The eventful life of Britney Spears took another turn yesterday when a court awarded custody of her two children to their father in an emergency hearing.
Goodness! I wonder why?
Spears, 25, was given 48 hours to hand them over to her former husband, Kevin Federline. Los Angeles superior court judge Scott Gordon ruled he should take custody of Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, from midday tomorrow "until further order of the court".
Okay. That sounds pretty urgent. And the reason is...?
The order came just two weeks after the same court ruled that Spears could retain custody of the two boys. At the earlier hearing, the court ruled the singer should meet with a parenting coach, citing evidence that she was "a habitual, frequent and continuous" user of drugs and alcohol. She was also instructed to undergo random, biweekly drug tests.
Sounds like she did.
It is understood the emergency hearing came when lawyers for Mr Federline petitioned the court after Spears was photographed driving with the children in the back of her car at the weekend.
Whatever she's using hasn't enhanced her IQ, has it?
She does not have a current California driving licence and is facing a separate, unconnected charge of misdemeanour hit-and-run and of driving without a licence, following an incident a few days after the previous custody hearing.
They have to make due with that, since there actually aren't any laws against being a dishpit.
The latest setback follows a succession of bizarre antics by the woman who ranks in the top 10 best-selling female recording artists in American history. Last month she was considered to have committed career suicide after a shambolic live appearance at the MTV awards in Las Vegas.
If the money doesn't hold out, there's a job in her future that involves paper hats.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Now there's a replacement for Rosie on the View. The youth market for the washed up crazed old bitties killing an hour of broadcast time. Yeah, that's the ticket. Just remember Brit, getting your brain pickled on vino takes longer, so start early, start often.
#4
discussing the merits of the Yugo is a better use of bandwidth
In a renewed attempt to upgrade their vehicle quality and performance levels, Yugo has announced their merger with American manufacturing giant, Lawnboy.
Algeria's loss-making state-owned companies will be broken up while others will be privatised alongside the country's banks, Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said. "As regards unprofitable companies, the government will no longer keep them alive and instead will seek to break them up," the premier told a meeting of Algerian businessmen late Sunday.
The government has repeatedly said it will privatise state-owned entreprises it can no longer afford to support, excluding only those deemed to be of strategic importance to the country, such as the oil and gas major Sonatrach or the railways.
Some 500 of 1,000 state-owned companies had been privatised up to last year, according to government figures, and in September another 13 were put up for sale.
Belkhadem also said reform of Algeria's banking system was imperative. "We will offer up to 30 percent of the capital" of the state-owned development bank, he said, noting the already announced sale of 51 percent of Credit Populaire d'Algerie, a savings bank which has attracted interest from major US, French and Spanish groups.
Belkhadem warned that foreign banks were already operating in Algeria and with more to come, their local counterparts will have to face up to very severe competition or perish as a result.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
What will become of the farm after he leaves? Will it be productive, I don't think so. They just want it to force whitey out of the neighborhood so they can run around in their loin clothes and hoop and holler.
#3
The Zims are keeping them around for when the food runs out.
Posted by: ed ||
10/02/2007 10:42 Comments ||
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#4
I guess Farmin B. Hard couldn't stand the competition. Rhodesia has become a thugocracy ruled by gangs of black "war veterans" looting and pillaging. At this rate, in another 20 years all that will be left will be the sound of crickets chirping. Sad to see that the thugs in South Africa are following the same path.
#5
Then, last year, Brigadier-General Itayi Mujaji, a veteran of the war of liberation and a senior officer in the Zimbabwe Army, arrived at Karori and said it had been given to him.
#8
8 million Ukrainians, 30 million Chinese and 2 million North Koreans would disagree.
Posted by: ed ||
10/02/2007 16:02 Comments ||
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#9
The United Nations says it will be feeding about 4 million people - about one-third of the population - by April next year, mostly in southern Zimbabwe and in some drought-stricken areas in the east.
Thanks, UN, for giving Mugabe what he needs to prolong the nation's suffering until he suddenly becomes the enlightened despot (which will happen upon his death). You never fail to fail.
