#3
Solar activities + Space Rocks aside, any strange lineal light beams oer the USDOD testing area known as Guam-WESTPAC is likely SSSSHHHHHHH US SPACE/ORBITAL STRIKE.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon, as two different scandals rage on in which he has provided allegedly misleading information to Congress.
Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric Inaction Jackson Holder's emissary in congressional communications, will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.
The DOJ official is the same Holder deputy who falsely told Congress that neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nor any part of the Department of Justice ever allowed illicit firearms to "walk" across the U.S.-Mexico border -- even as contrary facts emerged from the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
On Feb. 4, 2011, Weich wrote to Congress that the idea that "ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico ... is false."
"ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," Weich added in that letter.
The DOJ has since retracted Weich's letter but has not held anyone accountable for providing that misinformation to Congress, or for Operation Fast and Furious itself.
Scores of politicians -- 125 House members, three U.S. Senators, two governors -- and many major political figures including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... have demanded Holder's resignation or firing over Fast and Furious.
In February, Weich denied the Justice Department's involvement in another scandal. The Daily Caller learned that the DOJ had failed to arrest and prosecute several indicted financial criminals because of an alleged bribery scheme. Weich said the DOJ had no knowledge of any bribery.
But TheDC's investigation unearthed allegations that two DOJ prosecutors on a team of more than 25 accepted cash bribes from indicted finance executives in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And USVI Gov. John de Jongh allegedly accepted part of at least $20 million in cash bribes in exchange for favors from his administration. At least five other prosecutors, according to TheDC's well-placed source in the DOJ, were compromised.
Weich's letter denying the allegations was carefully worded. He addressed few specifics in TheDC's reporting or in the letter Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent him requesting additional information. His response made no mention of sealed indictments, or of the lengthy investigation the DOJ conducted into the financial irregularities at the center of the Virgin Islands case.
Instead, Weich challenged only The Daily Caller's decision to give its source protection through anonymity, claiming the DOJ has no knowledge of the alleged bribes explored in the story.
"The Department is not aware of facts supporting any allegations of bribery, as purported by the article," Weich wrote.
DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not responded to months of questions from TheDC about the specifics of this story. Schmaler also didn't respond on Wednesday when asked what connection, if any, Weich's resignation has to Operation Fast and Furious, or to the Virgin Islands case.
#1
I have written to Congressman Darrell Issa and to Katie Pavlich, author of the new best seller 'Fast and Furious' imploring them to have a look at the former Ambassador to Mexico and the entire Country Team. Someone in the US Embassy and State Department knew something, they simply had to.
#2
So, let me get this straight; if you are a private citizen or sports guy (Roger Clements for example) and you lie to Congress, you get multiple trials until they hang you; however, if you are a Government Official and lie to Congress (especially if you are a Democrat), you get to be Dean of a Law School! What a crock!
#3
Weich previously served as Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and as counsel to former Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Penn., according to the Justice Department. Prior to that, he worked in private practice. He is a native New Yorker, and a graduate of Columbia University and the Yale Law School.
A real scumbag but he shouldn't be the only one to go, and it should be to prison, not Baltimore. Sounds like quite a few Dems may have taken tainted money.
Fire up the pop corn.
The French president, who is struggling in his bid to be re-elected, said he intended to insert the "balanced budget" rule into the French constitution, as agreed in the pact. But in a concession that will dismay the German Chancellor, he said he was prepared offer the electorate a say on the controversial issue.
"If the Senate were to block the rule's adoption, then before the end of 2012 I would organise a referendum to ask the French people what they think," he said.
Ms Merkel has said that the pact, which binds eurozone countries to keeping their deficits below 3pc, was "non-negotiable" and would "last forever".
Mr Sarkozy had been her key ally, along with Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister who was deposed at the weekend amid a political rebellion against the pact. The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix said elections would be held on September 12.
Francois Hollande, the front-runner in the French presidential race after the first round on Sunday, said on Wednesday he planned to re-write the fiscal pact to make it a "growth pact". The socialist leader told reporters that if he were elected on May 6, he would immediately send a letter to EU leaders to propose a new agreement that would include a financial transactions tax and so-called eurobonds, or debt issued by the eurozone collectively.
When his 10-year-old son, Akian, started getting into trouble at school, Stuart Chaifetz was stunned. The notes from Horace Mann Elementary School in Cherry Hill, N.J., said that Akian, who has autism, was having violent outbursts and hitting his teacher and his aide -- behavior that the boy had never exhibited before.
"I could not understand why this was happening," Chaifetz, a 44-year-old animal rights activist in New Jersey, wrote on his website. "I had never witnessed Akian hit anyone, nor could I dream of him lashing out as had been described to me."
In October 2011, he met with Akian's teachers and school therapists. A behaviorist was called in, but during several classroom visits he didn't see Akian become violent. "He tried to create a scenario that would push Akian so far that he would lash out," Chaifetz explained. "And Akian did not."
"If Akian was pushed and didn't do anything, what was setting him off?" his dad wondered. After six months of meetings yielded no answers, he decided that he needed to know what was happening in his son's class. Like Akian, all of the other kids in his class also have autism, and complications from the disorder prevent them from being able to communicate to their parents about what goes on in the classroom.
"The morning of February 17, I put a wire on my son, and I sent him to school," Chaifetz says in a video he created to showcase the audio clips. "What I heard on that audio was so disgusting, vile, and just an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son, that happened not by other children, but by his teacher, and the aides -- the people who were supposed to protect him. They were literally making my son's life a living hell."
The recordings are raw and intense. Angry adults yell at kids to "shut up," "shut your mouth," and "knock it off." Adults have inappropriate personal conversations in front of the children, discussing how drunk they were the night before, complaining about their husbands, and talking in detail about adult issues. More than once, an adult goads Akian to the point of tears -- and then laughs at him.
"Go ahead and scream," one adult hisses menacingly at Akian. "Because guess what? You're going to get nothing... until your mouth is shut."
And later: "Oh, Akian, you are a bastard."
"The six and a half hours of audio I had proved that my son wasn't hitting the teacher because there was something wrong with him -- he was lashing out because he was being mocked, mistreated and humiliated," Chaifetz writes on his website, No More Teacher/Bully. "His outbursts were his way of expressing that he was being emotionally hurt at school."
Chaifetz gave the entire six-and-a-half-hour recording to the Cherry Hill School district. One aide, Jodi Sgouros, was fired. Another aide and the teacher, whom the Collingswood Patch identifies as Kelly Altenburg, were reassigned but not fired. Oh, the lucky kid who gets him as a teacher now...
"I don't know why the teacher wasn't fired," Chaifetz writes on his blog. "Maybe the District had no choice; perhaps tenure or HR regulations did not permit them to do so. I know that they were sincere and shocked when they found out what happened. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in this."
On Tuesday, officials at the Horace Mann School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, directed calls from Yahoo! Shine to the Cherry Hill School District's offices; a call to a spokesperson there was not immediately returned. Cherry Hill Public School District spokesperson Susan Bastnagel told the Collingswood Patch on Tuesday only that the incident is "an internal personnel matter that the district took seriously and handled appropriately."
Chaifetz disagrees, and has started a Facebook page and launched a petition at Change.org calling for the teacher's dismissal. He's already gathered nearly 18,500 signatures. "No one who treats children like that, who calls them vicious names, who humiliates them, who batters them verbally, deserves to be a teacher," Chaifetz says in the video.
"How is it possible that teachers and staff can do these things, and you have evidence -- not just accusations, but evidence -- and they're still teaching?" he said in an interview with Babble.com. To me, that's the bigger outrage here. How many times has this happened before? How many times will it happen again if I remain quiet?"
For his part, Chaifetz says that what he really wants from the teacher and aides involved is a public apology and a willingness to take responsibility for their actions.
"I want an apology, not for me, but so one day I can play this video back for my son and say Akian, you didn't deserve anything that happened to you," he says in the video. "I'm not going to sue anybody. I'm not going to file a lawsuit. It's not about money. It's about dignity. This is to reclaim my son's dignity."
(CBS) -- Health officials on Tuesday reported the rise of a troubling new trend in Southland emergency rooms: teenagers being treated for alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer. Bugwits!
John Brooks reports teens are using a "relatively new" method of gleaning alcohol from the popular over-the-counter product.
At least six Southland teens have been treated for drinking hand sanitizer -- which is 62 percent ethyl alcohol -- after zero cases were reported last year. No one took Chemistry class, did they?
Dr. Cyrus Rangan, chief of toxicology for the Los Angeles County Health Department, said kids have figured out how to distill the alcohol and turn it into a 120-proof drink. 120 proof? Pikers!"Very often, they will get drunk at home or at a party or something like that, and they won't necessarily be coming to the emergency department, but because of the potency of these products, some of these children will get very highly intoxicated and require a visit to the emergency department," said Rangan.
While there have been cases in recent years of people suffering alcohol poisoning after drinking straight hand sanitizer, Rangan said the method of using salt to separate alcohol from the sanitizer is "like drinking shots of hard liquor". Not quite. Most "hard liquor" is 80 proof.
Deaths have been reported in other states from mixing mouthwash and hand sanitizer together. Gotta watch out for the methanol and rubbing alcohol that is also in these products.
Rangan advises parents to keep hand sanitizer safely stored when not in use and to consider buying foam sanitizers or other products that don't list ethanol as a primary ingredient. Well, it's probably better than letting them drink beer under adult supervision...
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/25/2012
14:47 ||
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#1
Back in my day Aqua Velva after shave was the choice.
#2
Soon(tm), have to give up your drivers license to get hand sanitizers over the counter from the pharmacists. Wonder what the bets are in Vegas on it?
#1
This simple point needs to be repeated over and over. You can always spend more, but there isn't always more money to tax.
The other things that really grates is that when government borrows money it is essentially taxing future generations -- i.e. people who can't yet vote. Taxing people who can't vote to give goodies to people who can is anti-democratic. It represents a fundamental breakdown of our system of government.
A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it's attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.
The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families' land.
Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work "in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials." But you can hire an illegal alien to do the work; he can get amnesty. You can't, comrade, sorry...
"Prohibited places of employment," a Department press release read, "would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions."
The new regulations, first proposed August 31 by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, would also revoke the government's approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course. The answer to everything is NOT more government asshole! STOP FUCKING HELPING!!
He is really asking for a popular rebellion, isn't he?
I make this statement with no less than the full weight: This would destroy the family farm and ranching industry. A farm and ranch is nothing but the use of raw materials. A farm and ranch includes all of these prohibited items. It is a source of employment. It is a skill set which must be learned early. It is not a job someone just starts. The kids love it, it is actual satisfying work.
These young farm hands must learn animal and mechanical awareness from an early age. Our 4-H and FFA are exceptional.
I know government training programs. They are a fkn joke. Nothing beats real on the job training by people they not only trust but grew up with. There is what I call farm tough, it is a body conditioning I have only other encountered with gymnastics. Never arm wrestle a kid who has been humping hay for even one season.
