Edited for brevity.
Even the most hysterical Keanu-phobes would agree that what happened to Kevin Nicolle is just a teensy and we mean teensy bit more horrifying than being forced to watch Speed again. Nicolle was driving along the highway in his BMW when the accelerator stuck and he went careening for 60 miles through the English countryside at speeds exceeding 130 mph with no way to stop, the BBC reports. "I was in tears most of the time on the phone to the police I really could see myself dying," he told the BBC.
Authorities advised the unwitting speed demon to turn on his hazards and lay on the horn while the cops and a helicopter struggled to catch him. But Nicolle had other plans. "There was a load of cars parked waiting to go onto the roundabout, so I went on the inside on the hard shoulder to try to get around it. But doing that sort of speed there was no chance, Nicolle said. He crashed the car into the roundabout and miraculously walked from the fiery wreck unscathed. Rrrrriiiiiiight... Couldn't down-shift, or put 'er in neutral, or turn the key off. Really, officer!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/16/2006 19:57 ||
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#1
Yeah, like turn off the key, moron. My kids wanted to use our family snow machine when we lived up north when they were 12 or so. So I did training, showing them all the usual stuff, AND the kill button, AND the dead man lanyard switch, AND the key. So we came down to check ride. My son and I were going across a frozen lake, heading for the trees. I pulled the throttle on full, then we were heading for the trees at 60 mph. My son said, "Dad, what do we do?" I said, "Better think of something, or we will be killed." He hit the kill switch and we came to a stop. He was shaking, but he never forgot it, and he is still around at age 26.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2006 22:32 Comments ||
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#2
"so as I'm going 130, I figure, I might as well drink this here whiskey since I'm gonna die anyway...honestly"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2006 22:42 Comments ||
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#5
Must not make T-shirts up depicting a pig with the writing "Eat Pork or Die" in Arabic to bring as civilian attire when preparing to deploy to a primarily Muslim country.
I love it!
Posted by: BA ||
03/16/2006 14:29 Comments ||
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#6
Oh this is the best list EVER.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/16/2006 17:35 Comments ||
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#7
112. When saluting a leg officer, an appropriate greeting is not "Airborne leads the wa- oh...sorry sir". lol
#1
Have somebody take a picture and post it on your blog (hi mom!).
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/16/2006 13:21 Comments ||
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#2
Seems Mullah Omar didn't follow the advice given in the article.
Posted by: MO ||
03/16/2006 15:14 Comments ||
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#3
I knew a biker who hated fighting, but had the "Dr David Banner" syndrome, in which anybody with two beers in them wanted to punch him.
So he learned to quickly and easily pop somebody's eye out of its socket. He was good enough at it so the other guy wouldn't even have his eye damaged; but it instantly ended what could have been a deadly fight.
He had also picked up some trivia about it, and advised that it is not uncommon for people to have an eyeball accidently pop out when they sneeze, so it is always advisable to shut your eyes when you sneeze, which is the natural reaction.
The tobasco sauce enema isn't very pleasant, however ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2006 00:22 ||
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#1
The amount may be a bit much. If they got it right, for a 200 lb. adult male, the dosage was 400 milligrams of capsaicin, 3 times a week.
Capsaicinoid content is measured in parts per million. These parts per million are converted into Scoville heat units, the industry standard for measuring a pepper's punch. One part per million is equivalent to 15 Scoville units. Bell peppers have a value of zero Scoville units, whereas habaneros -- the hottest peppers--register a blistering 200,000 to 300,000. Pure capsaicin has a Scoville heat unit score of 16 million.
That means eating the equivalent of between 54 and 80 habernero peppers three times a week.
Sounds like a bit much. What do you think the odds are that the reporter got that one wrong?
#4
I would be very interested in knowing the rate of prostate cancer in Mexico, where they eat hot peppers all the time.
If different than the non-pepper folks, then they've got something here.
If not?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/16/2006 8:37 Comments ||
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#5
I can see it now. A new Dr. Pepper, the Pecker Picker Upper.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2006 9:19 Comments ||
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#6
Habaneros are positively incendiary. So are "firecracker" peppers. I picked a few at a farm. #1 daughter, who likes her peppers hot, tried one and broke into a sweat that lasted three hours. She asked me, " Mom, when did you start storing nuclear weapons in the refrigerator?"
