#3
Whatever the cause it's tooooo hot & humid out there :(
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 18:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
...and just how can we prove it's a thousand year high? Anyone got stats? I couldn't bring myself to read this tripe, but I just had to ask.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2004 18:36 Comments ||
Top||
#5
OK...I went in anyway. Lots of inference, little in the way of analytical observation. Poor science.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2004 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#6
1 data point: speculation in all directions
2 data points: a trend, definitely
3 data points: all wrapped up, answers to all the questions of the universe, doctoral dissertation and a stipend to beat the band.
There ya go, folks.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/06/2004 19:16 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I am SHOCKED, SHOCKED to think that the SUN, of all things, might have some role to play in the TEMPERATURE OF THE EARTH. Heresy. George Bush is clearly the cause of global warming. HALIBURTON LIED !!! NO CHENEY FOR OIL !!
#9
.com, my kids are rolling around on the floor about Uncle Al. Should I tell them to cut down on the Cartoon Network so that we don't affect gravitation levels in the Sirus system.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 22:12 Comments ||
Top||
Mucky interesting observation I am not actually a Jehovahs Witness although I do believe in some of their doctrine like the trinity not existing and a Paradise on earth. The actual difference between me and JW's is that they believe only JW's can live after Armageddon where as I believe anyone who pleases God according to His will can have Eternal Life under God's Government. My own birthday tends to be a quiet dinner with family.
Anon4021 just to reassure you I adore cake birthday or otherwise Black Forest, Mudcake ,Cheesecake etc :-)
Damt [Yemen] Primary Court yesterday sentenced 4 hotels proprietors, involved in showing pornographic films through coded channels, to 5 months in Jail. It also ordered the immediate closing down of such hotels for also five months and the confiscation of the satellite dishes. Judge Al-durafi had already sentenced a person to death for committing highway robbery and for being found tipsy in a Damat hotel, but later softened the sentence to Tazeer " public penalty according to which the culprit is flogged around 80 stripes". The masses in Damt expressed satisfactions in enforcing Shariah law, particularly after indignation at the spread of spiritual drinks sales and coded channels ran high. They also expressed thankfulness to the prosecution and security apparatuses for performing their duties to eradicate vice from society .
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2004 10:14:15 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
At least two people were killed and another three wounded in a gunfire took place today near to the Supreme Commission of Elections and Referendum (SCER) headquarters located in Baghdad quarter neighborhood in Sana'a, secuirty sources said. They said a (SCER) senior official's bodyguard opened fire on a bus that hit him in leg, killing two passangers and injuring another three. Eyewitnesses reported the secuirty forces couldn't apprehend the culprit after his colleagues refused to hand him over. Sources close to the chairman of the (SCER) Mr. Khalid Al-sharif said he gave orders that the perpetrator should be turned over to the secuirty authorities.
"Honey, about our vacation in Yemen this year? Travelling by taxi would be so much more romantic than taking the bus..."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2004 9:07:35 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
It is Islamic ideology that the world is divided into two: The Islamic âDar e-Salaamâ or House of Islam or House of Peace. Opposing this âDar e-Salaamâ is the âDar e-Harbâ or House of War into which all infidels fall. There can be no peace for Islam until the entire âDar e-Harbâ falls to the âDar e-Salaamâ. So this is a fight to the finish. Islam must be victorious or be vanquished. Since Islamâs victory calls on the inevitable destruction of all infidels, Victor Mordecai calls for world mobilization to terminate Islam as a system. Either the world deals with Islam, or Islam will deal with the world. In this sense, there is no difference between Islam, Nazism and Communism as exclusive world domination systems.
There are wars of genocide in which over two million black Christians have been slaughtered in the Sudan. Another six to eight million are slated for destruction. Another example of genocide is in various parts of the Indonesian archipelago in which over 300,000 East Timorese were killed since 1975. Over half a million of ethnically Chinese have been killed in Indonesia since the 1960âs. Yet in response to these genocides, the world remains indifferent and silent. Other wars brewing involve Chinese-Islamic war in East Turkestan commonly known as Sinkiang Province in western China; a festering war in the south Philippines focused on Mindanao and Sulu Islands; a potentially nuclear war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir; Christian-Islamic confrontation in the Balkans, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, and throughout Africa. Of course, last but definitely not least is the Judeo-Christian conflict with Islam in the Holy Land.
It is this last conflict which drew Victor Mordecai into the field of battle with Islam. Victorâs wife, an Egyptian born Jew taught him early in their relationship that in Egypt, there were three groups: the Jew or âYahudiâ, the Christians or âMessihiâ and finally the Moslems, known as the gentiles, goyim or the pagans. I had hated Christians as a young man calling them the goyim. But my wife made it clear to me that the Christians are not goyim. We Jews and Christians have the same God, the same Bible, and the Messiah is not a Moslem, Buddhist or Hindu but a Jew who speaks Hebrew. The Jews and Christians are known in the Islamic lands as the âPeople of the Bookâ, not the peoples of the book.
Our only debate is about the specific status of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Islamic âHadithâ teaches that Jesus returns a second time. But this Jesus is slightly different than the one Christians revere. The Islamic Jesus returns a second time as a Muslim. Yasser Arafat has been quoted as saying, âJesus was the first Palestinian Moslem revolutionary.â Accordingly, Jesus kills the anti-Christ with a spear in a battle outside of the city of Lod. He proceeds to Jerusalem, where he participates in the morning Islamic worship on the Temple Mount with 400,000 Moslems. After this, he comes down from the Temple Mount, breaks all the crosses, destroys the churches of the Christians and the synagogues of the Jews. And on that day, all the Jews and Christians, the People of the Book, who have not converted to Islam, embraced Allah as God, and Mohammed as the greatest of all the prophets, will be put to the sword by Jesus the Moslem.
As we listen carefully to Islamic clerics preaching in mosques, we hear all too often: âKill the Jew, Kill the Christian. Kill the Israeli, Kill the American.â All of this is uttered in one breath. By the way, this is to be done after the killing of the pagans such as the Hindus and Buddhists. So Islam is a global threat, and all mankind must unite to oppose and vanquish Islam. Moslems are good people, like the Germans or Russians, but Islam as a system is evil like Nazism and Communism
Posted by: Lucky ||
07/06/2004 1:23:30 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
goy is simply Hebrew for nation. Since Israel is always called an "am" (people) in the bible, not a nation, goyim (nations) implicitly means non-Jews - everybody else. At some point in folk usage it came to mean non-Jews as invididuals - theres nothing necessarily derogatory about it, except as any term used by a minority for a (sometime oppressive) majority tends to take on negative connotations.
Theres certainly no particular basis in Jewish law for a distinction between pagans on the one hand, and christians on the other. In fact those medieval Jewishlegal authorities who wasy a distinction between the "daughter" religions and paganism tended to see monotheistic Islam as closer than Christianity, though I think this cant be considered settled law.
In more modern times theres been a greater tendency to see a special relationship between Judaism and Christianity - notably the work of Frans Rosenzweig - though im quite sure FR doesnt class Islam with paganism.
So basically the above is bunk. But you could have figured that out yourself, no?
#4
to be truthful, LH, the word goyim was probably meant as derogatory at least 90% of the time it was used n conversation at least unitl the past few years
I think it is now a word in transition and it frequently has a neutral meaning.
France and China on Monday marked the mid-point of a two-year programme of plotting against America cultural exchanges they hailed as a big success, saying it was enhancing a wider "strategic relationship" they see as an emerging counterweight to US geo-political dominance. "Our two countries, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, have the common aim of acting while taking into account the greed, sloth and willingness to look the other way on occasion complexity of the world," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told a Paris media conference, making brief mention of a shared stance on Iraq. "After all, there is no word for nuance in English, yâsee..."
"They share the conviction that itâs all the Joooos fault the future must necessarily be built on dialogue and the respect of identities in a pluralist and multi-polar world," he said before an audience of French and Chinese journalists and dignitaries. âScuse me...did just he say this about China? The Chicoms are all about dialogue, mutual respect, and pluralism? I think some monkeys just flew out of my butt.
His view was echoed by the Chinese ambassador to Paris, Zhao Jinjun, who stressed that, in many but not all cases, Paris and Beijing had "common analyses" of international issues and shared "an enormous responsibility regarding world peace". Iâm a little misty, here...this is a beautiful moment. A silvery white dove just flew by...
France and China have gone to extraordinary lengths to underline the extent of their cooperation in the respective programmes highlighting each otherâs culture. French President Jacques Chirac, a known Sinophile, is to head to China in October on a state visit marking the start of the Year of France there, in a trip mirroring the pomp which accompanied Chinese President Hu Jintao when he visited France in January as part of the Year of China celebrations. The unprecedented sight of the Eiffel Tower being lit red and a Chinese New Year parade on the Champs-Elysees during Huâs stay, as well as the grand finale - a giant fireworks display at Versailles last weekend and a Shanghai festival in Paris - earned high praise from Chinese officials."All these gestures have made us fully feel the best intentions of France and reinforced the friendly ties between the two countries," Chinaâs deputy culture minister, Meng Xiaosi, said alongside Barnier.
She outlined a reciprocal series of events that would begin in China showcasing France, starting with a music and light show in Beijingâs Forbidden City featuring French musician Jean-Michel Jarre, who also attended Mondayâs conference, followed by a French picnic on the Great Wall of China. In a sign of the enthusiasm French business has for Chinaâs booming market, luxury group LVMH and state-run electricity company Electricite de France have paid for much of the cost of the extravaganza. The cultural two-step the two countries are in the middle of has already borne fruit in other areas.
Last month, France and China signed billions of eurosâ worth of trade contracts, headlined by a EUR V2 billion (USD 1.7-billion) deal to supply 20 Airbus aircaft to a Chinese airline inked by visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan. "Europe and France need China," French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said, explaining that "with globalisation, we have entered into a truly global civilisation where cultural dialogue... is needed more than ever to accompany the development of economic and social exchanges". Although he and Barnier and the Chinese ambassador hinted that they expect the Beijing-Paris relationship to also form a geo-political bloc able to challenge US dominance, they declined to directly answer a question about what their "strategic partnership" could mean for Washington. "China has a dialogue with the United States, as do we," Barnier said. He stressed that the Franco-Chinese relationship, particularly on the UN Security Council, aimed to tackle "the instability of the world" caused by terrorism, disease and inequitable development. France would remain vigilant on Chinaâs oft-criticised human rights record, he added, saying that a joint commitment to "humanity" was needed if the two countries were to promote a "more peaceful, more balanced" world. I think I saw a little tongue action there...