Zimbabwe's bakeries have shut and supermarkets have warned there will be no bread for the foreseeable future as the government admitted that wheat production had collapsed following the seizure of white-owned farms. The agricultural ministry announcement that the wheat harvest is only about a third of what is required, and that imports are held up by lack of hard currency, came as a deadline passed today for the last white farmers to leave their land or face prosecution for trespass.
Maybe the people can eat the old banknotes.
The maize harvest is expected to be equally dire and price controls to contain hyperinflation have emptied the stores of most other foodstuffs. The World Food Programme says at least 3 million people - one in four of the population - will need food aid in the coming months. It describes hunger in some parts of the country, which used to be a food exporter, as "acutely serious".
And when the WFP doesn't get enough food aid, we'll be blamed, us and the Brits, for being stingy and evil.
Last week, the government said it plans to import 100,000 tonnes of wheat but acknowledged that a shipment of 35,000 tonnes was held up in Mozambique because of a shortage of hard currency to pay for it.
The agriculture minister, Rugare Gumbo, has blamed the food shortages on black farmers who have taken over formerly white-owned land. "I am painfully aware of the widespread theft of stock, farm produce, irrigation equipment and the general vandalism of infrastructure by our new farmers," he said. "I am disappointed that our new farmers have proved to be failures since the start of the land reform programme in 2000. In spite of all the support government has been pouring into the agricultural sector, productivity and under-utilisation of land remain issues of concern."
He's either utterly clueless or just a mouthpiece: everyone in Zim-bob-we had to know what would happen when productive farmers were run off and replaced with hacks, fools, cronies and hangar-ons. Wheat and maize don't grow themselves.
The ministry of agriculture has also blamed electricity shortages for the wheat shortfall, saying that power cuts have affected irrigation and halved crop yields per acre.
The power shortages are likely to continue. Mozambique has reduced electricity supplies to Zimbabwe because of a $35m (£17.1m) unpaid bill. Shortages of coal and spares for power stations and mining equipment have also hit electricity production and power cuts are now a regular feature of daily life.
Zimbabwe, once the world's second largest exporter of tobacco, has also seen production of its main cash crop nosedive, further undermining its ability to buy food from abroad. This year's crop is not likely to be much better than recent harvests, with many farmers saying that their seedlings have died for lack of irrigation.
That doesn't bother me at all.
The government's admission that the land redistribution has failed to deliver the promised boost to food production coincides with a deadline for the last white farmers to vacate their land. The farms were nationalised last year and the handover to the state was set for today. Any farmer remaining on their former land faces prosecution for trespassing on state property. About 50 farmers have already been summonsed by the courts.
After all, the wheat crop is 1/3 of what's needed -- plenty of room to run off the remaining people who know how to grow grain.
White farmers say that senior ruling party, military and intelligence officials have been touring their former properties to lay a claim and that they have little confidence the land will be distributed among the poor as the government claims.
It was always about dividing the pie amongst the cronies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him for we know he has little need of our friendship in return. His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies. My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. The great, and I presume good, White Chief sends us word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us enough to live comfortably. This indeed appears just, even generous, for the Red Man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, as we are no longer in need of an extensive country.
There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame.
Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been. Thus it was when the white man began to push our forefathers ever westward. But let us hope that the hostilities between us may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better.
Our good father in Washingtonfor I presume he is now our father as well as yours, since King George has moved his boundaries further northour great and good father, I say, sends us word that if we do as he desires he will protect us. His brave warriors will be to us a bristling wall of strength, and his wonderful ships of war will fill our harbors, so that our ancient enemies far to the northward the Haidas and Tsimshians will cease to frighten our women, children, and old men. The in reality he will be our father and we his children. But can that ever be? Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his strong protecting arms lovingly about the paleface and leads him by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But, He has forsaken His Red children, if they really are His. Our God, the Great Spirit, seems also to have forsaken us. Your God makes your people wax stronger every day. Soon they will fill all the land. Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return. The white mans God cannot love our people or He would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. How then can we be brothers? How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness? If we have a common Heavenly Father He must be partial, for He came to His paleface children. We never saw Him. He gave you laws but had no word for His red children whose teeming multitudes once filled this vast continent as stars fill the firmament. No; we are two distinct races with separate origins and separate destinies. There is little in common between us.
