Mel Gibson Bush Bashing
Posted by Curt on September 24, 2006 at 21:51
Just another reason to dislike this guy:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie Apocalypto, and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Almost two months after he railed against Jews when he was arrested for driving drunk in Malibu, the actor made a surprise appearance Friday at Fantastic Fest, an event in Austin, Texas, devoted to new science fiction, horror and fantasy films, the trade paper said in its Monday edition.
He presented a work-in-progress screening of his Mayan adventure tale, and then took questions. About one-third of the full house gathered for the film gave him a standing ovation. The film is scheduled for a December 8 release via Disney.
In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, The precursors to a civilization thats going under are the same, time and time again, drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink of collapse and Americas present situation. Whats human sacrifice, he asked, if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?
Just how many ways can I say, "Fuvk Gibson"?
Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on US President George W Bush, comparing his leadership to the barbaric rulers of the Mayan civilisation in his new film Apocalypto.
The epic, due for release later this year, captures the decline of the Maya kingdom and the slaughter of thousands of inhabitants as human sacrifices in a bid to save the nation from collapsing.
Gibson reveals he used present day American politics as an inspiration, claiming the government callously plays on the nations insecurities to maintain power.
He tells British film magazine Hotdog, The fear-mongering we depict in the film reminds me of President Bush and his guys.
I take it Gibson is a big fan of pIslam. 9-11 ring a bell Mel?
Its quite sad that the man who made Braveheart, still my all time favorite movie, and We Were Soldiers has become this twisted old anti-semite.
#1
As an armchair expert in the Maya civilization I was looking forward to this movie when I first heard about it. Since then, witnessing Mel's descent into (or exposure of a chronic) moonbattery: not a chance.
#2
Interesting how Mel is positioning himself. The opposite of a Rino. Big on religion but soft on defense and foreign policy and all that.
I think he's trying to fix up his name amung the Hollywood folks and to churn up some press since I've heard Apocolypto isn't doing so well (who ever thought it would?).
#3
Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on US President George W Bush
Jew bashing didn't seem to go over very well in Hollyweird. So, Mel's gone after the next best sure thing. Anyone get the feeling that Mel should just slit his wrists and get it over with? First he expresses sympathy for Richards (Kramer) and now he goes about alienating a huge portion of the religious right that he seemingly recruited with his film, "The Passion".
What is it about these all-consuming egos that mandatorily heads straight for the self-destruct button?
#4
I have taught Mayan archaeology so the film is of course of interest to me. Though this feeling is at war with my loathing of Mel Gibson. I look forward to watching a pirated copy.
#5
Now that Gibson has swung over to the Hollyweird crowd, desperately cravening their acceptance, perhaps his next ode to forgiveness will be a film glorifying the artist, Andre Serrano, he of Piss Christ infamy. Call it "The Pissing of the Christ."
Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, the founder of Yemen's religious Al-Eman University, has announced that the facility had cured one of the HIV-infected children from Libya, using just herbs. Libyan authorities have pegged the HIV outspread among 426 children in a Benghazi hospital to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who have been imprisoned for over 7 years. Was henna one of the magik herbs?
Al-Zindani, however, claims that he has managed to cure one of those children, to the point that there are no traces of the virus. He said that the child was then sent to Germany for tests and that doctors there agreed the virus was gone. The sheikh said that his university had used "natural herbs" to heal the child.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
...Waiting for the International Medical Community to denounce this in three...two...one point ninety nine...ninety eight....any time now....point ninety seven....good thing these guys weren't Christians who claimed to have healed HIV with readings from the Bible and prayer, they'd really be in it deep...point ninety six...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/30/2006 8:05 Comments ||
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#3
Islam is so superior, the holy men can cure AIDS with herbs... wow, I feel like converting.... sooooon....
Traces of radiation have been detected at 12 locations during a probe into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Home Secretary John Reid revealed 24 unnamed locations have been or are currently being monitored by experts. Low levels of radiation had already been found on two British Airways planes connected to the case and a third is being held in Moscow until it is safe to return. Mr Reid said a fourth plane which flew into Heathrow from Moscow this morning had been looked at. The Russian Boeing 737, which is leased by Transaero, was monitored by scientists and later given the all clear. However, Mr Reid said a fifth plane - another Russian aircraft - is also of interest to the inquiry.
BA had warned an estimated 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff when "low levels of radioactive traces" were found on two of its aircraft at Heathrow which had flown between London and Moscow. A spokesman said they were being examined because "individuals involved in the Litvinenko case" had travelled on them.
The BA phone number for passengers is 0845 604 0171 and an international helpline can be reached on 0191 211 3690. The BA website is www.ba.com.
More:
BA is focusing its inquiries on four flights made by its jets between Heathrow-Moscow and Moscow-Heathrow between October 25 and November 3. The initial results of forensic tests confirmed very low traces of a radioactive substance yesterday afternoon. Sources said it could not have been naturally-occurring.
More than 200 flights between Heathrow and Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Athens, Larnaca, Stockholm, Vienna, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Madrid from October 25 to November 28 could also have been affected.