Posted by: Seafarious ||
07/06/2004 1:04:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It will be interesting wich one of these two screws the other first. Right up the twat Mr Lee. Up your ass Jacque!
#4
The touching commitment to "humanity", as well as to a "more peaceful, balanced world" presumably does not include, say, doing anything to inhibit genocide in Sudan -- nor, even, refraining from impeding action to stop it.
The moral imbecility, arrogance, and (as virginian) put it, "staggering idiocy" of the French really never stops plumbing new depths.
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro â Five years into an indefinite mandate, the United Nationsâ occupation of Kosovo â backed by the boots of NATO peacekeepers â is rapidly losing support among both Kosovar Albanians and ethnic Serbs...Some analysts also worry that the eruption of violence in mid-March, which left 35 Orthodox monasteries in ruin, claimed 19 lives and forced an estimated 4,000 Serbs from their homes, is but the first act of a simmering Muslim Albanian insurgency that will target the international community, including U.N. officials, the next time it explodes.
...Most of the Kosovar Albaniansâ ire is directed toward the U.N. administrative body, UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo), which has a $200 million annual budget for civilian and operational costs. In addition to Albanian criticism of UNMIK, the handful or Orthodox Christian Serbs still living in Kosovo, a region roughly the size of Marylandâs Eastern Shore, accuse some NATO peacekeepers â especially the German and the French â of complicity in what Serbs regard as reprisal ethnic cleansing. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who visited the region in May, told The Hill, âThe French didnât protect the local Serb population and the monasteries, and the Germans didnât either. The Greeks did, and the Italians did. Same with Americans and British.âIt wasnât until Admiral [Gregory] Johnson came and took charge did NATO troops act together.â
More American unilateralism.
...Many of them [Albanians] blame UNMIK and its roughly 5,000 bureaucrats for an unemployment rate holding steady at 60 percent and a host of administrative problems from flagging public utilities to an unresponsive government agencies...âUNMIK wants to make Serbs and Albanians fall in love with each other. That is not going to happen. It is a chemical impossibility.â Ethnic Serbs are no less harsh in their assessment of UNMIK, but they also blame some NATO troops for failing to protect their monasteries from what appeared to be a coordinated and methodical plan of destruction and intimidation last March...Pot boiler in Europe...
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 12:17:10 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Good posting!
The Balkan states (former Yugoslavia) is like a smoldering fire on damp leaves. Once the leaves dry it will ignite worse than before, in part due to the organized jihadists which have gained a key foothold in all formerly 'moderate' regions.
Hatred runs deep, so deep that historic battles, war & great events of the 1300's, World War II and the 1990's are all the same to all sides. It's like it happened only yesterday afternoon.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 0:29 Comments ||
Top||
EFL
A company that owns theatres in Iowa and Nebraska is refusing to show Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Mooreâs controversial new documentary. R.L Fridley, owner and president of Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres, says he believes the film incites terrorism.
#1
"Our country is in a war against an enemy who would destroy our way of life, our culture and kill our people," Fridley wrote. "These barbarians have shown through [the Sept. 11 attacks] and the recent beheadings that they will stop at nothing. I believe this film emboldens them and divides our country even more."
At last, someone in the entertainment industry with some integrity and common decency.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/06/2004 20:11 Comments ||
Top||
OSHAWA, Ont. (CP) - Two brothers frequently kept caged and tethered in their family home over 13 years reacted bitterly Monday after their adoptive parents were sentenced to nine months in jail for treatment the judge said was horrendous but well-intentioned. How in f&%k is keeping a child "caged and tethered" ever "well-intentioned?" Brain spill on aisle five!
The boys, who were adopted as toddlers and raised in nearby Blackstock, said their parents deserved longer terms and complained the judge appeared to blame them in part for their ordeal. "I donât feel (justice) has been served," said one boy, 17, as he stood shoulder to shoulder with his 18-year-old brother. "I feel they should get more time." The teens were rescued from their home three years ago in a case that horrified police and child-care workers, who found them after a tip from a relative. Although the boys went to school, home regularly became a house of horrors on evenings and weekends at the hands of the couple they believed were their parents.
When investigators visited the ramshackle two-storey farmhouse northeast of Toronto, one boy was found in a makeshift cage that was padlocked and strapped to a wall. After school, the boys were tied to their beds, sometimes handcuffed. At one time, one brother was forced to sleep in a dog cage. They were kept in diapers because they couldnât get to the washroom, subjected to rectal examinations and regularly beaten with a variety of household implements. Nine months? Nine years, more like.
Court heard the boys lived in such fear that they ate their own feces to hide evidence of accidents and, deprived of water, felt compelled to drink their own urine. Ontario Court Judge Donald Halikowski blasted the coupleâs "ill-informed system of discipline" as demeaning and damaging to the boys. "Ill-informed?" The word "cruel" springs to mind a bit more quickly.
However, Halikowski said their behaviour was "underscored by good intentions," and that there was no evidence the parents were sadistic. Rather, he said, they were out of their depth when it came to handling boys. The defence said the boys suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and attention deficit disorder, diagnoses disputed by the Crown. And for that theyâre caged like animals?
"There is no doubt they were difficult to raise," said Halikowski, although he added their treatment of the boys was "beyond comprehension." So was your slap-on-the-wrist nine month sentence, Halikowski.
He sentenced the couple to nine months for assault with a weapon, nine months for forcible confinement, and one month for failing to provide the necessaries of life. The terms all run concurrently, meaning they could be eligible for day parole in less than three months. They will also be on probation for three years. Why not consecutively, @sshole?
The couple, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boys, had pleaded guilty in January to the three charges. On bail since their arrest three years ago, the two didnât speak as they were handcuffed and taken into custody after sentencing.
The defence called the sentence fair and balanced and, despite the evidence, suggested the abuse was not as frequent as child-welfare officials alleged. "To suggest, as was the theory, that this abusive conduct took place every day for 12 or 13 years was a far-fetched fantasy. That was not the reality," said lawyer Alex Sosna. "These children were tethered, these children were abused periodically, but not systematically on a daily basis." Who cares? Itâs still cruel beyond imagination!
Disappointed Crown attorney Soula Olver, who had called for penitentiary terms of up to eight years, refused to comment but said an appeal is under consideration. Even close relatives of the couple denounced the sentence as too lenient given the judgeâs description of the boysâ treatment as "near torture." At least part of the family sounds normal.
"What is (the judge) saying to the boys?" said their maternal grandfather. "This really bothers me. It really does." Olver had earlier contrasted the coupleâs treatment of the boys with the kind and loving care they gave their biological son, their grandchildren and even neighbourhood kids.
Child welfare workers rejected Halikowskiâs suggestion that the discovery of the boys may have caused them more emotional damage than the abuse from their parents. Is there nothing this judge canât concoct to sound even more stupid?
"We are disappointed," said Wanda Secord of the Durham Childrenâs Aid Society. "We had hoped for a stronger sentence." Court heard earlier the woman, 43, and her husband, 51, went to Saskatchewan in the late 1980s to adopt her sisterâs children because she was dying of substance abuse and couldnât care for them.
The younger brother has denounced his adoptive mother as a "stupid bitch" and said he didnât have a childhood "because of her stupidness." The older boy has said the "unbearable" crib incidents continue to haunt him. Both are in separate foster care and going to high school.
- EMPHASIS ADDED - They need to cage and tether these two abusers as part of their prison sentence. No sentient adult can possibly inflict such cruelty and not know that it is severe and damaging to a childâs mind. The human spirit is not infinitely resilient.
Overly sympathetic as it might sound, if these two boys went on to become serial killers later in life, I could not vote the death penalty for them. That they are even alive and coherent is testimony to their own astounding strength of mind. To this very day I remain stunned at the intense cruelty adults are capable of inflicting upon children.
Posted by: Zenster ||
07/06/2004 2:59:51 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
On bail since their arrest three years ago, the two didnât speak as they were handcuffed and taken into custody after sentencing.
These animals were on bail, free, for three years!? What the hell is wrong with Canada!?
Posted by: Charles ||
07/06/2004 8:53 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Of course, if there were photos of the "discipline", the Canadian government would be in the process of being dismantled... oh, wait, that only happens to the U.S.A...
#4
It's not torture or abuse unless you put panties on their heads and force them to make a human naked pyramid. Get with the program; these people are being unjustly imprisoned.
/LLL
Posted by: Chris W. ||
07/06/2004 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Sounds like PTSD. Sure hope they make it out into life with their sanity.
Interesting book : "A Child Called It" and the sequels, by a man Dave Pelzer, who suffered unbelievable abuse.
"Dave Pelzer experienced abuse, starvation and mental cruelty. At age 12, Dave's teachers notified authorities to save his life. On Dave's removal, he was made a ward of the court and placed in foster care until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. As a member of the armed forces, Dave was hand-picked to midair refuel the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Fighter, which played a major role in Operations Just Cause, Desert Shield, and Desert Storm." Incredible true story.
An initiative to legalize pot in Nevada might go up in smoke after organizers forgot to file 6,000 petition signatures by a June 15 deadline. Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said Billy Rogers, president of the political consulting firm seeking to qualify the petition, is pleading for him to accept the 6,000 names. "Unfortunately, the state law says they have to turn it all in by June 15," Lomax said. The oversight doesn't kill the petition outright, but drastically lessens the chances that the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana's initiative will qualify in 13 of the state's 17 counties and thus secure a spot on the November statewide ballot. In Clark County, organizers submitted about 35,000 signatures â but given the usual 30 percent signature error rate, probably no more than 25,000 are valid.
Not to mention legible.