To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.
Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort them.
Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness.
It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. The Indians night promises to be dark. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance. Grim fate seems to be on the Red Mans trail, and wherever he will hear the approaching footsteps of his fell destroyer and prepare stolidly to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching footsteps of the hunter.
A few more moon, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see.
We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Ever part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your childrens children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.
#11
Damn man! You gotta know when to fold your hand. Bob has picked all the low hanging fruit, it's time to buy that fiefdom in the Sudan and settle down.
Why not? It seems to work rather well for this woman:
Just when Internet newspaper sites appear to be gaining ground as replacements for printed editions, a 70-year-old woman identified only as Maggie told the Edmonton (Alberta) Sun in September that her paper edition of the Sun is a crucial part of her daily diet, literally. She eats it, in strips, and has, she said, for the past seven years because it tastes good. I cant explain it, she said, and it was only when she recently experienced a blockage of her esophagus, and doctors found a ball of paper, that she revealed her obsession. Doctors cited by the Sun said that except for the blockage danger, newspaper eating is not unhealthful.
Zimbabwe is to introduce a new currency by the end of the year in an attempt to control the country's extreme rate of inflation, the governor of the country's central bank has said. Gideon Gono, the Bank of Zimbabwe governor said in a statement on Monday: "It is over a year since we launched Operation Sunrise One which saw the slashing of three zeros" off the country's currency. I can confirm that Sunrise Two is coming and it is coming very soon."
Zimbabwe's world-record inflation rate of 6,592 per cent has led to shortages of commodities and mass unemployment. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwes president, has prioritised reducing inflation, with the government imposing a price freeze three months ago to try to control spiraling prices. But the move has prompted businesses to stop stocking bread, milk and other basic consumer items.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Ran outta room on the notes for all those zeros, eh?
#2
SOUTH KOREA > SOKOR analysts and pundits are in rough consensus that NK will link detailed admissions of its nucprogs to levels of foreign aid/assistance received.
#2
Also from WAPO > back in 2002, the USDOD dev a way of using microwaves to send remote signals/
instructions to the human brain - IOW, PYWAR MIND CONTROL.
#3
Marion Le, from the Independent Council for Refugee Advocacy, said the Government appeared to be allowing in more Iraqi Christians in preference to refugees of other religions.
"I'm a Christian but I don't think I have the right to say the only people we're going to let in are committed Christians," Ms Le said.
After all, the Muslims have done such a splendid job of integrating.
"It is simply inhumane for the Australian Government to close the door on these people based on perceptions that some African refugees are not integrating into the Australian community," he said.
Perish the thought that Australia's citizens might have the right to be joined by well-adjusted immigrants.
#4
What the hell are Africans doing, being so close, or are trying to migrate to Australia for anyway! Send them packing! Tell them to go home and cultivate their own continent...and double dare ANY Mexicans, who may think same, before it's too late for you to!
#6
Article: Marion Le, from the Independent Council for Refugee Advocacy, said the Government appeared to be allowing in more Iraqi Christians in preference to refugees of other religions.
"I'm a Christian but I don't think I have the right to say the only people we're going to let in are committed Christians," Ms Le said.
Let's see - Australians - alone among the peoples of the world in this respect, have no right to determine who gets residency in the country? Doesn't Vietnam, her country of origin, have the right to determine who it lets in - Christians or otherwise?
Article: "It is simply inhumane for the Australian Government to close the door on these people based on perceptions that some African refugees are not integrating into the Australian community," he said.
It's inhumane - to Australians - to let in people from certain regions if their experience has been that people from those regions don't contribute to their personal well-being. If this guy is so gung ho about African immigration, maybe they can have a special quota for him - a half-dozen people per year - in his home and on his dime.
