants to know details. Does anyone know how many "Palestinians" there are in total? If so, we could divide that cash amount by the population and just hand them each a check. Guess the squeeze and lack of Sammy's gifts for the "martyrs" is running REAL tight now, eh Coffee?
Posted by: BA ||
12/07/2006 11:35
Comments ||
Top||
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal on Wednesday accused federal intelligence agencies of carrying out all the recent explosions in the provincial capital.
NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai demanded that the federal government hand over two Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials allegedly involved in planting explosive material outside Chief Ministers House. He said that if the two officials were handed over to the provincial government, the truth behind all the blasts in Peshawar over the last two months can be unearthed.
If the accused men are not handed over to us, well be forced to believe that the federal government wants to sabotage the peaceful environment of the province before the elections, to damage the good name of the MMA government, he told a press conference at the Media Centre. Disagreeing with the federal governments claims that democratic institutions and the media were free in the country, the minister said that senior intelligence agency officials had forced TV channels and newspapers to kill the news about the incident. If intelligence agencies do not stop this practice, we will tell people about the incident through the MMA platform, and our representative will spread this news across the country, he said.
He said that a FIR had been registered against IB employee Tufail, who was nabbed red-handed while planting the explosive, and IB Joint Director Zafarullah Khan. It is unfortunate that Zafarullah not only got Tufail released, but also removed the explosive material from the police station, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I cant believe it but i agree with MMA for once that ISI were behind the explosions!!!!The ISI cause trouble all over the region!!!
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri arrives in Kabul today (Thursday) for talks on tribal councils aimed at stemming the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and putting an end to the worst fighting in that country since the regime was ousted in 2001.
The foreign ministers visit comes amid accusations from senior Afghan intelligence officials that Islamabad still supports the Taliban and warnings from Kabuls western allies that the insurgents are being bolstered by the ability to shelter in Pakistan.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed on holding jirgas of community leaders from each country to find a solution to the ongoing violence. We hope that the real representatives from across Pakistan will take part in the (Afghan) jirga, said Karim Rahimi, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Afghanistan wants all tribes to take part in the councils, not just the Pashtuns from the main Pakistani border areas. And bring your drums!
But still there is a big gap on positions of the two governments on jirgas and other issues, according to Rahimullah Yusufzai, a newspaper editor and expert on Afghan affairs. Pakistanis want more restricted jirgas that should include local tribal elders while Afghans are interested in broad-based gathering including parliamentarians, local councillors, representatives of civil society and NGOs, he said, adding that it was not easy to bridge this gap.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
We didn't hear much about this in the MSM over the past few years 'cos it was mostly Friends of Bill and other well-connected Dems running things at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fannie Mae erased $6.3 billion in profit in a long-awaited restatement Wednesday capping the accounting scandal that stunned financial markets and brought the ouster of top executives and a record fine against the government-sponsored mortgage leader.
*crickets*
The correction of its earnings from 2001 through June 30, 2004, ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission two years ago, was well below Fannie Mae's earlier estimate of $10.8 billion. The reworking of its accounting is costing the company some $1 billion this year to conduct. It is the first earnings statement filed by Fannie Mae, which finances one of every five home loans in the United States, since late 2004.
*crickets*
The scandal erupted in the fall of that year when federal regulators accused Washington-based Fannie Mae with its long-standing prestige, vaunted political clout and reputation for financial excellence of serious accounting problems and earnings manipulation to meet Wall Street targets.
*crickets*
Last May, the federal agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its smaller sibling in the $8 trillion home-mortgage market, issued a blistering report alleging a six-year accounting fraud at Fannie Mae, the second-largest U.S. financial institution after Citigroup Inc. Regulators said the scheme included manipulations to reach quarterly earnings targets so that company executives could pocket hundreds of millions in bonuses from 1998 to 2004.
*crickets*
Fannie Mae paid a record $400 million civil fine in a settlement with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and the SEC. It also agreed to limit the growth of its multibillion-dollar mortgage holdings, capping them at $727 billion, and to make top-to-bottom changes in its corporate culture, accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.