#2
It's just not him. It's the whole mindset of the Beltway Urban culture, otherwise it would stop at the gates of the WH. As long as Congress refuses to limit the number of employees, as it does with DoD, in the other agencies and departments, to the point where they have to prioritize just to get some of their tasks/missions barely done, this kind of drivel will continue. That's why the end its the Beltway Party vs everyone else.
#4
Various Ag agencies have been pushing for one of those famous exemptions for over a year now; so its not like DOL is unaware of this resistance or consequences of action.
In fact it paves the way for Big Business to swoop in and take over Agriculture. It is what mercantiles would call Main Street, and this will flat demolish that cultures ability live on and work the land they grew up on.
Go ahead and see what happens to the price and quality of your foodstuff. Or, tell Big Gov to get off their land.
#8
It sure seems to be, and those on-deck are quite aware of it. As I said, those affected have been pushing this issue for a while now, and its not just the farms and ranches, the communities which support and provide the services also understand.
It really leaves two reasons: indifference or control. Let y'all decide which is worse. It is a pure Obama Administration topic.
Posted by: Albert Chaique6785 ||
04/25/2012 12:08
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#10
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
#15
First the family farm kids, next the kid that last kid who still does chores for his allowance. Gotta get them before they learn any kind of work ethic or its too late.
#16
We bronies were ticked when iTunes altered the scene where fan-favorite background character Derpy Hooves talks, as some son of a diamond dog had branded her an "ableist stereotype". Would the network and iTunes be forced to withdraw the episode where farm chores are used to demonstrate the close bond between two of the characters? Or alter/cut it to the point of confusing viewers?
#18
Absent a rebellion how will he justify the imposition of martial law?
Hussein is working very hard to create that situation before November. So far all he has been able muster is a neighborhood watch captain vs a hoodie. Not exactly what he wants but he had to milk it for all he could. He and his constituants are so hoping for much more between now and then.
#22
Would this regulation also apply to Michele Obama picking vegetables from the tax subsidized whitehouse garden? Or are GIvernment personnel exempt?
#23
OldSpook, he knows what he's doing. That's what makes it so scary.
That's why I said the other day that Romney was giving him too much credit by saying that he's a "nice guy" but we can't afford him. I hope that doesn't mean that Romney will take the same milquetoast approach to the election that McCain did.
#24
At this point I think a lot of people are waiting to see what the election brings. If he wins... I can see several states trying to leave and lots of domestic unrest.
The cartoon Horseland will be scrubbed and held to example what happens without gov tv say so.
The Cowboys will be demonstrated as why Republicans hate children.
Really though, this will mean that I can no longer buy my daughter a horse, or apprentice my son in mechanics or shop skills, on penalty of child abuse and all its penalties. I believe it, and so will all my neighbors. They have already been harassed enough by the EPA to not think so.
Perhaps they are thinking it a way to qualify the college kids for their 4 year civil service requirement for tuition waiver. Or bring in a bunch of Chinese.
The eurozone is in danger of collapsing in a manner similar to the old Soviet Union, which fell apart amid a crumbling economy that led to social upheaval, says billionaire financier George Soros. "Europe is similar to the Soviet Union in the way that the euro crisis has the potential of destroying, undermining the European Union," Soros said at a debate on public policy in Budapest, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"With the profound social, economic and moral crisis that Europe is in, we can see a similar process of disintegration." So how can he a) facilitate the collapse and b) profit by it?
Soros has made similar calls in the past, including recently in Denmark. "I'm afraid that the euro crisis is getting worse. It's not over yet, and it is going in the wrong direction," Soros said recently, according to Reuters. Maybe if he is quoted often enough, it will come to pass, and he'll get even richer.
"The euro is undermining the political cohesion of the European Union, and if it continues like that could even destroy the European Union," Soros said.
Soros recently called on Germany to do more to fight the crisis, according to an interview published in the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "The Germans should decide if they want the euro or not. If so, they have to carry out financial transfers. If not, they should leave the eurozone," Soros told the weekly, as picked up by the AFP newswire.
If Germany chooses to ditch the eurozone, Soros warns, the country's exports would suffer as the "new German currency would find itself at a high value." Leaves you longing for the good old days, eh, George?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/25/2012
10:01 ||
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#1
Soros is merely trying to get the German state to rob Germans and send the money to the feckless where he'll loot a bit on the way...
#2
I know, right? I hear they have this new weapon called a Poverty Bomb. It can be slipped into a businessman's briefcase, apparently. The first thing that happens when it is released is that it causes an irrational desire on the part of politicians to start giving away the treasury and lend huge amounts of money to people who can't afford to pay it back.
Then the value of real property begins to plummet resulting in unbridled borrowing and printing of money to dump into the economy in futile attempts to inflate the problem away.
Finally, the spending gets so out of control as interest on the debt explodes that the target country can no longer afford a military force. The military is eventually reduced to 19th century levels to the point where the Mexican Army could wipe them out.
#3
The DPRK's Poverty = Food Bomb wants to explode so bad its starting to shake + release smoke from inside, + Pyongyang may not be able to stop, control, or hide it anymore.
Hencewith ...
* TOPIX > [Ex-Nippon Diet ANTONIO = Pyongyang source] INOKI: NORTH KOREA WILL NEVER ABANDON NUKES [nuclear path] DESPITE FOOD AID.
--------
Also from TOPIX > [China = SCS] FOREIGN COUNTRIES' CLAIMS ON ISLANDS WILL NEVER SUCCEED.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Zamboanga Today Online] REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES [RP] SOLD SCARBOROUGH SHOAL TO CHINA?
Back during the Admin of PHIL President Macapagal 1961-1965 - CHINA CLAIMS IT HAS A "DEED OF SALE" FROM SAME.
Iff this true, the PHIL just threw egg on its own face???
"No one wants to see the president's security compromised or America embarrassed," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy was expected to say to Napolitano, according to his prepared remarks. "Senators on this committee will be very interested to hear from you on this matter today."
Stealing his critics' thunder, Obama said Tuesday the employees at the center of the scandal were not representative of the agency that protects his family in the glare of public life. "These guys are incredible. They protect me. They protect Michelle. They protect the girls. They protect our officials all around the world," the president said on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." Just like W stood behind Brownie.
"A couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract from what they do," Obama added. "What these guys were thinking, I don't know. That's why they're not there anymore."
Panetta said Tuesday that three Marines on a U.S. Embassy security team and one embassy staff member were punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a car in Brasilia, Brazil, last year after a dispute over payment. Panetta, speaking in Brasilia, said he had "no tolerance for that kind of conduct." Cavorting with hookers or refusing to pay?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/25/2012
06:25 ||
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I wondered myself, but it was found in a dead cow, not Jerry or Nancy.
The cow had died at one of the region's hundreds of dairies, but hadn't exhibited outward symptoms of the disease: unsteadiness, incoordination, a drastic change in behavior or low milk production, officials said. "We randomly pick a number of samples throughout the year, and this just happened to be one that we randomly sampled," Baker Commodities executive vice president Dennis Luckey said. "It showed no signs" of disease.
On Tuesday, federal agriculture officials announced the findings: the animal had atypical BSE. That means it didn't get the disease from eating infected cattle feed. It was "just a random mutation that can happen every once in a great while in an animal," said Bruce Akey, at Cornell University. "Random mutations go on in nature all the time." So that explains Jerry, Nancy, and the others - atypical spongiform encephalopathy.
In humans, experts say it can occur in one in 1 million people, causing sponge-like holes in the brain. But they say not enough is known about how and how often the disease strikes cattle. So the atypical form can't explain all the politicians, but it's pretty clear about Cynthia McKinney.
The disease cannot be transmitted by contact among cows, and experts say it's unclear whether this rare type of BSE ever has been transmitted from a cow to a human by eating meat. This next quote was worth the price of admission:
"It's appropriate to be cautious, it's appropriate to pay attention and it's appropriate to ask questions, but now let's watch and see what the researchers find out in the next couple of days," said James Culler, director of the UC Davis dairy food safety laboratory and an authority on BSE.
"Are you worried about all of the meteors that passed the earth last night while you were sleeping? Of course not," Culler said. "Would you pay 90 percent of your salaries to set up all of the observatories on earth to watch for them? Of course not. It's the same thing." Right. Nor would I pay millions of dollars to keep proving global warming is real and caused by Republican activities.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/25/2012
06:06 ||
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#1
We're told not to be too worried, but I'm betting the livestock farmers in California (and wherever state/country these cattle came from or are going to) are a tad interested.
Scary stuff if you're told to 'eliminate' your herd to curb the spread.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/25/2012 8:09
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#2
These things can happen randomly if the immune system has a weakness to prions.
#3
Understood, but this is in California, BP. The 'meat-is-evil', 'industry-is-abominable' and 'Goody! Another deflective crisis!' loons have the upper hand in Sacramento.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/25/2012 9:03
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#4
Not only that, but a Mad Cow Tax provides enhanced revenue opportunities. Not to mention inspection fees, disposal charges and general beak-wetting.
#6
Understood, but this is in California, BP. The 'meat-is-evil', 'industry-is-abominable' and 'Goody! Another deflective crisis!' loons have the upper hand in Sacramento.
Also, it's an opportunity for those of us in states that haven't destroyed their meat industry. I suspect that significant parts of California's current population are going to be enthusiastic converts to the cause of tofu.
Doesn't even come from California! Tastes a whole heckuva lot better than hormone injected, fed whatever, wet aged pink slime. Expensive though. And nowhere near enough of it to keep McDonalds pumping out the burgers.
#12
Where does that pink McDonalds' rejected, government school lunch approved, ammonia-beef goo come in?
OK, pink slime might have been going too far. Might have. But I think the rest is true. And if you bite into organic buffalo, or even beef for that matter, you'll taste the difference.
#1
Oh my goodness, Foggy Bottom is far foggier on Islam than I thought.
These guys are going to get a lot of us killed.
Embrace Islam? So it can stab us in the back?
Have they ever read the Quran?
Those nutjobs are commanded by their religion to kill all of us that do not convert.
Give a lefty a desk and a pad of paper and you get this crap. The first thing Romney should do is cut the phones and internet, take away their pads and pencils, and send everyone of the people that wrote this to Somalia to embrace Islam first hand.
I need some aspirin, I have a migraine coming on and my nose is starting to bleed.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2012 10:13
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#2
If I think about this too much, I'll be pissing blood next.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2012 10:13
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Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/25/2012 14:55
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#6
In the New Jedi Order novels, the galaxy is invaded by the Yuuzhan Vong (who command a fleet of deadly bioships and combine all the worst aspects of the Aztecs, the conquistadores, and the Mad Mullahs, with extra emphasis on pain and suffering). The war was not over merely with the destruction of the Praetorite Vong and the defeat of Shedao Shai. No, the horror was still only beginning, as the suits on Coruscant found out the hard way--although the corrupt Supreme Chancellor did die a hero.
