UK police investigating the disappearance of a 41-year-old man said they "cannot rule out the possibility of murder" after his thumb was found in a street. Sky News reported Mahmood Ahmad was last seen leaving his job at a kebab house in Aldgate, London, in the early hours of March 7. There's the reason I don't eat kebabs - mystery meat.
A thumb found by a member of the public in Ilford, Essex, three days later has now been confirmed by forensic tests as belonging to the Watford man. Police are treating Mr Ahmad's case as kidnap but said murder could not be discounted. I grew up in Essex and left at the very earliest opportunity. Bad sh!t happens there.
Detective Chief Inspector Melanie Burn, from Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said Mr Mahmood "may well be injured and need urgent medical help". OTOH it may well be too late for even tardy medical help.
If he's missing a thumb, the injury is certain, as is the need for medical help. But three days is a little late for urgency.
Mohammed Riaz, 33, has been charged with kidnap, false imprisonment, harassment and dwelling burglary in connection with the case. He is in custody awaiting his trial. But obviously not singing like the proverbial canary.
Police have arrested a further four people, one woman and three men, who are being questioned by officers. "You see this thumb? Well we are looking for its matching twin."
"It's a right thumb, innit? Mine's here, on my hand -- that good enough, officer?"
#1
"My favorite African story actually happened after I left the country. An American executive took a job over there, and on his very first day, the newspaper headlines read: "Three Headless Bodies Found".
The next day: "Three Heads Found".
The third day: "Heads Dont Match Bodies"."
-- The Other Side of Kim
Rival prison gang members, including warring white supremacist and Hispanic groups, are brokering unusual criminal alliances outside prison to assist Mexican drug cartel operations in the U.S. and Mexico, federal law enforcement officials say.
The groups, including the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, remain bitter enemies in prison, divided along racial and ethnic lines. Yet outside, the desire for profits is overcoming rivalries.
Most are involved with drugs, but officials say members also are moving into human smuggling.
Continued on Page 49
#2
We can't be bothered with such trivia, we are obsessing about shoving health care down the throats of the American people--after all we know what's best for them.
Signed the Pelosi-Obama Democratic supremacist gang
#3
if you had $20,000 in a Latin american country why would you want too come too the US? couldn't you live pretty well down there with that kind of money?
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 20:30 Comments ||
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#4
Muslim prisoners are repor setting up SHARIA RULE inside the UK PRISON SYSTEM???
* SPERO NEWS > RADICAL ISLAM MAKING INROADS ADMONG LATIN AMERICA'S PEOPLES [rising numbers of converts including dedication to JIHADISM].
and
TOPIX [old] > ISLAMIST GROUPS SETTING UP IN CHIAPAS/NEAR MEXICO-GUATEMALA BORDER.
Adolf/Jozef Ahmed's Camel wants a [spicy] BURRITO > DEMANDS FUTURE POST-AMERICA EURABIA INVADE IRELAND TO GET IT!
A single-engine plane killed a jogger yesterday as it made an emergency landing on a beach.
The plane had been experiencing engine trouble for over an hour as it flew up the coast from Florida towards Virginia in the U.S. It was directed to land at Hilton Head Airport in South Carolina but at 13,000ft oil began to leak on the windshield blocking the view of the pilot and his passenger.
Then the propeller came off and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa. It was at this point that the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane hit the beachgoer who was either jogging or walking. The plane came to rest a little farther down the beach....
Posted by: Mike ||
03/16/2010 15:53 ||
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#1
As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods...
They kill us for their sport.
Posted by: William Shakespeare ||
03/16/2010 17:10 Comments ||
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#2
don't guess that excercise program worked out too good for the poor guy
Posted by: chris ||
03/16/2010 18:22 Comments ||
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#3
sometimes running to catch your plane can be dangerous!
/runs for my room
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 19:17 Comments ||
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#4
Then the propeller came off Just how the heck does a propellor come off? It must be a very bad thing. Whata ya say AP?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2010 19:32 Comments ||
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#5
That's it, I'm done. No more jogging along the Redneck Riviera for me.
#6
Oil leaks could be anything on an engine. The Lancair is a high performance pressurized plane, single engine that is in the 300 kt speed range. It is a very impressive kit built plane. Its engine is a Continental TSIO-550, which is a 6-cyl fuel injected and turbocharged gasoline engine, air cooled. This engine is a fairly common one, IIRC, used in the Cessna 402 twin and others. It has a constant speed prop and governor system, hydraulically run through the crankshaft on engine oil.
There may be a good chance that the propeller governing system developed a seal leak and oil started spraying the windshield. Then there was a major failure in the propeller hub and a prop blade came off. There are usually 3 props on an engine like that. I would think that a prop failure like that would require an immediate engine stop, or the unbalance would have the engine tear itself off the engine mounts. A loss of an engine would screw up the balance of the plane and you could not glide it in. You would fall like a leaf.
