NASA announced today that Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak's assignment in the space agency's astronaut corps will end Thursday. It is believed to be the first time NASA has taken the step of severing ties with an astronaut from the military, said a spokeswoman for the space agency. She will be sent to a naval air base in Corpus Christi, Texas, and is expected to report there for duty on March 21, said a Navy spokeswoman. Nowak will join a staff that trains naval aviators. "She's on active duty with the Navy," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson. As for Nowak's ongoing criminal proceedings, Robertson called it a "civilian matter" and would not speculate on any military actions "that would come under her new commander."
Nowak, who was arrested last month in Orlando on charges she attempted to kidnap a romantic rival, remains an active duty naval officer. She has been "on detail" to NASA as an astronaut since her selection in 1996. NASA requested an end to the relationship because "the agency lacks the administrative means to deal appropriately with the criminal charges pending," a NASA press release said. Nowak is not subject to administrative action by NASA because she is a naval officer on assignment and not a space agency civil servant.
#4: Now that Brittney Spears, there's a crazy bitch. I think we should see lots, lots more about how crazy she and all the crazy things she does in the media every day. Every day...
Posted by: Astronaut Lisa Nowak|| 2007-03-08 12:06
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#5: She'll be all right. I'm sure she's got an agent looking for that Depends advertising contract as we speak.
#7: For those of you who simply cannot get enough of this story, the Houston Chronicle has a PDF file of their email exchanges here.
The multiple layers of quotes makes it a little hard to read. Some might enjoy Oefelein's p7 pep talk about going back to the moon, and how he'd be happy to clean toilets for lunar astronauts (hmm, might be prescient).
On p6, Colleen Shipman describes her car troubles. I had the same one with my last car, but it sprang up a few weeks after I got it, and not because I didn't change the spark plugs once in 80,000 miles. (Hmph.)
On p1 she calls her boss a jackass. I don't know who she's talking about, of course, but I bet he does.
The Chronicle's version of the linked article has an Our-Story-So-Far list o' links.
LAGOS - Thirteen people were killed and several wounded in violence which erupted over oil revenue in southern Nigeria’s Rivers State, local media reported Wednesday. Fighting in the Kula area broke out over a share-out of money by an oil company operating in the region, the Guardian newspaper said.
State police spokeswoman Barasua Ireju confirmed the violence, but said details on casualities were not yet available. ‘We have drafted riot policemen to contain the violence,’ she added.
The fighting which began on Sunday continued until Tuesday, when the riot police were deployed, the newspaper said.
Posted by: Steve White ||2007-03-08 00:00 ||Link
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Zambia broke the regional silence on Tuesday over the deteriorating political conditions in Zimbabwe, telling its counterparts in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to stop pretending "all is well in Zimbabwe".
"We should not pretend that all is well in Zimbabwe. There is a serious problem and ostracising Zimbabwe will not help solve the problems there," Foreign Affairs Minister Mundia Sikatana told SADC executive secretary Thomaz Salomao in Lusaka. Sikatana made the remarks to Salamao during the latter's visit to Zambia to organise the annual SADC summit set to take place in Lusaka in August, at which Zambia is due to take over the community's 12-month rotating chair.
Sikatana said the summit should aim to help stem the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe by engaging authoritarian Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the European Union on the issue of sanctions. "We should engage the EU over its sanctions against Robert Mugabe. This should be on the agenda," he said. Salomao said the SADC secretariat will look at addressing the issue of the sanctions, which have "crippled the economy and resulted in widespread chronic poverty".
For a moment I thought he'd finally seen the light and was going to call for Bob to retire to a luxurious villa. But no-o-o-o, it's all the fault of the West ...
Sikatana said ending the sanctions is key to ending the food crisis in what used to be known as the breadbasket of Africa. Zimbabweans, who are already jumping the border into South Africa in droves, are now also flooding into Zambia seeking food, he said. Unless the issue of the confiscation of white-owned farms is resolved quickly, the situation will attain catastrophic proportions exacerbated by flooding and drought, he said. It is up to SADC states to take the bull by the horns and help Mugabe realise that dialogue is the best recipe for sustainable peace and stability, according to Sikatana.
