A few days old, but still rates high on the entertainment meter. Via Don Luskin.
A renowned economist who headed an academic think tank at Yale University is resigning because of financial misconduct, a school spokesman said Monday. Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, a tenured finance and economics professor, issued a statement acknowledging "an error," but neither he nor Yale provided details. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Monday that Lopez-de-Silanes allegedly double-billed Yale for about $150,000 in travel expenses since 2001. The World Bank, for whom he worked as a consultant, is conducting a separate inquiry into contracts awarded to the 38-year-old Lopez-de-Silanes, said Damian Milverton, a spokesman for the financial institution.
Lopez-de-Silanes, who was born in Mexico, had run Yale's International Institute for Corporate Governance since it was created within the business school in July 2001. "I made a mistake and I deeply regret any unintended harm," he said. "I have taken appropriate corrective steps with all affected parties and I can offer no excuse except the intensity of my focus on my work." Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said Lopez-de-Silanes will resign June 30. He would not say anything beyond that the resignation was "a result of financial misconduct and irregularities."
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/16/2005 4:23:23 AM ||
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It looks like an image cropped from an old cartoon that was always printed on paper and passed around, in which there were three more of those characters also laughing and was captioned at the bottom, "You want it WHEN????"
Naw, schmoos don't have any upper appendages. Those two chaps are two-thirds of the trio (the missing one is down on all fours hammering his fists on the ground) who appear on the "You Want It When?" poster so frequently seen in manufacturing, engineering and purchasing offices.
"Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, a tenured finance and economics professor, issued a statement acknowledging "an error," but neither he nor Yale provided details. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Monday that Lopez-de-Silanes allegedly double-billed Yale for about $150,000 in travel expenses since 2001."
This guy maggot belongs in an executive boardroom or on Wall Street. That's where practices such as double-billing and amounts like $150,000 are typically referred to as an "error."
#6
This is really bugging me. I am (90%) certain this is one of the three economists who floated a theory of economic law that held that the English legal system's protection of property rights, and in particular the legal rights of corporations was demonstrably far more economically successful than the French model, where corporations enjoy far less legal protection. They used countries which were based upon English vs French systems for their comparison. Of course, the legal community was ridiculing them since they had dared to tread upon foreign (the legal community's) turf, heh.
I can't locate the article as posted on RB, so it was probably only a link and it appears that link-only titles are not part of the RB Search function.
Can anyone verify or deny this - as I said, it's been bugging me since I saw this story.
It seem the eco's were Robt Vishny, Rafael La Porta, and Lopez de Silanes - but I could definitely be wrong.
FOUR THOUSAND people have suffered shooting injuries in a single year as gun crime continues to rise across Britain. Figures released by the Home Office show that 81 people were shot dead and more than 500 were seriously wounded between April 2002 and March 2003... Experts say the number of people admitted to hospital with gunshot injuries is much higher than those released by the government because many hospitals do not record the treatment of gunshot wounds, or the method of collecting data differs between hospitals.
An unarmed populace is a vulnerable populace. Have some more warm milk...
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
01/16/2005 10:18:40 AM ||
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For good control,use both hands.Them anti-gun laws sure do work well.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/16/2005 19:52 Comments ||
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lol! You almost wonder if there is some sort of law that they aren't allowed to just write "GSW" so it can be easily tracked. Hey Doc..you have to be more descriptive like... brain matter pushed through skull opening.
Wouldn't want those gun nuts to get any "cannon fodder".
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe offered on Saturday to meet his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, to defuse a widening diplomatic dispute over the capture of a top Colombian rebel in Venezuela.
And we all know how Hugo has a short fuse.
Venezuela this week recalled its ambassador from Bogota to protest last month's Colombian police operation, which it says violated sovereignty by abducting the rebel chief from Caracas. Chavez froze bilateral economic projects on Friday between the trade partners and demanded a public apology. Far from apologizing, Colombia has defended the Dec. 13 capture of Rodrigo Granda, foreign-relations chief of the Colombian leftist FARC rebel group, which has fought a four-decades-old war against the government. Both Bogota and Washington call the FARC a terrorist group. Uribe, a staunch ally of the US global campaign against terrorism, signaled Saturday he was ready to talk to Chavez, a fiery nationalist hailed by Latin America's left as a standard-bearer against US "imperialism". "President Uribe would be ready to discuss the issue (of Granda's capture) in a multilateral presidential summit," a high-ranking Colombian official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters in Bogota. The source said the meeting could be at a regional forum, such as the Ibero-American Group or the Andean Community of Nations, in which other leaders could take part. Chavez denies US and Colombian charges he shelters the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). He says Colombia committed a crime by bribing members of an elite Venezuelan National Guard anti-kidnap squad to snatch Granda from the heart of Caracas. Five Venezuelan national guards have been arrested for handing Granda over to Colombia for a reward.
"Elite" police taking a bribe, whodathunk?
Chavez denies US and Colombian charges he shelters the FARC, but the guy was in downtown Caracas?
"Let's hope the Colombian president reconsiders and doesn't end up supporting a crime ... behaving very much like the United States government," Chavez said late Friday.
As opposed to harboring a criminal, eh Hugo?