James's observations from Liberia included a number of people whose taste buds had been so fried by peppers that they couldn't taste anything else. I would be concerned about the damage done to the digestive tract as well.
#7
My father, who lived in Texas, used to buy some variety of peppers (which I thought were too damned hot for nachos, lol) in 5 gallon buckets - and would sit munching those things every night while watching TV. Lol, it was downright scary...
#8
When I get to work, Ima gonna look up the UN number of those Habaneros peppers in our DOT hazmat book.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2006 10:44 Comments ||
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#9
It has been proved that eating hot peppers does not damage the digestive system but, in fact, people who eat chiles and other hot peppers have fewer ulcers than people who don't. They can, however, cause damage to skin and eyes. Usually the problems people have when eating spicey foods are caused by other factors, i.e., tomato acid in salsa with tomatos.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2006 10:52 Comments ||
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#10
Word of advice, be forewarned, if you ever have the opportunity to dine on some of Deacons chili. He's an excellent cook but his definition of 'slightly hot' is different from most.
#12
They can, however, cause damage to skin and eyes.
Tell me about it. I once tried putting my contacts lenses in after chopping up a bunch of chilies. Felt like someone had inserted a soldering iron into my eyeball.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2006 13:30 Comments ||
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#13
They can, however, cause damage to skin and eyes.
All the mucous membranes are particularly sensitive. Long ago advice from a friend who worked at my college health clinic, "Wash hands with soap before going to the bathroom after eating jalapenos!" ;-)
#14
Anyone know where jalapenos rate on this scale? If so, I used to work with a guy from Texas who would bring a jar-full every week to work and pop 'em like candy. I later learned to stomach them and have become very used to hot/spicy foods. However, habaneros are a whole 'nother ball game, lol! Learned that one the hard way.
Posted by: BA ||
03/16/2006 13:51 Comments ||
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#15
I meant to add...that guy has since died of cancer. Got to his brain and somewhat in his lungs. Of course, he smoked pretty much every day of his life (at least, until he found he had cancer), and had also witnessed nuclear tests aboard a boat in the Navy offshore of the Bikini islands/atolls about the time of the Korean War. VERY interesting guy. Had my eyes opened when he sent me the link to his diaries back in those days (aboard ship witnessing nuclear tests). They had just been de-classified (his personal journal notes) after 40 or so years. Had them linked to the national website for nuclear veterans (forget the exact name of the organization). Some very eye-opening experiences he had doing clean-up on those atolls after the bombs went off.
Posted by: BA ||
03/16/2006 13:55 Comments ||
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#16
Finally, to add, the cancer didn't get his digestive tract, so maybe those daily jalapeno desserts worked, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
03/16/2006 13:56 Comments ||
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#17
Jalapenos only rank in the 300 to 1000 range.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2006 14:51 Comments ||
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Once upon a time south of the border, a bus tour of Mayan ruins stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. This appeared to be a regular thing as the house salsa provided to the table was very mild to the taste. The bus driver and tour guide were provided with a plate of habineros that they could add to their menu. John the Tourist proceeded to swallow the pepper whole.
The next three cervesa followed like cream soda.
Lucky for Tourist, he returned to home before his red cell count dropped below 65.
the next three blood transfusions....
Posted by: john ||
03/16/2006 15:19 Comments ||
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#19
I've always enjoyed McIlhenny's tongue tonic, love jalapenos, and eat my chili "4-alarm" or better. I even learned to eat Thai food, which most people don't know is hotter, on average, than Mexican. My parents used to pickle Cayenne peppers, and eat the juice and peppers on all manners of food. I don't have stomach cancer, and I hardly have taste buds, but some things just go better with a bit of bite to it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2006 21:19 Comments ||
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#20
john: the next three blood transfusions....
yeow..
did i ever tell ya about the plazma peppers from..
Doing good deeds, volunteering on building sites and obtaining Chairman Mao's autograph are some of the objectives of "Learn from Lei Feng," a new online game starring the Chinese Communist Party's legendary hero.
