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Islamabad High Court frees AQ Khan
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Iowahawk: Dead Hobo Reporting Glitch Claims Another White House Appointee
No inline snark this time, since Iowahawk stories are composed entirely of snark in the first place.
U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced his resignation this morning amid new reports that Alameda County workers had unearthed more than a dozen additional dead hobo bodies at his former home in Berkeley, California. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist had been the subject of a week-long controversy after he amended his White House application form to declare "3 or 4" hobo corpses in his crawl space, but after this morning's discovery, Chu said he felt he could no longer serve as an effective spokesman for Administration energy policy.

"Getting America on the road to energy independence requires a secretary who is focused full time on developing comprehensive strategies for alternative fuels, rather than a political distraction over a handful of decomposing drifters," said Chu. "I'm afraid I am no longer that person."

Chu said he would return to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he will resume his scientific work investigating particle dynamics and local homeless shelters. President Obama said he would accept the resignation with regret, and expressed hope that a new Secretary could be named within the week.

"It was an honest mistake on Dr. Chu's part," said the President. "The section of the screening questionnaire about dead hobos has been confusing for a lot of nominees. In his defense it only specifies 'basement/crawl space/storage shed,' so I can somewhat understand why he didn't mention the ones discovered by the backhoe yesterday. That said, it's important that we move forward with revitalized American energy leadership. I'd like to thank Dr. Chu for his service and delicious home-made beef jerky, and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Sources inside the administration say the President is favoring University of Texas petroleum geologist / registered sex offender G. Harland Tellis as Chu's replacement. Tellis is expected to face stiff opposition from netroots blog sites like the Huffington Post, who have thrown their support behind British pop singer Gary Glitter.

The Chu hobo kerfuffle was the latest in a week-long series of Obama administration personnel imbroglis that have led to 36 resignations since Tuesday. Former HHS Secretary Tom Daschle and Chief Performance Officer Nancy Killefer saw their tenures cut short over tax issues, which continue to dog Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Geithner is also dogged over dogs, after his failure to report over $14,000 in income from his backyard pitbull fight business. A federal grand jury probe over an alleged 12-state outlaw motorcycle gang methamphetamine network forced Commerce Secretary designate Bill Richardson to resign before Mr. Obama's inauguration. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis faces continued scrutiny over late taxes, lobbying, and involvement in a Tijuana car theft ring, while National Security advisor Samantha Power has received GOP criticism over her 2006 volunteer work as a sniper for the Taliban. Her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has yet to deliver a promised 'full explanation' after police discovered 11 Laotian prostitutes caged in the garage of her Chappaqua NY home. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack faces increasing questions over his one-time membership in an all-white golf and satanic baby snatching club. Last week Mr. Obama was forced to amend an earlier executive order banning lobbyist from administration jobs after news reports identified over a dozen members of his team who previously, or currently, lobbied on behalf of Raytheon, General Dynamics, the UAW, Church of Scientology, the Crips, ACORN, SPECTRE, Friends of Ebola, North Korea, Coalition for a Human-Free Planet, and MSNBC. The revised executive order, which requires Executive Branch employees to limit lobbying to lunch breaks, is expected to be revised again before the week.

Deputy administration press spokesman Bob Hitler Jr. brushed off press gallery question this afternoon following the Chu announcement, and said that early stumbles are part of every presidential transition.

"I think the American public understands that whenever there's a transfer of power, there are always going to be a couple of trips and stumbles, followed by an ethics imbroglio or two, and maybe a little glitchy pecadillo or occasional kerfuffly snafu," said Hitler. "If anything, these resignations just go to show how committed President Obama is to bringing ethics back to Washington. After the days of Scooter Libby and Jack Abramoff, I think the American public can take pride in the fact that almost 80% of the White House staff have full legal permission to pass within 300 feet of Chicago public playgrounds."

Whether the skein of ethics problems will dent the President's popularity is yet to be seen. Newsweek's longtime political analyst Jonathan Alter said he would award Mr. Obama another record 75th straight "up arrow" in his weekly Convential Wisdom column, but warned that he must act quickly before he loses control of the agenda.

"I blame Rahm Emanuel for this mess, and Obama needs to tell him to fix it now. The President has to get the public's attention focused on his new improved $180 quadrillion stimulus package and his weekend Vanity Fair cover shoot with Annie Leibowitz," said Alter, collapsing into tears while clinging to his Bearack the Bear plush inauguration collectible.