#7
The problem isn't limited to Australia, as I've heard plenty of ranting lately. I heard Nebraska ranks 1st in immigrants and the Plains states called "Little Africa". Nothing against laborers but bringing in Muslims as legal workers to replace deported Mexicans, already traumatized by war and torture, giving them long knives to process beef in packing plants so repulsive most people cannot endure a tour let alone work there, and expecting them to fit into nice white towns once settled by German immigrants is not a well thought out plan. Giving immigrants federal stipends to buy houses and cars doesn't go over well with those struggling to get by because their good paying jobs were exported along with the loss of benefits like health care leaving them impoverished in drying up ghost towns. The Christians aren't feelng very charitable, especially in states with many serving in the military.
#9
Even better Australia should pick a spot on the North Coast (Papau would be better but I'm unclear on Australia's claim there these days) and create a Hong Kong like city with laws and immigration rules similar to Hong Kong and the sink or swim capitalism would remove the attraction of the welfare sponges that have been drawn to Australia (and the West) in the past.
They should have built such a city in the years prior to Hong Kong's joining the PRC and they would have had a million tenants instantly.
#10
The issue about African immigrants in the USA is a different sort of problem. African immigrants like Caribean immigrants are culturally very different than African-Americans. They don't buy the victim angle and see the promise of America and are thus not accepted so much into many black communities (who tend to be reluctant to admit this).
It would be fascinating if the US (a) cut off most Mexican immigration (b) replaced it with African immigration combined with an assimilation policy. It would drastically change the race dynamics in the USA and I think in a positive way. Democrats would disagree.
#11
rjschwarz, what prism of beautiful harmony are you looking through? You can't be more wrong on your assumption of...'They don't buy the victim angle...'. Black Africans who weren't taken during the 'Slave Trades Era' remained free to develop on their own to whatever level of 'civilization' they attained. American whites cannot escape the history trauma and cruel brutal effacasies the embedded horrors of servitude perpetrated on African Americans kidnapped 300+ years ago! Such racism is far more ingrained white on black than white on brown (ie; indians, mexicans etc). Indians (native americans) were given reservations, why weren't they forcibly assimilated into American society? Why weren't blacks given their "forty acres and a mule"? Why did 600,000 whites fight amongst each other over the disposition of 'Negroes' and it's affects on slavery (killing up to 80,000 blacks and other 'bystanders') and the national economy? No, the USA would never substitute a brown immigration policy for a black one, the scars are too deep, the fears of homogeneous coexistence too frightening! If Australia doesn't want to deal with the fears of race purity and it's demons, then they need to close off their nation to immigrants, and bask in the peace of a united peaceful and 'unfearful' Aussie society!
A 20-question citizenship test was introduced in Australia Monday as part of a government programme to promote the integration of settlers into mainstream culture. Applicants need to get at least 12 of the 20 questions right to qualify for an Australian passport but may sit the exam as many times as it takes to pass.
The questions test a grasp of the liberal democratic principles of representative government, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The test was introduced after the 2005 London bombings, worry that some Muslims were reluctant to integrate and a fear of homegrown Islamic terrorists. "One of great achievements of Australia has been to balance two things: firstly, the diversity of people that have come from more than 200 countries around the world and, secondly, the sense of integrating into one socially cohesive society," Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said earlier in the year when releasing details of the citizenship test.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Only need two questions, and you must get both right:
1) Do you speak English? (Correct answer = Yes.)
2) Are you Muslim? (Correct answer = No.)
Go see the graphs at the link. Interesting that military confidence leads the pack. The radio reported this morning that Congress' approval ratings were lower now that when the Trunks were in power, an interesting spin.
The percentage of Americans with a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress is at 14%, the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure -- and the lowest of any of the 16 institutions tested in this year's Confidence in Institutions survey. It is also one of the lowest confidence ratings for any institution tested over the last three decades.
Gallup's annual update on Americans' confidence in institutions shows that confidence ratings are generally down across the board compared with last year. The public's confidence ratings in several institutions, including Congress, are now at all-time low points in Gallup's history of this measure. These low ratings reflect the generally sour mood of the public at this time.