The plot revolves around Lei Feng, a humble selfless People's Liberation Army soldier who, the myth goes, spent all his spare time and money helping the needy and serving the Party until tragically dying in an accident in 1962.
"For beginners, sewing and mending socks is the only way to increase experience and upgrade," said Jiao Jian, a young pupil and online game fan from the southern city of Guangzhou.
Party propagandists went into overdrive in 1963 after Mao called on the nation to "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng." As an unconditional Mao loyalist, Lei's name would be endlessly invoked during the chaotic Cultural Revolution which erupted in 1966 and only ended with the chairman's death 10 years later.
While the new online game includes a treasure hunt, the prize is not a special weapon or pile of gold but a copy of Mao's collected works.
Enemies in the game are "secret agents," Xinhua said. Players can replenish their strength after battling such evil forces by talking with the Party secretary, en route to a final meeting with Mao himself.
Online gaming has exploded in China in recent years, with an estimated 14.3 million people playing regularly and spending some $240 million on their hobby last year. Annual revenues are expected to hit $1.5 billion by 2008 for a habit that domestic media warn is taking a toll on children's studies.
But the developer of "Learn from Lei Feng" said the game was aimed at providing students with the tools to learn the pleasures of helping others, Xinhua said.
"As long as my experience, reputation, skill and loyalty satisfy the game's criteria, I will win and meet Chairman Mao," Jiao said. Why is my hoax-a-meter spinning?
#4
You can actually read the original story in The People's Comic Book; Red Women's Detachment, Hot on the Trail and Other Chinese Comics, by Endymion Wilkinson (Translator) & Gino Nebiolo Anchor Press (1973)
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
03/16/2006 13:01 Comments ||
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Let's bootleg it.
And maybe add some mods, like protest at Tienamen Square, get smooshed by tanks?
With a little editing, the web game "Curious George Commits an Attrocity" could easily become "Chairman Mao's Long March".
The European Union peacekeeping force, EUFOR, and NATO on Monday carried a joint operation with local security personnel in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina to hunt for individuals accused of forming a network to shield the country's fugitive wartime leader and top war crime indictee, Radovan Karadic, EUFOR announced. The home of a former Socialist Party of Serbia party member, Nemanja Vasic, was searched in Prnjavor, in the Bosnian Serb entity, EUFOR said.
Searches were also carried out of a company and a bar owned by Vasic. The purpose of the swoop was to obtain further information on Karadic's hiding-place. He and fellow top war crimes indictee, Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic have been indicted for genocide by the Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in connection with the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 people were killed.
Both Karadic and Mladic have been on the run for a decade. ICTY chief Carla del Ponte said last month she believes Mladic is hiding in Serbia. The European Union has said Balkan nations such as Serbia and Bosnia, which aspire to join the 25-member bloc must cooperate fully with the ICTY and ensure indictees are arrested and handed over to the court to stand trial.
Someday we'll be hunting down Islamist ringleaders. I'm afraid it might be our children who're doing it, but the thought gives me comfort.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2006 00:00 ||
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The future of Europe: anti-Muslim resistance fighters hunted down by EUropean collobarators.
#2
"anti-Muslim resistance fighters "
Try genocidal killers who started four wars for a nationalist agenda and set up the camps in Europe again.
We had to blow them off the the face of the earth, are you saying you would of supported these heroes against US troops during wartime?
#3
pihkalbadger.
The Serbs haven't done anything, except defend themselves from Muslim aggression. The atrocity stories that you've read/watched has the same reality as the atrocity stories MSM reports from Iraq or "Palestine".
#5
There are still 2000 odd bodies unidentified from ten years ago in the Tuzla morgue.
There are reports from the State department, FBI, HRW, UN and many others but dont take my word for it try some research, please.
Denial, the fifth horsman of the apocalypse.
#6
The Balkans are not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.
Still true.
Posted by: Otto Bismarck ||
03/16/2006 9:58 Comments ||
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Milosevic was a mass murderer. The Serbs weren't defending themselves against anything; the Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats of 1990 were reasonably peaceful and willing to get along with their neighbors. Yugoslavia after Tito wasn't viable, but the constituent parts could have devolved peacefully.