White House chief of staff Emanuel, who awaits arraignment in a Hopkinsville KY jail following his early Wednesday arrest for truck stop prostitution, was not available for comment.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/06/2009 12:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is getting difficult to tell Iowahawk from the facts with this administration.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/06/2009 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't need this. The truth is crazy enough. My 20-something niece told me three months ago that Obama is "AMAZING." After just two weeks and three days in office, I have to agree. God help us.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/06/2009 12:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm surprised that Cho wouldn't try to compare himself with Benjamin Franklin, the suspected serial killer of teenage girls, whose crimes have been covered up:

http://www.guineapigzero.com/franklin.html

Maybe that's why Obama tried to compare himself with Abraham Lincoln, to justify setting up Andersonville type prison camps for national emergencies. (Of course that was the Confederate side, but you wouldn't expect Obama to compare himself with Andrew Jackson, now would you?)
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/06/2009 13:00 Comments || Top||

#4  ... Coalition for a Human-Free Planet

that pretty much sums up most of the left.
Posted by: Abu do you love || 02/06/2009 13:14 Comments || Top||

#5  White House chief of staff Emanuel, who awaits arraignment in a Hopkinsville KY jail following his early Wednesday arrest for truck stop prostitution, was not available for comment.

Classic Iowahawk.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2009 14:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh yeah - SCRAPPLEFACE, THE ONION, + IOWAHAWK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 18:39 Comments || Top||

#7  dead hobos? Obviously an Ace of Spades moron. Any Val-U-Rite vodka bottles nearby?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2009 19:45 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
2 Afghans face death over translation of Quran
KABUL (AP) — No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say.

The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.

The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.

Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing. The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.

But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.

Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.

The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general, was trying to anoint himself as a prophet. They said his book was trying to replace the Quran, not offer a simple translation. Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.

The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book.

"In all the mosques in Afghanistan, all the mullahs said, 'Zalmai is an infidel. He should be killed,'" Zalmai recounted as he sat outside the chief judge's chambers waiting for a recent hearing.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/06/2009 04:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm so glad that Afghani People has been freed from Taliban's theocratic oppression.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2009 8:31 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/06/2009 11:39 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
US Navy watches as Somali pirates nab $3.2 million
NAIROBI, Kenya -- As U.S. Navy ships looked on, Somali pirates sped away Thursday with $3.2 million in ransom after releasing an arms-laden Ukrainian freighter -- ending a four-month standoff that focused world attention on piracy off Somalia's lawless coast.

The Navy said it couldn't seize the bandits for fear of endangering 147 other seamen still held hostage on other hijacked ships.
Great. So now the pirates are going to start playing leapfrog?
So, within sight of two nearby U.S. warships, the pirates counted the cash -- air-dropped by parachute -- then took off in motorboats, pirate Aden Abdi Omar said, speaking to The Associated Press by satellite phone after arriving in the central Somali town of Harardhere.

"We are not holding it (the ship) anymore," said Omar, adding that more than two dozen pirates made their escape aboard motorized skiffs, navigating the choppy waters in small groups. The $3.2 million booty -- among the largest-ever reported ransoms -- would be divvied up among the pirates, he said.

The seizure of the MV Faina, loaded with Soviet-era tanks and other heavy weapons, was one of the most brazen in a surge of pirate attacks on shipping off the Somali coast. Vessels from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet quickly surrounded the cargo ship after it was seized Sept. 25, to make sure the arms on board did not get into the hands of Somali insurgents believed to have links to al-Qaida.

The hijacking brought an unprecedented naval response. Warships from countries including the U.S., India, Britain, France, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea have joined the anti-piracy campaign, though attacks continue. Turkey's government announced plans Thursday to send naval ships for the campaign.

On Thursday, U.S. seamen inspected the pirates' boats to ensure they weren't carrying any of the freighter's weapons cargo.

But the Navy did not take action against the pirates because they still hold many hostages from other ships, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. "Even when you release Faina, there are still 147 mariners held hostage," Campbell told the AP. "We're concerned for their well-being."

Ships from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet closely monitored the Faina and its 20 surviving crew throughout the standoff after the captain died of a heart attack, and the U.S. sent medical workers to the ship Thursday once the pirates left.

"We are extremely pleased" at the release, said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. "The United States Navy and our coalition partners will continue to fight piracy, and work with the international community to find a long-term, shore-based solution to this maritime crime."

Late Thursday, MV Faina's captain Viktor Nikolsky said his ship was under the protection of the Navy and would head to Mombasa, Kenya.