Of the 16 societal institutions tested in Gallup's 2007 update, Americans express the most confidence in the military. They have the least confidence in HMOs and Congress. Americans have much more confidence in "small" business than in "big" business.
Graphs plot general decline in several institutions, with discussion.
Bottom Line
Americans are currently in a very sour mood; a state of affairs that is reflected in the relatively low confidence ratings given many Americans institutions in Gallup's latest survey.
Confidence ratings for Congress are not only at the bottom of this year's list, but represent the lowest confidence rating in Congress in Gallup's history of using this confidence measure. This reflects a confluence of both the historically low standing of Congress in the minds of the public and the overall negative mindset of the American public.
Confidence in several other institutions is also at an all-time low point. We assume that the low confidence ratings measured this year are connected to Americans' broader malaise with the state of the country. It is not entirely clear what is behind the currently bad mood on the part of Americans, but Gallup analyses show that the Iraq war and the economy are certainly perceived as major problems at this point in time. The very low ratings for Congress suggest that Americans may be upset that their elected representatives have not been able to rectify these concerns as well.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/02/2007 06:45 ||
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Which Presidential candidate is most likely to inspire confidence? This distaste for 'normal' politics has never been greater - though it has been at the heart of preventing all but a couple of sitting Senators from being elected President. Fred Thompson, as one who walked away from it, could be the beneficiary in '08.
#2
You're getting down to identifying the core koolaid drinking party members, The Machine. Usually, the Donks poll pretty consistently somewhere around 24%. At 14%, I would surmise that the 10% difference is the radical left, neo-marxist, who are realizing that the old Donk political machine isn't going to deliver the nation over to them. The Trunks have about a 25% base too. That means there's something around 40% out there for grabs. [I know that doesn't add up to 100%, cause there's probably about 10% who wouldn't like anyone regardless of color, race, or creed. Permanent grouches.]
Confidence ratings for Congress are not only at the bottom of this year's list, but represent the lowest confidence rating in Congress in Gallup's history of using this confidence measure.
If we were to rewrite that in the words they employ for Global Warming, it would be "..the lowest confidence rating in Congress in history."
#3
People see washington for what it is. A corrupt pool of elitists. I can see many long sitting incumbents not being re-elected over the next couple of election cycles.
#4
Fear not. Once a Democrat is elected president all will be sunshine and cotton candy. Confidence in the economy and institutions will soar and the homeless will disappear into mansions once again. The press will see to that.
Posted by: ed ||
10/02/2007 11:17 Comments ||
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#5
Fear not. Once a Democrat is elected president all will be sunshine and cotton candy. Confidence in the economy and institutions will soar and the homeless will <disappear into mansions become Soylent Green. Fixed for you.
#7
Disagree Darth: the sheeple will vote as they are told to. very few will research beyond the TV news sound bites. Billary's arms vote flip flop won't even tickle the meter of awareness.....
#8
confidence in Congress is at 14%, the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure
A late breaking report reveals mass voluntary resignations of congressional representatives and senators in response to the public's lack of confidence. In other news: Bridge for sale.
#9
I agree, Zen. The problem is usually that people hate 434 representatives and 98 senators. But they like their own, so they keep re-electing them. Massachusetts will elect Kennedy until he dies. Same with W. Virginia with Byrd, whatever district in PA that has Murtha, etc. People like it when a congress critter brings home the pork to THEIR district/state.
#10
This reflects a confluence of both the historically low standing of Congress in the minds of the public and the overall negative mindset of the American public.
See, its not all the fault of congress. If the electorate wasn't in such a bad mood then they would like congress more.
We assume that the low confidence ratings measured this year are connected to Americans' broader malaise with the state of the country. It is not entirely clear what is behind the currently bad mood on the part of Americans, but Gallup analyses show that the Iraq war and the economy are certainly perceived as major problems at this point in time.
#11
Sure, pork barrel politics is bad. But it pales in comparison to the huge number in congress who are Un-American and even treasonous in their words and actions.