*crickets*
The completion of the restatement "is a key step forward for the company and represents two years of hard work," OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart said in a statement Wednesday. "Much remains to be done. ... Fannie Mae faces enormous challenges in fixing its operational and risk management systems, in (financial controls) compliance, and in producing audited financial statements for 2005 and 2006." In detailing its restatement, Fannie Mae cited a $7 billion net decrease from previously reported earnings for periods prior to 2002, a $705 million reduction for 2002, a $176 million increase for 2003 and a $1.2 billion increase for the first six months of 2004.
*crickets*
Freddie Mac, which also is government-sponsored and has its stock publicly traded, had its own accounting scandal that came to light in June 2003. The company misstated earnings by some $5 billion mostly underreported for 2000-2002 to smooth out volatility in profit and uphold its image on Wall Street as a steady performer.
*crickets*
Over the last two years, Fannie Mae has disclosed a passel of new accounting problems that had been uncovered in several areas, including its core business of issuing securities backed by the billions of dollars of home mortgages annually that it buys from lenders and bundles together for resale to investors worldwide. Other problems were revealed in loans, houses acquired through foreclosures, interest on delinquent home loans and reverse mortgages. They all were in addition to the accounting-rule violations that came to light in September 2004 involving derivatives, the financial instruments that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac use to hedge against swings in interest rates.
*crickets*
Fannie Mae's chief executive Franklin Raines, a prominent Washington figure who was White House budget director in the Clinton administration, was swept out of office in December 2004 along with then-chief financial officer Timothy Howard.
Lockhart has said his agency was considering suing former executives to recover tainted bonus money if Fannie Mae failed to recoup it.
*crickets*
Fannie Mae escaped criminal prosecution over the accounting failure. The Justice Department had pursued a criminal investigation, but federal prosecutors said in August that they had shut down their probe without bringing any action. The SEC still could bring civil actions against individual executives, including people no longer at Fannie Mae, with the burden of proof less stringent than in criminal prosecutions.
Do you remember reading about *any* of this???????????
#2
Read hints about it months ago. The exact amount is not a surprise. Whether any of the responsible parties are punished is the question. Fiddling with financial figures to line the pockets of executives seems to be very, very common these last 10-15 years.
Huge discrimination against women in the Arab world is holding back overall economic prosperity and social development in the region, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
An Arab renaissance cannot be accomplished without the rise of women in Arab countries, the Arab Human Development Report 2006 said. Directly and indirectly, it concerns the well-being of the entire Arab world.
The UN Development Programmes report, which was compiled by Arab experts and academics, said countries in the region must give women more access to the tools of development, such as education and health care, and consider positive discrimination.
In many nations, womens exclusion is enshrined in laws that specifically restrict their activities, even though the constitutions of most Arab states would provide a basis to eliminate bias, according to the report. The business of writing the law, applying the law and interpreting the law is governed above all by a male-oriented culture, the report entitled Towards the rise of women in the Arab world said. That does seem to be what their holy book had in mind.
A complex web of cultural, social, economic and political factors, some ambiguous in nature, keeps Arab women in thrall, the report said, pointing to cultural hangovers and the way societies are structured to deal with education and the family.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Huge discrimination against women in the Arab world is holding back overall economic prosperity and social development in the region, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
While women's rights definitely represent a steadily-ignored rhinocerous in the Arab living room, as usual, they've omitted any mention of the ever-present elephant; Namely, Islamic terrorism.
Any "Arab Renaissance" is going to be held back a whole lot longer, if not permanently, by the strong possibility of nuclear annihilation in retaliation for continued terrorist atrocities. Women's rights, however important they very much are, pale in comparison to the MME (Muslim Middle East) developing some sort of industrial and agricultural infrastructure instead of the current one that relies almost exclusvely on petroleum and religious war.
#2
Huge discrimination against women in the Arab world is holding back overall economic prosperity and social development in the region, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
I'm curious. Can anyone name any major national entity that is economically successful that doesn't allow women reasonable levels of opportunity and equality?