Negotiations for the release of the ship and its crew dragged on for months because of the interference of unidentified "third parties," according to a statement by the ship owner, Vadim Alperin, posted on his spokesman's Web site. No explanation was given.

Piracy is big business off the coast of war-ravaged Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for 18 years. Pirates made off with up to $80 million in ransom in the past year, seizing 42 vessels off the country's 1,900-mile coastline along the Horn of Africa. But no hijacking attracted as much attention as the Faina and its weapons cargo, which was a wake-up call about the danger piracy poses to one of the world's most important trade routes.

"It showed Somali piracy no longer affected just small coastal vessels but important and dangerous cargos," said London-based analyst Roger Middleton.

In November, pirates hijacked the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker filled with crude oil that was released in January. And last week they took the MV Longchamp, a German tanker filled with explosive gas.

Intelligence agents had feared the weapons onboard the Ukrainian ship -- which include 33 Soviet-designed tanks and crates of small arms -- could fall into the hands of Somali insurgents the State Department says have links to al-Qaida. Diplomats in the region previously have said the cargo was destined for southern Sudan, something the autonomous region has denied. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua repeated his country's claim to the cargo Thursday.

The high ransom payments mean pirates are unlikely to stop attacking.

Still, Middleton said the international anti-piracy campaign has reduced the success rate of attacks to about 20 percent. Last year, pirates took 42 of the 111 ships they attacked.

Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd., said the drop was due to the coalition activity and unseasonably bad weather. Most of the 16 attempted hijackings in 2009 occurred in the first two weeks of January, when the weather was good. Three of those ships were captured.

But pirates are showing a worrying new sophistication in their attacks, several experts told the AP, including greater use of global positioning systems that allow them to extend their range. Identification systems designed to stop ships from colliding can also lead pirates to potential prey because of the radio signals they put out. The pirates may be trying to buy magnetic mines and heat-seeking missiles that can be fired from the sea, according to a recent report in Jane's Intelligence Review. Brooks said pirates also were jamming emergency frequencies with Arabic music or sending out false distress calls to lure warships in the wrong direction.

He warned that pirates have begun to mount diversionary assaults or attacks on several vessels at the same time. "We've gone from a pattern of sporadic attacks to a situation where the pirates coordinate," he said.

In one incident last week, pirates simultaneously attacked three ships. Coalition forces were able to save two, but the third -- the Longchamp -- was captured.

Vice Admiral Gerard Valin, the commander of a French naval task force, said five pirate gangs operate from Somalia, each with about 200 to 500 members.

The coalition does not issue exact figures for security reasons, but Middleton said there are between 20 and 30 warships off the Somali coast. Even with all the extra firepower, it was hard to prevent attacks, due to the vast waters and the pirates' increasing ingenuity, Valin said.

"I will not say congratulations," he said. "We have to respect the adversary."
Kill them all the instant they step off the boat unless they surrender peacefully.
Posted by: gorb || 02/06/2009 03:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  just send in a sub and blow up that natural gas carrier they hijacked. Explosion should be like a very small atomic bomb and take out the pirate warren
Posted by: 3dc || 02/06/2009 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2  well if the navy done anything about it hen the rest of the world would have tried too bring everyone on board too a war crimes trial
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/06/2009 12:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Not to worry, the pirates are certain to be followed and the funds tracked. Key leaders will quietly be dealt with and never heard from again. Game over with no press.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/06/2009 12:58 Comments || Top||

#4  I'd rather they were dealt with publicly and loudly, Pan.

The messier the better.

(Doesn't have to be by us - China or Russia are welcome to do it. They don't give a rat's ass in hell what the "rest of the world" thinks. Not that I do either, but with Bambi as our "leader".... Oy.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/06/2009 13:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Not to worry, the pirates are certain to be followed and the funds tracked.

How does one track cash, 49 Pan? Surely nobody is tracing serial numbers in Somalia these days. I like the idea of quietly dealt with, though.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/06/2009 13:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd rather the pirates be dealt with in a VERY NOISY and deadly way - by the sudden appearance of a rain of iron bombs from a dozen B-52s, staggering through the air with every weapon they could carry. The whistle of the bombs falling would be the first sound the pirates heard - and likely the last, to boot. As for the "world court" or "public opinion", how many divisions do the morons of "public opinion" have, and how well armed are they? Two Boy Scout pacts armed with BB guns could probably defeat them. If the United States wants to be respected, then do something to gain that respect - or at least, deadly fear.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/06/2009 13:34 Comments || Top||

#7  why should the us incur the bullshit..just how many us ships have been hijacked??? cause and affect...the world dumps on the US and the affect is a more staple world as the US slowly pulls back...
40 years ago this would of been dealt with...and hell pompeii was able to clear the med..but he did not have to deal with PC bullshit...but today why should the US deal it? to be crapped on regardless of what we do? let the UN deal it or the countries affected
Posted by: Dan || 02/06/2009 14:30 Comments || Top||

#8  uuuumm mean less staple word...damn enter button
Posted by: Dan || 02/06/2009 14:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Bomb them ashore, and destroy them and their families. It is the only language they understand.