Instead Milosevic and his pals very cunninigly whipped up Serbian nationalism, and Serbian bloodthirst, and went on a killing spree. The Bosnian and Croat wars resulted, and tens of thousands of innocents were killed.
I'm glad the old bastard is dead, and I only wish he'd swung from a rope. Oh well, guess the rest of them will have to swing in his place.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2006 10:08 Comments ||
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Everyone in the Balkans seesm to have a top-notch indoctrination system to teach their version of the Great Lie to each generation.
#9
My cousin went over during the fighting with Doctors Without Borders to help. Only stayed 3 months and came back saying "A pox on the lot of them."
He told me that the muslims had Iranian Revolutionary Guards rampaging the countryside raping and killing everybody (they all looked the same you know, so play it safe.)
Said the Cathloic Croats would tattoo swastikas one their own foreheads and go into battle with a vengence.
Said the Serb in a methodical viscous way went about consolidating territory and power.
BUT! All of them would shoot at the rescue folks and doctors as Serb, Muslim and Croat patients would explain they were the best targets any side would see in weeks so were to tasty not to shoot.
#10
3dc - Sounds like the Paleos - without the myopic Jooo focus. Sick bastards are everywhere, including the deluded BDS-driven stark raving moonbats infesting the West, no monopolies for any one society... they just differ in degree, social skills, and affinity for acting out their particular insanity.
(CNSNews.com) - A Second Amendment group calls it a "stunning reversal." After denying it for months, the City of New Orleans on Wednesday admitted that it does have a stockpile of firearms seized from private citizens in the days following Hurricane Katrina. The city even took lawyers to the place where some 1,000 firearms are being stored. "This is a very significant event," said attorney Dan Holliday, who represents National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation in an on-going lawsuit seeking to stop the city from seizing privately-owned firearms.
The city's disclosure came as attorneys for both sides prepared for a court hearing on a motion to hold the city in contempt. (On March 1, The Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association filed a motion to have New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with an injunction to stop illegal gun confiscations and return all seized firearms to their rightful owners.)
"We're almost in disbelief," said Second Amendment Foundation Founder Alan Gottlieb on Wednesday. "For months, the city has maintained it did not have any guns in its possession that had been taken from people following the hurricane. Now our attorneys have seen the proof that New Orleans was less than honest with the court." Under an agreement with the court, the hearing on the contempt motion has been delayed for two weeks, and during that time, the city reportedly will set up a process to return the guns to their lawful owners.
"While we are stunned at this complete reversal on the city's part, the important immediate issue is making sure gun owners get their property back," Gottlieb said. "What happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was an outrage," he added. "Equally disturbing is the fact that it apparently took a motion for contempt to force the city to admit what it had been denying for the past five months."
As Cybercast News Service reported in February, the National Rifle Association used images of law enforcement officers confiscating legally possessed firearms from New Orleans residents to rally conservatives at a recent conference in Washington. National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre urged people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference to "Remember New Orleans!"
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2006 08:02 ||
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They're surprised that Police don't pay attention to the law?
Naive fools.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/16/2006 8:44 Comments ||
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I don't think this will get anywhere for several reasons. First of all, in a state of martial law, government can do damn near anything it wants; and typically, the public approves of that. Second, unlawful confiscations will be dealt with on a "case by case" basis, which will muddy the waters beyond recognition.
Finally, the police will say that "most" of the guns were just "picked up" from abandoned buildings to "keep them out of the hands of looters". Lies, of course. But prove otherwise.
In other words, nobody will get squat out of this deal.
For future reference, it is almost never better to "brandish" a weapon than to conceal it. The lesson should be that in future disasters, do not let lawmen see your weapons.