While Chavez did not break diplomatic ties with Bogota, his sanctions may threaten future trade. Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, is Colombia's second-largest export market. A Venezuelan military commander said the frontier remained open. But Colombia said Venezuela had closed the border near Cucuta, a major crossing point. Colombia defended Granda's capture as the legitimate arrest of a "terrorist". It reminded Chavez the United Nations forbade members to shelter terrorists and noted the FARC "foreign minister" had openly taken part in a pro-Chavez meeting of leftist groups in Caracas in December. The US ambassador in Bogota, William Wood, said Saturday his government backed Colombia's position "100 percent." He urged Venezuela to clarify whether it considered the FARC a terrorist group or not.
No need, Hugo did that a while back.
In Caracas, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel released a statement saying, "The only issue under discussion here is the violation of the sovereignty of a nation." Washington gives hefty financial and military aid for Bogota's Plan Colombia offensive against drug-traffickers and Marxist rebels. The Colombian and US governments have asked Andean neighbors to cooperate. "Plan Colombia is turning into an Andean Plan," Alberto Garrido, a Venezuelan expert on Venezuelan-Colombian affairs, told Reuters. "Chavez has said again 'we're not going to cooperate' and Uribe is saying, 'well, if you don't, we're going to carry on doing the same thing'," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2005 12:02:11 AM ||
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More than 750 troops and federal police officers along with tanks and helicopters on Friday seized control of the nation's top maximum-security prison, where drug kingpins have managed to carry out killings and conduct business in recent months. The takeover came a day after the infamous leader of the so-called gulf cartel, Osiel Cärdenas, organized prisoners to protest the tightening of security at the prison, La Palma. Guards had clamped down on the freedom of inmates after a gunman killed one of Mr. Cärdenas's underworld enemies as he sat in a visiting room on New Year's Eve. It was the second drug-related killing inside the prison in three months.
From the Department of If Only We Could Wish It All Away...
German politicians have called for Nazi symbols to be banned throughout Europe after Prince Harry was pictured wearing a swastika to a fancy dress party. The Liberal group in the European Parliament says all of Europe suffered because of the crimes of the Nazis, so there should be a continent-wide ban. Yaay! No need to be reminded about all that, um, unpleasantness EVER AGAIN! Nobody remember! NOBODY!
A senior Christian Democrat said the proposal may be discussed at the next meeting of European justice ministers. The symbols are already banned under German law. The photograph of Harry in a costume with a Nazi swastika armband was taken at a friend's birthday party in Wiltshire last weekend. Vice-president of the Christian Democratic parliamentary group Wolfgang Bosback said the outfit "really lacked taste". Tastelessness isn't grounds for banning things, last time I checked. If it was, Germany's Christmas Number One would never have found its way onto the shelves... Besides, Harry was dressed as a Nazi, in jest (tasteless or not), not claiming to be one.
He said it was possible European justice ministers would discuss bringing in a European prohibition on displaying the swastika and other Nazi signs. Liberal group vice-president Silvana Koch-Merin said: "All of Europe has suffered in the past because of the crimes of the Nazis, therefore it would be logical for Nazi symbols to be banned all over Europe." Let's ban the Hammer and Sickle, images of Che and Red Flags in general then. Perhaps crescent moons electron micrographs of flu viruses should be considered next.
She also called for the question to be placed on the agenda at the next meeting of justice ministers. The vice-president of the parliamentary Social Democratic group, Michael Mueller, said a study was needed to find out how a German-style anti-Nazi law could be applied to the rest of Europe. Lock-step. That's the answer.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
01/16/2005 11:20:38 AM ||
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Oh excellent, let's debate the dead past while real live (Islamo) fascists multiply in our midst.
#2
Neo-Nazis are a perfect example of why it is so important to protect free speech. That said, I still have great difficulty in understanding exactly why Nazi supporters are allowed to mouth off about reviving the Holocaust. It's not a matter of hate speech but one of supporting mass murder. Much like violent jihad ...
Banning symbols is like trying to cure cancer by forbidding any discussion of it. The real malignancy just isn't going to go away.
#4
Tasteless yes, but if he had gone dressed as the Devil -- more evil than your average neo-Nazi -- it is likely that nobody would have heard about it. But if they had, Prince Charles would not have ordered him to visit Hell.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/16/2005 15:38 Comments ||
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how about the stiff armed Nazi salute? Gonna ban that? Start in hezbollah, hamas, Iran....
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2005 15:50 Comments ||
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Actually, an Italian soccer player is undergoing the third degree for the stiff arm salute. These symbols are banned in Germany and the logic was not bad at the time as part of reconstruction or what ever we called that one. But now that they've been re-united, they should give free speech a try. If they can't handle it, perhaps they just aren't ready for democracy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/16/2005 15:56 Comments ||
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Alternative costume photoshop:
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1304176
Posted by: Tom ||
01/16/2005 16:19 Comments ||
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Tasteless yes, but if he had gone dressed as the Devil -- more evil than your average neo-Nazi -- it is likely that nobody would have heard about it.
That's probably because devils are fictional and as such have never killed anyone.
#15
"The Liberal group in the European Parliament says all of Europe suffered because of the crimes of the Nazis, so there should be a continent-wide ban."
Once upon a time, one would have found the word "liberal" in that sentence a tad *ironic*. No more, alas....