I am of Viking descent.
Posted by: Lagom || 02/06/2009 14:32 Comments || Top||

#10  I agree that the more public the hit the better. It works as a great message to the lower level guys to think twice. I am speculating here, but with that sum of money there are other organizations at work here supporting the pirates. We need to find out who is organizing and executing these strikes. The money is the key ticket to do this. They will spend the money, it has no real value in Somalia and will be spent outside Somalia. That is where we will catch it and trace it back to key leaders and organizations that are supporting this.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/06/2009 15:26 Comments || Top||

#11  The US should not be wasting billion dollar warships and hundreds of crew on this penny ante escort enterprise. Let those affected deal with it until a US ship get taken, then start killing very publicly. US ships will then be known to be off limits the world over.

Two Aegis destroyers operating off the Horn probably costs more than the all the ransom the Somali pirates took in last year. None of it from US ships.
Posted by: ed || 02/06/2009 15:50 Comments || Top||

#12  "Ukrainian freighter....There are still 147 Mariners held hostage" > read, MULTIPLE FOREIGN GOVTS.

I'm a'guessin that US DepSTATE [sub-read, USDOD-USN]didn't get universal consent to send in the SEALS-DELTA FORCE. As for the Soviet Tanks + other heavy arms, these can be hit and destroyed by International SPECOPS + AIRPOWER once they begin to unload ashore.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 18:23 Comments || Top||

#13  start by publicly announcing that $6 million was paid, and watch the intramural festivities when the gangs try and explain where the other $2.8M went
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2009 19:51 Comments || Top||

#14  #11, among other reasons for US naval patrols off the Horn, you can count the Iranian attempt to ship radioactive sands through the canal to be used against Israel. There's a lot going on there and protecting against overt piracy is only one reason for being there.
Posted by: lotp || 02/06/2009 20:44 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Name-only newspapers got big chunk of govt ads
The name-only newspapers received a huge chunk of public money allocated for publishing government advertisements and supplementary during the tenure of the last BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad disclosed it in the parliament yesterday while replying to a query of a lawmaker.

The information minister placed a list before the House that showed that the BNP-led government spent over TK 104 crore during its five-year tenure over the purpose of advertisements in as many as 177 daily newspapers published from Dhaka.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Corruption, Jamaat downed BNP
Controversial former ministers and lawmakers, dwindling organisational strength and alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami were responsible for BNP's rout in December 29 general election, observed the party's grassroots-level leaders yesterday.

Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
China-India Naval Duel? Not Quite
It had the makings of a pretty good story. Three Chinese warships patrolling against pirates in the Gulf of Aden—an unusually remote mission for the Chinese navy—were stalked by an Indian submarine. The Indian interloper is discovered, pursued and eventually forced to surface by the Chinese convoy. You have two rising powers squaring off "Hunt for Red October" style, with China proving that its navy can handle more than a gang of pirates.

There's one small problem though. The story is apparently fiction. While there are reports of some jostling between the two navies, which would be expected given China's high-profile mission far beyond its waters, the story of the submarine surfacing appears to have come from a faked news report. The original source was a piece in a Chinese publication called the Qingdao Chenbao. The Feb. 3 story was republished by some mainland web portals, and picked up the next day by the South China Morning Post. (The subscription-only story is here, complete with an editorial cartoon that says, "Captain Singh! I think they're on to us.") The Indian military denied the report.

One poster on a Chinese bulletin board soon pointed out that story lifted several parts verbatim from a 2008 story about a training mission in PLA Life magazine. Then the official media jumped in, noting that details of the Chinese ships' location on the date of the alleged confrontation don't match what was recorded in the state press. And it turns out that there is no publication called the Chenbao listed for Qingdao.