#4
I don't think this will get anywhere for several reasons
'Moose, you are correct that charges of illegal gun confiscations will be challenged and for the reasons you state possibly dismissed. However, dont underestimate the substantial accomplishments this lawsuit has brought. Contrary to previous testimony, the city has admitted that they do in fact posses a stockpile of confiscated weapons. First, what was previously dismissed as accusations is now reality allowing the legal owners to get their property back. Also, the contempt charges have only been delayed, not dismissed. Without reading the transcripts its hard to say but in light of this admission the accusers contempt case has become dramatically stronger. If the courts award a victory to The Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA look for them to ride the wave and challenge the legality of the confiscation itself. And given the shenanigans surrounding the defense thus far its unlikely a judge would throw out the lawsuit based on lack of merit.
#5
The government (as a whole) has learned that it can abuse the hell out of civil liberties during the event and pay the price later, unless they can weasel out of it.
It started with a lot of G8 and WTO protests, when the police did clearly illegal things that protected the conferences, because they knew that it would only come out later at trial, and long after the conference was over. If it cost them a few million, no problem, it was taxpayer money anyway.
It peaked at Miami, when they imported police to abuse people. It was close to a police rampage against anyone on the street, the constitution be damned. Journalists were attacked, even a State judge was pulled off of his bicycle and beaten.
They didn't even wait for the protest to begin, sort of pre-emptive beat down against ordinary citizens. And they mostly got away with it. Maybe paid out a few hundred thousand dollars in fines to themselves.
You're referring to the professional legions of anarchists, funded by the socialist - our mortal enemies - who fly around the world to these conferences and meetings with nothing but havoc in mind as ordinary citizens?
LOL. Try re-tuning that a bit - assuming you wish to remain within reality.
#10
Wonder how Nagin's reelection campaign is coming along. It takes a certain special talent to get so wrong on so many issues including a Constitutional ammendment.
#12
pretty typical US city behaviour, I live in Tacoma and we're far from transparency in Gov.
Posted by: bk ||
03/16/2006 13:29 Comments ||
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#13
Typical "we're the government, we're here to protect you" bull shit.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/16/2006 14:30 Comments ||
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#14
Of course, the legal owners would have to prove their claim to ownership. Any bet that many of the owners aren't legally possessing a weapon to begin with? Proof is no problem if you were a home or business owner protecting your property. This sounds much like the Lancaster County police sting, betting on the human tendency toward greed and selfishness to catch stupid criminals.
#15
Danielle: are you asking for receipts or for a de-facto registration system?
Posted by: Phil ||
03/16/2006 19:02 Comments ||
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#16
Miami: FTAA Police Rampage
http://tinyurl.com/r3qu2
Hundreds of abused and injured FTAA protesters were partially vindicated this week as the Miami-Dade Independent Review Panel released drafts of its scathing report on police misconduct at the FTAA. According to the report, Miami lived under "martial law," civil rights "were trampled," and protesters were met with "unrestrained and disproportionate use of force."
(Link has pdf files of the reports of the Review Panel.)
My point was that, in future, US cities that play host to G8, WTO, FTAA, etc. meetings are being encouraged to "abuse now and pay later", since there is no great penalty for them to do so.
MULTAN: Shopping centres and markets remained closed in Jatoi and Permit towns of Muzaffargarh district on Wednesday following a case of blasphemy there. The police arrested the alleged blasphemer and sent him to Muzaffargarh prison. We have saved lives and property by registering two cases against toll tax contactor Sattari Gopang under blasphemy law for making objectionable remarks about Prophet Muhammad (may his drip clear up peace be upon him) and Allah and for manhandling a truck driver, Muzaffargarh DPO Rai Muhammad Tahir said.
SDPO Rafiullah Niazi said that a truck driver had failed to pay the toll-tax at Jatoi on Monday. The staff took the driver to Gopang who asked him to pay Rs 5000 as fine. The driver then asked him to forgive him for the sake of Allah and Prophet Muhammad (PTUI PBUH).
Gopang then allegedly used abusive language about Allah, the Prophet and Islam. Hearing of this, hundreds gathered at the scene and beat up the contractor. Local religious leaders made an announcement on mosque loudspeakers. SDPO Niazi said an unofficial inquiry was held in the presence of local clerics and the district nazim which established that Gopang had indeed blasphemed. Local clerics threatened to take matters into their own hands if any lawyer dared represent the accused. A violent mob set four shops, a plaza and toll tax offices on fire. They also burnt tyres and blocked the National Highway. However, the police did not allow them to march on Gopangs house. More than 5000 people demonstrated in Jatoi and there was a complete strike ni Jhuggiwala, Meerwala, Sabaiwala, Jehanpur, Phullan Sharif, Hamzay wali, Alipur, Noorwah and Jhlareen on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2006 00:00 ||
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So the way to get out of paying your fine is to accuse the collector/judge/whatever of blasphemy?