#8
Can we get rid of the DHS and TSA since its over then?
Posted by: Yosemtie Sam ||
04/25/2012 16:31
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#9
"Was State ever in the war on terror?"
Sure, WM - on the other side.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/25/2012 16:48
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#10
Obama cannot claim victory as his personal accomplishment, unless the conflict has ended. Unfortunately he has thusfar been unable to bribe his way out of the conflict with the Taliban or the leadership of Pakistan.
#11
This is a little off base butt who cares this is for the Marine who was discharged for telling the truth- SCREW EVERYONE OF THEM JIHAD PROGRESSIVE COMMIE LOVING PIECES OF SHIT THAT SHOULD BE IN JAIL HOG TIED AND HOODS PUT ON THEIR HEADS AND THROWN IN HOLES OUT WEST FOR 23 HOURS A DAY! THE US CODE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF! F'EM ALL!
The constitutional crime of treason has been rarely enforced (barely 30 cases in 225 years). At English common law, it has traditionally been the one carrying the most stigma, punishable not only by death, but a exceptionally cruel method of death. A treason conviction today still carries the death sentence, but nothing exceptional, and in fact, usually a pardon. The crime of seditious conspiracy (carrying a twenty year sentence) has mostly taken its place where the offenders are commonly referred to as "traitors." The last round of American use involved eight treason indictments following WWII: one for the mistreatment of prisoners; two for spying; and five for making propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the enemy (e.g. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose). The constitutional basis for the crime of treason comes from Article III, Section 3, Paragraph 1 (codified in USC Section 2381), which reads: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or, in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort." The "aid and comfort" clause has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to require proof of four elements where the two-witness rule is considered the hardest to prove.
*
an intent to betray the United States (which can be inferred from);
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an overt act
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witnessed by two people
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that provides aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States
In practice, the crime of treason consists of two elements based on the two major clauses: adherence to the enemy; and rendering them aid and comfort. Both elements are necessary. It is legal for a citizen to intellectually or emotionally favor the enemy or harbor sympathies toward the enemy or even appear disloyal to their country (in the U.S. at least; other countries have different views of treason). As long as this citizen commits no act of aid and comfort to the enemy, there is no treason. Likewise, a citizen may legally take actions which do aid and comfort the enemy (say making speeches, going on strike, or profiteering in some way), but as long as there is no adherence to the enemy and their mental state betrays no intentional disloyalty, there is no treason. Perhaps someone knows what to do to get our country back and the list goes on!
#14
MATERIAL SUPPORT AND FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
Providing direct material support in terms of "resources," "training," or "expert advice and assistance" is illegal if it occurs in proximity to terrorism. Sometimes called "proximity crime," direct material support to a designated terrorist organization is illegal under 18 USC. 2339A and 2339B (the "material support" laws). More indirect material support is illegal under 18 USC 2339 via the Anti-Terrorism Act (18 USC 2333). These laws have been challenged in court and amended by legislatures, but the basic idea stands -- that designation of a group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) places everyone on notice that even mere (or indirect) support of any such organization is unlawful. Some courts, the 9th Circuit for example, in Humanitarian Law Project v. Reno (2000), have been troubled by the law's overly vague language. "Training" is a worrisome term because it could conceivably sweep in benign academic instruction, and "expert advice and assistance" could very well include free speech advocacy of some cause. The government's official interpretation is that any such training and expertise should be of a technical or scientific nature. This still raises questions about the right of association (i.e., "guilt by association"), and as McCormack (2005) puts it, also raises questions about vagueness and overbreadth as well as issues of due process regarding the methods of designating some organization terrorist in the first place.
#1
I [Mechelle Obama] just want you to remember that in the end, this all could come down to those last few thousand people that we register to vote.
What she means is: "Now if we can resurrect the dead, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, pay some walkin-around money, get some of the illegals on board, intimidate some of the other (honky voters), and have our people vote multiple times, we might just pull it off. And yeah, Holder is on board to uphold the voter registration laws but not the voter identification requirements. We might just make it for our divine ordained second term."
Thailand has approved a $67 million compensation package for victims of a conflict in the deep south that has left thousands dead over the last eight years.
The families of people killed in the conflict will each receive 500,000 baht ($16,130), or 1.5 million baht if government officials were responsible, Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said after the cabinet agreed on the measure. He said, "We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful and we hope it will be sufficient because some of them have received compensation before."
The families of more than 4,000 members of the public who were killed and roughly 6,000 who were injured would be eligible, along with those of 1,056 government officials who lost their lives.
Militant suspects who were arrested and jailed but later set free because their cases were dismissed by the courts would also receive money. Pracha said, "We expect to deliver first payment in the next two weeks."
A Muslim leader in Yala province doubted that the compensation offer would end the violence. Ma Samae said, "Remedies are part of the solution but the government has to clearly identify the root of the problem. Personally I think it's hard to end the southern unrest because most residents are Muslim but the leaders are not."
I dug up something that looks like what I remember from a while back. I think it clears Hank's good name and reputation with respect to this particular performance in Congress.
Anything said outside April Fools day still points to the inescapable conclusion that he should never, ever be allowed out in public without an adult chaperone. This goes for McKinney too, including April Fools day.
As for the folks that keep sending up the likes of McKinney and Johnson as their Representatives, I like Frank G's idea of sending them to "live" in North Korea, with a flight back after they show some signs of having a clue.
[An Nahar] Apparently new long-range ballistic missiles displayed at a North Korean military parade this month were mock-ups, according to two German experts who termed the exercise "a nice dog and pony show".
It isn't nice to snicker, so you'll have to pretend those noises are coming from somewhere else.
One of the missiles on show in Kim Il-Sung Square on April 15 -- transported on a launcher of apparent Chinese design -- seemed to be a new addition to the nuclear-armed country's long-range arsenal, according to analysts at the time.
But Markus Schiller and Robert H. Schmucker, of Schmucker Technologie, said all six of the road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) on show that day were models.
"A closer look reveals that all of the presented missiles are mock-ups," they wrote in a report seen Tuesday and carried on the armscontrolwonk.com website.
"There is still no evidence that North Korea actually has a functional ICBM," they said in the April 18 report.
Schiller and Schmucker said the surface structure of the warheads was undulated, while a real warhead would have to be designed to withstand atmospheric re-entry.
The experts also said a road-mobile missile of such a size was always solid-fuelled, but those on show had parts resembling valves for liquid propellants.
Schiller and Schmucker said it would not have been possible to securely bolt the missiles to the launch tables, since the hole that might hold the bolt was aligned with the outer diameter of the missile, or very close to it.
In addition, each missile had slightly different cable duct positions and other features. "There is no doubt that these missiles were mock-ups," they wrote.
The parade featuring some 880 items of weaponry was staged to mark the centenary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-Sung.
It came just two days after the failure of a rocket launch that the North said was designed to put a satellite into orbit.
Schiller and Schmucker said the question was whether the mock-ups were modeled on a real design that was still undisclosed, or whether the presentation was staged just for show and to secure some strategic leverage.
"Judging from other insights about the North Korean missile program, the latter seems more likely," they wrote, recommending close monitoring of future developments.
"For now, the ICBM presentation was nothing else than a nice dog and pony show."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The DPRK will not have any "functional ICBM" or other unless its under Chinese control.
CCP/CPC + CHINA = CPSU + USSR [Warsaw Pact] = it must control the Conventional + Strategic Forces of its "allies". BIGGEST FEAR IS A NUKE(S) BEING LAUNCHED BY THEIR ALLIES TOWARDS MOSCOW OR BEIJING, NOT AGZ THE US-WEST. The DPRK is allowed some autonomy in dev minor MilSys, but not to the point where it threatens Chinese control, nor China's ability to crush or destroy the DPRK iff need be.
The DPRK is in such a serious, IFF-ITS-NOT-CATASTROPHE(S)-IT-SHOULD-BE quandry in several dimensions that it will be lucky to just survive or even exist as a "sovereign" entity/polity in the Year 2015, let alone 2020 or beyond.
#2
We do know though that they have disfunctional stuff
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/25/2012 1:44
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The experts also said a road-mobile missile of such a size was always solid-fuelled, but those on show had parts resembling valves for liquid propellants.
Valves for liquid propellants.... or possibly inflation.
TIMBUKTU, Mali: Gunmen in Mali's rebel-held north released on Tuesday a Swiss woman who had been abducted in the desert town of Timbuktu on April 15, witnesses and the Swiss government said.
The woman, Beatrice Stockly, was released some seven km north of Timbuktu by members of Ansar Dine, the witnesses said.
So, how much did the Swiss pay?
"She was wearing a black veil and made no statement when she was released," one of the witnesses, Cherif Moulaye, told Reuters by telephone.
The story of Rachel and Leah comes to mind. Did they check the veiled one's face before accepting delivery?
He said she was put into a helicopter containing the head of Burkina Faso's armed forces, Brig. Gen. Gilbert Dindere.
The Swiss foreign ministry issued a statement confirming a woman kidnapped on April 15 in Timbuktu had been released, adding she was now in a safe place and in good health.
Residents said Stockly was a missionary who had lived in Timbuktu, and old Sahara trading town and a seat of Islamic learning, for a number of years and spoke several local languages.
A mix of Tuareg separatists and rebels captured Timbuktu on April 1 in the final leg of their lightning advance southwards through Mali's desert north, as government forces retreated in the aftermath of a coup in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
OK. Take a minute to reflect on all the times that we've been told that Westerners are kidnapped for retaliation for some policy of the Western government (Israel, the invasion of Iraq, etc).
But Switzerland is neutral. And its people still are kidnapped.
It's about Islam.
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/25/2012 6:53
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[Dawn] Police were finally able to resolve the mysterious case of human body parts found dumped in different parts of the metropolis, DawnNews reported.
Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... police claim to have jugged a suspected 'serial killer' allegedly involved in the heinous crime.
According to police sources, the suspect, a rickshaw driver and a resident of Bloody Karachi's Patel Para, used to target his women passengers riding alone. He kidnapped the women and killed them after allegedly raping them, cutting up their bodies into pieces and dumping them in different areas.
Rafiq was jugged from the Soldier Bazar area in a joint operation by the police and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
During the past few days, cut-up body parts of two women were found dumped in different areas of the city.
Police sources further said that a woman had also been recovered from the suspect, and the criminal was being further interrogated.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Iran has "deployed forces and equipment" in order to "defend" three islands in the Gulf that are claimed by the United Arab Emirates, Iran's state-run radio station quoted a bigwig as saying.
"Various types of offensive and defensive systems, including brigades of IRGC marines, have been deployed in the Iranian islands, especially in Abu Musa, the Lesser Tunb and the Greater Tunb," Commander of IRGC Naval Forces Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said on Monday, according to the radio station's English-language website.