Rolf John was living the American Dream--German style. For several years, the unemployed ex-banker received about $2,400 a month in German welfare checks to pay for his Miami Beach apartment, living expenses and a housekeeper who also doubled as his driver. This is, of course, much more money than Mr. John, better known in Germany as "Florida Rolf," would have ever received in the fatherland--but you see, it's not his fault that the cost of living in sunny Florida is so much higher than in OsnabrÃŒck, his rainy hometown in northern Germany. And Mr. John could not be expected to return to Germany because such an imposition might have worsened his depression, his psychiatrist feared.
Upon reading Florida Rolf's story in the mass circulation Bild-Zeitung in 2003, millions of Germans, this writer included, found themselves joining Mr. John in depression, wondering whether it's not an imposition for most Germans to live in their country. If you are forced to fork out half of your salary to the government so that it can pay for, among other excesses, Florida Rolf's year-round tan in a gated community in Miami, complete with swimming pool and sauna, you are entitled to occasional cynicism.
Granted, this is an extreme case, but it is also a symptom of a deeper malaise: Such abuse can only happen in a welfare system that has spun completely out of control. One third of Germany's GDP goes to social spending--and the trend points upward. As even Germany's punishing payroll taxes are no longer enough to pay for the country's burgeoning unemployment, welfare, health care and pension costs, the government is forced to pile on more and more debt, which has already reached 66% of GDP and keeps rising. Some 25% of the federal budget goes just to interest payments.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
01/16/2005 10:30:58 AM ||
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I blame the Marshall Plan.
We made it too easy for them to recover from WWII.
#2
Well, but for a 1.5% voter swing last Nov 2nd, we'd be headed into our own economic socialist death spiral. Instead, we've got a guy who will try to reform our SocSec system so that it won't reach that crisis point... and I think he will need our help, since the Dhimmicrats have declared that there is nothing wrong with their tranzi agenda and will fight Bush every step of the way. It's gonna get ugly. And in 2006, with some guts and work and money, we can take even more seats from the morons. Then, in 2008, well, we'll nail down a majority bloc in the Senate and put the dwindling House Dhimmicrats on the appropriately endangered idiot list. There is much to be done.
Didn't Pinochet try something like this? Supporters of French President Jacques Chirac are pushing for a constitutional change that would make him a senator-for-life after he leaves office and thus shield him from the threat of future legal proceedings, newspapers reported Friday.
It's not gonna help him when the tumbrels come out...
The proposed measure would mean that all former presidents become automatic members of the upper house of parliament - instead of joining the constitutional council, France's highest judicial authority, which they do under the existing arrangement. Chirac, 72, cannot be prosecuted as long as he remains president, but when he steps down he risks being placed under judicial investigation in connection with a series of party-finance scams during his 18-year tenure as mayor of Paris. By becoming a life senator, the conservative president would enjoy parliamentary immunity which would make it extremely difficult - though not impossible - to bring him before the courts, the left-leaning Liberation and Le Monde newspapers said. The risk of being made to face trial after he loses his presidential immunity is believed to be a major factor in Chirac's deliberations over whether to stand for an unprecedented third term in 2007. So far he has assiduously kept the possibility open.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/16/2005 5:15:46 PM ||
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That the French Parliament has immunity is absurd. That Chirac needs it is delicious.
#3
Yes, the former colonies learned it from the best.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/16/2005 10:39 Comments ||
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But, Pinochet thought he had the same deal before giving up power. While human rights advocates rejoice that they deep sixed that set up, they have set the future where the thugs will go out fighting taking even more with them rather than just wait around for someone to abrogate their immunity. The assumption here is that no one can be worse than Chirac in the future. Hammering him soon enough may teach the follow on who could be worse to corrupt the system beyond recovery. Its not like there are no other 'Chirac' lined up to take the job in France. I can see a great population of them. Rather rule in hell, than serve in heaven - seems to be the new national motto.
Just be careful what you wish for, you may get it. [insert smiley here]
Posted by: Don ||
01/16/2005 11:35 Comments ||
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Probably a helluva lot better title then "convict".
"There are, to my knowledge, only five people that I fear may cause me to lose control enough to become (progressively) embarrassed, fired, arrested or executed. O.J Simpson is one; the second is the absolutely execrable Ted Rall, and the final three are Michael Moore."
NEW YORK - After spending 10 days in London with friends who were outspoken about their disdain for President Bush's policies, Berns Rothchild came home wishing she had a way to show the world she didn't vote for him.
"I sort of felt ashamed, and didn't really want to be associated with being an American," said Rothchild, who lives in New York City and voted for John Kerry. Then go live in that workers paradise you love so much - North Korea.
Her mother had a suggestion: bracelets, inspired by the Lance Armstrong Foundation's popular "LIVESTRONG" bands, that would signal opposition to Bush.
Thousands of miles away, two women in Idaho had the same idea. So did a woman in Kansas. The result? At least three separate bracelet ventures targeting left-leaning citizens who want to wear their political affiliation on their wrists — and at least one competitor bearing the opposite message.
Rothchild, 35, is selling blue bracelets that say "COUNT ME BLUE," while Laura Adams, of Fairway, Kan., offers blue bracelets that say "HOPE." The McKnight family, of Moscow, Idaho, is even more direct; their black bracelets proclaim: "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH."