#3
I still like Michael Yon's piece Empty Jars as to why it is such a problem for any advancement in the musselman's world.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/07/2006 10:35
Comments ||
Top||
#4
If those wimmins would peek out of their sacks occaisionally, they could change things fast. I believe I just heard a press report recently about some female who became very upset about her companions' extracurricular activities. So after he was sound asleep, she poured some gasoline on his genital area, dropped the match and he awoke to fried hotdog and beans. This would work well in Islamo society.
#7
The problem is that the right to bully women is one of main "attractions" of Islam. Especially for pimply faced adolescent men with no social skills.
If you have to treat women with respect, you might as well be an Infidel.
Alo
Posted by: frozen Al ||
12/07/2006 15:17
Comments ||
Top||
Iran will complete its nuclear research and development work by March 2007, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday. You're too late! Don't even try to stop us! Neener, neener!
Tehran says it will expand its atomic work by installing 3,000 centrifuges, devices used to enrich uranium. Experts say with 3,000 centrifuges in place, Tehran could make enough material for at least one warhead a year.
Notwithstanding that Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on July 1, 1968 and ratified the treaty 19 months later, the U.S., France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom have accused Iran of a clandestine intention to develop nuclear weapons.
A 2005 assessment by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a prestigious London, U.K.-based think tank, concluded "If Iran threw caution to the wind, and sought a nuclear weapon capability as quickly as possible without regard for international reaction, it might be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon by the end of this decade, assuming no technical problems. More plausible development programs Iran could choose to follow would take over a decade."
The future U.S. Secretary of State for Defense, Robert Gates, in a hearing in front of the Senate Wednesday, said that it was impossible to rule out the possibility of an Iranian nuclear attack against Israel. "If Teheran acquires a nuclear bomb, no-one can guarantee that it will not be used to wipe Israel off the face of the map (the words of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)", he said. What year was that?
#1
Also on SPACEWAR.com > but a part of article where MOud warns West to believe in God or "vanish" from earth + histoire'. As s aid before, the Russians themselves believe Iran may become "self sufficient" for either indigen/domestic energy as well as for nuke weapons-grade materials bwtn Jan-April 2007. IOW, as taken collectively, by these sources ANY SANCTIONS = UNSC REFERRALS-ACTIONS OCCURRING AFTER MARCH-APRIL 2007 CAN BE CONSIDERED PASSE', as RADICAL IRAN = RADICAL TERROR NOW HAVE ACCESS TO WEAPONS-GRADE NUKE TECHS. The Doomsday Clock for AMERICAN = later WESTERN HIROSHIMAS JUST LEAPED CLOSER TO MIDNITE.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days. Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.
Those who do not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."
He said that the courts are announcing the edict over loudspeakers in the town. The decision is not binding on courts in other towns. Won't have to be.
Somalia's Islamic courts have made varying interpretations of Quranic law, some applying a more strict and radical version of Islamic law than others. As a result of such disparate variations, residents in the capital of Mogadishu complained, forcing the Council of Islamic Courts officials in October to set up an appeals court with better-educated judges.
Their sometimes strict and often severe interpretation of Islam has raised the specter of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries. Some of the courts have introduced public executions, floggings of convicts, bans on women swimming at Mogadishu's public beaches, and the sale and chewing of khat, a leafy stimulant consumed across the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."
It is a bit hard to practice Islam fully without your head. Still, much of Islam is brain-optional.
#2
Remember that such prayers are not done in the privacy of home, but in the street; public prayer has been a great tool of the islamic order : everybody must show his devotion to the Master Religion by praying ostencibly five times a day; perfect way to spot the mild and the recalcitrant.
Side effect is, a society which grinds to a perfect halt five times daily is not going to be very productive, but, hey, scriptural answer is to plunder neighbouring non-muslim societies, so, no big deal.
As the opposition demonstration in the heart of the capital seemed to lose some of its momentum on its sixth day, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said protests will escalate if Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government fails to accept demands for a unity government. "If the prime minister and his camp continue to monopolize power, there will be an escalation of popular pressure," Aoun told AFP in an interview on Wednesday. "We will paralyze the government, we will force it to go into a deep coma," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Hard Rock Café, one of the most recognisable brands in the world, is to be sold to a Native American tribe in a deal that values the restaurant chain owned by Rank at about $960m.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, a collaboration between the Seminole tribe of Florida and Hard Rock International, has been in exclusive negotiations with Rank for more than two weeks.