"Owing to the position of these islands, both in terms of defense and offense, the IRGC navy will allow no enemy to step onto these islands and even enter their territorial waters," Fadavi said, adding, "In case of any hostile move, aggressors will face a strong response."
He further reiterated Iran's "illusory sovereignty over the three islands," the radio station said.
Iran has written to the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... reasserting its claim to illusory sovereignty over the three islands in the face of renewed counterclaims by the UAE, state media reported Friday.
Iran "decisively rejects claims made by the United Arab Emirates and Soddy Arabia, and reiterates that Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are an inseparable part of Iranian soil," the official IRNA news agency and the state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
website quoted the letter as saying.
A visit by Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad on April 11 to Abu Musa -- the only one of the islands which is inhabited -- sparked a storm of protest from both the UAE and its Gulf Arab allies.
On April 17, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called the visit "a flagrant violation of the illusory sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands."
But Iran's letter insisted: "The recent visit to the island of Abu Musa by the president of the Islamic republic is based on right of illusory sovereignty and national integrity."
It said that Iran was ready to have "constructive talks" with the UAE over any "misunderstanding" emanating from "the implementation of documents exchanged in 1971."
The UAE has summoned Iran's ambassador to Abu Dhabi to denounce Ahmadinejad's visit to Abu Musa.
Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan has warned that if left unresolved, the issue "could jeopardize international security and peace."
This was followed by a warning from Ahmadinejad who said that Iran will respond with force to any threats to its territorial integrity.
"The armed forces and the army will inflict heavy regret and shame in case of any aggression against Iranian lands and interests," Ahmadinejad said, adding that Iran "is ready to protect its existence and illusory sovereignty."
Iran took control of the islands in 1971, when Britannia granted independence to its Gulf protectorates and withdrew its forces.
Abu Musa was placed under joint administration in a deal with Sharjah, now part of the UAE.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Again, among other IMO Iran is "shaping the Battlefield" to counter any possible US-led ground invasion from the SoH + Main Gulf.
We already know from various MSM-Net Reports, Perts that none of Iran's Muslim neighbors, even those agz Iran e.g. Turkey + KSA, etc. will NOT allow the US-NATO to use their territories as staging areas for any MilStrikes, Campaigns agz Iran. THIS COULD POTEN CHANGE WID THE UAE ALA ABU MUSA + OTHER DISPUTED ISLANDS, hence Iran's action in deploying these assets.
Iran is also countering on LOCAL "ARAB/MUSLIM
/SHIA SPRINGS" to destabilize the Arabian Peninsula side of the PG, and result in pro-Islamist Govts. that will continue denying access as above to the US-NATO. IRAN ONLY NEEDS THEM TO BE NEUTRAL BUT ALSO ANTI-US, NATO AS PER DENIAL.
That leaves the Sea of Oman + outer Seas where US Nuke Carriers + Amphib Forces can be targeted, damaged or destroyed, by LR Iranian firepower, to include that of NUKE-ARMED MUSLIM NATIONS ALLIED WID IRAN E.G. PAKISTAN. ALso good for Mama Russia since the Mullahs' willingness to detonate Nukes-WMDS [CBRNE(M)...] ON THEIR OWN SOIL TO DEFEAT A US-LED INVASION FORCE RISKS RADIOACTIVE OR CONTAMINATED CLOUDS FORMING VERY CLOSE TO RUSSIA + EX-SSRS.
IRAN KNOWS WHAT ITS DOING.
-------------
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PERSIAN GULF WILL DEFEAT ENEMY TACTICS: COMMANDER.
* SAME > NORTH AMERICA TO BECOME THE NEW MIDDLE EAST?
* WORLD NEWS > THE PENTAGON IS TAKING THE [US]FIGHT AGZ IRAN TO SOUTH AMERICA, in response to intensive Iranian diplomatic + econ overtures there.
#2
Outside of the Persian Gulf, SoH, + Sea of Oman, etc. Iran has ...
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > CHINA WARNS US: MILITARY CONFRONTATION [Sino-US]COULD ARISE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE, between it China + the Philippines.
Lest we fergit, NET > HAWKS IN THE CHINESE PARTY-GOVT ESTABLISHMENT = have been openly saying for a while that the LONG CHINESE "WAITING PERIOD OF KEEPING A LOW-PROFILE IN STRATEGIC AFFAIRS IS OVER".
CHIN CCP INSIDER WANG JISI/JIXI = CHINA'S ELITE IS PREPARING THE COUNTRY TO BE THE WORLD'S #1 VEE THE US IN A "MATTER OF YEARS, NOT DECADES".
* FYI DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > JAPANESE MEDIA: US, JAPAN AGREE TO SHARE COMMON PACIFIC BASE, JAPAN SDFS MAY [rotating duty] SHARE US BASES IN PHILIPPINE, at Palawan or Luzon???
Besides US Marines coming to Guam, + USDOD-JSDFS on Tinian in CNMI.
CHINA will not like any of these moves by the US-Allies, BUT IRAN WILL.
[Dawn] A woman of Lassain Nawab area on Monday complained of her 15-year-old daughter's forced marriage and blamed her misery on a local jirga.
Accompanied by husband, Hameeda Bibi told news hounds here that Mohammad Naveed and Mohammad Hanif entered her house on the night of March 5 for theft but she woke up and managed to lock Naveed inside a room while Hanif decamped.
She said she later went to a nearby seminary whose holy man, Qari Mushtaq, called a jirga to decide the fate of the 'thief'.
"Instead of punishing Naveed, the jirga declared my 15-year-old daughter perverted and decreed that the two should marry and that Naveed's sister marry my daughter's fiancé," she said.
The woman said she, her husband and daughter protested against the decree but the next morning, the two marriages took place 'at gunpoint'.
She alleged that when the family contacted local cop shoppe house officer Shad Mohammad Khan for help, he jugged her husband and freed him after taking Rs30,000 bribe.She alleged that the SHO supported the jirga and its decisions, and appealed to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to ensure early dispensation of justice to her.
When contacted, SHO Shad denied the bribery and illegal detention charges.
District police officer of Mansehra ...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south... Ijaz Ahmad Khan told Dawn that he had formed a committee headed by DSP Habibullah Khan to investigate the charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] The Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet on Monday approved setting up a new force to eliminate sectarian violence from the region.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah. The meeting was convened to review law and order situation in the region.
Later, briefing news hounds about decisions taken in the cabinet meeting the administration spokesperson and Education Minister Dr Ali Madad Sher said a joint force comprising 400 personnel taken from police, Punjab Rangers, GB Scouts and Pak Army will maintain law and order.
He said the new force would be commanded by an army major and will have two headquarters, one in the home department and the second at the main office of the GB Scouts.
Mr Sher said a checkpost and patrolling point would be set up after 10 kilometer distance on the Karakuram Highway to avoid any untoward incident on the road. He said a 20-member team comprising people from both Sunni and Shia sects would be set up to ensure that the two main mosques in the Gilgit city were not used for hate speeches.
The minister said three lists of anti-peace elements had been prepared and so far 20 out of the 30 most wanted people had been put behind the bars while raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining.
He said jirga in Chilas had helped police arrest eight out of ten wanted people, adding investigation into the Chilas incident was being carried out by highly professional coppers.
The minister said efforts were underway to arrest seven culprits involved in murder of a man and kidnapping of 34 people, including two officials, in Hunza-Nagar district.
He said mobile phone service was being restored in Astor and Ghizer districts while the service in Gilgit, Hunza-Nagar and Diamer would be restored once curfew was lifted.
He further said the duration of curfew break had been increased from 6am to 7pm and if situation remained clam it would be lifted altogether.
He said a joint meeting of federal, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and GB interior ministers would be called to further streamline the security affairs.
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(Sh.M.Networl)- Armed men belonging to Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... , the radical Islamist movement in Somalia beheaded a businessman living in Eel Adde, about 90 km southwest of Mogadishu, relatives confirmed on Tuesday.
The beheaded body whose identity has not been released so far was found on Tuesday morning with headless on the outskirts of Eel Adde town, a stronghold of Al shabab in Middle Shabelle region, south Somalia.
Residents in Eel Adde district informed Shabelle media by phone that the gunnies have pulled the man out of a car traveling from Jowhar to his home town El-Adde overnight and then his body was found lying at the town this morning.
Al shabab accused the man of being a spySomaliagovernment in the town- an allegation that locals denied and said the guy was a well-known livestock trader in the entire region.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
And politicians like Kieth Ellison want to make it easier for Somali-Americans to wire money back home that will almost certainly end up in the pockets of al-Shabaab.
What could go wrong?
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/25/2012 6:55
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#2
Probably one of those direct threats to islam, the dreaded soccer jersey vendor.
[An Nahar] Yemeni troops, backed by armed civilians, are advancing on southern Abyan's ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... capital Zinjibar, under al-Qaeda control since last May, security officials and the interior ministry said on Tuesday.
"The army is advancing towards the center of the city," a military official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity, adding that both sides have suffered casualties in fierce battles on the eastern and southern outskirts of Zinjibar that have raged since early Tuesday morning.
The official said the army has so far managed to take back several government buildings, including the post office, adding that reinforcements from the capital Sanaa "were on the way."
Yemen's interior ministry confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that the army has "dealt a heavy blow to al-Qaeda and has tightened the noose around them."
It added that at least 52 "terrorists" have been killed in Abyan and nearby Shabwa province in the last two days, without specifying how many soldiers have been killed in the fighting.
This is the second time in a week the Yemeni army claims to have made advances on Zinjibar.
The interior ministry said on Friday that troops had "made a major advance towards Zinjibar, driving out the terrorist al-Qaeda elements from several positions they held."
In Loder meanwhile, a key Abyan city which has been under attack by Islamist Islamic fascistiin recent weeks, a military official said government authority had been restored.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen and its local affiliates, the self-proclaimed Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), have expanded their control of Yemen's mostly lawless southern and eastern provinces, taking advantage of a weakened central government in Sanaa and months of Arab Spring-style political upheaval.
The unrest eventually led to the ouster of veteran leader President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... . His replacement, former Vice President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, elected to the presidency for an interim two-year term in a single candidate vote in late February, has pledged to rid Yemen of the Death Eater group.
Battles have since raged in Abyan's towns and cities, and spread to neighboring Shabwa and Bayda provinces, as troops and Islamic fascistifight for control of the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Three Kurdish rebels were killed and one Turkish soldier was injured Tuesday in festivities in Turkey's southeast, local security sources said.
The festivities between members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish soldiers took place in the Genc district of Bingol province, the sources said.
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[An Nahar] Yemen's sacked air force commander, who has refused to quit for weeks, on Tuesday left the post he has held for nearly three decades, the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... envoy to Yemen said.
"General Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar has handed his duties over to his successor," Jamal Benomar told Agence La Belle France Presse. "I personally attended the handover ceremony."
On April 6, President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi issued a decree in which he sacked Ahmar, a half-brother of deposed president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , as well as the ex-leader's nephew General Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who heads the presidential guard.