The extra 6,000 signatures would have increased the chances, though by no means guarantee, that the initiative would reach its goal of 31,360 valid signatures. Rogers, who works for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group, protested to Lomax that the 6,000 signatures had been properly notarized before June 15 â even if someone had forgot to submit them.
What was that about brain damage?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/06/2004 3:40:59 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Billy Rogers, president of the political consulting firm.
when the President of your consulting firm is named Timmy, Billy, Marky, you've got problems. "Like, I was, ya know, totally gonna turn those in but I fell asleep"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2004 16:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
.com, the leftists are big on speculating and postulating about fictive history. Here is Super Hose's Conjecture: had congress not ceased funding the war that Westmoreland won, there is a percentage chance that several billion Chinese would be living in freedom today.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 12:07 Comments ||
Top||
#3
What was his quote about war crimes committed by US troops in Vietnam again?
I want to put that quote on a sign and stand in front of my polling place for 8 hours on election day.
And Kerry will never visit San Jose. A number of Vietnamese who settled there fought the North and would probably stone him.
#4
"Westmoreland won"? I never thought that I'd meet a Westmoreland partisan. Seems rather like being a Fredendall advocate.
Usually, if someone wants to argue a "tactical victory, long-term strategic defeat" scenario, they pick Abrams as their fair-haired boy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/06/2004 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Mitch H. - I used to bash Westmoreland. The more I see Iraq the more I have begun to appreciate what that man did for our country, the Vietnamese and the 50,000 Americans who were betrayed by John Kerry and the @$#% Congressmen who covinced themselves to pull funding.
The 200,000 that Westmoreland wanted would have allowed him to cut the Ho Chi Min trail permanently. Bringing up the Reserves at anytime during the war would have cemented our country behind the effort - as it did in GW I, Afghanistan and the Iraq War. (Think about how much futile effort the new Soviet media has spent trying to undercut American support for our troops this time.) The result of Tet was that there was no cohesive Communist presence left in South Vietnam. All that was left to do was Vietnamization - worked Nixon did effectively.
WHEN THE LEFTY PUNKS POINT OUT THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE SITUATION IN IRAQ AND VIETNAM, THEY HAVE SPOKE NO TRUER WORDS, ALL THAT IS LEFT TO DO IS TO STAY THE COURSE AND WE CAN HAVE THE VICTORY TODAY THAT WE WON AND THEN PISSED AWAY IN VIETNAM THROUGH THE BAD ADVICE OF THE VERY SAME TRAITORS TODAY.
I say there was a percentage chance that if we had kept Vietnam free, the dominos might have fallen the other way. Victory is powerful. I think Qadaffi would agree with me.
If the dominoes do now fall the other way in the Middle East and Asia, we need to all find a lefty and boot him in the nads because they have facillitated in the enslavement of a generation. Facilitation the actions of the enemies of freedom is not the role that George Washington forsaw four our little experiment in liberty.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 18:49 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Doubt Westy could have won it with the entire US Army at his disposal. He wasn't the right guy for the war. Abrams however would have won outright with what Westmoreland was given.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. â Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Tuesday announced his choice of John Edwards (search) â his Senate colleague and primary campaign rival â to be his vice presidential running mate.
and it goes on!
Posted by: BigEd ||
07/06/2004 10:33:52 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
gee itn nice that skerry is pick him bilderberger for him veep. only natural pick for a skull and bonez.
#2
Bush can punch a hole in this one at will. Just name a new CIA chief and all of the nation's attention will flee to news of real interest. This story will implode like a tomato sinking to the ocean floor.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 12:14 Comments ||
Top||
#3
A better headline: Kerry Picks His Ass
Posted by: Chris W. ||
07/06/2004 13:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
John Kerry walks into a bar. The bartender looks at him and says, "Why the long face"?
#5
John J. Miller at National Review's "The Corner:"
Let's not finish the morning without reflecting on the implications of Kerry-Edwards for Hillary. A Democratic victory in the fall, of course, all but removes her from the 2008 presidential picture. (Unless she challenges in the primaries, a la Ted Kennedy in 1980--wouldn't that be fun?) If the Dems lose, however, Edwards almost certainly is vaulted into the top tier of 2008 contenders. The only thing stopping him would be an absolutely miserable performance over the next five months--something involving a physical attack Dick Cheney during the veep debate or crack smoking in public. Odds are Edwards would have been a much-talked-about guy anyway, given his second-place showing in this year's primaries. Bottom line: He ultimately may become the one guy who can stop Hillary from the Dem nomination in 2008. So it's a down-arrow for HRC today.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/06/2004 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The radical left's choice would have been Ted K.
Kaczynski, not Kennedy.
#7
Here's a good write up on Kerry's evil lawyer twin running mate, a.k.a. John Edwards: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200401%5CPOL20040120a.html
"Did 'Junk Science' Make John Edwards Rich?"
By Marc Morano CNSNews.com January 20, 2004
And why are we not surprised that 2 lawyers should be on the DNC prez/vice prez ticket? http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/contrib.asp?Cmte=DPC
DEMOCRATIC PARTY (2004 election cycle)
Top Contributors
#7 Assn of Trial Lawyers of America $1,649,000
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 15:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Edwards voice/accent is like a dull razor against a rock when one is trying to sleep, it goes on and on and on.
How about some accent reduction classes? Think of that as president, or worse Kerry!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 18:13 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Edwards voice/accent is like a dull razor against a rock
More to the point, Edwards' socialist redistribution of wealth message causes the listener mental stress and anguish.
Let's be honest, folks, Edwards' greatest asset to Kerry as a running mate is Edwards' youthful,pretty boy looks [as opposed to a more middle aged realist look that Cheney sports]. Edwards may win over some undecided female voters or gay male voters. Winning the southern vote is more iffy because Edwards barely won his own election - Southerners do not like the DNC's one world government position when the nation is at war. Southerners' children are in great numbers in the military.
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 19:47 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I just moved back to the Tarheel State after 3 years in S.C., Rex is correct, plus, most of the N.C. folks I know don't care for Edwards. Not to mention they don't like trial lawyers or people who are weak on guns (thank God).
#11
Jarhead...how true! I moved back to NC 5 years ago and almost everyone I know can't stand Edwards and the word is that he would not have been reelected to the senate had he run again. My brother was in Texas a few months ago and a cab driver started talking to him and in the course of the conversation said how impressed he was with Edwards. My brother, who doesn't usually espouse his political opinions on people he doesn't know let the guy know in no uncertain terms what he and many people in NC thought of Edwards. "Slick trial lawyer who made millions off the woes of little people"
Unfortunately, NC has gained alot of liberal Northerners since I last lived here and, like my boss from Mass just love the slick one and skerry.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
07/06/2004 21:40 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Unfortunately, NC has gained alot of liberal Northerners since I last lived here and, like my boss from Mass just love the slick one and skerry.
Maybe Democrat voters should ask themselves if they like the idea of lawyers doing their bypass surgery or delivering their infant grandchildren or diagnosing and treating their cancer. Because that's who will be left to do the "doctoring" 20 years from now after Edwards and Kerry ruin our health care system. Well, there'd also be the affirmative action med school graduates or the foreign doctors given accreditation as the other "doctoring" choices..
Seriously folks, even Democrat voters, no matter how much they hate Bush as most do, should recognize that the Kerry-Edwards ticket will bring in sub-optimal one size fits all socialized medicine, deplete the already declining ranks of applicants to medical school, and cause early retirement of practising doctors. Tell your Democrat friends and business associates to think about their health and their families' health before voting in a personal injury lawyer and a failed public prosecutor into the Oval Office. Democrat voters may not worry about global terrorism, because that concept is "so out there" for them to comprehend. But their health care or lack thereof...now that they may care about.
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 22:19 Comments ||
Top||
EFL
John Kerry has chosen Rep. Richard Gephardt, the veteran congressman from Missouri, to be his running mate, The Post has learned. Are there two more ponderous human beings on the planet?
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
07/06/2004 7:32:26 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2004 8:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Where was that article about Dean supporters making a ruckus at the convention if he wasn't picked as VP? This is going to be the first Democratic Convention I have ever watched, yet alone with enthusiasm.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/06/2004 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Frank- The Hildabeast won't like it, for sure
She loves it actually and HillBilly will do whatever they can to make Kerry lose as long as they are not seen as doing so. HillBilly in '08!
(2004-07-05) -- The political and media congnoscenti are crackling with anticipation about who the National Education Association (NEA) will choose as John Forbes Kerryâs running mate. In fact, the candidate himself expressed eagerness to hear the news.
"Iâm on the edge of my seat," said Mr. Kerry, who received the NEAâs endorsement for the partyâs presidential nomination today. "Iâve been jittery for weeks wondering who my VP would be. Itâs important because this decision demonstrates the kind of leader that I am. Itâs about character."
Posted by: Korora ||
07/06/2004 12:05:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He's as restless as a spider spinning daydreams, he's as giddy as a baby on a swing. It's almost like he has spring fever, though we know it isn't spring.
#2
Funny, #1. I'll bet Edwards gets the regal nod, evil lawwwyyyer slimeball twin to Kerry. Those 2 ambulance chasers want to drive every MD out of practice. I just read an article in the Telegraph that there is such a shortage of doctors in the UK, that now they're flying in doctors from Germany [???]to cover the weekend call. In Canada there's also a shortage of doctors[socialist medicare system will do that]that now the government is fighting with the Cdn. Medical Assoc. to allow them to fast track credentialing of Pakistani taxi drivers, who got their MD's abroad albeit being trained in very different conditions...anyways, sorry to lather at the mouth, but I hope that Democrat voters realize in proper time that a Democrat Party win of the WH and Congress will decimate the already beleagured medical profession. We'll end up having nurses and techs doing surgery if we allow the Dimwits to bring in socialized medicine to the USA as they threaten.
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 1:08 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Talking to a medical friend the other day, she commented on the fact that insurance cover takes so much out of the US doctor's pay packet that she wouldn't consider working stateside. American (non-socialised) healthcare is well in advance of British healthcare, but surely it could be leagues ahead if only you guys could get a grip on the litigation culture. Can't hospitals offer substantial discounts to patients who agree not to prosecute the professionals who try to help them? (Better still, refuse treatment to those who don't - no one's obliged to intervene medically on someone else's behalf, are they? - , or lock up the wankers who make fraudulent and exaggerated claims for compensation.)