The first flight was grounded when it landed at Heathrow from Vienna on Tuesday night. It had flown to the Austrian capital after failing to land in Warsaw due to poor weather. Yesterday morning, a flight from Athens was grounded when it arrived at Heathrow at 11am. Several seats at different locations on the plane are understood to have been taped off. Then a flight from Heathrow to Moscow was intended to return to the UK with passengers. But BA was ordered to ground the plane by the British authorities.
The decision to ground three commercial passenger planes is another extension of the net which has already seen searches for signs of contamination at a string of London locations. It throws the spotlight back on to a meeting that Mr Litvinenko had with another former KGB agent, Andrei Lugovoy, in London's Millennium Hotel on the day he was apparently poisoned with polonium 210. Two Russians who met Mr Litvinenko in the hotel that day are thought to have travelled on the grounded aircraft. Security sources described yesterday's developments as 'potentially very significant'.
The Health Protection Agency confirmed last night that traces of polonium 210 had been found at Down Street and Grosvenor Street in London. The Grosvenor Street address houses the headquarters of international security company Erinys, visited by Mr Litvinenko. The address in Down Street was the office of exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, a friend of Mr Litvinenko.
BA says it is especially keen to contact passengers from these four flights: BA875 Moscow-Heathrow on October 25. Aircraft number GBNWX BA872 Heathrow-Moscow on October 28. Aircraft number GBNWX
BA873 Moscow-Heathrow on October 31. Aircraft number GBNWB
BA874 Heathrow-Moscow on November 3. Aircraft number GBZHA
And a possible connection to the currently ill, former Russian PM:
Doctors treating former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who is gravely ill, believe he was poisoned, an aide said today. Another former KGB spy who met with Litvinenko on the day he was allegedly poisoned, Andrei Lugovoy, served as Gaidar's bodyguard at one point.
Note this is UPI and SpaceWar.com making the claim.
Whatever the truth behind the bizarre murder by radiation poisoning of former Russian intelligence Col. Alexander Litvinenko, he has managed in death to tarnish the image of his country and its leaders. Russia now looks like a gangster state, led by a vindictive and ruthless thug.
Yet most of the governments of the West shrug this aside and continue to do business as usual. Earlier this month, the United States signed a protocol with Russia that will ease its way into the World Trade Organization. Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Helsinki trying to negotiate a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union. Had it not been for the objections of Poland over a Russian ban on Polish meat exports, a new free trade deal between Russia and the EU would very likely have been under way.
"We have looked at the problems of the world with, probably, I would not make a mistake if I said, the same eyes," commented the EU's top foreign policy official, Javier Solana.
#2
HHHHHHMMMMM, so the US-Allies destroy 7000 bad guys yet we are not only allegedly losing but we are the ones being portrayed as the "true" Baddies; Its the Russians themselves who let slip that their oil resources, etal. will run low in circa 20-25 years, similar to the Iran-yuns; and thirdly, by this definition of "Statecraft" the US Dems are by definition NOT engaged in Statecraft = National Interest becuz "personal feelings" agendas is how they won 2006.
As for "Colossal political defeat" of the USA > see NEWSMAX > JOHN L. PERRY article HISTORY'S GRACE PERIOD = People expect and want "great things" from America, that a key premise of the BUSH DOCTRINE is to HELP STRUGGLING NATIONS ACHIEVE AND SUCCEED TO AMERICAN = PSEUDO-AMER STANDARDS VIA LOCAL DEMOCRACY, NOT US-ONLY/SPECIFIC CONQUEST-CONTROL, and that NO ONE, NOT EVEN AMER'S ENEMIES OR MOST OF THEM, CAN AFFORD, DESIRE, OR RISK AMERICAN DEFEAT IN THE WOT.
#8
There are two leadership doctrines that are popular today, centralized or decentralized. That is, if the "big boss" is the center of things, that the purpose of the organization is to back the big boss, then it is centralized. If the "big boss" represents the organization, and executes based on his judgement the group consensus, then it is decentralized.
In a nutshell, Mafia bosses, Bill Clinton, and Putin are in the former category. They see the purpose of the entire system is to support them, and what they want, goes. Loyalty is to the big boss, not the system.
The other form of leadership is much harder, but often gives far more satisfactory results. The leader is just the greatest among peers, and though his is the final decision, he avoids going against the consensus of his near-peers. All of them serve the system instead of the man. And they make far fewer rash, if emotionally satisfying, decisions because of it.
#9
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union it has always amused me to hear people whinge about how "The Russian mafia this" or "The Russian gangsters that".
I just smile and say how all that really happened is they merely took off their uniforms. Other than that, there has been little if any change, save for the worse, if that is even possible.
RasPutin's blatant triangulating with Iran has been disappointing but I'd sure hope that no one thinks it was entirely unexpected. When it comes to hard currency, Russia works both sides of the street like a jonesing crack whore.
Russia's former Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, architect of the country's market reforms, has suffered a sudden, unexplained and violent illness on a visit to Ireland, The Financial Times reported. He fell ill last week, a day after Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, died in London from an apparent radiation poisoning. Gaidar is now in a stable condition at an undisclosed Moscow hospital, undergoing tests. He's dead. That's the last we'll hear of him.
In a telephone interview with the FT, Gaidar said the doctors had so far been unable to identify the cause of the violent vomiting and bleeding that he suffered during a conference in Ireland.