"It's kind of like saying, 'This is my tribe,'" said Adams, 43, a Kerry supporter, who was inspired by her 14-year-old stepson's yellow Lance Armstrong band.
Rothchild, who is selling the bracelets on the Web in packages of 10 for $20, plans to give part of her profits to UNICEF, and Adams has donated money from the sale of her $3 bracelets to Save the Children and Habitat for Humanity.
Posted by: CrazyFool ||
01/16/2005 10:06:24 AM ||
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#1
"It's kind of like having a great big letter 'L', right in the middle of my forehead!"
#3
I heard a LLL spout one time that they (CIA/NSA/FBI/EIEIO) were setting up camps here in California for these people. I like the idea of making the bracelets permannant. I also want to know ho I can get a job as a guard at one of these camps? I am thinking of some really good Abu-Grabass games to play with the prisoners.
#5
Wow CF! I wasn't even thinking in that angle! Maybe they have mistaken San Francisco for this so-called camp? Some of those places in North Beach have some very strange 'entertainment'. Possibly they secretly hope to be part of the naked pyramid?
After several months, many thousands of legal hours billed, and several barrels of latte consumed, the independent report on CBS' flawed reporting of the Emperor's new clothes has been released, to the relief of network executives who feared much worse. While several producers have been asked to resign, Dan Rather will continue to report on Imperial fashion, and the report verified that the story may still have been fake, but accurate.
Yesterday and today was a busy day. A lot of bodies were recovered and we are in the process of putting teams together to hit the beach again today. Debris is everywhere even 2 miles off the beach. We passed 4 floating TV's, couches, beds, dishes, clothing. It was like the entire town was pulled into the sea. We had a lot of problems when landing the helos in remote villages when people, starving and scared, rushed the helos for food. The pilots had no chance for safety to immediately take off, so they dropped the food while hovering. Our entire Medical unit went in today, except one Doctor to help with the sick and injured. Everyone onboard has spent every last penny of their own pay depleting the ships store of food, clothing, water, batteries to donate to shore. Hell, even care packages from home are being given to send to the beach to help with these problems.
Today's youth has put on an impressive display the last couple of days with the sacrifices they have made. They are giving everything they have to these people. Lack of sleep and a drive to make a difference are what I have seen. The families of these kids should be proud of what I see. Dealing with death and disaster is not easy and some of the things we have witnessed would humble the strongest of most, but they keep going. Americas finest is showing true. Everyone is safe as far as disease is concerned. We get shots each day. The ones of us going to the beach have been taking Malaria pills, which we will be required to take for a while after we leave. We go in early in the morning, but because of logistics we have to leave before nightfall. We do as much as we can, but more is needed. More ships in our fleet are on the way here, but they are out a ways. We were the first ones here and have been operating solo until this morning when the Indonesian Navy came through.
The Chaplains have been doing defusing on us as we return from the beach to help reduce Post traumatic syndrome. Everyone wants to stay ashore and have a hard time leaving with the people watching us leave. It is hard because they are always happy to see us and most cry and just hold on to you for comfort. Right now the Captain said that only 20% of the population where we are survived. I know the news has been saying 94,000 have perished, but it is much more than that. Illnesses have started to break out and people that were already sick have been dying. Those injured are getting sicker. Our Doctors and medical team have been doing the best they can to stop it and have saved quite a few. We only hope for all to pull through, but it is going to be tough to stop. I am going to get some rest and wait to get called. We have 11 helos operating right now and once the rest of the fleet gets here we will have much more. About 1,600 out of the 6,000 crew members are being utilized for support ashore. I will email more as it comes up. Dan Rather flew onboard this morning and is staying on board to cover the story. Everything is being done that can be done. The rest is up to a more powerful force than us. Well, that's all for now.
Take care all.
Brian BMC(SW) BRIAN A. CISSELL DECK DEPARTMENT / 1st DIVISION LCPO USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN-72)
Posted by: ed ||
01/16/2005 5:22:21 PM ||
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Thx, ed - these people are truly heroes. I'll leave out the negatives - these folks have my full and complete respect, that's certain. I think they will all grow and become even more remarkable over time, due to this experience.
Who can doubt that this event, and these people who are doing the real work and saving lives everyday, will not produce some of the finest human beings the world has ever seen? I forsee some amazing public servants down the road - and it does my heart good. Thanks, Brian - and thanks to your shipmates and fellow service folks. Awesome.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 23:15 Comments ||
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Somehow I don't think 'holy Dan' is sacrificing much to the cause. I would like to know if he is behaving himself or making demands and making a royal pain of himself.
I notice he is 'staying on board'. God forbid he get his feet wet. (Or does he walk on water to get to shore?)
VILLAGERS today stabbed to death a man suspected of stealing from tsunami victims in southern Sri Lanka and handed over six more suspects to police, a senior policeman said. Residents of the village of Thalapitiya in the district of Galle had turned against a group of men they believed had been stealing from the December 26 tsunami victims, said deputy inspector-general D W Prathapasinghe. "One man has been stabbed to death," Prathapasinghe told AFP. "We are still investigating and the initial report I have is that the relatives of the victims had turned against the looters." The murder came as the government moved to arm itself with more powers to deal with looting and other tsunami-related crimes along the island's coastal regions where nearly 31,000 people were killed. There have been reports of the rape of survivors and robberies following the disaster, which brought out both the best and the worst in local residents.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/16/2005 10:20:36 AM ||
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Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Saturday she won't obey a summons by the hard-line Revolutionary Court even though she could be arrested, a challenge to the powerful body that has tried and convicted many intellectuals.