#5
Bulldog, take medical whinging about insurance with a grain of salt. American physicians *always* bitch about malpractice insurance. On top of that, malpractice insurance is actually high right now, because reinsurance funds have spread the 9/11 pain around to strange and unfortunate places.
Malpractice insurance is high because some Saudis ran airplanes into extremely expensive real estate, not because of some imaginary predatory patients, trolling for rich, bumbling doctors. The capital used to insure all American insurance funds is a lot pricier than it used to be.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/06/2004 10:37 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Spoken like a lawyer, #5? Medical malpractice insurance was high and increasing every year long before 9/11. Malpractice insurance is high because of frivolous lawsuits. Contingency agreements offered by US lawyers, which encourages this greedy attack 24/7 by millionaire wannabes in the general population, is despicable.
Furthermore, in terms of added costs to the consumer in that it impacts health insurance rates, physicians need to do every test under the sun to protect themselves from parasitical lawyers trolling for easy money. Also, physicians are reluctant to try any potential life saving measure or device unless it is 150 % tried and true because of the risk of malpractice lawsuits, so this reduces doctors to only practicing very cautious medicine. Some people with unusual or life threatening illnesses might benefit from physicians trying anything reasonable to save their lives. Personal injury lawyers prevent doctors from saving lives.
Florida is so bad with frivolous lawsuits that the state has a shortage of ob-gyn's because mothers there have sued obgyn's out of existence when little junior was born with anything but a perfect Brad Pitt face. Similar shortages of specialists are being found across the USA, especially in any state that has not instituted a limit to pain and suffering awards.
As far as begrudging physicians' appropriate salaries, physicians' salaries earn good salaries because they have long and expensive training and high risks for lawsuits and physicians' families have high risk for stress because physicians always put them second to medicine. In actuality, physicians' salaries have stagnated in recent years as compared to other professionals' salaries. And here's a major problem down the pike looming large...smart kids [like my nephews and nieces and their peers] have zero interest in going into medicine, because of the long and costly training and the flattened earning power. Medicine does not compare to being a lawyer[I almost gagged when I heard this] or getting an MBA and going into business. So who is going to do our doctoring in the future unless we put a leash on trial/personal injury lawyers like Edwards? Are we going to be ministered in illness by third world physician trained taxi-cab drivers, perhaps?
Recently it was suggested to AMA members that doctors NOT TREAT lawyers and their families to bring the point home that society needs doctors more than lawyers for our survival. Food for thought: the Association of National Trial Lawyers is in the top 10 contributor orgs. to the DNC. http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/contrib.asp?Cmte=DPC
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 15:02 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Lawyers tend to contribute mostly to the DNC because the RNC has declared war on their profession. Thatâs just not nice, and it baffles me why it makes sense to some to attack a profession that has fought to preserve civil liberties for (literally) hundreds of years. For good reason, tyranny often begins with the cry, âFirst, we kill all the lawyers.â Now, I (on the other hand) am just crazy enough to keep supporting the RNC -- even though they hate my profession.
In reality, doctors are doing just fine. Here in Colorado, the top paying jobs (as measured by Average Hourly Wage) are:
Surgeons_______________$68.21
Anesthesiologists______$68.05
Ob-Gyns________________$67.35
Dentists_______________$63.96
Psychiatrists__________$59.14
Pediatricians__________$57.99
Chief executives_______$55.91
Fam/Gen Practitioners__$51.29
All other docs_________$49.53
Engineering managers___$43.76
Computer & IS Mngrs____$43.02
Physicists_____________$42.38, and only then do you see
Colorado is not unique. The top wage earners in the country (as measured by Average Hourly Wage) are:
Surgeons_______________$91.48
Anesthesiologists______$88.89
Ob-Gyns________________$86.86
Internists, general____$76.99
Pediatricians, general_$68.90
Chief executives_______$67.58
Fam/Gen Practitioners__$67.13
Psychiatrists__________$66.97
Dentists_______________$63.08, and only then do you see
The real reason for skyrocketing insurance premiums has to do with how insurance companies keep speculating and losing premiums in the stock market. Whenever that happens, a huge cry for âtort reformâ is rekindled.
#10
1. The main reason for rising liability insurance costs per recent government report:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/9255-7915.html
GAO report: Increasing lawsuit awards main cause of skyrocketing liability insurance rates
July 29, 2003
Yesterday, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report on medical liability insurance. In response, AMA President Donald J. Palmisano, MD, stated that the report "confirms what we have long held: Since 1999, medical liability premiums have skyrocketed in some states and specialties â and increasing awards are the main driver."
The report, according to Dr. Palmisano, "also puts to rest two other trial lawyer smokescreens: that insurance company gouging and/or stock market losses have caused the medical liability crisis."The time for Senate action on
2. Debt incurred by med school graduates, not counting loss of earning power for all the years of training:
According to the AAMC's new "Working Group on Student Educational Costs and Debt" [2003] report, medical education debt is 4.5 times as high in 2003 as it was in 1984, while average tuition and fees is 2.7 times as high in private medical schools and 3.8 times as high in public medical schools. In 2003, graduates of private medical schools had incurred a median debt of $135,000, while the median amount of debt for graduates of public medical schools was $100,000. The report also notes that in recent years, however, physician incomes have increased only slowly and have declined slightly in constant dollars.
3. Declining numbers of applicants for medical school[compare to US law schools that churn out the highest number of lawyers per capita in the world next to Israel]
In September, 2003, the federal Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME), in response to the findings of a study it commissioned, acknowledged that the country might be on the verge of a serious shortage of physicians. COGME endorsed a recommendation that medical schools increase enrollments by 15 percent over the next decade to help offset a future shortfall of doctors and that graduate medical education positions be increased to accommodate the increase in U.S. medical school graduates. "With our nation facing new health challenges and a possible physician shortage, the apparent flagging interest in the medical profession, as reflected by the shrinking applicant pool over the last several years, has been cause for some concern," said AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. Since 1996, total numbers have steadily dropped anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 applicants each year. This year's applicant pool of 33,501 is the smallest in the last six years, a 3.9 percent drop from the 2001 total of 34,859 applicants.
4. Re: salaries of physicians -physicians work the highest average number of hours of any professional group, including lawyers. Physicians graduate with the highest education debt of any profession. Physicians take longer and endure more rigorous training than other professions.
As for the paltry salaries of lawyers you claim, here's what judges point out as they themselves scramble for salary increases: Data based on annual âProfits Per Partnerâ chart in American Lawyer magazine, and salaries adjusted using BLS Inflation Calculator
Prepared by: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts/Annual Salaries of Law Partners
Adjusted to 2001 Dollars Using BLS Inflation Calculator:
1985 $500,000
2000 $825,000
5. Physicians' salary is offset by enormous costs of malpractice insurance. For example an othopedic surgeon in W. Virginia pays $150,000 annually for malpractice insurance. http://www.mindfully.org/Health/2002/Bush-Restrict-Malpractice-Costs25jul02.htm
But recent news reports have highlighted a growing number of communities experiencing the loss of medical practices and physicians, in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oregon and elsewhere...In concert with Bush's speech, his administration released a report that found the price of malpractice insurance for certain high-risk specialists increased about 10 percent last year and may rise by 20 percent this year. But costs are climbing even faster in states without limits on non-economic damages, said the report released Wednesday by the Health and Human Services Department. States with limits between $250,000 to $350,000 for pain and suffering awards had average maximum premium increases for internists, general surgeons and obstetricians of between 12 percent and 15 percent last year, compared with an average of 44 percent in states with no caps, it said. Premiums can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year and go as high as $200,000.The result has been closed practices, rising health care costs overall as doctors defensively prescribe unnecessary tests and treatments, reluctance of medical professionals to share information on mistakes and thus improve care, and fewer physicians entering high-risk areas. The average jury award for medical malpractice doubled to $1 million in the six years ending in 2000, according to Jury Verdict Research, a private database used by lawyers, insurers and doctors.
5. For further links to organizations researching the need for tort reform: http://www.legalreformnow.com/resources/
6. Here is but one organization that lists fast tort facts as well as studies showing how lawyers impact health care costs: http://www.sickoflawsuits.org/fastfacts/index.cfm?sectionId=9
*Lawsuit costs passed on to consumers add up to nearly $809 per year for every person in America today.
* Because of litigation fears, 79% of doctors said they had ordered more tests than they would based only on professional judgment of what is medically needed.
* An estimated $50 billion per year is spent on unnecessary test procedures designed only to guard doctors and hospitals against malpractice claims.
* Almost half of the money spent by physician insurers goes towards defending cases that ultimately are closed without compensation paid to the claimant.