Vomiting? Bleeding (either in the vomitus or elsewhere)? Given his proximity to Litvinenko I'd put acute, overwhelming radiation poisoning first on my differential diagnosis. Where's my Geiger counter?
Anatoly Chubais, his former associate and the head of Russia's electricity monopoly, said he suspected Gaidar may have been poisoned. Brilliant Anatoly, how do you do it?
Gaidar is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's softer critics and his daughter is a leader of an opposition movement. Gaidar, who heads an economic think-tank in Moscow, has close connections with the government and occasionally advises them on economic matters.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
See also NEWSMAX > BARRY BARBER article > EXPOSING RUSSIA. In sum, Russia hates that she lost the Cold War - more importantly for the USA-World, Russia feels no disconnect from her dark, bloody, oppressive Commie past, but yearnings.
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Posted by: BA ||
11/30/2006 11:07 Comments ||
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#9
I admit I love a good conspiracy, but I really don't think Putin is responsible. Like Cheney said, if Pooty wanted them dead, they would be and no one would know it was murder. Besides the Russian Polonium poisonings, which any state sponsor of terrorism would have access to, there are other billionaires whose wealth probably is not honest who have met their deaths, like Hariri. I lean more to others have nefarious motives, such as the Islamofascist AQ and Iran, and even NK. Moscow was on the counterfeit superdollar distribution route, from NK and Hong Kong to the UK. Elected officials are easy to blame, but how do you silence those with power and flashy wealth but are unaccountable to anyone? Causing public panic and all fingerpointing at each other is typical terrorism.
Rome, 30 Nov. (AKI) - The leader of Italy's largest Muslim group and a conservative lawmaker clashed on Thursday at the presentation of a new television programme on Italian Muslims. Hamza Piccardo, the spokesman of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII), and Daniela Santanche, a deputy of the right-wing National Alliance Party, exchanged harsh words over alleged human rights violations and abuse of women in Italian Muslim communities at the presentation of 'Muslims of Italy' a new show launched by Italian private channel Canale Italia, which is also broadcast by satellite tv Sky Italia.
"I am against this project" said Santanche, accusing the programme of "creating a ghetto for Muslims" and giving no room to moderate Islam. Hmmm... a TV documentary that "creates" a ghetto for Muslims, yet gives no room for "moderate" Islam. So just what kind of Muslims will dwell in Santanche's virtual ghetto? Moron.
The deputy has clashed with UCOII in the past and accused it of being a fundamentalist group.
The association has been at the centre of a controversy after one of its leading members, Patrizia Khadija Del Monte, who is in charge of the equal opportunities department of the group, said poligamy - which is illegal in Italy - could be taken into consideration. "We aren't like Santanche describes us," said Piccardo. "There are great differences within our group like there are within the National Alliance."
#2
Taken with a grain of salt. Anyone that follows a pedophile for their prophet can't be all there. Maybe it's a brain damage thing. Ether way I think this film might be interesting.
#1
"And it's creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim population by showing Europe's Santa the kindergarten door."
Municipal officials insist their decision is prompted more by psychology than political correctness.
Instead of joy, the sight of a strange bearded figure at the door evokes fear in most kids, they argue. "
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister, has announced he will seek the presidential nomination of his ruling UMP party, a contest he is expected to win comfortably. Sarkozy made the announcement in an interview with regional newspapers leaked on the website of the Paris daily Liberation on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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(Washington, DC, November 29, 2006) The American Humanist Association (AHA) today launched the first nontheistic legal center in the nation's capital, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC), by filing what is expected to become a controversial church-state separation case.
The litigation emerged as a result of practices during the recent midterm elections as monitored by thousands of AHA members nationwide. Churches are the most common polling locations in America. Some churches cover their religious symbols at this time out of respect for the principle of government neutrality on religion. But not all do so. Humanists decided it was time to learn to what extent religious proselytizing took place at the polls. "We put out a call to our members whose polling places were churches, asking them to report what they saw," said AHA President Mel Lipman. "The response was shocking."
"An Illinois member voted in a church that displayed a four-foot wooden crucifix right above the election judges," said AHLC attorney James Hurley. "Another member in California was confronted with a large marble plaque dedicated to the 'unborn children' who are 'killed' by abortion and containing a quote from the Bible justifying the notion that the soul is alive in the womb. And a New York member voted in a room featuring large religious slogans on the wall behind the voting machines."
Hurley, along with attorney Barry Silver of Boca Raton, Florida, is taking one of the most egregious and well-documented cases, that of plaintiff Jerry Rabinowitz who was assigned to vote at Emmanuel Catholic Church in Delray Beach, Florida. The case, Rabinowitz v. Anderson, alleges that, to enter the polling place, Rabinowitz was forced to walk past a church-sponsored "pro-life" banner framed by multiple giant crosses before even entering the church to cast his vote. Then, in the voting area itself, he observed many religious symbols in plain view, both surrounding the election judges and in direct line above the voting machines. He took photographs that will be entered in evidence. Warning! The following image may not be suitable for all nontheistic viewers. Some of the content may shock you. Atheist viewers are encouraged to continue only at their own discretion.