#1: Sikatana said ending the sanctions is key to ending the food crisis in what used to be known as the breadbasket of Africa.... Unless the issue of the confiscation of white-owned farms is resolved quickly, the situation will attain catastrophic proportions
The real problem is that Mugabe evicted the white farmers and their black workers who had turned Rhodesia into a breadbasket and gave their land to his black "war veterans" and political cronies most of whom either couldn't or didn't farm it productively. Not sure how removing sanctions is going to teach Mr. Farmin' B. Hard how to grow corn. Further, Mugabe's thugs have looted the treasury to the point that Zimbabwe can't afford to buy anything anyway.
#2: Zimbob hasn't hit bottom yet, but the ground is rapidly aproaching, the crater will look like Arizona's "Meteor Crater" shortly, I predict 6 months or less when food is no longer "Short" But "Gone".
#3: I got told in RE that Zimbabwe ad recently made a 5000 rand (i think the currency, not all that on my facts) note, which in 7 days time would be worth £1.50 lol, that made me laugh.
This 'place' needs sorting out. Either to be hit, or just cruised missile the palace of Mugabe. Infact that isn't a bad idea, declare war, cruise missile his house and leave it at that. take down a major symbol of his power, and I think you might find the people will solve it
#5: I'll be happy when Bob and Grace (and the rest of the "war veterans") are overthrown, and eaten, by the hungry mobs
Posted by: Frank G>Frank G|| 2007-03-08 17:33
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#6: At some point we'll start going after the retirees. Unfortunately it is too practical an option to get bastards to leave peacefully that we don't want to set a precident. Not yet. But I imagine there are nations who will hunt down retired tyrants (as Israel hunted down ex-Nazi's) and eventually justice will be done even if money is not returned to the nation from which it was stolen.
Scotland Yard was plunged into a race row last night after one of the country's most senior Muslim officers failed in his bid for promotion.
Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, an outspoken critic of racism in the Met, was one of ten officers hoping to be selected for the rank of Commander. But yesterday he was turned down for the £95,000-a-year post prompting a furious backlash from his supporters in the powerful National Black Police Association, to which he is legal adviser.
A senior official in the NBPA alleged Iranian-born Mr Dizaei, 44, may have been the victim of a 'personal vendetta' and demanded urgent talks with Met chief Sir Ian Blair to discuss the promotion snub. He also indicated the case could end up at an employment tribunal.
In a separate statement, the Metropolitan Black Police Association said it was "extremely disappointed" that Mr Dizaei had not been selected by a four-strong police authority promotion board, which was advised by Sir Ian. "We suspect the decision of the Metropolitan Police Authority was not free from bias and could not have been reached on the basis of objective and fair criteria," it said.
Communist rule of Cuba should end when ailing leader Fidel Castro dies, US President George W Bush said as he prepared for a Latin American tour this week. Bush’s trip is widely seen as offering a counterpoint to the populist appeal of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose nationalization plans he criticized. “I strongly believe that government-run industry is inefficient and will lead to more poverty,” Bush said when asked about Chavez’s nationalizations. “If the state tries to run the economy, it will enhance poverty and reduce opportunity.” Bush also made clear he is keeping an eye on Cuba and its long-time leader. Castro, 80, was forced to temporarily hand power to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, last July after stomach surgery. He mostly stayed out of view until a surprise live radio appearance last week. Castro’s fate will be decided “by the Almighty,” Bush said on Tuesday. “I don’t know how long he’s going to live but nevertheless I do believe that the system of government that he’s imposed upon the people ought not to live if that’s what the people decide,” he told reporters representing the countries he will visit. Bush took a dim view of the possibility of Raul Castro taking over permanently. “What I hope happens is that we together insist that transition doesn’t mean transition from one figure to another, but transition means from one type of government to a different type of government, based upon the will of the people,” he said.
#3: What if Castro died but they kept him around like a bad copy of Weekend at Bernies. Could take years and allow Castro's younger brother to solidify his hold.
#5: Raul will be 76 on June 3rd.... he's "younger" in some sense...
Posted by: Frank G>Frank G|| 2007-03-08 18:10
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#6: Why is it that people bitch about the sanctions on Cuba because of Castro, but didn't bitch about the sanctions on South Africa under the Afrikaners? Both are designed to undermine the objectionable regime, and both are known to be very slow ways to take down someone.
Also, sending the rich Miami Cubanos back would simply permit Castro to vampire out their money and execute any that showed any stones about the local living conditions. You don't knowingly send your friends into a killing field.