Both generals had refused to quit, and Ahmar's loyalists even surrounded Sanaa's airport and threatened to shoot down planes, forcing its closure for one day.
The airport was reopened after international and regional powers voiced support for Hadi, who must restructure the army based on a Gulf-brokered deal that Yemen's political parties have agreed upon.
When asked if General Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh had also agreed to quit, Benomar only responded by saying that "all of Hadi's decisions are being implemented."
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CAIRO: Egypts ruling military has approved a law that bans top Hosni Mubarak-era officials from running for the presidency, excluding his last prime minister and further depleting a field reduced by the disqualifications of other front-runners.
A copy of the law published on the website of the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said the legislation would take effect from Tuesday. It showed that the bill had been printed in the official gazette, confirming that the legislation drafted by the Islamist-dominated parliament had been approved by the military.
The law denies political rights to anyone who served as president, vice president or prime minister in the decade prior to Mubaraks removal from power on Feb. 11, 2011. It further applies to anyone who served in top posts in the ruling party.
That means Ahmed Shafiq, appointed as prime minister by Mubarak in his last days in power, is out of the race. He had been seen as one of four remaining front-runners for the presidency of the Arab worlds most populous country.
The others are Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhoods candidate, Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, a former member of the Islamist group, and Amr Moussa, a former Arab League chief and an ex-foreign minister. The law exempts former ministers who were not prime minister, so will not affect Moussas candidacy.
Parliament approved the legislation earlier this month, an amendment to an existing law governing political rights, in response to a decision by Omar Suleiman, Mubaraks former vice president and intelligence chief, to run for the presidency.
But Suleiman was disqualified a few days later for another reason: he failed to gather the required number of voter endorsements required to run.
The committee overseeing the vote also banned nine other contenders, including the Muslim Brotherhoods first-choice candidate and a popular Islamist preacher.
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The U.S. military has stockpiled $800 million worth of weapons in Israel and the amount is growing, according to a U.S. Congressional report and reported by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu of the Israeli media network Arutz Sheva.
The War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I) program is run by the United States European Command (EUCOM) and includes missiles, armored vehicles and artillery ammunition.
The equipment was transferred to Israel "for use by the United States and, with U.S. permission, for use by Israel in emergency situations."
The U.S. gave such approval to the Israel Defense Force during the Second Leb War in 2006, according to the report.
Israel has promoted "strategic cooperation" since the 1980s by inviting the placement of U.S. arms and equipment at Israeli bases for use in wartime..
A 2010 Congressional amendment extended the President's authority to transfer to Israel surplus defense items that are stockpiled in Israel. The amendment will increase the value of the stockpile to $1.12 billion.
[Dawn] A car boom on Tuesday rocked central Damascus, ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... a day after nearly 60 were killed across Syria despite a hard-won ceasefire and the upcoming deployment of 300 UN peace monitors.
Three people were maimed when the blast went off in the Marjeh district of the capital, Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported, blaming "terrorists", the government term for rebels.
"An armed terrorist group detonated the car boom near the Yelbugha complex in Marjeh, wounding three people and causing damage to nearby buildings," it said.
State news agency SANA said the bomb was placed under the car of an unsuspecting man, who was among those hurt.
The blast came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violence across the country killed 54 civilians and five soldiers on Monday, despite the tenuous ceasefire.
Thirty-one of the civilians died in a government assault on the Arbaeen neighbourhood in the central city of Hama and 13 others, including women and kiddies, died in a mine blast in the village of Jarjanaz, in northwestern Idlib province.
Video footage posted online by activists showed a street in Arbaeen with large pools of blood and women weeping. Two maidens of tender years were shown in one video crying and holding up the picture of a man.
"This is my father," cries one girl.
The violence occurred despite the April 12 ceasefire, and the presence of an advance team of UN monitors to implement the truce.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... has ordered the Sindh Government to cleanse Bloody Karachi's ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... area of criminal elements before the commencement of general elections, DawnNews reported.
A meeting on development projects and the law and order situation in Lyari was chaired by President Zardari at Bilawal House here on Tuesday. The session was attended by the Chief Minister Sindh as well as several members of the national and provincial assemblies belonging to Lyari.
Zardari said that the people who believed they could "conquer" Lyari were "immature".
The people of Lyari are dedicated workers of the Pakistain People's Party (PPP), he said, ordering more paramilitary check-posts to be set up in order to curb violence in the area.
Earlier, Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah briefed the president on the law and order situation.
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[An Nahar] Syria is still seeing "unacceptable" levels of violence, international envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, after dozens of people were killed across the country despite a ceasefire.
"The situation in Syria continues to be unacceptable," Annan told a closed-door meeting. He spoke after a car boom rocked central Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , wounding three people, while nearly 60 people were killed across the country a day earlier ahead of the deployment of 300 U.N. peace observers.
Earlier on Tuesday, Annan's front man said the Syrian government has not yet removed heavy weapons used to quash anti-regime protests as agreed in a U.N. ceasefire.
Spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the truce was "extremely fragile" and urged Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's government to fully implement its end of the deal.
"This means withdrawal of all heavy armory from population centers," he told U.N. broadcaster UNTV.
"They are claiming that this has happened. Satellite imagery however and credible reports show that this has not fully happened, so this is unacceptable."
He said Annan, the U.N. and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy for the crisis, planned to denounce the regime's failure to comply with the ceasefire in an address to a closed session of the U.N. Security Council later Tuesday.
He also said U.N. observers on the ground had entered areas like Homs and Hama and found that when they are there "the guns are silent". But when they leave, he said, "credible reports" indicate that fire resumes.
Fawzi's remarks came a day after nearly 60 people were reported killed across Syria despite the cease-fire and the upcoming deployment of 300 U.N. peace monitors.
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#1
I thought the Sternly Worded Letter came next; what gives?
Really long piece, much more at the link. Excerpted according to Fair Use doctrine.
But Robert Levine, author of Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, says he believes that Righthaven messed up "a lot of stuff, including the basic idea of giving small players a mechanism to enforce their rights."
What are perceived as Righthaven's failings can be put into two categories: a disregard for the notion of fair use and its own lack of standing.
Fair use is the legal doctrine that holds that people should be permitted to make use of copyrighted material so long as they limit themselves to using only what is necessary to their message. Even copyright holders believe that this kind of sampling adds to the progress of culture or our understanding of society without harming the market for their work.
Indeed, Righthaven seemed to have been caught off guard when judges wouldn't fault bloggers for reposting photographs or quoting articles. In one of the most famous Righthaven cases, a federal judge found that Vietnam veteran Wayne Hoehn, who had posted all 19 paragraphs of a Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial, was within his fair use right to do so.
The issue is one of the main reasons why Randazza decided to take on the company. "It irritated me that the company filed all those cases without any regard to fair use," he says.
Righthaven's inability to anticipate and prevail on these fair use challenges has alarmed some trade groups in the content industry, including the RIAA and the Association of American Publishers, which filed an amicus brief last December at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco in the Hoehn case. They argued that Righthaven lacked standing to pursue its copyright claims and shouldn't be allowed to usher in "sweeping fair use pronouncements" that would imperil real copyright owners.
That leads to Righthaven's second failing, which doesn't get quite so under the skin of its critics but is equally significant.
The idea that Righthaven lacked standing derives from successful challenges at the district court level to the way it was assigned copyrights by its media partners in the first place. One judge ruled that only plaintiffs who have actual control over copyrights can sue. Righthaven was merely given the right to sue in its "strategic alliance agreement" with Stephens Media, and the judge said that wasn't enough.
No topic arouses more anger from Gibson than this particular decision. He thinks it was a flawed one, emanating from a judge who was influenced by "personally vicious, unfounded, disreputable attacks" on Righthaven. Poor baby. A judge sympathizing with the little guy, no wonder he hated it.
Critics like Dunlap aren't so sure. "If Righthaven had filed [its cases] in the name of the rights-holder like Stephens Media, then I don't think their cases would have been dismissed," he says. "I'm not sure why they didn't."
Gibson could have easily represented Stephens Media as its outside counsel. Instead, he chose to step outside the lawyer's typical role and create a shell company whose sole purpose was to sue. Why? Money, plus the frisson of pleasure from forcing little people to submit. Lawyers dig that.
Bullies dig that, some of whom are drawn to the law. Others go into government, or community organizing.
And sometimes you hit the trifecta and become President...
#1
Gibson could have easily represented Stephens Media as its outside counsel. Instead, he chose to step outside the lawyer's typical role and create a shell company whose sole purpose was to sue. Why?
New business model; a low cost,limited liability corporation contracting out its legal and business operations.
There was an entire nation available. Just contract the work to a young and hungry lawyer who could practice in the state the target was in. It'd be like anchovy fishing. The targets, though small fish, wouldn't have the expertise, experience, or the assets to fight back and would settle. And there'd be a lot of them. Newspaper firms would have jumped on board because they had the targets, it saved them from hiring their own lawyers and they got some cash besides.
Had it been successful, the Stephens family would've raked the money in. Problems were that it was an end-run around the intellectual-property law industry, who noticed, and they went after the left end of the political spectrum, who had organizational ability and legal chops who would work pro bono for a 'cause'.
#2
There's a dishonest debate going on with publishers. Copyright is intended to protect a work, not the capital amassed to distribute that work. Copyright law means as a whole the ability of others to take someone's work and build on it, not copy it as their own, but to add their own unique version to it.
Publishers have had such a tremendous advantage literally for hundreds of years a cultural gate keepers that they think that that privileged position gives the more rights than anyone else when it comes to fair use.
Lawyers like Righthaven told publishers, we have a solution: we'll just sue the living sh*t out of everyone, and everything will be okay. Even if Righthaven had won all their suits and was still in business, they won't be able to stop anything because the Internet levels the playing field and makes entry into journalism for pennies of the dollars.
Publishers are so large, so ponderous in their business model they are failing to see their business model is bleeding them dry, not bloggers, and there is nothing they can do about it.
Publishers are in a hail storm. They can't hide and they can't make it stop. Suing may reduce the amount of fair use going on for a while, but genuine fair use will not stop, ever.
[An Nahar] Three French embassy staff in the Indonesian capital were kept in isolation overnight after coming into contact with a suspicious package, embassy officials said Tuesday.
Intelligence chief Lieutenant General Marciano Norman later said no harmful material was found in the envelope, which had been labeled "#ANTRAC" and was suspected of possibly containing anthrax.
"It has been confirmed that it's not anthrax. It was just a threat," Marciano said. "It was just the writing, but we will investigate it further."
The embassy earlier confirmed the suspicious package was received.
"Yesterday (Monday) we received a suspicious package and called the police to deal with it," front man Dominique Roubert told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The three staff members were kept at the French embassy in isolation for several hours on Monday night, embassy communications head Jean-Louis Bertrand told AFP, and were released after receiving the negative lab results Tuesday.
"The three staff members were kept in isolation for a few hours and are in good shape. They were confined in line with normal security procedures," Bertrand said.