See: PHOTOS
I admit. I looked. I'm scarred for life.
The Appignani Humanist Legal Center consists of over two dozen humanist lawyers from around the country, backed by thousands of humanists from coast to coast, who seek to have humanist values represented in the legal arena. This launch is in direct response to recent influence exerted by the religious right under the Bush administration to damage Jefferson's wall of church-state separation. And just whos to blame for this centuries old travesty?
Wait for it...
"George W. Bush
The Devil incarnate! Shaytan himself, borne up from the Bowels of Hell to torment the...humanists
has been busy appointing conservative Christian judges who don't support the separation of church and state," said AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt. "And year after year we're seeing government intruding further and further into the religious sphere."
"The Appignani Humanist Legal Center will work to make sure that the First Amendment to our Constitution is honored," Lipman added. "More than that, though, the Center will pick cases that highlight our cause to the broader public. By working on these and drawing attention to injustices, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center will educate Americans on the importance of religious liberty and the plight of humanists in the United States."
#1
The Appignani Humanist Legal Center will work to make sure that the First Amendment to our Constitution is honored..
NOT.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Do you see anything in there that supports the 20th century notion of intolerance of religion?
I see that the federal government will not establish a state religion as was the Church of England or the Catholic Church. I do not see the power to segregate the religious culture of the people from daily interaction of the people on their government. The entire 20th/21st century judicial position on religion is a construct of that branch of government unfounded upon any Constitutional writ other than their own fiat. Of course being not subject to the direct consent of the governed and having spent the last fifty years building more and more power, it is unlikely they comprehend the very foundation of the concept of a democracy or republic. That is a form of government that is to represent the majority of the people and their interests rather than the long history of government by and for a minority. There is a great difference between tolerating and respecting a minority and empowering a minority to have a veto over the majority. The latter is irreconcilable with the classical definition of a democracy or a republic.
#7
Where do they dig these people up? Hey idiot, vote absentee next time. That way you can vote while running nekkid down the street while barking at the moon.
#8
We vote in schools and firehouses and I don't see any increases in reading, putting out or lighting fires. What does it matter where people vote as long as they vote.
Posted by: Jim ||
11/30/2006 19:35 Comments ||
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#9
It's time to begin shooting these idiots. They're producing way too much carbon dioxide and methane, and have no redeeming qualitied (they're lawyers, fergodsake!). Have to limit it to ten each hunter, so we can all have some of the fun. Licenses are not required, but you must have voted in two of the last three elections.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/30/2006 22:00 Comments ||
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The former chief of staff to incoming U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking in Atlanta on Wednesday, warned companies not to expect smooth sailing in the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
George Crawford, currently an advisor in the Washington, D.C. office of Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding LLP, joined former U.S. Sens. Daniel Coats (R-Ill.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.) and partner Thomas Spulak for a Nov. 29 forum on what businesses should expect from the new majority.
Crawford and the other panel members told King & Spalding clients that Democrats will move quickly to investigate large corporations, particularly those in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors. "Business is going to have to earn what they get out of this Democratic Congress," Crawford said. I think that's a reference to campaign contributions, don't you?
Spulak, who served as House general counsel under Tom Foley, the last Democratic speaker, said the party will use committee debates to highlight what it sees as breeches of the public trust by the administration and the private sector, especially when it comes to drug prices, oil company profits and post-Hurricane Katrina insurance rates.
With the party's agenda driven in no small part by its liberal base, count on Democrats to make a lot of noise about how companies "have taken advantage of the American public," Spulak said.
Corporations also will have less access to lawmakers than in previous years, as Pelosi is expected to slap strict new rules on lobbyists to eliminate the "culture of corruption" Democrats claim Republicans allowed to grow under their leadership. To counter the coming storm, Crawford and Spulak suggest businesses ramp up their public relations efforts in order to get equal time for their arguments in the media.
When not directly attacking big business, Democrats will push for an increase in the minimum wage, altering the alternative minimum tax to benefit the middle class, more government-run health care, stem cell research and environmental issues, according to the panel.
"The impression that we're working together won't last too long," said Mack, a senior policy advisor at the firm and former chairman of President George Bush's federal tax reform advisory committee. Killing the Golden Goose is always on the DhimmiDonk agenda.
#1
O'REILLY on FOX > AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES DONATE MORE TO NEEDY PROGS despite not having the massive entitlements available to others in foreign, mostly Socialist nations. FURTHER, So-called SOCIAL PROGRESSIVES = LIBERALS [Liberal Socialists?] like to rant about problems as long as they don't spend any of their own $$$.
#3
How about showing your distain for the influence and bribing of big corporations by repealing the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act and returning the length of copyright back to 30 years? Dare you. The founding fathers loath the royal patents which gave families perpetual income off of levies laid upon products, so they specifically limited the time to thirty years. Hollyweird and the big entertainment industry put enough gold in everyones reelection funds in the 90s to get copyright renewable to 100 years. Basically, not different than selling great expanses of public land [in this case public domain] to big corps. Unthinkable in the dialectic of the party propaganda isnt it? So lets start there.
Oh good. They're scheduling them now. Makes things much easier.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed to the world's prosperous nations on Thursday for $3.9 billion in donations next year to address humanitarian emergencies touching 27 million people in 29 countries, with most of the money targeted at Africa. The annual "Reward Failure" Appeal...