Too bad the pilot did not ditch the plane in the sea. Flying the coast like that, I would be wearing a life jacket and would ditch it to avoid hitting someone. Sad deal. Very sad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2010 20:15 Comments ||
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A JEDI believer won an apology from a Jobcentre which threw him out for refusing to remove his hood.
Star Wars fan Chris Jarvis, 31, was told he would have to leave if he did not take it down. Chris is a member of the International Church of Jediism - based on the sci-fi films - whose doctrine states that followers should be allowed to wear hoods.
But when he protested, security escorted him from his local branch in Southend, Essex. He filled out a complaint form - and received a formal letter from the JobCentre Plus branch's boss just three days later.
Wendy Flewers apologised, adding: "We are committed to provide a customer service which embraces diversity and respects customers' religion."
Chris said: "I was just standing up for my beliefs. Muslims can walk around in whatever religious gear they like, so why can't I?"
Southend Jobcentre Plus refused to comment yesterday.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "Customers may be asked by Jobcentre staff to remove their helmets and hoods for security reasons."
#1
ION SINA/CINA MOWCOW TIMES > FIVE REASONS WHY RUSSIA ISN'T CHINA.
* SAME > OPEC NOT THREATENED BY RUSSIAN SHIPMENTS TO ASIA; + GORBACHEV'S ABANDONED "EUROPEAN HOME"; + RUSSIAN CORRUPTION MAY FORCE WESTERN FIRMS TO QUIT ["unsympathetic" anti-US-WESTERN, COLD WAR-style, Russ Govt-Company Mgt stone-facing, obstruction, ignorance, etc]???
"No one's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." - Mark Twain
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it. And if Mark Twain were alive today, he wouldn't know where to begin.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers "deem" the health-care bill to be passed. Cool! Bait and switch! Continued on Page 49
#2
They're adding an entirely new dimension to the term..."Stuck on Stupid."
Barry and Pelosi need a huge infusion of tax dollars over the next few years and this is their plan to make that happen. Healthcare reform is a convenient facade, nothing more. If they can fund the abortion of a few million future recipients along the way and make selected college students beholding to their largesse, so much the better.
I'm very much afraid that November is the last chance for number 2 to work. If the tyrant wannabe in the WH and his slimy minions are willing to go to these lengths to impose their will. A win in Nov. would give them all the motivation they need to totally rewrite electoral rules and "deem" them passed.
#9
Sure they can, but not after the billions of pork that will kill this nation is spent.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/16/2010 15:22 Comments ||
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#10
Repeat after me, "Medicare." Wildly unpopular on the right when signed and still going strong @ 1000x its maximum projected cost. The only way this will differ is that it will be bigger.
#11
There are three million, 300 thousand, 287 bridges, tunnels, power stations, locks, dams, power pylons, and large culverts in the United States. A force of 2500 people, with the appropriate knowledge and the support of the local populace, can bring any part of the United States - or the entire nation - to its knees. Congress does not have the power or ability to stop it - only the American people. When the "ruling class" pisses off the only group that can actually protect those vulnerable points, they've set themselves up for for defeat. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all the other lawyers in Washington know jack sh$$ about actually running the infrastructure of this country. I think it's about time they learned just how much the REAL people in this country despise them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2010 21:43 Comments ||
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#12
OP - dial it back, k? You have power in votes, power in influence via pressure, but.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 22:06 Comments ||
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#13
Frank G, he may be voicing the thoughts of a lot more people than you think; I've heard similar in emails forwarded to me by others and previous mentioned it with disclaimers. I have heard it put this way from a larger number of people than ever before: Soap box has failed, ballot box is failing (with this end run around representative government), so the jury box (SCOTUS striking it down) is the only thing standing between us and the cartridge box if they do pass this monstrosity that changes the fundamental relationship between the governed and the government.
It is important to hear that sort of thing, if for no other reason that as a warning -- as long as there are no direct person threats or calls to overthrow the legal government.
One thing to notice about OP's analysis is that the most vulnerable areas are the urban areas which are liberal strongholds. That means people thinking in that manner may be even less inclined to restrain themselves if push comes to shove.
And that scares the hell out of me. Enough to where I am considering moving out of the suburban west to the areas where I know the hills and the people well, and have a lot of relatives. That isn't the main reason, but it is enough to be at least a factor in risk analysis.
(Colorado has changed, and I no longer feel like its home - and I want to get back to my Blue Ridge to be buried with my ancestors)
#15
I moved out of Colorado when the Califonicators came in and started the same crap that had fouled their previous nest. When previously mainstream parts of the state started feeling like The Peoples Republic of Boulder it was time to head out. the scary talk i hear is coming more from the folks i still have contact with in CO. plenty of it out here in GA, but not the same urgency fwiw
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/16/2010 23:01 Comments ||
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Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had a little political advice last week for President Obama and the Democrats: Don't pass the president's health care legislation because you would risk losing in the midterm elections.