Here are some research studies listed on the same site with live links:
* U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Addressing the New Healthcare Crisis: Reforming the Medical Litigation System to Improve the Quality of Healthcare (PDF file - 733 KB; March 3, 2003)
* AHA Survey: Medical Liability Crisis Affects Communities' Access to Care American Hospital Association (PDF file â 43 KB; April 28, 2003)
* PriceWaterhouseCoopers report - The Factors Fueling Rising Healthcare Costs - (PDF file - 72 KB; April 2002)
* Who Pays for Tort Liability Claims U.S. Council of Economic Advisors (PDF file - 1, 309 KB; April 2002)
* HarrisInteractive - Fear of Litigation Study; The Impact on Medicine - (PDF file - 347 KB; March 4-20, 2002)
* Long Term Care: General and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis (PDF file - 297 KB; February 28, 2002)
Some quotes:
* The American tort liability system is the most expensive in the world, with total costs more than double the average of other industrialized nations. A 2003 study conducted by Tillinghast-Towers Perrin founds that the U.S. tort system cost $205 billion in 2001, which translates to $721 per U.S. Citizen. (Who Pays for Tort Liability Claims? An economic analysis of the U.S. tort liability system, Council of Economic Advisors, April, 2002; U.S. Tort Costs: 2002 Update, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, February 2003)
* Hospitals, nursing homes, and health insurers have seen their costs escalate as a result of lawsuit abuse. According to one recent study, approximately $50 billion per year is spent on defensive medicine - tests, procedures, and paperwork practiced solely for litigation avoidance. ("Do Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?" Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1996)
* In the last twenty years, personal injury lawyers have found litigation against healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers to be a lucrative "growth area" in their practices. Litigation that has enriched personal injury lawyers, however, is adversely impacting both the quality and the cost of care for the rest of us. ("The Factors Fueling Rising Healthcare Costs," PriceWaterhouseCoopers, April 2002)
*Nearly 41 million Americans are uninsured and 75 million people were uninsured at one point during 2001 and 2002. Lawsuits raise costs for healthcare and coverage, increasing the number of people without insurance. Companies must invest time, money and other resources fighting these lawsuits. If personal injury lawyers are successful, the additional costs of a damage award or settlement must be factored into the company's cost of doing business, ultimately increasing the cost of premiums. According to a study published in the Journal of Health Economics, every ten percent increase in the cost of insurance creates a three to four percent decrease in the number of people who choose to purchase coverage. (Going without Health Insurance, Families USA, March 10, 2003; "Number of Uninsured Americans On the Rise," Associated Press, March 5, 2003; " Avoiding Health Insurance Crowd-Out," Journal of Health Economics, March 2000)
* The Physician Insurers Association of America report that under typical contingency fee arrangements, lawyers walk away with 30-50% of any jury award to the plaintiff, plus an additional percentage of the award to cover expenses. (Medical Malpractice Claim Expenses, Physician Insurers Association of America, 1999)
* The Department of Health and Human Services notes that when a patient does decide to go into the litigation system, only a very small number recover anything. They note that 57 - 70% of cases result in no payment for the patient. (Testimony presented by the Physician Insurers Association of America before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law before the House Judiciary Committee, June 12, 2002)
* The majority of victims of medical error do not pursue litigation. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that only 1.53% of those injured filed a claim. Almost half of the total amount of claim costs paid for liability claims in the long term care industry is going directly to attorneys. (Long Term Care: General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis, p. 4)
* The National Association of Consumer Advocates testified: "Simply put, many consumer class actions are now being settled on the basis of what the lawyers get and not what the consumers in the class get." (National Association of Consumer Advocates, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing, May 4, 1999)
* Lawyer advertising seeking to gather up claimants has become endemic - on television, radio billboards and the Internet. One of the nation's largest legal-advertising agencies, Network Affiliates, reported that one-third of its $20 million in legal billings in 2001 came from pharmaceutical litigation ads, up from roughly 1 percent 10 years ago. ("Coming to Terms with the $20,000 Ad: A Realization About Lawyer Advertising," National Law Journal, October 10, 2002; "See You In Court," Desert News, September 8, 2002)
*President Bush is prudently proposing the imposition of caps on medical malpractice awards for pain and suffering⦠But these ceilings are merely a stopgap. They deal with only one aspect of what greedy trial lawyers and timid judges are doing to destroy the American healthcare system. "Fact and Comment," Forbes Magazine, March 31, 2003.
* Deanna Rood, an expectant mother in Nevada, upon learning that her doctor is leaving his Las Vegas practice because he would have to borrow money to meet this year's malpractice insurance
"I'm in a scary position right now⦠I'm six months pregnant, and I don't have a doctor." - "Fed Up Obstetricians Look for a Way Out", USA Today, July 1, 2002In the United States, it takes seven years to become a lawyer: four
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 18:54 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Carl in N.H. and Shipman, LOL!
rex,
The bar association for my state reports the median annual income for attorneys for 2000 as ranging from $45,000 (for attorneys with 1-5 years of experience) to $112,000 for attorneys with 16-25 years of experience). Certainly, wage figures fluctuate around that, and these figures are based on a 2000 study. The hours worked ranged from 40 hrs/week (25th percentile) to 68 hrs/week (95th percentile), with a median of 46 hrs/week. Median total office expenditures per attorney (which would include legal malpractice insurance premiums) were $40,000 a year, in 1999 -- and are not reflected in the wages. Incidentally, the figures I cited before also were net figures before taxes, for both physicians and attorneys, and were for Colorado wages for 2001-2002, and national wages for 2003. Lawyers, like physicians, also incur tremendous debt getting an education (e.g., in 2000, the median law student educational debt was $84,400).
I am proud of my work as a trial attorney. I believe I work for the little guy against corporate greed, and against (too often) state sanctioned professional incompetence. I believe the price I charge my clients for my work is fair, and reflects both my skill and the long hours and great effort I put into protecting their rights and seeking redress for legitimate damages my clients have suffered.
Among the factors that have contributed to increases in medical malpractice premium rates are insurersâ losses, declines in investment income, a less competitive climate, and climbing reinsurance rates. We found that increased losses appeared to be the greatest contributor to premium rate increases, but a lack of comprehensive data at the national and state levels on claims and associated losses prevented us from fully analyzing the composition and causes of those losses at the insurer level.
In other words, âlossesâ (roughly translatable as jury verdicts) are only one part of the equation, and the testimony doesnât even analyze why those jury verdicts are rising (e.g., is it inflation, are doctors being more reckless and uncaring, are juries tired of seeing people needlessly hurt, has medicine designed to address the effects of malpractice become available -- but is simply expensive?). The findings of the United States General Accounting Office, as stated in the June 2003 Report to Congressional Requesters regarding Medical Malpractice Insurance, is aptly summed up in the reportâs subtitle: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates. In other words, itâs not just jury verdicts. And, why jury verdicts have gone up in some instances (again) has not been analyzed. Jury verdicts might be going up for good reasons. I, for one, would be hesitant to rush to undercut a provision added to the U.S. Constitution early on -- the right to a jury trial:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
U.S. Const. Amend. VII. Granted this is a very superficial response to your posting, and a very superficial treatment of a very complex issue that touches on the civil right of injured people, but it is probably more than what is necessary in a forum devoted to the WOT. Enough said, on my part anyway.
#12
Enough said, on my part anyway.
Good. Then I can have the last word.
I am proud of my work as a trial attorney.
He, he...your opinion falls into the whopping 29% of people who respect and trust lawyers.
According to a Readerâs Digest Poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid and released on January 23, 2003 shows that pharmacists (91%), doctors (85%) and airline pilots (81%) are given top trustmarks by Canadians. This is in comparison to lawyers (29%) edging out new home builders(27%). Auto mechanics beat lawyers coming in at 33%. Greedy CEO's whom you claim lawyers fight on behalf of the "little guy" trailed lawyers by a mere 8 % coming in at 21% trustworthiness. Not bad.
Because there are more lawyers per capita in the USA than in Canada and therefore and thusly, more chances to be ripped off by a lawyer here, the percentage of respect for lawyers in America would be closer to 13%.
Bottom line, 20 years hence, who is going to do our heart bypass surgery? Who is going to deliver our grandchildren? Who is going to diagnose and treat our cancer? Who do we trust with our lives? What is the most essential profession to society?
Not lawyers.
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 21:46 Comments ||
Top||
#13
rex: Can't respect your opinions. The reason trial lawyers contribute to the DNC is because the GOP is backed and funded by a lot of insurance companies, and because of a history of the same.
About doctors: I wouldn't trust my life to a doctor who could never be sued. Do you have any idea, whatsoever, how irresponsible they can be? They're just human beings serving the almighty dollar, and themselves, like everyone else--and a lot of them should never be allowed to treat patients.
You seem very ignorant to me, and yet attack cingold, who is treating you with respect.
If you honestly don't believe lawyers are essential to a free society, then I guess you're a closet totalitarian liberal, or someone who stands to benefit from tort "reform." There are many trying to eliminate the jury system in this country and I hope you're not one of them. The jury is the common man's last recourse.
Bottom line: Everybody hates lawyers until they get hurt or ripped off, and need good one they can trust.
#14
You seem very ignorant to me, and yet attack cingold, who is treating you with respect.
a. I did not attack cingold. He/she took my criticism of the profession of attorney/lawyer personally. But hey, if the shoe fits, who am I to deny the pleasure...
I am not ignorant. I take great care not to attack people, just their opinions. Furthermore, I have a graduate degree, so there are a good number of professors with PhDs, who gave me A grades, and who would beg to differ with your swipe at me because it reflects poorly on their judgment.
c. If you are so distrustful of doctors, then you should vote Kerry/Edwards, by all means, because the dynamic duo of duplicity will truly do away with all that's noble and dedicated in the medical profession and leave mere shadows of the profession as substitutes.
Ever wonder why the PM Chretien flew down to the Mayo Clinic to take care of his "problem" and not have it dealt with in Canada where socialized medicine is sooooo great, according to Hitlery? It's because of our excellent trial lawyers, of course. Ever wonder why physicians are the only profession still eligible for conscription until age 54? It's because JAG is needed for ministering to our soldiers on the battlefield, of course. It all makes sense to me. Lawyers, especially trial lawyers, are revered and needed ever so much.
Posted by: rex ||
07/07/2004 0:55 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Chill, rexy, be nice. You're skating at the deep end of the pond - in July.
#16
Thanks for the advice,.com. I'll add more than my usual to the rantburg donation jar in August as penance for my running at the mouth about trial lawyers in general and fears about John Edwards sharing the WH with skerry. This news has really sent me over the edge. I apologize to cingold and ex-lib. BUT...the Kerry/Edwards ticket, if it wins, could ruin everything that defines America and separates it from all the also rans, so-so okay, non-ME hellhole countries in the world. This is serious bad news, folks.
Posted by: rex ||
07/07/2004 1:24 Comments ||
Top||
#17
I commiserate - I've never been able to hold back, heh. Multiple broken noses and jaw dents to prove it.
Edwards, boy-toy, is bad, indeed. I have come to a sad conclusion about America, given the polls: There is absolutely nothing Skeery could do to diminish his appeal, because it's actually anti-Bush, not pro-Skeery.
The only guy in a position to do anything about the WoT, and the demonstrated will and guts to follow through, is reviled for it -- and thoroughly bashed for the gall of being imperfect and unable to accomplish superhuman things outside the veil of reality. Truly amazing. I will be ready to leave by the time the election is over. We'll see, eh?