"These 27 million individuals seek not a handout but a hand-up, and I hope that once again we will respond -- not with pity but with practical assistance," outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, addressing his 10th and final annual appeal. Thanks, Kofi. Get get enough of those mean absolutely nothing cliche's. Here's one for you. What's in it for us?
The single largest sum -- $1.2 billion -- would again go to Sudan, a vast northeast African nation where multiple civil wars have left millions homeless and hungry, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. ...and we've seen all the progress that's been made there.
The next biggest components of the 2007 appeal were the Democratic Republic of Congo, earmarked for $687 million, and the Palestinian territories, where $454 million has been requested, the office said. ...and we've seen all the progress that's been made there.
For each success story, where the yearly appeals have made a difference, "there is a contrasting story where help could not be offered for lack of funds," said Annan, whose second five-year term as U.N. leader ends December 31. "For each success story". Where was that in this story? I must've missed that. Are they talking about Kojo's bank account?
The $3.9 billion amounted to the cost of two cups of coffee for each citizen of the world's wealthy nations, he said. Too bad. I really like my coffee.
"What shall we say when our children and grandchildren ask us, 'Why? Why did we let so many women and children die unnecessarily when we had the money, we had the knowledge and we had the tools to save them?"' Annan said. I'll tell them, "Well, kids, we had a useless, malignant, corrupt little troll named Kofi Annan in charge of the effort who accomplished very little, if anything, except for maybe making some of his corrupt cronies a lot of money."
Last year's appeal sought $4.7 billion in donations but succeeded in raising just two-thirds of the goal as of the end of October, through donations from 65 governments, the U.N. office said. We gave at the office...INFIDEL!
The money is channeled to recipients through U.N. agencies, private aid groups, and international and local organizations. So everybody gets a piece of the action.
As in previous years, most of the 2007 aid targets Africa. As well as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is aimed at Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, the south-central Great Lakes region and the West Africa region. The south central Great Lakes region? Ohio? Indiana?
The biggest donors for 2006 were the United States, the European Commission, Britain, the Netherlands and Japan. 31 days.
Posted by: Paris Hilton ||
11/30/2006 8:38 Comments ||
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#6
GORT,
LOL! That's Mamie van Doren, who's still happy, healthy and out there:
http://www.mamievandoren.com/
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/30/2006 10:24 Comments ||
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#7
BTW, that link is NSFW....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/30/2006 10:25 Comments ||
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#8
LOL I would pay good money for a calender of UAV chicks. If the ground crews want to start a fund raiser with the squints (image explotation crew) that might be a winner. BTW a lot of the squints were female and most were mighty good looking. Heck they could even be fully clothed and in uniform.
#10
My only question: while they demonstrated the ability to fly a UAV simulator into the probe, what will the actual UAV do? There are an awful lot of funny air currents around the aft end of the KC-135 (or any tanker for that matter). And this doens't address the NAVY IFR protocol, which has the receiving aircraft fly a probe into a badmiton-shaped basket (just the opposite of the USAF). Carrier based tankers are not big enough to afford the luxury of a flying boom style system, and then there are all attendant logistical and maintenance issues of trying to maintain 2 completely different systems on the boat.
#11
All good questions, USN. And just the sort of problems that give engineers little mental woodies. The key word here is "demonstates". This is just one step in a proof-of-concept.
Your point about maintaining multiple systems is a good one. Over time, I would expect a feature like this would become part of the standard avionics package for naval aircraft.
#12
Steve: I was referring more to the nuts and bolts systems: those other than avionics, since one computer can be electronically reconfigured for several type/model/series of aircraft. At PAX River we had about eleventeen versions of lawn darts (f-18) each with its own software version. if a computer went TU, we simply pulled one from the hangar queen and had it rebooted to match the broken one and stuck it in to make the flight schedule. it was a full time job tracking that however, as the wrong version would make the a/c do some interesting things, most of which were not at all fun for the guy in the seat.
the maintaining of multiple mechanical systems and all the associated bit piece parts, especially if they all 'kinda look the same' can be a real ball breaker. example for the non airdales: chevy engine parts from as far back as 1935 can be bolted on very late models; you cannot say that about fords (and i have blue ovals in the driveway) replacement parts configuration control is very particular.
OT: several of my engineer friends take offense at the little woodie snark. HAHAHAH
Strong earthquakes struck North MalukuWednesday, damaging scores of houses, one school and worshiphouse, Antara news agency reported. The 6.6-magnitude quake, however, did not trigger a tsunami. "Report from local police said that ten houses, one mosque,and one school building in Morotai island, North Halmahera regency, North Maluku province were destroyed," North Maluku police spokesman Comr. Ramli said Wednesday.The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site that the quakewas centered 70 kilometers (45 miles) beneath the sea and 216 kilometers (134 miles) northeast of Ternate, the capital of North Maluku province.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Still feelin' the quakin', and seein' the Astro-Fireballs, here in Guam. When I look up to the sky + stars, or watch the earth "breathe", I feel like I'm DARTH VADER in his TIE fighter hunting X-Wings, breathing as only Vader can do > "STAY ON THE LEADER ...... I HAVE YOU NOW, YOUNG SKYWALKER".