Mr. Obama laughed about it afterward. I generally wouldn't take advice about what's good for Democrats' from Mr. McConnell, he told an audience in Pennsylvania. But he conceded that that's what members of Congress are hearing right now on the cable shows and in sort of the gossip columns in Washington.' He went on to argue that the issue should be what's right, not the politics. What's "right" would be for my representatives to vote "NAY" on the HC Takeover bill in its present form and rework it to take care of the stuff that really needs to be taken care of. What's right would be to stop trying to twist a problem with an "easy" fix into another government bureaucracy. What's right would be to cut government by two-thirds.
But this is Washington and politics are never far from the surface, especially at a decisive moment like this. If the schedule being mapped last week holds and Mr. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, said on Sunday that it would the fate of the president's health care plan should be decided within the week. I believe we will have' the votes, Mr. Axelrod said on ABC's This Week,' though Republicans and even some Democrats have questioned whether the votes are there now.
But the plan's fate could depend on how a couple dozen Democratic congressmen answer the questions Mr. McConnell and Mr. Obama raised: Would passing health care devastate Democratic chances in the fall? Would rejecting it devastate a Democratic presidency?
Washington is already debating how pivotal the vote will be to his presidency. Mr. Obama has devoted vast energy and political capital over the last 14 months to get to this point, the presidential equivalent of an all-in bet on the poker table. Should he fail to push his plan through a Congress with strong Democratic majorities, it would certainly damage his credibility as a leader for months, and maybe years. Already the fight has scarred Washington, leaving behind a polarized and angry political elite and questions about whether the system is broken.
If Mr. Obama falls short on health care, his hopes of passing other ambitious legislation like an overhaul of immigration and a market-based cap on carbon emissions to curb climate change would seem out of reach, at least for the rest of this year. Much of Washington would question whether he is weak, some Democratic candidates would run away from him and Mr. Obama would be forced to consider a narrower agenda like that pursued by Bill Clinton after his own health care drive collapsed.
At the same time, passing it has its risks too. While a bill-signing ceremony in the Rose Garden would provide at least a short-term boost to a beleaguered president, Republicans have made clear that the legislative procedure Democrats are using to avoid another filibuster would so anger them that they would not cooperate on other major initiatives this year.
If they jam through health care,' said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, then Democrats will have poisoned the well' on other issues. He was interviewed Sunday on ABC's This Week.'
An immigration proposal he has been working on with Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, would likely fall victim to the worsened environment, he said.
If Mr. Obama and the Democrats succeed, the challenge over the next eight months will be to convince the public that the program is better than polls suggest they think it is. And while some of its features would take effect right away, particularly popular limits on abuses by insurance companies, much of its impact in terms of coverage for the uninsured would not kick in until long after the fall election.
If and when this is passed, Democrats will run aggressively on this,' said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. We relish the idea of Republicans running on the Tea Party mantle of repeal.'
But Karl Rove, the former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, said Republicans relish the fight as well. If they pass it,' he said about the Democrats, they're dead in the polls.'
Past presidents have suffered the consequences of big initiatives. Mr. Bush failed to get a Republican Congress to approve his overhaul of Social Security in 2005, undercutting his ability to pass other major proposals for the rest of his term. In hindsight, Mr. Rove said he wished the Bush White House had led off the second term with immigration and chalked up a bipartisan victory before moving on to Social Security.
The more salient precedent remains Mr. Clinton's health care drive, which ran aground in a Democratic Congress in his first term. The debacle fueled the electoral sweep that handed Congress to the Republicans in 1994. Democrats have bitter memories. A lot of them have P.T.S.D. from 1994,' said a White House official, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Among those who lost reelection that year was Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania who cast the deciding vote on Mr. Clinton's budget package, which cut the deficit through spending cuts and a tax increase on the wealthy.
The former congresswoman, who now goes by Marjorie Margolies, recalled last week that she had boiled down her explanation of her vote to four minutes. The problem was that her opponents had boiled down their criticism of her to a 30-second advertisement. It's very hard to push back on that 30 seconds and that's what these members are going to face and that's what these members are scared about,' she said.
Rahm Emanuel, a former top adviser to Mr. Clinton who now serves as White House chief of staff, has often said Mr. Clinton's problem was not taking on health care but losing on health care. Unlike Mr. Rove, Mr. McConnell and other Repubicans, Thomas M. Davis III, a former congressman who served in the Republican leadership, said failure to pass health care would be worse for Democrats than passing it.