Ebadi, the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel peace prize, received the summons on Thursday. "The manner in which the summons has been arranged is illegal. I won't go to the court," Ebadi told the news agency. "A summons has to specify the reason. That a summons is issued for somebody without specifying the reason and subject is illegal."
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, one of three lawyers to represent Ebadi if she is charged, said the Revolutionary Court could arrest Ebadi for disregarding the order. Though a reason wasn't specified, Dadkhah said she had been summoned to testify as a witness, not as an accused. The summons was issued Wednesday, ordering her appearance within three days, which would be by Saturday. However, because she received the summons Thursday, Dadkhah said the deadline was Sunday.
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Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/16/2005 4:17:55 AM ||
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...I forsee this coming to a bad end. The Mad Mullahs are not going to stand for a Mere Woman defying them. They may not specifically say to kill her, but rather someone may ask, "Who will rid me of this troublesome lawyer?", and there's lots of moonbats over there who will be happy to help.
What will be thoroughly disgusting to watch will be the absolute SILENCE on the part of the Nobel Committee. They had no compunction about announcing how their selection of Jimmah Cartuh was intended as a slap at the United States - but now that a winner really is about to face a monstrous theocracy, they will say NOTHING.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/16/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi and other judicial officials met on the evening of 11 January with several of the webloggers who have alleged that they were mistreated while in custody, ILNA reported. Mahbubeh Abbasqoli, Hanif Mazrui, Omid Memarian, Ruzbeh Mir-Ebrahimi, Arash Naderpur, Fereshteh Qazi, Masud Qoreshi, and Shahram Rafizadeh reviewed allegations they had discussed previously with presidential adviser Hojatoleslam Mohammad Ali Abtahi and the Committee for Monitoring Implementation of the Constitution. They described beatings, humiliating questions about their sexual habits and relationships, solitary confinement, lack of access to lawyers, and being forced to write confessions.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 12:49:10 AM ||
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Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi and other judicial officials met on the evening of 11 January with several of the webloggers who have alleged that they were mistreated while in custody, ILNA reported.
Heh, Iranian bloggers met with a judge who's an ayatollah.
Hello? He's a member of the mullahcracy, people, so what would be the likelihood of him dispensing justice that goes against his fellow clerics' wishes?
#2
Open noose, insert head. The judge is part of the problem, not part of a solution.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 8:58 Comments ||
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Editors, please correct that embarrassing "here" to "hear".
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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[the bloggers] described beatings, humiliating questions about their sexual habits and relationships, solitary confinement, lack of access to lawyers, and being forced to write confessions.
From The Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Society
.... The Islamic republic has confirmed that a court has sentenced a young woman to death for prostitution but denied that she is mentally disabled. Leyla Mafi was sentenced more than a year ago at a court in Arak after being found guilty of having illegal sex. Human rights group monitoring the case said Ms Mafi had a mental age of eight, but this has been disputed by Islamic judicial officials. The decision is now under review by the Iranian Supreme Court. .... Under Islamic law, girls over the age of nine and boys over 16 face the death penalty for crimes such as rape and murder. ....
Leila at the age of 8 was sold into Sigheh (a temporary marriage under Islamic law between man and woman for a price given to the woman or her family. These marriages last any where from 1 hour to years.) to a man old enough to be her father. For her Sigheh, her family only received enough money to cover one day's meals. ..... She was nine when she became pregnant and was condemned by an Islamic judge to one hundred lashes from a whip for a crime committed against her. .... Once she was 12 her poverty-stricken family sold her again under the law of "Sigheh". Her new owner (husband) began prostituting her body at once. She was 14 when she became pregnant again and was once again condemned bay Islamic judge to one hundred lashes for unwillingly being involved in prostitution. The very last time this desolate child was sold to a 55 year old man whom also prostituted her for his own benefit. Now the Islamic regime has issued her execution order. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 12:26:03 AM ||
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Sadly, death may come as a relief to such a one, who likely doesn't comprehend all that has happened to her thus far.
#2
Sigheh (a temporary marriage under Islamic law between man and woman for a price given to the woman or her family. These marriages last any where from 1 hour to years.)
#5
Hello Canada? Read this article as you ponder Sharia Law.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 8:59 Comments ||
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"These marriages last any where from 1 hour to years."
Sounds like hookers. Every society's got them.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/16/2005 8:59 Comments ||
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Sigheh and child sales are legal, so where's the crime? Just a few guys not paying their Sigheh fees to the mullahs and thus not getting their Sigheh papers? I ask you: who is The Great Satan?
Posted by: Tom ||
01/16/2005 10:48 Comments ||
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This post is dedicated to 2b who, a few days ago, was depressed about Kerry's near win. A veeeery long article about the logarithmic growth of conservatism amongst American university students, printed in the quarterly City Journal, and reprinted in the Wall Street Journal
It begins: Throughout 2003 and into 2004, a surge of protests roiled American campuses. You probably think the kids were agitating against war in Iraq, right? Well, no: students at UCLA, Michigan, and many other schools were sponsoring bake sales to protest . . . affirmative action. [snip. Details of the Affirmative Action Cookie Sale]
The protests shocked the mainstream press, but to close observers of America's college scene lately they came as no surprise. For decades, conservative critics have bemoaned academe's monolithically liberal culture. Parents, critics note, spend fortunes to send their kids to top colleges, and then watch helplessly as the schools cram them with a diet of politically correct leftism often wholly opposed to Mom and Dad's own values.