Police earlier told AFP that two staff members had been sent to hospital, but the embassy confirmed they were only confined on its premises.
Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium which has been used as a biological weapon by terrorists.
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[An Nahar] A car boom on Tuesday rocked central Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... and 56 people were killed in fresh violence across the country, a day after nearly 60 were killed across Syria despite a hard-won ceasefire and the upcoming deployment of 300 U.N peace monitors.
Three people were maimed when the blast went off in the Marjeh district of the capital, Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported, blaming "terrorists", the government term for rebels.
"An armed terrorist group detonated the car boom near the Yelbugha complex in Marjeh, wounding three people and causing damage to nearby buildings," it said.
State news agency SANA said the bomb was placed under the car of an unsuspecting man, who was among those hurt.
The blast came as U.N. observers returned to the city of Hama's Arbaeen neighborhood, which activists said suffered a "massacre" on Monday at the hands of regime troops.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 31 non-combatants were killed in the flashpoint central city, out of a total of 56 people, including five soldiers, killed in violence across the country, despite the tenuous ceasefire.
A Damascus-based rights group said that among those killed in Hama were nine activists "summarily executed" a day after they had met the U.N. observers.
Activist Abu Ghazi al-Hamwi said the U.N. team met "members of the deaders' families. But they did not comply with the families' requests to visit the mass graves where yesterday's dead had been buried."
Video footage posted online by activists showed a street in Arbaeen with large pools of blood and women weeping. Two maidens of tender years were shown in one video crying and holding up the picture of a man.
"This is my father," cries one girl.
The Observatory said two people also died on Tuesday in Damascus and its suburbs, one of them an intelligence officer shot in the neighborhood of Barzeh.
The violence occurred despite the April 12 ceasefire, and the presence of an advance team of U.N. monitors to implement the truce.
The persistent bloodshed has sparked growing criticism from opposition activists of the decampedgling U.N. mission, which now numbers 11 observers out of a planned initial deployment of 30.
The monitors have toured several protest hubs since their arrival in the country earlier this month, including the battered city of Homs, where two of them set up base at the weekend.
During their visits, they have been greeted by thousands of protesters demanding the ouster of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... and the arming of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Despite skepticism over the U.N. mission, U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Monday gave the go-ahead for the deployment of 300 ceasefire monitors from next week.
Ban insisted that the Assad government ensure the protection of the unarmed observers and allow them to travel freely throughout the country.
Russia, a staunch ally of the Damascus regime, warned both sides to the conflict against disrupting the work of the U.N. observers which it said was crucial to providing an unbiased picture on the ground.
"The more observers there are, the more information we get that is based on objective facts and that is free from speculation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Critics have said the U.N. mission was simply allowing the regime to buy time as it presses its crackdown against what began as a popular revolt but has turned into an insurgency.
Washington has also expressed reservations, warning it may not back the mission's renewal after 90 days.
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... ordered new sanctions on Syria and Iran and the "digital guns for hire" who help them oppress their people with surveillance software and monitoring technology.
Obama announced additions to the pile of U.S. sanctions already faced by the two governments as part of a wider effort to crack down on human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... abuses, atrocities and genocide.
The measures will hit the two governments but also companies that help create systems that track or monitor their people for killing, torture or other abuses and prevent individuals involved from entering the United States.
Separately, the U.N.'s World Food Program on Tuesday said it was boosting assistance to the Syrian population to reach 500,000 people in the coming weeks.
"As the conflict continues, Syrians in areas affected by the violence are struggling to feed their families and WFP is deeply concerned about the potential for food insecurity," executive director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement.
Even before the revolt broke out in Syria in March 2011, 1.4 million Syrians, out of a population of 23 million, "were struggling to meet their daily food needs," Cousin said.
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[Dawn] PAKISTAN remains in the dog house of the international community mainly because its rulers refuse to accept that violence and conflict within the country are escalating and have serious ramifications for the entire region.
Pakistain's friends fear a severe economic meltdown and there are widespread concerns over continuing corruption which has also partly impaired governance.
Amazingly, while turban non-state actors are knocking down our doors and have successfully solidified their networks, our civil institutions are busy rubbing each others' noses in the dirt -- perhaps for sound reasons but the rubbing is excessive.
Constant political bickering keeps policymakers, the media, the judiciary and the public distracted from the risks we face.
Corruption is rife in all governments and institutions. Sadly, selective investigations often remain inconclusive. Ironically, most of those accused of corruption brazenly say they have been singled out, rather than plead innocence and prove it too.
Other well-intentioned spectators argue that accountability should be all-comprehensive and not limited to monetary corruption alone. It should be across the board and judged by an institution or body of people who have an unblemished past. There is no doubt that intellectual corruption or oppression can often be far more devastating for its victims. It demolishes societal values too.
But how far back can Pakistain dig into its past without being ripped apart? Or indeed do we still have honest brokers? While impunity must end so that the country's wealth is no longer plundered and oppressors or dictators who play havoc with the future of a nation are not endorsed by unscrupulous civilians, such a venture will spare hardly anyone and sap all national energy.
These are tough decisions for any society, but must clearly be taken by the people of the country, rather than by former collaborators or those accused of corruption. Initiatives towards transitional justice only triumph when a society is prepared to accept its mistakes.
At the moment, claims of righteousness abound and exhibitions of greed have reached sickening heights. Any hope of arriving at the truth will only add to the heap of historical propaganda accumulated by us. Presently, the more pressing need is to secure a future that may be less painful, rather than go down with a swansong of half-truths.
The greater challenge for Pakistain is to keep the democratic cycle running, along with improving the abysmal state of governance. Most importantly, our leadership should fully comprehend, admit and face up to the challenges thrown at the country by turban non-state networks. The latter rule through divisions while the former is conceding territorial and political ground to jihadis of all types and nationalities.
It is reprehensible that any country should violate the territorial integrity of another; but it is even worse for a country to allow non-state intruders to dictate state policies under the threat of violence and for the government to swallow it meekly.Under the present circumstances, there are greater chances of the transition to democracy rolling back, rather than an improvement in this climate of political bickering. A reversal of the system will sweep with it all the so-called citadels of free expression, the rule of law and political democracy unless urgent and sustainable political and economic measures are taken.
Pakistain is slipping into isolation. Fatigue with the inertia shown by Pakistain's leadership in putting its house in order is clearly visible in the international community.
Foreign investment has dried up and local industry is barely surviving without the supply of gas and electricity. The economic gains made by other countries in the region have simply passed us by because we have no policy to thrive on and instead live from day to day.
Growing economies produce the glue that strengthens nationhood, while depleting ones invite conflict and external intervention. The fissures in Pak society are once again apparent. The internal fracturing of the state as well as the external factors responsible for this must be urgently addressed and a few entry points identified for a solid start.
Pakistain should revisit its foreign policy with its neighbours at the regional level and with the US. This exercise must be realistic and aimed at improving the quality of life of ordinary Paks, rather than be tailored to appease the right-wing.
At the national level, massive restructuring is required but priority must be given to monitoring and fine-tuning the process of devolution under the 18th Amendment. There are examples: Brazil had to put in place a federal investigating body to ensure that law-enforcement under the command of the federating units did not get away with human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations.
Similarly, the centre should retain policymaking on education and health. At another level, a constitutional court as promised in the Charter of Democracy should be seriously considered. Small causes courts, which are limited to addressing minor offences and disputes, should be reactivated at the union council level. The rising crime graph is disturbing. The professional skills of our police, especially in investigating crime, have to be sharpened. Resources spent on defence must substantially, though incrementally, be reallocated towards improving governance.
Elections should be held every four years so that there are ample opportunities for a fresh, more visionary leadership to get into the political loop. This could also rejuvenate the present archaic style of running political parties. Mechanisms set up for accountability and conducting elections should be completely autonomous and impartial.
The inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan as well as Fata in mainstream politics should be thoroughly discussed and effectively implemented. The politicianship of Azad Jammu & Kashmire should be permitted to run its own affairs without constant dictates from Islamabad. The issue of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... is complex and it deepens with each day of vacillation.
There are no easy solutions to the formidable challenges we face but the least people expect from those in positions of power is to keep the interest of the people above personal ambitions at a time when the country is almost collapsing.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The country will have to collapse before it can reform. Even that is is an optimistic long shot.
The country has no good institutions or traditions to fall back on. They are just a dysfunctional bunch of tribes fueled by radical Islamic passions, with a topping of nukes of unknown quality and security, propped up by money and other aid from the US, Saudi, china. The sooner they fall apart the better the world will be.
We need to stop funding losers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/25/2012 1:11
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#2
Worst run and most dangerous country in the world.
#4
Generally yes. Smaller countries have more chance that the geographic area of the demos overlap well, thus building trust and making it easier to start a reciprocal culture.
Multi-Demos countries tend to try and use the state to "redistribute" from the other demos'.
#1
A remarkable life as a soldier and a detailed and fine obituary. In that article, I learned a lot about an interesting man I never would have learned about otherwise.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/25/2012 0:58
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#2
The Brit paper "telegraph" runs half a dozen nice obits every day. Before they started to run short, I would print out one or two about Brits in WW II for my father. His unit had served with the Canadian Corp in Monty's army when first in the ETO and he liked the Imperial troops he'd met.
Some of the senior ones would be anointed something like deputy lord lieutenant governor of Loamshire. Since the Brits don't have a written constitution, it occurred to me that if the SHTF, really, really hard. The ceremonial post might become real.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/25/2012 8:01
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#3
> Since the Brits don't have a written constitution
We do. It's just not on a single bit of paper. i.e. it's based on case law.
#4
Pebbles. Case-law constitutions can evolve. So can the one-pagers, I suppose.
I recall reading that the case law regarding Lord Haw-Haw referred to something under one of the earlier Edwards--thirteenth century or thereabouts.
But, suppose SHTF and the last anointed person standing is the deputy lord lieutenant of Loamshire. There are a few of the TA. Is he going to be constitutionally in charge locally absent commo with London?
IOW, is this a relict from the distant past which has not had its constitutional power excised but only superceded?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/25/2012 9:08
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#5
Do you get the impression that ole Tony was a supreme bad ass and one tough son of a bitch?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2012 10:22
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#6
I note a certain resemblance to Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart from Doctor Who. Probably a coincidence, given that not-yet-a-Brig. Hunter-Choat was apparently still a rising star when The Web of Fear aired.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Sudan, which has rejected a return to the negotiating table, accused South Sudan of undermining its stability by backing rebels inside its territory despite international appeals for it to stop.
The "South Sudan government did not respond to the repeated calls of the international community and continued its hostile activities to undermine the stability and security of Sudan," said the foreign ministry.
The statement, carried by SUNA state news agency late on Monday, followed a new wave of Sudanese air raids against the South that drew swift condemnation from the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , United States and La Belle France.