If they pass nothing, their base the college professors, the African-Americans, all the surge voters who put them there, they just walk,' Mr. Davis said. You don't want to think about it.' The best option at that point for Mr. Obama, he added, would be to push through a narrower health care bill and argue to the base that at least he tried for the more expansive version.
Still, for all the potential consequences, it is probably too hyperbolic to suggest the presidency rides on this moment. If he fails this week, Mr. Obama could still recover. Even a weakened president has enormous capacity to set an agenda. For all the damage Mr. Clinton absorbed from the failure of his health care plan and the Republican takeover, he eventually found his footing again and won re-election handily.
Of course, he and Mr. Bush both recovered from early troubles in part because of leadership during moments of crisis Mr. Clinton after the bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and Mr. Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That may be harder for Mr. Obama, who inherited crises from the start in the form of two wars and an economic meltdown. The botched Christmas Day bombing suggested that Mr. Obama might face recriminations in case of a new crisis.
But he has the benefit of time and residual personal popularity, not to mention an opposition with its own challenges. I don't think this will bring down the Obama presidency,' said Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. People understand that there's a Congress and there are other issues and no matter how much of a hit the Democrats take in the elections this fall, there's still a lot of things he can do in the next three years.'
The problem for Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards added, is that he has raised the stakes himself so high. If he says this is make-or-break and my presidency depends on what the American people think of this issue,' he said, then he's putting himself in a bad spot.'
#1
"If Mr. Obama and the Democrats succeed, the challenge over the next eight months will be to convince the public that the program is better than polls suggest they think it is."
What the Democrat leadership is proposing to their rank and file is a sales technique called the post close. It's the practice of reinforcing benefits and positive emotions after an agreement. The goal is to mitigate whats commonly referred to as buyers remorse. However, its success is predicated on the assumption that, regardless of enthusiasm, there was indeed an original agreement. In this case, Obama has tried to sell this dog for months and still hasnt closed the deal. Which means there is no amount of after-the-fact-jawboning that will convince a reluctant electorate they didnt get screwed. Good luck with that folks and take one for the big guy.
#3
I'm not clear on when the taxes, fees, etc. begin on this. If it isn't going to be right away there will be some space for Obama's allies in the media to say, "look the sky hasn't fallen" and there is plenty of time to amend.
One of the things to watch will be the number of companies that decide to stuff their existing health care plans and pay their employees a bonus and let the publically subsidized plans pick them up (or newly formed companies that decide not to have health care plans and make every employee a contractor)
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 13:34 Comments ||
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#4
SPERO NEWS > BRITISH "THRACE" THINK-TANK ECONOMIST HALLIGAN: US POTUS OBAMA "PLAYING WID FIRE" OVER CHINESE CURRENCY | OBAMA AT GREAT RISK OF STARTING MAJOR US-CHINA TRADE WAR OVER YUAN CURRENCY POLICIES.
Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.
The letters A, C, O, R and N are coming off office doors from New York to California. Business cards are being reprinted. New signs with new names are popping up in front of offices.
The breakaways are trying to shed the scandal that emerged six months ago when videos showed some ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. But while their names are different, most groups have kept the same offices and staff.
That, critics say, means the groups really haven't started anew and severed all ties to ACORN, which faced accusations of mismanagement and rampant voter registration fraud well before the video brouhaha sent even longtime Democratic backers scattering. Ay-Pee. Rest @ link.
Ay-Pee. You know the drill.
Obama administration's fierce denunciation of Israel last week has ignited a firestorm in Congress and among powerful pro-Israel interest groups who say the criticism of America's top Mideast ally was misplaced. To put it mildly.
Since the controversy erupted, a bipartisan parade of influential lawmakers and interest groups has taken aim at the administration's decision to publicly condemn Israel for its announcement of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting on Tuesday and then openly vent bitter frustration on Friday. Shooting from the hip again, doofus?
With diplomats from both countries referring to the situation as a crisis, the outpouring of anger in the United States, particularly from Capitol Hill, comes at a difficult time for the administration, which is now trying to win support from wary lawmakers - many of whom are up for re-election this year - for health care reform and other domestic issues. Hee hee! Now where did I put my dancing shoes?
#1
this is probably not going to affect the health care vote
however, it will take a toll on the Democrat fund raising for this year and maybe the next two also.
Some of the big givers to the Dem party (DNC, Congressional funds) are pro Israel.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 11:12 Comments ||
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#2
only if the Jewish Democrats are willing to make the Donks pay for their perfidy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 11:54 Comments ||
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#3
for example, Haim Saban (co creator of Might Morphin Power Rangers) has been a mega giver to the Dems (and raised lots and lots to the Hillary campaign in 2008) but I wouldn't be surprised if he sits out the Obama Admin (in fact, I'll bet he has called Hillary to complain).
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 12:22 Comments ||
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#4
this is probably not going to affect the health care vote
however, it will take a toll on the Democrat fund raising for this year and maybe the next two also.