"Law & Order" star Sam Waterston plays a prosecutor on TV, but offscreen he has a new role as pitchman for Unity08 - a grass-roots drive to run a bipartisan presidential ticket in two years with candidates chosen by a national primary on the Internet.
"I've been waiting for an idea like this for a long time. ... A nonpartisan process of nominating a presidential and vice presidential candidate ... taking money out of the race," Waterston said yesterday in a telephone press conference announcing his support.
The 66-year-old Yale University-educated star of "The Killing Fields" said he is not a candidate for office and that the movement is not supporting anyone at this time.
The group, whose backers include ex-Jimmy Carter aide Hamilton Jordan, former Gerald Ford adviser Doug Bailey and ex-AOL chief Steve Case, is still working out procedures for qualifying candidates, who will be required to run in bipartisan pairs.
Under the plan, registered voters could cast ballots online in a nationwide primary to pick the ticket. Then volunteers would petition states to get the Unity08 candidates on ballots for the 2008 election, the group's Web site says.
"Through Unity08, for the first time we are going to throw out the back-room deals," Waterston says in a video posted on the site. "You'll vote. You'll decide. Not the consultants and spin doctors. Not the special interests. Not the lobbyists."
Posted by: Dar ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I think I prefer Arthur BranchFred Thompson's politics.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/07/2006 0:56
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Isn't that sorta how they used to do it back in the day? First place gets the Presidency; second gets the Veep?
#3
"I've been waiting for an idea like this for a long time. ... A nonpartisan process of nominating a presidential and vice presidential candidate ... taking money out of the race," Waterston said yesterday in a telephone press conference announcing his support.
"Taking money out of the race" will never, never, never, NEVER happen and Sam knows this. It's just a polite fig leaf to cover the fact that Sam's choices haven't been electable thus far.
However, if this idea gets any traction, my vote is for JoeMendiola!
Joe! Joe! Joe!
#6
"Taking money out of the race"
If they really want that, you must first take the POWER out of the results of the race. If there is nothing of importance to influence, there wouldn't be much incentive to try.
Being dissed right out of the gate by the NYT. Yep, this puppy's DOA.
The military recommendations issued yesterday by the Iraq Study Group are based more on hope than history and run counter to assessments made by some of its own military advisers. Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States has struggled in vain to tamp down the violence in Iraq and to build up the capacity of Iraqs security forces. Now the study group is positing that the United States can accomplish in little more than one year what it has failed to carry out in three.
In essence, the study group is projecting that a rapid infusion of American military trainers will so improve the Iraqi security forces that virtually all of the American combat brigades may be withdrawn by the early part of 2008. By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq, the study group says.
Jack Keane, the retired Army chief of staff who served on the groups panel of military advisers, described that goal as entirely impractical. Based on where we are now we cant get there, General Keane said in an interview, adding that the reports conclusions say more about the absence of political will in Washington than the harsh realities in Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Once the Sunni-Shia sectarianism is won by one side, any anti-US/Western elements will turn next agz the US-suppor Government. Just as US Lefties are describing Communism-Socialism in Amer AS ANYTHING BUT. SO ALSO IS "RETREAT/DEFEAT" NOT BEING CALLED SAME BY AMER's OWN LEADERS. Whom is going to believe, even amongst world Islam, that "Training Standards-Criterions" will be maintained in the absence of US-led nation building + likely on-going, pervasive Sectarianism including agz the US-led authorities.
GET REAL.
There have been scattered shootings and bombings in southern Thailand, which officials say are the work of suspected Muslim armed groups. Six people died in four attacks in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, on Wednesday. In the Bannang Satar district of Yala, two Buddhist men on a rubber plantation were also shot and killed.
Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, but most people in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat are Muslim, with some armed groups waging a separatist campaign. Sirichai Suksaaran, police lieutenant of Bannang Satar, said: "The insurgents target Buddhists in an attempt to scare them away from their villages." More than 200 Buddhists from two villages in Yala evacuated their villages last month.