I discussed the item earlier today with Andrei Chang who edits a military news publication called Kanwa Asian Defence. "I'm sure it's a fake news story," Chang says. He notes that some details of the piece don't make sense, including why exactly the Indian sub would be forced to surface. He says fake military stories have appeared in China both under his name and Jane's Defence News. Fake products "are not just shoes or clothes," he says. "It includes stories."
Posted by: john frum || 02/06/2009 05:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just because the story is fake doesn't mean it wasn't a glorious naval victory for the People's Liberation Army Navy. Long live Jiang Zemin and the Three Indents! Or was that the last Emperor?

(Warning: the preceeding paragraph may contain melamine and should not be consumed by pets or children)
Posted by: SteveS || 02/06/2009 14:19 Comments || Top||

#2  VARIOUS NET MIL FORUMS have repor andor alluded on INDIA'S DENIAL OF THE INCIDENT.

OTOH, PART II > INDIA is repor concerned about the THREE SUBS Chin had deployed to the Mediterranean, AS PER CHIN's INCREASINGLY POTENT NEWER, AND NUMERICALLY SUPERIOR SUB FLEET, VERSUS INDIA'S STEADILY DECLINING SUB FLEET [only FIVE TOTAL Indian Navy Subs repor may be de facto operating by 2012?].

As a [related]reminder, INDIA [old]> NO AIRCRAFT CARRIER FOR INDIA's NAVAL AVIATION?, and similar Articles.

AT THIS RATE, DON'T BE SURPRISED/SHOCKED IFF INDIA'S NAVY DEVOLS INTO A SPECIALIST COAST GUARD OR RIVERINE CORP OF ITS LANDLUBBER ARMY???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spain industrial output falls by 19.6%
Spanish industrial output fell by a record 19.6 percent in December, overtaking considerably declines predicted in other EU states.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No more Zara?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2009 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  This article claims that Spain's unemployment rate is 14.4%. This puts it in line with the unemployment rate in Arab countries. (see the article on Arab unemployment rates)

Congratulations Spain! you've just joined the Arab world. Please send all comments to Prime Minister Zapatero.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/06/2009 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Socialism is working as good as ever I see.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/06/2009 12:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Justice Ginsburg undergoes surgery for pancreatic cancer
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer today. The court said the cancer, which is one of the most lethal of diseases, was in its early stages. In a statement, the court said the cancer was discovered during a routine scan in late January. The scan revealed a small tumor, about 0.4 inches across, in the center of the pancreas. Ginsburg, 75, had experienced no symptoms before the discovery of the cancer, the court said.

She underwent surgery today at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She is expected to remain in the hospital for seven to 10 days.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama's "thoughts and prayers are with her and her family right now, and we hope for and wish her a speedy recovery right now."

Ginsburg, who was appointed to the court in 1993 by President Clinton, is a survivor of colon cancer and underwent months of radiation and chemotherapy treatments in 1999. She never missed a day on the court during her recovery.
Best wishes and hopes for a full recovery. Pancreatic cancer is always grim news.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Justice Ginsburg undergoes surgery for pancreatic cancer

OF course the Demo'Krap Leadership will nominate a Supreme Court replacement that will meet and surpass every LEFT WING LITMUS TEST JOE STALIN DREAMED ABOUT. . (spit)

Our one and only faint hope is, is that whomever the LEFT-WING IDEOLOGUE is who is nominated will gradually CONVERT to SANITY while on the job.

It's just too G Damn bad that almost every LEFTY who haz ever been nominated for any office IS a dyed in the wool LEFT-WING IDEOLOGUE for life.

Posted by: Red Dawg || 02/06/2009 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  LEFT WING LITMUS TEST JOE STALIN DREAMED ABOUT

Now, that's just a bit unfair RD: Stalin killed more Socialists than anybody else in the World.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2009 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Pancreatic cancer is grim news, but it seldom causes symptoms until quite advanced, and so is almost never discovered at only 0.4 inches. She could well be one of the rare lucky ones.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/06/2009 9:01 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
UN Threat: No more parental rights
A United Nations human rights treaty that could prohibit children from being spanked or homeschooled, ban youngsters from facing the death penalty and forbid parents from deciding their families' religion is on America's doorstep, a legal expert warns.

Michael Farris of Purcellville, Va., is president of ParentalRights.org, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College. He told WND that under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC, every decision a parent makes can be reviewed by the government to determine whether it is in the child's best interest.

"It's definitely on our doorstep," he said. "The left wants to make the Obama-Clinton era permanent. Treaties are a way to make it as permanent as stuff gets. It is very difficult to extract yourself from a treaty once you begin it. If they can put all of their left-wing socialist policies into treaty form, we're stuck with it even if they lose the next election."