NORTH Korea has ordered its overseas diplomats to send their children back to the Communist state in an apparent attempt to stop the officials from defecting. North Korea's ruling Workers' Party issued the order under which about 3,000 children aged five or older must return home within 30 days, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said. The measure was believed to be aimed at preventing defections by diplomats and their families by raising the possibility that their children might be persecuted, the report said. The Yonhap news agency carried a similar report, but said each diplomat would be allowed to take one child to their overseas posts. The reason for the move is unclear: there have been no known defections by North Korean diplomats in recent months.
#4: Note to Kimmie: You are a bit late Genius; should have kept them when you sent dear ol' Dad to the embassy of your choice. S'posed to close the door BEFORE the horses get out.......
Queue up the vintage Ellis Island footage with quaint music …NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- Immigrants brought prosperity to New Bedford. They manned its lucrative whaling fleet, ran its textile mills and provided the muscle for the fishing boats that leave here daily for the Atlantic. But this New England city, which occasionally gives a knowing wink-and-nod at its illegal immigrant population, found itself in turmoil Wednesday, one day after federal agents raided a leather factory and detained more than 300 undocumented workers. Play audio clip from that movie voice-over guy…“But a new wind was blowing...”
#1: New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang said he's against allowing illegal immigrants to work in his aging mill city, one plagued by chronic unemployment.
"What bothers me is the selectivity and unilateralness of taking people who went to work yesterday and moving them out of the area without any real understanding of how it affects their families," he said.
Typical Mass politician. Wants it both ways.
Here's an solution. Make sure mom and pops and the kiddies are all together on the same plane back to Guatemala.
#3: Nice script and direction, Depot Guy! But I think those "well meaning activists" flanking the "exasperated local official" should be demonstrating the Sympathetic Head Tilt for added emotional appeal.
#6: Insolia oversaw sweatshop conditions so he could meet the demands of $91 million in U.S. military contracts
Done contracting. The inch of boiler plate includes provisions that if you break the law executing the contract it makes the contract null and void. If you low balled, that means you, with intent, stole the contract from someone who was willing to comply with the law.
#7: Grab some of these guys that hire the illegals, slap 'em in prison for five to ten making gravel from rocks, and you might end this mess. Nothing else short of armed force seems to work.
hSeventy-three Pakistanis, deported from the US, landed at the Islamabad International Airport on Wednesday. The deportees were escorted by US law enforcement agency personnel. Majority of them belonged to Punjab. Emotional scenes were witnessed at the airport when they disembarked from the plane.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) let them go to their homes after brief questioning sessions. FIA Immigration Cell Deputy Director Syed Kaleem Imam said that a list of 94 Pakistani deportees was given to the FIA, while 73 deportees had returned so far. The rest, he said, would soon follow. He said that a majority of the people who were deported were facing charges of overstaying their visas. The Immigration Cell deputy director said that some deportees had stayed in the US for at least 10 to 16 years. Mohammad Naveed, a deportee, said that he and seven other Pakistanis were arrested in Los Angles under new immigration laws. He said that US authorities had treated him “inhumanly” in jail.
The African Union's top diplomat took aim at the continent's long-time rulers on Monday by saying that the time had passed when leaders could expect to cling on to power for decades. "Everybody knows that the era of 'presidents for life' is over, and everyone nowadays acknowledges that you have got to pass on the baton even, if this has been difficult for certain people," Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on democracy in Africa. "I think that today, all of our leaders know that it serves no one if they stay in power for 30 years and end up like [Sese Seko] Mobutu," he added in reference to the former leader of Zaire, who was unceremoniously booted out of office in 1997 after 22 years in power and died in exile soon afterwards. "Mobutu was there for a long time. He had a lot of power, he had a lot of money, but you all saw how it ended."
Konare stopped short of naming names but a number of African leaders have been in power for the last three decades. The longest-serving leader on the continent is Gabon's President Omar Bongo Ondimba, who has been in power since 1967, while Moammar Gadaffi has been in charge of Libya since 1969. Other long-time rulers in sub-Saharan Africa include Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who took power in 1979, and the 83-year-old Robert Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwean president since independence in 1980. Both men have recently taken steps to delay elections and extend their rules to the 30-year mark.
Questioned specifically about Mugabe, Konare said the Zimbabwe leader had raised "a very fair point" about land ownership when he embarked on his policy of expropriating farms from white people at the turn of the century, but added that the reactions "had posed a problem". Mugabe has trumpeted the so-called land-reform programme as a move to address colonial-era imbalances, but critics say that much of the land only ended up the hands of his cronies and blame the policy for the collapse of the agriculture sector in Africa's one-time breadbasket.