Suspected fighters ambushed and killed two policemen who were patrolling Yarang district and Pattani province. In Narathiwat province, two men entered a shop and shot the owner at close range. They were believed to be separatists, police said, because they did not take any money from the victim.
Also in Yala, in the Krong Pinang district, a bomb concealed in a fire extinguisher and buried by the roadside killed a soldier as his patrol drove by in a Humvee. Two other soldiers in the vehicle were injured in the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2006
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
According to the AP article, exerpts of Professor Stein's letter ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mr. Carter may have to move to New York City if he wants a social life after this.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and AP 
Hundreds of people were left homeless today after a tornado ripped through residential streets in north London. Dave Bonner, of London Fire Brigade, said about 100 homes had been damaged in "freak weather", injuring six people in Kensal Rise.
Radiation has been found at the British Embassy in Moscow, it emerged yesterday. On Monday, officials said a room there would be tested as a precaution after former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi went there to deny involvement in poisoning Alexander Litvinenko. 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants are in their final stage, according to a newspaper report on Wednesday. Militants linked to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, crossed the Gaza border into Israel and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June. 
Three days ago, Irans dictator, Supreme Leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei, was rushed to the vast medical facility traditionally known as Vanak hospital (it now has an Arabic name that means the 12th Imam Hospital), a 1,200-room facility that saves half of its beds for the leadership.
AL KISIK, Iraq The 3rd Iraqi Army Division ceremoniously took the lead here Monday in providing security for Iraqs people, becoming the seventh Iraqi Army division to assume control from coalition forces and the third division to now fall under the command and control of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command. 
SABA AL BOR, Iraq - Iraqi Police raided a home here Dec. 3 rescuing a woman and young child who were captured earlier in the week by alleged terrorists. 
Case of the Dwindling Docket Mystifies the Supreme Court
Duty on fuel and flights increases in campaign to cut emissions
U.S. offers N. Korea aid, with restrictions
Gitmo Detainees Plied With Movies, Fast Food by Interrogators
SEATTLE (AP) - An Algerian convicted of plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport at the turn of the millennium has written a letter to the judge who sentenced him to 22 years in prison and his lawyers fear it could hurt his chances of winning an appeal. 
Al Qaeda may not have carried out any major attack on the West in 2006, but the next one is only a matter of time and Osama bin Laden and his followers enter 2007 stronger than ever, experts believe.
Three parallel investigations into the removal of six imams from a US Airways flight last month have so far concluded that the airline acted properly, that the imams' claims they were merely praying and their eviction was racially inspired are without foundation.
Omar Shahin -- one of the imams and the group's spokesman -- said the men did not behave out of the ordinary while on the plane, and that passengers overreacted because some of the imams conducted prayers in the concourse before boarding. 
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is reviewing the actions of department members who were involved in the incident. 
Mr. Shahin told television reporters that he needed the seat-belt extension because he weighs 280 pounds. However, the police report lists his weight as 201 pounds. Weights listed for the other imams ranged from 170 pounds to 250 pounds. 
The regional strategy is a euphemism for throwing Free Iraq to the wolves in its neighborhood: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, said the Center for Security Policy, regarded as being close to the Pentagon. If the Baker regional strategy is adopted, we will prove to all the world that it is better to be America's enemy than its friend. Jim Baker's hostility towards the Jews is a matter of record and has endeared him to Israel's foes in the region.
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. 
As already noted here on NewsBusters, the Senate held a hearing today examining the role of the media in promoting climate alarmism. With others covering the newsmaking part of the discussion, I decided to drop by to observe things from a blogger's point of view.
Boxer provided the best example. She began her statement with a grab bag of short, context-less quotations from various businesses and government agencies about how global warming is a humongous problem that needs immediate action. Most of her quotes were from non-scientific groups and were not even about the subject of the media's coverage of climate change, the topic of the hearing. 
A Pakistani man and woman convicted of drug smuggling were beheaded on Wednesday in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Interior Ministry said. Mohammed Rafiq Miyassid and Abajan Mohammed Rafiq, who appears to be his daughter, were caught bringing heroin into the kingdom in their stomachs, the ministry said in a statement on the official SPA news agency.