Some of the big givers to the Dem party (DNC, Congressional funds) are pro Israel.
My big suspicion? They like to pretend that they're pro-Israel.
_Just_ like the Democrats like to pretend they're pro-strong economy, pro-job creation, pro-health-care....
They probably wake up in the morning and tell themselves they're only trying to save Israel from those insane fanatics trying to build a couple of apartment blocks.
Story not yet elevated to WoT status, though that's what the drug war in Mexico is, until we learn whether Ms. Enriquez was specifically targeted.
Dozens of officials from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other U.S. agencies joined an investigation Monday into the killings of three people tied to the U.S. Consulate in the Mexican city of Juarez, scrambling to determine whether the slayings marked an escalation in the region's drug war or were simply cases of mistaken identity, officials said.
Lesley Enriquez, 35, who worked in the consulate's citizens services section, was believed to be the first American consulate employee to have been killed in apparent Mexican drug violence since 1985, when DEA Agent Enrique Camarena was tortured and murdered. Enriquez and her American husband were gunned down near the Santa Fe bridge into the United States about 2 p.m. Saturday, as their infant daughter cried in the back seat, unharmed but terrified.
About the same time, assailants in a different part of the city killed the husband of a Mexican who works at the consulate. That victim, identified in Mexican media as Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37, had been at the same children's birthday party as Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs. The American couple and the Mexican victim had been traveling in white vehicles.
FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons in El Paso, across the border from Juarez, said investigators had not determined the motive for the shootings. But, she said, "at this point we don't have any indication the victims were targeted because of their employment at the consulate." How many thousands of Americans cross the border daily, and the hard boys just happen to whack a consulate employee? Just what did Ms. Enriquez do in 'citizen services'?
In a sign of how seriously the Mexican government regards the case, Attorney General Arturo Chavez Chavez traveled to Juarez on Monday to oversee the investigation, according to El Diario, a newspaper in the city. Mexican President Felipe Calderón and President Obama expressed indignation at the murders.
U.S. agencies, including the FBI, DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are assisting Mexican authorities by providing intelligence and interviewing witnesses in the United States, Simmons said.
A Mexican official familiar with the cases said there were two main lines of investigation: whether the shootings were "a direct message to the U.S." or were instances of mistaken identity. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is continuing.
Violence involving rival drug gangs has become so severe that the State Department recently authorized U.S. personnel in six consulates in northern Mexico -- including Juarez -- to send their family members out of the area until April 12.
At least 18,000 people have been killed in Mexico since December 2006, when Calderon declared war on the country's drug traffickers. The U.S. government has committed to spending more than $1 billion to assist the Mexican effort.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Story not yet elevated to WoT status,
Not WoT but FSA: Failing State Alert. Lot of that about, and most of it unrelated to Islam. But nearly all of it related to the increasing criminalization of so many of the non-western world's regimes. Off the top of me head, here's a short list of bandit regimes where
-- the government doesn't govern
-- rule of law is sporadic at best
-- the state has been effectively criminalized
-- to the extent the nation has advanced scientific-technical capabilities, it is a sieve for international WMD traffickers like AQ Khan's network
Top of the list is GazPutin's criminalized Russian regime, followed closely by the Ukrainians, Byelorussians, and Kazakhs. The mullahs in Iran lack the Russians' flair for theft-- millions, not billions-- but the pattern's the same: steal, bully, torment and cause mayhem. In the next tier are the Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians and the more chaotic latins, esp the Argentines and of course the Cubans and Venezuelans. And then there's nearly all of Africa and the middle east.
#3
I listened to Juan Williams on Fox. Williams is a liberal Democrat who was in Mexico City in the last week. He said this is being under-reported. He said that all of Mexico is a war zone and anywhere you might be you might get caught in a cross-fire. The mayor of Juarez goes over to El Paso to sleep every night because he fears for his safety. I don't see this getting any better without strong leadership on both sides of the border. Basically war has to be declared on the drug gangs and they need to be eradicated.
#5
Not WoT but FSA: Failing State Alert. Lot of that about, and most of it unrelated to Islam. But nearly all of it related to the increasing criminalization of so many of the non-western world's regimes.
#2
BS meter's sky-high on this one. The Saudis and the other arabs know that the US military is the only thing keeping their corrupt, weak, decadent, oil-fed dictatorships from being overthrown by any number of violent organized revolutionary groups, from the Muslim Brotherhood to AQ and others.
Bottom line: we're the security guards for the House of Saud, the Hashemite dynasty and the Mubarak dynasty. They don't give a f&&& about the Palestinians. They care intensely about preserving their power. Hence our indispensability, regardless of the degree of US support for Israel.
To even hint otherwise is unbelievably gullible journalism.