Milblogger "Lt. Smash" reports on a successful counter-protest in San Diego. Lost of photos and details at the link; hereâs a taste:
In the words of KNSD (NBC) reporter Steve Walker:
âŠIt began as an anti-war protest, but turned into a pro-troop âVictory Vigilâ downtown today. The San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice protested at 10th and âAâ Streets. Theyâre against the war in Iraq, and skeptical of the handover of power.
But the tables turned on them today, when others turned out to support American troops, and the handover of sovereignty. The counter-protestors say they stand by the war in Iraq...
Hereâs the punch line: the other side had notified the media, but we got all the coverage.
. . . Within ten minutes, fifteen of my Protest Warriors had arrived, and we were lining the west side of 10th Street with signs and flags. By four-thirty, we had almost thirty people on site.
["Peace group" organizer] Lace [Watkins] couldnât even muster ten. One of them was holding a rainbow flag, with the mysterious word âPACEâ emblazoned on both sides in big capital letters (Iâm not kidding).
Instead of clustering together, she directed her protestors to spread out, in an effort to make their numbers seem larger. But it didnât work â they had no mass to speak of, and were effectively drowning in a sea of red, white, and blue. . . .
Well done, L-T!
Posted by: Mike ||
07/06/2004 10:28:45 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
fyi: "PACE" (pronounced "PA-chay") means peace in italian. those rainbow flags are all over there.
#2
Has Protest Warrior manufactured any XL GI Joe dolls to battle the puppets?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 12:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Good job San Diego! Our l'il chapter in Santa Rosa CA held a Support The Troops rally during the weekend. Over 200 turned out. Very cool for our neck of the woods. We had local Iraq veterans there too. Jeebus...they're all kids! ....even the sargeants. It hits ya when you seem 'em in civilian clothes. That was all quickly forgotten when they spoke, though. Incredible - can't say enough about these troops. God bless 'em.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2004 12:10 Comments ||
Top||
#1
I can't speak to the site chosen for implementing this training, but it's great news that Arabic language skills are getting increasing attention. Not having enough Arabic speakers in our forces (and society) places us in a much too dependent, much too trusting position in our regional interactions.
#2
Jules, it's not just language studies. It's cultural immersion. The USMA (West Point) cadets mentioned in this article are part of a wider Academy effort to prepare future officers who are fluent in cultures as well as languages.
Not an easy task, especially when you consider all the cultures the Army may need to interact with up close over the next few decades ....
#3
Yeah, rkb, especially these days. I hope they mean cultural immersion and not cultural understanding, which too often these days seems to mean America bad, everyone else good. As a linguist, I am interested in reading this, but as an experienced "cultures-in-contact" educator, I am cautious.
Let's see, though; it wouldn't surprise me if these courageous and dedicated officers reveal some new opportunities for resolving problems.
#4
It's already happening in Iraq via OJT .... 20-something officers learning to meet and negotiate with tribal and village leaders. Mixed results,but a fair number of important support networks have been built up by young Captains and Majors figuring out the culture on the fly. The Chief of Staff has made it clear he wants more prep for that sort of thing ....
BANGI - It has happened one time too many. Yesterday, Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi attributed the breakout of 11 detainees from Puchong police station on Saturday to negligence and made it clear he did not want to see a recurrence of such incidents. He asked the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Mohamad Bakri Omar, to direct his men to be on the alert at all times and give serious attention to the matter. The detainees, nabbed in a recent operation to arrest snatch thieves, escaped through the ceiling of the double-storey station building.
Since 1991, at least 29 people had escaped from police custody in Malaysia where the lock-ups are overcrowded. The police, who managed to arrest five of Saturday's escapees, said there were 76 detainees in the lock-up meant for just 18 people. Two of the escapees, G. Nantha Kumaran, 20, and Rosly Yaakub, 29, were spotted yesterday by the police as they were walking along a street wearing stolen T-shirts, shorts and slippers. The other three escapees were arrested minutes after they escaped. Datuk Seri Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said that breakouts should not happen. There was negligence at the lock-up where Saturday's escape took place, he said, adding that the police must continue with efforts to catch the rest of the escapees. More detention cells with better security features should be built soon, said Criminal Investigation Department Director Commissioner Datuk Musa Hassan. The police will double the manpower at Puchong station, he said, adding that any action against the men on duty there on Saturday will be taken after investigations have been completed. A special task force is tracking the other escapees.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2004 12:37:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 12:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"... a campaign launched by the Office of the Leader.."
The Office of the Leader. How delightfully Orwellian. I guess overthrowing the Shah didn't bring about an Islamic Paradise as promised.
Oh well, another People's Revolution turned to shit. I have always marveled at how the United States managed to keep this from happening after we said goodbye to Mad King George.
#2
"I have always marveled at how the United States managed to keep this from happening..."
Personally I thank that old guy, George Washington. He was, famously, The Man Who Would Not Be King, or per his biographer Flexner, The Indispensable Man. I cringe at the thought of who some of his successors in office have been.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/06/2004 13:56 Comments ||
Top||
As the Bush administration concludes it cannot risk Iranian retaliation against a fragile Iraq under U.S. occupation, Israel is dusting off contingency plans to take out Iranâs nuclear installations.
On June 24, Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to former President George H.W. Bush (41), asked the key question: "Are we serious in our efforts to prevent [Iranian] nuclear proliferation, or will we watch the world descend into a maelstrom where weapons-grade nuclear material is plentiful, and unimaginable destructive capability is available to any country or group with a grudge against society?" It did not require an overwhelming effort of imagination for Israelâs national security establishment to conclude the Jewish state would be the first threatened by Iranian nukes.
One scenario now bruited would involve a joint U.S.-Israel precision-guided strike against the Bushehr, Natanz and Arak nuclear projects in Iran. But the Bush administration has concluded a U.S. air attack against Iran would trigger a major Iranian campaign to destabilize Iraq. The two countries share a 1,458-kilometer (906-mile) border stretching from Turkey to the Shatt al Arab terminal on the Gulf. Iran also enjoys wide grass-roots support among Iraqâs dominant Shiâite population.
A U.S. House of Representatives resolution last May 6 authorized "all appropriate means" to end Iranian nuclear weapons development. The Senate is yet to vote on the resolution. But it leaves no doubt it is a green light for offensive military strikes against Iranâs three nuclear facilities.
The worldwide reaction against a U.S. attack on Iranâs theocratic regime would almost certainly put an end to growing moderate dissent. Rival Shiâite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain (headquarters for the U.S. 5th Fleet) would close ranks against U.S. interests. Americaâs allies would denounce a return to dangerous U.S. unilateralism after President Bushâs recent moves back to multilateral diplomacy. While an "October surprise" of U.S. air strikes to rid the world of Iranâs looming nuclear threat might help President Bush Nov. 2, the blowback of unintended consequences would further destabilize the worldâs most volatile region â the Middle East.
Ain't gonna hapen.
U.S. air strikes at this juncture would quickly be equated with the CIA-engineered coup that overthrew Iranâs socialist leader Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, which many Iranians say led to the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 that overthrew the monarchy, forced the late shah into exile, and allowed obscurantist mullahs to rule the country. The mullahs made the excesses of the shahâs Savak secret police seem like childâs play compared to the tens of thousands executed by the religious extremists and their Revolutionary Guards.
Israeli leaders concluded years ago that A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb and the worldâs biggest nuclear proliferator, had sold bomb-making wherewithal to Iran and nothing would reverse this capability short of air strikes, similar to the one Israeli fighter-bombers conducted in 1981 against Iraqâs Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. It had been built with French assistance, including 27.5 pounds of 93 percent weapons-grade uranium.
When Israeli intelligence confirmed Iraqâs intention of producing weapons at Osirak, Prime Minister Menachem Begin decided military action was the only remedy. Elections then and now were a consideration. Mr. Begin feared his party would lose the next election, and the opposition Labor Party would fail to pre-empt prior to production of the first Iraqi nuclear bomb. Iraq was believed to be two years from its first nuclear weapon. So Israel had to strike before the Iraqi reactor went critical, before the first fuel was poured into the reactor, lest the surrounding community fall victim to radiation.
Similar preparations to take out Iranâs capabilities â also judged to be two years from nuclear fruition â have been completed. Standoff, precision-guided munitions will have to be used to avoid Iranâs thick air defenses, including missiles purchased from Russia.
After several years of denial about an Iranian bomb-making potential, President Putin of late has sided with the International Atomic Energy Agencyâs chief Mohamed el Baradeiâs strong criticism of Iranâs bad faith in its refusal to comply with the international inspection regime. Mr. Putin presumably realizes a nuclear-armed Iran ruled by religious fanatics would probably be tempted to pass on dangerous stuff to Islamist guerrillas in Chechnya.
Originally started during the shahâs reign in a deal with Siemens, some 2,100 German and 7,000 Iranian workers completed 85 percent of the work before the 1979 revolution. The ayatollahs then decided to drop the entire project as "anti-Islamic," before changing their minds in favor of construction in the early 1990s. Fearful anxiety prevailed among the clerics after they watched in awe the deployment of half a million American soldiers and the five weeks of saturation U.S. bombing that preceded Operation Desert Storm â and the collapse of the Iraqi army. They watched a rerun of another U.S. military spectacular in 2003 â with yet another collapse of the Iraqi military.
The Europeans still believe political, economic and trade sanctions will eventually bring Iran into compliance. The Bush administration is on the horns of a painful dilemma. How can it claim Iran has no right to nuclear weapons when Israel not only possesses both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, but has several hundred in its arsenal? Pre-empting Iran would also undermine the administrationâs last shred of credibility as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians.
After all the blue-smoke-and-mirrors "intelligence" that justified the U.S. invasion of Iraq 15 months ago, CIA evidence of an Iranian nuclear bomb would have to be incontrovertible. This sets the bar impossibly high. Hence Israelâs conclusion it is on its own. Bombs away? Not yet, but theyâve rehearsed it.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 12:37:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not an October surprise, perhaps a November 3rd surprise
Posted by: Capt America ||
07/06/2004 2:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Normally, I find de Borchgrave to be both informed and compelling. However, this article has some odd and, I would say, irrelevant points upon which he hangs much weight. I'm too tired to fisk it right now, so I'll sleep on it.