Hamas officials have managed to smuggle more than $66 million in cash through the Rafah border crossing in the past eight months, a member of the Hamas-led government revealed Wednesday.
The six-party 
Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.
The United States on Wednesday froze the U.S. assets of nine people and two businesses in the border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay who Washington said helped funnel millions of dollars to Lebanon's Hezbollah. The U.S. government considers Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group whose guerrillas fought a 34-day war with Israel in July and August, a terrorist organization. The Treasury said the people and businesses raised and transferred cash for Hezbollah through the so-called triple border area between the South American countries, which is home to a large Arab community.
British police say they are now treating the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, as a murder inquiry. "Detectives investigating the death of Alexander Litvinenko have reached the stage where it is felt appropriate to treat it as an allegation of murder," London's Metropolitan police said in a statement on Wednesday. "Detectives from the counter-terrorism command are pursuing many lines of inquiry, both in the UK and Russia, and have spoken to a number of witnesses in connection with the death." 
The AQ Khan network could not have carried out its activities without the awareness of the Pakistani government, the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destru-ction Commission said in a report.
Nancy Pelosi, the incoming Democratic speaker of the House, on Wednesday praised the Iraq Study Group's report on the Iraq war and said the report proves "that the President's Iraq policy has failed and must be changed."
Thirteen people, including three federal police officers, were wounded on Wednesday in a grenade attack by suspected Islamist militants in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), police said. A grenade was hurled at a bunker of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar, a police spokesman said, adding that three policemen and 10 civilians were hurt in the attack.
NASHVILLE - A team of scientists at Vanderbilt University have been given an award from Popular Mechanics magazine for a discovery that could someday replace the common light bulb, the researchers say.
In addition to providing light to see by, this source also promotes plant growth and development. Leading authorities sniff that this is merely a legend, and if it did exist, besides not being available for hours at a time every day, would contribute to global warming. 
In the broad details, there are striking similarities between the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and what is occurring in Lebanon today; between the "coup of Prague" and the "coup of Beirut," which Hizbullah and its comrades are presently sweating to implement. 
Rawalpindi, Pakistan (AP) - The dusty, traffic-choked streets of this sprawling Pakistani metropolis are a world away from the crisp mountain streams and heather-covered glens normally associated with single-malt whiskeys. 
A coalition of terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir has lashed out at President Pervez Musharraf's new offer for a resolution of the India-Pakistan dispute over the State, describing his four-point charter as a "unilateral concession." 
As the debate over Iraq intensifies, leading Democrat Silvestre Reyes is calling for the deployment of more U.S. troops.
The IDF wounded two Palestinians on Wednesday as the men approached the Gaza border, the army said, raising concerns about the future of the shaky truce between the two sides that went into effect last week. 
A Kassam rocket, fired from the Gaza Strip, landed in open territory in the western Negev on Wednesday afternoon. No one was wounded and No damage was reported.
Fijis Great Council of Chiefs, the GCC, maintains that Ratu Josefa Iloilo is still the legal president and head of state of Fiji. This comes a day after the military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, made himself acting president and unsuccessfully sought the resignation of the prime minister. Commodore Bainimarama then announced that he had dissolved parliament and made new appointments. Soldiers also removed the vice president, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, from his office and his official residence yesterday.
Prince Charles launched his 'green revolution' with a stark warning that we are all 'living on borrowed time' if we don't stop eating up the world's resources.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri arrives in Kabul today (Thursday) for talks on tribal councils aimed at stemming the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and putting an end to the worst fighting in that country since the regime was ousted in 2001. 
Huge discrimination against women in the Arab world is holding back overall economic prosperity and social development in the region, a United Nations report said on Wednesday. 
Iran will complete its nuclear research and development work by March 2007, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days. Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.
There have been scattered shootings and bombings in southern Thailand, which officials say are the work of suspected Muslim armed groups. Six people died in four attacks in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, on Wednesday. In the Bannang Satar district of Yala, two Buddhist men on a rubber plantation were also shot and killed.