#3
Obananna is a very intelligent kinda guy. He understands why Biden came back to the US with poo smeared all in his best Tie. The Israelis did it on purpose and they dont respect The ONE or his gaggle of douchebags.
I dont feel bad about it because I KNOW Skinny is an arrogant fool and doesnt represent me or my country. He's on his own and we can safely disown him after we flush him. And in November we WILL flush his policys at the Polls. And the whole world will see us do it and Obama will drift for the next three years like a turd in the bowl. And the Doinks will just have to use air freshener.
Obama is useless. And Biden got what he really deserved. Rot in your chair, Skinny.
#4
The January Mullen briefing was unprecedented. No previous CENTCOM commander had ever expressed himself on what is essentially a political issue; which is why the briefers were careful to tell Mullen that their conclusions followed from a December 2009 tour of the region where, on Petraeus's instructions, they spoke to senior Arab leaders.
I label the above para absolute total BS. The next bit about going direct to the WH with a UCP change, BS as well. The closing sentence;
America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers. Maybe Israel gets the message now.
This is absolute and total BS which violates the age old mission first tenant. Furthermore, Israel has long had the Obama "message."
This article attempts to connect a highly respected military leader's alleged actions, comments and unsuccessful UCP change as evidence of a Palestinian linked weakening of US standing in the region. If any weakness in the Arab world is detected it is due to POTUS and his inaction with reference to Iran, not our continued strategic interests or position concerning Israel or the West Bank. Blaming Israel for regional instability is a tired old theme. Linking the highly popular General Petraeus to failed efforts may, for obvious reasons, be an entirely new developing theme.
#6
A couple of things to consider when reading this article. First, and assuming the facts are true, Petraeus' motivations are not and can not be known unless he himself tells us. Which won't happen. Second, there may be a lot of truth in there. We don't know. Petraeus has access to a lot of real information. Information brought to him by boots on the ground who have no reason to run it through a political filter. Information gathered over tea while talking about this and that. It would be very interesting to know what he knows.
#7
What is true is that everybody thinks they can roll Barry. And they can. And they will. More and more often. Until one day he stupidly decides not to roll. Then dominoes start falling.
#8
The only reason Biden came back "with poo smeared all in his best Tie", BlackBart, is because Obama admin was looking for an excuse to provoke a crisis.
p.s. Anybody who's offended by Jews building homes in Jerusalem---can go engage in auto-copulation.
Ditto anybody who proposes to save American lives by sacrificing Israeli.
#9
The level of cynicism in the ME is sky high, and always has been, except among the losers. The Israelis see that Obama is incredibly weak, so they are making hay while the sun shines.
Good for them, and the more, the merrier. One of the worst aggravating factors in the ME is when the Israelis use half-measures and futz around with their interests. They should have long ago been expelling Paleos into Egypt or Jordan at the drop of a hat.
#12
It must be remembered that the current vice president has long proclaimed himself, and campaigned as, Israel's best friend. He probably is the only one in President Obama's circle -- Rahm Emmanuel most certainly is not, despite his ancestry, nor Secretary of State Clinton, despite positions she took as New York's junior senator.
#13
On reading the article, the one thing that strikes me is that only Arab opinions were solicited. Nobody seems to have talked to the Israelis to see what they think about America's strengths and weaknesses, whether Obama's America is an honest broker in the difficulties Israel has been having with the Palestinians or acts to support the Arab view. I find it hard to believe that so perceptive and clever a soldier as General Petraeus would seek out answers to only one side of the equation, and present the results without giving perspective.
One wonders if this article isn't another step as the Obama administration tries to do an Alinsky on Israel.
"America's relationship with Israel is important,but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers."
"What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace."
Some thoughts re these quotes:
Contrast the 1st quote with the Obama administrations policy in Afghanistan (McChrystal's ROE):
"America's relationship with the Karzai regime Afghanistan is important. So important in fact that we'd rather sacrifice American soldiers than kill Afghan illegal combatants and war criminals civilians. We are in Afghanistan to serve the Afghan people"
As for the 2nd quote:
The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right to speak out against Islam, thereby contravening sharia law.
The OIC countries have officially demanded that non-Muslims in the west be subjected to sharia restrictions on free speech.
By not repealing the 1st Amendment the US is undermining the security of NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Think of Afghans watching a youtube clip showing an American abusing a Koran. Think of the same Afghans learning that the US government will not punish such expression. They might take out their anger on NATO troops in their neighborhood.
That argument is no less persuasive than the Biden quote.
Of course I'm not advocating a surrender of western civil rights to Afghan sensitivities.
The ultimate objective of "Enduring Freedom" is the preservation of "Freedom" after all.
in the same issue of The Sun that had an article on the need for larger bras in Britain
AN invisible star may be circling the Sun and causing deadly comets to bombard the Earth, scientists said yesterday.