First blush, however is that he is both too pessimistic about the "world's reactions" and yet another person who should quit flogging the canard that the ME has some precious stability which needs husbanding. Bullshit to both.
Regards the Paleos, no lasting peace or solution was never ever going to happen anyway. A 60 yr old pipe dream, repeatedly dashed on the rocks, because it counts on the Paleos yielding their stranglehold on defeat.
Anyway, the main relevant points (and a couple I believe he left out) need to be picked out and picked apart - analyzed for relevance and impact -and I believe that would not be so hard to do. But later. ZZZZzzzz.
#4
When the one-time Iraq elections are held next year, Iran will be handed that country as an Islamofascist asset. Therefore, they will stall proliferation issues while US taxpayers subsidize the inevitable, genocidal Hizbollah state.
US money-burning on Iraq has now reached $130,000,000,000, and the goods in exchange is: a proto-Islamofascist state. There will be a populist American reaction to that Bush-Powell folly.
#5
Better stick to a consistent mime, DBT: you forgot to mention how much oil that $130B got us. Thanks for confirming that the war was never for oil.
of course, before you yelp that that was an "inadvertent slip", you damn liberals build mountains out of "inadvertent slips". Time to swallow what you, and mhore, dish out to everyone else.
#7
This turned out to be a bit more than $0.02, my apologies...
The article's anchor - and ours too for it is perfectly stated: "Are we serious in our efforts to prevent [Iranian] nuclear proliferation, or will we watch the world descend into a maelstrom where weapons-grade nuclear material is plentiful, and unimaginable destructive capability is available to any country or group with a grudge against society?" It did not require an overwhelming effort of imagination for Israelâs national security establishment to conclude the Jewish state would be the first threatened by Iranian nukes.
He tosses in Putin / Russia as having, perhaps, bought a clue. I don't know if it's right to say that Russia is the only entity to get it, but I'll take the point as is.
Issues and "blowback" for action: Claim: End growing moderate dissent.
Ah, we've been looking for the Moderate Muslims - Perhaps Arnaud can point out where they are hiding and tick off their, no doubt, ground-shaking achievements and ground-swell of growing support. Must number in the tens, by now. I've got my reading glasses on, a microscope nearby, and I'm ready. Dissent in the ranks. Uh yeah, right - when there's not a fundie within 1000 miles you'll hear some insignificant Imam whisper he sure wishes they didn't control the funding for his moskkk. Red Herring.
Claim: Muslims would unite against the US / West.
Um, lessee, where has the "Muslims-first" meme failed to occur? Seethe me, baby, I'm ready. When and where has it NOT kicked-in when any Muslim group confronts any non-Muslim group? Look at the Arab League's silence regards (everything, actually, but...) Darfur, for example. Had they not circled the wagons in the Muslims-first response, they would gain untold good-will from the "world community" - I guarantee Kofi would blow each and every League Rep for such a tiny display of humanity â merely by breaking the Muslims-first rule. Red Herring.
Claim: America's "allies" would denounce a return to dangerous U.S. unilateralism.
Keywords: allies / return to... unilateralism / dangerous
Allies - Which allies does he have in mind? The ones who worked like hell to torpedo the US at every turn regards Iraq, NATO, etc. for dubious reasons, such as monetary gain and fear of exposure for everything from illegal arms sales to Saddam to the UNSCAM Oil for Food fiasco? They would prefer Saddam was still in power, that has become obvious. Surely, not those allies who began demonizing George Bush long before Iraq, long before even the first US troops were mobilized to go to Bahrain and Qatar, whose presence finally convinced Saddam to let the UNMOVIC guys back in. Who vilified Bush for their own political gain in their home countries long before he had unilaterally done diddley-squat? Timelines, Arnaud. Keep one, keep it up to date, and it will keep you from making stupid statements.
Return to unilateralism - This is not separate from the abandonment of our putative allies, it is what's left when those who make lofty resolutions full of consequences are ridiculed for their lack of resolve, will, and teeth by the tyrants... If you actually meant what you said and voted for, and the others didn't, are you not thus left alone to act or join the gutless wonders? Did they not leave you, not the other way round? What's so fucking hard to understand here?
Dangerous - for whom? What's dangerous is teaching the world's Bad Boyz that you don't have the guts, the will, the means, or the stomach to keep your promises, whether good or bad. This is the key to being a good parent: keep all your promises, good and bad - just think before you make them. The UNSC acts as the watchdog. I'd say that, where there's a lack of cash on the table, the old mutt seems pretty toothless. Mebbe it's time to put him on a soft-foods diet - or to sleep.
Claim: Further destabilize the world's most volatile region.
Yeah, and that's bad because... No, jokes aside, ask why it's volatile already - it couldn't be because of Islam, could it? I recall a recent article showing a very high percentage (90+%?) of the world's current conflicts are Muslim vs. ??? violence - insert your favorite religion. Spreading the word of Allan. Ask why it deserves to be stable - to keep in power all of those dictatorships who are busily destabilizing or supporting violence the world over, via the culprit Islam? The Myth of ME Stability - and our duty to save this precious illusion is beyond absurd. The ME contains the root causes of most of the world's current violence. A complete burn-off followed by tilling this garden as deep as you can would make far more sense than a maintenance schedule of dhimmi tribute.
Claim: Pre-empting Iran would also undermine the administrationâs last shred of credibility as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians.
Can I get a "f**kin duh" here children? When will the MSM flunkies quit whipping this dog? The obvious truth is that there is no solution acceptable to both sides. Period, full stop. For 60 yrs this zit on the tip of the tail of the dog has tried to wag the whole world... and has succeeded. That is until now. The Paleos are going to be there, regardless, marching around and killing anyone and everyone they can possibly justify killing. It is the most demented group of people on the planet. No one (we're talking about people with a brain) remotely believes any solution is possible - except the genocide of one or both parties. The only outsiders with an interest in keeping this myth alive are the ME dictators who use it as a distraction for their deluded, raped, looted, and pillaged Muslim populations and Socialist subversives who want to use it wherever possible as a leverage point against the US. Put this rabid dog down, now.
The Good News:
A U.S. House of Representatives resolution last May 6 authorized "all appropriate means" to end Iranian nuclear weapons development.
Point: This does not limit action to the short-term solution - a facilities strike only. The Mullahs will keep trying - especially now that they've spent so much capital waving their fists and bragging about how big their dicks will be. A cornerstone of their Foreign Policy is that having nukes makes them immune to external pressure. And, as Arnaud says himself (we already knew, but we'll give him billing here) "Iran has vowed on numerous occasions to destroy Israel the minute it gets the ability" - I love the Mullahs cuz they're clear as glass.
With the true picture of the Mullah mindset, it is obvious that regime change is the answer, not simple strikes. Strikes mean having to say you're sorry - you'll be back, in 6 months, a year, two years, whenever, but just as sure as there are Mad Mullahs, you'll be back - to fight the baby Mad Mullahs of tomorrow.
Regime change brings many bennys...
1) It's a Four-Fer. No, Iâll make that 4 1/2.
a) Arnaud mentions the benny of ending direct Iranian actions against Iraq: funding, training, & manpower â not to mention constant Shiâite crap.
b) The Iranians are the paymasters for Hisbollah so that put a major crimp in the support for a major terror group - benefits many people in many places.
c) Removing the funding for Syria strangles their hold over Lebanon.
d) Removing the funding for Syria probably effectively ends Syrian actions against Iraq ad they will be isolated, busily covering their asses, and undoubtedly more "compliant" with "requests" from Iraq and the US to control their border with Iraq
e) The 1/2 should be the dramatic reduction of suppression of the Syrian Kurds - and who knows where that will lead... Think coastline, not land-locked, on the Med. Mmmmmm. I love the Med in fall⦠from Kurdistan, heh.
2) It gives the Iranian people a chance to form a modern Islamic democracy. Which they are far better suited and motivated to do than the Iraqis. Many of them alive today can recall the advantages of life pre-1979 - before the Ultimate Mad Mullah, Khomeini, returned from exile in France (where else?) at the overthrow of the Shah. This is a big advantage and asset. The stories these people have told their children, their quiet complaints about the rule of the Mullahs, etc have all had a subtle impact on the mindset of the Iranian population - creating a tendency to at least listen, if not long for a secular democratic state. The unrest there proves the point. If handled right, we could assist the Iranians in taking back their country - and do it with minimal direct boots on the ground. In fact, I stake everything I believe regards Iran on the lynchpin that it must be the Iranians who take control - we only assist by decapitating the regime and take the hardpoints they cannot.
3) Remove a major oil supply from Islamic control. OPEC, of course, is an evil for those who are not in it. I don't know what will happen with Iraq or Iran regards OPEC (i.e. will they join?), but our efforts should definitely have a positive effect.
Is there more? Sure â lotsa smart people âround here who can provide more bennys and reasons why regime change would be the best answer, now and in the future.
-30-
#10
Arnaud de Borchgrave: Pre-empting Iran would also undermine the administrationâs last shred of credibility as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians.
Why mention Iran? Muslims could probably have said the same thing about the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. I think de Borchgrave is fixated by the idea that America's entire foreign policy turns upon the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It doesn't. Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran are completely separate from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If the Palestinians want to link the issues, that's their funeral.
#11
.com -- simply magisterial! I think you've left no brick on top of a brick there. And in this case de Borgrave deserved it -- his essay was notable mostly as an impressive collection of straw men and unchallenged shibboleths.
I especially love these comments about American "credibility" being damaged by various bogus factors (our intel isn't perfect, France doesn't like us, it rained hard yesterday, whatever). It truly is a measure of how out of touch so many are, and how skewed towards fantasy are the parameters of debate, that anyone can suggest US credibility is anywhere shy of an all-time high. It's especially hilarious to hear US credibility doubted in connection with the Palestinians -- Dubya is the first president in history to compel them to eat their own cooking, and if acquiescing in an over-due Israeli unilaterally-imposed interim solution doesn't establish credibility, I don't know what could.