The 1990s-era document was ratified quickly by 193 nations worldwide, but not the United States or Somalia. In Somalia, there was then no recognized government to do the formal recognition, and in the United States there's been opposition to its power. Countries that ratify the treaty are bound to it by international law.

Although signed by Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., on Feb. 16, 1995, the U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, largely because of conservatives' efforts to point out it would create that list of rights which primarily would be enforced against parents.

The international treaty creates specific civil, economic, social, cultural and even economic rights for every child and states that "the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration." While the treaty states that parents or legal guardians "have primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child," Farris said government will ultimately determine whether parents' decisions are in their children's best interest. The treaty is monitored by the CRC, which conceivably has enforcement powers.
There's a lot more. Obama indicated in October that he would support this document.
Posted by: mom || 02/06/2009 09:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sorry, Mods--I forgot to correct the category.
Posted by: mom || 02/06/2009 9:17 Comments || Top||

#2  WND needs its own salt shaker.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/06/2009 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like Hillary's old childs-rights hoo-hah. Part of the reason why, though I voted for her in the primaries, I really, really didn't want to see her back in power. She used to push ideas that were more than a little insane.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/06/2009 10:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Commies gotta protect their base, the teachers' unions. Thus, no more home schooling. Too many dangerous democratic ideas taught by mothers. Gotta implant the socialist agenda at an early age.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 02/06/2009 13:52 Comments || Top||

#5  How does the Federal government have the jurisdiction to make a treaty on home schooling? That would be a State right and I don't see how the Feds could have standing to negoiate it away. Of course there are a lot of things the Feds do that I don't see them having jurisdiction over.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/06/2009 16:32 Comments || Top||

#6  For that matter how can the Federal Government make laws (or treaties) covering so called 'privacy' or 'reproductive' rights? Where the hell is that given in the constitution? (not that anyone o the SCOTUS reads it anymore...)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2009 17:38 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab unemployment 'highest in world'
The rate of unemployment in the Middle East-North Africa region is the highest in the world compared to other regions, the director of the Arab Labor Organization said on Wednesday.

The global economic crisis has hit the Arab markets hard and may cause job losses to as many as five million people, Ahmad Luqman said, according to Al-Jazeera.

The rate of unemployment in Arab countries is one of the highest in the world compared to other regions and stands at around 14 percent, he said. Among young people, the numbers are even higher, at around 25%.

The ALO is a specialist organization of the 22-member Arab League,

If the economic situation remains in the current state, there will be around 21 million Arabs out of work by 2010, Luqman estimated.

In order to maintain the current rate of unemployment without it going up, there is a need to create some four million new jobs every year, he added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder why?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2009 8:35 Comments || Top||

#2  L
A
Z
Y
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/06/2009 8:43 Comments || Top||

#3  They're not lazy BP, look at Gaza tunneling authority.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/06/2009 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  The problem with Koranic Studies is that it won't even get you a "want fries with that?" job.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/06/2009 11:20 Comments || Top||

#5  would ahve never guessed this
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/06/2009 12:34 Comments || Top||

#6  if it don't involve running a 7-11 or getting rich off oil they're not doing it unless Jihad qualifies as work
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/06/2009 12:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Explains why mido-man has so much free time to digital-drool here.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/06/2009 13:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Old news. Nothing has changed since AD800.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 02/06/2009 13:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Come on people its got to do with bushitler and stuff

AlmostAnonymous5839
looney leftie
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/06/2009 19:08 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Today In History Shepard's Golf Swing
Posted by: Beavis || 02/06/2009 07:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One of the most significant moments in golf. He used a Wilson 6 iron head attached to a lunar scoop handle. He hit two balls. One he said went "miles and miles". In reality they only went somewhere between 200 and 400 yards in the reduced gravity. Not bad considering he did it one handed and with the suit on.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/06/2009 12:46 Comments || Top||

#2  That's gonna make a hell of souvenir in about 100 years. I doubt the accent stage blast hurt it.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/06/2009 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  And he sliced it, even in a vacuum.
Posted by: ed || 02/06/2009 16:05 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Angelina Jolie urges Thailand to welcome Muslim refugees
Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency, urged Thailand on Thursday to welcome Muslim refugees fleeing Myanmar. Thailand's treatment of the Rohingyas, an oppressed Muslim minority from mainly Buddhist Myanmar, has been widely condemned as evidence emerges that hundreds were rounded up by the Thai military and towed out to sea.