A former Russian diplomat who once chaired the powerful United Nations budget oversight committee was convicted Wednesday of conspiring with a UN procurement officer to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign companies seeking UN contracts. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 49, was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering by a jury in US District Court in Manhattan after less than a day of deliberations.
Kuznetsov was charged in 2005 after an internal UN investigation of Alexander Yakovlev, a Russian who worked in the UN procurement office. Yakovlev pleaded guilty in federal court in 2005 to soliciting a bribe, wire fraud and money laundering. As part of a cooperation deal, Yakovlev had admitted accepting nearly $1 million (€760,000) in bribes from UN contractors. He testified against Kuznetsov.
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.
38.107.191.94
166173430
NASA announced today that Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak's assignment in the space agency's astronaut corps will end Thursday. It is believed to be the first time NASA has taken the step of severing ties with an astronaut from the military, said a spokeswoman for the space agency. She will be sent to a naval air base in Corpus Christi, Texas, and is expected to report there for duty on March 21, said a Navy spokeswoman. Nowak will join a staff that trains naval aviators. "She's on active duty with the Navy," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson. As for Nowak's ongoing criminal proceedings, Robertson called it a "civilian matter" and would not speculate on any military actions "that would come under her new commander."
LAGOS - Thirteen people were killed and several wounded in violence which erupted over oil revenue in southern Nigeria’s Rivers State, local media reported Wednesday. Fighting in the Kula area broke out over a share-out of money by an oil company operating in the region, the Guardian newspaper said.
Zambia broke the regional silence on Tuesday over the deteriorating political conditions in Zimbabwe, telling its counterparts in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to stop pretending "all is well in Zimbabwe". 
Communist rule of Cuba should end when ailing leader Fidel Castro dies, US President George W Bush said as he prepared for a Latin American tour this week. Bush’s trip is widely seen as offering a counterpoint to the populist appeal of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose nationalization plans he criticized. “I strongly believe that government-run industry is inefficient and will lead to more poverty,” Bush said when asked about Chavez’s nationalizations. “If the state tries to run the economy, it will enhance poverty and reduce opportunity.” Bush also made clear he is keeping an eye on Cuba and its long-time leader. Castro, 80, was forced to temporarily hand power to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, last July after stomach surgery. He mostly stayed out of view until a surprise live radio appearance last week. Castro’s fate will be decided “by the Almighty,” Bush said on Tuesday. “I don’t know how long he’s going to live but nevertheless I do believe that the system of government that he’s imposed upon the people ought not to live if that’s what the people decide,” he told reporters representing the countries he will visit. Bush took a dim view of the possibility of Raul Castro taking over permanently. “What I hope happens is that we together insist that transition doesn’t mean transition from one figure to another, but transition means from one type of government to a different type of government, based upon the will of the people,” he said. 
NORTH Korea has ordered its overseas diplomats to send their children back to the Communist state in an apparent attempt to stop the officials from defecting. North Korea's ruling Workers' Party issued the order under which about 3,000 children aged five or older must return home within 30 days, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said. The measure was believed to be aimed at preventing defections by diplomats and their families by raising the possibility that their children might be persecuted, the report said. The Yonhap news agency carried a similar report, but said each diplomat would be allowed to take one child to their overseas posts. The reason for the move is unclear: there have been no known defections by North Korean diplomats in recent months.
Seventy-three Pakistanis, deported from the US, landed at the Islamabad International Airport on Wednesday. The deportees were escorted by US law enforcement agency personnel. Majority of them belonged to Punjab. Emotional scenes were witnessed at the airport when they disembarked from the plane.
The African Union's top diplomat took aim at the continent's long-time rulers on Monday by saying that the time had passed when leaders could expect to cling on to power for decades. "Everybody knows that the era of 'presidents for life' is over, and everyone nowadays acknowledges that you have got to pass on the baton even, if this has been difficult for certain people," Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on democracy in Africa. "I think that today, all of our leaders know that it serves no one if they stay in power for 30 years and end up like [Sese Seko] Mobutu," he added in reference to the former leader of Zaire, who was unceremoniously booted out of office in 1997 after 22 years in power and died in exile soon afterwards. "Mobutu was there for a long time. He had a lot of power, he had a lot of money, but you all saw how it ended."
A former Russian diplomat who once chaired the powerful United Nations budget oversight committee was convicted Wednesday of conspiring with a UN procurement officer to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign companies seeking UN contracts. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 49, was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering by a jury in US District Court in Manhattan after less than a day of deliberations. 