But the Left's long dominion over the university—the last place on earth that lefty power would break up, conservatives believed—is showing its first signs of weakening. The change isn't coming from the schools' faculty lounges and administrative offices, of course. It's coming from self-organizing right-of-center students and several innovative outside groups working to bypass the academy's elite gatekeepers.
There have always been conservative students on campus: more than a half-century has passed since a just-matriculated William F. Buckley published God and Man at Yale, lamenting his alma mater's secularism and launching the author on his now-legendary career. But never has the Right flourished among college kids as it does today.
The number of College Republicans, for instance, has almost tripled, from 400 or so campus chapters six years ago, to 1,148 today, with 120,000-plus members (compared with the College Democrats' 900 or so chapters and 100,000 members). And College Republicans are thriving even on elite campuses. "We've doubled in size over the last few years, to more than 400 students," reports Evan Baehr, the square-jawed future pol heading the Princeton chapter. The number of College Republicans at Penn has also rocketed upward, says chapter president Stephanie Steward, from 25 or so members a couple of years ago to 700 members today. Same story at Harvard. These young Republican activists, trudging into battleground states this fall in get-out-the vote efforts, helped George W. Bush win.
There's a good deal more at the link: the overall culture is the same across the youth population, but the radical leftists can be distinguished by their unwashedness; "post-feminist" desire for marriage and children; key experience is 9/11; tolerant, libertarian-leaning -- don't care if others are homosexual, even those who believe its a sin; against affirmative action -- aware its unfairly applied (rich Hispanics=! discriminated-against minority) and harms minorities; nowadays "question authority" = anti-Liberal; and more. In fact, go to the homepage and check out the other articles; Rantburg fave VDH has a submission.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/16/2005 1:01:31 AM ||
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#1
My most disgusting experience in college and post-college was the liberal loons (big blue state university). After too many decades, it's reassuring to hear that the moral majority has a collective voice.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 17:43 Comments ||
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#2
My teens have been caught scanning my National Review mags when they think I'm not looking. Heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2005 17:48 Comments ||
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Sounds like you're rearing them right, Frank! Have you left Rantburg where they can 'inadvertantly' find it?
#4
This post is dedicated to 2b Gosh TW! Thanks. Great article and links. I feel really heartened by the implications of this. Nothing could scare a 50/60/70's liberal more than realizing that the young people don't see their "rebellious" ideas as cool or daring - but just stale, eye-rolling, establishment gruel embraced by the aging uncool.
But more importantly, it shows hope for the future of our country!
JUST before the new century began, Marc Plattner, co-editor of the influential Journal of Democracy, wrote of the brave new globalised world coming into existence: "A borderless world is unlikely to be a democratic one. [For] while the idea of 'world citizenship' may sound appealing in theory, it is very hard to imagine it working successfully in practice." An entire industry of transnational agencies and non-governmental organisations is pushing forward changes designed either to deny or override the national sovereignty of democratic states against surprisingly muted or inchoate opposition. Taken together, these changes amount to a serious political and intellectual challenge to democratic sovereignty vested in the liberal democratic nation-state.
It is a distinctly new challenge. Until now, democrats have faced two major opponents: pre-democrats and anti-democrats. The pre-democrats, adherents of some form of ancien regime (of throne, altar, tribe or clan), have been mostly vanquished over the past several hundred years. Since 1917 three anti-democratic ideologies have presented an alternative vision to liberal democracy: first Nazism/fascism, then communism, and today militant Islam or Islamism. The radical Islamist threat is both deadly and serious, and it could last for a considerable period.
Islamists might gain powerful weapons and thereby cause much death and destruction. Nevertheless, it is in the highest degree unlikely that they will in the end conquer liberal democracy. Yet the 21st century could well turn out to be not the democratic century, but the "post-democratic" century - the century in which liberal democracy as we know it is slowly, almost imperceptibly, replaced by a new form of global governance. The ideology and institutions already exist in embryonic form and are developing rapidly. The philosophical basis for global governance begins with the premise that all individuals on the planet possess human rights. International law is the paramount authority that determines those rights, while international agreements establish and expand new rights and norms.
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Posted by: tipper ||
01/16/2005 12:37:29 AM ||
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#2
Agreed - nice find, tipper. We've long been aware around here of the subversives who support anything that floats by that proclaims itself anti-American - and noted at length the irony that they would likely be the first to be put against the wall for elimination by their allies of convenience. But it's always nice to have it coherently framed and a URL you can point to...
In the Funny Critters Dept, isn't it typical how easily impressed the weak-minded are, too. Just having it published somewhere that they recognize will impart so much more "legitimacy" to the ideas it contains... as if the publishing entity and those who write for it aren't people just like us. I have no doubt that there are smarter, more experienced, and more honest people here in RB than on staff at The Weekend Australian, but that's how those who can't think for themselves think, heh.