Jolie issued the plea during a visit to camps in northern Thailand which house 111,000 mostly Christian ethnic Karen refugees from Myanmar. "Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years, makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores," the Oscar-winning actress said in a statement issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Two Rohingya boat people found off Indonesia this week said they were rounded up and beaten by the Thai army before being cast adrift in rickety, engineless boats. Thailand's military has admitted towing hundreds out to sea and cutting them adrift, but insisted they had adequate food and water and denied reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/06/2009 09:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i'm sure that she's just a sock-puppet and the Sharia mafia at the UN is behind this.
Posted by: HammerHead || 02/06/2009 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a better idea! Why doesn't Malibu (or where ever she's living these days) welcome Mulsim refugees. That way she can experience the same joys that the "little people" have when these people move next door.

I'd especially like to see what happens if she meets a couple of "yuts" while she's wearing a bikini.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/06/2009 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  bikini, or how bout one of her movies when she is naked
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/06/2009 12:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Get your own fat wallet out, instead of trying to force Thai people to pay for ummah colonists.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/06/2009 16:16 Comments || Top||

#5  She didn't adopt them all?
Posted by: ed || 02/06/2009 16:39 Comments || Top||

#6  ...as evidence emerges that hundreds were rounded up by the Thai military and towed out to sea.

Sounds like Waterworld.
I'm sure Angelina means well and feels good about herself. Which is, of course, the important thing...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/06/2009 16:42 Comments || Top||

#7  She didn't adopt them all?

Already has her bookends.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2009 17:39 Comments || Top||


Malaysia to unveil 2nd stimulus
MALAYSIA is set to introduce a second round of spending in February or March and it will be far more wide-ranging than the first fiscal boost announced last November, a source familiar with government thinking said.

The Malaysian government, which is currently forecasting economic growth of 3.5 per cent this year, will also revise its forecasts in the light of weaker exports, lower commodity prices and an expected fall in foreign direct investment, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION WORLD AAFFAIRS BOARD > OBAMA STIMULUS PACKAGE WILL INCREASE UNEMPLOYMENT + HIGH HOME OWNERSHIP EXACERBATES UNEMPLOYMENT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 0:42 Comments || Top||


Toxin's family to lead party
Thailand's opposition Puea Thai party has embarked on a new strategy to strengthen internal solidarity, appointing members of the Shinawatra family to lead members in each of the three regions where the party has influence.

An executive from the party told the Bangkok Post that the party wanted a Shinawatra family member to lead each of the three regions as a symbol of the party's close connections with ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front Economy
It's Deja Vu all over again
New Credit Rules for Refinancing from Fannie Mae

Time to take advantage of low rates again. Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under U.S government control, will loosen rules for homeowners who see to reduce their loan payment by refinancing.

PRLog (Press Release) -- Feb 05, 2009 -- Time to take advantage of low rates again. Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under U.S government control, will loosen rules for homeowners who see to reduce their loan payment by refinancing.

Some credit requirements will be dropped, reduction in income documents and in some cases waive the need for appraisal. Fannies Mae wants to allow all customers to refinance their loans and take advantage of low rates if they could not do it before.

Freddie Mac, a smaller rival of Fannie Mae is considering similar steps, even when borrower owes more then their home is worth.

Fannie Mae will also allow borrowers seeking to take out a loan that is more than 80 percent of the home value to qualify for refinancing, with credit scores below its 580 requirement.

The average U.S mortgage rate for 30 year fixed rose this week as volatility is expected to continue. 30 year fixed increased to 5.25% percent from 5.10 percent last week. The 15 year fixed rate jumped to 4.92 percent from 4.8 percent. Even with a small percentage point, saving over a year are significant.
Bush ain't around to blame this time, Barney...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/06/2009 14:55 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As a Rantburg data point, I just bought a house in Las Vegas. VA Loan, nothing down, 4.87 per cent.
Posted by: Penguin || 02/06/2009 16:20 Comments || Top||

#2  That's just rong, flightless (albeit awesome) bird.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/06/2009 17:59 Comments || Top||


Barack Obama taps range of experts for advice on economy
PRESIDENT Barack Obama plans to name business executives, academics and labor leaders to an advisory panel that will help guide his effort to rescue the economy and rebuild the shattered U.S. financial system.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was tapped by Obama in November to lead the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which is modeled on a board created in the Eisenhower administration to advise the White House on intelligence matters. Mr Volcker is to join Mr Obama for an event to introduce the other 15 members of the economic panel.