#12
A GPS guided, depleted Uranium, non-explosive penetrator dropped by a stealth bomber on an Iranian nuke plant would probably look like the world's biggest "work accident", wuddenit?
And don't tell me I'm the only one thinking this thought right now...
#13
My question is how to add (1) a bombing of Iranian nuclear reactors and (2) an Iranian population angry at the Mullahs and come out with regime change.
Would the bombing help or hinder the democracy movement.
#14
It doesn't. Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran are completely separate from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I don't think it should be. The Hamas Islamofascist movement is not significantly different (except in being more local in scope) in motivation, means or goal than Al Qaeda. If there's a single thing that unites Islamofascists everywhere, besides Sharia, is that they don't believe Israel has a right to exist.
Islamist imperialism takes many forms and in the end won't have been defeated until all Muslim countries in the region recognize that right of Israel's. Terrorism in Madrid and New York were part of global Islamofascism, so why not the bombings of Israel? Where Hamas (atleast) is concerned they are not part of an independence movement (like the Basques or Chechens) they are part of a genocidal movement.
Some people claim "Iraq was attacked because of Israel" as if it's an accusation -- and some people refute this as if it's an accusation. On my part, I *hope* it was atleast partly because of Israel, because that's a meaningful reason and tons better than others I've heard.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 04:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
it requires a local referer, to get it to work
goto the link, then type http://symbolictruth.fateback.com
in your address bar, hit enter, then after it loads hit the back space (returning you to the image link) it will now show normally
(worked on mozilla)
#1
"Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia ... There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia,â Ratzinger wrote.
Ouch! How about Tom Thumb in South Dakota?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2004 20:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The problem is that he was undercut by the USCCB ... what'll really stir things up though is his explicit pronouncement that not only must Catholics not participate in evil, not even "the freedom of others" or legal obligation is an excuse.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
07/06/2004 23:50 Comments ||
Top||
An iron curtain is descending between the West and the Muslim world, Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf warned on Monday. Political injustices, poverty and illiteracy are fueling religious fundamentalism and terrorism, he said in a speech while on a visit to Sweden, urging rich countries to help Muslim nations with investment and socio-economic reforms. Most of Pakistanâs 150 million people are Muslims, and a third of them live in poverty. Many people in the Islamic world "feel deprived, hopeless, powerless" and could be "indoctrinated by distorted views of Islam," Musharraf said...A solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seen as just by mainstream Muslims might end 75 percent of global terrorism, Musharraf said. Creating a Palestinian state side by side with Israel behind the pre-1967 war borders would likely require "political coercion" from Washington, he said. Musharraf goes off the reservation...wants more $ I think
Posted by: rex ||
07/06/2004 1:58:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seen as just by mainstream Muslims might end 75 percent of global terrorism, Musharraf said.
It might, but it won't. This statement and what comes out of the ass end of a bull have a remarkable resemblance.
#2
This is indeed, BS. First, the Paleos don't want to co-exiset beside Israel - they want to replace Israel. Second, even if a permanent Israeli-Palestinian solution were found, the jihadis would find another issue (jihad: it's what we do). Third, what is preventing the muslim world from investment and socio-economic reforms? Only themselves. They have a lot of oil money (pissed away), and a religion that says no interest (hard to run a good bank that way). Finally, they spend most of the day complaining about cultural imperialism - do they really want social reform from without?
Perv & cluebat: a swing and a miss!
They don't realize our philosophy of life-you don't get what you don't earn, and you can't earn anything using terror.
The thing about jihadis that is different than other blackmailers, though, is that you can do what they want and they still will carry out terrorist attacks. It's a smelly bargain to begin with-their word means nothing.
#7
Arab/Muslim terrorism comes out of a deep sense of shame not out of the Palestinian situation. I read that Scotland Yard is investigating 100 Muslim on Muslim "honor" killings in the UK - I think that Muslims have quite a bit to be ashamed of that will continue until they purchase an industrial size mirror.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Super Hose: Arab/Muslim terrorism comes out of a deep sense of shame not out of the Palestinian situation.
I disagree. Arab/Muslim terrorism comes out of deep sense of entitlement - what they don't have, they feel entitled to take by force. Why this sense of entitlement? Because they think of themselves as a superior culture that has been held down by the Western powers acting in concert. Their sentiments are like those of the Western explorer slowly being boiled alive in a cooking pot by cannibals in uncharted lands - they may be in our power, but they think of themselves as innately superior. Why? Because.
Outgoing rector of the Federal Polythenic, Nasarawa, Dr. Idris Bugaje, has said western education was copied from Islamic education of many centuries ago. In a lecture delivered in Katsina, and titled: "education and morality, the way out" pointed out that western education is Islamic in its origin and that muslims introduced the scientific method several centuries ago when Europe was in dark ages. He said concept of the Zero was equally introduced by Arab Muslims and that is why our numerals today are called Arabic numerals, adding that there are also significant advancement made in chemistry, mathematics, and medicine by muslim scientists especailly in the middle ages.
Bugaje said inspite of this precedence in education particularly in science, muslims are now becoming underclass, not only politically which is more apparent, but even economically and professionally. He said the North/South digital divide based on Information Technology is now a new phenomenon and it is growing at a very fast rate instead of being bridged, adding that these challenges are coming at a time when Islam, the world over is under siege. He called on muslims to take education more seriously as a solution to all problems listed above and that government and the private sector need to provide more budgetary allocation to education. He stressed the need to blend morals into training because without moral componets the products will be copycat of westernisation now called globalisation, pointing out that what makes human beings different from animals is morals. Also speaking at the occasion, president of the Federal Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullai said although Katsina indigenes in the past had gone far in western education, it is dismaying to note that education is dwindling in the state due to lack of interest by some people for unknown reasons.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
07/06/2004 7:35:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hate to keep preaching this, but the muslims got their knowledge from the Byzantine (eastern Roman) Empire which preserved Greek and Roman thought for millenia.
#3
Any society which insists on repeating comforting lies to itself to make up for its abject failures is never going to amount to anything.
Once the Christian cultures of the Middle East were thoroughly decimated and reduced to pathetic dhimmitude, all Islamic accomplishment began to decline as well. Funny that.
There is a web page (which I can't remember now how to find it again) authored by an Assyrian Christian which details the facts of Islam's cultural and scientific piracy. It debunks the Islamic claims about their so-called golden age.
BTW, I do believe that the Hindus discovered the concept of zero. Islam just passed it along second hand to the West (who could actually make good use of such things) like everything else they claim to have discovered. They were only ever middle men who couldn't really make much with what they inherited. The zero myth is just another fiction which is perpretrated by Muslims and PC liberals on the unsuspecting.
#4
I don't personally know who invented the scientific method, but if it indeed came from the glorious Islamic educational past, then how do you explain the people of Islam today, who are so uncomfortable/unfamiliar with the scientific method that earned them the glory? When was the last time you could use "scientific method" to characterize anything coming out of Islam today (other than bomb building)?
#5
The great advantage of the scientific method is that it is unprejudiced: one does not have to believe a given researcher, one can redo the experiment and determine whether his/her results are true or false...The conclusions will hold irrespective of the state of mind, or the religious persuasion, or the state of consciousness of the investigator and/or the subject of the investigation. Faith, defined as belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence, does not determine whether a scientific theory is adopted or discarded...
#6
I wouldn't even entertain the thought that the Muslims invented the scientific method. What a joke to even suggest it.
The use of the method by scientists has resulted in astounding scientific acheivement in the West. It produces tangible and unmistakable results. If Muslims had ever had it, they would have outpaced the West to the same power that the West has outpaced the rest of the world. All the great scientific discoveries would have been made by Muslims long before Europe emerged from the dark ages. Its ridiculous for them to claim it for themselves. Gimme a break.
Whatever Muslims acheived came from their piracy of other cultures. As a civilization they achieved no greater results than the average civilization. They discovered a few things and they developed a literature and studied the stars exactly like so many cultures before them did. They passed along what they recieved and they just so happened to pass some of it to the West ie the names of stars and our numerals. But once our Western heritage was passed back to us, look what happened. Once that knowledge was back on its home foundation, the West exploded in unprecedented progress.
Muslims were at best caretakers. They never knew what to do with what they copped from others.
#7
Islam is a literal religion (at least today). Any evidence that contradicts the Quran is going to be discarded or "reformulated" so that the literal word of God is not disproven by science.
#8
sad to say Islam has degenerated to the point where easily disproven myths are accepted as fact and spread like wildfire thru the internet (e.g. the myth about the jews getting advance word and leaving the World Trade Center)
even more sad is that the Democratic party has degenerated to the point that similar myths are spreading in similar ways (remember the "harvard study on presidential IQ")- people in the demo bubble haven't been told its a hoax
#9
All pipples who is not capitalist running dog know that eminent Soviet scientist Lavrenty Igorovich Igorov invent zero 22 years before decadent but oppressed Hindoos steal idea...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2004 19:52 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Ima think zro is wrthlss xcpt when you lean it up agin sumpin on the port side.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/06/2004 20:22 Comments ||
Top||
#11
nice Muck by you AP
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2004 20:26 Comments ||
Top||
ABU DHABI â Gulf Arab insurers continue to cut back on coverage for cargo shipments to Iraq. Industry sources said leading insurers in the Gulf Cooperation Council have significantly reduced war risk coverage to insure business to or in Iraq. The sources said the refusal to provide such insurance has hampered the supply of civilian cargo to Iraq.
In April, GCC insurers decided to suspend coverage for cargo destined for Iraqi transports, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said the insurers were willing to insure cargo until the Iraqi port. But from the port, the cargo would not have been insured. GCC insurers have been led by the industry in Bahrain. Insurance companies in Bahrain were expected to benefit from a new Saudi law that would open the kingdom to foreign firms.
International insurers, such as Lloyds of London, have been willing to provide some war coverage. But the lack of competition drove up the price of war risk coverage. GCC insurers have offered coverage to preferred clients when backed by massive reinsurance support from Lloyds, the sources said. They said the premium could amount to 100 times the normal war risk premium in other countries.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/06/2004 12:37:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