#6
The answer is simple and lies in the reason why one of my Geology profs always says, "I wouldn't live there."
If you live someplace geologically active with faults, volcanoes, subduction zones and other potential hazards, then expect volcanoes to go boom, earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tsunamis, etc.
These things and polar bears is why he lives in Middle Tenn. Not sure what the deal is with polar bears though, other than taking one with a rock hammer would be pretty hard:p
The offending male and the adultress...are buried in a hole and covered with sand, the man's arms being loose while the woman is buried up to her head, and then they are stoned (to death).
Stoning is done in public. The Penal Code of the Islamic Republic, Articles 102 and 104, defines conditions for Stoning (executions): "the stones used to inflict death should not be so large so that the condemned dies after being struck by only one or two stones. Average stone size is selected to assist expiation of the guilt, by (increasing the) suffering of the offender." Quick death is too good for the Ayatollahs
Mutilators must both remain remote at about 15 meters from their target, and chose their stone weapons carefully: Cutting stones are selected for (best) frayed surfaces which cause the most spectacular blood-letting. Preferably, a sharp stone is aimed at the face of the condemned. Round stones require less precision and they are effective anywhere on the target (offender). They are ideal for breaking bones and for causing fatal internal bleeding.
#1
Hey President Bush - what do you say NOW about the Religion of Peace?
Idiot.
Yes I do criticize my Commander in Chief because he is flat WRONG on this issue and persists in using that term when it simply gives cover to the evil that Islam creates, nurtures, harbors and spreads like a plague.
The above is all the proof any rational person needs to see. So the President has no excuses.
I don't know if Bush believed or still believes the ROP BS. But Bush (like Lincoln before him) cannot tell openly what he thinks. If he did he would cause greater losses of American lives. Let's remind that Afganistan and Irak were invaded from bases in Muslim countries. the Taliban and Saddam would be still in power if he had presnted the things as a war agsint Islam. I think it is, and that Islam like slavery before it, must be eradicated. But at the beginning of civil war Lincoln didn't presnt it as a war agsint slavery: if he had did, the four states of the high south who remained loyal woiuld have joined the rebels, a number of military men who were crucial into South's defat and who reamined loyal to the Union despite being southerners would have joined the rebels, a number of Northerners who joined ythe army fought for teh Union and for the principle of Democracy (who imples that if you lose elections you shut up intead of seceding) but even when they against slavery were NOT ready to give their lives for abolishing it. In other words, had Lincoln, openly told early 1861 that he was going to abolish slavery it would have ended with the CSA winning the war and slavery still soiling american soil.
Same thing for Bush. He may not just tell that Islam is evil and must disappear.
#4
True enough, JFM, Bush cannot openly state that this is a "war against Islam"; if he did that, all Hell would break loose.
But I think we'd be in a LOT better shape today, with regard to both the American peoples' support for the war and the Islamic world's response to our efforts, if he had made it clear from the beginning that we regard "Islam is a religion of peace" and "democracy and freedom from tyranny will cure what ails the Islamic world" only as testable hypotheses-- and that we will be looking with eyes wide open at all evidence which might prove or disprove them.
Instead, it looks to me very much like Bush actually believes these things, takes them on blind faith. And as a result, faced with massive evidence that Islam is NOT a religion of peace and that democracy and freedom are NOT going to cure what ails the Islamic/Arab world, he has sunk into paralysis.
That's the way it looks to me, anyway...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/30/2006 7:25 Comments ||
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#5
Bush has redefined the 'war on terror' to be a war on Islamic fascism, he knows the score.
#7
President Bush need not state the whole trught about this beign a war on Islamic fundamentalism and its fascist backers - he only needs to STOP using the term "Religion of Peace" - it is a lie that gives the extremists cover. Islam only gives the peace of the enslaved, and subsequently of the dead, like those in Darfur.
I don't know if Bush believed or still believes the ROP BS. But Bush (like Lincoln before him) cannot tell openly what he thinks. If he did he would cause greater losses of American lives.
I have to challenge this notion. While I agree that Bush would be well advised not to take on the entire Muslim world all at once, he effectively blew the midterm elections by not educating our public more about how pervasive Islam's threat really is.
Failing to do so lost many pro-war voters who saw little or no difference between Bush's mealy-mouthed equivocating about his own War on Terrorism and the downright appeasement of Democratic candidates. JFM, you say how, "If he did he would cause greater losses of American lives." I maintain that the ascendancy of appeasing Democrats may well get even more American killed with repeats of 9-11 style atrocities.
Too much of Bush's political calculus was skewed by what can only be interpreted as PC mentality. Be it Rice's condemnation of Israel's righteous pounding of Lebanese based Hezbollah or Bush's unwillingness to go beyond Islamofascism in his addressing of Muslim hostility for the West.
But I think we'd be in a LOT better shape today, with regard to both the American peoples' support for the war and the Islamic world's response to our efforts, if he had made it clear from the beginning that we regard "Islam is a religion of peace" and "democracy and freedom from tyranny will cure what ails the Islamic world" only as testable hypotheses-- and that we will be looking with eyes wide open at all evidence which might prove or disprove them.