There has always been pork, scandals and petty (sometimes not so petty) corruption in congress. Un-Americanism is a much newer thing. I think that and that alone accounts for the low approval ratings. They're gonna get what's coming to them. Mark my words.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, which is it? 20 people throwing a million $$$ away, or a million people throwing $20 away? The former, why? they won't vote for him 'at crunch time'. The latter, why? They're going to vote for him anyway!
#3
It doesn't matter Zenster, The people are so upset with "W"'s obstinacies, that Hillary probable at this point, doesn't even need to raise money now. With the secret 'Intel and briefings' being provided her camp by "W", the mantle has been passed by defect. If Obama were shrewd, he'd tailor his campaign toward the Republicans, give Hillary her 'breathing room' and hope she picks him as her VP for the Dem Convention; second place or not!
#5
Sorry Zenster, I did mean by "defect"! Not to counter you on this one, I just wanted to make sure my memory on that word conveyed what I was thinking.
Sincerely,
smn
"Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)"
DEFECT. The want of something required by law.
2. It is a general rule that pleadings shall have these two requisites;
1. A matter sufficient in law. 2. That it be deduced and expressed according
to the forms of law. The want of either of these is a defect.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/02/2007 23:11 Comments ||
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#8
What in hell "forms of law" requires Bush to brief this nation's worst internal emeny on significant foreign policy? Any "defect" is in Bush's fritter-pated brain for pushing bullets into Hillary's belt. The republicans cannot be so desperate to thwart such a weak contender as Obama that they would necessarily arm Hillary.
Islamabad's police chief has been suspended, along with two other senior officials, after a violent crackdown on a protest against the Pakistan president. Dozens of people were injured when police used batons and tear gas against lawyers and journalists demonstrating on Saturday against Pervez Musharraf's decision to stand for re-election.
On Monday, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the chief justice whom Musharraf tried to sack in March, told the government to arrest Marwat Shah, Islamabad's inspector general. Shah "should be suspended and arrested because he is responsible for all that happened on Saturday", he said.
Chaudhry also called for the suspension of the city's deputy administration chief and another senior police officer during a supreme court hearing to investigate the police response to the protest. "The three officials have been suspended on the orders of supreme court of Pakistan," Brigadier Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Dozens of people were injured when police used batons and tear gas against lawyers and journalists
Gawd, some good news for a change.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/02/2007 22:05 Comments ||
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The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao (PPP-S), two major opposition parties in the NWFP Assembly, and their allies submitted a no-confidence motion against the chief minister to the Assembly Secretariat on Monday.
The notice of resolution bore the signatures of 31 members, 13 PPP-S MPAs and 10 PML-Q MPAs. In addition, eight independent members and dissidents supported the no-trust motion. Its a dramatic decision. We had two options before us to block the dissolution of the assembly and we used both today (Monday), said Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, PML-Q general secretary and parliamentary leader in the NWFP Assembly. Speaker Bakht Jehan said, Under Article 112-2 of the Constitution, now the chief minister cannot dissolve the assembly.
More here from the Khaleej Times. Apparently this was a pre-emptive move to keep the minister from dissolving the assembly -- Perv needs all the provincial assemblies to vote to remain President.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Police in southern China have arrested a man for running a phony Beijing 2008 Olympics Web site that bilked fans by running bogus contests. Computer engineer Liao Peigui made as much as $53,191 from people he persuaded had won contest prizes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday. "Winners" were asked to first transfer a deposit of 10 percent to 20 percent of the promised prize money into a bank account owned by the 20-year-old Liao, the report said.
Lame, lame, lame. Anyone stupid enough to fall for this deserves to be suckered.
Some individuals lost as much as $1,330, Xinhua said, citing Wu Yingkang, of the Hainan province police.
Xinhua said Liao had "cloned" the official Web site of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, making it indistinguishable from the real one.
The ghost of PT Barnum nodded appreciatively
Liao's arrest underscores two areas of concern for Beijing -- cracking down on use of the Internet for illegal purposes or to spread political dissent, and protecting the Olympic image and trademark. Beijing has threatened harsh punishment for any who use the Olympic logos without authorization, although fake Olympic products from T-shirts to pens and baseball caps can be bought in central Beijing for a fraction of the price of real ones.