According to the White House, the members will include Robert Wolf, chairman and chief executive of UBS Group Americas and Jim Owens, chairman and chief executive of Caterpillar Inc and labor leaders such as Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.
Yeah boy, get the SEIU in there, they know all about high finance ...
Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder of Pritzker Realty Group who was also the finance chair of Obama's presidential campaign, will sit on the board as will Laura D'Andrea Tyson, a former Clinton administration economist now at University of California, Berkeley.
Penny is the presidential equivalent of the 'Mayor's Man'. The board will meet, Penny will whisper in their ears, and the board will tell Obama what he wants to hear.
The panel includes some officials who served Republican administrations, such as William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman under President George W. Bush and Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, who served in the Reagan administration.

The naming of the advisory board comes amid a slew of data showing soaring job losses and a deepening recession. Economists are bracing for grim news when the Labor Department issues its January employment report.

Analysts polled by Reuters predicted the data will show U.S. employers slashed another 525,000 workers from their payrolls after cutting 524,000 jobs in December.

Mr Obama is prodding Congress to pass a more than $800 billion package of public works spending projects and tax cuts aimed lifting the economy out of recession.
Posted by: tipper || 02/06/2009 14:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Experts?

If we had real experts why are we having the problems we are? /rhetorical question.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/06/2009 15:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel and Franklin Raines?
Posted by: ed || 02/06/2009 15:52 Comments || Top||

#3  But I'll bet they're "wicked schmart"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/06/2009 16:03 Comments || Top||

#4  "Government By Consensus"

You may have a few folks in this group that actually understand how an economy is supposed to work. The rest of them.....well, it doesn't bode well.

I still blame this economic mess on the "Wharton School Economics" that became popular in the early sixties that "it's all about Leverage"
(loose translation - "Don't pay your bills, that's your 'hold' over your creditors").

The rest is history.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/06/2009 16:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Volcker Also Advises Think-Tank That Opposes Permanent Components of Stimulus Plan
Posted by: tipper || 02/06/2009 16:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Just read a book by Ludwig Von Mises or Hayek...

No? Oh well, more neo-Keynsianism and a whopper of a depression.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/06/2009 19:20 Comments || Top||

#7  OK Mister super Zero, aren't these the same "Experts" who got us IN this mess?
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/06/2009 20:05 Comments || Top||

#8  ION OBAMA, ISRAEL FORUM > JIHAD IS HEATING UP IN AMERICA/US, ISRAELI TARGETS LISTED ON [Pro-Islmaist/Violence] MUSLIM WEBSITE [Website indics support for its agendum from MANY US PROGRESSIVES ANARCHISTS, SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, ETC,]; + OBAMA MISUNDERSTANDS THE GLOBAL JIHAD, + PRESIDENT OBAMA INVITES HAPAS TERRORISTS TO AMERICA [LIVE/RESETTLE IN AMERICA as by USPOTUS OBAMA Exec Order + vee LOOPHOLE-HEAVY?US$20.3Milyuhn US GOVT-SPONSORED MIGRATION ASSISTANCE to Paleo refugees and Conflict Victims in Gaza].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 21:07 Comments || Top||

#9  OTOH, WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = Google Chinglish translation] > RUSSIA PLANS TO BUILD A "COTTAGE VERSION" OF LAS VEGAS ON ITS PRIMORSKY TERRITORY [near Vladivostok].

And the similar one previously planned for the EURO-ZONE???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/06/2009 21:48 Comments || Top||


Lenovo announces loss, CEO resigns
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2009-02-06
  Islamabad High Court frees AQ Khan
Thu 2009-02-05
  Thirty dead in Pakistan blast: hospital
Wed 2009-02-04
  Bridge Attack Severs Afghan Supply Route
Tue 2009-02-03
  Somalia orders recapture of Baidoa
Mon 2009-02-02
  Bomber in police uniform kills 21 Afghan policemen
Sun 2009-02-01
  Sheikh Sharif elected as Somalia's president
Sat 2009-01-31
  Polls Close in Iraq Elections, No Major Violence
Fri 2009-01-30
  'Incompetent' Hamid Karzai's political future in doubt
Thu 2009-01-29
  Pakistan busts suicide bomb gang
Wed 2009-01-28
  Yar! French navy nabs 9 Somali pirates
Tue 2009-01-27
  Al-Shabaab fighters seize Somali parliament headquarters
Mon 2009-01-26
  GSPC founder calls for al-Qaeda surrender in Algeria
Sun 2009-01-25
  Lanka troops enter final Tiger town
Sat 2009-01-24
  Twenty killed in separate strikes in North, South Wazoo
Fri 2009-01-23
  Hamas arms smuggling never stopped during IDF op in Gaza

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