The brown dwarf - up to five times the size of Jupiter - could be to blame for mass extinctions that occur here every 26 million years. The star - nicknamed Nemesis by Nasa scientists - would be invisible as it only emits infrared light and is incredibly distant.
Nemesis is believed to orbit our solar system at 25,000 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.
As it spins through the galaxy, its gravitational pull drags icy bodies out of the Oort Cloud - a vast sphere of rock and dust twice as far away as Nemesis. These "snowballs" are thrown towards Earth as comets, causing devastation similar to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Now Nasa boffins believe they will be able to find Nemesis using a new heat-seeking telescope that began scanning the skies in January.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It would be nice if someone put up a brown dwarf way out here in the sticks; I'm tired of having to drive all the way to Alpha Centauri to get my nonesuch dioxide out of the photosphere of Proxima.
#6
"The brown dwarf - up to five times the size of Jupiter - could be to blame for mass extinctions that occur here every 26 million years."
Sounds just like something someone in the family deposited in the toilet that wouldnt go away on Sunday.
Suprisingly noone would admit to it .
Eerie similarities in the article and fact !
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/16/2010 11:41 Comments ||
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#7
Nice reference xbalanke! Betcha not too many here at the Burg get it. Saw Phil's 70th birthday show Friday. Awesome. They played 3 sets and went until 2:15 (I left at 1:30)
#9
remoteman: I knew a few would get it, but I was curious who'd be the first to note it.
And I'm officially jealous! I'll have to check for that show on archive.org in the near future. I have to wait till June to see them, but I'll be taking my kids who are big fans too.
#10
70 for Lesh was even noted on Imus on the Fox Business Network. an.... I felt old, and I'm 50
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2010 21:17 Comments ||
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#11
THe PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US, FUTURE OWG-NWO which the "powers that be" seemingly won't confirm or deny intentionally promoting is more at risk from THEIR OWN PERT(S) MATH, MODULAR MISKLAKULATIONS = ERRORS AS PER COMET APOPHIS 2029-2036 + ASSORTED 1990's RUSSIA-DISCOVERED SPACE ROCKS + SOLAR PHENOMENAE.
Once again, to paraph a CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE GENERAL > "UNION/YANKEE GENERAL MCLELLAN MAY HAD BROUGHT THE MIGHTY, SUPER-DUPER SIZED,SEEMINGLY IVINCIBLE GRAND/GREAT ARMY OF THE POTOMAC TO THE FIELD OF BATTLE, BUT HE ALSO BROUGHT HIMSELF".
When I was in the service, we stopped SOviets + aligned dead in thier tracks all around the World - now that I'm not, MSM-NET > Communism + Socialism-Govtism is taking over America.
NATIONAL-GLOBAL REGRESSIONISM > OWG Mighty USSA versus OWG Weak US Republiks of Amerika Global SSR.
"SOVIET AMERIKA" OWG SCENARIO > WILL A ECON, GEOPOL TRUBLED AMERICA = AMERIKA, + ANY DESIRED OWG-NWO + CWO-SWO, HAVE THE POLITICAL PRIORITIES + UNIFIED CONSENSUS, ETC. TO HAVE THE POTENT ECONOMY + CORRECT MATH + FIREPOWER, ETC. TO EFFECTIVELY STOP BOTH EARTH-, SPACE-BASED THREATS TO THE NEW GLOBAL ORDER???
The Cold War USSR had highly trained, profesional, top-notch US-World recognized Perts whom in the end were NOT able to save their own Country + CCCP, etc. System from itself.
Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today denied that the country's submarine is incapable of diving. Responding to a question from Penang Chief Minister and DAP leader Lim Guan Eng in the Dewan Rakyat, the minister explained that a minor fault has been rectified as the Scorpene submarines from France were still under guarantee.
"It was not that the submarine could not dive. The minor fault has been rectified,' he was quoted as saying by Bernama. Ahmad Zahid also invited Lim to go on a dive in the submarine in order to clear his doubts.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid also revealed that a paper on the investigation conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the disappearance of the two F5-E fighter jet engines is to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this month. He said that besides the PAC, the case of the missing engines was also investigated by the police. Lim had asked the minister to state the outcome of an internal inquiry as well as investigations conducted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police on the two missing engines which were traced to Uruguay. Ahmad Zahid said the case involved theft by low-ranking personnel without the knowledge and involvement of any senior officer of the Defence Ministry.
"A report on the missing engines was made to the police in August 2008, within seven months from the date their disappearance was known, and not 18 months later as claimed by (the member of Parliament for) Ipoh Timur (Lim Kit Siang of DAP)," he said. The disappearance of the engines was known four months later and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) conducted an internal inquiry, which took three months, before the police report was made, he said. Zahid attributed the factors contributing to the disappearance of the engines to the negligence of several individuals and the security regulations in force as well as the implementation of a computer system upgrading by the RMAF at that time.