Instead, it looks to me very much like Bush actually believes these things, takes them on blind faith. And as a result, faced with massive evidence that Islam is NOT a religion of peace and that democracy and freedom are NOT going to cure what ails the Islamic/Arab world, he has sunk into paralysis.
I could not agree with you more, David D.
President Bush need not state the whole trught about this beign a war on Islamic fundamentalism and its fascist backers - he only needs to STOP using the term "Religion of Peace" - it is a lie that gives the extremists cover. Islam only gives the peace of the enslaved, and subsequently of the dead, like those in Darfur.
I agree, OldSpook. There are a lot of dead bodies undeniable indications that Islam has as much to do with peace as trout did with inventing the bicycle.
I still maintain that the single most important step we can take is stripping Islam of its status as an officially recognized religion. We need to require significant reforms for it to regain such recognition. Foreswearing jihad, ending gender apartheid, eliminating the death penalty for apostasy and establishment of true religious freedom in Muslim majority countries are criteria that must all be met before any reinstatement.
By doing so, we could then eliminate Islam's tax-free status, curtail pro-jihad language as no longer being protected speech and enact a host of other Islam unfriendly measures that would make America increasingly unattractive to Muslim immigration.
Furthermore, this one action would also begin the loang and arduous migration of public opinion towards understanding that unreformed Islam is a political ideology and NOT a religion. This is the bedrock of what will be needed to prepare America for the coming clash of civilizations. Too obviously, none of our politicians have the spine for such measures. This alters not one whit the validity of what I have posted.
#10
If Bush was smart, he could expose Islam while defending them, making himself look like an idiot. Since the left already believes he is an idiot, they would follow the logic and understand the savagery of Islam, the religion of violence, dhimmitude, slavery, ritual stonings, and beheadings.
#13
Welcome to the religion of pieces. I realize that open boards for terrorist Bush can't speak his mind. But to be honest sometimes I wonder if he has one.
We have Muslim terrorist flooding over our borders, Muslims still being given visas, Muslimes in England that were planning on dropping a half dozen planes on our citys, need I go on? There are times guys when you have to call a spade a spade. We are at war with Islam and it's time to go public. Now how we do it is another matter.
The rock apes of Allen are going to hit us again. Keeping silent about this isn't going to stop it nor make it less worse. Anyways I'm not thinking our current President has the brain pan nor balls to deal with it.
That being said, God Bless the President, this one and the next.
Thank you, SpecOp35. Of late, I've been hard at work stitching together the whole Religion versus Ideology debate and how it needs to apply towards making America more Muslim unfriendly. Eliminating Islam's protected status as a religion simultaneously serves so many important purposes that I cannot imagine a more direct and functional approach.
An important aspect of this is our politicians taking to task Islam, not Islamists or Islamofascists or Islamic terrorists or Jihadists, repeat; Islam plain and simple must be taken to task for its obvious shortcomings. Skeered of going head-to-head regarding terrorism? Fine take a stance on the gender apartheid issue. Running for office in a Mormon district? Fine, knock Islam over its death penalty for apostasy or conversion.
Islam is a HUGE target and somehow no-fucking-body is managing to hit the broad side of this mosqueweapons depotindoctrination center barn. America's politicians had better improve their aim, or they can expect the public to begin aiming their anger at both the ballot box and Muslims alike.
If politicians hold the rule of law so fucking dear, they had best make sure it continues to protect the average American. Here's a BIG FUCKING CLUE; The average American isn't a Muslim. Anyone introducing special legislation to provied unequal protection for Muslims had better be ready for a very short stint in office.
OFF TOPIC: By the way, SpecOp35, you were right about the beliefs of that Fremont man who got beat down by his sons after murdering their mother. I tried to post the followup article during the Commenting Form Upgrade fiasco and for some reason it never got onto the Local Page. Maybe I'll try and post it again today.
#15
More than five years ago I wrote this about President Bush and his unwillingness to call the enemy by his proper name:
"October 18, 2001 Why is it that the Bush Administration has not acknowledged the fact that we are at war with an idea? This idea runs parallel to the shadowy world of terrorist hideaways, safe houses, and training bases.
Were told its difficult to hold accountable and punish a shadowy network of extremist guerrilla leaders and their foot soldiers. Our leaders tell us the terrorist networks thrive as amorphous enemies of freedom. Well, is this true? Others suggest terrorism reflects pure hatred of freedom; that terrorism occurs in a vacuum bereft of an idea or ideology. Does it?
The terrorists, were told, hijacked Islam itself to wage jihad against the progressive and modernizing West and the peaceful Muslim majority. Oh, really?
The West cannot conduct a war against terrorism without first confronting the Weltanschauung (worldview) that fuels the terrorists raison detre. Ultimately, we are at war with an idea. And that menacing idea, whose presence was made known loud and clear on September 11, 2001, is nihilistic Islamic absolutism (NIA). ...
Until President Bush and our American leaders acknowledge that the real enemy is nihilistic Islamic absolutism swathed in the fabric of the Wahhabi sect and armed with an array of weaponry and evil intentions, we will be shooting at shadows." -- At War With An Idea
Sad to admit, but as long as President Bush speaks this RoP BS, we'll be shooting at shadows.