#4
Thanks guys and gals. Once I discovered Fonte (remindes me of the Fonz) all became clear. I used his arguments in political newsgroups, and guess what? for the first time I had them on the run. They hate being called Tranzis
#7
Tipper, you always post great articles, but I'd like to suggest something to you. You very frequently post just the link. There are many cases when that's the right thing to do, but you should keep in mind that sometimes a little bit of posted text is useful when someone is trying to re-find an article some days later. So, when you intend to post just the link, think twice whether you could instead post at least one main paragraph that includes key names and words.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 14:31 Comments ||
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lots of really good stuff on rantburg today. Thanks tipper and everyone else.
Pictures snapped by the Titan probe and a low, whooshing sound picked up by an on-board microphone drew gasps and applause from scientists Saturday, as the mission to Saturn's moon continued its breathtaking revelations from more than 900 million miles across the solar system. Data beamed back from Titan, one of Saturn's moons, sketched a picture of a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust. "The closest analogues are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface.
Scientists at the European Space Agency were clearly excited about the success of the mission, which had confirmed some long-held theories and produced startling surprises. "I have to say I was blown away by what I saw," lead scientist David Southwood said at the agency's headquarters in Darmstadt. "It was an extraordinary experience to look at some of the stuff."
Images taken on descent, from about 12 miles right down to the surface, suggest the presence of liquid, possibly flowing through channels or washing over larger areas, said Marty Tomasko of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "It is almost impossible to resist speculating that the flat, dark material is some kind of drainage channel, that we are seeing some kind of a shoreline. We don't know if it still has liquid in it." A thick layer of cloud or fog that obscures the planet was found to be hanging at about 12 miles from the surface, but absent closer to the ground. The clouds are most likely methane and dark areas on the surface are "a reservoir" of liquid methane, said project scientist Shushiel Atreya. A boom mike extended from the 705-pound Huygens probe has captured a loud, rushing sound. Mission scientists did not immediately say what it might mean, but instruments on the probe have detected winds of about 15 mph.
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Posted by: Korora ||
01/16/2005 12:03:42 AM ||
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#1
Fake all fake produced in a studio. As proof, where are the UFOs? Where are the little orange-drinking green aliens? And where is Jimmy Neutron?
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 8:56 Comments ||
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#2
Someone ought to photoshop this photograph with a half-buried can of Bud Light. ;o)
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/16/2005 9:13 Comments ||
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Halliburton's behind it all. But if it didn't work, we'd have to blame Bush, of course.
Here's a link to an interesting article on how the ESA presented their findings. I was at work, so I was at the mercy of the internet, but this retired space scientist has some pointed things to say about European culture:
#6
I'm curious. The Earth is about 93M miles from the sun. Saturn is about 900M miles from the sun. Understand the inverse square law applied for light this seem very very bright indeed. So are we looking at illumination provided by the light reflected back from Saturn, thus the orangish glow?
Posted by: Don ||
01/16/2005 12:14 Comments ||
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Even ordinary CCD's are very sensitive, especially when you are doing still photography with long exposure times.
#9
The reflected light from Saturn is still significantly weaker than direct sunlight. If The Sun was up, then the light was direct sunlight. Most likely ESA chose to land in sunlight.
#10
bad - As you can see from this quickie attempt, there's not enough base image to really work with. Making the cans small enough to fit decently (that desired subtle effect you implied) in this very limited perspective and image size, yields lousy results - you have to make them so tiny as to be unrecognizable. Sigh. Good idea, though, heh. I considered using Heineken, but the following put me off...
nada nailed it: The ESA are a bunch of elitist wankers. If you haven't checked his Space.com link, well, you should. Rather eye-opening for those of us who have spent as little time in Europe as humanly possible (layovers only, heh)... Had they given us something to work with, like NASA does, it could've been fun, not to mention an interesting and even exciting event in human history.
#11
Quick note - the original image used for that Starbucks spoof was a nice large wide-angle pic. This is a massively cropped version to suit the author's purposes.
#12
I dunno, .com, that looked like a pretty good start to me. What it needs is to give the Bud cans a heavy sepia cast to make them blend in more, and to de-focus the can images to match, as nearly as possible, the bad focus of the surrounding rocks. Go for it, Dude...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/16/2005 15:13 Comments ||
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I should explain...
It's a short step from holding the raw data until the papers are done... to only releasing the raw data that supports the papers.
In other words, bad science.
#23
I hope NASA has archival copies
Since the images are transmitted by Cassini to NASA ground stations, you could say NASA has the originals. Look for the American flag watermark in all the images.
Posted by: ed ||
01/16/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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Posted by: Captain America ||
01/16/2005 17:49 Comments ||
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It looks a lot like Mars. In fact, I say that when the spacecraft got to Mars, they just said, "To hell with this," and stopped. "Who'll know the difference?"
.com's space.com link had a link to all the raw images down at the bottom. Start here. You realize the thing didn't live but a couple minutes, so this is probably all they have.