How very convenient.
Posted by: SLO Jim ||
03/16/2006 14:06 Comments ||
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#2
No wonder they're so damn poor. Every little upset and the shops, cars, offices get set on fire. Everybody stops work and destroys their surroundings. Everybody riots looking for someone to kill.
Bent on destruction aren't they? Keep imploding. More of this on MSM.
UNITED NATIONS - The United States stood nearly alone Wednesday as it voted against the creation of a new U.N. Human Rights Council, saying the reform did not go far enough.
However, U.S. officials did not carry through on a threat to block the new body's funding, and they pledged to work with other nations to make the council "as strong as it can be."
Jan Eliasson, president of the General Assembly, called the vote "a historic moment for human rights" as 170 member-states backed the new council. Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau joined the U.S. in voting against, while Iran, Venezuela and Belarus abstained.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the diplomats had missed a historic opportunity to help those most in need.
"We must not let the victims of human rights abuses throughout the world think that U.N. member states were willing to settle for 'good enough,' " Bolton said. "We must not let history remember us as the architects of a council that was a 'compromise.' "
Bolton said later that Washington had not yet decided whether to seek a seat on the new council.
The new council is meant to replace the 53-member Commission on Human Rights founded in 1946 to censure countries that abuse their own citizens.
Membership on the commission was allocated by region, allowing countries with poor human rights records to gain seats and use them to head off criticism of their actions.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed the new council last year, saying that the commission's nonexistent declining credibility "casts a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole." I'd say that the UN casts a shadow on the reputation of diplomacy.
But months of negotiations culminated in the watered-down compromise presented Wednesday to the General Assembly.
The new council will be slightly smaller, with 47 members. In an effort to keep violators off the panel, its rules say that to join a candidate has to win a majority, or 96 votes, in a direct election in the General Assembly.
Also Wednesday, Bolton compared the threat from Iran's nuclear programs to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
"Just like Sept. 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that's the threat. I think that is the threat," Bolton told ABC News' Nightline program.
Bolton ratcheted up the rhetoric as the five veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council failed again to reach agreement on how to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions after a fifth round of negotiations.
Strange behavior by insomniacs taking prescription drugs, ranging from binge eating to having sex while asleep, have raised safety questions about anti-insomnia medications like Sanofi-Aventis' Ambien.
Researchers in Minnesota are studying cases where insomniacs taking Ambien got up in the middle of the night, binged uncontrollably, then remembered nothing of their actions. The researchers expect to publish data shortly.
Such sleep-induced side effects while on the medications have been around for years, but the incidence is rising because of an explosion in the drugs' use, specialists said.
About 30 million people in the United States take sleep medications, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. By some counts that is a 50 percent jump since the beginning of the decade.
Some of the most serious side effects are short-term memory loss, and accidents involving patients who drive the next day while still feeling drugged.
"Patients who may have engaged in this unusual behavior at night -- it's relatively rare and bizarre," said Donna Arand, president of the American Insomnia Association.
"The daytime sleepiness -- that drugged feeling that people may have -- is probably the most worrisome because of the (vehicular) accidents that can occur."
Other insomnia medications are Lunesta from Sepracor Inc. and Sonata made by King Pharmaceuticals Inc.. In the $2 billion U.S. market for the drugs, market leader Ambien boasts 12 billion nights of patient use.
Increased use of the drugs is spurred in part by heavy advertising and patients may be using the drugs for longer periods than they are intended, experts said.
Consumer group Public Citizen warned that Ambien should only be used on a limited basis because it causes temporary amnesia, according to pharmacist Larry Sasich.