It came after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. ruled out any future talks with rival South leader Salva Kiir, who was in Beijing to drum up support from China, a traditional Khartoum ally.
Sudan accuses the South of supporting anti-government rebels from its conflict-hit western region of Darfur as well as those fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
The South, which split from Sudan in July 2011 following an independence referendum, denies backing opposition movements in the north.
UN leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , meanwhile, deplored the cross-border air raids, and called on Bashir and Kiir to stop the "slide" to war after months of escalation along their oil-rich border.
"The secretary-general condemns the aerial bombardment on South Sudan by Sudanese armed forces and calls on the government of Sudan to cease all hostilities immediately," said deputy UN front man Eduardo del Buey.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Liberian former leader Charles Taylor The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually. awaits a verdict Thursday on charges of arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for "blood diamonds" in the 1990s.
A three-judge bench will read the historic decision -- the first verdict against a former head of state by an international court -- at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam outside The Hague.
Taylor, 64, is accused of helping Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels wage a terror campaign during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001.
The trial, which saw model Naomi Campbell testify she had received diamonds from the flamboyant Taylor, wrapped up in March 2011.
Prosecutors alleged that the RUF paid Taylor with illegally mined so-called blood diamonds worth millions, stuffed into mayonnaise jars.
"He (Taylor) was really key in people's minds as to who was accountable for what happened," Elise Keppler, who monitored the trial for Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , told AFP this week.
She added: "He is a former head of state, the first to hear a judgment against himself: it is unprecedented, it is a historic moment."
During the trial, prosecutor Brenda Hollis told the court: "Charles Taylor created, armed, supported and controlled the RUF in a 10-year campaign of terror against the civil population of Sierra Leone."
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[Yemen Post] A senior Al-Qaeda leader was killed on Tuesday in an intelligence operation in an area located between governorates of Marib and Al-Jawaf.
The Yemeni News Agency(Saba) said that Muqbil Al-Omda who was the financial official of al-Qaea and the fourth-most wanted man was killed.
The source did not mention the time of the operation, but it said that the security intelligence made a progress in killing most leaders of Al-Qaeda.
A US drone had raided on Sunday a car convey in Wadi Abidah of Marib, 20 kilometers away of the city of Marib, leaving three persons killed.
The United States launches from time to time strikes against Yemeni areas, and it says that it raids strongholds of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
According to Yemen's Defense Ministry, most veteran leaders of Al-Qaeda were killed and some others could escape outside the governorate of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
Local sources affirmed that the Yemeni army could control on the southeast of the town and could reach to the hear of the town after air-fighters launched strikes on the town.
The Defense Ministry affirmed that it will expand it operations to purge Abyan of Al-Qaeda, ensure the return of the displaced persons, and resume security and stability to the city.
Gerald Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, during a presser at the embassy on Sunday attributed the army's progress to changes made by President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi in the military's leadership.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sandwich shop, Caroline was experimenting with ingredients of increasing volatility... Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Ropert Muleler arrived in Sana'a on Tuesday and discussed with Yemen's president efforts of counterterrorism, in particular fighting against Al-Qaeda.
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#1
Watch : Planes And Fly High : Everywhere : Afghan And Iraq
[Yemen Post] Family of the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... has met the Iranian Ambassador to Sana'a amid orientation of the family to develop cooperation at various levels, media sources said.
The sources told Nashwan News that several meetings have been held between one of Saleh's family and the Iranian ambassador, pointing out that Saleh's family seeks to convince the Iranians to contact Russia and China to support its attitudes in the UN Security Council.
Why would Russia or China care about events in Yemen, or about what Iran might prefer there?
The sources said Saleh's family wants Russia and China to impede any sanctions that may be imposed against Saleh's relatives who refuse dismissal decrees issued by President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... two weeks ago.
They said the Iranian family started to improve its relations with Saleh's family, indicating that Iran coordinates between the family and leaders of the Southern Movement in exile and expand the activities of the Houthis to hamper the interim government efforts in return for having weapons and funds.Media sources have stated that Iran increased its recent activities in Yemen through supporting the rebellious movements and fundamental political individual and forcesThe sources had said that President Barack Obama Why can't I just eat my waffle?... 's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, offered the Yemeni authorities to create a specialized intelligence unit to follow up Iranian activities in Yemen.The sources said the United States is concerned about the lack to infrastructure of Yemen's coastguards, pointing out that the Yemeni coasts are subject to constant smuggling of weapons and fighters.The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... Newspaper has recently said Iran increased its political outreach and arms shipments to rebels and other political figures in Yemen as part of what American military and intelligence officials say a widening Iranian effort to extend its influence across the greater Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] A Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. Lebanese jihad boy, who was accused of targeting the Lebanese army, was killed in the Syrian city of Qsair after detonating himself accidentally, the Time reported.
According to a fellow fighter, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Ali, Abdul Ghani Jawhar had been preparing an bomb to be used against the Syrian army when it went off prematurely, abruptly ejecting him from the gene pool.
"We wanted to send his body back to Leb but we couldn't because it was torn into pieces," Abu Ali told Time.
Instead the rebels were forced to bury what was left of him in a neighboring garden.
But Lebanese media reports said that Jawhar, who is wanted for targeting the army in three bombing attacks in 2008, was killed during festivities with the Syrian military.
According to al-Akhbar daily, Jawhar arrived in Qsair two weeks ago after escaping the southern Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole.
Al-Jadeed television said that another Lebanese Fatah al-Islam jihad boy identified as Walid Boustani was also killed by the Free Syrian Army.
The Lebanese army battled an uprising of Fatah al-Islam in the northern Paleostinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in the summer of 2007. The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers.
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04/25/2012
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JERUSALEM: Israel said on Tuesday it had granted legal status to three settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, a move that could shore up the governing coalition but which drew sharp Palestinian condemnation.
Of course it did. But it sucks to lose four wars and two insurrections, doesn't it boys...
Israeli officials played down the decision taken by a ministerial committee late on Monday and rejected accusations that the government had effectively created the first new Jewish settlements for more than 20 years.
The three outposts -- Bruchin, Sansana and Rechelim -- were built on land Israel declared "state-owned" in the West Bank, an area it captured in the 1967 war and which Palestinians want as part of a future state.
"The panel decided to formalize the status of the three communities ... which were established in the 1990s following the decisions of past governments," said a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Israel distinguishes between settlements it has approved and the outposts which were never granted official authorization.
Some 350 settlers live in Bruchin and 240 in Rechelim, both in the northern part of the West Bank, while Sansana, with a population of 240, lies further to the south.
None has been granted final Israeli legal status as formal communities and Netanyahu, though politically strong, has faced questions from within his own Likud party and other right-wing coalition partners about his commitment to settlers.
Israeli officials blamed unspecified technical issues for delaying the status change.
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BEIRUT: Bashar Assad's international allies must realize the Syrian president is "finished" and persuade him to step down to avoid further bloodshed, Tunisian President Moncef Al-Marzouki said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.
"The Russians and Chinese, and the Iranians must understand that this man is finished and they cannot defend him. They must persuade him to leave power and hand over to his deputy," Marzouki told the regional Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.
Assad "will go one way or another ... dead or alive," he added.
Addressing the Syrian leader directly, he said: "It's better for you and your family to leave alive, because if you decide to leave dead, that means that you have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents. Enough blood has been shed."
Tunisia, whose peaceful revolution a year ago sparked the Arab Spring uprisings that saw off autocratic leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, offered to give Assad political asylum in February to stem the violence in Syria, where the United Nations says government forces have killed 9,000 people.
That's an interesting bit of news. Life in Tunisia wouldn't be so bad with a lot of Krugerrands and a beautiful wife...
At least until the Islamists take over, anyway.
They like Krugerrands and beautiful wives as much as anyone...
UN observers are launching a monitoring mission in Syria to oversee an April 12 cease-fire agreement brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Fewer than a dozen from a planned mission of 300 observers have arrived so far, and the violence has continued. Activists said 30 people were killed across Syria on Monday.
Marzouki said the mission had little chance of ending the killings. "I do not expect it to succeed, because the number of observers is very small. Three hundred people cannot do anything," he said. "In Kosovo there were thousands of observers."
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[An Nahar] Israel is to start building a wall along part of its border with Leb next week to shield the northern town of Metulla, Channel 10 television reported on Monday.
It said the wall, more than two kilometers long and 10 meters high, was also aimed at preventing festivities between Israeli and Lebanese border forces whose posts are often just meters apart.
The private broadcaster said Israel had informed Leb of the wall project and would coordinate it through the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... Interim Force in Leb (UNIFIL).
Military sources said in January that Israel was considering building a wall along a section of the 79-kilometer border, fearing cross-border sniper fire at newly built apartment blocks in Metulla.
Although the two countries are technically in a state of war, Israeli and Lebanese military officials meet regularly in the presence of UNIFIL peacekeepers to liaise on border issues.
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#1
The private broadcaster said Israel had informed Leb of the wall project and would coordinate it through the United Nations
Which may indicate something else is at play. Israel seldom announces in advance such undertakings.
[Dawn] Two people were killed and at least 58 others were maimed in a kaboom at the Lahore Railway Station on Tuesday.
The bomb, weighing at least five kilograms, was planted in the waiting lounge of the Business Express located between platforms one and two, CCPO Lahore Aslam Tareen told news hounds at the railway station.
"A porter and a police official are among the dead," Tareen said, adding that the kaboom used in the bomb weighed at least five kilograms.
Tareen said he was satisfied with the security measures in place at the station and said the police were trying to investigate how the bag managed to get through despite so many scanners.
"We have shifted all those injured in the blast to Ganga Ram, Mayo and Services hospitals," Rescue 1122 officials informed DawnNews.
Five of the maimed are in a critical condition in hospital, a health official told Rooters.
Security beefed up
Following the kaboom at Lahore, security was beefed up at the railway stations in all major cities across the country, including Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Quetta and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... In Bloody Karachi, the security deployment was increased five-folds and sterner checks were put in place.
"Instead of one of two coppers, at least three officials are now checking the passengers and their luggage with metal detectors, while commandos have also been deployed in passenger trains," SHO Bloody Karachi City Station Habibullah Khan Khattak told PPI.
Rescue official Kiramat Ali described it as a "huge blast" and said 25 maimed had been taken to hospital.
Bomb planted in bag
An AFP photographer at the scene said the blast took place near the lounge for the luxury Business Express train to Bloody Karachi, a service launched two months ago offering first-class travel between Pakistain's two biggest cities.
Senior police officer Ali Ahmad Malik told AFP the bomb was left in a bag and that the Business Express train had left the station and was not the target.
The waiting room was littered with glass and upended furniture, with its windows blown in by the force of the kaboom.
Monetary compensation
"The government has announced compensation for the victims and their families," Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour was quoted as saying by DawnNews.
Five hundred thousand rupees will be given to the families of those who bit the dust, while one hundred thousand to those who were seriously injured as a result of the kaboom, Bilour added.
President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... expressed grief and shock over the attack.