#5
Beijing has threatened harsh punishment for any who use the Olympic logos without authorization, although fake Olympic products from T-shirts to pens and baseball caps can be bought in central Beijing for a fraction of the price of real ones.
Priceless. China's own knock-off industry shifts into high gear now that the Olympics have chummed the waters. Let's see just how big of a stink Beijing raises over their citizens' predictable adoption of the Chinese government's favorite business model.
It's not like the Chinese have ever conterfeited anything ever before.....
Sylvester Stallone says he and his "Rambo" sequel movie crew recently witnessed the human toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Myanmar border.
We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific."
"I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off," Stallone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific."
The 61-year-old actor-director returned to the U.S. eight days ago from shooting "John Rambo," the fourth movie in the action series, on the Salween River separating Thailand and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Stallone said he was in Thailand for six months, most of it along or on the river.
"This is a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams," Stallone said. "All the trails are mined. The only way into Burma is up the river."
"This is a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams," Stallone said. "All the trails are mined. The only way into Burma is up the river."
This was before the crackdown last week against the largest pro-democracy protests in Myanmar in two decades. After the government increased fuel prices in August, public anger turned to mass protest against 45 years of military dictatorship. Last week, soldiers responded by opening fire with automatic weapons on unarmed demonstrators.
For decades, Myanmar's army has waged a brutal war against ethnic groups in which soldiers have razed villages, raped women and killed innocent civilians.
The "Rambo" script, written long before the present Myanmar uprising, features boatman John Rambo - the Vietnam War-era Green Beret who specializes in violent rescues and revenge - taking a group of mercenaries up the Salween River in search of missing Christian aid workers in Myanmar. The character "realizes man is just a few paces away from savagery when pushed."
I called Soldier of Fortune magazine and they said Burma was the foremost area of human abuse on the planet
"I called Soldier of Fortune magazine and they said Burma was the foremost area of human abuse on the planet," Stallone said.
Shots were fired over the film crew's head, he said. "We were told we could get seriously hurt if we went on. I was being accused, once again, of using the Third World as a 'Rambo' victim. The Burmese are beautiful people. It's the military I am portraying as cruel," he said.
#2
"This is a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams,"
I see the first reviews of "Rambo 4" are in.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/02/2007 7:18 Comments ||
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#3
The "Rambo" script, written long before the present Myanmar uprising, features boatman John Rambo - the Vietnam War-era Green Beret who specializes in violent rescues and revenge - taking a group of mercenaries up the Salween River in search of missing Christian aid workers in Myanmar. The character "realizes man is just a few paces away from savagery when pushed."
Hopefully, during the film, when the Christians inevitably spout off about violence not solving anything, and they're moaning and bitching about the loss of life of the bad guys, while saying nothing while the good guys rescuing them are offed, Rambo will give some pointed, and painfully obvious, commentary that will show them for the fools they are. And when it comes, this Christian will be quite impolite in the theatre and give a very loud and hearty "AMEN!"
I am goddamn sick and tired of Western politicans and Christian "leaders" self-inflating their egos and sense of "righteousness" when they horsetrade good and innocent people to "save" and please the wicked. I do not mind expending treasure and sweat to save the lost: it is expending good people's LIVES to achieve ephemeral political objectives, gain an ephemeral moral "high ground" (which nobody respects if SOMEONE ELSE occupies it), or to "feel good" without "doing good", that is starting to piss me off. Like Jimmy Carter, who DEMANDS that the Wall that has protected Israelis from terrorists be taken down, and gives not a damn about lost Israeli Lives so HE can posture as a "peacemaker".
I've been in a bible study that involves Genesis. While reading about Abraham bargaining with God for Sodom and Gomorrah, I was struck by how CHEAP God regarded the wicked when they are set against the righteous. Abraham started off with 50, and "jewed" God "down" to 10: during the negotiation, the value of the wicked declined to "20 cents on the dollar". In what followed, the angelic judges couldn't do a thing until righteous Lot left, which meant that Abraham could have gone down to 1, representing a decline to "2 cents on the dollar." In a sense, the wicked are not worth a plugged nickel: they're worth LESS than a plugged nickel.