Because the Food and Drug Administration's reporting system is voluntary and anecdotal, "we don't know how big a problem it is ... we have no way to accurately to assess the prevalence," said Sasich a consultant for Public Citizen.
Sanofi-Aventis said sleepwalking is a rare side effect listed on Ambien's label and that it reports all events to the FDA. Still, it had no statistics about the prevalence of sleepwalking.
Ken Sassower, a staff neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said a colleague who had taken one of the sleep drugs could not recall advising residents on rounds the next morning.
"The memory issue may be an infrequent side effect, but when it occurs it can be pretty significant ... certainly that needs to be looked at in a more rigorous way," he said.
Doctors recommended against abruptly stopping the drugs, which can cause withdrawal symptoms including seizures.
"The risk was always there; we are seeing it more now because so many more people are using the drugs," said Merrill Mitler, program director at the sleep disorder unit at the National Institutes of Health.
#1
Herad this on NPR a couple of days ago. Seems most of the incidents happened because people didn't follow directions, i.e., taking with alchol and taking and then driving or otherwise ignoring the directions.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2006 13:30 Comments ||
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#4
That faint whirling sort of scraping noise you hear in the background are umpteen thousand personal injury and malpractice lawyers sharpening their pencils.
A "Sea Skua" guided missile misfired Thursday, in the first test conducted in Southeast Asia, in the waters off Kuala Beruas near Pantai Remis in Perak, Chief of Navy Admiral Datuk Ilyas Din said. Matra BAE Dynamics of the United Kingdom, which conducted the test for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), identified a technical problem as the cause of the failure, he added.
The missile, fired at 11 am from a Super Lynx 300 attack helicopter at a wreckage of a ship eight nautical miles away, failed to hit its target and fell into the sea without exploding.
The company would carry out an investigation to determine the cause of the problem in two or three days, well before the second test that is scheduled a week from now, Ilyas told reporters on board the RMN vessel, KD Mahawangsa, here.
Thursday's Sea Skua missile test was the first conducted in Southeast Asia because Malaysia is the only country in the region to purchase the missiles, the complete package of which cost 16 million pounds sterling (about RM103 million). The agreement to purchase was made in 2001 and the supply of the missiles to the RMN began last year.
Thaksin Shinawatra has said he would consider temporarily stepping down as Thailand's prime minister, amid mounting protests in the capital to demand his resignation over corruption allegations. Thaksin did not elaborate on when, and for how long he might step down.
He made his comments on Tuesday in northeastern Thailand while campaigning for snap elections he has called for 2 April in hopes of refreshing his mandate and deflating the country's growing anti-government movement. When asked by a reporter whether he would be taking a break from the prime minister's position, he said: "It is a good proposal and I am considering this. "This does not mean that I would bow to mob rule. I have to take some time to consider and decide what to do, because I have a duty to complete my mission," he told reporters during a campaign tour in the province of Buriram.
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03/16/2006 00:00 ||
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Thailand's election has been thrown into doubt after hundreds of candidates were banned from participating. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called next month's poll early in hopes of ending weeks of political turmoil, which have seen mass protests in the streets calling for his resignation. But after a boycott left nearly one-third of the candidates for Parliament running unopposed, an election commission official says about the same number have been barred from standing. The official says around 300 of the 900 candidates have been disqualified because they have not belonged to their parties for at least 90 days before election day, as required by Thai law.
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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.
The European Union peacekeeping force, EUFOR, and NATO on Monday carried a joint operation with local security personnel in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina to hunt for individuals accused of forming a network to shield the country's fugitive wartime leader and top war crime indictee, Radovan Karadic, EUFOR announced. The home of a former Socialist Party of Serbia party member, Nemanja Vasic, was searched in Prnjavor, in the Bosnian Serb entity, EUFOR said. 
MULTAN: Shopping centres and markets remained closed in Jatoi and Permit towns of 
A "Sea Skua" guided missile misfired Thursday, in the first test conducted in Southeast Asia, in the waters off Kuala Beruas near Pantai Remis in Perak, Chief of Navy Admiral Datuk Ilyas Din said. Matra BAE Dynamics of the United Kingdom, which conducted the test for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), identified a technical problem as the cause of the failure, he added.