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[Yemen Post] Hundreds of the residents of al-Mahweet province staged a rally on Tuesday in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, demanding that their governor, Ahmed Ali al-Ahwal. He was allegedly involved in the massacre in Sana'a Change Square last year that left more than 52 peaceful protesters dead.On March 18, snipers atop of al-Ahwal's house, located near Sana'a Change Square, bumped off more than 52 protesters as they finished the Friday's prayer. They targeted areas of chest, head, and the heart, which means they were ordered to kill not to wound.The protesters raised banners demanding that al-Ahwal stand trial for his involvement in killing dozens of innocent youths as well as for corruption charges. They further carried posters of the deaders of what's now known as the Friday of dignity (Jamaa al-Karama).The protesters submitted a letter to Hadi' guards in which they showed their resentment to what Yemeni provinces suffer in general, and al-Mahweet in particular from administrative and financial corruption.The letter also indicated that al-Ahwal is not only involved in corrupt charges, but also he was directly implicated in the massacre of Friday of Dignity, saying its strange that instead of holding him [ al-Ahwal] accountable for his crimes, he was being left to continue to be the governor of al- Mahweet as if he was above the law.Many believe that al-Ahwal had a big role in the massacre that took place on Friday of Dignity which marked the day that Yemeni protesters vowed that they would never go back on their goals or enter into any sort of negotiations with President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... 's regime.After Friday of Dignity, many officials, ministers, and commanders defected against Saleh and pledged support for the revolution, dealing a severe blow to the tyrant rule.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Violence in Nuevo Laredo started its fourth day Tuesday morning with a grenade attack against a municipal police station, according to Mexican news accounts.
The attack took place at about 0800 hrs near the Nuevo Laredo municipal police station near the intersection of Avenida Avila Camacho and the Anahuac highway. One unidentified civilian was wounded, one car was immolated and another was damaged by the blast. The explosion was heard as far as seven kilometers away.
There are reports that another shootout took place between armed suspects and a Mexican Army unit later that morning in an area in western Nuevo Laredo called Santa Fe.
The Tamaulipas state Fiscalia General del Estado or attorney general told foreign press agencies that the two Monday afternoon shootouts between Mexican Army units and armed suspects killed seven unidentified armed suspects.
Mexican federal government agencies do not release news to the public due to a clampdown on government propaganda as outlined by Article 41 of the Mexican Constitution which forbids dissemination. That ban is expected to be lifted the day after the presidential election on July 1st.
Reports also say that the four international bridges were apparently unaffected by Tuesday's attacks.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[An Nahar] A U.S.-Lebanese man accused of placing a backpack he thought held a bomb near a major Chicago sports field pleaded guilty to weapons charges Monday and could face up to 30 years in federal prison.
Lebanese immigrant Sami Samir Hassoun, 24, admitted he took what he thought was a bomb and dropped it into a trash bin near Wrigley Field with the intent to harm many people.
The fake device was given to him by undercover FBI agents who had been tipped off by an informant.
Hassoun believed an attack would have the ability to "paralyze" Chicago commerce,
An attack, yes. A bomb in a trash can? Not likely, especially not in Chicago. Inbreeding is a real possibility here.
according to the plea deal, which also requires him to cooperate with the government.
When the hearing ended, Hassoun turned and blew a kiss to relatives in the courtroom.
Defense attorneys declined to talk to news hounds after the hearing. They have described Hassoun, a one-time bakery worker, as gullible and prone to boasting but without links to bad turbans.
Hassoun pleaded guilty to one count each of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted use of an bomb. The U.S. Attorney's office said it would recommend a prison sentence of 30 years.
Hassoun has been in federal custody since his 2010 arrest and faces at least 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 15. He had previously pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." and, if convicted at trial, would have faced life in prison.
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BENGHAZI, Libya: Protesters gathered outside Libyas largest oil company for a second day on Tuesday demanding more transparency over how the countrys new rulers are spending its money and more jobs for the youth.
Spokesman for the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco) Abdel Jalil Mayuf said the protesters were preventing employees from entering the building, attempting to halt work for a second day in a row.
We cannot get inside. They are protesting against the authorities, they want money, he told Reuters on Tuesday.
Highlighting the continued risks months after the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi, the group of 50 protesters, some of them unemployed youth who had fought in last years war, blocked the Agoco office entrance gate in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Their demands, which have been echoed at previous protests in Benghazi, also included the sacking of Qaddafi-era officials.
Oil represents the bulk of Libyas economy and the North African country is close to returning to pre-war production of 1.6 million barrels per day.
Discontent has been simmering in Benghazi, the cradle of the Libyan revolt, for a while. In January, protesters stormed the headquarters of the ruling National Transitional Council while its chairman was still in the building.
The interim government appointed in November is leading Libya toward elections in June but is struggling to restore services and impose order on a country awash with weapons.
Agoco, which produced 425,000 bpd of crude oil before the war, gained increasing independence last year and acted as the de facto state oil company of the Libyan uprising as international sanctions imposed during the conflict prevented dealings with the National Oil Corporation.
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Are the Debates About Manufacturing Jobs, Energy Independence and Illegal Immigration About to Become Irrelevant?
By Clark S. Judge
Mr. Judge argues in this guest essay at Hugh Hewitt that the traditional arguments about our elections -- manufacturing, energy, and immigration -- may matter less in election 2012 and beyond. He marshals his reasons; worth a look.
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#1
Not to dispute Mr. Judge's sited trends, but I suspect as many here, I firmly believe "jobs, energy, and immigration" are still quite relevant. Perhaps a more valid explanation for the recent distancing of these topics might be Obama's absolutely dismal record in these key areas over the past three years. His record will not permit an intelligent engagement in the "traditional" election arguments and topics. That leaves Obama with the typically leftest themes of class warfare wealth redistribution, hate mongering, and division as discussion points. I am certain he feels considerably more at home with these anyway.
I believe candidate Romney can prevail if he sticks to the so-called traditional election arguments as he did last evening in his New Hampshire victory speech.
As an aside, wasn't Mrs. Romney's introduction last evening splendid? Imagine the current First Lady attempting such a performance.
#2
Three d money tanks food and jobs wonder how the flat landers at the Pentagon and cern are doing today? Perhaps we could print 3-d people to fight for us and take our country back. The the 3-d printed steak it's real good with Heinz-57 on it and french fries.As for exporting energy why then does it cost so much to fill up, hows the wind mill tank core coming, solar panels for break away armor? How about that coming out of the closet in the military and all the humping ion people and broom sticks in asses. Wake Up people!
I sinktrapped your above post because you are entirely too fond of abnormal anal sex imagery. Please find another way to express those feelings, as this is a family site.
#5
Manufacturing has declined (gone to China)--much to dismay of most of us. We haven't had an energy policy since the Department of Energy was established. Siting requirements for new power plants are lengthy. EPA has regulated cheap energy out of existence. Ditto a policy on illegal immigration (cheap labor). Neither party wants to do anything about it--especially in an election year.
However, people out in fly over land are paying $4-$5 per gallon of gasoline. That price is reflected in the price of everything else we buy. Green energy doesn't get us where we want to be. Jobs (manufacturing as well as other jobs) are an issue with people since the real unemployment rate
is around 17-18%. Illegal immigration is an issue because Americans are paying for health care and social services they may use while here.
I think Clark Judge is out of touch. While part of what he says is true, the issues he points out of extreme importance to Americans.
#6
I didn't read him to say that these weren't important to many voters. Rather I read him to say that there are major structural changes happening that will reduce their impact/urgency over the next few years.
If he's right, then our response should address how to manage the shift rather than how to push back against trends that are (mistakenly) considered to be one-way.
#7
Manufacturing has declined (gone to China)--much to dismay of most of us.
Most of us who never had to do those dirty, repetitive, mindless jobs. The problem is we have no jobs for those who have been mis-educated by our public schools to do nothing more than be factory cogs in dirty, repetitive, mindless jobs. Maybe the problem is with the education system, because the Chinese won't be doing them in a generation because most of them will be fully automated by then.
[Dawn] Inspector General (IG) Sindh police Mushtaq Shah on Tuesday claimed to have placed in long-term storage several myrmidons from different areas including Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and called for placing bounty on 34 most wanted criminals, DawnNews reported.
Speaking in a presser at Bloody Karachi police head office, Shah said that during the operation in Lyari, 123 suspects including members of "gang war" were placed in long-term storage by the police.
Seven betting dens have also been raided and closed up, he added.
Moreover, the IG Sindh police said that five hit mans and six extortionists have also been placed in long-term storage from various areas of the metropolis.
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Renee Zellweger aka Bridget Jones (AW Best Actress) in "Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)" aka Roxie Hart (Nominated AW) in "Chicago (2002)" aka Ruby Thewes (AW Best Supporting) in "Cold Mountain (2003)" aka Dorothy Boyd in "Jerry Maguire (1996)" aka Mae Braddock in "Cinderella Man (2005)" (age 44)
Posted by: Best ||
04/25/2012 1:56
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#2
"Every piece of this is man's bullshit. They call this war a cloud over the land, but they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, "Shit! Its rainin'!"
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.
(CBS) -- Health officials on Tuesday reported the rise of a troubling new trend in Southland emergency rooms: teenagers being treated for alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer.
A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it's attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.
I dug up something that looks like what I remember from a while back. I think it clears Hank's good name and reputation with respect to this particular performance in Congress.
North Korea
Police were finally able to resolve the mysterious case of human body parts found dumped in different parts of the metropolis, DawnNews reported.
Mahmoud 
A woman of Lassain Nawab area on Monday complained of her 15-year-old daughter's forced marriage and blamed her misery on a local jirga.
a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
[An Nahar] Yemeni troops, backed by armed civilians, are advancing on southern 
The U.S. military has stockpiled $800 million worth of weapons in Israel and the amount is growing, according to a U.S. Congressional report and reported by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu of the Israeli media network Arutz Sheva.
Asif Ali 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
[An Nahar] Three French embassy staff in the Indonesian capital were kept in isolation overnight after coming into contact with a suspicious package, embassy officials said Tuesday.
[An Nahar] A 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
PAKISTAN remains in the dog house of the international community mainly because its rulers refuse to accept that violence and conflict within the country are escalating and have serious ramifications for the entire region.
Charles Taylor
[Yemen Post] A senior Al-Qaeda leader was killed on Tuesday in an intelligence operation in an area located between governorates of Marib and Al-Jawaf. 
A 
Two people were killed and at least 58 others 
[Yemen Post] Hundreds of the residents of al-Mahweet province staged a rally on Tuesday in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, demanding that their governor, Ahmed Ali al-Ahwal. He was allegedly involved in the massacre in Sana'a Change Square last year that left more than 52 peaceful protesters dead.On March 18, snipers atop of al-Ahwal's house, located near Sana'a Change Square, 
Inspector General (IG) Sindh police Mushtaq Shah on Tuesday claimed to have 