From Compass Direct
The Egyptian Christian director of a home for troubled Coptic girls goes on trial January 16 on criminal charges before Cairo's Abbassiya Criminal Court No. 15. Shafik Saleh Shafik, 57, is accused of allegedly holding a 16-year-old Coptic girl against her will and without her parents' permission, and also of trying to rape her. But according to Shafik, who holds both Egyptian and American citizenship, the "clearly false" case against him is an attempt to close down his recovery ministry among Coptic girls who are being enticed to leave their Christian families and convert to Islam. "The state security police wrote on their report about me that I am a 'very dangerous man,' because I am preaching Christianity," Shafik told Compass.
The case began four months ago when one of 27 girls living in his "safe-house" residence in Cairo's El-Salam district escaped from the facility the morning after her family placed her there. Shouting wildly at a nearby coffeehouse, the girl demanded police protection from Shafik and other Christians who she claimed had beaten and mistreated her. It was a parish priest who had brought Magda Refaat Gayed to Shafik on September 5, saying that the police had returned the girl to her Coptic family after she had run away with a Muslim boy.
The youngest in a lower middle class family of 10 children, Magda had been reported missing and feared kidnapped. But two weeks later, she was found living with an Islamic group who were teaching her Muslim rituals, promising that the boy who eloped with her would marry her after she converted to Islam. Her traditional Coptic cross tattoo on her wrist had already been surgically removed. At the request of Magda's male relatives, who were at a loss how to handle her after the police brought her back, Shafik agreed to accept her in his safe-house. But the following morning, Magda escaped from a bedroom window and went to a nearby coffeehouse, where she began screaming, "Christians have beaten and raped me!" She named Shafik as her attacker, displaying chains she said he had used to confine her.
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 12:12:25 AM ||
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From Compass Direct
Eritrean authorities extended their crackdown on organized religion this past week to Roman Catholic citizens, arresting and jailing 25 members of the Catholic Church during a wedding rehearsal in Asmara. The victimized bride and groom had met with their wedding party on Sunday morning, January 9, to rehearse their planned ceremony two weeks before the wedding. But police inexplicably entered the building, a facility rented by the Tebadasso renewal group of the Catholic Church, and stopped the proceedings. The entire group present, including the wedding couple, was jailed at Asmara's Police Station No. 1, where they remained under arrest as of yesterday. ....
The same Sunday morning, security police swooped down on a wedding ceremony being held in Barentu, a town in western Eritrea, arresting the 67 evangelical Christians present. Participants had been escorting the bride to the wedding venue when police intervened and took them all to prison, including the wedding couple. Three clergymen among the prisoners were identified as pastors Oqbamichel and Simon from the Kale Hiwot Church, and Hagos Tuomai from the Full Gospel Church. Reportedly the 67 prisoners were to be taken to the Sawa Military Training Center for "military punishment." ..... Still a third arrest was reported on January 9 in the Beleza district of northern Asmara, where four men meeting for morning prayer were arrested by the police. All members of the Kale Hiwot Church, the men are currently being held under military confinement in the Mai-Serwa camp north of Asmara.
Meanwhile, Compass has confirmed that 25 of the 60 Rema Charismatic Church members arrested at a New Year's Eve celebration in Asmara have been released after signing a pledge not to participate in such meetings again. The pastor's wife had previously been set free on January 4, leaving her husband, Habteab Oqbamichel, and 33 other Rema believers still in custody at Mai-Serwa.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/16/2005 12:04:44 AM ||
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ISLAMABAD: Preliminary police investigations have confirmed that doctor Shazia was raped and have demanded Pakistan Petroleum Limited officials explain why they concealed facts related to the case, Online reported. The district police officer of Naseerabad, DM Jamal, has notified PPL manager Prof Pervez Jamula to explain why the PPL administration failed to notify the police of the rape for three days.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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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.
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.
Colombian President 
More than 750 troops and federal police officers along with tanks and helicopters on Friday seized control of the nation's top maximum-security prison, where drug kingpins have managed to carry out killings and conduct business in recent months. The takeover came a day after the infamous leader of the so-called gulf cartel, Osiel Cärdenas, organized prisoners to protest the tightening of security at the prison, La Palma. Guards had clamped down on the freedom of inmates after a gunman killed one of Mr. Cärdenas's underworld enemies as he sat in a visiting room on New Year's Eve. It was the second drug-related killing inside the prison in three months.
Supporters of French President Jacques Chirac are pushing for a constitutional change that would make him a senator-for-life after he leaves office and thus shield him from the threat of future legal proceedings, newspapers reported Friday. 
After several months, many thousands of legal hours billed, and several barrels of latte consumed, the independent report on CBS' flawed reporting of the Emperor's new clothes has been released, to the relief of network executives who feared much worse. While several producers have been asked to resign, Dan Rather will continue to report on Imperial fashion, and the report verified that the story may still have been fake, but accurate.
Pictures snapped by the Titan probe and a low, whooshing sound picked up by an on-board microphone drew gasps and applause from scientists Saturday, as the mission to Saturn's moon continued its breathtaking revelations from more than 900 million miles across the solar system. Data beamed back from Titan, one of Saturn's moons, sketched a picture of a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust. "The closest analogues are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface.
ISLAMABAD: Preliminary police investigations have confirmed that doctor Shazia was raped and have demanded Pakistan Petroleum Limited officials explain why they concealed facts related to the case, Online reported. The district police officer of Naseerabad, DM Jamal, has notified PPL manager Prof Pervez Jamula to explain why the PPL administration failed to notify the police of the rape for three days.