Greenberg Puts Squeeze On Pinch's Paper Billionaire insurance titan Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has begun buying huge blocks of New York Times stock to break the Sulzberger family's stranglehold on the media empire, The Post has learned.
Sources confirmed that the famously combative Greenberg has been buying hundreds of thousands of Times shares, but did not disclose the exact number or the size of the stake he wants to own.
Greenberg has both the assets - Forbes estimated his net worth at $3.2 billion - and the temperament to jump into a fight over the future of the stumbling newspaper giant. A major stock position would put Greenberg in league with already angry Times' shareholders, such as Morgan Stanley Investment Management, to battle the board over whether the founding Ochs-Sulzberger family should hold a powerful class of stock that accounts for a majority of the voting power at the company.
A Times spokeswoman said the Ochs-Sulzberger family has given no indication that it wishes to change the so-called dual-class structure.
Sources said Greenberg views the Times, which has a market cap of $3.3 billion, as a top-flight brand but one with an "artificially depressed" stock price. Well, not exactly...
Times shares have plunged almost 15 percent in the last year, a drop that has put enormous pressure on Chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr., the family scion who has been at the helm of the company since 1997. The stock is well off its 52-week high of $28.98 that it hit in February. In November 2004, Times shares traded above $40 before they began their free-fall.
On Nov. 13, the New York Times reported that Greenberg was considering a bid for the Tribune Company or Dow Jones, and consulting with bankers and lawyers about a possible offer. Shareholder watchdogs have slammed Times management as overpaid - criticism that forced Sulzberger and his cousin, Vice Chairman Michael Golden, to say in September they would forgo about $2 million in stock awards and pump it into a bonus pool for the company's employees.
Greenberg, a legendary figure in the New York financial community, ran AIG for nearly 40 years before being deposed in a bitter boardroom coup after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer alleged the company engaged in accounting improprieties.
Spitzer eventually filed charges against Greenberg and ex-AIG CFO Howard Smith. Fighting back bitterly in the courts and the media, Greenberg eventually got Spitzer to drop all criminal charges against him. Spitzer is still pursuing civil charges against Greenberg, although he has dropped two of his six original allegations.
A Greenberg spokesman declined to discuss the specifics of his investment in the Times, but told The Post, "Mr. Greenberg is interested in exploring several options with respect to media companies." I'll leave it to those who know Greenberg to tell us what this might mean regards NYT Editorial Policy. I can only say it means he has a lot of money burning a hole in his pocket.
#1
.com,
IIRC Mr. Greenberg has been a consistent (if not overly open) supporter of President Bush, he's donated well over six figures to his Presidential campaigns.
I have gotta believe that if enough money gets put on the table, the Family will blink - they have lost way too much money and prestige under Sulzberger, they want it back, and screw the principle. The funny part will be watching the reaction of the MSM when the Times becomes a borderline conservative paper.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/30/2006 7:59 Comments ||
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#2
Here's a prediction: were the NYT to go "conservative", you'll no longer see CBS, ABC, and NBC drawing their daily top stories from the frontpage headlines of the NYT.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
11/30/2006 10:27 Comments ||
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#3
When the NY Times goes conservative you'll see the reporters ignoring orders or leaving in droves and the papers remaining subscribers cancelling fast.
It might be possible to return them to neutrality (with a liberal bent editorial page) and profitability (which would be good for all) but to go conservative is unlikely.
#4
Greenberg is denying this report that he's buying big into NYT. Stock went up on the initial report. Most likely somebody's playing the usual games to make a few bucks.
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie Apocalypto, and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, the founder of Yemen's religious Al-Eman University, has announced that the facility had cured one of the HIV-infected children from Libya, using just herbs. Libyan authorities have pegged the HIV outspread among 426 children in a Benghazi hospital to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who have been imprisoned for over 7 years.
Russia's former Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, architect of the country's market reforms, has suffered a sudden, unexplained and violent illness on a visit to Ireland, The Financial Times reported. He fell ill last week, a day after Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, died in London from an apparent radiation poisoning. Gaidar is now in a stable condition at an undisclosed Moscow hospital, undergoing tests. 
(Washington, DC, November 29, 2006) The American Humanist Association (AHA) today launched the first nontheistic legal center in the nation's capital, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC), by filing what is expected to become a controversial church-state separation case.
The former chief of staff to incoming U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking in Atlanta on Wednesday, warned companies not to expect smooth sailing in the new Democrat-controlled Congress. 
Strong earthquakes struck North MalukuWednesday, damaging scores of houses, one school and worshiphouse, Antara news agency reported. The 6.6-magnitude quake, however, did not trigger a tsunami. "Report from local police said that ten houses, one mosque,and one school building in Morotai island, North Halmahera regency, North Maluku province were destroyed," North Maluku police spokesman Comr. Ramli said Wednesday.The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site that the quakewas centered 70 kilometers (45 miles) beneath the sea and 216 kilometers (134 miles) northeast of Ternate, the capital of North Maluku province.
Billionaire insurance titan Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has begun buying huge blocks of New York Times stock to break the Sulzberger family's stranglehold on the media empire, The Post has learned. 