Ahmad Zahid said the RMAF had stepped up the security measures and ensured that all security directives and procedures were streamlined in the effort to overcome weaknesses and prevent a recurrence of the incident. He said the disappearance of the engines did not at all affect the capability of the RMAF in discharging its responsibilities because the F5-E fighter jets were not frontline assault aircraft.
BANGKOK Antigovernment protesters shut down parts of this capital on Monday, but appeared a long way from achieving their goal of forcing the Thai government to step down. Shops and offices on the northern outskirts of Bangkok closed for the day as convoys of red-shirted protesters converged on a military base that had become a sort of field headquarters for government leaders, including Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Grenades fired at another army camp in Bangkok wounded two soldiers and highlighted the risk of further violence during the protest, which has drawn at least 100,000 people, many of them farmers, to a neighborhood of ministries and government offices in Bangkok.
The relatively high turnout by protesters, who call themselves the Red Shirts, has underlined divisions in Thailand between the rural poor and the Bangkok establishment, as well as the enduring popularity of the billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup.
The strategy of the Red Shirts appears to be to disrupt the functioning of government for as long as possible, in the hope that the prime minister blinks. It's a game of chicken,' said Gothom Arya, director of research at Mahidol University in Bangkok. They are saying, We will bring you to the edge and see who falls first.' '
Prime Minister Abhisit had said that he would not agree to the protesters' demand that he dissolve Parliament, but said Monday that he was open to compromise. Asking for the dissolution of Parliament before noon in exchange for a halt to the demonstrations, we all agreed it can't be done,' he said on television, The Associated Press reported. However, it doesn't mean the government coalition parties and I won't listen to their ideas.'
But it remains unclear how long opposition leaders can sustain their protest. Unlike their rivals, the royalists known as the Yellow Shirts, the Red Shirts have less support in Bangkok. Some protesters said they were running out of money. Others said they were receiving support from friends and families in their hometowns. A local radio station has organized donations to sustain them in Bangkok.
The radical street politics of recent years are a measure of how the parliamentary system is failing to resolve the deep-seated divisions in Thai society. The Yellow Shirts took over the airport for a week in 2008 and occupied the prime minister's residence for several months that year, and there were violent clashes between the military and the Red Shirts last April.
On Monday, the Red Shirts announced a new tactic in their quest to unseat the government, a plan to collect blood from protesters and splash it outside the prime minister's office.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2010 00:00 ||
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To add bit of local insight - the "parts of this Capital" that were shut down on Monday represented about 0.5% of Bangkok - at most.
Bangkok is a huge city - greater Bangkok covers probably something like 400 square miles - and the remaining protesters numbered about 60,000 people - enough to fill up a medium-sized sports stadium.
I live and work in Bangkok, and there was nothing remarkable going on in any parts of the city that I transit.
Basically, a group amounting to 0.1% of the population is trying to intimidate the sitting government into resigning. Fat chance.
The Thai government handled itself masterfully on Monday - it really did a great job of defusing potential violence, while remaining even-handed.
The press is pushing for sensationalism - but under 95F heat and high humidity, the protest is going to dissolve on its own within another day or two.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Malaysian girls aged 10 and 11 who were wed to middle-aged men have been separated from their husbands as their cases are investigated, religious officials said Monday.
The girls were married off last month by their fathers, who said they were following religious edicts, said deputy head of northern Kelantan state's religious department Mohamad Abdul Aziz Mohammad Noor.
He said Samsudin Ajaib, who is also being investigated on suspicion of leading a religious cult, married 11-year-old Siti Nur Zubaidah and also gave away his 10-year-old daughter to a family friend.
"Both girls have now been separated from their husbands," Mohamad Abdul Aziz told AFP.
He said that a religious Sharia court had separated Samsudin's daughter from her husband while Siti's father had applied to the court to annul her marriage.
He said state religious authorities were also investigating Samsudin for his links to an alleged Islamic sect. Unauthorized Islamic sects are frequently the target of crackdowns by Malaysian authorities.
Islamic law (Sharia) runs in parallel with civil law in predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Kelantan state allows under-age marriages if religious officials give permission.
Siti's mother told the Star daily that shortly after the marriage, her daughter was found outside a mosque in the nation's capital and was now being treated in hospital.
"He asked for our daughter to be married to him as she would be put under his care while attending religious school," Siti Sarnan Mat Ail told the paper.
She would not comment on whether the marriage was consummated, but said her daughter was in a state of shock and traumatised by the events.
Women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil urged action against Samsudin and the religious sect, saying it promised "heavenly rewards" for child marriages, the New Straits Times reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2010 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.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had a little political advice last week for President Obama and the Democrats: Don't pass the president's health care legislation because you would risk losing in the midterm elections. 
Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.