Yes, yes, I am quite aware that the wicked are a big source of good people, but their value accrues AFTER repentance: Gold is currently over $700 an ounce, but only an idiot, or a charlatan, would demand that we buy Gold ORE at $700 an ounce.
#1
You can't run.
You can't hide.
We'll cut something off you.
with a rusty knife.
Burma shave...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/02/2007 8:35 Comments ||
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#2
Look, all the military junta has to do is denounce democracy and free speech as American neo-colonialist oppression and an insult to their precious authentically jack-booted way of life, and Hollywood will be holding gala luncheons for them.
UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was Monday taken on a helicopter ride in a remote region of northeastern Myanmar as he awaited talks with junta leader Than Shwe, a military official said.
Gambari arrived in Myanmar on Saturday, and has already made two trips to the military regimes remote capital Naypyidaw in hopes of meeting the juntas reclusive leader. An information ministry official said Gambari would be granted a meeting with General Than Shwe on Tuesday, but in the meantime the envoy was sent on a tour of northeastern Shan state.
A military official said Gambari was staying in the town of Lashio, 600 miles northeast of main city Yangon, where the government was also holding a workshop with a group of journalists. He is here, as the guest of the divisional commander. He is staying at the command headquarters, a military official told AFP. The military arranged a helicopter to fly him around the region, but the official declined to give any details of his trip or to explain why Gambari was sent there.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 00:00 ||
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KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has ordered doctors to stay away from his bedside while he eats- a sure sign that he is on the mend after surgery, his daughter said Monday. Mahathir, 82, had surgery eight days ago following a second heart bypass operation on September 4. Marina, his daughter, revealed that Mahathir had asked to eat in private. The fervent clapping and cheering following successful completion of meals has led Mahathir to feel like everyones treating him like a performing seal. Not exactly a position hes used to. Thus the ban, she wrote on her blog. Such bossiness, however, is considered a sign that things are almost back to normal, Marina added. The National Heart Institute, where Mahathir remains in intensive care, said the former premier was now strong enough to sit in a chair.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2007 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.
The eventful life of Britney Spears took another turn yesterday when a court awarded custody of her two children to their father in an emergency hearing. 
Zimbabwe is to introduce a new currency by the end of the year in an attempt to control the country's extreme rate of inflation, the governor of the country's central bank has said. Gideon Gono, the Bank of Zimbabwe governor said in a statement on Monday: "It is over a year since we launched Operation Sunrise One which saw the slashing of three zeros" off the country's currency. I can confirm that Sunrise Two is coming and it is coming very soon." 
Americans are currently in a very sour mood; a state of affairs that is reflected in the relatively low confidence ratings given many Americans institutions in Gallup's latest survey. 
Democrat unveils totals as primary contests near
The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao (PPP-S), two major opposition parties in the NWFP Assembly, and their allies submitted a no-confidence motion against the chief minister to the Assembly Secretariat on Monday.
Police in southern China have arrested a man for running a phony Beijing 2008 Olympics Web site that bilked fans by running bogus contests. Computer engineer Liao Peigui made as much as $53,191 from people he persuaded had won contest prizes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday. "Winners" were asked to first transfer a deposit of 10 percent to 20 percent of the promised prize money into a bank account owned by the 20-year-old Liao, the report said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has ordered doctors to stay away from his bedside while he eats- a sure sign that he is on the mend after surgery, his daughter said Monday. Mahathir, 82, had surgery eight days ago following a second heart bypass operation on September 4. Marina, his daughter, revealed that Mahathir had asked to eat in private. The fervent clapping and cheering following successful completion of meals has led Mahathir to feel like everyones treating him like a performing seal. Not exactly a position hes used to. Thus the ban, she wrote on her blog. Such bossiness, however, is considered a sign that things are almost back to normal, Marina added. The National Heart Institute, where Mahathir remains in intensive care, said the former premier was now strong enough to sit in a chair. 
